By the end of 1924 Mennonite Central Committee’s food kitchens and feeding operations in the Soviet Union were wrapping up, and the possibilities for mass migration had opened. Refugees had come to the Molotschna settlement from surrounding estates and from villages in the North Caucasus region—now “scattered in various Dorfs (villages), but not equally well received by all Dorfs” (note 1); these were amongst the first chosen for emigration.
In this still new reality there were signs that the
community was caught up in a spiritual renewal—noted with special concern in a
1925 “Agitation and Propaganda Department Report.”
“During the last six months [ca. November 1924 to April
1925] the work of Mennonite missionaries and ministers has increased. They
agitate for strengthening Mennonite religion and at the same time agitate for
emigration. Religious activity in Mennonite colonies is developing without
restraint because no proper attention was given to its study.” (Note 2)
Early in 1925, for example, the Chortitza Mennonite Church
with some 3,000 to 3,500 members and adherents agreed on a survival strategy of
more frequent gathering, teaching, singing and more consistent church
discipline, including the ban for those who marry outside the faith:
“The Brotherhood agrees that in order to elevate the ethical
and moral condition of our congregation, it is of great importance that, in
addition to the usual weekly Sunday worship services, evening worship services
as well as regular Bible studies must be instituted. The teaching with the
catechumens should start right at the beginning of the church year.
Congregational singing is to be enhanced by the choirs, for which our
adolescent youth should be engaged. … The Brotherhood also agrees that in
recent years congregational discipline has been much too weak, and finds it to
be urgently necessary to raise the awareness of congregational discipline … .
Every Mennonite must appreciate and value his membership more in the community.
On intermarriage, the Brotherhood agrees that this question has been
unequivocally decided in our confession [i.e., negative]. … Baptized members
who live in civilly sanctioned marriage [only] are also excluded from the
community.” (Note 3)
Teachers were increasingly required to be spokespersons for
the history and themes of the Revolution. In the same months a clear message
was issued to the German villages:
“Teachers must participate actively in social life. They
must organize reading halls in the villages, they must strive to acquire books
and [Soviet] newspapers—published in German, so that farmers can understand
them--especially now, for reading in the winter evenings. They must hold
lectures and discussions at least twice a week on all questions that interest
the farmers." (Note 4)
Not surprisingly, in Summer 1925 alone some twenty-six
Molotschna teachers left for Canada, mostly from the Gnadenfeld district; those
who stayed quite to farm (note 5).
In September 1925 as preparations were underway for the eighth
anniversary celebrations of the October Revolution, regional Soviet leaders
noted the unique difficulty of differentiating “the classes”—i.e., raising
class consciousness and the associated class struggle—among the Mennonites.
Authorities assessed that this was due to their generally “higher cultural
level” and the “high prosperity of poor and middle groups of Mennonite
peasantry comparing to respective groups of Ukrainian villages” (note 6).
While the GPU (secret police) and the Agitation and
Propaganda Department had some concern about German Lutheran and Catholic
clergy in the mid-1920s, they were clearly most concerned, perplexed and
frustrated with the Mennonite situation: their “religious caste fanaticism,”
isolation, and deeply rooted religious habits, their stubborn unreceptiveness
and negative attitude toward Soviet initiatives, directives and “boycotts” of
those who join the Poor Peasants Committee, the Lenin Young Communist League or
other Soviet organizations; and their dogged commitment to each other—even
internationally (note 7).
Village anniversary celebrations for the October Revolution on
November 7 (New Style) were non-negotiable and related activities were prescribed
in the greatest detail (note 8). The following instructions were distributed to
German villages in the Landau Rayon.
By November 5, all yards and streets must be cleaned and
swept.
On November 6, evening, a joint solemn public meeting of the
village council and all organizations must be convened with reports on the
political and economic achievements of the Soviet government, and on the
significance of the October Revolution. All public buildings as well as private
houses must be decorated with flags.
On November 7, the anniversary of the October Revolution,
there must be an unconditional general work stoppage.
At 9 a.m., the youth comrades and military conscripts will
march through the village on decorated horses and with caricatures of the
leading imperialist rulers on their wagons and with music in the following
order: Pioneers, Komsomol, party members, military conscripts and Red Army
soldiers (?), women's organizations, professional associations, village
council, KNS, (K)?, representatives of the cooperative and the school. Each
group will give their welcoming speeches before marching off to the
demonstration procession.
At 10 a.m., children must appear at the schools, where
teachers must explain the significance of the day. Schools will be closed for
classes.
At 11 a.m., all organizations and institutions must gather
in front of the village council building, where a report on the history of the
October Revolution will be held.
At 12 p.m., the parade will start to march through the
village.
The afternoon will be filled with games, sports, and
children's dances, etc.
In the evening, free theatrical performances, declamations,
songs, and concerts are to be given, in which revolutionary memories are to be
woven in.
All schools, reading halls, theaters, village councils,
etc., must be decorated with posters, red flags and slogans, and must be open
on this day."
These instructions help to reconstruct the atmosphere of German
and Mennonite village life in 1925, and the systematic attempts by Ukraine’s Communist
Party to compel Mennonite participation in new political “liturgies,” and to form—especially
children and youth—for the Soviet socialist citizenship.
A few days after this celebration of the October Revolution
in November 1925, the Central Bureau of the German Section of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party in Ukraine met and discussed again the
Mennonite problem. It suggests that Mennonite enthusiasm for the celebrations
were more muted than expected.
The Central Bureau resolved to implement more “intensive and
systematic work" and political education among "rank-and-file"
Mennonites at the village level, in hopes that peasants “from the plow” would
gradually be drawn into the party, who would then “carry out the reorganization
and thereby liberate themselves from the harmful influence of the [Mennonite]
Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage” (note 9).
---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast
---Notes---
Pic: The poster is for the larger Ten Year Anniversary, from Das Neue Dorf, https://martin-opitz-bibliothek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=via000389.
Note 1: Example of Schönfeld refugees, in Christian E.
Krehbiel’s Journal, May 30, 1922. From Mennonite Library and Archives-Bethel
College, MS 11, transcribed by Ruth Unrau. https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_11/.
Note 2: “Report by the Agitation and Propaganda Department
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine regarding issues in
German colonies, Late April-early May 1925,” in John B. Toews and Paul Toews, 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), 270, https://archive.org/details/unionofcitizenso0000unse.
Cf. also “Extract from draft decree of Politburo of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of Ukraine regarding work among the national minorities in
Ukraine, January 1927,” in ibid., 329–330.
Note 3: “Protokoll der allgemeinen Bruderschaft der
Chortitzer Mennoniten Gemeinde, January 2, 1925.” David G. Rempel Papers, Box
1, File 16. From Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
Toronto, ON.
Note 4: "Aufgaben der deutschen Dorfräten," Hammer und Pflug (Organ für die deutschen Kolonisten der Ukraina, Krim und Kaukasiens) 4, no. 39 (January 10, 1925), 1, https://martin-opitz-bibliothek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=via000321#lg=1&slide=0.
Note 5: Der Praktische Landwirt 1, no. 7 (December 1925), 12, https://chortitza.org/Pis/PL25_7.pdf.
Note 6: In other reports, Mennonite Union leaders are
accused of pursuing a “policy of concealing class contradictions,” and impeding
“class stratification” under the “banner of equality and brotherhood inside the
community.” Cf. the Report and Conclusions of the “Central Bureau of the German
Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine about the
Ekaterinoslav Secret Inspection of the Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage,
September 1925,” in Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage in Ukraine, 300–303.
Note 7: Cf. the full report of the commission in ibid., 270. The edited volume includes scores of newly translated, Russian language Soviet reports, surveys, and committee minutes.
Note 8: "Plan zur Durchführung des achtjährigen Jubiläums
der Oktoberrevolution, den 7/XI, 1925," USSR Landauer Rayons-Vollzugskomitee,
Nikolajewer Kreis, Odessaer Gouvernement, from Martin-Opitz Bibliothek elektronischer Lesesaal. There are two iterations of the instructions; the above is a composite of https://martin-opitz-bibliothek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=via000116
AND https://martin-opitz-bibliothek.de/de/elektronischer-lesesaal?action=book&bookId=via000108#lg=1&slide=0.
Note 9: “Minutes of a joint session of the Central Bureau of the German Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine with German sections of okrug committees about work with Mennonites November 10–12, 1925,” in 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), 318-324, https://archive.org/details/unionofcitizenso0000unse. On the Union of Citizens of Dutch Lineage in Ukraine, see previous post: https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/1921-formation-of-union-of-citizens-of.html.
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