The thematic exhibition “Pious and Hardworking People…” (German Colonists in Bessarabia) is organized by Moldova-Institut Leipzig and National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova in collaboration with National Archives of the Republic of Moldova and National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History and sponsored by the German Embassy in the Republic of Moldova. It is presented by Ute Schmidt, PhD in historical sciences from Freie Universitat (Berlin).

The exhibition is dedicated to German colonists in Bessarabia during the period of 1813 – 1940.

It is divided into two parts. The first part consists of photographs and documents and reflects stages of colonization of the south part of Bessarabia, foundation of the first German villages in Bessarabia (Hoffnungstal, Friedenstal, Alexanderfeld), and the role of the Guardianship Committee for Colonists in Southern Russia (created in 1818) in the process of colonization. Thematic compartments of the part illustrate the life of a German village in the southern Bessarabia, the colonists’ occupations including agriculture, trade and crafts, spiritual life and education: religion, school, ethics, interethnic relations, and world outlook. 

The second part of the exhibition consisting of the authentic items (books, documents, photographs, personal belongings) reminds the contemporaries of some persons from the German community from Chisinau in the modern time. In the 19th century in Chisinau there was a German community that numbered about 1000 people who managed to create a cultural association. The items exhibited in this part reflect certain aspects of the life and work of Carl Schmidt, the Chisinau mayor during 1877 – 1903, and Franz Ostermann, the first custodian and taxidermist of the Zemstvo Museum (1889 – 1905).