How should Mennonites organize politically? There’s a pamphlet for that!

When revolutionary riots broke out in Moscow in February 1917, large numbers of young Mennonite medics (alternative service units) were stationed in Moscow. The government was overthrown, and a new a democratically elected Russian Constituent Assembly was promised with elections in the Fall. The level of political awareness and debate was high.

Back home, the Halbstadt Commerce School teacher Benjamin H. Unruh and Johann A. Willms penned a longer brochure entitled “How do we Mennonites Organize for a National Assembly?” (March 3, 1917) (note 1; pics).

Unruh and Willms were concerned about Mennonite self-preservation, self-protection and the advancement of group-interests in a competitive environment if Mennonites were not to be crushed, swept away or simply self-destruct.

During the war, the state had moved to expropriate all farmlands owned by ethnic Germans; use of German in public places was restricted and even after the February Revolution they lacked freedom of the press.

Unruh was an advocate for a constitutional monarchy as in Great Britain, in contrast to Willms and his younger colleagues at the Halbstadt Commerce School—which included some socialists—who “awaited everything from the liberal bourgeoisie,” according to Unruh.

There was definitely a generational divide. When Unruh travelled to speak to those stationed in Moscow early in 1917, there was “…a feeling by the majority of the listeners that the speaker [Unruh] had been too voluble, pompous, assertive, too impressed with his own brilliance of mind, too defensive of the status quo at home, and too transparently obvious in his ambition to hold the position of starshii (elder or leader) in Mennonite organizations,” according to historian David G. Rempel—whose brother Johann was in the group (note 2).

On March 29, 1917, representatives of the various Russian Mennonite settlements met in Halbstadt and agreed on the need for Mennonites to organize and participate fully in the political life of the country. The goal was not to form a new party, but to create an All-Russian Union of Mennonites that was focused on electing representatives who could protect the spiritual and cultural identity of Mennonites. The goal required maximum unity and cooperation in an increasingly diversified but fragile Mennonite commonwealth that stretched from the Crimean Peninsula to the Amur River on the Chinese border.

Representatives met with other Russian Germans in St. Petersburg and agreed that an All-Russian Central Committee of Russian Germans was necessary moving forward, with the guarantee that Mennonite confessional distinctives and special interests including the right of property ownership and ethnic, confessional schools would be recognized.

The strategy required grass-roots political work in every village, verbal and print “propaganda,” created especially by teachers who were free in the summers.

The urgency of the moment brought modern rights for women to forefront for the first time: “Even our women must cast a vote if we do not wish to fall behind” (pic).

In mid-August, the first “All-Mennonite Congress” met in Ohrloff, Molotschna to organize and strategize Mennonite civil affairs (as separate from the church) with 198 representatives from various regions and interest groups. Significant debate around Mennonite non-resistance ensued, as well as around land distribution, the compatibility of Christianity and socialism, education, and justice.

The minutes capture what some have called the pinnacle of Mennonite intellectual and cultural life in Russia —though notably still without women (note 3).

An assembly of delegates representing “Russian citizens of German nationality and Mennonites” met later in the month in Neu-Halbstadt, Molotschna to develop their platform.

Ninety-eight percent of Mennonites participated in the long-delayed November elections—a sign of their willingness to cooperate with the new government, according to Unruh, who himself was a candidate for the “German Farmers of Tavrida.”

The Bolsheviks under Lenin (Unruh had met and debated Lenin a decade earlier in Switzerland, he claimed!) however seized power only three weeks prior to the elections, and then moved to dissolve the new constituent assembly after its first brief meeting in January 1918.

--Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Benjamin H. Unruh and Johann Willms, “Wie organisieren wir Mennoniten uns für die Nationalversammlung?” 1917. In Peter J. Braun Russian Mennonite Archive, file 3603, 58-68, reel 77. From Robarts Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.

Note 2: David G. Rempel, “Recollections from trip to Canada, Summer 1939.” David G. Rempel Papers. Box 36, File 29. From Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. Toronto, ON.

Note 3: “Protokoll des Allgemeinen Mennonitischen Kongresses, August 14–18, 1917,” reprinted in Mennonitische Warte over four issues: 4 , no. 38 (February 1938) 34- 40; https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk362.pdf; 4, no. 39 (March 1938) 68–73, https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk363.pdf; 4, no. 40 (April 1938) 112–116, https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk364.pdf; 4, no. 41 (May 1938) 162–166, https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk365.pdf.

Comments

The End of Schardau (and other Molotschna villages), 1941

My grandmother was four-years old when her parents moved from Petershagen, Molotschna to Schardau in 1908. This story is larger than that of Schardau, but tells how this village and many others in Molotschna were evacuated by Stalin days before the arrival of German troops in 1941. -ANF The bridge across the Dnieper at Chortitza was destroyed by retreating Soviet troops on August 18, 1941 and the hydroelectric dam completed near Einlage in 1932 was also dynamited by NKVD personnel—killing at least 20,000 locals downstream, and forcing the Germans to cross further south at Nikopol. For the next six-and-a-half weeks, the old Mennonite settlement area of Chortitza was continuously shelled by Soviet troops from Zaporozhje on the east side of the river ( note 1 ). The majority of Russian Germans in Crimea and Ukraine paid dearly for Germany’s Blitzkrieg and plans for racially-based population resettlements. As early as August 3, 1941, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Forces received noti...

On Becoming the Quiet in the Land

They are fair questions: “What happened to the firebrands of the Reformation? How did the movement become so withdrawn--even "dour and unexciting,” according to one historian? Mennonites originally referred to themselves as the “quiet in the land” in contrast to the militant--definitely more exciting--militant revolutionaries of Münster ( note 1 ), and identification with Psalm 35:19f.: “Let not my enemies gloat over me … For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.” How did Mennonites become the “quiet in the land” in Royal Prussia? Minority non-citizen groups in Poland like Jews, Scots, Huguenots or the much smaller body of Mennonites did not enjoy full political or economic rights as citizens. Ecclesial and civil laws left linguistic or religious minorities vulnerable to extortion. Such groups sought to negotiate a Privilegium or charter with the king, which set out a legal basis for some protections of life an...

“The way is finally open”—Russian Mennonite Immigration, 1922-23

In a highly secretive meeting in Ohrloff, Molotschna on February 7, 1922, leaders took a decision to work to remove the entire Mennonite population of some 100,000 people out of the USSR—if at all possible ( note 1 ). B.B. Janz (Ohrloff) and Bishop David Toews (Rosthern, SK) are remembered as the immigration leaders who made it possible to bring some 20,000 Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada in the 1920s ( note 2 ). But behind those final numbers were multiple problems. In August 1922, an appeal was made by leaders to churches in Canada and the USA: “The way is finally open, for at least 3,000 persons who have received permission to leave Russia … Two ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway are ready to sail from England to Odessa as soon as the cholera quarantine is lifted. These Russian [Mennonite] refugees are practically without clothing … .” ( Note 3 ) Notably at this point B. B. Janz was also writing Toews, saying that he was utterly exhausted and was preparing to ...

Sesquicentennial: Proclamation of Universal Military Service Manifesto, January 1, 1874

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago Tsar Alexander II proclaimed a new universal military service requirement into law, which—despite the promises of his predecesors—included Russia’s Mennonites. This act fundamentally changed the course of the Russian Mennonite story, and resulted in the emigration of some 17,000 Mennonites. The Russian government’s intentions in this regard were first reported in newspapers in November 1870 ( note 1 ) and later confirmed by Senator Evgenii von Hahn, former President of the Guardianship Committee ( note 2 ). Some Russian Mennonite leaders were soon corresponding with American counterparts on the possibility of mass migration ( note 3 ). Despite painful internal differences in the Mennonite community, between 1871 and Fall 1873 they put up a united front with five joint delegations to St. Petersburg and Yalta to petition for a Mennonite exemption. While the delegations were well received and some options could be discussed with ministers of the Crown, ...

Mennonites in Danzig's Suburbs: Maps and Illustrations

Mennonites first settled in the Danzig suburb of Schottland (lit: "Scotland"; “Stare-Szkoty”; also “Alt-Schottland”) in the mid-1500s. “Danzig” is the oldest and most important Mennonite congregation in Prussia. Menno Simons visited Schottland and Dirk Phillips was its first elder and lived here for a time. Two centuries later the number of families from the suburbs of Danzig that immigrated to Russia was not large: Stolzenberg 5, Schidlitz 3, Alt-Schottland 2, Ohra 1, Langfuhr 1, Emaus 1, Nobel 1, and Krampetz 2 ( map 1 ). However most Russian Mennonites had at least some connection to the Danzig church—whether Frisian or Flemish—if not in the 1700s, then in 1600s. Map 2 is from 1615; a larger number of Mennonites had been in Schottland at this point for more than four decades. Its buildings are not rural but look very Dutch urban/suburban in style. These were weavers, merchants and craftsmen, and since the 17th century they lived side-by-side with a larger number of Jews a...

Mennonite-Designed Mosque on the Molotschna

The “Peter J. Braun Archive" is a mammoth 78 reel microfilm collection of Russian Mennonite materials from 1803 to 1920 -- and largely still untapped by researchers ( note 1 ). In the files of Philipp Wiebe, son-in-law and heir to Johann Cornies, is a blueprint for a mosque ( pic ) as well as another file entitled “Akkerman Mosque Construction Accounts, 1850-1859” ( note 2 ). The Molotschna Mennonites were settlers on traditional Nogai lands; their Nogai neighbours were a nomadic, Muslim Tartar group. In 1825, Cornies wrote a significant anthropological report on the Nogai at the request of the Guardianship Committee, based largely on his engagements with these neighbours on Molotschna’s southern border ( note 3 ). Building upon these experiences and relationships, in 1835 Cornies founded the Nogai agricultural colony “Akkerman” outside the southern border of the Molotschna Colony. Akkerman was a projection of Cornies’ ideal Mennonite village outlined in exacting detail, with un...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 4 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accurate and carefully considered. ~ANF Preparing for your next AGM: Mennonite Congregations and Deportations Many U.S. Mennonite pastors voted for Donald Trump, whose signature promise was an immediate start to “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Confirmed this week, President Trump will declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to carry this out. The timing is ideal; in January many Mennonite congregations have their Annual General Meeting (AGM) with opportunity to review and update the bylaws of their constitution. Need help? We have related examples from our tradition, which I offer as a template, together with a few red flags. First, your congregational by-laws. It is unlikely you have undocumented immigrants in your congregation, but you should flag this. Model: Gustav Reimer, a deacon and notary public from the ...

1871: "Mennonite Tough Luck"

In 1868, a delegation of Prussian Mennonite elders met with Prussian Crown Prince Frederick in Berlin. The topic was universal conscription--now also for Mennonites. They were informed that “what has happened here is coming soon to Russia as well” ( note 1 ). In Berlin the secret was already out. Three years later this political cartoon appeared in a satirical Berlin newspaper. It captures the predicament of Russian Mennonites (some enticed in recent decades from Prussia), with the announcement of a new policy of compulsory, universal military service. “‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire—or: Mennonite tough luck.’ The Mennonites, who immigrated to Russia in order to avoid becoming soldiers in Prussia, are now subject to newly introduced compulsory military service.” ( Note 2 ) The man caught in between looks more like a Prussian than Russian Mennonite—but that’s beside the point. With the “Great Reforms” of the 1860s (including emancipation of serfs) the fundamentals were c...

School Reports, 1890s

Mennonite memoirs typically paint a golden picture of schools in the so-called “golden era” of Mennonite life in Russia. The official “Reports on Molotschna Schools: 1895/96 and 1897/98,” however, give us a more lackluster and realistic picture ( note 1 ). What do we learn from these reports? Many schools had minor infractions—the furniture did not correspond to requirements, there were insufficient book cabinets, or the desks and benches were too old and in need of repair. The Mennonite schoolhouses in Halbstadt and Rudnerweide—once recognized as leading and exceptional—together with schools in Friedensruh, Fürstenwerder, Franzthal, and Blumstein were deemed to be “in an unsatisfactory state.” In other cases a new roof and new steps were needed, or the rooms too were too small, too dark, too cramped, or with moist walls. More seriously in some villages—Waldheim, Schönsee, Fabrikerwiese, and even Gnadenfeld, well-known for its educational past—inspectors recorded that pupils “do not ...

1929 Flight of Mennonites to Moscow and Reception in Germany

At the core of the attached video are some thirty photos of Mennonite refugees arriving from Moscow in 1929 which are new archival finds. While some 13,000 had gathered in outskirts of Moscow, with many more attempting the same journey, the Soviet Union only released 3,885 Mennonite "German farmers," together with 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists, and 7 Adventists. Some of new photographs are from the first group of 323 refugees who left Moscow on October 29, arriving in Kiel on November 3, 1929. A second group of photos are from the so-called “Swinemünde group,” which left Moscow only a day later. This group however could not be accommodated in the first transport and departed from a different station on October 31. They were however held up in Leningrad for one month as intense diplomatic negotiations between the Soviet Union, Germany and also Canada took place. This second group arrived at the Prussian sea port of Swinemünde on December 2. In the next ten ...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog