History of the Russian Mennonites

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...

The picture below is my grandmother's family in 1928. Some could leave but most stayed behind. In 1928 a small group of some 511 Soviet Mennonites were unexpectedly approved for emigration ( note 1 ). None of the circa 21,000 Mennonites who emigrated from Russia in the 1920s “simply” left. And for everyone who left, at least three more hoped to leave but couldn’t. It is a complex story. Canada only wanted a certain type—young healthy farmers—and not all were transparent about their skills and intentions The Soviet Union wanted to rid itself of a specifically-defined “excess,” and Mennonite leadership knew how to leverage that Estate owners, and Selbstschutz /White Army militia were the first to be helped to leave, because they were deemed as most threatened community members; What role did money play? Thousands paid cash for their tickets; Who made the final decision on group lists, and for which regions? This was not transparent. Exit visa applications were also regularly reje...

Famine was imminent; unprecedented drought; taxes and requisitions exceeded what was harvested; some villages had no horses; extortion and arrests were widespread; many men were disenfranchised and barred from village affairs (see note 1 ). Lenin responded with the 1921 “New Economic Policy” (NEP), which allowed for a degree of market flexibility within the context of socialism to ward off complete economic collapse. A fixed-tax was imposed, grain quotas were eased, farmers were allowed a small amount of land and could sell excess produce at free-market prices after taxes had been paid. Much was in the air. In secret talks, Soviet Trade Commissar Leonid Krasin told the head of the Eastern Section in the German Foreign Office, Gustav Behrendt, that the USSR was “prepared—just like Catherine the Great of old—to call hundreds of thousands of German colonists into the land and transfer them to large, closed complexes for settlement,” especially in Turkestan and the North Caucasus, be...

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...