Molotschna
Encyclopedia
Molotschna Colony was a Russian Mennonite settlement in what is now Zaporizhia Oblast
(province
) in Ukraine
. Today is called Molochansk
with a population of under 10,000. The settlement is named after the Molochna River which forms its western boundary. Today the land mostly falls within the Tokmatskyi and Chernihivskyi Raion
s. The nearest large city is Melitopol
to the southwest of Molotschna.
Molotschna was founded in 1804 by Mennonite settlers from West Prussia
and consisted of 57 villages. The city initially was called Halbstadt (Half-city). It was the second and largest settlement of Mennonites in Russia. With the retreat and deportation of Germans living in these villages at the end of World War II, that area is now populated by Ukrainians and Russians.
, was founded in 1789, Mennonite visitors found the freedoms and free land of Russia an attractive alternative in view of restrictions placed on them in West Prussia. The Russian government wanted more settlers with the valuable agricultural and craft skills of the Mennonites. In 1800 Paul I of Russia
enacted a Privilegium (official privileges) for Mennonites granting them exemption from military service "for all time." In West Prussia King Frederick William III
was making it difficult for Mennonites to acquire land, because of their refusal to serve in the military. Another reason to immigrate was fear of the changes brought about by the French Revolution
. Refuge in Russia was seen as a more secure alternative.
The first settlers, 162 families, came in 1803 to the existing Chortitza settlement and over-wintered there. The first villages were founded in 1804. The Russian government set aside a 1200 km² (296,526.2 acre) tract of land for the settlers along the Molotschna River in the Taurida Governorate
. The next year an additional group of about the same size arrived. Each family received 0.7 km² (173 acre) of land. In contrast to the settlement of Chortitza, wealthy Mennonites also immigrated. They sold their farms, paid a 10% emigration tax and brought the remainder to Russia. Arriving with superior farming skills and more wealth, new farms and businesses were created more easily than had been the case in Chortitza. The seaport city of Taganrog
provided a convenient market for their dairy products in the early years and wheat which became the dominant crop later.
Between 1803 and 1806, 365 families came to Molotschna. Further immigration was prevented during the Napoleonic Wars
. Another 254 families came from 1819-20. After 1835 immigration to Molotschna ended, with about 1200 families totaling some 6000 people moving from Prussia. The settlement consisted of 1750 km² (432,434 acre) of land with 46 villages and total population of about 10,000. A part of this was not divided but reserved for future generations, to care for the growing number of families. As the population outgrew the available land, daughter colonies such as Neu Samara Colony
were formed.
The settlement was located near Russia's frontier and was thus subject to raids by nomadic Crimean Tatars
who had been removed from the Molotschna Valley by the Russian government. After four Mennonites were killed by a raiding party, the government banned their spiked and weighted pole weapon
which they frequently used on hunting expeditions. Later Mennonites and their neighbors coexisted peacefully.
Villages were grouped into districts. Molotschna was divided into two districts: Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld. A district superintendent headed a regional bureau that could administer corporal punishment and handle other matters affecting the villages in common. Insurance and fire protection were handled at the regional level, as well as dealing with delinquents and other social problems. The Mennonite colonies functioned as a democratic state, enjoying freedoms beyond those of ordinary Russian peasants.
In 1820 the Molotschna colony started a secondary school at Ohrloff, bringing a trained teacher from Prussia. A school of commerce was started in Halbstadt employing a faculty with full graduate education. Those who wanted to pursue post-secondary education attended universities in Switzerland, Germany as well as Russia.
was perhaps Molotschna's most noted resident. His large estate, Jushanlee, was a model farm and showplace of south Russia. Crown prince
s Alexander I
and Alexander II
as well as other government officials visited the estate. His holdings were expanded by gifts from the government for his services and totaled 100 km² (24,710.5 acre) at his death. He owned a large herd of thoroughbred cattle, 8000 merino
sheep and four hundred horses.
, which by 1926 consisted of 25 villages with a total population of 5000. In 1871 the Molotschna colony purchased 240 km² (59,305.2 acre) to form the Zagradovka colony in Kherson Oblast
. By 1918 Zagradovka was made up of 16 villages with 6000 residents.
In the 1870s the population pressure was eased somewhat when a significant portion of the colony migrated to North America. The next daughter colony was formed at Memrik in the Dnipropetrovsk region
in 1885. By 1926 this settlement had a population of about 3500, occupying 100 km² (24,710.5 acre).
) for protection of the villages. German soldiers provided training and left weapons and ammunition behind when they left. Together with a neighboring Lutheran colony, they formed twenty companies totaling 2700 infantry and 300 cavalry, which held back the forces of Makhno until March 1919. When the Red Army
combined with Makhno, the self-defense group was forced to retreat to Halbstadt and disband. This attempt to defend the villages departed from the Mennonites' traditional teaching of nonresistance
and was disapproved by many colonists. However, in the absence of effective governmental authority and when faced with the horrific atrocities committed by anarchist partisans, many others came to believe in the necessity of self defence. Later church conferences and delegations officially condemned this action as a "grave mistake".
in an effort to coordinate aid.
The new organization planned to provide aid to Ukraine via existing Mennonite relief work in Istanbul
. The Istanbul group, mainly Goshen College
graduates, produced three volunteers, who at great risk entered Ukraine during the ongoing Russian Civil War
. They arrived in the Mennonite village of Halbstadt just as General Wrangel
of the White Army was retreating. Two of the volunteers withdrew with the Wrangel army, while Clayton Kratz
, who remained in Halbstadt as it was overrun by the Red Army, was never heard from again.
A year passed before official permission was received from the Soviet government to do relief work among the villages of Ukraine. Kitchens provided 25,000 people a day with rations over a period of three years beginning in 1922, with a peak of 40,000 servings during August of that year. Fifty Fordson tractor and plow combinations were sent to Mennonite villages to replace horses that had been stolen and confiscated during the war. The cost of this relief effort was $1.2 million.
in 1943, and from there marched into Germany, only to be repatriated to the Soviet Union
by the Red Army where they were exiled to Siberia
and Kazakhstan
.
Zaporizhia Oblast
Zaporizhia Oblast is an oblast of southern Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhia.This oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture.-Geography:...
(province
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
) in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Today is called Molochansk
Molochansk
Molochansk is a city in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at around . Molochna River flows through the city.Molochansk was founded in 1804 by Dutch Mennonite settlers who were invited to settle on the vast steppes of the czar's Russian empire. They called the new village "Halbstadt"...
with a population of under 10,000. The settlement is named after the Molochna River which forms its western boundary. Today the land mostly falls within the Tokmatskyi and Chernihivskyi Raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
s. The nearest large city is Melitopol
Melitopol
Melitopol is a city in the Zaporizhia Oblast of the southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Liman, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov....
to the southwest of Molotschna.
Molotschna was founded in 1804 by Mennonite settlers from West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
and consisted of 57 villages. The city initially was called Halbstadt (Half-city). It was the second and largest settlement of Mennonites in Russia. With the retreat and deportation of Germans living in these villages at the end of World War II, that area is now populated by Ukrainians and Russians.
History
After the first Mennonite colony in Russia, ChortitzaChortitza
Chortitza Colony was a Russian Mennonite settlement northwest of Khortytsia Island and is now part of Zaporizhia, Ukraine. Chortitza was founded in 1789 by...
, was founded in 1789, Mennonite visitors found the freedoms and free land of Russia an attractive alternative in view of restrictions placed on them in West Prussia. The Russian government wanted more settlers with the valuable agricultural and craft skills of the Mennonites. In 1800 Paul I of Russia
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
enacted a Privilegium (official privileges) for Mennonites granting them exemption from military service "for all time." In West Prussia King Frederick William III
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
was making it difficult for Mennonites to acquire land, because of their refusal to serve in the military. Another reason to immigrate was fear of the changes brought about by the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Refuge in Russia was seen as a more secure alternative.
The first settlers, 162 families, came in 1803 to the existing Chortitza settlement and over-wintered there. The first villages were founded in 1804. The Russian government set aside a 1200 km² (296,526.2 acre) tract of land for the settlers along the Molotschna River in the Taurida Governorate
Taurida Governorate
The Taurida Governorate or Government of Taurida was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov It was formed after the defunct Taurida Oblast in was abolished in...
. The next year an additional group of about the same size arrived. Each family received 0.7 km² (173 acre) of land. In contrast to the settlement of Chortitza, wealthy Mennonites also immigrated. They sold their farms, paid a 10% emigration tax and brought the remainder to Russia. Arriving with superior farming skills and more wealth, new farms and businesses were created more easily than had been the case in Chortitza. The seaport city of Taganrog
Taganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...
provided a convenient market for their dairy products in the early years and wheat which became the dominant crop later.
Between 1803 and 1806, 365 families came to Molotschna. Further immigration was prevented during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. Another 254 families came from 1819-20. After 1835 immigration to Molotschna ended, with about 1200 families totaling some 6000 people moving from Prussia. The settlement consisted of 1750 km² (432,434 acre) of land with 46 villages and total population of about 10,000. A part of this was not divided but reserved for future generations, to care for the growing number of families. As the population outgrew the available land, daughter colonies such as Neu Samara Colony
Neu Samara Colony
Neu Samara is a Russian Mennonite colony in the Orenburg region of Russia.-Founding:Neu Samara was formed in 1891-92 by settlers from the Molotschna mother colony on the Sea of Azov in the Ukraine. Initially twelve villages were founded: Kamenetz, Pleschanowo, Krassikowo, Kaltan, Lugowsk, Podolsk,...
were formed.
The settlement was located near Russia's frontier and was thus subject to raids by nomadic Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...
who had been removed from the Molotschna Valley by the Russian government. After four Mennonites were killed by a raiding party, the government banned their spiked and weighted pole weapon
Pole weapon
A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range. Spears, glaives, poleaxes, halberds, and bardiches are all varieties of polearms...
which they frequently used on hunting expeditions. Later Mennonites and their neighbors coexisted peacefully.
Local government
Mennonite colonies were self-governing with little intervention from the Russian authorities. The village, the basic unit of government, was headed by an elected magistrate who oversaw village affairs. Each village controlled its own school, roads and cared for the poor. Male landowners decided local matters at village assemblies.Villages were grouped into districts. Molotschna was divided into two districts: Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld. A district superintendent headed a regional bureau that could administer corporal punishment and handle other matters affecting the villages in common. Insurance and fire protection were handled at the regional level, as well as dealing with delinquents and other social problems. The Mennonite colonies functioned as a democratic state, enjoying freedoms beyond those of ordinary Russian peasants.
Education
At a time when compulsory education was unknown in Europe, the Mennonite colonies formed an elementary school in each village. Students learned practical skills such as reading and writing German and arithmetic. Religion was included as was singing in many schools. The teacher was typically a craftsperson or herder, untrained in teaching, who fit class time around his occupation.In 1820 the Molotschna colony started a secondary school at Ohrloff, bringing a trained teacher from Prussia. A school of commerce was started in Halbstadt employing a faculty with full graduate education. Those who wanted to pursue post-secondary education attended universities in Switzerland, Germany as well as Russia.
Johann Cornies
Johann CorniesJohann Cornies
Johann Cornies was a Mennonite German settler to the Russian Empire.- Biography :Cornies was born in the Vistula delta Mennonite settlement of Bärwalde , near Danzig in West Prussia. He was a son of Johann Cornies and Aganetha Cornies...
was perhaps Molotschna's most noted resident. His large estate, Jushanlee, was a model farm and showplace of south Russia. Crown prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
s Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
and Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
as well as other government officials visited the estate. His holdings were expanded by gifts from the government for his services and totaled 100 km² (24,710.5 acre) at his death. He owned a large herd of thoroughbred cattle, 8000 merino
Merino
The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...
sheep and four hundred horses.
Daughter colonies
As the population of the colony grew and land became scarce, new areas for resettlement were sought. Starting in 1862 settlers from Molotschna formed daughter settlements in CrimeaCrimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, which by 1926 consisted of 25 villages with a total population of 5000. In 1871 the Molotschna colony purchased 240 km² (59,305.2 acre) to form the Zagradovka colony in Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson. The area of the region is 29000 km², its population is 1.12 million.Important cities in the oblast include:...
. By 1918 Zagradovka was made up of 16 villages with 6000 residents.
In the 1870s the population pressure was eased somewhat when a significant portion of the colony migrated to North America. The next daughter colony was formed at Memrik in the Dnipropetrovsk region
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. Its administrative center is Dnipropetrovsk....
in 1885. By 1926 this settlement had a population of about 3500, occupying 100 km² (24,710.5 acre).
Selbstschutz
Through influence of the short German occupation of Ukraine in 1918, the young men of Molotschna formed a self-defense group (SelbstschutzSelbstschutz
Selbstschutz stands for two organisations:# A name used by a number of paramilitary organisations created by ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe# A name for self-defence measures and units in ethnic German, Austrian, and Swiss civil defence....
) for protection of the villages. German soldiers provided training and left weapons and ammunition behind when they left. Together with a neighboring Lutheran colony, they formed twenty companies totaling 2700 infantry and 300 cavalry, which held back the forces of Makhno until March 1919. When the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
combined with Makhno, the self-defense group was forced to retreat to Halbstadt and disband. This attempt to defend the villages departed from the Mennonites' traditional teaching of nonresistance
Nonresistance
Nonresistance is generally defined as "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy...
and was disapproved by many colonists. However, in the absence of effective governmental authority and when faced with the horrific atrocities committed by anarchist partisans, many others came to believe in the necessity of self defence. Later church conferences and delegations officially condemned this action as a "grave mistake".
Famine
Mennonites of Molotschna sent a commission to North America in the summer of 1920 to alert American Mennonites of the dire conditions of war-torn Ukraine. Their plight succeeded in uniting various branches of Mennonites to form Mennonite Central CommitteeMennonite Central Committee
The Mennonite Central Committee is a relief, service, and peace agency representing 15 Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish bodies in North America. The U.S. headquarters are in Akron, Pennsylvania, the Canadian in Winnipeg, Manitoba.-History:...
in an effort to coordinate aid.
The new organization planned to provide aid to Ukraine via existing Mennonite relief work in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The Istanbul group, mainly Goshen College
Goshen College
Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
graduates, produced three volunteers, who at great risk entered Ukraine during the ongoing Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. They arrived in the Mennonite village of Halbstadt just as General Wrangel
Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel or Vrangel was an officer in the Imperial Russian army and later commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Southern Russia in the later stages of the Russian Civil War.-Life:Wrangel was born in Mukuliai, Kovno Governorate in the Russian Empire...
of the White Army was retreating. Two of the volunteers withdrew with the Wrangel army, while Clayton Kratz
Clayton Kratz
Clayton Kratz was a Mennonite relief worker from the U.S state of Pennsylvania, best known for his disappearance from the village of Halbstadt in the Russian Mennonite settlement of Molotschna during the Russian Civil War...
, who remained in Halbstadt as it was overrun by the Red Army, was never heard from again.
A year passed before official permission was received from the Soviet government to do relief work among the villages of Ukraine. Kitchens provided 25,000 people a day with rations over a period of three years beginning in 1922, with a peak of 40,000 servings during August of that year. Fifty Fordson tractor and plow combinations were sent to Mennonite villages to replace horses that had been stolen and confiscated during the war. The cost of this relief effort was $1.2 million.
Evacuation
The residents of Molotschna shared the fate of the Chortitza settlers. They were evacuated to Nazi Reichsgau WarthelandReichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
in 1943, and from there marched into Germany, only to be repatriated to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
by the Red Army where they were exiled to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
.
Villages
About 57 villages were founded:
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External links
- Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine) in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- Russian Mennonite Genealogical Resources