History of the Russian Mennonites

Always check the original document if you can! Anyone doing historical work knows the importance of accessing original sources where possible, and to check translations for accuracy. Here is an example of where I found this to be important for the larger story. In other posts I have written about the Molotschna-based “First Ethnic German ( Volksdeutsche ) Cavalry Regiment” ( note 1 ). Two of my uncles became members in 1942 at ages 17 and 19. This began as a local home-guard and morphed into a Waffen-SS regiment (October 1942) in less than a year; 500 to 700 Mennonite young adult men in the Molotschna settlement area became cavalry members. It is a sad and traumatic part of my family story; both uncles (plus a third) did not survive the war/ Soviet POW camp. But it is a larger Mennonite story that raises disturbing questions—most of which are unanswerable—about the squadron's activities (see upcoming publication). The sobering book "Lost Generation" by a cavalry sq...