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 between the Frisian and Flemish Mennonite groups.

From the earliest years, the predominant language among the smaller Frisian Mennonite group had been more German than Dutch, whereas the larger Flemish Mennonite population used Dutch exclusively. As early as 1671, a letter written to the Het Lam congregation in Amsterdam by five Frisian Danzig preachers—they were accused of having many “drinkers” in their congregation—was written in High German. Five other letters from Frisian congregations in the Greater Delta in the same decade were also written in High German (note 3). A century later in 1782, the Frisian Danzig minister and translator of selections from Martyrs Mirror lamented the dearth of Anabaptist materials available in “our High German language” (note 4).

Early in the 1700s Flemish ministers in the Greater Delta preached “largely in Dutch or in Low German” (note 5). The change in the pulpit language to High German was complete by mid-century--except in Danzig. Longtime Elder Hans van Steen (d. 1780) "had an excellent command of the Dutch language both in speaking and in writing and resisted the transition from Dutch preaching to German" (note 6).

A Danzig Flemish family Bible contains records written in 1734 mostly in Dutch mixed with some German; entries by the same writer six years later are written in High German. Yet as late as 1752 Flemish Mennonites ordered 3,000 Dutch hymnals from Amsterdam (note 7).

In the Danzig Flemish Mennonite Church, visiting Elbing-Ellerwalde Elder Gerhard Wiebe was the first to preach a German sermon, September 19, 1762; apparently Wiebe’s sermon was not well received. When Heubuden’s Flemish elder Cornelius Regier preached in German in Danzig on April 20, 1767, he “found greater approval” (note 8).

The Polish Prussian rural churches with the leadership of Gerhard Wiebe produced a first German hymnal in 1767. The shift in language was inevitable after the First Partition of Poland under new Prussian rule; one diary notes: "30 March 1777. On the first holiday of Easter the Dutch hymnals are set aside in Ladekop and High German is adopted for signing hymns" (note 9). In his first preface to the German hymnal, Wiebe wrote:

"Most of our co-religionists had grown up with Dutch. However because we use High German in preaching and singing, as well as when instructing the youth here in our Mennonite congregations (Taufgesinnten Gemeinen) here in W. Prussia, we made the decision (with Divine assistance) to publish this hymnal, in the certain hope that it will serve for general edification, and that God-seeking souls will derive no small benefit from it." (Note 10).

Cultural change was inevitable for the congregation in Danzig as well. While van Steen's preference for worship was Dutch, he was ultimately responsible for Danzig's first German hymnal in 1780. The collection was significantly different than that used in the rural Prussian congregations. However both were designed not only for use in public worship, but also for private and family settings to “awaken devotion and edification,” and in particular for the youth—that they may “not use it out of mere habit, but rather for the true uplifting of the heart,” as van Steen wrote in his preface (note 11).

The next year a Mennonite confession of faith written in Dutch in 1730 was translated into German and published for use in Heubuden (1768; note 12).

The first German sermon to be preached in Danzig by one of its own ministers, however, did not take place until January 1, 1771 (note 13).

When did Mennonites in Polish-Prussia and Danzig begin to use a German Bible? I am not aware of any source that mentions a switch of Bibles, but I would assume a German sermon was accompanied by scripture reading in German.

Mennonite migration to New Russia began in 1788.

Resources for faith formation in New Russia were limited from the start. In 1806, ministers in the Molotschna and Chortitza colonies begged (in German) the mother congregations in Prussia to send more German Bibles, catechisms, and hymnals—but Dutch texts would also do, “for we can still read Dutch without difficulty" (note 14).

In his Mennonite Encyclopedia article on the German language West Prussian Mennonite Geistreiches Gesangbuch, Cornelius Krahn wrote in 1955 that the hymnal had "the unusual record of having been in use for nearly 200 years ... going through 11 editions in Prussia, 7 in Russia, 11 in America, and 2 in Mexico, a total of 33 editions ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 copies each, making it the most widely used hymnbook of the Prussian-Russian Mennonites” (note 15).

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Map: Horst Penner, Ansiedlung mennonitischer Niederländer im Weichselmündungsgebiet von der Mitte des 16. Jh. bis zum Beginn der Preußischen Zeit (Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1940), 145, http://dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=33883.

Note 1: Georg Hansen, Ein Glaubens-Bericht für die Jugend durch einen Liebhaber der Wahrheit gestellt und ans Licht gebracht im Jahre Christi 1671 (Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing, 1892). Also idem, Confession oder Kurtze und einfältige Glaubens-Bekänetenüsse derer Mennonisten in Preußen, so man nennet die Clarichen (N.p. 1678), https://dhb.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/ufb_cbu_00010148.

Note 2: Cf. Jacob Denner's Christlich- und Erbauliche Betrachtungen über die Sonn- und Festtags-Evangelia des ganzen Jahrs, neue Auflage (Königsberg, [1730] 1751), https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN819172022; also Hermann G. Mannhardt, “Geschichte der Predigt in den deutschen Mennoniten-Gemeinden (Fortsetzung),” Mennonitische Blätter 38, no. 5 (March 1, 1891), 28–29, https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/newspapers/Mennonitische%20Blaetter/1854-1900/1891/DSCF1343.JPG.

Note 3: Horst Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten in ihrem religiösen und sozialen Leben in ihren kulturellen und wirtschaftlichen Leistungen, Teil 1, 1526–1772, 2nd edition (Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1994), 178f. English draft: https://www.mharchives.ca/download/3408/.

Note 4: Isaak van Dühren, Geschichte der Märtyrer, oder kurze historische Nachricht von den Verfolgungen der Mennonisten (Königsberg: Hartung, 1782/1788), 3; 34, https://gdz.sub.unigoettingen.de/id/PPN660141337.

Note 5: Abraham Hartwich, Geographisch-Historische Landes-Beschribung [sic] derer dreyen im Pohlnischen Preußen liegenden Werdern (Königsberg, 1723), 290, http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/resolve/display/bsb10000874.html.

Note 6: Jacob A. Duerksen, "Transition from Dutch to German in West Prussia," Mennonite Life 22, no. 3 (July 1967), 109, https://mla.bethelks.edu/mennonitelife/pre2000/1967jul.pdf.

Note 7: Hans van Steen, “Ein Danziger Brief an Martin Möllinger” (November 30, 1769), reprinted in Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender 5 (1896), 82, https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/newspapers/Christlicher%20Gemeinde-Kalender/1892-1900/1896/.

Note 8: From the “Danziger Chronik,” cited in “Familiengeschichte des Cornelius Regier, 1743–1793 und seiner Nachkommen (Auszug),” (Bolanden-Weierhof: Mennonitische Forschungsstelle, n.d.), 12, https://chortitza.org/Pis/Regier.pdf.

Note 9: “Lehn Diary,” transliteration and translation by Waldemar Henry Lehn, 2010. From Mennonite Heritage Archives, Winnipeg, MB.

Note 10: Geistreiches Gesangbuch, worin nebst denen Psalmen Davids eine Samlung auserlesener alter und neuer Lieder zu finden ist, zur allgemenen Erbauung herausgegeben, edited by Gerhard Wiebe (Königsberg: Kanter, 1767/1775), https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/783_952_G279_1775_c3/.

Note 11: Geistreiches Gesangbuch, zur öffentlichen und besondern Erbauung der Mennonitischen Gemeine in und vor der Stadt Danzig, edited by Hans van Steen (Marienwerder, West Preußen, 1780), 4 (link). See Hans-Jürgen Goertz, Pieter Post and Peter Letkemann, “Gemeindegesang und Gesangbücher der Mennoniten (Europa),” in Mennonitisches Lexikon (MennLex), volume V, http://mennlex.de/doku.php?id=top:gemeindegesang.

Note 12: See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/creating-spiritual-tradition-nine-core.html.

Note 13: See notes 6 and 8 above.

Note 14: Cf. Jakob Wienß to Joh. Kaunhowen, June 21, 1806, letter, “Alte Briefe,” Mennonitische Warte 4, no. 42 (Juni 1938), 230, https://chortitza.org/Buch/Brief2.pdf; also cited by David G. Rempel to Mrs. Yeomans, June 19, 1970, letter, David G. Rempel Papers, Box 6, File 2. From Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. Toronto, ON.

Note 15: See GAMEO article by Cornelius Krahn: https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Geistreiches_Gesangbuch. The entry erroneously does not distinguish between the West Prussian 1767 hymnal and the 1780 Danzig hymnal.

Comments

1923 Mennonite immigrants "kept behind": Lechfeld (Bavaria) transit camp

An important part of the larger 1923 immigration story includes the chapter of the hundreds who were held back at Riga and Southampton and taken to the Lechfeld (Bavaria) transit camp for medical care. “Germany generously and magnanimously helped our organizations, on my intercession, to overcome the manifold difficulties connected with such a ( Volksbewegung ) movement of people in such critical times,” Benjamin H. Unruh wrote some years later ( note 1 ). Just as the first group of Russländer Mennonites set foot in Canada 100 years ago this month, the North American relief effort in the USSR was also winding down (August 1923). The famine relief work in 1921 and 1922 had found broad support in the North American Mennonite community. However excitement about a larger immigration of Russian Mennonites to North America was muted, and a new call to action could not forge the same level of cooperation across Mennonite groups. The plan required huge money guarantees. In USSR B.B. Janz h...

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 ...

1920s: Those who left and those who stayed behind

The picture below is my grandmother's family in 1928. Some could leave but most stayed behind. In 1928 a small group of some 511 Soviet Mennonites were unexpectedly approved for emigration ( note 1 ). None of the circa 21,000 Mennonites who emigrated from Russia in the 1920s “simply” left. And for everyone who left, at least three more hoped to leave but couldn’t. It is a complex story. Canada only wanted a certain type—young healthy farmers—and not all were transparent about their skills and intentions The Soviet Union wanted to rid itself of a specifically-defined “excess,” and Mennonite leadership knew how to leverage that Estate owners, and Selbstschutz /White Army militia were the first to be helped to leave, because they were deemed as most threatened community members; What role did money play? Thousands paid cash for their tickets; Who made the final decision on group lists, and for which regions? This was not transparent. Exit visa applications were also regularly reje...

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 ...

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...

Queen Elizabeth II and Aunt Adina Neufeld Bräul

This month (April 2023) we celebrated my aunt’s 97th birthday—Adina Neufeld Bräul. Queen Elizabeth II and Aunt Adina were born within hours of each other, April 20-21, 1926. She once told me—in somewhat different words—that this makes her wonder about God’s providence … In 1944 in German-annexed Poland, my 16-year-old uncle Walter Bräul was required to report for military service. His first thought: no good soldier should be without a girlfriend! Before leaving for training, he asked one of the girls from "the trek" on a date to see a movie in Exin. Seven years later they would marry in Paraguay. Adina and her mother and sister were on the same trek or group (Gnadenfeld/ Molotschna) out of Ukraine as Walter and my mother (in the 2023 photo). Adina’s most terrible memory of the trek was when their wagon almost tipped over into a deep ravine. She was 17—a year older than Walter—and it was Walter’s 17-year-old brother Peter who literally jumped from his wagon to physically stop ...

A Traveler's Impressions of the Molotschna, 1927

In November 1927, Susanna Toews of Ohrloff, Molotschna wrote to her brother Gerhard in Canada, "Father is sleeping and the sisters are reading, even though they have read the stuff ten times. . .. Twice a week we get Das Neue Dorf . We read the most important material the first evening and then father reads the rest of it the next day" ( note 1 ). A youth in Friedensruh, Molotschna reported to the communist youth paper Die Saat in 1928, that their village receives 13 copies of Das Neue Dorf , 6 copies of Die Saat , one of the Moscow-based Deutsche Zentral-Zeitung , 16 copies of Die Trompete, 2 copies of Neuland , and some Russian papers as well. On average, 2 papers per household--all communist papers. A Mennonite-based monthly agricultural journal, “The Practical Agriculturalist” ( Der praktische Landwirt ) had been approved for publication in Ukraine in 1924 but was shut down in December 1926. Government authorities in Ukraine were exasperated to see a “significant a...

Warthegau, Nazism and two 15-year-old Mennonites, 1944

Katharina Esau offered me a home away from home when I was a student in Germany in the 1980s. The Soviet Union released her and her family in 1972. Käthe Heinrichs—her maiden name (b. Aug. 18, 1928)—and my Uncle Walter Bräul were classmates in Gnadenfeld during Nazi occupation of Ukraine, and experienced the Gnadenfeld group “trek” as 15-year-olds together. Before she passed, she wrote her story ( note 1 )—and I had opportunity to interview my uncle. Käthe and Walter both arrived in Warthegau—German annexed Poland—in March 1944 ( note 2 ), and the Reich had a plan for their lives. In February 1944, the Governor of Warthegau ordered the Hitler Youth (HJ) organization to “care for Black Sea German youth” ( note 3 ). Youth were examined for the Hitler Youth, but also for suitability for elite tracks like the one-year Landjahr (farm year and service) program. The highly politicized training of the Landjahr was available for young people in Hitler Youth and its counterpart the League of G...

Flemish Anabaptists and Witch Hunts

Political leaders have long used the term "witch hunt"--and there is an historical connection to Mennonites. Anabaptists and so-called “witches” were arrested and tried for related reasons in the Low Countries in the 1500s: namely, as a means to divert God’s wrath. The late-Medievals feared that heresy—in this case ana-baptism and the challenge to other sacraments—invited the wrath of God, and was an instrument for the devil’s own hellish apocalyptic assault. The assumption: the devil's tactics to destroy Christendom included the use of both heretics and sorcerers. Gary Waite writes convincingly that both were seen as “polluting” the community and thus both had to be "excised." "This fear of pollution, or scandalizing God or the saints, also explains why small numbers of peaceable Mennonites were so harshly treated during the second half of the sixteenth century. Plagues, fires, and economic and social crises were often blamed on the presence of even a smal...

Mennonites and the Crimean War (1853-56)

Martin Klaassen was traveling through the Molotschna Mennonite Colony when the Crimean War broke out in 1853 ( note 1 ). His diary notes that the following hymn was sung before the sermon: December 1853 . With regards to the war which broke out between Russia and Turkey, the song, No: 723 “O Lord, the clouds of war are threatening now, above our heads we see them roll” was sung before the sermon” ( note 2 ). As the war effort grew, thousands of troops came through Molotschna: January 14, 1854 . Today our colony has received billets: in Halbstadt about 1,000 soldiers. It is said that Joh. Neufelds have offered liquor ( Branntwein ), naturally without charge. The soldiers are supposed to have marched in with jubilant singing and much hilarity. They had been very happy for the wonderful reception they got, and promised to accomplish great things. In March, England and France also declared war on Russia. March 26, 1854 . At noon today there was suddenly a military transport at ...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog