Anti-German Land Liquidation Legislation and Language Restrictions in Russia, 1914-16

In early July 1914, Mennonites knew war with Germany was imminent. Jacob Janzen’s diary (Rudnerweide) captures the feeling.

“Rumour has it that we will soon have war with Germany! On the 18th everybody had to take their horses to a farmyard at the end of the village, where they were registered and examined. Some were led aside right there and then. … The next day all available teams and wagons from Rudnerweide, Großweide, Konteniusfeld and Sparrau had to take 700 men of draft age, Russians, to the station, where they boarded a train for Melitopol. Our hired man went too.” (Note 1)

Suspicious about Mennonite loyalties, 2,350 guns were seized from 1,850 Russian Mennonite households—including 600 handguns or revolvers—in 1914 (note 2). A. A. Khvostov, Chair of the Russian Council of Ministers, surmised that “such large quantities of revolvers [seized] suggest that Mennonites intend to use their weapons for purposes other than hunting … ” (note 3).

Russia declared war on Germany on July 20, 1914. Mennonites knew that they would have to prove their patriotism in order to retain rights and privileges. The next day Memrik Elder Peter W. Janzen wrote to the majority Octobrist Party: “The enemies of the Russian Tsar and Russian State are our enemies, and the friends of Russia are our friends as well” (note 4).

On September 26, 1914 the government forbade the use of German in publications, on the street and even “in the house if a Russian is present” (note 5); the Mennonite paper Friedensstimme had to cease publication in November. According to estate owner Jacob C. Toews, “the war had just barely started when rumours … the police came and checked homes for papers and ammunition. … The Russian nobility supported such nonsense … goading the masses against us (note 6).

On October 9, 1914, the first land liquidation law was introduced in the Duma pertaining to land held by “enemy nationals” (note 7). Other restrictions were expanded in November. Janzen wrote in his diary:

“On November 10, 1914 an order came from the Governor-General with more restrictions for the German people: no more than one male could enter somebody else’s house, no talking in German in a public place, and no discussions about the poor, the government or the Russians and Slavs in general. Gatherings at funerals, weddings and hog butcherings are allowed, but have to be reported in advance. It’s really going from bad to worse” (note 8).

Russian nationalist newspapers started a campaign of slander and harassment against the German colonists as German sympathizers and enemies of the Russian state. They claimed that Germany had not only tracked the settlement of Germans in Russia, but also secretly directed their settlement with incentives and credits to purchase and settle in those areas potentially useful to Germany in war.

Anti-German pamphlets with the following titles were in broad circulation: “German Evil,” by M. Muravyov, “German Spies,” by A. Rezanova; “German Colonization in Southern Russia,” by S. Shelukhin, and “Peace: the conquest of Russia by the Germans,” by I. Sergeev (note 9). A pamphlet by Nikolai Polivanov, “On German Domination,” criticized extensive German land ownership and accused Russian Germans of espionage and of working hand-in-glove with the German embassy, business and banks (note 10).

With their survival as a distinct people in question, in November 1914 a pamphlet entitled “Who are the Mennonites?” (note 11) appeared anonymously (written primarily by archivist Peter J. Braun; note 12). It gave examples of Mennonite loyalty to Russia and sought to document the distinct Dutch ancestry of Mennonites—even claiming that “no German blood” flowed through the veins of Mennonites. The petition to St. Petersburg was accompanied by a bribe of one million rubles (=$421,940; note 13). Young Mennonites departing for their service assignments were also instructed to say that they were not German, but of Dutch origin (note 14).

During the 1914 Advent season restrictions around German language were expanded to include schools and church services. “Only singing and praying is still allowed in the German language. No letters are to be written in German anymore, not even to the next village,” Jacob Janzen recorded (note 15). Preaching in Russian, however, “exceeded in most cases the strength of the preachers and often also the understanding of the listeners,” according to one account (note 16).

The Germanic name of the country’s capital was changed to Petrograd, and all the Mennonite village names were changed as well: Schardau to Suworowka; Pordenau to Potjomkino; and Marienthal to Marjino (note 17).

The most draconian land expropriation and liquidation decrees were adopted in February and December 1915—“Regarding the Landed Property of the German Colonists,” and “Regarding Property of Hostile Foreigners and of the Colonists” (note 18). The new law did not apply if a person had become a member of the Orthodox faith, had a Slavic identity, or was a descendent of someone who has served in combat action on behalf of Russia. The expropriation law did however apply to Russian German or Austro-Hungarian landowners living within 150 versts (160 kilometres) of western borders, as well as those living 100 versts (107 kilometres) from the coast of the Black and Azov Seas, and all of the Crimean Peninsula. This included, for example, the entire Molotschna settlement area. A few days before the February law passed, some Mennonites gave the Tsar a “gift” of 30,000 rubles ($12,658) in hopes of an exemption, but the scheme was unsuccessful (note 19).

Some 200,000 Volhynia ethnic Germans on the insecure western border to Poland were already transported east in winter 1915–1916. Larger estate owners in southern Ukraine had their land and assets confiscated and made to look for shelter and livelihood in the colony villages (note 20).

While average-sized Mennonite farms were largely spared to ensure food supplies for the army (note 21), the regime had plans in place to deport all remaining ethnic Germans to the eastern parts of the empire if and when necessary (note 22).

On May 27, 1915, mobs in Moscow demolished and robbed 759 German houses and businesses, murdering three people and injuring 40. In August 1915, inflamed mobs demanded that German-born Empress Alexandra be shut up in a convent and tried for treason because of her German heritage. Germany concluded that Moscow and the pan-Slavists were waging a “racial war” against Germans in Ukraine “with hatred abysmally deep against everything German” (note 23).

As the war continued, the ban on German language was lifted after a few months of negotiations, but then reinstated in June 1916. The Russian government also planned to end the Mennonite option of non-combatant service, but this too was abandoned in October 1916 by the new Minister of the Interior, Alexander Protopopov, as a step to limit the growing tide of resentment against the Tsar (note 24).

Lists of every Molotschna Mennonite village farm, its size and name of owner were compiled and published in March 1916 in the Tauridia Provincial Gazette for liquidation (note 25). Landowners would be offered only 390 rubles ($165) paid out over 25 years for a farm valued between 15,000 to 30,000 rubles, according to the report; another account notes 25 to 50 rubles were given for land and buildings evaluated at 5,000 to 6,000 rubles before the war (note 26).

Mennonite leaders wrote their North American counterparts that a continued Mennonite existence in their “beloved Russia” might no longer be possible, and that their only hope was mass migration to North America immediately after the war (note 27). From an American perspective, the liquidation policy was all the more stunning given that Russian Mennonites were “in general more patriotic than would seem consistent with Mennonite principles” and their “loyalty to Russia is above all suspicion.”

Amidst considerable threats, uncertainty and restrictions, Mennonites carefully documented their history and highlighted their unique Low German identity to rebrand themselves in time of war. The strategy was to distance themselves on paper from all things Prussian, highlight their undeniable conservative political patriotism, and justify and protect their massive landholdings and wealth in light of their economic contributions.

But as their situation became more tenuous in 1918, many Mennonites began to place their hopes squarely upon Germany.

Years later in 1933 archivist Peter J. Braun wrote from (Nazi) Germany:

“Until the World War, I felt myself to be a Russian citizen; Germany was a foreign country to me. But the war brought one thing after another. The Russian intelligentsia decried us as ‘traitors’ in the press and vilified us; the government refused to protect us and instead passed the land liquidation laws … it became dreadfully clear to me: [the] Russian farmer, even though he may bear no personal animosity toward me, will not rest until he has driven the last German from his native soil and taken his place. … [we] had become strangers in the land.”(Note 28)

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Jacob P. Janzen, “Diary 1911–1919. English monthly summaries,” edited and translated by Katharina Wall Janzen. From Mennonite Heritage Archives (MHA), Jacob P. Janzen Fonds, 1911–1946, vol. 2341.

Note 2: Glenn Penner, trans., “Weapons Confiscated from Russian Mennonites in 1914,” St. Petersburg Archives, Fond 821, Opis 133, Delo 322, http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Confiscated_Firearms_1914.pdf.

Note 3: Cited in Abraham Friesen, In Defense of Privilege. Russian Mennonites and the State Before and During World War I (Winnipeg, MB: Kindred, 2006), 236, https://archive.org/details/InDefenseOfPrivilegeOCRopt. Cf. experience of estate owner Jacob Toews (“Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” translated by Frieda Toews Baergen [Leamington: Essex-Kent Mennonite Historical Association], 15, https://www.ekmha.ca/collections/files/original/9856b7fca8c0ab6fdaa861245404166e.pdf).

Note 4: Peter W. Janzen, in Lindemann, “Report of the Central Committee of the Union of October 17 [Octobrists] on its activities, from October 1, 1913, to September 1, 1914” [Отчет Центрального комитета Союза 17 октября о его деятельности, с 1 октября 1913 года по 1 сентября 1914 года], Mennonitische Geschichte und Ahnenforschung, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/0v762.pdf.

Note 5: J. Janzen, “Diary 1911–1919.” Cf. also Christlicher Familienblatt 20 (1918), 103–106, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/Pis/CFk18c.pdf.

Note 6: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews 1882–1968,” 14f. [slightly edited]

Note 7: Cf. David G. Rempel, “The Expropriation of the German Colonists in South Russia during the Great War,” Journal of Modern History 4, no. 1 (March 1932), 52f. The land liquidation legislation became law on February 2, 1915, though it did not immediately apply to the Mennonite lands in South Russia.

Note 8: J. Janzen, “Diary 1911–1919.”

Note 9: Peter Franz, ed., “Antideutsche Kampagne während des Ersten Weltkriegs,” https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz30.html.

Note 10: Nikolai Polivanov, On German Domination [О немецком засилии], 2nd edition (Petrograd, 1916), https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/vptk96.pdf.

Note 11: Peter J. Braun, Wer sind die Mennoniten?, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/Pis/Braun1.pdf.

Note 12: For a more detailed study of these efforts, see A. Friesen, In Defence of Privilege, 174.

Note 13: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” 16.

Note 14: Abraham Friesen, “Heinrich J. Braun: Preacher, Entrepreneur, Servant of His People, 1873–1946,” in Shepherds, Servants and Prophets: Leadership Among the Russian Mennonites (ca. 1880–1960), edited by Harry Loewen, 21–46 (Kitchener, ON: Pandora, 2003), 35.

Note 15: J. Janzen, “Diary 1911–1919;” cf. Christlicher Familienkalender 20 (1918), 105f., 107.

Note 16: “Die südrussischen Mennoniten in der Kriegs- und Revolutionszeit,” Mennonitischer Rundschau 43, no. 27 (July 7, 1920), 12, https://archive.org/details/sim_die-mennonitische-rundschau_1920-07-07_43_27/page/12/mode/2up.

Note 17: During German occupation in World War II, the village names briefly returned to the German original.

Note 18: Karl Lindemann, “Die Unterdrückung der deutschen Bürger Rußlands durch die zarische Regierung,” Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte 2, no. 15–24 (August–September, 1923), http://wolgadeutsche.net/bibliothek/Lindemann_Die_Unterdrueckung.htm.Cf. also Abraham Kröker’s report on the liquidation laws in the Christlicher Familienkalender 20 (1918), 106f.; D. Rempel, “The Expropriation of the German Colonists in South Russia.”

Note 19: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” 16.

Note 20: Cf. Nicholas J. Fehderau, A Mennonite Estate Family in Southern Ukraine, 1904–1924, translated by Margaret Harder and Elenore Fehderau Fast; edited by Anne Konrad (Kitchener: Pandora, 2013), 173-175; J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews,” 16–17.

Note 21: Cf. Alfred Eisfeld, “Sowjetische Nationalitätenpolitik und die Deutschen in der Sowjetunion in den 1920er Jahrenm,” in Deutsche in Rubland und in der Sowjetunion 1914–1941, edited by A. Eisfeld, V. Herdt, and B. Meissner, 174–201 (Berlin: LIT, 2007). Government officials confiscated the estates of larger landholders in South Russia in the summer of 1916; cf. A. Friesen, “Heinrich J. Braun: Preacher, Entrepreneur, Servant,” 39f.

Note 22: J. Otto Pohl, Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949 (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999), 29.

Note 23: Otto Kessler, Die Ukraine. Beiträge zur Geschichte, Kultur und Volkswirtschaft (Munich: Lehmanns, 1916), 36.

Note 24: Lindemann, Von den deutschen Kolonisten in Russland, 32.

Note 25: For samples, see https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz63.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz62.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz61.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz60.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz59.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz58.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz57.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz56.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz55.html; https://chortitza.org/FB/pfranz67.html; etc.

Note 26: J. Toews, “Biography of Jacob Cornelius Toews, 1882–1968,” 16.

Note 27: John Horsch, “Conditions among the Mennonites of Russia,” Gospel Herald 9, no. 16 (July 20, 1916), 301, with reference to two letters from Elder Heinrich Unruh, March 24 and 29, 1916, https://archive.org/details/gospelherald191609kauf/page/300/mode/2up. Reprinted in Mennonitische Blätter 63, no. 9 (September 1916), 66f., with editorial additions, https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/newspapers/Mennonitische%20Blaetter/1914-1918/.

Note 28: P. Braun, cited in A. Friesen, In Defense of Privilege, 3.

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To cite this post: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, “Anti-German Land Liquidation and Language Restrictions in Russia, 1914-1916,” History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), July 25, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/07/anti-german-land-liquidation.html.