Spanish Flu Pandemic in Ukraine and Mennonite Response

Mennonite memoirs say little about the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. In the second half of that year Ukraine was dealing with a typhus epidemic, cholera epidemic and the Spanish Flu pandemic—all at the same time. Troubles were compounded by the withdrawal of protective German troops and increased but still sporadic attacks by anarchist bandits.

In September and October 1918, the Mennonite newspaper Friedensstimme recorded outbreaks of the Spanish flu in the Molotschna, Sagradovka, Memrik, Fürstenland, and Naumenko Mennonite settlements. The Friedensstimme summarized that “the Spanish disease is running rampant everywhere in our colonies. Deaths are also resulting here and there” (note 1).

September 1918:

• In the Sagradovka Settlement, Katharina Unruh Thiessen died of the Spanish flu at the age of 69. She suffered 12 days (note 2).
• Also in the Sagradovka Settlement, Gerhard Jakob Wiebe struggled with the Spanish flu for 10 days before dying at the age of 38 (note 3).
• In the Memrik Settlement, Jakob Peter Isaak died of Spanish flu at age 28; he had a variety of underlying health issues. The officiating pastor spoke on Isaiah 28:16-17 (note 4).
• In the Naumenko Settlement, Jakob Dietrich Braun died of Spanish Flu at 42 years of age. He left behind a wife and six children; the seventh was born after his death (note 5).
• A correspondent from the Fürstenland Settlement wrote that “the Spanish Flu is also paying a visit to every home and with every resident. For several weeks there had always been about thirty sick factory workers, but a change for the better is noticeable” (note 6).

Spanish Flu deaths were reported in the Molotschna Settlement in October.

• In the south-east corner of the settlement in the village of Pordenau, 75-year-old minister Heinrich Köhn died of the Spanish Flu after suffering 10 days (note 7).
• In Rosenort, Molotschna, Peter Martin Janzen, age 31, struggled with the Spanish Flu for ten days before dying; his illness was compounded by a lung infection (note 8).

A letter published December 4 from Ohrloff, Molotschna noted that “many are falling ill.” The letter writer adds that both Mrs. Peter Bergman and Jakob Dyck have been “lying sick for some time with the flu,” and it is not clear if either will live. At the same time the author notes the community’s fear of robber bandits. “But everything stands in God’s hand. May we all be protected … and may we frequently lift our eyes to the hills, from where all help comes, Psalm 121” (note 9).

The diseases lingered into the next year. Dietrich Jakob Boldt, owner of a limestone factory in Schönwiese by the city of Alexandrowsk, sent his family to his childhood home in the Sagradovka Settlement in 1919 after his assets were seized. When he joined them shortly thereafter, “the Spanish Flu, typhus, dysentery and other illnesses were rampant everywhere” (note 10).

The Friedensstimme did not publish many death notices; these are representative and show that the Spanish Flu was present in all Mennonite settlements in Ukraine in the second half of 1918.

The notices above suggest however that the number of Mennonite deaths related to the Spanish flu were also held in check. This can be explained in the large Molotschna settlement, for example, by the quick medical and civic response in early September to the first nearby cholera outbreak.

The September 7 issue of the Friedensstimme reported breaking news that four individuals had died from a sudden cholera outbreak in the German [Lutheran/Catholic] Prischib Settlement; one person was dead within 10 hours. The settlement was on the west bank of the Molotschna River, and so the editor warned Mennonites on the east side that “extreme caution must be taken in all respects” (note 11).

A week later the Friedensstimme reported that eight people in two Prischib villages had now died from cholera (note 12). On September 11, Molotschna (Halbstadt District) Mennonite mayors and doctors met for an emergency meeting to deal with the impending Cholera epidemic. Below are the directives that were immediately imposed (note 13):

“Minutes of the Assembly of Village Mayors and Medical Doctors of the Halbstadt District, Halbstadt, September 11, 1918.

“The meeting was called by the Halbstadt District Office. The chair Dr. Seiler first drew attention to the danger that threatens the Halbstadt District by the cholera epidemic that has broken out in the Prischib District. After much discussion, it was agreed to prescribe the following 7 rules of conduct to protect the population against cholera.

1. Water for tea or "Pribs" must be boiled. In particular it was emphasized that in schools only boiled drinking water is allowed for the pupils. It is advised to boil milk too. Especially after the epidemic has broken out, no raw milk should not be drunk.

2. Vegetables must be carefully cleaned, washed and scalded before eating.

3. Raw fruit must not be eaten; the sale of grapes is prohibited.

4. Any illness that begins with diarrhea and vomiting must be reported to the doctor immediately. It is advised that where an ill person refuses to go to the doctor, the neighbors should report it.

5. The cesspits must be disinfected with caustic lime; old cesspits must be filled in. The seats of the school outhouses must be washed and disinfected daily.

6. All food must be carefully protected from flies. Bugs (bed bugs [Wanzen], cockroaches, etc.) must be killed where possible.

7. Wash hands carefully before each meal.

The assembly decided to set up an isolation house as a hospital barrack in each physician's area where the sick must be taken immediately.

It was decided to call upon former medics [WWI Alternative Service] with appropriate compensation to voluntarily care for sick.

To oversee and enforce the regulations amongst the population, it was decided to renew the job description of the medics in accordance with the previous regulations that exist in the village offices.

In order to give the population the opportunity to vaccinate against cholera, it was decided to buy the necessary vaccines to be paid for by the district office. Doctors are asked to arrange for the correct amount of serum, which they promised to do.”

The quick medical and civic response to the cholera epidemic with strict rules adopted September 11 likely enabled the mayors and doctors to adapt their response for the Spanish Flu as well as it broke out in the next days and weeks. Certainly this saved more than a few lives.

The academic literature reflects these findings. John Paul Davies' recent work on epidemics in Russia notes for 1918 that “a large cholera epidemic was unfolding" in October and November and that "Russian prisoners of war brought the Spanish flu from the West.” Davies also notes that the Bolsheviks continued the Commission of Serums and Vaccines and vigorously pursued mass vaccinations (note 13).

When one reads through the relevant issues of the Friedensstimme, it seems that even the pandemic—or multiple epidemics—were overshadowed by the fear of political unrest and the name "Makhno"—the anarchist leader.

That should not take away, however, from the important medical and community response that required—indeed mandated—full participation to fight the diseases together and to get children back in school safely.

Is there a uniquely Mennonite way to respond to a pandemic? In this episode they frame their suffering theologically and in community, while trusting on medical advice, vaccines and interventions to mitigate further disaster; children are kept in school, albeit with strict safety measures; community wellness and mutual care takes precedence over rogue individualism.

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Friedensstimme 16, no. 57 (October 5, 1918), 6, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk67.pdf.

Note 2: Friedensstimme 16, no. 64 (October 29, 1918), 6, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk73.pdf. GRanDMA #305460.

Note 3: Friedensstimme 16, no. 57 (October 5, 1918), 6, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk67.pdf; GRanDMA #1005934.

Note 4: Friedensstimme 16, no. 69 (November 16, 1918), 7, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk76.pdf. GRanDMA #1273362.

Note 5: This notice was published three years later in a letter to the Mennonitische Rundschau (October 5, 1921), 13, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/lfrs185.pdf; GRanDMA #358185.

Note 6: Friedensstimme 16, no. 54 (September 24, 1918), 8, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk64.pdf.

Note 7: Friedensstimme 16, no. 64 (October 29, 1918), 6, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk73.pdf; GRanNDMA #305460.

Note 8: Friedensstimme 16, no. 63 (October 26, 1918), 6, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk73.pdf.

Note 9: Friedensstimme 16, no. 74 (December 4, 1918), 7, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk80.pdf.

Note 10: Cf. biographical information at https://chortitza.org/FB/BF573.html; also GRanDMA #1017958.

Note 11: Friedensstimme 16, no. 49 (September 7, 1918), 7, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk59.pdf.

Note 12: Friedensstimme 16, no. 51 (September 14, 1918), 7, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk61.pdf.

Note 13: Friedensstimme 16, no. 52 (September 17, 1918), https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/pletk62.pdf.

Note 14: John Paul Davies, Russia in the Time of Cholera, Disease under Romanovs and Soviets (New York: Bloomsbury, 2018), 163; cf. also pp. 154f., 163, 171, 190, https://books.google.ca/books?id=1BOMDwAAQBAJ&pg=.