When They Shall Ask

Follow Up Quiz, guess if you don’t know

1. What class were the people who spoke about life before the Revolution? 2. What percent of do you think were landless before the revolution? 3. What percent of young Mennonite men available do you think joined the Selbstschutz? 4. Who organized the forming of the Selbstschutz? 5. What did the church say about the Selbstschutz, did they say it was alright? 6. In the short run was the Selbstschutz a good thing? 7. In the long run was the Selbstschutz a good thing? 8. Describe what kind of person you think Makhnov was.

What class were the people who spoke about life before the Revolution?

• By 1914 there were over 500 Mennonite private estates • Estates varied considerably in size from 250- 250,000 acres or 110-110,000 hectares), 60 percent were under 1,250 acres; 550 hectares) in area. • A section of land, 640 acres, in Canada would be 1 square mile. So the largest estates would have been approximately 20 miles square. What percent of Mennonites do you think were landless before the revolution?

• Anwohner: people without land • 1865 there were in the 1,384 landed families and 2,356 landless families • 63% without land in 1865 Selbstschutz 1918 Necessary?

• Selbstschutz (Self-Defense) was a measure taken in some of the Mennonite settlements of Russia during the Revolution and Civil War in 1918-1920. • . They were anarchist in their outlook and set out to destroy any order and to punish those who possessed property. The settlements of Molotschna, Chortitza, Borozenko, and Zagradovka suffered. The male population of a number of villages was completely annihilated and the food and property were taken. A total of some 600 people were murdered. Old and young women were raped, and consequently venereal diseases spread in the communities. Who organized the forming of the Selbstschutz?

• Selbstschutz units were trained openly under German supervision mainly in Molotschna, Chortitza, Nikolaipol, and Sagradovka. If and when the German troops withdrew, these militia units were to become operative. • This was prior to the Makhno incursions. • They were aided and abetted by the White Army

What percent of young Mennonite men available do you think joined the Selbstschutz?

• 2,700 infantry divided into 20 companies (of which 7 were non-Mennonite Germans from Prischib) and 300 cavalry • 3000 divided by 13/20 = 1950 were Mennonites • 12 000 served were available for service in WWI in the Russian Medical Corp or Forestry Service. • 1950/12000 = 16% (roughly) of the Mennonite men joined the Selbstschutz

What did the church say about the Selbstschutz, did they say it was alright?

• Most of the leaders and the majority of the Mennonite population did not support such views. The Lichtenau Allgemeine Mennonitische Bundeskonferenz (July 1918) affirmed the ideal of nonresistance but refused to condemn Mennonites who took up arms • http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Selbstschutz

In the short run was the Selbstschutz a good thing? In the long run was the Selbstschutz a good thing?

• What had begun as a police action ended, in the eyes of the Bolshevik government, as rebellious fighting against the . Having opted out of the political process four centuries earlier, the Mennonites had opted back in militarily and shown that " the logic of circumstances spoke more strongly than the logic of theology," according to one historian. In tragically provocative conditions and against the will of the majority, Mennonites had sacrificed the concept of the suffering church to the instinct for self-preservation. -- Al Reimer Makhnov

Was the movie honest?