History of the Russian Mennonites

In the last century, tens of thousands of Mennonites were homeless, stateless refugees at the mercy and generosity of others. In Fall 1929, as many as 10 to 13,000 Soviet Mennonites left all behind to flee to Moscow in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to escape the USSR. The German government played the crucial role in a high stakes, international confrontation with Stalin in those months. They successfully extracted 3,885 Mennonite, 1,260 Lutheran, 468 Catholic, 51 Baptist and 7 Adventist "German farmers" in November and December 1929, and served as a transit nation and assisted refugees not accepted by Canada to settle in South America. The experience of Christmas 1929 was a stark contrast to Christmas (1928), which had been a nightmare for Mennonites: “The conditions which existed in Russia at that time had the effect of practically destroying all the traditional joys of Christmas for our children,” for whom “all public participation in the celebration of Christmas wa...

The following accounts of Mennonite Christmases before the Revolution are from the unpublished diary of Jacob P. Janzen ( note 1 ). His entries are “real,” in the sense that they include all the complexities and messiness of life, with interesting detail. These accounts are from a single man in his thirties (b. 1880) in Rudnerweide, Molotschna. His entries show him as a sensitive, humble, and curious man, who was certainly well-informed about life in the community.          --Arnold Neufeldt-Fast -- Christmas 1911 (Janzen was working at "Bethania Mental Hospital" on the Dnjeper River near Einlage, note 2 ) “Some of the staff went to [director Peter] Schellenbergs to practice Christmas songs. I did not go. Aganetha Woelk [patient] had broken several window panes; I had to replace them and it got quite late. But while working in the female patients’ quarters I had a chance to see how they made beautiful, but inexpensive ornaments for the Christmas tree. Nur...