History of the Russian Mennonites

In January 1930, the Mennonite Central Committee was scrambling to get 3,885 Mennonites out of Germany and settled somewhere fast. These refugees had fled via Moscow in December 1929, and Germany was willing only to serve as first transit stop ( note 1 ). Canada was very reluctant to take any German-speaking Mennonites—the Great Depression had begun and a negative memory of war resistance still lingered. In the end Canada took 1,344 Mennonites and the USA took none born in Russia. Paraguay was the next best option ( note 2 ). The German government preferred Brazil, but Brazil would not guarantee freedom from military service, which was a problem for American Mennonite financiers. There were already some conservative "cousins" from Manitoba in Paraguay who had negotiated with the government and learned through trial and error how to survive in the "Green Hell" of the Paraguayan Chaco. MCC with the assistance of a German aid organization purchased and distribute...

In February 1929—10 months before the “flight to Moscow" of thousands and the ensuing Mennonite refugee crisis—F. K. Hershey and A. Swartzentruber travelled to the colony of Canadian Mennonites in Gran Chaco, Paraguay to report to Mennonite Central Committee on conditions ( note 1 ). Below are some of the assumptions about the Indigenous Lengua people: "they own no land;" they "live on Mennonite land;" they are generously hard working for almost no pay; they have no culture. "... about 500 of the Lengua tribe Indians live on Mennonite land. They are a peaceable tribe and generally good workers. They work nine hours a day for the equivalent of 40 cents US. … they own no land live in huts made of weeds thrown over an extended limb of a tree … They are no trouble whatsoever to the Colonists, in fact they [the colonists] are glad for them, as the Indians are especially good at clearing off the land.” By January 1930 MCC was preparing to bring more than a t...

The Volendam arrived at the port in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 22, 1947, at 5 PM, exactly three weeks after leaving from Bremerhaven. They would be followed by three more refugee ships in 1948. The harassing experiences of refugee life were now truly far behind them. Curiously a few months later the American Embassy in Moscow received a formal note of protest claiming that Mennonites, who were Soviet citizens, had been cleared by the American military in Germany for emigration to Paraguay even though the Soviet occupation forces “did not (repeat not) give any sanction whatever for the dispatch of Soviet citizens to Paraguay” ( note 1 ). But the refugees knew that they were beyond even Stalin’s reach and, despite many misgivings about the Chaco, believed they were the hands of good people and a sovereign God. In Buenos Aires the Volendam was anticipated by North American Mennonite Central Committee workers responsible for the next leg of the resettlement journey. Elisabeth ...

Another deep dive into the dark side of Mennonite history—this time in Winnipeg. The latest issue of MCC’s journal Intersections on MCC’s entanglements with National Socialism through the 1930s should not be entirely shocking to Canadian Mennonites ( note 1 ). Mennonite support for Hitler and his vision for Germany was very real and public on the Canadian prairies until the start of WWII. The most read newspaper in Manitoba, the Winnipeg Free Press , reported on a large Winnipeg pro-Hitler rally (January 30, 1939, page 3) with the byline: “Hitler Salute: Local Germans hail re-birth of fatherland under Fuehrer ." The pictures show the Mennonite Young People's Choir performing at the event (see also last paragraph of the Free Press article). The choir was led by John Konrad, a Russländer (1920s Mennonite immigrant). Konrad founded an ensemble in 1935 that evolved into the Mennonite Symphony Orchestra; he actively directed choirs with the Manitoba Mennonite Youth Organization, ...

Professor Benjamin H. Unruh (1881-1959) was a relief and immigration leader, educator, leading churchman, and official representative of Russian Mennonites outside of the Soviet Union throughout the National Socialism era in Germany. Unruh’s biography is connected to the very beginnings of Mennonite Central Committee in 1920-1922 when he served as a key spokesperson in Germany for the famine-stricken Mennonites in South Russia. Some years later he again played the central role in the rescue of thousands of Mennonites from Moscow in 1929 and, along with MCC, their resettlement in Paraguay, Brazil, and Canada. Because of Unruh’s influence and deep connections with key German government agencies in Berlin, his home office in Karlsruhe, Germany, became a relief hub for Mennonites internationally. Unruh facilitated large-scale debt forgiveness for Mennonites in Paraguay and Brazil, and negotiated preferential consideration for Mennonite relief work to the Soviet Union during the Great Famin...