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Mennonites lay down their arms, Good Friday 1919. Pray for forgiveness

In the Mennonite tradition, there is no communion without first making peace with your brother or sister. The diary of Jacob P. Janzen of Rudnerweide, Molotschna—a single adult, brother to a lay minister—gives regular examples:

“Easter Sunday, April 10, 1911: We were also admonished to take part in communion; not many had attended [it] on Good Friday. With some it is because of small quarrels within the family or with neighbours, but others have felt deep hate for a long time and have stayed away for more than 20 years!” (Note 1)

Frequently Janzen also wrote down brief evaluations of the worship service, like on Good Friday 1911:

“Today we had communion in the morning and also church services in the afternoon. Rev. [S.] preached the sermon. He had written everything down and looked now and then at his papers, but in between he often got stuck and then he would keep coughing until he found his place in his papers. It was very disturbing and I became quite annoyed.”

These Good Friday/ Easter entries are from what some have called the “Golden Years” of Mennonite life in Russia. Only eight years later—after World War I, Revolution, the anarchist raids of Makhno—that world came to an end.

One month before Good Friday and Easter 1919, the “First Mennonite Infantry Regiment” and self-defense units (Selbstschutz)—startling developments in themselves—ceased fighting.

On March 11, 1919, when Mennonite Selbstschutz leadership discovered that the Bolsheviks and the followers of Nestor Makhno [anarchists] had joined forces, they laid down their arms after three months of fighting.

“Selfless leaders among our people—Benjamin H. Unruh, A. P. Willms, Dr. Tavonius, and perhaps a few others [Kornelius Wiens]—walked directly into the lion’s den, that is, the headquarters of the Reds in Gross Tokmak, and pleaded for mercy. They solemnly declared that we had founded the Selbstschutz [for protection] against the bandits only and that we did not know that in the end we were fighting against government troops. This explanation lessened the punishment.” (Note 2)

Under the Bolsheviks, Makhno and his followers were given absolute authority in the province. In their anger they had sworn to kill all the inhabitants of the Molotschna's Gnadenfeld District and burn their villages to the ground. And then “something extraordinary happened”—recalls a Selbstschutz member and son of a church elder—at a meeting hastily organized for the twenty-six villages at the Gnadenfeld district offices. Amidst “utter confusion” about what to do next, Pordenau Church Elder Peter Epp spoke up:

“Appearing suddenly in the large hall of the district office amidst the great crowd of people was my father, Peter Epp. With fiery eyes he scanned the room and then he called out loudly: ‘Brothers, we have sinned, we have abandoned the aid of God and trusted instead in the strength of our own arms of flesh. There is only one way for us—to repent, to confess our sin and to return to God.’ Afterward Father shouted into the gathered crowd: ‘Let us pray.’ He kneeled where he stood, and brought all others to their knees as well, Mennonites and Russians, just as they were. After a prayer of confession and repentance, father stood up, looked at me for a long time and said, ‘Son, the war is over; let’s go.’” (Note 3)

From this meeting in Gnadenfeld—“in the very room where formally the Selbstschutz was courageously organized and where the nonresistant brothers were ordered to keep quiet”—prayer occurred, and an order was sent by the district office to all villages: “Do not flee, it is hopeless. We are encircled. Come together, preach repentance sermons in all villages. Cry mightily to God, perhaps He will be merciful” (note 4).

That directive for community prayer was taken up; the following two examples from Rudnerweide and Schardau were replicated in each village. Here again, the diary of Jacob P. Janzen:

“March 11, 1919: A sad day. … It is said that the bandit groups of Makhnovs, Ivanoutzi and Subkovtse have joined together with the Bolsheviki. Our Selbstschutz has given up … . It is said that they [Bolsheviks and Makhnovs] will not murder but high contributions will be assessed and all the grain will be taken. … We had a general prayer meeting at 4 since matters are so serious. … There had been serious arguments and [Rudnerweide Elder David Nikkel] wondered whether we should not forgive one another. All who were willing to forgive were asked to stand—that was good. We are in a situation where we don’t know whether we’ll live till tomorrow… . Hamberg, Klippenfeld and some other villages have been evacuated.” (Note 5)

Another person recalled:

“Those were real prayer meetings! In ... Schardau they met in the afternoon [and stayed] until six in the evening. Someone observed that it was time to feed the cattle. The response: What did the king of Nineveh say: ‘The cattle shall neither have water or feed. Cry out fervently to God!’ The prayer meeting lasted until nine in the evening. That was a village where previously they were against public prayer. Calamity teaches [us] to cry to God!” (Note 6)

Schardau was the neighbouring village to Pordenau, and they were all members of the Pordenau church.

The terms of peace included the surrender of all weapons. “What a shock to see wagonloads of weapons driven to Halbstadt through our formally peaceable village. We had no idea that so many of the weapons were still hidden,” noted Mennonite Brethren leader B. B. Janz (note 7).

Non-Mennonite Communist Party instructors from Waldheim, Molotschna with Red Army personnel helped to carry out new elections locally in the Molotschna, with some Mennonites siding quickly with the new regime. Again Jacob P. Janzen’s diary gives a local glimpse:

"March 28, 1919 [Rudnerweide]. We had to come to the village mayor immediately in order to elect a new Assistant. Three men from Waldheim have come and are leading it (Hellblau, Koehn and I don’t know the other’s name). Johann Thiessen is Assistant, Friesen is Chairman and also Secretary, Jakob Ewert, Abram Penner, Johann Nikkel and H. Thiessen, Peter Ediger, H. Goerz, Bernhard Klassen are in the soviet. He held a speech and used verses from the Bible but he continued to swear fluently.” (Note 8)

Those elected in 1919 were likely not yet Bolshevik Party members; however a soviet office role and Bolshevik Party membership was an “entry ticket” for those seeking to advance in the new order.

This is the longer context for Jacob P. Janzen’s diary reflections on Good Friday and Easter 1919, and for some of the days that followed.

“April 15, 1919. Today many [Red Army] soldiers were driven to Seljonowka and some wagons went to Marienthal [beside Pordenau]. At places they took sheets and also money for tobacco.”

“April 19, 1919 [Good Friday] During the 2nd [guard] shift it had been quite restless. The guards out of these villages all fled, trading horses, took our blankets along and then took other horses and harnesses. The flag had been taken away and they were so angry when they came back.

... Not many attended the Communion service in church this morning. Elder Nikkel [Rudnerweide] pointed out it was the wrong time to stay home in these days even if one wished to. Many possibly stayed home because of what he said [??] but we need to forget that for a bit and deepen our thoughts on the Lord’s Supper. Last year more than 300 communicants attended and now there were hardly half that number, he said. ... A train arrived in Berdjansk this morning and it made the Reds very nervous [rumour that the British were coming] and there was much running around, but they don’t know who the people were. Many buggies, as well as horses, are being sent out of Berdjansk by rail. I had to go on guard duty during the 2nd shift.”

"April 23, 1919. Rained almost all day with a west wind. Cannon fire is clearly heard from the direction of Marienthal ...”

“April 25, 1919. Today the guards made house searches … . They took whatever they wanted and took much. They beat several because they didn’t smile. They also took money. … I took one of them to the fields to look at the grain. He also recorded how much cattle and pasture we have. Then we had to take him to Marienthal.”

“May 17, 1919: Had to make the trip to Marienhof [?] in the morning with 3 Reds—one had worked in our village … He seemed to know which were the good and the bad farmers here and in Marienthal.”

“May 21, 1919:. We attended the funeral in the afternoon which could be held in peace. … Rev. Flemming spoke using 1 Peter 5: 6, 7, emphasizing that we are not to take revenge on our enemies or grab for a gun.”

“May 29, 1919 Sunday. Heinrich Abrahams of Franzthal preached in church today. He was very much in favour of the Selbstschutz.”

In early June 1919 the White Army began a northward offensive and moved through the Molotschna settlement. ...

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Pic 2 (below): “Red army resting, 1919,” is a stock picture from different region.

Video of Makhno: https://youtu.be/g8T_hafxdNk. 

Note 1: Jacob P. Janzen, “Diary 1911–1919. English monthly summaries,” edited and translated by Katharina Wall Janzen; idem, “Diary 1916–1925.” Translated by Edward Enns. Jacob P. Janzen fonds, 1911–1946, vol. 2341. From Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, MB.

Note 2: Bernhard J. Dick, “Something about the Selbstschutz of the Mennonites in South Russia (July 1918–March 1919),” translated and edited by Harry Loewen and Al Reimer, Journal of Mennonite Studies 4 (1986), 135–142; 141. https://jms.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/jms/article/view/238. On the flight from Halbstadt through the Molotschna towards Crimea, cf. Gerhard A. Peters, Menschenlos in schwerer Zeit: Aus dem Leben der Mennoniten Süd-Rußlands (Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1923) 38–41. https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/books/1923,%20Peters,%20Menschenlos%20in%20Sued%20Russland/1923,%20Peters,%20Menschenlos%20in%20Sud%20Russland.pdf.

Note 3: Cited in John B. Toews, “The Origins and Activities of the Mennonite Selbstschutz (1918–1919),” Mennonite Quarterly Review 46, no. 1 (January 1972), 5–40; 30 n.77 [translation altered]; John B. Toews, Mennonites in Ukraine amid Civil War and Anarchy (1917–1920): A Documentary Collection, translated by John B. Toews (Fresno, CA: Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 2013), 182.

Note 4: G. Derksen, in J. Toews, Mennonites in Ukraine amid Civil War and Anarchy, 91; 182.

Note 5: Jacob P. Janzen, “Diary 1916–1925.” See also an account of an all-night prayer vigil in Rudnerweide, Saturday to Sunday during threshing period (July or August) 1919 or 1920. They had received information that a Makhno slaughter of the entire village was imminent, but the elder urged the entire village not to call the Selbstschutz, but to pray. The Makhno attack was called off in confusion, fearing troops in the village. Cf. Franz Wölk, “Prayer in Rudnerweide” (Lemgo, Germany). In author’s possession.

Note 6: G. Derksen, in J. Toews, Mennonites in Ukraine amid Civil War and Anarchy, 91.

Note 7: B. B. Janz, in J. Toews, Mennonites in Ukraine amid Civil War and Anarchy, 183. Cf. also “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” translated by Frieda Toews Baergen (Leamington: Essex-Kent Mennonite Historical Association) 34f., https://www.ekmha.ca/collections/items/show/42.

Note 8: J. Janzen, “Diary 1916–1925.”





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