Skip to main content

Flooding and Mennonites: A Common Thread

In November 2021 many Mennonites in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia were impacted by disastrous flooding. The mayor of Abbotsford—the worst-hit city—as well as the local Member of Parliament were Mennonites. Many Mennonites across Canada had family members who are directly impacted. 

Flood stories have been an important thread in the Prussian-Russian Mennonite story. How have Mennonites responded? Mutual aid stands out. For Menno Simons, it was “the only sign whereby a true Christian may be known” (note 1). 

In 1562, “Dutch people of the Mennonite religion” were specifically invited by the Polish banking house Loysen to settle on the “Tiegenhoff part of the Vistula Delta” to rebuild dikes partially destroyed by huge floods (1540 and 1543) and wars, and to drain low-lying lagoons and swamps over large blocks of land (note 2). The Tiege River—a branch of the Vistula—was at or below sea level. 

Dams and ditches along the Nogat and Vistula rivers had been constructed for at least three centuries before Mennonites arrived, and the waters consistently had free run over the entire flood plain and its sparse population. Where lands had been won from “swamp” and sea after some years of labour, the rivers regularly and massively pushed back and spilled their banks (note 3). 

From The Netherlands Mennonites brought skills to construct unique windmills that continuously pumped out water from the lowest points, and they designed and built complex systems of canals and sub-canals to discharge the water. The land had to be dried, cleared and strategically sloped to control water run-off and to protect from flooding. 

Because of the enormous labour required, with little capital for construction, and the danger of swamp fever, up to eighty percent of the first settlers died prematurely. In some places it took a century—three generations—to create a stable or fruitful agricultural region and, of necessity, a sense of community (note 4). The conditions helped to birth significant Mennonite-Christian social experiments of mutual aid. 

Mennonite newcomers from Holland normally became members of a Mennonite drainage company and village leasing association with common obligations to maintain the dams. Long-term leases valid for thirty to forty years encouraged the development of the land (note 5).

When a dike in the Vistula Delta broke and caused severe flooding in 1622, two “Dutchmen”—Andreas Bril and Hendrik Penner—appeared before the Polish King on behalf of the residents of Tiege to inquire regarding obligations for maintenance on the main dike (note 6). 

In 1642 the first Mennonite Privilegium was issued, which guaranteed broad privileges and which recognized the Mennonite economic contribution to the kingdom—especially with respect to flooding and the creation of dams: 

"We are all well aware of the manner in which the ancestors of the Mennonite inhabitants of the Marienburg islands (Werder), both large and small, were invited here with the knowledge and by the will of the gracious King Sigismund Augustus, to areas that were barren, swampy and unusable places in those islands. With great effort and at very high cost, they made these lands fertile and productive. They cleared out the brush, and, in order to drain the water from these flooded and marshy lands, they built mills and constructed dams to guard against flooding by the Vistula, Nogat, Haff, Tiege, and other streams." (Note 7)


Inundations were also a weapon of war. In the 1655-1660 Polish-Swedish War, intentional breaching of embankments was ordered by the Swedish King Carolus Gustavus. The Swedes did the same 25 years earlier (Note 8). 

As water levels varied, so did the local responses to natural disasters. After dams broke causing lands to flood in 1667, a powerful government official for Pomerelia near Danzig argued that God was now punishing Poland and Danzig for its tolerance of Anabaptists. The official found broad support among the nobles in parliament for a plan to deport all Mennonites, which did not come to pass (note 9). 

In 1736–37 the area again experienced catastrophic flooding (note 10) and two contemporary historians noted Protestant and Catholic neighbours were also recipients of “good deeds from the hands of Mennonites” (note 11). 

In all cases when flooding occurred, aid from co-religionists from The Netherlands was unfailing. 

Flooding in Russia

Mennonites in New Russia settled where water could be easily obtained—first along the mighty Dnieper River. Unlike in Polish-Prussia, surface water here was “scarce and the water-layer in the ground very deep.” As a result, Mennonite villages were not in the centre of their designated lands, but adjacent to rivers or streams (note 12). 

Over millennia the course of the Dnieper River had shifted. The path of the ancient Dnieper still flows around the western side of the Island of Chortitza, but at one time it went through the valley where Mennonites first established the village of Einlage. What settlers did not know was that spring high water occasionally rushes into that ancient riverbed. 

With high water in 1820, the Mennonite villages of Chortitza Island, Rosenthal, and the lower part of Einlage flooded. At some point a small dam was built at Einlage to prevent further flood damage. Again in 1829 and 1841, Rosenthal flooded, but the damage was mostly confined to their lower gardens. 

In 1845, however, the Dnieper rose to record levels and Einlage, Rosenthal, Chortitza Island, and Nieder-Chortitza suffered severe damage. 

Most famously Einlage was “completely overrun by the rupture of its dam, and 20 houses were destroyed. Damages totaled 8,922 Rubles.” By 1848, these houses had all been relocated, “partly with cash support, partly with voluntary contributions. The height of the dam was also raised significantly. The buildings and equipment of the community distillery were also severely damaged, with a loss amounting to 2,409 Rubles.” North of Einlage the Frisian Mennonite village of Kronsgarten was also severely damaged and was relocated by 1 kilometer on to adjacent higher ground. (This section is adapted mostly from the colony history written in 1848; note 13). 

Rosenthal suffered damages of 2,491 Rubles. It too had built a dam at the lower end of the valley to prevent an overflow of the river into its village. The hayfields on the village lowlands were covered with silt from the flood. Afterwards only four farmsteads could be relocated due to limited space. 

On the Island of Chortitza, several of the houses were almost up to their roofs with water in 1845, but remained standing because the current did not hit them directly. Damage was estimated at 430 Rubles. But the community suffered greater damage from silt on the largest and best part of its hayfields. The houses could not be relocated because of lack of space. The road along the shore, however, was raised significantly. 

In the 1845 flood Nieder-Chortiza was also mostly under water, and suffered total damages of 1,221 Rubles. Because of the great effort and expense involved in relocation, the community chose instead to protect itself for the future with an earthen dike. 

The much smaller Molotschna River—really more of a stream with a broad flood-plain—surprised Mennonites in the first year of settlement, 1804. With a sudden melt, water cannot soak into the frozen ground, and causes the river’s water to spill onto a large flood plain. After one year in its original location, the village of Altenau was relocated further from the river (note 14). Twenty-eight years later the village of Fischau, also on the Molotschna, was similarly moved. Eighty years later the Tokmak River that feeds into the Molotschna, overflowed in 1912. In the City of Tokmak, immediately adjacent to Ladekop, 200 houses were flooded and collapsed. Further upstream the Mennonite village of Liebenau had water on the streets, and Klippenfeld’s low-lying gardens were flooded (note 15). Flooding happened again in 1915, and Halbstadt’s streets were under water.

These are some of the key episodes of flooding in the Prussian-Russian Mennonite story. Expert technical response, local adaptations and mitigation, as well as a theology of mutual aid defined each chapter. 

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes--- 

Illustration: 1888 flooding of the Nogat River at Janowka, https://www.przewodnikelblag.pl/pl/blog/historia-jednego-zdjecia. “Petershagen Land Lease Contract (Pachtvertrag), 1635,” https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/elecrec586/PetershagenPachtvertrag1635GdanskFond779DSygn137/IMG_3285.JPG. 

Note 1: Menno Simons, Complete Writings of Menno Simons, edited by J. C. Wenger (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1984); 558, 559. Older online version edited by John Funk, “A Humble and Christian Defense,” IV, Complete Works of Menno Simons (Elkhart, IN, 1871), http://www.mennosimons.net/ft118-defense.html. Cf. also Peter J. Klassen, “The History of Mennonite Mutual Aid,” Proceedings of All-Mennonite Conference on Christian Mutual Aid, B1–B9. Smithville, OH, June 4–6, 1964. 

Note 2: For this early period, cf. Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009). For the history of Vistula River flooding, cf. Jerzy Cyerski, Marek Grzes et al., “History of floods on the River Vistula,” Hydrological Sciences Journal 51, no. 5 (2006), 799-817, https://doi.org/10.1623/hysj.51.5.799. 

Note 3: Reinhold Curicken, Der Stadt Dantzig: Historische Beschreibung (Amsterdam/ Dantzigk: Janssons, 1687), 138, https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10805961_00011.html. 

Note 4: See notes 5, 6 and 7 below. On what was grown, cf. Fynes Moryson, Itinerary of Fynes Moryson, vol. 4 (Glasgow: MacLehose, 1908), 69f., https://archive.org/details/itinerarycontain04moryuoft/page/68. 

Note 5: See Heinrich Donner and Johann Donner, Orlofferfelde Chronik, page 3, transcribed by Werner Janzen, 2010. From MLA-B, Prussian-Polish sources (online), https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/cong_303/ok63/orlofferfeldechronik.html.  Cf. Karl-Heinz Ludwig, Zur Besiedlung des Weichseldeltas durch die Mennoniten. Die Siedlungen der Mennoniten im Territorium der Stadt Elbing und in der Ökonomie Marienburg bis zur Übernahme der Gebiete durch Preußen 1772 (Marburg/Lahn: Herder-Institut, 1961), http://ostdok.de/id/BV007004581/ft/bsb00096853?page=9&c=solrSearchOstdok. 

Note 6: Horst Penner, Ansiedlung mennonitischer Niederländer im Weichselmündungsgebiet von der Mitte des 16. Jh. bis zum Beginn der Preussischen Zeit (Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1940), 57, http://dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=33883 (English translation by Tim Flaming and Glenn Penner: https://www.mharchives.ca/download/3408/). For historical maps of Mennonite villages of the region, search by village in Brent Wiebe's collection: https://trailsofthepast.com/all-in-one-map/. 

Note 7: Cited in Peter J. Klassen, A Homeland for Strangers. An Introduction to Mennonites in Poland and Prussia, rev’d ed (Fresno, CA: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 1989), 1f., https://archive.org/details/ahomeland-for-strangers-an-introduction-to-mennonites-in-poland-and-prussia-revised-ocr.

Note 8: See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/flooding-as-weapon-of-war-1657.html. 

Note 9: Anna Brons, Ursprung, Entwickelung und Schicksale der Taufgesinnten oder Mennoniten in kurzen Zügen (Norden, 1884), 258f., https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/books/. 

Note 10: Cf. Horst Quiring, “Ein Notjahr in Westpreußen,” Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender 47 (1938) 70–73. https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/newspapers/Christlicher%20Gemeinde-Kalender/1933-1941/DSCF7096.JPG. 

Note 11: Georg von Reiswitz and Friedrich Wadzeck, Beiträge zur Kenntniß der Mennoniten-Gemeinden in Europa und Amerika, Part I (Berlin, 1821), 42f. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009717700. 

Note 12: David G. Rempel, “The Mennonite Colonies in New Russia. A study of their settlement and economic development from 1789–1914,” PhD dissertation, Stanford Un,iversity, 1933, 110, https://archive.org/details/themennonitecoloniesinnewrussiaastudyoftheirsettlementandeconomicdevelopmentfrom1789to1914ocr. 

Note 13: Heinrich Heese, “Das Chortitzer Mennonitengebiet 1848. Kurzgefasste geschichtliche Übersicht der Gründung und des Bestehens der Kolonien des Chortitzer Mennonitenbezirkes,” https://chortitza.org/Ber1848.php#Eg; also Heinrich Bergen, ed., Einlage/ Kitschkas, 1789–1943: Ein Denkmal (Regina, SK: Self-published, 2008), 36-37; and Nick J. Kroeker, Erste Mennoniten Doerfer Russlands 1789–1943: Chortitza–Rosental (Vancouver, BC: Self-published, 1981), 209, and map of Chortitza and Rosental with local dams and ancient river bed, p. 204.

Note 14: M. Woltner, ed., Die Gemeindeberichte von 1848 der deutschen Siedlungen am Schwarzen Meer (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941), 113, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/kb/woltner.pdf.

Note 15: Cf. Helmut Huebert, Mennonites in the Cities of Imperial Russia, vol. 2 (Winnipeg, MB: Springfield, 2008), 398, https://archive.org/details/MennonitesInTheCitiesOfImperialRussiaVolTwoOCRopt/page/n423/; idem, Molotschna Historical Atlas (Winnipeg, MB: Springfield, 2003), 153. https://archive.org/details/MolotschnaHistoricalAtlasOCRopt.

---

To cite this page: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, "Flooding and Mennonites: A Common Thread," History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), November 5, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/11/flooding-and-mennonites-common-thread.html. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian and Prussian Mennonite Participants in “Racial-Science,” 1930

I n December 1929, some 3,885 Soviet Mennonites plus 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists and seven Adventists were assisted by Germany to flee the Soviet Union. They entered German transit camps before resettlement in Canada, Brazil and Paraguay ( note 1 ) In the camps Russian Mennonites participated in a racial-biological study to measure their hereditary characteristics and “racial” composition and “blood purity” in comparison to Danzig-West Prussian, genetic cousins. In Germany in the last century, anthropological and medical research was horribly misused for the pseudo-scientific work referred to as “racial studies” (Rassenkunde). The discipline pre-dated Nazi Germany to describe apparent human differences and ultimately “to justify political, social and cultural inequality” ( note 2 ). But by 1935 a program of “racial hygiene” and eugenics was implemented with an “understanding that purity of the German Blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the
Post a Comment
Read more

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

In October 1943, some 3,900 Mennonite resettlers from “Operation Chortitza” entered the Gau of Danzig-West Prussia. They were transported by train via Litzmannstadt and brought to temporary camps in Neustadt (Danzig), Preußisch Stargard (Konradstein), Konitz, Kulm on the Vistula, Thorn and some smaller localities ( note 1 ). The Gau received over 11,000 resettlers from the German-occupied east zones in 1943. Before October some 3,000 were transferred from these temporary camps for permanent resettlement in order to make room for "Operation Chortitza" ( note 2 ). By January 1, 1944 there were 5,473 resettlers in the Danzig-West Prussian camps (majority Mennonite); one month later that number had almost doubled ( note 3 ). "Operation Chortitza" as it was dubbed was part of a much larger movement “welcoming” hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans “back home” after generations in the east. Hitler’s larger plan was to reorganize peoples in Europe by race, to separate
Post a Comment
Read more

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,
Post a Comment
Read more

"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
Post a Comment
Read more

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Mennonite Murders, Infanticide, Rapes and more

To outsiders, the Mennonite reality in South Russia appeared almost utopian—with their “mild and peaceful ethos.” While it is easy to find examples of all the "holy virtues" of the Mennonite community, only when we are honest about both good deeds and misdemeanors does the Russian Mennonite tradition have something authentic to offer—or not. Rudnerweide was one of a few Molotschna villages with a Mennonite brewery and tavern , which in turn brought with it life-style lapses that would burden the local elder. For example, on January 21, 1835, the Rudnerweide Village Office reported that Johann Cornies’s sheep farm manager Heinrich Reimer, as well as Peter Friesen and an employed Russian shepherd, came into the village “under the influence of brandy,” and: "…at the tavern kept by Aron Wiens, they ordered half a quart of brandy and shouted loudly as they drank, banged their glasses on the table. The tavern keeper objected asking them to settle down, but they refused and
Post a Comment
Read more

Mennonite Heritage Week in Canada and the Russländer Centenary (2023)

In 2019, the Canadian Parliament declared the second week in September as “Mennonite Heritage Week.” The bill and statements of support recognized the contributions of Mennonites to Canadian society ( note 1 ). 2019 also marked the centenary of a Canadian Order in Council which, at their time of greatest need, classified Mennonites as an “undesirable” immigrant group: “… because, owing to their peculiar customs, habits, modes of living and methods of holding property, they are not likely to become readily assimilated or to assume the duties and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship within a reasonable time.” ( Pic ) With a change of government, this order was rescinded in 1922 and the doors opened for some 23,000 Mennonites to immigrate from the Soviet Union to Canada. The attached archival image of the Order in Council hangs on the office wall of Canadian Senator Peter Harder—a Russländer descendant. 2023 marks the centennial of the arrival of the first Russländer immigrant groups
Post a Comment
Read more

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 influen
Post a Comment
Read more

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
1 comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

Blessed are the Shoe-Makers: Brief History of Lost Soles

A collection of simple artefacts like shoes can open windows onto the life and story of a people. Below are a few observations about shoes and boots, or the lack thereof, and their connection to the social and cultural history of Russian Mennonites. Curiously Mennonites arrived in New Russia shoe poor in 1789, and were evacuated as shoe poor in 1943 as when their ancestors arrived--and there are many stories in between. The poverty of the first Flemish elder in Chortitza Bernhard Penner was so great that he had only his home-made Bastelschuhe in which to serve the Lord’s Supper. “[Consequently] four of the participating brethren banded together to buy him a pair of boots which one of the [Land] delegates, Bartsch, made for him. The poor community desired with all its heart to partake of the holy sacrament, but when they remembered the solemnity of these occasions in their former homeland, where they dressed in their Sunday best, there was loud sobbing.” ( Note 1 ) In the 1802 C
Post a Comment
Read more