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...

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...

"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...

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, ...

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...

Anti-Jewish Pogroms and Mennonite responses in Einlage (1905) and Sagradovka (1899)

Below are stories of two pogroms and of the responses in two Mennonite communities in Ukraine/Russia. The first location is Einlage (Chortitza) in 1905, with two episodes. The rage of peasants and the working class exploded with strikes, bloody revolts, chaos and plundering across the land, especially on the estates early in 1905. The Greater Zaporozhzhia-Alexandrovsk economic zone, with larger Mennonite manufacturers of agricultural machinery in Einlage as well, was a centre for some of that labour unrest ( note 1 ). In the shadows of the larger March 1905 Russian Revolution, there were so-called provocateurs named the "Black Hundred" ( note 2 ) who organized pogroms across Russia, but especially in ethnic Ukrainian and Polish areas. “Jewish stores, shops, and homes were broken into, robbed, and plundered; Jewish women and girls were raped and brutally murdered. Many Jews lost not only their belongings in Russia, but also their lives. And all with impunity. The police ...

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 ...

1873: First Russian Mennonites leave for North America

On February 4, 1873, ministers and elders held a special meeting in Elder Isaak Peters’ Pordenau Molotschna church ( note 1 ). It was a larger building with balcony, constructed in 1860 after the original 1828 stone church building had been torn down. They had put down deep roots in Russia; nonetheless Peters spoke strongly in favour of emigration and supported a decision to send land scouts to America. The team was given a mandate to negotiate for the possibility of some 50 to 60,000 Mennonite immigrants ( note 2 ). Eager to compete with the United States for settlers, the Canadian government passed an Order-in-Council on March 3, 1873 to create a Mennonite reservation of nine-and-one-third townships ( note 3 ). The twelve-member deputation—including two Molotschna elders—which had been sent to North America returned in September with a favourable report ( note 4 ). Despite divergent opinions on the ground, the first hundred Russian Mennonite agriculturalists arrived in the United...

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 ...

Why Danzig and Poland?

In the late 16th century, Poland became a haven for a variety of non-conformists which included Jews, Anti-Trinitarians from Italy and Bohemia, Quakers and Calvinists from Great Britain, south German Schwenkfelders, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian, and Greek Catholic Christians, some Muslim Tatars, as well as other peaceful sectarians like the Dutch and Flemish Anabaptists. Unlike the Low Countries and most of western Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a “state without stakes,” and as such fittingly described as “God’s playground” ( note 1 ). In the view of 17th-century Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel, it was “the ‘Promised Land,’ where the refugee could forget all his sorrow and enjoy the richness of the land” ( note 2 ). Over the next two centuries an important strand of Mennonite life and spirituality evolved into a mature tradition in this relatively hospitable context ( note 3 ). Anabaptists from the Low Countries began to arrive in Danzig and region as early as 15...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog