Skip to main content

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 at the “Deutsches Auslandsinstitut” (DAI) in Stuttgart.

With Germany’s occupation of Ukraine, Stump was commissioned by Alfred Rosenberg’s Reich Ministry for Occupied Lands of the East to create an official registry and historical overview of each occupied ethnic German village in Ukraine. A key ethnographic task of Stumpp’s commando was “to provide a genealogical and racial-biological assessment of the ethnic Germans in Ukraine.”

In 1942 administrators for “Special Commando Dr. Stumpp” entered Mennonite villages and, with the assistance of local ethnic German teachers and newly appointed officials, completed extensive questionnaires to document the population, history, and cultural and physical assets of each ethnic German village, including detailed registers of those who were deported, starved, and murdered in the 1930s.

The Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archives) copies are in batches of multiple reports. The date given refers to the month the forms were drafted ("abgefaßt").


    ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

Source: Karl Stumpp, “Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp.” Prepared for the German Reichsminister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, 1942.

  • Adelsheim, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/621, Mappe 82, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, slide 712).
  • Alexanderfeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 48, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 258; slide 533).
  • Alexanderkrone (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 44, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 176; slide 357).
  • Altonau (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 38, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 313).
  • Blumenfeld, Rayon Nikopol, BA R6/622, Mappe 136, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 57; slide 114).
  • Blumengart, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 97, July 1942, (Bundesarchiv, slide 381).
  • Blumenhof (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/702, August 1942, Mappe 160 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Blumenort (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 47, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 236; slide 485).
  • Burwalde, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 98, June 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 405; slide 843).
  • Chortitza District (Summary for arrested, deported, in Red Army, families without head, mixed marriages, etc.) BA R6/626 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 49, slide 101).  
  • Chortitza (Village), Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/621, Mappe 81, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 1).
  • Deutschendorf, Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 28, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv)
  • Dnjepropetrowsk, Petrikowka, Werchnja Dnjeprowsk (Berislav, Kherson), 10 village summaries, BA R6/626 (Bundesarchiv). 
  • Eigengrund (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/623, Mappe 166, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Einlage, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/621, Mappe 83, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 415; slide 843).
  • Felsenbach (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/623, Mappe 127, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Franzfeld, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/621, Mappe 84, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 380; slide 780).
  • Friedensfeld, Rayon Nikopol, BA R6/622, Mappe 137, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 230).
  • Friedensfeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 46, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 211; slide 437).
  • Friesendorf, Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/623, Mappe 169, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv). (Previously a Jewish village, like Rotfeld)
  • Gnadenfeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 45, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 193; slide 401).
  • Gnadental (Baratov), Rayon Sofiejewka, BA R6/623, Mappe 182, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Grünfeld, Rayon Kriwoj-Rog, Dnjepropetrowsk, BA R6/624, Mappe 199, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 272)
  • Heuboden (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/623, Mappe 170, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Hindenburg (Kudaschewka), Rayon Boshedarowka, BA R6/623, Mappe: 192, June 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Hochfeld (Borosenko), Rayon Kriwoj-Rog, BA R6/624, Mappe 200, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, slide 399).
  • Hochfeld, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 85, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 1; slide 4).
  • Kathrinowka (Borosenko), Rayon Boshedarowka, BA R6/624, Mappe 193, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 4).
  • Kronsgarten (Chortiza), Rayon Dnjepropetrowsk, BA R6/703, Mappe 14, December 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Kronstal, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 99, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 441).
  • Kronsweide, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 86, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 322).
  • Lenintal (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/623, Mappe, 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Miloradowka (Borosenko), Rayon Boshedarovka, BA R6/706, Mappe 194, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv [scans start at 125 of 259]).
  • Münsterberg (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 50, June 1942 (Bundesarchiv, slide 655).
  • Neu-Chortitza (Baratov), Rayon Sofiejewka, BA R6/623, Mappe 184, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Neu-Halbstadt (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 35, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 203).
  • Neu-Schönsee (Sagradovka) Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 42, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 99; slide 190).
  • Neuenburg, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 87, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 352).
  • Neuendorf, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 88, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 89; slide 180).
  • Neuhorst, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 89, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 142).
  • Nieder Chortitza, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/705, Mappe 100, May 1942, (Bundesarchiv, sheet 1).
  • Nikolaifeld, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/705, Mappe [?], April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 44).
  • Nikolaifeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 39, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 348).
  • Nikolaital (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/702, Mappe 176, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Nikopol Gebiet (District). Population overview /totals for Blumenfeld, Friedensfeld, Katharinental, Nikopol (city), Steinau. BA R6/706 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Orloff (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 45, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 432).
  • Osterwick, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 107, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 189; slide 393).
  • Reinfeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 40, 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 416).
  • Rosenbach, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/705, Mappe 91, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, ssheet 81).
  • Rosenfeld (Borosenko) Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/702, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Rosengart, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 103, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 467).
  • Rosenort (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 36, February 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 231).
  • Rotfeld, Rayon Sofiejewka, BA R6/623, Mappe 185, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv) (Like Friesendorf, previously Jewish).
  • Schönau (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/620, Mappe 37, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 264).
  • Schöndorf (Borosenko), Rayon Friesendorf, BA R6/702, Mappe 180, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv).
  • Schöneberg, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 102, July 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 31; slide 65).
  • Schönhorst, Rayon Chortitza, BA R6/622, Mappe 92, May 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 159; slide 339).
  • Steinau, Rayon Nikopol, BA R6/622, Mappe 138, August 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 259). (See also Nikopol above).
  • Steinfeld (Borosenko), Rayon Kriwoj-Rog, BA R6/624, Mappe 207, April 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 629).
  • Steinfeld (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 43, March 1942 (Bundesarchiv, sheet 124; slide 248).
  • Tiege (Sagradovka), Rayon Kronau, BA R6/621, Mappe 49, 1942 (Bundesarchiv, slide 595).

---

To cite this page: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, “Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp, 1942: List and Links,” History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), August 7, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/08/village-reports-commando-dr-stumpp-1942.html.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mennonites in Danzig's Suburbs: Maps and Illustrations

Mennonites first settled in the Danzig suburb of Schottland (lit: "Scotland"; “Stare-Szkoty”; also “Alt-Schottland”) in the mid-1500s. “Danzig” is the oldest and most important Mennonite congregation in Prussia. Menno Simons visited Schottland and Dirk Phillips was its first elder and lived here for a time. Two centuries later the number of families from the suburbs of Danzig that immigrated to Russia was not large: Stolzenberg 5, Schidlitz 3, Alt-Schottland 2, Ohra 1, Langfuhr 1, Emaus 1, Nobel 1, and Krampetz 2 ( map 1 ). However most Russian Mennonites had at least some connection to the Danzig church—whether Frisian or Flemish—if not in the 1700s, then in 1600s. Map 2  is from 1615; a larger number of Mennonites had been in Schottland at this point for more than four decades. Its buildings are not rural but look very Dutch urban/suburban in style. These were weavers, merchants and craftsmen, and since the 17th century they lived side-by-side with a larger number of Jews a...

Life in Exin, 1944: German-Occupied Poland

After the 1943-44 portion of the Great Trek ended with settlement of some 35,000 Mennonites in German-annexed Poland, the Gnadenfeld area trek members were scattered in resettler camps ( Umsiedler-Lager ) around Exin ( Kcynia ) and the Altburgund District administrative centre of Dietfurt ( Żnin ), including the hamlets of Kiefernrode ( Słupowiec ), Schwarzerde ( Malice ), Schmiedebach, etc. ( note 1) . Until World War I, the area was part of the German-Prussian Province of Posen, about 170 kilometres south-west of Danzig ( Gdańsk ) and about 400 kilometres east of Berlin. Almost all ethnic German resettlers from Ukraine arrived through Litzmannstadt (Łódź), one of two entrance points from the east into new German province of “Warthegau” ( note 2) . Here thousands were cleansed, deloused and processed daily. Some Gnadenfeld group members were brought to Janowitz (Janowiec) , near Hermannsbad in the District of Hohensalza for quarantine. Here fresh straw was laid out on the floor for ...

More Royal News! Mennonites give gifts of “Oxen, Butter, Ducks, Hens & Cheese” to new King (1772)

What do Mennonites offer a new king? The ritual ceremonies of homage to a new European king—as we see on TV these days--are ancient. Exactly 250 years yesterday, Frederick the Great became king over Mennonites in the Vistula River Delta where most of our ancestors lived. Here is how that played out. On May 31, 1772, Heinrich Donner was elected elder of the Orlofferfelde Mennonite Church, 25 km north of Marienburg Castle in Polish-Prussia; thankfully he kept a diary ( note 1 ). Only a few months later the weak Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth collapsed and was partitioned by powerful, land-hungry neighbours: Austria, Prussia and Catherine the Great’s empire. In the preceding decades Mennonites had lived with significant autonomy, felt secure under the Polish crown and could appeal to the king for protection . Now some 2,638 Mennonite families were under Prussian rule. Frederick II took possession of his new lands on September 13, and then invited four persons of nobility plus clergy from ...

Canadian Mennonites and Paraguay: 1922

The first attached photo vividly depicts a meeting of conservative Mennonite elders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in 1922 who intended to lead their communities to Paraguay. This was happening as hundreds of “Old Colony” Mennonites were leaving for Mexico. The “Old Colonists” from Manitoba’s West Reserve were in fact the first conservative Canadian Mennonites to scout out Paraguay for settlement land. In 1920 they were assisted in their search by New York financier and lawyer, General Samuel McRoberts, who had extensive holdings as well as political and business connections in Paraguay. The delegation travelled 90 km into the Chaco interior, west of the Paraguay River. They were however unimpressed with the land and ultimately recommended Mexico to their community ( note 1 ). Other conservative groups in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were however interested in sending their own scouts to assess the Chaco and the political climate in Paraguay vis-à-vis the list of privileges they were seek...

Ideas for Educational Reform, 1832

After four decades in Russia, the president of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Colonists, Andrei Fadeev, considered only eight of 116 Mennonite teachers in the two larger regions of Katerynoslav and Tauria—which included the Molotschna—fit to teach ( note 1 ). Jakob Bräul’s Rudnerweide schoolhouse was given the same status as Heinrich Heese’s Ohrloff Agricultural Society School with regard to policies and “especially for the teaching of Russian” ( note 2 ). Fadeev triggered great angst when by “imperial decree” he distributed a book to church elders written by German Mennonite Abraham Hunzinger on the modernization of Mennonite schools and church. It was a friendly gesture and poke. The Molotschna was already a tinderbox, and this spark introduced by a state official to strengthen the community ignited a fire in the colony. Fadeev wrote to Johann Cornies on January 12, 1832: “Most valued Cornies ... I advise you to acquire and read a booklet sent to your church leaders f...

Fraktur (or Gothic) font and Kurrent- (or Sütterlin) handwriting: Nazi ban, 1941

In the middle of the war on January 1, 1942, the Winnipeg-based Mennonitische Rundschau published a new issue without the familiar Fraktur script masthead ( note 1 ). One might speculate on the reasons, but a year earlier Hitler banned the use of the font in the Reich . The Rundschau did not exactly follow all orders from Berlin—the rest of the paper was in Fraktur (sometimes referred to as "Gothic"); when the war ended in 1945, the Rundschau reintroduced the Fraktur font for its masthead. It wasn’t until the 1960s that an issue might have a page or title here or there with the “normal” or Latin font, even though post-war Germany was no longer using Fraktur . By 1973 only the Rundschau masthead is left in Fraktur , and that is only removed in December 1992. Attached is a copy of Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann's official letter dated January 3, 1941, which prohibited the use of Fraktur fonts "by order of the Führer. " Why? It was a Jewish invention, apparent...

Russo-Japanese War and the Mennonite Response, 1904-05

In February 1904, Russia declared war on Japan and Mennonite congregations sent the Tsar messages of loyalty, love and prayers. The large Lichtenau-Petershagen-Schönsee congregation in the Mennonite Molotschna Colony in today’s Ukraine led by 80-year-old Elder (Bishop) Jakob Töws expressed its “deep loyalty and love for the throne and the Fatherland” ( note 1 ). Similarly, the Mennonite Chortitza congregation declared that Mennonites bow “humbly before the Imperial Majesty with most faithful love and devotion,” and “together with all faithful subjects send their most passionate prayers and supplications to the Most High, that He may extend his mighty hand over the beloved Tsar and the Russian people, and that peace may soon be returned” ( note 2 ). The Einlage Mennonite Brethren congregation offered a similar statement, “inspired by feelings of boundless dedication to the Sovereign Fatherland,” with “passionate prayers” for the Tsar and Fatherland, based on 1 Timothy 2:1–4 ( note 3 ...

1843: London Bible Society, revival and School reform

In 1843 the Russian Mennonite colonies received a visitation from the London Bible Society. It was the same year that Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol" about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his conversion after the visitation of three Christmas ghosts! Dickens was not happy that the Church’s overseas mission budget was so large, while in his view they neglected the poor on their own doorsteps in London. Ebenezer was in fact a common British name of the era. A few years earlier the Molotschna was visited by a delegation from the British and Foreign Bible Society. The British agent, Reverend Ebeneezer Henderson, convinced Molotschna elders and Johann Cornies to establish their own Bible Society. "As they live on habits of friendship and intimacy with their Tatar neighbours, and one of their principal men [Cornies] speaks the Tatar with fluency, we furnished him with a good supply of New Testaments, and other portions of Scripture, in that language, that they m...

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 ...