MB Bulletin.Fall Final 04
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
8 California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin 9 RecapturingRecapturing tthehe RRussianussian MennoniteMennonite SStorytory by Paul Toews and Walter Unger o celebrate the bicenten- Researchers from seven photos by Johannes Dyck nial of the founding of countries presented thirty- Molochna, the largest seven papers at the June MennoniteT settlement in Tsarist conference. Ceremonial events and Soviet Russia, a major were held at three Molochna academic conference, “Molochna village sites, as well as in the and Its Neighbors” was held city of Dnepropetrovsk. The in several southern Ukranian major event was the unveiling “After the winter, the centers, notably Zaporozhye and of the Settler’s Monument in Melitopol, in June 2004. Halbstadt/Molochansk, with renewal of spring was Mennonites are a confessional Canadian Ambassador Andrew group that migrated from Robinson participating. Canadian sixteenth-century Holland to novelist, Rudy Wiebe, addressed a metaphor for what Poland to Russia/Ukraine, and Ukrainian university students at then disbursed to many countries. the historic Potemkin Palace in has been happening to There are over half a million Dnepropetrovsk. Russian Mennonite descendants Conference organizer, Mennonite-Ukrainian in North America. For the past University of Toronto historian decade, these descendents have Harvey Dyck, was unable been returning to Ukraine in to attend due to illness. His relationships.” considerable numbers as scholars colleagues and friends rallied and tourists. A renovated to mount the conference and its historic-girls’ school now serves events. Co-chairs were Canadian as a Mennonite regional relief historian, John Staples, and center, specializing in medical Ukrainian geographer, Nikolai and educational projects. The Krylov. Mennonite Central Committee Included in the Bicentennial and other Mennonite agencies also activities was the unveiling are active in Ukraine. of several monuments. The 8 California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin 9 Mennonite International Mennonite Memorialization Committee congregations for the Former Soviet Union attended supervised the placement this service, of a Settlers’ Monument in along with Molochansk (formerly Halbstadt). representatives Two benches at the railway of the diaspora station of Svetlodolinskoe communities (formerly Lichtenau) recall in Paraguay, the voluntary migration of Germany, Mennonites to freedom in the Canada and the United West and involuntary deportation States. Most of the to the eastern Gulag. The audience, however, station is on the railway line consisted of local, non- built by the Wall brothers and Mennonite Ukrainians. other investors. Two plaques Local and regional placed in Vladovka (formerly offi cials and many Waldheim) recognize the role villagers attending played by Agnes and Cornelius each event expressed Warkentin in the establishment appreciation for of a still-existing hospital. The the multiple second plaque is placed at the contributions that local school that occupies the Mennonites made to the history site of the former Isaac Neufeld of the region. One local pastor Descendents of the Wall brothers factory. In Bogdanovka (formerly stated, “We wish to build on the (top) attended the unveiling of a Gnadenfeld) a monument was past which you so richly gave us.” monument to Mennonite migration placed at the site of a former Ukrainians spoke of this in the Lichtenau train station. The lush Ukrainian countryside Mennonite cemetery. spring as having been unusually (bottom) after revival of the spring An historic Sunday worship beautiful. Spring rains watered rains. service was conducted in the the steppe, the wildfl owers famous former Zentralschule were brilliant, the landscape (regional High School) in was green. After the winter, the tradition that anchors them in Halbstadt, the fi rst such service renewal of spring was a metaphor changing times, was repeatedly since 1943. For the opening hymn, for what has been happening invoked. The historic celebration the congregation sang “Great is to Mennonite-Ukrainian rekindled relationships and Thy Faithfulness” in Russian and relationships. The Mennonite touched the hearts of its English. Pastor Jakob Tiessen of story, long suppressed, is being participants. the nearby Kutuzovka Church rediscovered as a vital part of conducted the service. Johannes the history of south Ukraine. —Dr. Paul Toews, historian at Fresno Dyck, formerly of Kazakhstan, Ukrainian society is embracing Pacifi c University, was a Fullbright currently living in Germany, the values that shaped this story, exchange scholar to Ukraine in presented the sermon in which he and sees it as necessary for its 2003-04, where he taught Mennonite celebrated the “love and hope of own renewal. The admiration history. Walter Unger, Toronto, is our Christian faith.” Members of of Mennonites as a people of chair of the Mennonite Centre in the Zaporozhye and Kutuzovka memory, for having a sense of Ukraine..