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

Vaccinations in Chortitza and Molotschna, beginning in 1804

Vaccination lists for Chortitza Mennonite children in 1809 and 1814 were published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic with little curiosity ( note 1 ). However during the 2020-22 pandemic and in a context in which some refused to vaccinate for religious belief, the historic data took on new significance. Ancestors of some of the more conservative Russian Mennonite groups—like the Reinländer or the Bergthalers or the adult children of land delegate Jacob Höppner—were in fact vaccinating their infants and toddlers against small pox over two hundred years ago ( note 2 ). Also before the current pandemic Ukrainian historian Dmytro Myeshkov brought to light other archival materials on Mennonites and vaccination. The material below is my summary and translation of the relevant pages of Myeshkov’s massive 2008 volume on Black Sea German and their Worlds, 1781 to 1871 (German only; note 3 ). Myeshkov confirms that Chortitza was already immunizing its children in 1804 when their District Offic...

"A Small Town near Auschwitz” – Chortitza Mennonite Refugee/ Resettlement Camps

Simple proximity to a place of horrors does not equal knowledge or complicity. Many Gnadenfeld-area Mennonite refugees were, for example, temporarily housed 20 km. away from the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp where 15-year-old Anne Frank died ultimately of typhus ( note 1 ). The day after liberation by British troops on April 15, 1945, camp survivors began to flow through neighbouring villages. “What a sight they were! They had been tortured and starved, and were swollen from lack of food. … We could hardly believe that the glorious country of Germany could commit such crimes against people,” Susanna Toews wrote ( note 2 ). My mother was only seven, but she remembers overhearing shocking descriptions given by their host family’s teenaged girls forced by the British to clean some of the camp buses. What about the much larger death camp at Auschwitz? There is a book entitled: A Small Town near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and the Holocaust. It is about an administrator living near the ...

“Operation Chortitza” (Part II) – Resettler Camps in Danzig-West Prussia, 1943-44

Waldemar Janzen, my former German professor and advisee, turned eleven years old in 1943. He and his mother and 3,900 others from Chortitza and Rosenthal (Ukraine) were evacuated west to the ethnic German resettler camps in Gau Danzig-West Prussia in October that year (see Part I; note 1 ). Years later Janzen could still recall much from this childhood experience—including the impact of the visit by Professor Benjamin H. Unruh a few weeks after their arrival. “He was a man who had extended much help to his fellow Mennonites ever since they began to emigrate from Russia during the 1920s” ( note 2 ). Unruh was a father-figure to his people, and his arrival at their camp in West Prussia signaled to the evacuees that they were in good hands ( note 3 ). Unruh’s impact on 7,000 other Chortitza District villagers in Upper Silesia would be the same some weeks later ( note 4 ). Surprisingly Unruh’s West Prussian camps visit left an equally indelible impression on the Gau’s Operations Commande...

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 ...

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 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...

1929 Flight of Mennonites to Moscow and Reception in Germany

At the core of the attached video are some thirty photos of Mennonite refugees arriving from Moscow in 1929 which are new archival finds. While some 13,000 had gathered in outskirts of Moscow, with many more attempting the same journey, the Soviet Union only released 3,885 Mennonite "German farmers," together with 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists, and 7 Adventists. Some of new photographs are from the first group of 323 refugees who left Moscow on October 29, arriving in Kiel on November 3, 1929. A second group of photos are from the so-called “Swinemünde group,” which left Moscow only a day later. This group however could not be accommodated in the first transport and departed from a different station on October 31. They were however held up in Leningrad for one month as intense diplomatic negotiations between the Soviet Union, Germany and also Canada took place. This second group arrived at the Prussian sea port of Swinemünde on December 2. In the next ten ...

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, ...

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...

Warthegau, Nazism and two 15-year-old Mennonites, 1944

Katharina Esau offered me a home away from home when I was a student in Germany in the 1980s. The Soviet Union released her and her family in 1972. Käthe Heinrichs—her maiden name (b. Aug. 18, 1928)—and my Uncle Walter Bräul were classmates in Gnadenfeld during Nazi occupation of Ukraine, and experienced the Gnadenfeld group “trek” as 15-year-olds together. Before she passed, she wrote her story ( note 1 )—and I had opportunity to interview my uncle. Käthe and Walter both arrived in Warthegau—German annexed Poland—in March 1944 ( note 2 ), and the Reich had a plan for their lives. In February 1944, the Governor of Warthegau ordered the Hitler Youth (HJ) organization to “care for Black Sea German youth” ( note 3 ). Youth were examined for the Hitler Youth, but also for suitability for elite tracks like the one-year Landjahr (farm year and service) program. The highly politicized training of the Landjahr was available for young people in Hitler Youth and its counterpart the League of G...