Preservings $20 Issue No. 33, 2013
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~ A Journal of the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation Inc. Preservings $20 Issue No. 33, 2013 “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 In this Issue .................................................... 2 Articles ......................................................... 42 Book Reviews .............................................. 97 Table of Contents ........................................... 2 Biographies .................................................. 72 News........................................................... 101 Editorial .......................................................... 3 Reflections .................................................... 90 Letter to the Editor ..................................... 103 Feature Articles .............................................. 4 Research Notes ............................................. 94 In this Issue PRESERVINGS 2013 Table of Contents The feature articles in this year’s issue take us back to the story of the Mennonite presence in the delta of the In this Issue ............................................................................................ 2 Wisła River in present day Poland. We begin with Peter Klassen’s review of the unique context of religious toler- Editorial .................................................................................................. 3 ance that attracted primarily Dutch Mennonites to the wa- tery delta. My own article picks up this story, focusing on FEATURE ARTICLES: PRUSSIA the landscape and environment that shaped the ancestors Mennonites in Early Modern Poland: A Land of Contrasts, of many of us. John Friesen explores how Mennonites had by Peter J. Klassen ................................................................................. 4 to defend against those who challenged their orthodoxy Mennonites and the Vistula: The Land and the Water, while Mark Jantzen’s article takes us to a time when many by Hans Werner .................................................................................... 10 Mennonites had already left for Imperial Russia and Men- Mennonites in Poland: Heretics or Orthodox, by John J. Friesen ....... 16 nonite sensibilities were increasingly in conflict with the sense of what the obligation of citizens were to the state. Mennonites in Prussia Becoming Germans, by Mark Jantzen ............ 22 Finally, we have the stories of two modern-day research- Mennonite Plautdietsch: Language and History, ers, Glenn Penner and Roland Sawatzky, who made trips by Christopher Cox .............................................................................. 31 to Poland to uncover and help celebrate the Mennonite experience together with Polish partners. Uncovering the Polish-Prussian Mennonite Past, by Glenn Penner .... 35 We also have interesting articles on other themes. Mennonite Heritage in Poland: A Visit to the Chelmo (Culm) Leonard Doell, who hails from Saskatchewan, has had an Region, by Roland Sawatzky ............................................................... 37 ongoing interest in the story of those who tried Alberta, before settling in the Saskatoon area. The relatively new ARTICLES Mennonite presence in Two Hills, Alberta continues to The First Mennonite Settlers in Alberta, by Leonard Doell ................. 42 amaze both the residents of the area and us as observers. The Mennonites of Two Hills, Alberta, by Hans Werner Mary Shaw, who works in the Two Hills Mennonite El- and Mary Shaw .................................................................................... 54 ementary School tells us about this unique experiment. ‘A Friendly Mexican’: Mennonite Interactions with Mexicans Andrea Dyck’s article is based on a Master’s thesis she in Die Steinbach Post, 1922-1967, by Andrea Dyck ............................ 57 completed a few years ago. Her reading of letters to the Mennonitische Post from those who had migrated to Historical Origins of the Church Lectionary, by Donald Stoesz ......... 64 Mexico in the 1920s tells us about their interactions with Mexicans. Donald Stoesz’s contribution to this issue takes BIOGRAPHIES us into a little explored area, the question of why ministers Katarina Janzen Friesen: Everything is a Mystery, preach on certain passages of scripture and how that has by Ralph Friesen .................................................................................. 72 evolved over time. Mennonites on the Margins, by Conrad Stoesz ................................... 76 Our biography section has a diversity of stories. Ralph The Life Story of Äeltester Cornelius Regier (1742-1794), Friesen unravels a complex family, Abram Buhler provides by Abram Buhler .................................................................................. 79 us with an old letter that tells us about spiritual mentor- ing, David Schroeder remembers Bishop David Schulz, The Legacy of Bishop David Schulz, by David Schroeder.................. 82 and Conrad Stoesz tells about some marginal Stoesz’s. Abe and Sally Rempel, by James Rempel ........................................... 89 We end with a son’s reflection about his parents on their fiftieth anniversary. REFLECTIONS Iris Reimer Nowakowski shares her memories of Stein- Steinbach during the Days of Reverend Peter D. Friesen, bach and the EMC church during the tenure of minister by Iris Reimer Nowakowski ................................................................. 90 Peter D. Friesen and Eleanor Hildebrand Chornoboy, reflects thoughtfully on Faspa, one of the most potent Faspa: What is its Origin?, by Eleanor Chornoboy .............................. 92 traditions of Mennonite life. A note from Ernest Braun tells about a CD of early aerial photos of the East Reseve RESEARCH NOTES in Manitoba, an important research tool created by the Aerial Photograph Project by EastMenn Historical Committee, by Ernest N. Braun ............................................................................... 94 EastMenn Historical Committee. Finally, we are indebted to our book review contributors who have read books for BOOK REVIEWS ...................................................................97 us and not only tell us what is being written about, but also their thoughts on what they read. NEWS .....................................................................................101 Hans Werner, Coeditor LETTER TO THE EDITOR ................................................103 Preservings, a journal of the D.F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, Inc., is published annually. Co-editors are Hans Werner 1.204.786.9352 [email protected] and John J. Friesen, 1.204.488.8128, [email protected]. The annual subscription fee is $20.00, and cheques should be made out to the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, and mailed to Hans Werner, D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, Inc., University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9. Reader responses are welcome. Please send manuscripts, articles, and/or photographs to the above address at the University of Winnipeg. Our mission is to inform our readers about Mennonite history, and in particular to promote a respectful under- standing and appreciation of the contribution made by the so-called conservatives. 2 - Preservings No. 33, 2013 by Hans Werner Editorial co-editor It has been a difficult year in the world’s media for those on on As It Happens that for eleven days she had enjoyed liv- the conserving end of the Mennonite spectrum. For months a ing with a “very wonderful and very kind family,” she had small Swiss Mennonite group that migrated to the Gladstone- found evidence of “good and decent people,” women who Plumas area of Manitoba from Ontario a few years ago made were “empowered in their own worlds,” and were “laughing the news when all their children were removed from family and enjoying life.” The Canadian Mennonite reporter wrote and home by child welfare agencies. The Westbourne Men- sensitively about the Westbourne church leaders, who broke nonites, as they have come to be called, live on Ontario style with their deeply held aversion for the media to acknowledge farmyards, are seen on the highways with their buggies, and that there was a problem and accepted help from ‘modern’ generally avoid the technologies of the world. The RCMP Mennonites in seeking a resolution. The portrayal of Durango became involved, and there were allegations of the use of Mennonites did not go unchallenged by others who work with instruments of physical punishment that shocked the sensi- Old Colony Mennonites, with one comment suggesting the bilities of most Manitobans. As I write this there is news that article’s portrayal of Old Colony Mennonites was “aberrant some of the children will finally be returned to their families. and harmful.” The story of the rape of many women in Bolivia again made Sadly, however, these kind of media reports are not isolated, the news both inside and outside Mennonite circles. A story but have become a cottage industry in the desperate competi- in a magazine called Vice, claimed the rapes were continuing. tion for an audience. It is doubly sad that our Mennonite media Vice, an online media phenomenon that has been described are seemingly just as eager to sensationalize and to use lan- as the “edgiest, wildest online media brand” and as “gonzo