The New Mennonite History in Ukraine

FPUScholarWorks

The new Mennonite history in Ukraine.

Author(s): Paul Toews.

Source: California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin, no. 48 (2007): 1-8.

Publisher: California Mennonite Historical Society.

Stable URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11418/101

FPUScholarWorks is an online repository for creative and scholarly works and other resources created by members of the Fresno Pacific University community. FPUScholarWorks makes these resources freely available on the Web and assures their preservation for the future. California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

No. 48 Fall 2007

The rebuilt Petershagen Church Petershagen Church during Soviet times

Historic Petershagen Church The New Mennonite History in Ukraine by Paul Toews Photos courtesy of Paul Toews he story of Mennonites in gion were buried under the hostil- of the Soviet state they were lost to Ukraine can be divided into ity to all things Germanic. each other. two eras: 1789-1943 and I was one of many tourists And yet today there are six 1994T to the present. The story of who traveled to what is now Mennonite congregations in cen- Mennonites arriving in the valley Ukraine in 1989 to participate in tral and southern Ukraine: Za- of the Khortitsa in 1789 and the celebrating the bicentennial of the porozhye, Kutuzovka (formerly development of subsequent settle- original settlements. I think for Petershagen), Balkova (formerly ments is well known. That story, most of us who came to the Za- Fuerstenwerder), Nikolaipoli (for- the old one, virtually came to an porozhye region, where the cen- merly Nikolaifeld), Morozovka end with the relocation or de- tral celebrations were held, it was (formerly Hochfeld) and Kherson. portation of Mennonites in 1943. easy to think that we were part of Today Ukrainians and Mennonites The number of Mennonites who the last passing of the Mennonite from various countries are work- remained were a handful. Men- presence. We had come to look at ing together in effective partner- nonite institutions disappeared. the past, but not with any sense ships with humanitarian agencies, Mennonite buildings remained that a new story was about to be- with churches and church asso- but often were reconfigured for gin. The small remnant of Menno- ciations, with universities and ar- different use. The many contribu- nites living in the region were in- chives, with agricultural coopera- tions Mennonites made to the re- visible. Living under the shadow tives and small businesses. Men- California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

congregation has grown and in tuzovk/Petershagen church, and cently also has begun working at recent years numbered approxi- those in Nikolaipole/Nikolaifeld the revitalization of small farms. mately seventy-five people, some and Morozovka/Hochfeld are Perhaps its most significant work “Perhaps its most of whom have Mennonite ances- daughter congregations of the Za- has been various forms of medi- tral ties. The pastoral staff, and porozhye church. cal assistance. It has renovated significant work has other forms of support, through clinics and small hospitals and been various forms of most of these thirteen years has Humanitarian provided many with used medi- largely come from the Confer- The humanitarian activity cal equipment (from beds to mi- medical assistance.” ence of Mennonites in Canada and accelerated in 1997 when croscopes and ex-ray machines.) Mennonite Church Canada. While Mennonite Central Committee It subsidizes small clinics so that it remains small and struggling (MCC) relocated its they can dispense pharmaceuticals service agency in the Zaporozhye it signals the endurance and per- Commonwealth of Independent to needy patients. On several occa- region. It is named in honor of severance of a people under the States (CIS) offices from Moscow sions the Centre hosted a medical Florence Driedger, who, together most unimaginable odds. to Zaporozhye. It was a coming conference in which North Ameri- with her husband, Otto, have a Balkova/Fuerstenwerder Mennonite Church In 1998 the villagers in Kutu- home, a return to the region where can and Ukrainian specialists long history of working with the zovka (formerly Petershagen), in MCC had its birth. It signaled a trained staffs of rural hospitals. social work education program nonites are again able to empower The collapse of the Sovi- the Molochna colony, approached renewed commitment to Ukraine A humanitarian agency based at Zaporozhye National Univer- people who have long suffered et Union and the emergence of and to the descendants of people in Zaporozhye is the Family Cen- sity. It is based on the experience and for whom despair is an ever- Ukraine as an independent coun- among whom Mennonites tre, sponsored by the Mennonite of Canadian social work agencies, present temptation, to provide try in 1991 is the beginning of the “The leadership had lived and worked. MCC Benevolent Society of Manitoba. and emulates some of the work compassion for the elderly and short history. In the decade that and support of is involved in a variety of It offers respite care for families the Driedgers have done in Re- indigent, to bring medical care to followed a series of beginnings, projects: material aid, financial with seniors and in home-care as- gina and in university manage- those in need, to articulate differ- re-emergences and initiatives took this conversation and personnel support for an sistance for seniors. Zaporozhye, ment and community education. ent social practices, to encourage place that created this renewed orphanage, conflict resolution a city with a population of more The ‘Florence’ center provides possibilities for social justice and Mennonite presence. The origin has come from training, a small business loan and than 800,000, has few such institu- psychological, social, pedagogi- social reconciliation and to en- for these initiatives belong to the investment program, community tions of care for seniors. The Fam- cal, educational and psychiatric courage new directions in scholar- small remnant of Mennonites who various Aussiedler development projects and ily Center’s training program has support to families. It also works ship and historical understanding. remained or returned to the Za- assistance to several theological assisted hundreds of families in with city and regional social work That Mennonites would make porozhye region, to the Menno- communities in training institutions. The MCC cultivating better practices for the agencies and public organizations a reappearance in Ukraine is ironic nite diaspora in North America activity takes place in diverse care of seniors who usually live to strengthen their capacity to de- in some ways and not all that sur- and Europe and to Ukrainians Germany.” locations in Ukraine and Russia. with children or relatives. liver appropriate services. prising in other ways. For while in search of their history. While The “Family Service and Perhaps as important as the Mennonites were scattered across other initiatives took place across the Mennonite congregation of Community Education Centre specific activities of these Cen- the vast stretches of the Tsarist em- Ukraine, in the Zaporozhye region Zaporozhye indicating that they “It was a coming ‘Florence’of Zaporozhye” is the tres are that they model different pire nowhere did they make quite the four essential ones might be knew that the church building in home, a return to the newest Mennonite-related social ways of making decisions and of the contribution to the evolution described as churchly, humanitar- the village had been a Mennonite of the social system as in what is ian, academic and memorializa- church. They were interested in region where MCC present-day Ukraine. It is the lon- tion. starting a new congregation and ger history that made possible the thought it should be a Mennonite had its birth.” new history. The past is frequently church. So the Zaporozhye con- prologue and in Ukraine it certain- Churchly gregation, particularly Frank Dyck In 2001 the Mennonite Centre ly was. The beginnings of the Zaporo- the interim minister from Alberta, opened in Molochansk (former- zhye Mennonite Church is the first began working toward the estab- ly Halbstadt). Molochansk has a “That Mennonites event in the rebirth story. In 1994 a lishment of a second congregation. larger intact collection of Menno- collection of people began meeting Today that congregation of nite buildings than any other vil- would make a as a congregation. They had found nearly two hundred persons meets lage in the Molochna settlement. each other through “Wiederge- in the restored and renovated One of those buildings – the for- Endnotes reappearance in burst,” a German cultural soci- church building that was origi- mer girls school– now houses the ety. These were Mennonite people nally built in 1892. The leadership Mennonite Centre, giving the vil- Ukraine is ironic in left behind in the relocation of the and support of this congregation lage an impressive Mennonite some ways and not 1940s or those who returned fol- has come from various Aussiedler presence. lowing the 1957 amnesty of politi- communities in Germany. The Centre carries on a variety all that surprising in cal prisoners of World War II. The The congregation in Balkova/ of programs in Molochansk— ed- initial meetings involved just a Fuerstenwerder is somewhat a ucational, youth, senior activities, others.” handful of people. Over time the daughter congregation of the Ku- community development and re- The Mennonite Centre in Molochansk California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

closed might become available and went in search of them. “...historians out Harvey Dyck, Professor Emeritus, “What was most at the University of Toronto, was of the Mennonite at the forefront of developing remarkable was diaspora recognized these relationships. The Ukrainian side of the story the embrace of that archival sources... originated in 1997 when the Dni- propetrovsk National University, the Mennonite might become under the direction of Professor Svetlana Bobyleva, opened an story...” available.” Institute for Ukrainian-German Studies. The Institute symbolizes relationships. They are participa- the need for Ukrainians to take a tory, egalitarian, fair, judicious, fresh, post-Soviet look at their his- and deal with all in respectful and tory. Historically, Ukraine had a 2004 Academic Conference—Melitopol compassionate ways. Furthermore rich ethnic and religious diversity. Professor Svetlana Bobyleva Pedagogical University they increasingly have access to That heterogeneity, after being governmental officials who real- initially embraced by the Soviets, the Mennonite story in Ukraine contributions to the development ize that new practices are needed suffered a different fate under the appeared in 1999. “Khortitsa 99: of the region were being publicly in the institutions that serve dis- historical revisionism of the 1930s. Mennonites in Tsarist Russia and recognized. What was most re- advantaged and disabled people, For historians visiting archives the Soviet Union” was a series of markable was the embrace of the and are looking for outside assis- in the Dnipropetrovsk and Za- events that took place in Zaporo- Mennonite story by many of these tance to introduce those new prac- porozhye region the largest archi- zhye during the last week of May public officials, beyond the usual tices. val collections of Germanic peo- 1999. It included an academic con- gestures of kindness to foreigners. ples were those about Mennonites. ference, a museum exhibit and the The second academic confer- Academic The Tsarist bureaucracy required unveiling of two memorial mark- ence took place in 2004 as part of Since the mid-1990s there has foreign colonists to provide many ers. the bicentennial celebrations of been an ongoing conversation different kinds of reports. In addi- The academic conference the establishment of the Molochna and development of a collegial tion Mennonites were record keep- brought together scholars from settlement. The conference ses- partnership between some North ers of the first order. So historians Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Can- sions were held in Zaporozhye, American and Ukrainian/Russian going to the archives rediscovered ada and the United States. Four- Melitopol and Dnipropetrovsk, academics and archivists. Early the role that Mennonites played in teen papers at the conference were three nearby regional cities and in the 1990s historians out of the the evolution of their society. written by younger historians all important to the history of the Mennonite diaspora recognized Some of the early fruits of the from Russia and Ukraine. Seven of Molochna Mennonites. This con- 2004 Academic Conference—Potemkin Palace, Dnipropetrovsk National University that archival sources hitherto multi-national conversation about those were from persons associat- ference worked under the rubric ed with the Institute for Ukrainian and Ukraine. This time the confer- an history. Mennonite history has German Studies at Dnipropetro- “This new scholarship ence was carried by scholars from often been done in isolation from vsk National University. Ukraine and Russia. Thirty of thir- the larger social context and from “Khortitsa ‘99” also opened roots the Mennonite ty-nine papers in the conference the story of adjacent and related an exhibit on the history of Men- program were by scholars from people groups. The prism through nonites in Ukraine and Russia at story firmly within ... these two countries, nine from which these scholars look at the the Zaporozhye Museum of Re- Westerners. story is the Russian and Ukrainian gional Studies. These events were Russian and Ukrainian The range of topics covered by context and utilizes social rather attended by representatives from these historians was much broader than theological categories. the Deputy Premier of Ukraine, history.” than at the “Khortitsa ‘99” confer- The 2004 conference also in- regional officials, Zaporozhye city ence. The Russian and Ukrainian cluded a museum exhibit. A pho- officials, the Canadian ambassa- of “Molochna 2004: Mennonites scholars had accessed archival col- tographic exhibit on the Molochna dor to Ukraine (Derek Fraser), and and their Neighbours.” Represen- lections in national depositories in settlement was displayed at both a representative from the German tatives from the Netherlands, Ger- Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev the Museum of Regional Stud- embassy in Kiev. The events and many, Paraguay, Austria, Canada, and in many regional archives ies in Melitopol and the Museum the presence of the visiting digni- United States, Russia and Ukraine across both countries. This new of Regional Studies in Zaporo- taries were widely covered by the gathered again to discuss dimen- scholarship roots the Mennonite zhye. This project had its origins local media. Suddenly Mennonites sions of the Mennonite story in story firmly within the broader in a simple question from a school “Khortitsa ‘99” Academic Conference were in the news and Mennonite Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union contours of Russian and Ukraini- principal in a Molochna village. California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

“Do you have a visual history of our region? We have few pictures to show our children what this region once looked like.” The Men- nonite archival network of North America collectively made a bicentennial gift of 139 photographs to the people of the Molochna region. It is important to consider why thirty scholars in Russia and Ukraine are now investigating

“It is filling in blank spots left by the historiographical constraints of the Paul Toews and Peter Klassen at the Nieder Khortitsa Cemetery Ukranian girl by the Commemorative Bench at Lichtenau Soviet period.” is a recognized field of scholarly series of Mennonite memorial investigation. In the past decade markers in Ukraine. Ukraine of 1919 two memorial monuments tablished the initial villages of the the Mennonite story. The desire there have been more dissertations and Russia are societies with have been erected at the sites of Mennonite settlement. It is placed for linkages with western schol- written about Mennonites in Tsar- many monuments and historical mass graves. In 2001 one was un- in the central town square in front ars and institutions may account ist Russia, the Soviet Union and markers. Memorialization is veiled at a ceremony in Novo- of the former Mennonite Central for part of the interest, but there is Ukraine at Russian and Ukrainian a strong part of their cultural Petrovka (formerly Eichenfeld, School building. more. The rediscovery of the Men- universities than at universities in tradition. Yazykovo settlement) and in 2003 In front of the railway sta- nonite story is also a discovery of Canada and the United States. The first unveilings of these at Iljanifka (formerly Ebenfeld, Bo- tion in Svyetlodolinskoye stand the Russian and Ukrainian story. monuments to memorialize the Settlers’ Monument rosenko settlement). two benches to commemorate the It is filling in blank spots left by Mennonite presence in the area In connection with the building of the railroad that linked the historiographical constraints Memorialization came at the “Khortitsa ‘99” con- All confessions must be able to Molochna bicentennial celebra- the western part of the Molochna of the Soviet period. Ethno-cul- An International Memorialization ference. One was placed at the live in peace.... I wish that Menno- tions in 2004 monuments were to major rail lines. The station has tural studies were not fashionable Committee for the former Soviet site where the original Mennonite nites would return and live here in unveiled in Molochansk (former- significance in many ways, per- in Soviet times. By now the study Union, chaired by Peter Klassen of church stood in Khortitsa, the sec- peace.” ly Halbstadt), Svyetlodolinskoye haps most important in that it was of Mennonites as a sub-field in Fresno and Harvey Dyck, Toronto, ond in the Nieder Khortitsa cem- One of the continuing trag- (formerly Lichtenau), Bogdanovka a departure point for Mennonites the history of national minorities have initiated the erection of a etery. edies of the former Soviet Union is (formerly Gnadenfeld) and Kirovo who moved west toward Europe At the ceremony in the Nie- that there has never been a formal (formerly Jushanlee). and the Americas and also for der Khortitsa cemetery Professor process by which the wrongs of The Settlers monument in many relocated east and sent into Fedor Turchenko, Dean of the his- the past could be addressed. There Molochansk, in the form of a exile. tory faculty at Zaporozhye State has been no “Truth and Reconcili- threshing stone, is a recognition In Kirov the truncated column University, said: “What happened ation Commission,” as in South of those pioneers who in 1804 es- symbolizes the unfinished work of to the Mennonites was wrong. Africa, no Nuremberg Trials as in They were driven from this re- Germany, no means by which for- gion after living peacefully and mal recognition and formal apolo- making many contributions to gies could be rendered. These the development of our state. We rituals do have meaning and can will restore them to their right- free a people from the burdens ful place in the history of this of the past. For those of us pres- region.” That comment was fol- ent in 1999 the statements of Dean lowed by an even more powerful Turchenko and Father Vasilly will one by Father Vasilly, Orthodox always be unforgettable and deep- priest of the village. “I as a Ukrai- ly symbolic moments. nian am ashamed of what hap- In recognition of the massacres The Eichenfeld Memorial Marker at Novo-Petrovka pened to Mennonites in this land. that occurred during the Civil War Zentralschule in Halbstadt California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

LECTURE SERIES In Defense of Privilege: Russian Mennonites and the State Before and During World War I

Memorial Marker in Bogdanovka with Dr. Abraham Friesen

• College Community Mennonite Brethren Church 2529 Willow Ave., Clovis California Local Ukrainian school girls with (SE corner of Santa Ana and Willow, a Canadian woman at the Johann two blocks north of Gettysburg) Cornies Monument in Kirovo • 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Johann Cornies, who died in 1848 In Bogdanovka a marker was • January 6 - February 10, 2008 placed in the old cemetery. All of the monument dedicatory ceremonies, stylized by Ukrai- nian protocol, include speeches Dr. Abraham Friesen will conduct a lecture/dis- by local and regional officials. In cussion series every Sunday evening beginning 2004 the Mennonite story was bet- January 6 through February 10, 2008. This series ter known to these officials then People await the unveiling of the Settlers’ Monument in the town square of Molochansk will focus on his book, In Defense of Privilege: Rus- it was in 1999, and its invocation sian Mennonites and the State Before and During was frequent. What was inter- But he surely knew that it was dif- sciousness of the religious. Rather World War I (Winnipeg: Kindred Press, 2006.) Dr. esting in 2004 was the degree to ferent from what currently exists it might contain something that Friesen, a native of Winnipeg, Canada, is Dis- which the Mennonite past was in Gnadenfeld. could rebuild and revitalize their tinguished Professor of History Emeritus of the seen as a potential guide to the The crowds of locals that have villages and their region. Might University of California at Santa Barbara where future. gathered at each of the monument the material culture that remains he taught for thirty-seven years. At the unveiling of a memorial unveilings—in the Khortitsa, Ya- visible and the new monuments All interested persons are invited to attend. marker in Bogdanovka (formerly zykovo, Borosenko and Molochna with their story point to a tradi- Copies of Dr. Friesen’s book will be available for Gnadenfeld) the village mayor settlements—surely do so partly tion that holds promise for the fu- purchase. said it most directly: “We want to out of curiosity, out of the fact that ture? Sponsored by California Mennonite Histori- carry into the future the values the dedicatory moments bring My father, who was born in cal Society and College Community Mennonite that you taught us, the legacy that busloads of foreigners to these the Molochna settlement, would Brethren Church Adult Education Commission. you left to us. That legacy was lost remote hamlets. But their pres- have taken delight in the mayor’s for a time. We thank you for help- ence suggests more—a hunger for comments. Borrowing and altering ing us to recover it. With your help knowing more of the history of the lines of another he often said, we want it to shape our future.” their own communities, a recogni- “From the altar of the Russian Conversation with the village tion that this past was not some- Mennonite past we take the fire, mayor, following his remarks, sug- thing to be dismissed, not to be not the ash.” It seemed to me dur- gest that he may not have fully set aside as only the exploitation ing recent encounters that some understood what that legacy was. of the kulaks and the false con- Ukrainians are recovering the fire.