Skip to main content

Ukraine Independence--Russian Aggression--German Interests (1918)

The semi-autonomous Ukrainian People's Republic was established shortly after Russia's February Revolution in 1917. Much was still fluid, however. After the October Bolshevik Revolution the Central Rada of Ukraine in Kyiv declared full state independence from the Russian Republic on January 22, 1918. The Ukrainian People's Republic negotiated an end to its participation in Great War, and on February 9, 1918 signed a protectorate treaty in Brest-Litovsk.

On February 17, Ukraine appealed to Germany and Austria-Hungary for assistance to repel Russian Bolshevik “invaders,” to detach Ukraine from Russia, and to establish conditions of stability.

The World War had not yet ended. Imperialist Germany was desperate for grain and natural resources from Ukraine, eager to end the war in the east while containing Russia, and determined to establish post-war markets for German goods, technologies and influence (note 1).

For its part the Russian Bolshevik regime was eager to save the Revolution, and on March 3, 1918 signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which effectively took Russia out of the war. Soviet Russia even recognized the independence of Ukraine, and gave up control of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia that were to become German client states.

There was still disorder in countryside. Bandit attacks on Mennonite villages grew in frequency and violence as wealth was transferred.

On April 19, 1918, the Molotschna settlement came under German military administration. The propertied classes in Ukraine—especially the ethnic Germans—welcomed the troops; from the estates “the communes and commissioners fled wildly in all directions, and each one had grabbed whatever he could” (note 2).

On April 29 the weak Ukrainian People’s Republic was toppled in a coup d’etat led by Pavlo Skoropadsky, a Ukrainian cavalry general in the war. Skoropadsky was the leader of the conservative League of Landowners. Skoropadsky agreed to continue to send food and resources to Germany and to complete German military control. Skoropadsy was installed Hetman, or royal head of state, by the church.

The new Ukrainian government ratified an edict on May 1, 1918 nullifying previous Russian liquidation laws (note 3), and confiscated property was returned to original owners. Estate owner Jacob C. Toews was named chair of a three-person commission formed to evaluate damage by Bolshevik communes on the estates (Melitopol/ Molotschna area) and arrange compensation; because there was little to take from neighbouring Russian “proletariat” villagers, well-to-do Russian estate owners were forced to pay (note 4).

In the Mennonite villages the once wealthy—often accompanied by the Ukrainian National Guard and the German military—went house-to-house to identify property and goods that had migrated. Jacob C. Toews and his neighbour Martens each received two carriages with horses, and two soldiers for the protection of their estates (note 5). Mennonite “rich women went to the houses of the poor and demanded back their pillows, lamps, chickens, pets and jars. Here is where the real hatred was engendered,” according to one contemporary (note 6).

On May 14–15, 1918, a “Congress of Representatives of the German Settlements” was called in the village of Prischib—across the Molotschna River from Halbstadt—with 750 representatives from Taurien, Ekaterinoslav and from the Don and Charkov regions. A resolution was passed unanimously with little local consultation to request the German Kaiser grant citizenship to German colonists in South Russia. The resolution indicated their wish “to organize a German state structure” and “to remain here as German forerunners and pioneers … [or to] return to the German motherland” (note 7). In turn, they promised “to offer themselves unreservedly to the German homeland, economically and militarily” (note 8).

Already a “good number” of Mennonites opted not to acquire the new Ukrainian citizenship, and requested provisional papers as German citizens; the Supreme Army Command hoped this option would help recruitment for new reservists among the colonists (note 9).

Another option was for Germans scattered across the former Russian state to migrate to South Russia including Crimea and seek independence under German protectorship, or to pursue the creation of a culturally autonomous German region within Ukraine or Crimea (note 10). Benjamin Unruh and Johann Willms were key Mennonite representatives in discussions.

By November 1918, only seven months after the arrival of German troops in Ukraine, Germany was defeated on the Western Front and began to withdraw all troops from Ukraine.

With the departure of German troops the weak Ukrainian government collapsed and with it all government authority. Nestor Makhno (1889–1934), the notorious leader of an extensive army of anarchists, stepped into the power vacuum to “expropriate the expropriators.”

             ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Pic: Volksfreund II (XI), no. 14 (32) (April 20, 1918), 1, https://chortitza.org/pdf/pletk19.pdf..

Note 1: “Denkschrift: Über die Wahrung der Interessen des Reiches in den neuen Ost-Staaten in strategischer, wirtschaftlicher und verkehrspolitischer Hinsicht durch Konzessionsierung einer Osteuropäischen Verkehr-Gesellschaft (June 1918),” from Reichskanzlei Kriegsakten 4:2, vol. 3 (März–Juli 1918), 185–188 (Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde R 43/2406, https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/). Also Vzfw. (Sergeant) Rießner, “Das Ziel des deutschen Einmarsches in die Ukraine,” Deutsche Zeitung für Ost-Taurien (DZOT), Melitopol, Ukraine, 1918, no. 40 (July 25, 1918), 2f., http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB00014E4200000000. See esp. Wolfram Dornik et al., The Emergence of Ukraine: Self-Determination, Occupation, and War in Ukraine, 1917–1922, translated by Gus Fagan (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2015), https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/32934; also Dmytro Myeshkov, “Der ukrainische Staat und seine nationalen Minderheiten 1917–1920,” Jahrbuch des Bundesinstituts für Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im östlichen Europa 25 (2017), 159–176, https://martin-opitz-bibliothek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=0431301-25-2017#lg=1&slide=159.

Note 2: “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” translated by Frieda Toews Baergen (Leamington: Essex-Kent Mennonite Historical Association), 27, https://www.ekmha.ca/collections/items/show/42.

Note 3: Cf. “Die Liquidation der Deutschstämmigen,” DZOT, Part I, no. 136 (November 15, 1918), 2; Part II, no. 137 (November 16, 1918), 2, http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB00014E4200000000.

Note 4: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews,” 17.

Note 5: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews,” 27.

Note 6: Gerhard Schroeder, Miracles of Grace and Judgement: A Family Strives for Survival During the Russian Revolution (Lodi, CA: Self-published, 1974), 28f.

Note 7: In J. Toews, Mennonites in Ukraine amid Civil War and Anarchy, 52; also in Edmund Schmid, Die deutschen Kolonien im Schwarzmeergebiet Südrußlands (Berlin: Deutschtum im Ausland, 1919), 35f., https://chortitza.org/pdf/vpetk341.pdf. Cf. Thy Kingdom Come: The Diary of Johann J. Nickel of Rosenhof: 1918-1919. A record of violence and faith during the Russian Civil War, edited and translated by John P. Nickel (Saskatoon, SK: Self-published, 1978), May 31, 1918, 47; May 2, 1918, 44; Nickel references both the decision in Prischib and the broader Mennonite support in Chortitza for German citizenship. The official German response to colonists in Russia was, in contrast, very cautious; cf. Friedensstimme 16, no. 32 (July 9, 1918), 5, https://chortitza.org/pdf/pletk43.pdf. For the larger German desire for ethnic-racial settlers to repopulate after war losses, and for East Prussia to serve as a barrier to the east, cf. esp. Dornik, Emergence of Ukraine.

Note 8: “Vertrauensrat russischer Kolonisten,” DZOT, no. 3 (June 12, 1918), 3.

Note 9: Abraham Warkentin to W. J. Ewert, September 30, 1921, letter, in Benjamin H. Unruh, Die Auswanderung der niederdeutschen mennonitischen Bauern aus der Sowjetunion, 1923–1933, folder 10, 546a. Unpublished draft, ca. 1944, from Mennonite Library and Archives-Bethel College, “B. H. Unruh Collection,” MS 295, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_295/. For the broad 1918 interpretation of the July 1913 Reich Citizenship Law’s paragraph 33, cf. Oberste Heeresleitung, “Reichs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz vom 22. Juli 1913” (July 1918), 1f. (162f.), Reichskanzlei Akten, II Kr. 1 Adh. 5, 162–163 (BArch R 43/2403f). From Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde. https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de; also DZOT, no. 57 (August 14, 1918), 4.

Note 10: Benjamin H. Unruh to Peter Braun, October 28, 1926, 4 (Mennonite Library and Archives-Bethel College, MS 91, folder 2, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_91/folder_2/; based on a letter from Unruh to B. B. Janz, May 19, 1922; “Ueber die Zukunft der deutschen Kolonisten,” DZOT no. 59 (August 16, 1918), 2. Colonists were divided on the loyalty they owed a sympathetic Ukrainian government; cf. “Aus der Ukraine,” DZOT no. 59 (August 16, 1918), 3; “Die Krim als selbständiger Staat,” DZOT, no. 65 (August 23, 1918), 3.




Print Friendly and PDF
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why study and write about Russian Mennonite history?

David G. Rempel’s credentials as an historian of the Russian Mennonite story are impeccable—he was a mentor to James Urry in the 1980s, for example, which says it all. In 1974 Rempel wrote an article on Mennonite historical work for an issue of the Mennonite Quarterly Review commemorating the arrival of Russian Mennonites to North America 100 years earlier ( note 1). In one section of the essay Rempel reflected on Mennonites’ general “lack of interest in their history,” and why they were so “exceedingly slow” in reflecting on their historic development in Russia with so little scholarly rigour. Rempel noted that he was not alone in this observation; some prominent Mennonites of his generation who had noted the same pointed an “extreme spirit of individualism” among Mennonites in Russia; the absence of Mennonite “authoritative voices,” both in and outside the church; the “relative indifference” of Mennonites to the past; “intellectual laziness” among many who do not wish to be distu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mennonite Literacy in Polish-Prussia

At a Mennonite wedding in Deutsch Kazun in 1833 (pic), neither groom nor bride nor the witnesses could sign the wedding register. A Görtz, a Janzen, a Schröder—born a Görtzen – illiterate. “This act was read to the married couple and witnesses, but not signed because they were unable to write.” Similarly, with the certification of a Mennonite death in Culm (Chelmo), West Prussia, 1813-14: “This document was read and it was signed by us because the witnesses were illiterate.” Spouse and children were unable to read or write. Names like Gerz, Plenert, Kliewer, Kasper, Buller and others. 14 families of the 25 Mennonite deaths registered --or 56%--could not sign the paperwork ( note 1 ; pic ). This appears to be an anomaly. We know some pioneers to Russia were well educated. The letters of the land-scout to Russia, Johann Bartsch to his wife back home (1786-87) are eloquent, beautifully written and indicate a high level of literacy ( note 2 ). Even Klaas Reimer (b. 1770), the founder t...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia: A Refuge for all True Christians Living in the Last Days

If only it were so. It was not only a fringe group of Russian Mennonites who believed that they were living the Last Days. This view was widely shared--though rejected by the minority conservative Kleine Gemeinde. In 1820 upon the recommendation of Rudnerweide (Frisian) Elder Franz Görz, the progressive and influential Mennonite leader Johann Cornies asked the Mennonite Tobias Voth (b. 1791) of Graudenz, Prussia to come and lead his Agricultural Association’s private high school in Ohrloff, in the Russian Mennonite colony of Molotschna. Voth understood this as nothing less than a divine call upon his life ( note 1; pic 3 ). In Ohrloff Voth grew not only a secondary school, but also a community lending library, book clubs, as well as mission prayer meetings, and Bible study evenings. Voth was the son of a Mennonite minister and his wife was raised Lutheran ( note 2 ). For some years, Voth had been strongly influenced by the warm, Pietist devotional fiction writings of Johann Heinrich Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

"They are useful to the state." An almost forgotten Prussian view of Mennonites, ca. 1780s-90s

In 1787 Mennonite interest for emigration was extremely strong outside the quasi independent City of Danzig in the Prussian annexed Marienwerder and Elbing regions. Even before the land scouts Johann Bartsch and Jacob Höppner had returned from Russia later that year, so many Mennonite exit applications had flooded offices that officials wrote Berlin in August 1787 for direction ( note 1a ). Initially officials did not see a problem: because Mennonites do not provide soldiers, the cantons lose nothing by their departure, and in fact benefit from the ten-percent tax imposed on financial assets leaving the state.  Ludwig von Baczko (1756-1823), Professor of History at the Artillery Academy in Königsberg, East Prussia, was the general editor of a series that included a travelogue through Prussia written by a certain Karl Ephraim Nanke. Nanke had no special love for Mennonites, but was generally balanced in his judgements and based his now almost forgotten account of Mennonites on perso...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Between Monarchs" a lot can happen (like revolt). A Mennonite "Accession" Prayer for the Monarch

It is surprising for many to learn that Russian Mennonites sang the Russian national anthem "God save the Tsar" in special worship services ... frequently! We have a "Mennonite prayer" and sermon sample for the accession of the monarch ( Thronbesteigung ) or its anniversary, with closing prayer-- and another Mennonite sampler of a coronation ( Krönung ) prayer, sermon and closing prayer ( note 1 ). After 70 years with one monarch, the manual is made for a time like this--try sharing it with your Canadian Mennonite pastor ;) Technically there is no “between” monarchs: “The Queen is Dead. Long live the King!” But there is much that happens or can happen before the coronation of the new monarch. Including revolt. Mennonites in Molotschna had hosted Tsar Alexander I shortly before his death in 1825. Upon his death in December, Alexander's brother and heir Constantine declined succession, and prior to the coronation of the next brother Nicholas, some 3,000 rebel (mos...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flight from Flanders to Friesland

In the latter half of the sixteenth century Protestantism gradually spread throughout the northern Netherlands in the form of Calvinism—which had a direct impact on Anabaptists. When the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands led by the exiled Protestant Prince William of Orange went to war against Spain in 1568, persecution of Anabaptists in Catholic Flanders increased again. Long before the Protestant Northern Provinces would declare independence in 1581, the inquisition against Anabaptists in Bruges, for example, had achieved its goal. With the last two Anabaptist executions in the city in 1573, the once large and thriving Mennonite congregation was extinguished. Subsequently Mennonites lived in Bruges only on rare occasions, and when present, for only a short time, as for example the well-known art historian Karel van Mander in 1582 ( note 1 ). In the Northern Provinces Calvinism had become attractive theologically and politically. Not only was Christian resistance to tyrannical gov...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor), 1932-1933

In 2008 the Canadian Parliament passed an act declaring the fourth Saturday in November as “Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (‘Holodomor’) Memorial Day” ( note 1 ). Southern Ukraine was arguably the worst affected region of the famine of 1932–33, where 30,000 to 40,000 Mennonites lived ( note 2 ). The number of famine-related deaths in Ukraine during this period are conservatively estimated at 3.5 million ( note 3 ). In the early 1930s Stalin feared growing “Ukrainian nationalism” and the possibility of “losing Ukraine” ( note 4 ). He was also suspicious of ethnic Poles and Germans—like Mennonites—in Ukraine, convinced of the “existence of an organized counter-revolutionary insurgent underground” in support of Ukrainian national independence ( note 5 ). Ukraine was targeted with a “lengthy schooling” designed to ruthlessly break the threat of Ukrainian nationalism and resistance, and this included Ukraine’s Mennonites (viewed simply as “Germans”). Various causes combined to bring on w...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
1 comment
Read more