All across the globe, there are massive protests against Vladimir Putin for his attack on the Ukrainian people. As I did a little research it occurred to me that right here in Minneapolis, Minnesota is a well-known Ukrainian sausage market and restaurant started by a woman from Ukraine. Minneapolis and St. Paul have always welcomed immigrants from other countries of the world. As a kid who grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, I remember having conversations with Jewish people who suffered greatly under the authoritarian rule of Adolph Hitler and had the number on their arm to prove that, or they had family members who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Every immigrant group who has ever come to Minnesota has been successful only because they took advantage of the opportunities they never had in their country of origin.
Here is a star tribune tribute to the founder of this landmark Minneapolis restaurant.
She brought a bit of Ukraine to Minnesota
Anna Kramarczuk, the matriarch of the family that runs the northeast Minneapolis sausage-making company and deli by the same name, fled her native Ukraine during World War II bringing with her recipes for delicacies still featured at the family restaurant.
Kramarczuk, who as a teenager helped the underground against the Germany Army during World War II, died of complications from juvenile diabetes on Dec. 4 at her Minneapolis home. She was 81.
She learned the recipes for the tortes she served from a German baroness, for whom she worked while in a refugee camp in Bavaria after the war ended.
"She was happiest when watching her customers eat the food from her recipes and have a good time," said her son, Orest, of Blaine, a partner in the firm. "She'd stand behind the counter and smile."
She grew up in a village in western Ukraine. During the war, she ran grenades to Ukrainian fighters. When the Germans retreated and the Soviets advanced, she and her family fled, hiding by day and moving at night, traveling through the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria.
The family settled in a refugee camp in southern Germany, where she became a nanny for the baroness and learned to bake. She also attended business school.
There she was reunited with Wasyl Kramarczuk, who was from her Ukrainian village. They married.
In 1949, the couple moved to Louisiana, with the help of Catholic Relief, and within months, they moved to Minneapolis, where many Eastern European immigrants had settled.
They worked and saved $5,000 to open a meat market, but a would-be partner absconded with the money. In 1954, they were able to buy Central Provisions, one of the oldest butcher shops in Minneapolis, renaming it the Kramarczuk Sausage Co. It has been located at 215 E. Hennepin Av., since 1967.
Anna Kramarczuk's pierogi, cabbage rolls and tortes have been served in the deli and restaurant since they opened in the late 1970s.
"My father was the brawn of the business and my mother was the brains," said her son. Up until a week ago, she continued to do a little work for the company.
Mike Gordienko, who has worked much of his career at Kramarczuk's and is now a partner in the firm, called her "an astute businesswoman."
"She steered the ship," said Gordienko. "She did the books, and made sure we got value out of the vendors."
In addition to her son, she is survived by her sister, Julia Anastas of St. Paul and four grandchildren. Her husband died in 1991.
Services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday at St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church, 505 University Av. NE., Minneapolis. Visitation will be held today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with vigil prayers at 7 p.m. at Kozlak-Radulovich Funeral Chapel, 1918 University Av. NE., Minneapolis.
No comments:
Post a Comment