“The way is finally open”—Russian Mennonite Immigration, 1922-23

In a highly secretive meeting in Ohrloff, Molotschna on February 7, 1922, leaders took a decision to work to remove the entire Mennonite population of some 100,000 people out of the USSR—if at all possible (note 1).

B.B. Janz (Ohrloff) and Bishop David Toews (Rosthern, SK) are remembered as the immigration leaders who made it possible to bring some 20,000 Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada in the 1920s (note 2).

But behind those final numbers were multiple problems.

In August 1922, an appeal was made by leaders to churches in Canada and the USA:

“The way is finally open, for at least 3,000 persons who have received permission to leave Russia … Two ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway are ready to sail from England to Odessa as soon as the cholera quarantine is lifted. These Russian [Mennonite] refugees are practically without clothing … .” (Note 3)

Notably at this point B. B. Janz was also writing Toews, saying that he was utterly exhausted and was preparing to quit his leadership post later that same month. The letter is important, and I quote at length:

“I would like to share something personal, if you don't mind. ... My dealings with Russian authorities have left me terribly exhausted, physically and even morally. I don't think I can do it anymore, and therefore I am certain that I will submit my resignation at the autumn conference in August. I've rolled the boulder of Sisyphus long enough, there's too little purpose — at least for me. ... If I kill myself in the process, the family breadwinner is taken away. We are a family with 6 children, the oldest 15 years old etc., who are just now starting out in life. It is time for them to be transplanted into a new garden. ... Nonetheless, my position does not allow me to be the first to leave, so to this point I have always just sought to open the way for others. But now I want to do this for my family as well. Why am I telling you all this? To make a request. Please demonstrate good will and benevolence to this distressed worker from afar and his family, and offer him a resting place in the vast Canadian prairies in the form of a farmstead, which are now being acquired for the south Russian Mennonites! On general terms. Although not among the very first, I wanted, as God otherwise allows, to leave the arena here for good this autumn. Leaving aside the economic motives, it would be good for me - because of the government orientation - to leave. Maybe what I am saying makes sense. Should God possibly think differently, then he will certainly ‘do it well’ and help me to understand this as well. As far as I can see and judge, this is the way.” (Note 4)

To make matters worse, Toews’s for-profit plan to raise $10 million through the sale shares to finance transportation and land acquisitions was met not only with little enthusiasm but outright opposition in Canada and the USA. In August 1922, sidelined Manitoba leader H. H. Ewert of Gretna wrote his brother in Hillsboro, KS about the “overthrow” of the original committee: “The evil spirit behind the entire putsch is Gerhard Ens of Rosthern, and David Toews has let himself be completely hypnotized by him” (note 5). Ens had served provincially as member of the Saskatchewan legislature, federally as an immigration agent, and had left the Mennonite Church to join the Church of the New Jerusalem.

By Fall 1922, the ships had not yet sailed because of the cholera outbreak at Odessa and political instability in the Black Sea region. One more attempt was considered with persons who could finance their own rail fare and lodging from Ukraine north to the Latvian port at Riga on the Baltic Sea. This plan too failed because of Canadian health inspection requirements and the Soviet refusal to allow the inspectors to enter the USSR. In the end there was no mass Russian Mennonite immigration to Canada in 1922 (note 6).

And to make matters more complex, at least two American Mennonite relief directors in Russia were actively dissuading larger groups of Russian Mennonites from application for emigration (note 7).

Throughout these months, B. B. Janz was still trying to retire from his leadership role and sought an individual sponsorship to North America by the Kansas-based Mennonite Executive Committee for Colonization. The committee however rejected his request (note 8).

Early in 1923 Toews and the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization changed course. The controversial figure Gerhard Ens resigned from his position on the fundraising association. And in a letter to H. H. Ewert’s brother—secretary of the Mennonite Executive Committee for Colonization in Kansas—Toews outlined a new strategy as a charity, and only one-tenth of the original capital funds was required (note 9). But Toews refused to adopt the less visionary plan of individual, family and small group sponsorship, and to give up on the idea of a mass immigration.

In May 1923, Janz wrote to his North American partners that the Soviet government had given permission to allow up to 20,000 Mennonites emigrate that year. Janz added, that if they had difficulty acquiring land in Canada or US, the Russian Mennonites would be happy to be settled in Mexico (note 10).

In the end 2,759 Mennonites were able to immigrate to Canada in 1923—far short of what the Soviet regime was willing to allow that year—but much greater than could have been possible if Toews had relented and focused on individual sponsorships (note 11). The way was finally opened.

Janz remained in the USSR until Spring 1926. The doors for emigration were now beginning to close around quickly again. After his departing sermon in his home congregation in Tiege, Molotschna on May 24, 1926, Janz escaped in disguise, just a few hours before his scheduled arrest as a key “agitator” for emigration (note 12).

Passengers by year of immigration (note 13)

1923 - 2,759
1924 - 5,048
1925 - 3,772
1926 - 5,940
1927 - 847
1928 - 511
1929 [into 1930] - 1,019
1930 - 305

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: B.B. Janz and Ph. Cornies to Study Commissioners A. A. Friesen, Βenjamin Η. Unruh, C. H. Warkentin; (also) to the General Commission for Foreign Needs of Holland and the American Mennonite Relief, Scottdale, PA, early March 1922. Translated and edited by Harold Bender, “A Russian Mennonite Document of 1922,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 28, no. 2 (April 1954), 143–147; 144f.

Note 2: For brief biographies, cf. GAMEO, "Janz, Benjamin B. (1877-1964), https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Janz,_Benjamin_B._(1877-1964); and "Toews, David (1870-1947)," https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Toews,_David_(1870-1947). For longer studies, cf. John B. Toews, With Courage to Spare: The Life of B. B. Janz (1877–1964) (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978) https://archive.org/details/WithCourageToSpareOCRopt; and Helmut Harder, David Toews was here, 1870-1947 (Winnipeg, MB: CMBC, 2002).

Note 3: Memorandum, August 1922, “Um Kleider benötigt,” D. H. Bender, Mennonite Executive Committee for Colonization and David Toews, Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization. In Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, North Newton, KS (MLA-B), https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/024%20General%20correspondence%201922%20May-September/201.jpg.

Note 4: Letter, September 1922, B. B. Janz to David Toews, Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, in MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/024%20General%20correspondence%201922%20May-September/243.jpg.

Note 5: Letter, August 2, 1922, H. H. Ewert (Gretna, MB) to W. J. Ewert (Hillsboro, KS), in MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/024%20General%20correspondence%201922%20May-September/169.jpg. For a fulsome background, cf. Frank H. Epp, Mennonite Exodus (Altona, MB: Friesen, 1962), ch. 9 and 10. Epp does not cite any H. H. Ewert letters.

Note 6: Letter, October 30, 1922, Col. J. S. Dennis (Montreal), to David Toews (Rosthern, SK), in MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/025%20General%20correspondence%201922%20October-December/22.jpg. Cf. Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 139f.

Note 7: See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/02/immigration-to-canada-1923-background.html.

Note 8: Letter, March 1, 1923, D. H. Bender (Hesston, KS) to W. J. Ewert (Hillsboro, KS), MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/026%20General%20correspondence%201923%20January-June/064.jpg; AND Letter, March 1, 1923, D. H. Bender (Hesston, KS) to Levi Mumaw (Scottdale, PA), MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/026%20General%20correspondence%201923%20January-June/065.jpg AND Letter, March 17, 1923, D. H. Bender (Hesston, KS) to Levi Mumaw (Scottdale, PA), MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/026%20General%20correspondence%201923%20January-June/092.jpg.

Note 9: Letter, May 1, 1923, David Toews to W. J. Ewert (Kansas), MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/024%20General%20correspondence%201922%20May-September/183.jpg.

Note 10: Letter, May 2, 1923, B. B. Janz to D. H. Bender, via Alvin J. Miller, American Mennonite Relief (Russia), MLA-B, https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_6/026%20General%20correspondence%201923%20January-June/134.jpg.

Note 11: Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 282.

Note 12: Cf. A. A. Töws, ed., Mennonitische Märtyrer der jüngsten Vergangenheit und der Gegenwart, vol. 2: Der große Leidensweg (North Clearbrook, BC: Self-published, 1954) 487. For more detail, cf. J. Toews, With Courage to Spare, 55f.

Note 13: Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 282.

---

To cite this post: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, “'The way is finally open'—Russian Mennonite Immigration, 1922-23,” History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), December 5, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-way-is-finally-openrussian.html.

Comments

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 ...

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...

Mennonite Medical Orderlies in World War I

Russia declared war on Germany on July 20, 1914. Mennonite ministers and civic leaders met on July 22, and called for the extension of their community’s alternative service agreement beyond forestry service: to form complete medical units to gather the wounded from the front and to transport them by hospital trains to interior hospitals; to establish special hospital facilities for the wounded in the colonies; to fundraise large sums for the Red Cross; and to grant financial aid to families of soldiers ( note 1 ). Mennonites knew that they would have to prove their patriotism in positive and tangible ways in order to retain property rights and privileges. Abraham Kröker, editor of the Friedensstimme , wrote just before the start of the war: “Do we not owe it our government and Russian neighbours to show that if a war … broke out, we would be ready to serve the interests of the Fatherland [Russia], and to help the needy?” D. H. Epp, editor of Der Botschafter , wrote: “We need to show ...

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 ...

“First Arrival of German Troops in Halbstadt” (Volksfreund, April 20, 1918)

“ April 19, 1918 will always remain significant in the history of the Molotschna German Colony. That which until recently could hardly be imagined has occurred: the German military has arrived to free us from the despotism, rape and pillaging of barbarous people and to reestablish the order and security of life and property--something desperately necessary for our land. For this we give thanks above all to the One in whose hands the peoples and nations and also individuals rest. ...” ( Note 1 ) Mennonites greeted their “guests and liberators” with festivities that included baked goods (Zwieback), meats and even the German anthem “ Deutschland, Deutschland über alles "—all before the watchful eyes of their Russian /Ukrainian neighbours. The troops arrived by train; and to the shock of most present, three bound prisoners—all well-known bandits and terrorists—“were brought out of one of the railway cars without any prior notice, lined up and shot right in front of us” as an exampl...

Formidable Fräulein Marga Bräul (1919–2011)

Fräulein Bräul left an indelible mark on two generations of high school students in the Mennonite Colony of Fernheim, Paraguay. Former students and acquaintances recall that Marga Bräul demanded the highest effort and achievements of her students, colleagues and of herself—the kind of teacher you either love or hate but will never forget! In March 1947, Marga was offered a position at the Fernheim Secondary School ( Zentralschule ). A recent refugee to Paraguay from war-torn Europe, she taught mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In 1952, she was the only female faculty member ( note 1 ). Marga wedded a strong commitment to academics with a passion for quality arts and crafts. She provided extensive extra-curricular instruction to students in handiwork and was especially renowned for her artwork—which included painting and woodworking— end of year art exhibits with students, theatre sets, and festival decorations. Marga’s pedagogical philosophy was holistic; she told Mennonite ed...

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 construct...

"Should Holy Baptism be offered to Deaf-Mutes (1886)?”

In 1886 the General Conference of the Mennonite Congregations in Russia (elders and ministers) adopted the following resolution: “A deaf-mute who desires Holy Baptism may be baptized, providing he is not an idiot ( blödsinnig ), and an understanding of baptism is first introduced to him as far as possible” ( note 1 ). A. G. Ambarzumov, a Protestant Armenian who had been trained in Germany and Switzerland for teaching the deaf, started a small initiative in the Mennonite “Molotschna Settlement” in Ukraine/South Russia in the 1870s. After a difficult start, benefactors in the Molotschna embraced the idea of a larger institution for the deaf—the first such institution in South Russia--especially because of the demonstrable results produced in the lives of students. “After only four months, Herr Ambarzumov could demonstrate encouraging results; the students were able to pronounce almost all vowels and consonants and speak and write some words" ( note 2 ). The institution's n...

The Beginnings: Some Basics

The sixteenth-century ancestors of Russian Mennonites were largely Anabaptists from the Low Countries. Because their new vision of church called for voluntary membership marked by adult baptism upon confession of faith, they became one of the most persecuted groups of the Protestant Reformation ( note 1 ). For a millennium re-baptism ( a na -baptism) had been considered a heresy punishable by death ( note 2 ), and again in 1529 the Imperial Diet of Speyer called for the “brutal” punishment for those who did not recognize infant baptism. Many of the earliest Anabaptist cells were found in Belgium and The Netherlands--part of the larger Habsburg Empire ruled after 1555 by “the Most Catholic of Kings,” Philip II of Spain. The North Sea port cities of the Low Countries had some limited freedoms and were places for both commercial and cultural exchange; ships arrived daily not only from other Hanseatic League like Danzig, but also from Florence, Venice and Genoa, the Americas and the Far Ea...

From USSR to Cherrywood Station: Mennonites winter in Markham-Stouffville, 1924

On September 26, 1924, 126 Russian Mennonite passengers disembarked the S. S. Melita at Quebec City ( note 1 ). They were among some 20,000 Mennonites who could immigrate to Canada from the Soviet Union in the 1920s. A number of these families received train cards to Cherrywood (Pickering) and Locust Hill (Markham) stations, where they were received by Markham area Mennonites. The Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBC) registration forms record each family's travel dates as well as their "first place of arrival" in Canada. The attached artifacts—a few pages from the financial records booklet kept by Markham-Stouffville treasurer J. L. Grove, plus some correspondence—profile concretely the level of support of this community north-east of Toronto for co-religionists fleeing the Soviet Union. Mennonites in Ontario had been well informed of the relief needs in Russia since 1921 and plans for mass immigration ( note 2 ). In April 1924 the local Stouffville Tribune ...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog