Penmanship: School Exercise Samples, 1869 and 1883

Johann Cornies recommended “penmanship as the pedagogical means for [developing] a sense of beauty” (note 1). Schönschreiben--calligraphy or penmanship--appears in the handwritten school plans and manuals of Tobias Voth (Ohrloff, 1820), Jakob Bräul (Rudnerweide, 1830), and Heinrich Heese (Ohrloff, 1842). Heese had a list of related supplies required for each pupil, including “a Bible, slate, slate pencil, paper, straight edge, lead pencil, quill pen, quill knife, ink bottle, three candlesticks, three snuffers, and a container to keep supplies; the teacher will provide water color (Tusche) and ink” (note 2).

The standard school schedule at this time included ten subject areas: Bible; reading; writing; recitation and composition; arithmetic; geography; singing; recitation and memory work; and preparation of the scripture for the following Sunday worship—and penmanship (note 3).

Below are penmanship samples first from the Molotschna village school of Tiege, 1869. This student work was created by Peter Wiens. The folder of materials show that students were required to write not only in old-form Kurrent cursive, but also Latin cursive and in Russian (note 4).

While Russian language training had been encouraged since the days of Johann Cornies, it remained absent from the required village school curriculum. In 1866 Russian school inspectors had found that less than half of the Mennonite schoolteachers were familiar with Russian (note 5). That year state officials obliged Mennonite teachers “by their own signatures” to instruct the children in the Russian language for one hour a day, though “several progressive teachers, long before 1866, even in 1830 [Bräul and Heese], had taught in Russian” (note 6).

The second set of samples below on penmanship are by 12 and 13-year-olds in 1883 (note 7). Again, the assignments are vehicles for students not only to develop a sense of beauty, but also to learn a religious or moral truth. They give a small window on how Russian Mennonite children were shaped to rightly see and navigate their lives as a spiritual journey.

Below are translations of three of the 1883 samples:

"To love PEACE, to bring PEACE, to hold my tongue when the quarreler rants, to approach all matters full of love--may these things always be my obligation [full text repeated]. Age 12 Franz Wieb"

"To pray eagerly and watch carefully--may this duty become my joy. And to wisely flee temptation---may I strive daily towards this goal [repeat]. Jesus, allow me to succeed. Age 12 Helena Ediger."

"Christian thinking, talking, doing, is the Christian's duty. If you want to rest in peace and surety, do not neglect this rule. Act responsibly, be faithful, fear God, and shun sin. Age 12, Dietrich Peters."

The fourth is written in the older Kurrent script by Kornelius Janzen. It is a mini essay on the origins of the "rose" in western Asia, and how its fruit is used for "rose hip" tea, etc.

Next generation pedagogues judged calligraphy and the drawing “of flowers, etc.” as “if not laughable, then at least as somewhat useless” as part of the curriculum (note 8). However, in the pre-industrial, first half of the eighteenth century, Schönschreiben also some economic value, as P. M. Friesen’s description of master teacher Jacob Bräul of Rudnerweide suggests:

“‘Block-lettering’ [Fraktur] drawing, and painting were practiced especially in the making of small pictures and greeting cards (for Christmas, New Year, etc.), which also were presented to students as rewards for industry and good behaviour. Bräul really had artistic talent, but he also had ability in technical drawing (drafting) and produced designs for clock faces, for the huge Dutch wall clocks which even now are manufactured among the Mennonites of Russia as household furniture. He also drew plans for chests (large trunks), the major piece of furniture of the “big room” (living-room) of those days, and drew blueprints for clothes closets, corner cabinets, brick cabinets, four-poster beds and stately desks for the living room. Thus he supplemented his income during the long summer vacation [four months]. In the same way he was engaged in bookbinding.” (Note 9)

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: In D. H. Epp, Johann Cornies: Züge aus seinem Leben und Wirken [1909] (Rosthern, SK: Echo, 1946), 62, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/?file=1dok15.pdf.

Note 2: Ethel Ewert Abraham, “Fraktur by Germans from Russia,” American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. Working paper no. 21 (Fall 1976), 12–16; 16. Decades later P. M. Friesen reported on Bräul’s ability to teach Russia as well as the fact that he was “famous for his teaching of arithmetic, singing, and penmanship” (The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910 [Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978], 781, https://archive.org/details/TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia17891910/).

Note 3: Peter J. Braun, “The Educational System of the Mennonite Colonies in South Russia,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 3, no. 3 (July 1929), 174; see Braun’s larger 1920 study: Der Molotschnaer Mennoniten-Schulrat, 1869–1919. Zum Gedenktag seines 50jährigen Bestehens, edited by Wladimir Süss (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001).

Note 4: Peter J. Braun Russian Mennonite Archive, Robarts Library, University of Toronto, file no. 2000, “School Exercise Samples, Tiege Village Schools, 1869,” 16 pages. See finding guide, http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/programs/archives/holdings/papers/pdfs/PJBRussMennArchiveFA2.pdf.

Note 5: Friesen, Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 711.

Note 6: Braun, “The Educational System of the Mennonite Colonies,” 174; see J. Dyck, Braeul Genealogy: 1670–1983 (Sprinstein, MB: Self-published), 21.

Note 7: File no. 2466, Peter J. Braun Russian Mennonite Archive.

Note 8: Franz Isaac, Die Molotschnaer Mennoniten. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte derselben (Halbstadt, Taurien: H. J. Braun, 1908), 275, https://archive.org/details/die-molotschnaer-mennoniten-editablea; ET: https://www.mharchives.ca/download/3573/.

Note 9: Friesen, Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 780f. Tobias Voth too was an excellent artist and drew the only existing picture of Johann Cornies.

Comments

The End of Schardau (and other Molotschna villages), 1941

My grandmother was four-years old when her parents moved from Petershagen, Molotschna to Schardau in 1908. This story is larger than that of Schardau, but tells how this village and many others in Molotschna were evacuated by Stalin days before the arrival of German troops in 1941. -ANF The bridge across the Dnieper at Chortitza was destroyed by retreating Soviet troops on August 18, 1941 and the hydroelectric dam completed near Einlage in 1932 was also dynamited by NKVD personnel—killing at least 20,000 locals downstream, and forcing the Germans to cross further south at Nikopol. For the next six-and-a-half weeks, the old Mennonite settlement area of Chortitza was continuously shelled by Soviet troops from Zaporozhje on the east side of the river ( note 1 ). The majority of Russian Germans in Crimea and Ukraine paid dearly for Germany’s Blitzkrieg and plans for racially-based population resettlements. As early as August 3, 1941, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Forces received noti...

Sesquicentennial: Proclamation of Universal Military Service Manifesto, January 1, 1874

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago Tsar Alexander II proclaimed a new universal military service requirement into law, which—despite the promises of his predecesors—included Russia’s Mennonites. This act fundamentally changed the course of the Russian Mennonite story, and resulted in the emigration of some 17,000 Mennonites. The Russian government’s intentions in this regard were first reported in newspapers in November 1870 ( note 1 ) and later confirmed by Senator Evgenii von Hahn, former President of the Guardianship Committee ( note 2 ). Some Russian Mennonite leaders were soon corresponding with American counterparts on the possibility of mass migration ( note 3 ). Despite painful internal differences in the Mennonite community, between 1871 and Fall 1873 they put up a united front with five joint delegations to St. Petersburg and Yalta to petition for a Mennonite exemption. While the delegations were well received and some options could be discussed with ministers of the Crown, ...

“The way is finally open”—Russian Mennonite Immigration, 1922-23

In a highly secretive meeting in Ohrloff, Molotschna on February 7, 1922, leaders took a decision to work to remove the entire Mennonite population of some 100,000 people out of the USSR—if at all possible ( note 1 ). B.B. Janz (Ohrloff) and Bishop David Toews (Rosthern, SK) are remembered as the immigration leaders who made it possible to bring some 20,000 Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada in the 1920s ( note 2 ). But behind those final numbers were multiple problems. In August 1922, an appeal was made by leaders to churches in Canada and the USA: “The way is finally open, for at least 3,000 persons who have received permission to leave Russia … Two ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway are ready to sail from England to Odessa as soon as the cholera quarantine is lifted. These Russian [Mennonite] refugees are practically without clothing … .” ( Note 3 ) Notably at this point B. B. Janz was also writing Toews, saying that he was utterly exhausted and was preparing to ...

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...

On Becoming the Quiet in the Land

They are fair questions: “What happened to the firebrands of the Reformation? How did the movement become so withdrawn--even "dour and unexciting,” according to one historian? Mennonites originally referred to themselves as the “quiet in the land” in contrast to the militant--definitely more exciting--militant revolutionaries of Münster ( note 1 ), and identification with Psalm 35:19f.: “Let not my enemies gloat over me … For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.” How did Mennonites become the “quiet in the land” in Royal Prussia? Minority non-citizen groups in Poland like Jews, Scots, Huguenots or the much smaller body of Mennonites did not enjoy full political or economic rights as citizens. Ecclesial and civil laws left linguistic or religious minorities vulnerable to extortion. Such groups sought to negotiate a Privilegium or charter with the king, which set out a legal basis for some protections of life an...

1871: "Mennonite Tough Luck"

In 1868, a delegation of Prussian Mennonite elders met with Prussian Crown Prince Frederick in Berlin. The topic was universal conscription--now also for Mennonites. They were informed that “what has happened here is coming soon to Russia as well” ( note 1 ). In Berlin the secret was already out. Three years later this political cartoon appeared in a satirical Berlin newspaper. It captures the predicament of Russian Mennonites (some enticed in recent decades from Prussia), with the announcement of a new policy of compulsory, universal military service. “‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire—or: Mennonite tough luck.’ The Mennonites, who immigrated to Russia in order to avoid becoming soldiers in Prussia, are now subject to newly introduced compulsory military service.” ( Note 2 ) The man caught in between looks more like a Prussian than Russian Mennonite—but that’s beside the point. With the “Great Reforms” of the 1860s (including emancipation of serfs) the fundamentals were c...

Mennonite-Designed Mosque on the Molotschna

The “Peter J. Braun Archive" is a mammoth 78 reel microfilm collection of Russian Mennonite materials from 1803 to 1920 -- and largely still untapped by researchers ( note 1 ). In the files of Philipp Wiebe, son-in-law and heir to Johann Cornies, is a blueprint for a mosque ( pic ) as well as another file entitled “Akkerman Mosque Construction Accounts, 1850-1859” ( note 2 ). The Molotschna Mennonites were settlers on traditional Nogai lands; their Nogai neighbours were a nomadic, Muslim Tartar group. In 1825, Cornies wrote a significant anthropological report on the Nogai at the request of the Guardianship Committee, based largely on his engagements with these neighbours on Molotschna’s southern border ( note 3 ). Building upon these experiences and relationships, in 1835 Cornies founded the Nogai agricultural colony “Akkerman” outside the southern border of the Molotschna Colony. Akkerman was a projection of Cornies’ ideal Mennonite village outlined in exacting detail, with un...

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 ...

The Tinkelstein Family of Chortitza-Rosenthal (Ukraine)

Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in "New Russia" (later Ukraine), est. 1789. The last Mennonites left in 1943 ( note 1 ). During the Stalin years in Ukraine (after 1928), marriage with Jewish neighbours—especially among better educated Mennonites in cities—had become somewhat more common. When the Germans arrived mid-August 1941, however, it meant certain death for the Jewish partner and usually for the children of those marriages. A family friend, Peter Harder, died in 2022 at age 96. Peter was born in Osterwick to a teacher and grew up in Chortitza. As a 16-year-old in 1942, Peter was compelled by occupying German forces to participate in the war effort. Ukrainians and Russians (prisoners of war?) were used by the Germans to rebuild the massive dam at Einlage near Zaporizhzhia, and Peter was engaged as a translator. In the next year he changed focus and started teachers college, which included significant Nazi indoctrination. In 2017 I interviewed Peter Ha...

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 ...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog