"Their accomplishments are unprecedented globally with houses cleaner than the Dutch!" 1843 description

As long as Johann Cornies was living (d. 1848), Mennonites in Russia received many distinguished visits and reports appeared in any variety of Imperial journals (note 1). The following report was written by a British visitor in 1843 and appeared in a journal of international “commercial treaties, customs tariffs, port laws, etc.” (note 2).

The report makes reference to the newly established port city of Berdjansk, which was key to the wheat revolution in New Russia and the fantastic wealth of some like Johann Cornies (note 3).

The British editor warns that the description may be exaggerated, e.g., the statement on Cornies’ wealth—but likely the latter is accurate. For his British readers the writer converts Cornies’ net worth to 100,000 Pounds Sterling—what a 1,000 clerks in London might make together in a year (note 4).

While the account is not altogether unique or important for understanding Russian Mennonites, parts that stand out in the description include comments on industry, wealth and the extreme cleanliness of Mennonite homes, “which cannot be surpassed even by the Dutch.”

The writer assessment brings a British colonial mindset typical of the era when contrasting the German-speaking settlers to the indigenous Nogai: “The vast territory […] was formerly occupied by hordes of roving Nogayz. Those barbarians were compelled by the Russian government to fix themselves in villages, and to abandon their vagabond life, and addict themselves to labour. They have built houses after the model of the German colonists, and have learned from them different branches of industry.”

Here is the full text.

"… The following is an account of these colonists written during the early part of 1843, at Taganrog. It is very interesting, but we take it as we do nearly every statement drawn up in Russia, as being, to say the least, somewhat exaggerated:

'The progress which cultivation has made in Southern Russia is extraordinary. With the exception of North America there is not perhaps a country in the world where the efforts of an active and industrious population have produced such brilliant results in so short a space of time.

It is not yet fifty years since the German Mennonists, having been compelled to expatriate themselves from Prussia, on account of their having been subjected to military service, arrived in Southern Russia.

The Emperor Paul granted them valuable privileges, which were confirmed by his successors. A vast territory was distributed amongst those colonists (who were quickly followed by a crowd of other families from Wurtemberg, Baden, and Switzerland), on the left bank of the Moloschna, a small river which traverses the steppes to the north of the Sea of Azof.

Each family of Mennonists received sixty-five measures of good arable land, and several other advantages were granted them.

The Mennonists in Russia are exempt from military service, and appoint their own judges. They are even permitted to distil brandy for their own use, which is considered an immense favour in Russia, where the monopoly of the fabrication of spirituous liquors produces an enormous revenue to the crown.

The arrival of the members of this sect, who each brought a handsome fortune in ready money, was an excellent acquisition for an uncultivated though fertile country, which only required active arms to metamorphose it in a short time into a vast garden.

It comprises at present about fifty villages upon the left bank of the Moloschna, which are in a most flourishing condition. Nothing is more agreeable for a traveller who has traversed the immense and monotonous steppes inhabited by Nogayz Tartars than the appearance of those charming Mennonist villages, whose white houses covered with tiles are surrounded with gardens planted with fruit trees, and acacia-trees, not to be seen amongst the steppes.

When one enters the dwellings of the Mennonists, it is easy to perceive that they live comfortably. Extremely simple in their dress, the Mennonists display a certain degree of luxury in the interior of their houses which is nowhere to be found in the Russian villages. The cleanliness of their habitations is extreme, and cannot be surpassed even by the Dutch.

I am acquainted with a Mennonist named John Corneis [sic], who resides in the village of Orloff, and whose private fortune may be estimated without exaggeration at more than 2,000,000 roubles of assignation (about 100,000/. sterling).

It was at his house that the Emperor Alexander lodged when he visited those countries, and where he was superbly feasted. John Corneis, who, though very devout, is considered as extremely sharp in money matters, took the opportunity of the emperor’s visit to obtain many advantages.

The German colonists on the right bank of the Moloschna, who are almost all Lutherans, have not been so highly favoured as the Mennonists. Having arrived without any capital, and possessing no resource but that generously afforded them by the Emperor Alexander, their present condition cannot be compared to that of the Mennonists.

They live comfortably, however, and contribute much by their activity to the rapid colonization of the vast territory which was formerly occupied by hordes of roving Nogayz. Those barbarians were compelled by the Russian government to fix themselves in villages, and to abandon their vagabond life, and addict themselves to labour. They have built houses after the model of the German colonists, and have learned from them different branches of industry.

The cultivation of wheat is the most profitable branch of agriculture in the steppes- The annual amount of wheat exported from the ports of the Sea of Azof is estimated at 300,000 chetwerts (9,600,000 lbs.), and if the colonization of the steppes proceeds with an equal rapidity, a double quantity may be exported in ten years hence.

The new port on the Sea of Azof, called Perdjausk [Berdjansk], which has existed but six years, is already a handsome town, and contains 2500 inhabitants: its situation, in the neighbourhood of the colonies on the Moloschna, is so favourable that it may soon rival Taganrog. The population is composed of Greeks, Italians, and Russians, who have established themselves there to deal in corn.

The port of Perdjausk [Berdjansk] is much better than that of Taganrog, where ships cannot anchor nearer than at a distance of six versts. Merino wool is, after wheat, the next most important article of produce in the steppes. This article, however, begins to diminish, as the price of wool has fallen considerably since the year 1831. At that period fine wool sold for 60 roubles assignation (2/. 10s. sterling) the pois (a weight of 40 Russian pounds). At present the price has fallen to 1/. 5s, British for the same weight. The Mennonists, who possess immense flocks of sheep, now sell their wool at an inferior price. Many fortunes in Southern Russia have considerably suffered by the fall in the price of wool, which has been experienced during the last four years.”

---Comments by Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: See the dismal 1843 description of Mennonite communities in Russia by a representative of the London Bible Society and published by a Boston-based Baptist newspaper: https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/1843-london-bible-society-revival-and.html.

Note 2: John Macgregor, A Digest of the Productive Resources, Commercial Legislation, Customs Tariffs, Navigation, Port, and Quarantine Laws, and Charges, Shipping, Imports and Exports, and the Monies, Weights, and Measures of all Nation. Including all British Commercial Treaties with Foreign States (London: Christopher Knight, 1844), vol. 2, 726-728, https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Commercial_statistics/-gZAAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA726&printsec=frontcover.

Note 3: See previous post (forthcoming).

Note 4: Literature around Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (1843) estimates that the salary of a junior clerk like “Bob Cratchit” with one to five years’ experiences in a small firm like Ebeneezer Scrooge’s in London would be about 100 pounds a year give or take. No guarantees! See calculation by James Hoover, https://www.quora.com/Scrooge-paid-Bob-Crachit-15-bob-a-week-How-much-was-that-in-1850-How-much-would-it-be-today .

Village map/ pic of Ohrloff (1855) courtesy of Brent Wiebe: https://trailsofthepast.com/TrailsofthePastMaps/FeaturedMap/Map/index.html.

The image of a youthful Johann Cornies was likely drawn by his appointed Agricultural Society instructor, Heinrich Heese.

Comments

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...

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 ...

1920s: Those who left and those who stayed behind

The picture below is my grandmother's family in 1928. Some could leave but most stayed behind. In 1928 a small group of some 511 Soviet Mennonites were unexpectedly approved for emigration ( note 1 ). None of the circa 21,000 Mennonites who emigrated from Russia in the 1920s “simply” left. And for everyone who left, at least three more hoped to leave but couldn’t. It is a complex story. Canada only wanted a certain type—young healthy farmers—and not all were transparent about their skills and intentions The Soviet Union wanted to rid itself of a specifically-defined “excess,” and Mennonite leadership knew how to leverage that Estate owners, and Selbstschutz /White Army militia were the first to be helped to leave, because they were deemed as most threatened community members; What role did money play? Thousands paid cash for their tickets; Who made the final decision on group lists, and for which regions? This was not transparent. Exit visa applications were also regularly reje...

1923 Mennonite immigrants "kept behind": Lechfeld (Bavaria) transit camp

An important part of the larger 1923 immigration story includes the chapter of the hundreds who were held back at Riga and Southampton and taken to the Lechfeld (Bavaria) transit camp for medical care. “Germany generously and magnanimously helped our organizations, on my intercession, to overcome the manifold difficulties connected with such a ( Volksbewegung ) movement of people in such critical times,” Benjamin H. Unruh wrote some years later ( note 1 ). Just as the first group of Russländer Mennonites set foot in Canada 100 years ago this month, the North American relief effort in the USSR was also winding down (August 1923). The famine relief work in 1921 and 1922 had found broad support in the North American Mennonite community. However excitement about a larger immigration of Russian Mennonites to North America was muted, and a new call to action could not forge the same level of cooperation across Mennonite groups. The plan required huge money guarantees. In USSR B.B. Janz h...

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 ...

Queen Elizabeth II and Aunt Adina Neufeld Bräul

This month (April 2023) we celebrated my aunt’s 97th birthday—Adina Neufeld Bräul. Queen Elizabeth II and Aunt Adina were born within hours of each other, April 20-21, 1926. She once told me—in somewhat different words—that this makes her wonder about God’s providence … In 1944 in German-annexed Poland, my 16-year-old uncle Walter Bräul was required to report for military service. His first thought: no good soldier should be without a girlfriend! Before leaving for training, he asked one of the girls from "the trek" on a date to see a movie in Exin. Seven years later they would marry in Paraguay. Adina and her mother and sister were on the same trek or group (Gnadenfeld/ Molotschna) out of Ukraine as Walter and my mother (in the 2023 photo). Adina’s most terrible memory of the trek was when their wagon almost tipped over into a deep ravine. She was 17—a year older than Walter—and it was Walter’s 17-year-old brother Peter who literally jumped from his wagon to physically stop ...

A Traveler's Impressions of the Molotschna, 1927

In November 1927, Susanna Toews of Ohrloff, Molotschna wrote to her brother Gerhard in Canada, "Father is sleeping and the sisters are reading, even though they have read the stuff ten times. . .. Twice a week we get Das Neue Dorf . We read the most important material the first evening and then father reads the rest of it the next day" ( note 1 ). A youth in Friedensruh, Molotschna reported to the communist youth paper Die Saat in 1928, that their village receives 13 copies of Das Neue Dorf , 6 copies of Die Saat , one of the Moscow-based Deutsche Zentral-Zeitung , 16 copies of Die Trompete, 2 copies of Neuland , and some Russian papers as well. On average, 2 papers per household--all communist papers. A Mennonite-based monthly agricultural journal, “The Practical Agriculturalist” ( Der praktische Landwirt ) had been approved for publication in Ukraine in 1924 but was shut down in December 1926. Government authorities in Ukraine were exasperated to see a “significant a...

What does it cost to settle a Refugee? Basic without Medical Care (1930)

In January 1930, the Mennonite Central Committee was scrambling to get 3,885 Mennonites out of Germany and settled somewhere fast. These refugees had fled via Moscow in December 1929, and Germany was willing only to serve as first transit stop ( note 1 ). Canada was very reluctant to take any German-speaking Mennonites—the Great Depression had begun and a negative memory of war resistance still lingered. In the end Canada took 1,344 Mennonites and the USA took none born in Russia. Paraguay was the next best option ( note 2 ). The German government preferred Brazil, but Brazil would not guarantee freedom from military service, which was a problem for American Mennonite financiers. There were already some conservative "cousins" from Manitoba in Paraguay who had negotiated with the government and learned through trial and error how to survive in the "Green Hell" of the Paraguayan Chaco. MCC with the assistance of a German aid organization purchased and distribute...

Stalin’s Purge (1937-38) and Mennonite Suffering: 8 theses

1. Millions died under Stalin One of the more recent studies on the Stalin-era estimates that more than 28.7 million people suffered in the northern prisons and slave camps of the Gulag and 2.75 million people died there during Stalin’s reign ( note 1 ). To this number must be added the “close to a million political executions, the millions who died in transit to the Gulag, and some six to seven million who died of starvation during the early 1930s” ( note 2 ). The mass deportation of workers and peasants provided millions of forced labourers in the Arctic and Siberia. George K. Epp calculated that approximately one-third of Mennonites in the Soviet Union—at least 30,000—died due to exposure, beatings, overwork, disease, starvation or shootings ( note 3 ). 2. Mennonites in Ukraine suffered together with their Ukrainian neighbours Moscow was fearful of “losing Ukraine” ( note 4 ) and specifically targeted it with a “lengthy schooling” designed to ruthlessly break the threat of U...

Flemish Anabaptists and Witch Hunts

Political leaders have long used the term "witch hunt"--and there is an historical connection to Mennonites. Anabaptists and so-called “witches” were arrested and tried for related reasons in the Low Countries in the 1500s: namely, as a means to divert God’s wrath. The late-Medievals feared that heresy—in this case ana-baptism and the challenge to other sacraments—invited the wrath of God, and was an instrument for the devil’s own hellish apocalyptic assault. The assumption: the devil's tactics to destroy Christendom included the use of both heretics and sorcerers. Gary Waite writes convincingly that both were seen as “polluting” the community and thus both had to be "excised." "This fear of pollution, or scandalizing God or the saints, also explains why small numbers of peaceable Mennonites were so harshly treated during the second half of the sixteenth century. Plagues, fires, and economic and social crises were often blamed on the presence of even a smal...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog