Mennonite German Soldiers from Paraguay

In January 2020 I received information from the German Federal Archives on the fate of my father's oldest brother, Jakob Fast, 1918-1944 -- a WW2 German soldier and Mennonite from Paraguay.

Jakob was among the first group of young men from Friesland, Paraguay who "returned" to Germany in May 1939. Their families had all arrived in Paraguay in 1930 via Germany and Moscow from the Soviet countryside. These young men were promised an apprenticeship in Germany with the hope their families might be able to follow.

Only a few months later the war started. There would be no return to Paraguay for 11 of the 28 Friesländer, including my uncle. The three little file cards from his record indicate that Jakob Fast, Jr. was first conscripted in Oldenburg in April 1942. Some of the 28 young men from Friesland had volunteered earlier. Fast's unit reached the Dnieper River in south Ukraine according to a letter an aunt received--the area their grandparents left in the 1890s in search for land (they were pioneers of the Neu Samara Settlement, where this uncle too was born in 1918).

Sometime after February 24, 1943, communication with family ceased. The materials received indicate he was still with his troop as late as September 1944. There is no record of his death, nor a record that he may have been taken to the USSR as a prisoner of war. While that is not improbable, he likely died before war’s end at about age 26. Jakob had been a "Kradmelder" or motorcycle dispatcher, typically tasked to relay information between the battalion and the command post. It was a dangerous role because opposing forces were always keen to break down communication.

How could this come about?

The Nazi German support and propaganda in Paraguay had been very effective before Jakob left for Europe. In 1938 the German External Affairs envoy H.C. Büsing was very pleased with the Nazi-friendly attitude in the colonies of Fernheim and in the new colony of Friesland, which my grandparents and their family helped establish. Here is a part of Büsing’s report:

“The inhabitants of the Mennonite settlement Friesland—established September 1937—… are undoubtedly closer to Germany than the two aforementioned settlements. … They know very well that this biological inheritance (Erbgut) alone—their love and capacity for work that is in their blood, their sense of order and discipline—will guarantee them economic success.

As a summary of the facts in this report, the following can be said: the Mennonites are of the most valuable German blood. … Their Nordic blood-- they probably originally stem mostly from Frisians and Lower Saxony-- which gave them unprecedented willpower, tenacity and perseverance on the journey of life, in the same way also made them stubbornly thickheaded (starke Dickköpfigkeit). … They are not intellectually untalented, however ... they are still a long way from the ideas of National Socialism and the Third Reich, however ... in all of the colonies apart from Menno, a love for things German and enthusiasm for the Third Reich is on display. … However, one senses an unmistakable caution when they happily confess their allegiance to the Third Reich. At the moment they only have Germany from whom they can expect help and support, and they are not foolish enough to forfeit that. It goes without saying, however, that you cannot leave such valuable German racial material unattended. Just as the young Mennonites in Asuncion are beginning to sense a strong feeling for today's Germany growing within them, it will not take long for this feeling to gradually assert itself in the younger generation in the settlements as well, aside from Menno for the time being. I have had the impression that the many presentations that I have made everywhere, have stimulated new thoughts, and that some of them have wished to free themselves from their intimate community and to grow into the greater German Volk-community. I have already mentioned that Colony Friesland has already come a long way on this path. Among the majority of other settlements, especially in Menno but probably in Fernheim as well, the older generation will hardly be open for anything new. --Büsing.” (Note 1)

There were also a few young women from the colony who returned to Germany in 1939. Justina Epp Goering recalled how arrangements were made by a former student of Unruh’s, Heinrich “Hayo” Schröder.

"Mr. Hayo Schröder, who arranged through the Reichsnährstand (Reich Food Production Agency) to bring us young people to Germany, also visited me at the farm. His smart SA uniform (Storm Detachment [paramiitary]) and slick speeches made me uncomfortable, especially at the first Christmas party [1939]. We were all homesick, and he let us be informed by a stylish Mennonite from Canada (Hayo Schroeder had also recruited young men from Canada and California, USA) that it was a solstice festival. Franz P. [Pankratz] stood up and said, 'For us it is the birth of Jesus and we're not changing that!' So the celebration ended without singing or music. Everyone received a copy of Adolf Hitler's book, Mein Kampf." (Note 2)

Schröder was not a theologian, but argued that the deep religiosity of Mennonites was characteristic of “Frisians” generally, that in turn awakens concern for “blood purity” which alone can ensure the health, vitality and survival of clan and race (note 3). Schroeder was from a wealthy Molotschna family and he fled to Germany after the Russian revolution and became a teacher and fanatical Nazi. He published many columns on genealogy and on German “Frisians” in Canadian Mennonite publications throughout the 1930s. The Winnipeg-based Mennonitische Volkswarte afforded Schröder space for extensive explanations of Aryanism and its supporting pseudo-scientific racial theory—e.g., that racial/genetic purity is critical for the development of a people; that foreign blood is poison for a people; that the Nordic race is the determinant race for the German people; that "Frisians" are the most ancient Aryan branch; that God has given every race a mission in the place that they have dwelt for centuries; the importance of a politics of race and a racial state; the yearning for a Menno-state, praise of Hitler, and all of this peppered with explicit anti-Semitic statements (Note 4).

Schröder’s amplification of Nazi theory and its adaptation for Mennonites was encouraged in some Canadian circles, tolerated by his former teacher Benjamin Unruh in Germany, and for those struggling in Paraguay an acceptable quasi-scientific and historical consistent with other sources from Germany. His pitch to attract young Mennonites in Paraguay to return to Germany was compelling but hollow, fanatical and ultimately deadly, as was the case for young Jakob Fast, Jr.

–Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: H. C. Büsing, Excerpt from Report on Paraguayan Mennonite Colonies, June 20, 1938; Akten des Auslandsamt (Germany), Fernheim Archive, Paraguay, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_416/fernheim_archives/SKMBT_C35108043009400_0002. jpg; other pages: https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_416/fernheim_archives/.

Note 2: Justina Epp Goering, Eine Familiengeschichte und eigene Erlebnisse (Nanaimo, B.C.: Self published, 2001), 50. Dietrich Rempel, ";Studienfahrt' nach Deutschland," in Auf den Spuren der Väter: Eine Jubiläumsschrift der Kolonie Friesland in Ostparaguay, 1937-1987, ed. Gerhard Ratzlaff (Asuncion: Cromos, 1987), 167-169. Pics: memorial and Studienreise group pic pp. 170, 171.

Note 3: Heinrich Schröder, Ruβlanddeutsche Friesen (Döllstädt-Langensalza, 1936) 31, https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/books/1936,%20Schroeder,%20Russlanddetusche%20Friesen/. For background, see Gerhard Rempel, “Heinrich Hajo Schroeder: The Allure of Race and Space in Hitler’s Empire,” Journal of Mennonite Studies 29 (2011) 227–254, https://jms.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/jms/article/view/1416/1406; also John D. Thiesen, Mennonite and Nazi? Attitudes among Mennonite Colonists in Latin America, 1933-1945 (Kitchener, ON: Pandora, 1999), https://mla.bethelks.edu/temp/nazi%20book%20thiesen/.

Note 4: See Heinrich Schröder, “Was heißt völkisch?,” Mennonitische Volkswarte 2, no. 8 (August 1936), 252-256, https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk379.pdf; no. 9 (September 1936) 279-282, https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk380.pdf.

Comments

The Executioner of Dnepropetrovsk, 1937-38

Naum Turbovsky likely killed more Mennonites than anyone in the longer history of the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement. This is an emotionally difficult post to write because one of those men was my grandfather, Franz Bräul, born 1896. In 2019, I received the translation of his 30-page arrest, trial and execution file. To this point my mother never knew her father's fate. Naum Turbovsky's signature is on Bräul's execution order. Bräul was shot on December 11, 1937. Together with my grandfather's NKVD/ KGB file, I have the files of eight others arrested with him. Turbovsky's file is available online. Days before he signed the execution papers for those in this group, Turbovsky was given an award for the security of his prison and for his method of isolating and transferring prisoners to their interrogation—all of which “greatly contributed to the success of the investigations over the enemies of the people,” namely “military-fascist conspirators, spies and saboteurs.” T

Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp, 1942: List and Links

Each of the "Commando Dr. Stumpp" village reports written during German occupation of Ukraine 1942 contains a mountain of demographic data, names, dates, occupations, numbers of untimely deaths (revolution, famines, abductions), narratives of life in the 1930s, of repression and liberation, maps, and much more. The reports are critical for telling the story of Mennonites in the Soviet Union before 1942, albeit written with the dynamics of Nazi German rule at play. Reports for some 56 (predominantly) Mennonite villages from the historic Mennonite settlement areas of Chortitza, Sagradovka, Baratow, Schlachtin, Milorodovka, and Borosenko have survived. Unfortunately no village reports from the Molotschna area (known under occupation as “Halbstadt”) have been found. Dr. Karl Stumpp, a prolific chronicler of “Germans abroad,” became well-known to German Mennonites (Prof. Benjamin Unruh/ Dr. Walter Quiring) before the war as the director of the Research Center for Russian Germans

The Shift from Dutch to German, 1700s

Already in 1671, Mennonite Flemish Elder Georg Hansen in Danzig published his German-language catechism ( Glaubens-Bericht für die Jugend ) as preparation for youth seeking baptism. Though educational competencies varied, Hansen’s Glaubens-Bericht assumed that youth preparing for baptism had a stronger ability to read complex German than Dutch ( note 1 ). Popular Mennonite preacher Jacob Denner (1659–1746), originally from the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, lived in Danzig for four years in the early 1700s. A first volume of his Dutch sermons was published in 1706 in Danzig and Amsterdam, and then in 1730 and 1751 he published two German collections. Untrained preachers would often read Denner’s sermons: “Those who preached German—which all Prussian preachers around 1750 did, with the exception of the Danzig preachers—had no sermons books from their co-religionists other than this one by Jacob Denner” ( note 2 ). In Danzig and the Vistula Delta region there were some differences

Prof. Benjamin Unruh as a Public Figure in the Nazi Era

Professor Benjamin H. Unruh (1881-1959) was a relief and immigration leader, educator, leading churchman, and official representative of Russian Mennonites outside of the Soviet Union throughout the National Socialism era in Germany. Unruh’s biography is connected to the very beginnings of Mennonite Central Committee in 1920-1922 when he served as a key spokesperson in Germany for the famine-stricken Mennonites in South Russia. Some years later he again played the central role in the rescue of thousands of Mennonites from Moscow in 1929 and, along with MCC, their resettlement in Paraguay, Brazil, and Canada. Because of Unruh’s influence and deep connections with key German government agencies in Berlin, his home office in Karlsruhe, Germany, became a relief hub for Mennonites internationally. Unruh facilitated large-scale debt forgiveness for Mennonites in Paraguay and Brazil, and negotiated preferential consideration for Mennonite relief work to the Soviet Union during the Great Famin

"Women Talking" -- and Canadian Mennonites

In March 2023 the film "Women Talking" won an Oscar for "Best adapted Screenplay." It was based on the novel of the same name by Mennonite Miriam Toews. The conservative Mennonites portrayed in the film are from the "Manitoba Colony" in Bolivia--with obvious Canadian connections. Now that many Canadians have seen the the film, Mennonites like me are being asked, "So how are you [in Markham-Stouffville, Waterloo or in St. Catharines] connected to that group?" Most would say, "We're not that type of Mennonite." And mostly that is a true answer, though unnuanced. Others will say, "Well, it is complex," but they can't quite unfold the complexity. Below is my attempt to do just that. At the heart of the story are things that happened in Ukraine (at the time "New" or "South" Russia) over 200 years ago. It is not easy to rebuild the influence and contribution of "Russian Mennonite" women and th

“First Arrival of German Troops in Halbstadt” (Volksfreund, April 20, 1918)

“ April 19, 1918 will always remain significant in the history of the Molotschna German Colony. That which until recently could hardly be imagined has occurred: the German military has arrived to free us from the despotism, rape and pillaging of barbarous people and to reestablish the order and security of life and property--something desperately necessary for our land. For this we give thanks above all to the One in whose hands the peoples and nations and also individuals rest. ...” ( Note 1 ) Mennonites greeted their “guests and liberators” with festivities that included baked goods (Zwieback), meats and even the German anthem “ Deutschland, Deutschland über alles "—all before the watchful eyes of their Russian /Ukrainian neighbours. The troops arrived by train; and to the shock of most present, three bound prisoners—all well-known bandits and terrorists—“were brought out of one of the railway cars without any prior notice, lined up and shot right in front of us” as an exampl

Plague and Pestilence in Danzig, 1709

Russian and Prussian Mennonites trace at least 200 years of their story through Danzig and Royal Prussia, where episodes of plague and pestilence were not unfamiliar ( note 1 ). Mennonites arrived primarily from the Low Countries and in large numbers in the middle of the 16th century—approximately 750 families or 3,000 refugees and settlers between 1527 and 1578 to Danzig and Royal Prussia ( note 2 ). At this time Danzig was undergoing tremendous demographic, cultural and economic transformation, almost tripling in population in less than 100 years. With 80% of Poland’s foreign trade handled through this port city ( note 3 ), Danzig saw the arrival of new people from across Europe, many looking to find work in the crammed and bustling city ( note 4 ). Maria Bogucka’s research on Danzig in this era brings the streets of the maritime city to life: “Sanitation facilities were inadequate … The level of personal hygiene was low. Most people lived close together: five or six to a room, sle

Why Danzig and Poland?

In the late 16th century, Poland became a haven for a variety of non-conformists which included Jews, Anti-Trinitarians from Italy and Bohemia, Quakers and Calvinists from Great Britain, south German Schwenkfelders, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian, and Greek Catholic Christians, some Muslim Tatars, as well as other peaceful sectarians like the Dutch and Flemish Anabaptists. Unlike the Low Countries and most of western Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a “state without stakes,” and as such fittingly described as “God’s playground” ( note 1 ). In the view of 17th-century Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel, it was “the ‘Promised Land,’ where the refugee could forget all his sorrow and enjoy the richness of the land” ( note 2 ). Over the next two centuries an important strand of Mennonite life and spirituality evolved into a mature tradition in this relatively hospitable context ( note 3 ). Anabaptists from the Low Countries began to arrive in Danzig and region as early as 15

The Tinkelstein Family of Chortitza-Rosenthal (Ukraine)

Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in "New Russia" (later Ukraine), est. 1789. The last Mennonites left in 1943 ( note 1 ). During the Stalin years in Ukraine (after 1928), marriage with Jewish neighbours—especially among better educated Mennonites in cities—had become somewhat more common. When the Germans arrived mid-August 1941, however, it meant certain death for the Jewish partner and usually for the children of those marriages. A family friend, Peter Harder, died in 2022 at age 96. Peter was born in Osterwick to a teacher and grew up in Chortitza. As a 16-year-old in 1942, Peter was compelled by occupying German forces to participate in the war effort. Ukrainians and Russians (prisoners of war?) were used by the Germans to rebuild the massive dam at Einlage near Zaporizhzhia, and Peter was engaged as a translator. In the next year he changed focus and started teachers college, which included significant Nazi indoctrination. In 2017 I interviewed Peter Ha

Invitation to the Russian Consulate, Danzig, January 19, 1788

B elow is one of the most important original Mennonite artifacts I have seen. It concerns January 19. The two land scouts Jacob Höppner and Johann Bartsch had returned to Danzig from Russia on November 10, 1787 with the Russian Immigration Agent, Georg von Trappe. Soon thereafter, Trappe had copies of the royal decree and agreement (Gnadenbrief) printed for distribution in the Flemish and Frisian Mennonite congregations in Danzig and other locations, dated December 29, 1787 ( see pic ; note 1 ). After the flyer was handed out to congregants in Danzig after worship on January 13, 1788, city councilors made the most bitter accusations against church elders for allowing Trappe and the Russian Consulate to do this; something similar had happened before ( note 2 ). In the flyer Trappe boasted that land scouts Höppner and Bartsch met not only with Gregory Potemkin, Catherine the Great’s vice-regent and administrator of New Russia, but also with “the Most Gracious Russian Monarch” herse

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog