When Singing becomes Urgent: Survival and Salvation through Music

Singing: survival and salvation

1) Language change, 1767, Danzig: Flemish Elder Hans van Steen published A Spiritual Hymnal for General Edification, designed also for private and family settings to “awaken devotion and edification,” and in particular for the youth—that they may “not use it out of mere habit, but rather for the true uplifting of the heart” (note 1).

2) Revivalism, 1850s. The influence of Eduard Wüst--revivalist minister installed by nearby separatist Evangelical Brethren--on the Mennonites was “boundless,” according to State Councillor E. H. Busch. “Satan is not entitled to present his own as the most joyful.” His people “sing, jump, leap (hüpfen) and dance,” while the Christian appears “cheerless and stooped over. … Why, when one opens a song book, are hymns about the cross and affliction chosen almost instinctively instead of songs of praise and thanksgiving? Isn’t the devil also having his fun in all of this?” Mennonite Brethren historian P.M. Friesen called him the “Second Menno” (note 2).

3) Renewal, 1860: Heinrich Franz’s Choralbuch (mit Ziphern) was published in its first edition of 5,000 copies. With the Choralbuch, four-part harmony was introduced, starting in the schools, “for the beauty, purity and correctness” as well as “uniformity” of singing across congregations. Besides offering 163 melodies for songs in the hymnal, the Choralbuch also introduced another 112 songs for church, school and home. For Franz, singing participates in God’s own work of “training for the kingdom of heaven.” Four decades later P. M. Friesen wrote that Franz’s “Chorale-book in ciphers has transformed the spiritual singing of Russian Mennonites (…) and even dominates it today” (note 3).

4) Famine, 1922: The Pordenau Mennonite Church choir conductor J. Thiessen gave an impromptu New Year’s speech on the significance of choral singing in times like these (revolution; famine): “Our choirs should represent the sensible, religious and moral foundation of our community. They should be vocal consciences of our society. Music should keep us from doing evil, should judge evildoing, and inspire the love of the good and the beautiful” (note 4).

5) Early Soviet era, 1925: The Chortitza Mennonite Church with some 3000 to 3500 members and adherents agreed on a strategy to survive Bolshevism: 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 … congregational singing be enhanced by the choirs, for which our adolescent youth should be engaged” (note 5).

6) Early Soviet era, 1926: Despite close Soviet government observation and concerns about Mennonite activities, officials sanctioned a two-day gathering in Rudnerweide for choir conductors in 1925, followed by a very large, six-day choral workshop and festival in the Lichtenau (Molotschna) Mennonite Church in January 1926, with seventy-seven choral conductors. Congregational youth choirs were flourishing—“proof that the love of singing has not been lost to a large part of our youth not even in the difficult time that lies behind us” (note 6; pic).

7) Early Stalin era, 1929: “Many Mennonites desire to emigrate at any cost. … Two new ordinances threatening the very existence of the Mennonites have touched off this new wave of emigration ... . First, church choirs … which are a strong means of attraction for the Mennonite church, are to be abolished. Second, Mennonite preachers will be forbidden to preach outside their own congregations” (note 7).

8) Famine and Collectivization, 1934: A youth choir in Pordenau was still allowed—indeed ordered by the village Chairman Harder, under the direction of Gerhard Riesen. However, the choir “was not permitted to sing religious songs, only folk songs ... .” But by and large, “attempts by the Bolsheviks to start new choirs failed because there was no interest” (note 8).

9) Repression, Stalin, 1935: “Our brother stood quietly some distance because for him it was risky to be with us. ... We stood close to mother’s coffin and sang in barely audible tones her favourite song.” Albert Dahl’s father (Marienthal)--a choir conductor--was later falsely accused of leading hymns at a funeral (note 9).

10) Nazi German occupation, 1941: In Paulsheim, Molotschna, Nellie Bräul Epp (my mother’s cousin) remembered worship in homes led by women, and a choir for teenage girls; she had never been in a choir—it was all so new (note 10).

11) Nazi-Annexed Poland, 1944: S.S. Storm Leader Karl Götz’s Volksdeutsche teachers college was relocated to Lutbrandau, and he was followed by a larger number of Mennonite students: “We were told that it was alright to believe in God, but Jesus was rejected because he was a Jew. … While we did not go to church we were allowed to pray and to read our Bibles, and on Sundays we Mennonite girls would sing hymns in our rooms”—something not allowed under Stalin (note 11).

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Geistreiches Gesangbuch, zur öffentlichen und besondern Erbauung der Mennonitischen Gemeine in und vor der Stadt Danzig (Marienwerder, West Preußen, 1780), 4, http://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=8000.

Note 2: On Wüst, see previous post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MennoniteGenealogyHistory/posts/6044927492207904/. Cf. E. H. Busch, Ergänzungen der Materialien zur Geschichte und Statistik des Kirchen- und Schulwesens der Ev.-Luth. Gemeinden in Russland, vol. 1 (St. Petersburg: Gustav Haessel, 1867), 261, https://chortitza.org/pdf/nfast3.pdf. On Wüst, cf. Mennonite Brethren publisher Abraham Kröker, Pfarrer Eduard Wüst: Der große Erweckungsprediger in den deutschen Kolonien Südrußlands (Spat, Crimea: Self-published, ca. 1903), https://chortitza.org/Pis/Kroeker.pdf. Eduard Wüst, Drei Weihnachts-Predigten gehalten in der Berdianischen Brüder-Gemeinde am Asowischen Meer in der Weihnachts-Zeit [1851] (Reval: Lindfors, 1853), https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/252_61_W967d/; Peter M. Friesen, The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910 (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978), 199; 211f., https://archive.org/details/TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia17891910/page/n165/mode/2up.

Note 3: H. Franz (1880), “Vorwort,” Choralbuch zunächst zum Gebrauch in den mennonitischen Schulen Südrusslands, 2nd edition (Leipzig, 1880), https://imslp.org/wiki/Choralbuch_zun%C3%A4chst_zum_Gebrauch_in_den_mennonitischen_Schulen_S%C3%BCdrusslands_(Franz%2C_Heinrich); P. Friesen, Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 712. See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/when-singing-becomes-urgent-survival.html.

Note 4: January 12, 1922, cited in Diary of Anna Baerg, 1916–1924, translated and edited by Gerald Peters (Winnipeg, MB: CMBC, 1985), 79.

Note 5: “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.

Note 6: “Die Dirigentenversammlung in Lichtenau,” Unser Blatt 1, no. 5 (February 1926): 96f. https://chortitza.org/ZUB.htm; for picture, cf. Gerhard Lohrenz, ed., Damit es nicht vergessen werde (Winnipeg, MB: CMBC, 1974), 157. Cf. also "Gottesdienstlicher Gesang und Sängerchöre,” Unser Blatt 1, no. 1 (October 1925): 13; also “Die Bedeutung des Gesanges,” Unser Blatt I, no. 6 (March 1926): 135, and many others, https://chortitza.org/ZUB.htm.

Note 7: Der Auslanddeutsche 12, no. 12 (1929), 410, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/?file=vpetk324.pdf.

Note 8: Peter Letkemann, “From Songs of Praise to Songs of Mourning: Choral Singing, 1915–1950,” in Road to Freedom: Mennonites Escape the Land of Suffering, edited by Harry Loewen, 247–253 (Kitchener, ON: Pandora, 2000), 252; “Chortitza Dorfbericht,” sec. VII (d) “Gesangchöre, 7b (4), in Stumpp, “Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp,” Prepared for the German Reichsminister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, 1942, https://tsdea.archives.gov.ua/deutsch/gallery.php?tt=R_6_622+Gebiet%3A+Zwischen%0D%0ARayon%3A+Chortizza%0D%0AKreisgebiet%3A+Saporoshje%0D%0AGenerelbezirk%3A+Dnjepropertrowsk+Dorf%3A+Chortitza%0D%0Arussisch+%E2%80%93+Chortitza+&p=R_6_622%5C%D1%821_01-188%0D%0A#lg=1&slide=15.

Note 9: In Lost Generation and other Stories, edited by Gerhard Lohrenz (Steinbach, MB: Self-published, 1982), 133; and Albert Dahl, interview with the author (ANF), July 26, 2017.

Note 10: Nellie Bräul Epp, interview with the author (ANF), 2017.

Note 11: Katie Friesen, Into the Unknown (Steinbach, MB: Self-published, 1986), 80f.

Comments

Russian and Prussian Mennonite Participants in “Racial-Science,” 1930

I n December 1929, some 3,885 Soviet Mennonites plus 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists and seven Adventists were assisted by Germany to flee the Soviet Union. They entered German transit camps before resettlement in Canada, Brazil and Paraguay ( note 1 ) In the camps Russian Mennonites participated in a racial-biological study to measure their hereditary characteristics and “racial” composition and “blood purity” in comparison to Danzig-West Prussian, genetic cousins. In Germany in the last century, anthropological and medical research was horribly misused for the pseudo-scientific work referred to as “racial studies” (Rassenkunde). The discipline pre-dated Nazi Germany to describe apparent human differences and ultimately “to justify political, social and cultural inequality” ( note 2 ). But by 1935 a program of “racial hygiene” and eugenics was implemented with an “understanding that purity of the German Blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the

“Operation Chortitza” – Resettler Camps in Danzig-West Prussia, 1943-44 (Part I)

In October 1943, some 3,900 Mennonite resettlers from “Operation Chortitza” entered the Gau of Danzig-West Prussia. They were transported by train via Litzmannstadt and brought to temporary camps in Neustadt (Danzig), Preußisch Stargard (Konradstein), Konitz, Kulm on the Vistula, Thorn and some smaller localities ( note 1 ). The Gau received over 11,000 resettlers from the German-occupied east zones in 1943. Before October some 3,000 were transferred from these temporary camps for permanent resettlement in order to make room for "Operation Chortitza" ( note 2 ). By January 1, 1944 there were 5,473 resettlers in the Danzig-West Prussian camps (majority Mennonite); one month later that number had almost doubled ( note 3 ). "Operation Chortitza" as it was dubbed was part of a much larger movement “welcoming” hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans “back home” after generations in the east. Hitler’s larger plan was to reorganize peoples in Europe by race, to separate

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,

"Anti-Menno" Communist: David J. Penner (1904-1993)

The most outspoken early “Mennonite communist”—or better, “Anti-Menno” communist—was David Johann Penner, b. 1904. Penner was the son of a Chortitza teacher and had grown up Mennonite Brethren in Millerovo, with five religious services per week ( note 1 )! In 1930 with Stalin firmly in power, Penner pseudonymously penned the booklet entitled Anti-Menno ( note 2 ). While his attack was bitter, his criticisms offer a well-informed, plausible window on Mennonite life—albeit biased and with no intention for reform. He is a ethnic Mennonite writing to other Mennonites. Penner offers multiple examples of how the Mennonite clergy in particular—but also deacons, choir conductors, Sunday School teachers, leaders of youth or women’s circles—aligned themselves with the exploitative interests of industry and wealth. Extreme prosperity for Mennonite industrialists and large landowners was achieved with low wages and the poverty of their Russian /Ukrainian workers, according to Penner. Though t

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Mennonite Murders, Infanticide, Rapes and more

To outsiders, the Mennonite reality in South Russia appeared almost utopian—with their “mild and peaceful ethos.” While it is easy to find examples of all the "holy virtues" of the Mennonite community, only when we are honest about both good deeds and misdemeanors does the Russian Mennonite tradition have something authentic to offer—or not. Rudnerweide was one of a few Molotschna villages with a Mennonite brewery and tavern , which in turn brought with it life-style lapses that would burden the local elder. For example, on January 21, 1835, the Rudnerweide Village Office reported that Johann Cornies’s sheep farm manager Heinrich Reimer, as well as Peter Friesen and an employed Russian shepherd, came into the village “under the influence of brandy,” and: "…at the tavern kept by Aron Wiens, they ordered half a quart of brandy and shouted loudly as they drank, banged their glasses on the table. The tavern keeper objected asking them to settle down, but they refused and

Mennonite Heritage Week in Canada and the Russländer Centenary (2023)

In 2019, the Canadian Parliament declared the second week in September as “Mennonite Heritage Week.” The bill and statements of support recognized the contributions of Mennonites to Canadian society ( note 1 ). 2019 also marked the centenary of a Canadian Order in Council which, at their time of greatest need, classified Mennonites as an “undesirable” immigrant group: “… because, owing to their peculiar customs, habits, modes of living and methods of holding property, they are not likely to become readily assimilated or to assume the duties and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship within a reasonable time.” ( Pic ) With a change of government, this order was rescinded in 1922 and the doors opened for some 23,000 Mennonites to immigrate from the Soviet Union to Canada. The attached archival image of the Order in Council hangs on the office wall of Canadian Senator Peter Harder—a Russländer descendant. 2023 marks the centennial of the arrival of the first Russländer immigrant groups

Turning Weapons into Waffle Irons!

Turning Weapons into Waffle Irons: Heart-Shaped Waffles and a smooth talking General In 1874 with Mennonite immigration to North America in full swing, the Tsar sent General Eduard von Totleben to the colonies to talk the remaining Mennonites out of leaving ( note 1 ). He came with the now legendary offer of alternative service. Totleben made presentations in Mennonite churches and had many conversations in Mennonite homes. Decades later the women still recalled how fond Totleben was of Mennonite heart-shaped waffles. He complemented the women saying, “How beautiful are the hearts of Mennonites!,” and he joked about how “much Mennonites love waffles ( Waffeln ), but not weapons ( Waffen )” ( note 2 )! His visit resulted in an extensive reversal of opinion and the offer was welcomed officially by the Molotschna and Chortitza Colony ministerials. And upon leaving, the general was gifted with a poem by Bernhard Harder ( note 3 ) and a waffle iron ( note 4 ). Harder was an influen

Fraktur (or Gothic) font and Kurrent- (or Sütterlin) handwriting: Nazi ban, 1941

In the middle of the war on January 1, 1942, the Winnipeg-based Mennonitische Rundschau published a new issue without the familiar Fraktur script masthead ( note 1 ). One might speculate on the reasons, but a year earlier Hitler banned the use of the font in the Reich . The Rundschau did not exactly follow all orders from Berlin—the rest of the paper was in Fraktur (sometimes referred to as "Gothic"); when the war ended in 1945, the Rundschau reintroduced the Fraktur font for its masthead. It wasn’t until the 1960s that an issue might have a page or title here or there with the “normal” or Latin font, even though post-war Germany was no longer using Fraktur . By 1973 only the Rundschau masthead is left in Fraktur , and that is only removed in December 1992. Attached is a copy of Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann's official letter dated January 3, 1941, which prohibited the use of Fraktur fonts "by order of the Führer. " Why? It was a Jewish invention, apparent

Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp, 1942: List and Links

Each of the "Commando Dr. Stumpp" village reports written during German occupation of Ukraine 1942 contains a mountain of demographic data, names, dates, occupations, numbers of untimely deaths (revolution, famines, abductions), narratives of life in the 1930s, of repression and liberation, maps, and much more. The reports are critical for telling the story of Mennonites in the Soviet Union before 1942, albeit written with the dynamics of Nazi German rule at play. Reports for some 56 (predominantly) Mennonite villages from the historic Mennonite settlement areas of Chortitza, Sagradovka, Baratow, Schlachtin, Milorodovka, and Borosenko have survived. Unfortunately no village reports from the Molotschna area (known under occupation as “Halbstadt”) have been found. Dr. Karl Stumpp, a prolific chronicler of “Germans abroad,” became well-known to German Mennonites (Prof. Benjamin Unruh/ Dr. Walter Quiring) before the war as the director of the Research Center for Russian Germans

Blessed are the Shoe-Makers: Brief History of Lost Soles

A collection of simple artefacts like shoes can open windows onto the life and story of a people. Below are a few observations about shoes and boots, or the lack thereof, and their connection to the social and cultural history of Russian Mennonites. Curiously Mennonites arrived in New Russia shoe poor in 1789, and were evacuated as shoe poor in 1943 as when their ancestors arrived--and there are many stories in between. The poverty of the first Flemish elder in Chortitza Bernhard Penner was so great that he had only his home-made Bastelschuhe in which to serve the Lord’s Supper. “[Consequently] four of the participating brethren banded together to buy him a pair of boots which one of the [Land] delegates, Bartsch, made for him. The poor community desired with all its heart to partake of the holy sacrament, but when they remembered the solemnity of these occasions in their former homeland, where they dressed in their Sunday best, there was loud sobbing.” ( Note 1 ) In the 1802 C

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog