History of the Russian Mennonites

Singing: survival and salvation 1) Language change, 1767, Danzig : Flemish Elder Hans van Steen published A Spiritual Hymnal for General Edification, designed also for private and family settings to “awaken devotion and edification,” and in particular for the youth—that they may “not use it out of mere habit, but rather for the true uplifting of the heart” ( note 1 ). 2) Revivalism, 1850s . The influence of Eduard Wüst--revivalist minister installed by nearby separatist Evangelical Brethren--on the Mennonites was “boundless,” according to State Councillor E. H. Busch. “Satan is not entitled to present his own as the most joyful.” His people “sing, jump, leap ( hüpfen ) and dance,” while the Christian appears “cheerless and stooped over. … Why, when one opens a song book, are hymns about the cross and affliction chosen almost instinctively instead of songs of praise and thanksgiving? Isn’t the devil also having his fun in all of this?” Mennonite Brethren historian P.M. Friesen called ...

By the end of 1924 Mennonite Central Committee’s food kitchens and feeding operations in the Soviet Union were wrapping up, and the possibilities for mass migration had opened. Refugees had come to the Molotschna settlement from surrounding estates and from villages in the North Caucasus region—now “scattered in various Dorfs (villages), but not equally well received by all Dorfs ” ( note 1 ); these were amongst the first chosen for emigration. In this still new reality there were signs that the community was caught up in a spiritual renewal—noted with special concern in a 1925 “Agitation and Propaganda Department Report.” “During the last six months [ca. November 1924 to April 1925] the work of Mennonite missionaries and ministers has increased. They agitate for strengthening Mennonite religion and at the same time agitate for emigration. Religious activity in Mennonite colonies is developing without restraint because no proper attention was given to its study.” ( Note 2 ) Earl...

In the 16th century, the term “Mennonite” was adopted by several Anabaptist groups after the tolerant Countess of East Friesland, Anna von Oldenburg, insisted on distinguishing between the “fanatical” Münsterite Anabaptists, on the one hand, and Menno’s peaceful adherents—the Menniten—on the other ( note 1 ). In 1534, Anabaptists who found refuge in Münster had attempted to establish an “Anabaptist kingdom,” the “New Jerusalem,” in part with he forceful uprooting of the ungodly ( note 2 ). This new holy city was marked by a variety of excesses including polygamy and the community of goods as they awaited the end-time apocalyptic battle between good and evil. This ended disastrously: the armies of the bishop besieged the city and, once inside, killed almost all the men. The three leaders were caged, severely tortured, displayed throughout the country, and put to death six months later. The next year another 300 Münsterites, and possibly Menno’s brother, occupied a monastery in Fries...

Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in "New Russia" (later Ukraine), est. 1789. The last Mennonites left in 1943 ( note 1 ). During the Stalin years in Ukraine (after 1928), marriage with Jewish neighbours—especially among better educated Mennonites in cities—had become somewhat more common. When the Germans arrived mid-August 1941, however, it meant certain death for the Jewish partner and usually for the children of those marriages. A family friend, Peter Harder, died in 2022 at age 96. Peter was born in Osterwick to a teacher and grew up in Chortitza. As a 16-year-old in 1942, Peter was compelled by occupying German forces to participate in the war effort. Ukrainians and Russians (prisoners of war?) were used by the Germans to rebuild the massive dam at Einlage near Zaporizhzhia, and Peter was engaged as a translator. In the next year he changed focus and started teachers college, which included significant Nazi indoctrination. In 2017 I interviewed Peter Ha...

The Bethania Mental Hospital was established by Mennonites in 1910 and remembered as their greatest cultural achievement. After the Bolshevik Revolution it was taken over by the province of Ekaterinoslav and nationalized in 1925, but supported in large part by the Mennonite community. A 1925 "political" assessment of the institution provides a window onto government concerns about "German" Mennonites more generally.  The leadership and staffing (ca. 65) as well as a large number of patients (120 beds) continued to be Mennonites or Germans ( note 1 ; pic ). The following 1925 newspaper article gives us a hint of how authorities viewed the hospital and its Mennonite staff seven years after expropriation, and the connection to nearby church community more generally. “In exemplary order, but political work needs to be improved. Located between Kitchkas (Einlage) and Chortitza; three buildings, one of which houses a kitchen, living room for visitors, the “red corner” [c...

The 1788-89 start for Mennonites in New Russia was disastrous, and after four years colonists begged for ministerial leaders from Prussia to come and establish order ( note 1 ). On Good Friday, April 18, 1794, a Flemish church elder and a minister--Cornelius Regier of Heubuden and Cornelius Warkentin of Rosenort-- arrived in Chortitza to assist. After only three weeks of moderating, reconciling, teaching, ordaining and baptizing, Regier contracted an illness and died; Warkentin finished their work and returned to Prussia on July 10. Warkentin’s Prussian ministerial colleagues were skeptical. Would order last in that rag-tag group? But Warkentin returned with the conviction “that the future of the Mennonite Church was not in Prussia but in Russia” ( note 2 ). Why? During his visit to Chortitza, Warkentin met Russian State Counsellor Samuel Contenius—the son of a German Westphalian Protestant pastor—responsible for the oversight and care of foreign colonists. Warkentin was convinced of t...