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 rejected, and applications fees not refunded;
North American Mennonite relief too had its limits. American Mennonites knew it was much cheaper to send tractors than to encourage immigration and guarantee their “keep” for 5 years;
And who would stay back with "Oma" and the infirm? Who would shepherd the church?

Yes, some chose to stay. Yet a secret police GPU report in December 1926 indicated that “ninety-percent of the Mennonite population wishes to emigrate, and in some village, fifty-percent of the Mennonites have already sold their property, largely to Russian farmers. … The situation is dire” (note 2).

In 1926 collectivization and mass persecution were still years away and there were some reasonable options—though far from ideal—for rebuilding and adjustments to the new regime.

Indeed as the doors were closing to mass migration, these were the last words of leader B.B. Janz to his congregation in May 1926 before fleeing in disguise to join his son in Canada. Janz reassured his people that he is not leaving because he sensed the worst was still to come; on the contrary:

"Nothing terrible stands before us; everything is in order. We have looked broader society and the government directly in the eye; we are not fleeing. … Look how much better things are now [in contrast to December 1921]! God cannot use a wealthy Mennonite people as effectively as a poorer people. … That we are all poor is not bad. The consequences will be positive. … Earlier, prior to 1914, there were differences between us, our churches. But in difficult times we were all one: one affliction, one God—with some doctrinal variations—but united. Everything went steadily downhill between 1914 and 1922; from 1922 until now—uphill … a common search for the path of life—a beautiful thing. In the Union we all worked together … and have decided to remain together." (Note 3)

There is lots of drama as well as tragedy to tell as Canadian Russländer celebrate 100 years in Canada. My encouragement is to write up those stories in ways that show the complexities and dilemmas and choices of the 1920s.

To that end it is exciting to see the 2011 volume of t primary materials from the 1920s online in an edited collection by John B. Toews and Paul Toews, Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage in Ukraine (1922–1927) (note 4).

The documents of this volume can help you build-up your family immigration story with texture and context. Jacob A. Neufeld’s memories--also available in English--are an important complement to those documents (note 5).

Years later in Canada, Neufeld addressed the question of “motives.” He was as one of the leaders with Janz in the 1920s, but also lived through the Stalin years and the Trek through World War 2.

'Were those who remained back the imprudent, the simple-minded, those lacking foresight and insight, … closed to the warning of an inner voice, lacking the courage and will power to make the break?' Were those who left opportunists seeking prosperity, leaving their responsibility to church, seniors, the infirm, and others who could not farm, 'defying Christian principles and identifying with the materialistic side of life?' ... I do not believe that any of these were the strongest or only motives—if so, it would be distressing and regrettable. Nonetheless, beyond the practical impossibility of a further emigration, the psychological, immaterial motives were the weightiest" (note 6).

Indeed in the 1920s much was still in flux and unpredictable. “Although many would deny it today,” James Urry argues, “the early Mennonite emigrants to Canada in the 1920s were not really escaping an established, oppressive regime, but were economic refugees, victims of the Civil War and subsequent periods.” The motivation “was largely economic,” and “some might also be better considered as exiles who along with other sections of the massive Russian diaspora of the 1920s contemplated returning to Russia, if and when the economic and political situation improved” (note 7).

For my family, a few things happened that made for tragic decades to come. That is not to take away from celebrating the Mennonite Exodus in the next years. But our celebrations should be told as complex family, historical stories, even theologically complex: if God opened doors, others--many more--were shut.

All of these things should be discussed as we celebrate the Mennonite exodus of the 1920s and write our family stories.

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Cf. John B. Toews, The Lost Fatherland: The Story of the Mennonite Emigration from Soviet Russia, 1921–1927 (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1967), 196, https://archive.org/details/lostfatherlandst0000toew. The photo above was taken on the departure of Heinrich and Maria [Thiessen] Bräul for Canada in 1928 (middle); cf. Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, Heinrich Breul, Family Registration Form No. 5208. Mennonite Leader C. F. Klassen from Neu Samara with his family also migrated in September 1928.

Note 2: “Meldung über die Emigrationsbewegung der deutschen Kolonisten” (December 1926), in Gerhard Hildebrandt, editor and translator, Die Mennoniten in der Ukraine und im Gebiet Orenburg: Dokumente aus Archiven in Kiev und Orenburg (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2006), no. 53, p. 58.

Note 3: In A. A. Toews, ed., Mennonitische Märtyrer der jüngsten Vergangenheit und der Gegenwart, vol. 2: Der große Leidensweg (North Clearbrook, BC: Self-published, 1954), 484, 486.

Note 4: John B. Toews and Paul Toews, eds., Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage in Ukraine (1922–1927). Mennonite and Soviet Documents, translated by J. B. Toews, O. Shmakina, and W. Regehr (Fresno, CA: Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 2011), https://archive.org/details/unionofcitizenso0000unse.

Note 5: Jacob A. Neufeld, “Memories of the former activities of the Verband by a participant in the Union of the Citizens of Dutch Origin in the Ukraine,” unpublished manuscript, translated by Lena Unger, Bethel College, North Newton, KS, 1953. From Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College (MLA-B), https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/289_74771_N394ea/. Original German: “Erinnerungen eines Beteiligten des ‘Verbandes der Bürger Holländischer Herkunft in der Ukraine,’” MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/289_74771_N394e/.

Note 6: J. Neufeld, “Erinnerungen eines Beteiligten,” 23.

Note 7: James Urry, “After the rooster crowed: Some issues concerning the interpretation of Mennonite/ Bolshevik relations during the early Soviet period,” Journal of Mennonite Studies 13 (1995), 29, https://jms.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/jms/article/view/442. A large group of Doukhobors returned to the Molotschna / Prischib region “from America” in 1926; cf. “Bericht der Zentralkommission für nationale Minderheiten beim Allukrainischen Zentralvollzugskomitee über die fehlende Umsetzung von Direktiven des Zentralkomitees” (June 19, 1926), in Hildebrandt, Mennoniten in der Ukraine und im Gebiet Orenburg, no. 45, 54. At least one Mennonite family returned from Canada in 1926, and another inquired in 1933 how it might be done. Cf. “Anzahl der ausgewanderten Mennoniten,” (April 1926), in Hildebrandt, Mennoniten in der Ukraine und im Gebiet Orenburg, no. 42, 49; also “Ein Brief von Johann Sawadskij an die Deutsche Zentralzeitung” (September 14, 1933), in ibid., no. 83, 62f.

---

To cite this post: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, “1920s: Those who left and those who stayed behind,” History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), February 3, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/1920s-those-who-left-and-those-who.html.

Comments

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 ...

Catherine the Great’s 1763 Manifesto

“We must swarm our vast wastelands with people. I do not think that in order to achieve this it would be useful to compel our non-Christians to accept our faith--polygamy for example, is even more useful for the multiplication of the population. … "Russia does not have enough inhabitants, …but still possesses a large expanse of land, which is neither inhabited nor cultivated. … The fields that could nourish the whole nation, barely feeds one family..." – Catherine II (Note 1 ) “We perceive, among other things, that a considerable number of regions are still uncultivated which could easily and advantageously be made available for productive use of population and settlement. Most of the lands hold hidden in their depth an inexhaustible wealth of all kinds of precious ores and metals, and because they are well provided with forests, rivers and lakes, and located close to the sea for purpose of trade, they are also most convenient for the development and growth of many kinds ...

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...

Quiet in the Land: Peter Fast, 1932-2010

My father Peter Fast passed away in January 2010. The years have given me many opportunities to reflect on his life and impact. He was a gentle and good person--and could work like horse. He was born into poverty in 1932 in Paraguay. His parents were pioneers, first in Fernheim and then (1937) in Friesland. He liked to tell me that he ate manioc root for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was never sure if that was true, and it didn’t help to convince me to eat things I didn’t like. His mother died when he was fourteen; the basic medical aid she needed was out of reach. His new step-mother was a complex person who made life difficult for him and others. Dad only finished the 6th grade in Friesland. He was more than happy to get off the school bench and onto a horse. I don’t think I ever saw him write a complete sentence in my life, whether in English or in German. He had no interest in history, let alone reading—though over time he read the local city paper. Nothing I’ve written on...

Life in Exin, 1944: German-Occupied Poland

After the 1943-44 portion of the Great Trek ended with settlement of some 35,000 Mennonites in German-annexed Poland, the Gnadenfeld area trek members were scattered in resettler camps ( Umsiedler-Lager ) around Exin ( Kcynia ) and the Altburgund District administrative centre of Dietfurt ( Żnin ), including the hamlets of Kiefernrode ( Słupowiec ), Schwarzerde ( Malice ), Schmiedebach, etc. ( note 1) . Until World War I, the area was part of the German-Prussian Province of Posen, about 170 kilometres south-west of Danzig ( Gdańsk ) and about 400 kilometres east of Berlin. Almost all ethnic German resettlers from Ukraine arrived through Litzmannstadt (Łódź), one of two entrance points from the east into new German province of “Warthegau” ( note 2) . Here thousands were cleansed, deloused and processed daily. Some Gnadenfeld group members were brought to Janowitz (Janowiec) , near Hermannsbad in the District of Hohensalza for quarantine. Here fresh straw was laid out on the floor for ...

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 Selbstschutz (Self-Defence Units) and Benjamin H. Unruh

Abram Kröker, editor of the Molotschna (South Russia/ Ukraine) -based Mennonite Friedensstimme , wrote that Mennonites are “predestined to foreshadow … even in an imperfect way, the great peace among nations in the Thousand-Year-Reign [of Christ].” And among all denominations, “it has pleased God,” according to Kröker, to “present and manifest” through the Mennonites this “pearl of evangelical truth gained at great cost by our fathers” ( note 1 ). And it is because of this theological hope and inheritance that “our youth are raised differently,” Kröker reminded his readers; “not military bravery or fighting are presented as the highest civic virtues, but rather sacrifice, suffering and renunciation for the sake of others. In all our schools, non-resistance is explicitly taught and impressed [upon students] according to the Mennonite catechism” ( note 2 ). But taking up arms in self-defence was nuanced differently by his colleague and influential 37-year-old teacher and theologian Benja...

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...

Jews and Mennonites Together in Danzig's Suburbs

There has been very little reflection on the relationship of Jews and Mennonites in the suburb of Schottland (or Alt-Schottland or Stare Szkoty) where Mennonites first settled in the mid-1500s. Here Mennonites and Jews lived in the small community together for two centuries, quite literally on the margins outside the gates of the city of Danzig. Many historic maps that include Alt Schottland have become available in recent years ( note 1; pic ). H.G. Mannhardt’s book on the Danzig Mennonite church community plus some archival membership lists are our best sources for the Mennonite experience, while illustrations from the day bring many of those episodes of prosperity, repressions, war, plague, emigration, flooding etc. in an urban environment to life ( note 2 ). Peter J. Klassen’s writings on Mennonites in Poland and Prussia also present newer research on Mennonite life in and around Danzig in helpful ways ( note 3 ). There is one small sentence in Klassen’s larger volume that sugg...

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...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog