History of the Russian Mennonites

First Advent, 1918: The last page of the final issue of the German military newspaper Deutsche Zeitung für Ost-Taurien ( DZOT ), informed readers of a German Catholic mass at the Mennonite Church in Melitopol (near the large Mennonite settlement of Molotschna) for 8 am, followed by a Protestant (Lutheran) Military Advent worship service at 9 am ( pic ), with the Mennonite worship service beginning at 11 am. A week earlier they had done the same to honour their fallen comrades on Eternity Sunday ( Totensonntag )—in the Mennonite worship space. The Mennonite colonists—“especially Molotschna”—became “trusted friends,” whose assistance, hospitality and German manner created a “second home” for the troops, who now understood that “they belong inseparably together as members of one people ( Stamm ),” according to the editor ( note 1; pic ). Not only did troops give away German books, refrigerators, phonographs, recordings, movie projectors, distillery equipment, typewriters, linens, fo

The semi-autonomous Ukrainian People's Republic was established shortly after Russia's February Revolution in 1917. Much was still fluid, however. After the October Bolshevik Revolution the Central Rada of Ukraine in Kyiv declared full state independence from the Russian Republic on January 22, 1918. The Ukrainian People's Republic negotiated an end to its participation in Great War, and on February 9, 1918 signed a protectorate treaty in Brest-Litovsk. On February 17, Ukraine appealed to Germany and Austria-Hungary for assistance to repel Russian Bolshevik “invaders,” to detach Ukraine from Russia, and to establish conditions of stability. The World War had not yet ended. Imperialist Germany was desperate for grain and natural resources from Ukraine, eager to end the war in the east while containing Russia, and determined to establish post-war markets for German goods, technologies and influence ( note 1 ). For its part the Russian Bolshevik regime was eager to save

Photographs of German troops in southern Ukraine, 1918, have recently come to light. These offer a new window on Mennonite life during the short period of "friendly" German occupation. A number of these photographs are attached to this post and complement previous posts on this period ( note 1 ). On February 17, 1918, Ukraine appealed to Germany and Austria-Hungary for assistance to repel “Bolshevik invaders,” to detach Ukraine from Russia, and to establish conditions of stability ( note 2 ). Anticipating the imminent arrival of German troops early in 1918, some Mennonites had already taken up arms in self-defense against the anarchist leader Nestor Makhnov; the “thunder” of the cannons in the vicinity gave strong indication that the German army was near ( note 3 ). Some 450,000 occupying German and Austrian troops changed the equation for the Bolsheviks and anarchists in Ukraine. Some German Mennonites were among those soldiers, including the brother-in-law to teacher

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

By 1860, the mix of entrepreneurial individualism, exposure to new ideas and horizons, intellectually and emotionally compelling preaching of conversion by Eduard Wüst a university-trained Württemberg Pietist minister installed by the nearby Separatist Evangelical Brethren Church, community dysfunction and lack of common vision, growing social and economic disparities, rumours of restlessness and revolution among Russia’s serfs, authoritarian leadership and moral laxity—were all part of that context in which eighteen Mennonite men felt compelled to submit a “Document of Secession” to the Molotschna Elders, dated January 6, 1860. They pointed to the “decay of the entire Mennonite brotherhood,” with examples of baptized brothers who at the annual fairs “serve the devil” in their public misdeeds, and of the ministers who watch and sit idly by ( note 1 ). “It was very natural that with such a decay of church, faith and morals, a reaction set in,” with individuals demanding “an end to the

The following is a Holocaust-related story of the South German Mennonites and Kristallnacht , the Night of Broken Glass, November 9/10, 1938. The well-known leader Prof. Benjamin H. Unruh, the representative of Russian Mennonites in Germany, is a key figure in the German churches at this time and also in this story ( note 1 ). The Night of Broken Glass occurred a week before the German national and religious holiday for “Prayer and Repentance” ( Buß- und Bettag ). The Conference of South German Mennonites met annually on this holiday at their Bible and retreat centre Thomashof in Baden. They come closest to what we might call “evangelical” Mennonites today, with an emphasis on personal piety, small groups and Bible study. On the night of November 9, 91 Jews were murdered across Germany. Jewish homes, stores and offices were vandalized, and 170 synagogues set aflame, including the synagogue in nearby Karlsruhe—Benjamin Unruh’s place of residence ( note 2 ). Three days later a decr