An Editor for Tumultuous Political Times: Abraham Kröker

Abraham Kröker (1863-1944) was the well-known editor of the Molotschna-based paper—variously named Volksfreund, Friedensstimme or Flugblatt, as well as the annual Familienkalender. He published through WW1 and the anarchy and early Bolshevist years, which included six months of friendly German occupation in 1918.

His editorials from those times are all online and fascinating to read, https://chortitza.org/FB/mennru.htm. Looking back on the collapse of Mennonite life in Ukraine, he pointed to the love of “mammon,” the “materialistic disposition” and “nationalistic arrogance” of Mennonites, and not least to the forgetfulness of the unique call of the community to “sacrifice, suffering and renunciation for the sake of others.”

In 1918--a very dangerous context in which to publish news--Kröker reminded his readers that according to the example of the Apostle Paul who suffered under unjust authorities, the Christian is to pray and intercede “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2: 1–2); in particular, for stability, order, and the regulation of society. “Through faithful intercession for the government, the people and the fatherland, we can have a powerful and beneficial impact on politics” (note 1).

Under friendly German occupation, the Mennonite press had freedom to ask the community’s most pressing and difficult theological question: Why has God allowed us to suffer? In his editorial published immediately after German “liberation” from Makhno's anarchists in April 1918, Kröker framed the events in terms of divine discipline for the reckless pursuit of wealth.

“We have neglected our workers spiritually and intellectually. One should have offered them reading materials and for those who could not read, create the possibility to learn how. And above all we should have done more—though this was of course strictly forbidden under the old regime—to familiarize them with the gospel. ...”

And to dispel all thought that the community’s suffering was a type of religious persecution, Kröker drew an explicit contrast to “our martyr fathers” who in clear conscience “suffered for the sake of the highest things.” Rather,

“… we have suffered because of 'mammon' which we pursued too vigorously. We were far too materialistic, too selfish. That is why God first sent the land liquidation laws; and when he did not achieve his goal, the knife had to cut deeper. A man is punished with that with which he sins. Do we understand this? Have we learnt anything?” (Note 2)

Over the next weeks, other letter writers also pointed to the “madness of the materialists.” “Our people are hard of heart, selfish and have abused their earlier privileges in many ways" (note 3). These were only the first attempts at answers by a shocked people largely convinced that God rules over history, and conscious of a special calling in the divine drama in and with Russia.

And amongst 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.” Kröker restates the same conviction a year later: Mennonites are “predestined to foreshadow … even in an imperfect way, the great peace among nations in the Thousand-Year-Reign [of Christ]” (note 4). And it is because of this theological hope that “our youth are raised differently,” he reminds 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 5).

The first new issue of the Friedensstimme was published July 12, 1919—during a short pause in the chaos—with a lengthy three-page editorial asking again, “Where did we fail?” “What sins could have provoked this [divine] judgement?” (note 6). His editorial is biting, while offering a path forward:

“We did not prove ourselves reliable with the earthly goods entrusted to us by God. We did not understand how to use the unjust mammon to make friends. … We did not first seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness.”

This first new editorial under friendly White Army rule also had much to confess, especially with regard to national or racial arrogance. When it “was almost a crime to be a German … many of us signed petitions that ‘no German blood flows through our veins’… though we all know very well, that we are Germanified Dutchmen.”

Yet with German occupation of Ukraine we “suddenly became more extreme Germanophiles than the Imperial Germans … Placing our trust in this highly militaristic Germany was a denial of our better self and in direct contradiction to our traditions and principles.” After “reaffirming our Mennonite principle of non-resistance [Alternative Service as medics]… only one year later most of us abandoned this principle.”

Editor Kröker refused to lay blame on those who served in the Selbstschutz, but pointed instead to “the cause,” namely “our exaggerated enthusiasm for Germany. This was not always with us, but it was triggered by the injustice which we Germans in Russia had to endure. … Until the war we lived in good agreement with our Russian neighbours. … We must free ourselves from all nationalistic arrogance” (note 7).

In November 1919, Kröker wrote unambiguously to his Mennonite readership that the community as a whole had “provoked the sword.”

“Our Fathers reaching back to the martyrs cherished and upheld the treasure of their insight [non-resistance] high above all else, and sacrificed even property and life… . But in the summer of 1918, the South Russian Mennonites of our generation experienced in very short order a stark exchange of their convictions, and though there was no particular necessity for it at the time, they let go of the invaluable good of non-resistance. Today many already recognize that they had made a great error at that time. … It appears to me that we … provoked the sword, and it has fallen upon us as a people. Besides the materialistic disposition, the pursuit of wealth, this could be the greatest sin of our people, and should be recognized and confessed.” (Note 8)

Perhaps there is still some wisdom in reading a previous generation struggling through tumultuous times.

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Abraham Kröker, “Des Christen Stellung zum Staat, zur Obrigkeit, Politik und Parteiwesen,” Volksfreund II (XI), no. 5 (23) (1918), 1, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk10.pdf Generally, cf. Helmut T. Huebert, “Abraham Jakob Kroeker: A Father of M.B. Publication in Russia, 1863–1944,” in Shepherds, Servants and Prophets: Leadership Among the Russian Mennonites (ca. 1880–1960), edited by Harry Loewen, 247–264 (Kitchener, ON: Pandora, 2003). Also GAMEO, https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kroeker,_Abraham_Jakob_(1863-1944).

Note 2: Kröker, “Unsere Befreiung,” Volksfreund II (XI), no. 16 (34) (April 27, 1918), 1 [broken link]

Note 3: Volksfreund II (XI), no. 17 (35) (May 1, 1918), 3 [broken link].

Note 4: Kröker, “Mennonitentum und Wehrlosigkeit,” Friedenstimme XVII, no. 38 (November 16, 1919), 2–3; 2, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk96.pdf.

Note 5: Kröker, “Einige Gedanken zu unserm Wehrlosigkeitsprinzip,” Friedensstimme XVI, no. 53 (September 21, 1918), 2, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk63.pdf.

Note 6: Kröker, “Worin liegt unser Fehler?,” Friedensstimme XVII, no. 21 (July 12, 1919), 1–3, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk86.pdf.

Note 7: Kröker, “Worin liegt unser Fehler?”

Note 8: Kröker, “Mennonitentum und Wehrlosigkeit,” 2f.

Pic of Abraham Kröker from GAMEO.org.

Comments

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 inf...

Soviet “Farmer Giesbrecht” and the German Communist Press, 1930

The 1930 booklet Bauer Giesbrecht was published by the Communist Party press in Germany —some months after most of the 3,885 Mennonite refugees at Moscow had been transported from Germany to Canada, Paraguay and Brazil ( note 1 ). In Fall 1929 Germany set aside an astonishingly large sum of money and flexed its full diplomatic muscle to extract these “German Farmers” (mostly Mennonites) who had fled the Soviet countryside for Moscow in a last ditch attempt to flee the "Soviet Paradise". About 9,000 however were forcibly turned back. Communists in Germany saw their country’s aid operation—which their crushed economy could ill afford—as a blatant propaganda attempt to embarrass Stalin with formerly wealthy ethnic German farmers and preachers willing to tell the world’s press the worst "lies." With Heinrich Kornelius Giesbrecht from the former Mennonite Barnaul Colony in Western Siberia they finally had a poster-boy to make their point: in Germany he had seen an...

Swiss and Palatinate Connections

Sometime after 1850 Andreas Plennert and his family immigrated to South Russia from the Culm Region of West Prussia. Though there was at least one Mennonite “Plehnert” who had already immigrated to Russia in 1793, it is not a very common Prussian-Russian Mennonite name. As such, however, it is easier to trace than many and offers a minority narrative and identity within the longer and broader Russian Mennonite story. The account below is adapted largely from information in Horst Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten , vol. 1, though I have expanded upon his work to offer a slightly different narrative. In 1724 there was a group of Mennonites forced out of the Memel region in East Prussia for political and religious reasons and were given assistance to resettle back to West Prussia in areas populated by Mennonites. Among the 23 households that went to the Stuhm region there is one Plenert listed, namely Christian Plenert. We know that Mennonites entered the Memel region ...

Snapshots of Danzig Mennonites, late 1600s & early 1700s

A picture can be worth a thousand words. We do not have photographs, but we have a few colour paintings of life in and around Danzig in the late 1600s and early 1700s, as well as maps. We also have a limited number of "textual snapshots" of Mennonites at this time and place, which offer an instructive window into that foreign world. These snapshots of work, worship, health, education, community relationships, smaller repressions, and security can contribute to the creation of a larger collage of Mennonite life in Danzig and Polish Prussia. Snapshot 1 : In 1681 there were approximately 180 Mennonite families who lived in the “gardens” or villages outside Danzig, with 113 of those families within the jurisdiction of the city. At this time Mennonites were barred from owning houses within the walls of the city. Of these 113 family heads, we know: 43 were retailers of spirits, 24 merchants, 9 lacemakers, 7 dyers, 3 silk dyers, 3 pressers, 2 brokers, 2 treasurers, 2 waitresses, et...

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...

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 ...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 1 (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 accuarte and carefully considered. ~ANF American Mennonite leaders who supported Trump will be responding to the election results in the near future. Sometimes a template or sample conference address helps to formulate one’s own text. To that end I offer the following. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mennonites in Germany sent official greetings by telegram: “The Conference of the East and West Prussian Mennonites meeting today at Tiegenhagen in the Free City of Danzig are deeply grateful for the tremendous uprising ( Erhebung ) that God has given our people ( Volk ) through the vigor and action of [unclear], and promise our cooperation in the construction of our Fatherland, true to the Gospel motto of [our founder Menno Simons], ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.’” ( Note 1 ) Hitler responded in a letter...

Easter and Molotschna's First Ethnic German Cavalry Regiment of the Waffen-SS, 1942

For the two years of German occupation, 1941-43, the Molotschna Settlement area—renamed “Halbstadt” after its largest village—was under S.S. ( Schutzstaffel ) control. During this time, new National Socialist ceremonies and liturgies were introduced to the Mennonites in Ukraine, including Easter. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler named Halbstadt with its surrounding 144 villages a district commando. SS-Storm Unit Leader ( Sturmbannführer ) Hermann Roßner was appointed the Special Command R[ussia] leader for Halbstadt. Halbstadt had Waffen-SS doctors, a Waffen-SS pharmacist team and pharmacy, hospital equipment from the medical offices of the Waffen-SS and soon a Waffen-SS cavalry self-defense regiment of some 500-plus Mennonite young men ( note 1 ). Two of my uncles became members of the cavalry unit; a later, long-time lay minister in my home congregation was in the regiment as well. SS-celebrations for “Easter” were deliberately non-religious and anti-Christian, though careful ...

Molotschna's 50th Anniversary Celebration Plans, 1854

There is no mention of this celebrative event in Hildebrand’s Chronologischer Zeittafel, no report in the newly launched Prussian church paper Mennonitische Blätter , or in the Unterhaltungsblatt for German colonists in South Russia. But plans to celebrate five decades of Mennonite settlement on the Molotschna River were well underway in 1853; detailed draft notes for the event are found in the Peter J. Braun Russian Mennonite Archive ( note 1 ). Perhaps most importantly the file includes the list of names of the first settlers in each of the first nine Molotschna villages (est. 1804). While each village had been mandated a few years earlier to write its own village history ( note 2; pics ), eight of these nine did not list their first settler families by name. The lists with the male family heads are attached below. By 1854 Molotoschna’s population had increased to about 17,000; more than half of those living in the original nine villages were landless Anwohner ( note 3 ). Celeb...

Landless Crisis: Molotschna, 1840s to 1860s

The landless crisis in the mid-1800s in the Molotschna Colony is the context for most other matters of importance to its Mennonites, 1840s to 1860s. When discussing landlessness, historian David G. Rempel has claimed that the “seemingly endemic wranglings and splits” of the Mennonite church in South Russia were only seldom or superficially related to doctrine, and “almost invariably and intimately bound up with some of the most serious social and economic issues” that afflicted one or more of the congregations in the settlement ( note 1 ). It is important from the start to recognize that these Mennonites were not citizens, but foreign colonists with obligations and privileges that governed their sojourn in New Russia. For Mennonites the privileges, e.g. of land and freedom from military conscription, were connected to the obligation of model farming. Mennonites were given one, and then later two districts of land for this purpose. Within their districts or colonies , villages w...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog