Fred Koch, son of Henry M. Koch, was born in Kolb in 1901. He came to the U.S. at the age of 5 and settled with his family in Ritzville, Washington. Mr. Koch's career was in the newspaper business in Wenatchee, Cashmere, Spokane, and Seattle, all in the State of Washington. During World War II, he served with the Office of War Information in London, the Office of Psychological Warfare in Paris, and military government in Frankfurt and Berlin. He is a graduate of the University of Washington.
Mr. Koch is the author of The Volga Germans: In Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the Present which was published by Pensylvania State University Press in 1977. It is one of the first English-language complete histories of the Volga Germans.
Koch, Fred C. The Volga Germans: In Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the Present (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977).
"Koch Traces Volga Germans' History," Spokane Daily Chronicle (23 Sept. 1977): 3