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 anti-Soviet
religious periodical” and “widely popular” Mennonite church or faith-oriented
paper Unser Blatt (“Our Paper”) had been approved in Russia for publication in
October 1925 and was made available in Ukraine. It was shut down in 1928 (note
2).
In 1925 Das Neue Dorf--or "new village" --was
created out of two smaller Bolshevik /Communist Party papers in Ukraine/Crimea
and published twice-weekly. It was the “organ for the Bolshevik Party” designed
for German villages of southern Ukraine. The Central Bureau of the German
Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Ukraine used the
paper to address their on-going “Mennonite problem” and directed it on occasion
to create pointed articles, such as: “What the Soviet power accomplished for
Mennonites following the Civil War,” etc. Rural correspondents were explicitly
directed to strengthen “supervision of abuses,” typically by publicly
embarrassing former leaders with wealth or a connection to the church in almost
every issue. Cartoons helped to get the message across, as did unsigned letters
to the editors (see related post, note 3). But it also supported the official
ethnic German cultural developments in officially German districts, advocated
for sufficient land for the districts, and offered suggestions for a smoother
transition and development to the new political environment.
One of the more measured articles is a type of travelogue
through the Molotschna in 1927 (note 4); while it is only signed with the
initials of the author (“H.R.”), he appears to be a fellow Low German Mennonite
and Communist Party activist.
It is a longer article; here are some excerpts:
“About ten kilometers from [Rudnerweide] lies the village of
Gnadenfeld. Here land division is now being carried out. It turned out that
some land was being “hidden” [from the surveyor by those wanting to farm more
land]. "Didn't you know?" asked the surveyor reproachfully. Everyone
was silent at this question. The land share for each farmstead is 16 to 32
desiatina [17 to 34 hectare], yet some are without any land at all. For
example, citizen H.D., who is a very hard-working farmer, has nothing except a
pair of horses and wagons; he is a native of Gnadenfeld yet nevertheless has to
lease some land from year to year.
Wernersdorf is just a small village. It is said that the
people here are also poor, although today some farmsteads already look quite
prosperous. Everything goes its daily course. Over the last year there have
been only two incidents about which the good people of Wernersdorf became a bit
disturbed. That was when the land surveyor was to come—this led to some
"inconveniences" similar to those in Gnadenfeld, and then also when a
new chairman of the village council was finally elected.
The former, they say, was an otherwise good man, but very
forgetful in matters concerning the community or individual citizens. On every
trip to Halbstadt he especially loved to stop in Tokmak on the way to look
deeply into the schnapps glass. This did not suit the citizens of Wernersdorf
in the long run, and it is firmly hoped that his successor, a former Red Army
soldier, will do things better.
Wernersdorf is situated on the river. On the other side of
the bank there is a Russian village. The relationship between the Germans and
Russians is not very good. The Russian side often threatens with Makhno
[anarchist leader], once they even said: "Makhno will be there in three
days and then we will make an end with you Germans." Often there is
stealing from the Germans, and the trail almost always leads to the Russian
side. A direct hostility is palpable. The Germans do not look at the Russians
like they do at their own kind, but from above down: "That's just a
Russian."
Of course, a lot of ideological education (Aufklärungsarbeit) is needed here. The Halbstadt District should also contact
the surrounding Russian districts and lead this work from both sides. National
[ethnic] discord must not be tolerated under any circumstances. Festivals in
honour of the Revolution could be celebrated together, meetings and gatherings
could be held where German and Russian speakers would appear. Schools could
also make joint excursions. The German farmers must show more good will towards
Russian farmers, and help them with good advice, because the German understands
farming here better. Many more suggestions could be made. It is not an easy
task that stands before the district, but it must be solved and a
rapprochement--more harmony between the German and Russian population--must be
the goal.
The ethnic German schools in the district still leave a lot
to be desired. There is still a great lack of German books and guides for the
teachers. The material situation of the teachers is still weak. Particularly
difficult and time-consuming for teachers is the filling out of the most
diverse forms, lists and papers, which are sometimes sent by the rayon in heaps
in the Ukrainian language (in German rayon) which are sent by the rayon
sometimes in heaps.
The cooperative functions better now than it did when the
[Mennonite led] "Union of Citizens of Dutch Origin" was in charge
[notice the spin-ANF]. The latter, through its mismanagement, caused tangible
damage to many a German farmer. It is only in the present situation that the
individual German cooperatives have the opportunity to develop. The demand for
goods is great. Comrade “A.,” who heads the cooperative in Pordenau, said that
the necessary goods are not always available in Melitopol. People are forced to
travel further to buy goods, which, of course, unnecessarily increases the
cooperative's expenses. More attention should be paid to the German
cooperatives, which are still weak thanks to the previous mismanagement, and
they should be better served in Raysojus in Melitopol.
Ideological education is weak. One cannot find a proper
reading hall in any village, i.e., where one can get hold of a German book or
newspaper. Young people spend most of their free time in the streets. The
district party committee should pay more attention to this matter and find ways
and means to get closer to the German population. The Party Committee is hardly
known in German villages; many do not even know that it exists. If you ask a
German farmer about it, he will say: Well, is there something like that in
Halbstadt, too?"
Moreover, in many villages there is not a single Komsomol-
or party member. This, of course, makes the work exceptionally difficult, but
nevertheless, there could be a somewhat closer connection between the German
farmers and the party organization.
The church still plays an important role in these villages
today. Like everyone else, the Mennonite enjoys complete freedom of faith. But
even the sturdy walls of the Mennonite church (Bethaus) sometimes sway quite
noticeably. You can see it in the apparently small things. "Did you go to
Sunday school today?" a strict father asks his son. "No, I was
playing," comes the reply. "There were only girls and two of the very
youngest boys." The church in G. [Gnadenfeld] is to be renovated, but the
money does not come in; the farmer knows better and invests in his farm
instead. The question of conscientious objection is discussed and already there
are young people who do not want to renounce the honour of carrying a weapon on
behalf of the state of the working class.
The harvest has turned out quite well this year. Winter
cereals were mostly good, while the summer cereals in places was very weak. The
present winter sowing gives hope for the coming year.
One does not like to leave such a beautiful region. We hope
that the German village, the German district, will continue to take an active
part in the Soviet construction and serve as a model. H.R.”
---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast
---Notes---
Note 1: John B. Toews, trans. and ed., Letters from Susan: A
Woman’s View of the Russian Mennonite Experience, 1928–1941 (North Newton, KS:
Bethel College, 1988), 22f. https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/wedel_series/letters_from_susan.pdf.
Note 2: See GAMEO: https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Unser_Blatt_(1925-1928)(Periodical); AND https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Allrussischer_Mennonitischer_Landwirtschaftlicher_Verein. Most issues available at: https://chortitza.org/DPL.htm, AND https://chortitza.org/ZUB.htm.
Note 3: Related posts: https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/agitation-propaganda-and-strategies-of.html, AND (forthcoming).
Note 4: "Reiseeindrücke (Halbstädter Rayon, Kreis Melitopol)," Das Neue Dorf no. 19, 165 (1927), 3. https://martin-opitz-bibliothDek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=via000095#lg=1&slide=0. My translation.
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