Skip to main content

"Haste is Necessary!": Ukrainian Famine, 1933/34, and Canadian Mennonite Aid

It is a largely unwritten story—the massive Mennonite food aid sent to the USSR from Canada and the United States during the great famine in Ukraine, 1933 (note 1). The the following materials were photographed at the Mennonite Heritage Archives in Winnipeg 

In a previous post, I examined a selection of thousands of petition letters sent to Mennonite offices from Ukraine (mostly), begging family, friends and co-religionists generally to help with food, lest they perish (note 2).

Between January and April 1933, for example, the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBC) received over 7,000 letters such letters. It was stunning for me to find a letter by my grandmother’s sister in the mix; if she and her family were starving in Schardau, I know my grandparents and their children would have been at the edge in Marienthal as well.

But the real alarm bells went off on February 15, 1933 with a telegram to David Toews (CMBC chair) in Rosthern from Benjamin Unruh in Germany. Unruh wrote:

“A shocking report has just come in. Molotschna has been hit by famine. Without miraculous help, everyone will starve to death in a very short time. The situation is more hopeless than in 1921. I am negotiating in Berlin. Mobilize the widest circles. Keep me informed. Give order. --Unruh.”

Unruh sent a copy to American Mennonites as well; Toews was on a train to Vancouver, but received the messages upon arrival.

His response was immediate.

“I am here in Vancouver on my way to Yarrow … and have just received the following telegram from Brother Benjamin Unruh, Germany. … What we were fearing is now happening: our people in Russia have been abandoned to starvation. Would that we would all do our utmost to save as many as possible! Haste is necessary! Gather whatever you can and send it in, it will all be forwarded immediately.”

Toews sent the urgent call to action via telegram that very same day, February 16, to Unruh in Germany, to the treasurer of the General Conference Mennonite Church in Kansas; to the Mennonite Brethren and Old Mennonite Church leadership; to the MCC executive, as well as to six different church papers.

Six days later Toews’ cabled message was on page 1 of the February 22, 1933 issue of the Mennonitische Rundschau. “Haste is necessary!”

In the meantime Unruh was meeting with the highest levels of the new German government, and on March 7 he shared the stunning news that:

“… delivery of rye for the entire population of German settlements in Ukraine is possible on the basis of repayable advances to denominational aid organizations. There is rye stored in southern Russian ports and belongs to the Reich, which they can offer to aid organizations for sixty marks per ton without freight and shipping costs if the church promised to pay off the debt. In view of the dire need, may I accept such an offer from Berlin on behalf of the Mennonite World Organization in the range of seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollars?

Distribution will take place under the direction of the Reich in connection with our local organization. … Communicate among yourselves by phone and send me an order immediately – Address: Hotel Stuttgarter Hof, Anhalter Strasse, Berlin.

Keep matter strictly confidential within executive. Avoid publicity until I report. –Unruh”

Again Toews does not hesitate or flinch at the large dollars involved. The next day (March 8) he cabled Unruh: “If aid to starving Mennonites can be secured, then we support proposed plan.” - Toews.”

On that day (March 8) Unruh helped to organize a high-level meeting of the German Red Cross and with Catholic and Lutheran representatives. The minutes make clear that Unruh is the guiding force in the room; the strategy received strong support of the regime-friendly German Red Cross and the umbrella agency, Brothers in Need. All donations from abroad would go through the Berlin shipping agency Fast & Briliant, who could ensure that every specific money donation reached its intended address in Ukraine (i.e., as a food aid package to be picked up at a government Torgsin foreign currency store, e.g., in Melitopol or Berdjansk).

Packages began to flow in larger numbers, even as special negotiations between the German Red Cross with Moscow (e.g., regarding the rye grain) continued. Hundreds of donors are listed in almost each issue of the Rundschau.

On May 21, 1933, Unruh cabled Toews: “Just received news that Torgsin [foreign currency stores] not averse to wholesale sale [of rye]. Inform states. Still avoid press. I am negotiating for the advance. Collect as much as you can. –Unruh.”

One month later, on June 29, 1933, the Mennonite Board in the USA cabled Toews to say that Unruh had cabled to inform that the German Brothers in Need aid organization “has begun a large-scale relief operation.” “Brothers in Need” was chaired by the German Red Cross and Benjamin Unruh sat on its board.

But there was more. Upon the recommendation of his Foreign Ministry, the new German Reich Chancellor and Führer Adolf Hitler donated 1,000 Reich Marks (RM) to “Brothers in Need” as one of his first official acts.

On July 15, the German Red Cross wrote to the new German leader:

“The fact that the Reich Chancellor and Fnhrer has placed himself at the head of the relief organization with a considerable sum of money will cheer the readiness of all Germans within the borders of the Reich to also give. Moreover, it will give a ray of hope to the hundreds of thousands of German Volk comrades far away—in Ukraine, Molotschna, Crimea, Caucasus and on the Volga—to be assured of your personal knowledge and readiness to help in their desolate misery. May I therefore thank you—also in the name of these hundreds of thousands.” (Note 3)

Hitler's regime had its own reasons for supporting "Germans abroad" and highlighting their misery on the international stage. Unruh was in factlisted as one of the representatives recommended by the Foreign Ministry to greet Hitler, though Hitler’s schedule apparently did not allow for the meeting. Unruh was not politically naive either. Sometime before January 1933, he had become a financial supporter both of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and the right wing German National People’s Party (note 4).

In August Unruh wrote his counterparts in USA and Canada.

“Dear brothers! We continue to achieve more with Moscow. I know that a 25% discount was granted for the rye flour campaign, so that the rye flour prices will be below the retail prices in Berlin as communicated in my last longer report.

I have that sent an article to Editor [Dietrich] Epp [Der Bote], which will be published as soon as I telegraph and give a green light. The contract however must first be signed with Moscow. … The Moscow Torgsin headquarters has generally granted a strong discount on a wide variety of goods. .. For now a very interesting message from Berlin regarding the Torgsin packets. I enclose Mr. Fast's letter under number 341; It speaks for itself. Perhaps it would be good if you, dear Brother Toews, announced in the Canadian papers that the Moscow Torgsin 'Package A' is no longer RM [Reich Marks] 11.50, as the latest prospectus stated, but only RM 9.50; 'Package B' is now RM 14, instead of RM 18.50; 'Package C,' RM. 19, instead of RM 22.”

Again on September 10, 1933 Unruh cabled Toews with more good news. “Unexpected large new price reduction achieved with Torgsin. Report to follow. Inform USA. – Unruh”.

In 1933 Mennonites in Canada donated $21,377 for this effort. Donations went through the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, and Toews then forwarded this money to Unruh in Germany.

The scheme had a verifiable high success rate; families in Ukraine sent letters of gratitude through Fast and Briliant to indicate that they had received the food aid packages. In this way, thousands of Mennonite families were saved from starvation in the great Ukrainian famine of 1933 to 1934—including my own.

Colin Neufeldt’s conclusion is fair—though the context was very complex.

“Although Unruh made use of various German and later Nazi agencies such as ‘Brüder in Not’ in coordinating his relief campaigns, political motivations did not play a large role in his relief work; his only concern was to provide food and money to his CO-religionists in the USSR, an activity that he and other Mennonite relief agencies, had been involved with since the late 1920s.” (Note 5)

With regard to the Canadian effort, there is still much write (note 6). While reviewing the cables first-hand, I was struck to see how such a large relief actions with excellent outcomes could be launched within days. Mennonites had strong connections; letters were not only going to Berlin and Moscow, but also to Ottawa and Washington. Complicated politics are part of any global Mennonite story. Moreover, this story shows how struggling Canadian Mennonite farmers were willing to give sacrificially even as the depression set in. Together, Mennonites moved mountains.

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: For a good start, see Colin Neufeldt, “The Fate of Mennonites in Ukraine and the Crimea during Soviet Collectivization and the Famine (1930–33),” PhD dissertation, University of Alberta, 1999, 243-248, 

Note 2: See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/ukrainian-famine-and-genocide-holodomor.html. The telegrams referenced in this post come from the Mennonite Heritage Archives in Winnipeg, vol. 1315, Unruh Correspondence, Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization.

Note 3: Cf. German Red Cross President to the Reich Chancellor (Hitler), July 15, 1933, “Die deutschstämmigen Kolonisten in Rußland,” November 1929–Februar 1935, p. 192, Auswärtige Angelegenheiten, Bundesarchiv BA R 43-I/141, https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/8d143551-e334-41f1-aba3-0d630992139b. Cf. e.g., Ewald Ammende, “Eine Pflicht der Nation. Zur Tragödie des Rußlanddeutschtums,” Rigaschen Rundschau, Erste Beilage, no. 54 (March 8, 1934); “Der Untergang der deutschen Bauern in Rußland”—state press directive for June 30, 1933 in N-S Presseanweisungen der Vorkriegszeit, I:1933, edited by Gabriele Toepser-Ziegert (New York: Saur, 1984), 45. Herr Stieve, German Foreign Affairs to the State Secretary for the Reich Chancellory, June 22, 1933, “Die deutschstämmigen Kolonisten in Rußland,” R 43-I/141, 185, BArch.

Note 4: “Fragebogen zur Bearbeitung des Aufnahmeantrages für die Reichsschriftumskammer,” Oct. 7, 1937, submitted by B. Unruh, MS 416, Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, North Newton, KS, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_416/unruh_harder_quiring_berlin_docs/SKMBT_C35108031809530_0001.jpg.

Note 5: C. Neufeldt, “The Fate of Mennonites in Ukraine and the Crimea,” 248.

Note 6: Very little of this story is told in Frank H. Epp's Mennonites in Canada, 1920–1940: A People’s Struggle for Survival (Toronto: MacMillan, 1982), https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/sites/ca.grebel/files/uploads/files/mic_iir_0.pdf,, or in Helmut Harder's biography, David Toews was here, 1870–1947 (Winnipeg, MB: CMU, 2006), https://www.cmu.ca/docs/cmupress/CMU-David-Toews-was-Here.pdf

---
To cite this post: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, “'Haste is Necessary!': Ukrainian Famine, 1933/34, and Canadian Mennonite Aid,” History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), July 25, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/07/haste-is-necessary-ukrainian-famine.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...