-being the Magazine/Journal of the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society Inc. Preservings $20.00 No. 20, June, 2002 “A people who have not the pride to record their own history will not long have the virtues to make their history worth recording; and no people who are indifferent to their past need hope to make their future great.” — Jan Gleysteen Chortitza “Old” Colony, 1789 The story of the first settlement of the Flemish Mennonites at the junc- tion of the Chortitza and Dnjepr Riv- ers in 1789 in Imperial Russia is re- plete with drama, tension and trag- edy. It is no small task to establish a peaceful Christian community in an undeveloped steppe and to create an environment where the pioneers and their descendants could thrive and prosper. Within a century the Chortitza “Old” Colony had become perhaps the most prosperous com- munity in the area north of the Black Sea and its industries were leading the way in the region’s booming economy. After some initial faltering the Chortitza Flemish Gemeinde was to become the most stable and flourish- ing of the Mennonites in Russia. It is a precious gift of God to build a large congregation of 4000 and more mem- bers out of a population originating from different Gemeinden and vari- ous regions in the Vistula Delta in Royal Poland and West Prussia. The German Wehrmacht at the entrance to the turbine building of Dnjeproges Hydro-electric dam, June 1941. To God had granted the Flemish pio- the left is the Hydro-electric dam; right, in the rear, the Island of Chortitza with the Mennonite village established neers noble and spirit-filled leaders in 1789; and middle, the bridge over the “new” Dnjepr (east channel). The road to the right was the main route who remained true to their Lord and for those coming from the dam and travelling north to the village of Chortitza. The small island rock formations Saviour Jesus Christ in the face of in the foreground are the “Three Brothers”. Photo courtesy of Maria Rempel, Vatenholzerstr. 13, 326889 Kalletal- extreme adversity and even later in Varenholz, Germany, daughter of Einlage school teacher Johann Rempel. (A 1997 photograph from a similar the most perilous of times under the point is published in Diese Steine, page 60.) The picturesque Soviets. Through the leading of the scenery in the area surrounding the confluence of the Dnjepr Holy Spirit the family and church di- and Chortitza Rivers included its steep rocky cliffs, sand Inside This Issue visions caused in the Molotschna beaches, islands, ports, ferrys, bridges, and after 1932, the Colony by Separatist Pietist preda- hydroelectric dam, “Dnjeproges”. These were important fea- Feature Stories ............................. 3-45 tors were successfully refuted and the tures of the daily landscape and life-world of the Old Colony Mennonite Church in the Old Colony Mennonites. President’s Report ............................46 was able to build upon the sure and Editorial ...................................... 47-52 everlasting foundations of Christ’s command- Park, California, was important in laying the Letters ........................................ 54-60 ments and to abide in the spirit of His love and groundwork for a history of the first settle- reconciliation. ment at Chortitza in 1789 and subsequent News ........................................ 61-88 In this issue we feature several articles deal- events. We are proud to feature his article Articles ..................................... 89-113 ing with the first settlement of Flemish Men- “From Danzig to Russia: The First Mennonite nonites in Southern Russia and their subse- Migration,” reprinted from Mennonite Life, Material Culture ..................... 114-127 quent development. The work of historian January 1969, pages 8-28. Enjoy. Book Reviews........................ 128-140 David G. Rempel, (1899-1982), later of Menlo The Editor. Introduction - Feature story “Chortitza Settlement, 1789” The most impor tant chapter--and probably, the reacceptance of Bartsch in love and forgiveness Himmel Bleave. most controversial--in Russian Mennonite history refutes the argument it was driven by revenge, as The first issue of Preservings, No. 1, a mod- is the settlement of the Chortitza Colony on the some writers have alleged, demonstrating that the est six page effort, under founding editor Dnje pr River at Alexandrowsk in 1789 and the role issue need not have ballooned into such a monster. Wilmer Penner, appeared at the end of 1992, played by delegate Jakob Hoeppner (1748-1826). That having been said, the fact that Hoeppner bearing date January 1993. Since then two is- In 1786 he and co-delegate Johann Bartsch (1757- may have taken some personal benefit from his sues have appeared annually, with the news- 1821) travelled to Imperial Russia, inspecting lands position should not be allowed to cloud his legacy. letter slowly growing to its present size and for settlement and negotiating a highly advanta- Such practices were customary among 18th cen- scope as a semi-annual journal/magazine, with geous Privilegium for their people. tury leaders in most European countries and cer- 140 pages of history, news, book reviews, As is so often the case with important person- tainly in Russia. The humanness of our leaders, in editorial commentary, etc., a project in Menno- ages in history, their historical record can be clouded fact, defines the epic proportions of their pioneer nite orthodoxy. The focus has shifted from the by the ideological turf wars of later generations, struggle. At the same time, it needs to be recog- Hanover Steinbach area to the story of the Rus- with sectarian historians using one or another inter- nized--much to its credit, that such conduct was not sian Mennonites and its diaspora, a veritable pretation to support particular viewpoints. In the acceptable among the Delta-Flemish. “Mennonite Life” north. Issue No. 20 marks process the significance of their historical legacy is We present “From Danzig to Russia” by David the end of 10 years of publication, not an sometimes lost. This was the case, also, with the G. Rempel as the feature article of this issue. The earthshaking event as anniversaries go, but per- settlement of the Delta-Flemish Mennonites in “new” biography of Jakob Höppner demonstrates the sig- haps, nonetheless, worthy of note. Russia. Writers such as D. H. Epp and Heinrich nificance of his work. We also publish the text of One of the ways of marking this milestone Heese, in the Pro-Czarist school, and P. M. Friesen, Henry Schapansky’s presentation at the HSHS will be a modest change in the appearance of Franz Isaak and others in the Molotschna Pietist Family History Day, March 9, 2002, entitled “The Preservings. A single colour--blue--has been Triumphalist school, have shamelessly used the un- Old Colony Pioneers and the Höppner Affair.” The added to the cover, to enhance its presenta- derstandably defensive and selected recollections article on the “Old Colony/Bergthal furniture tradi- tion. Blue had a special significance for our of Hoeppner’s son-in-law Peter Hildebrand to char- tion,” by Reinland Kauenhoven Janzen, illuminates Flemish Mennonite forebears whose belief acterize the pioneers of the Chortitza Colony as the rich culture which the Delta Flemish transplanted in simplicity in life and faith, dictated that crude, ungrateful, strife-ridden and impoverished-- to the Black Sea region. Taken together, these ar- their material culture traditions would be plain materially, genetically, intellectually and spiritually, ticles constitute a significant contribution to the story and functional, but tasteful--namely, function a state from w hich--in P. M. Friesen’s view, the of founding of the “Old” Chortitza Colony in 1789. over form. This was manifested, for example, only redemption was the mass conversion of The battle as to what vision should articulate the in the Mennonite furniture tradition, which as Christo-centric Mennonites to Separatist-Pietist re- Mennonite community is still raging--just as heated Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen has so aptly ligious culture from Germany, by whatever means and intense today as it was 200 years ago. There are demonstrated, was based on the artforms of necessar y. Such corrupted interpretations of our those amongst us convinced they must abandon the Renaissance. history and theology are still being openly pro- and destroy the Christo-centric faith of the fathers This principle informed distinct values in aes- pounded by misinformed sectarians, using them to (and matriarchs) and convert themselves to alien thetics with a preference for tasteful colours justify the most uncivilized treatment and bigoted religion culture without delay. The exposition of a such as black, blue and grey. Black, of course, attitudes towards conservative and orthodox Men- more balanced and truthful historiography will make is not only eternally in fashion as the colour of nonites one could imagine. it less plausible for such turncoats to use their cor- refinement and good taste, it was also a practi- These interpretations have recently been coun- rupted version of history as a weapon as they go cal colour for our forebears whose lives were tered by the articulation of a pro-Flemish view by about their mission of leading astray and deceiving closely bound to the soil and the pastoral life. Henry Schapansky in his recent study, The Old “if it were possible, the very elect” (Matthew 24:24). Blue, and more specifically “himmel bleave” Colony (Chortitza) of Russia (New Westminster, The editorial considers the way in which those (the blue of the heavens), was considered the 2001), 519 pages (see book review essay, Pres., who promote mass conversion to Evangelical reli- “duse” or Godly colour. In the Molotschna No. 19, pages 124-129). Schapansky points out gious culture use language in ways calculated to this even came to be called “kleingemeinsch that in reality, Hoeppner together with the coura- influence Mennonites negatively about their own bleave”, apparently because the Kleine geous and longsuffering pioneers in 1789 were faith and spiritual heritage.