-being the Journal of the Flemish Mennonite Historical Society Inc. Preservings $20.00 No. 23, December, 2003 “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 The Old Colonists - Following Jesus In 1875 the Reinländer ment at Peace River, Alberta. By the Gemeinde was formed in the 1990s the largest Old Colony congre- West Reserve, Manitoba, gation in Canada had been established Canada, under the leadership of in Southern Ontario, mainly by return- Ältester Johann Wiebe (1837- ees from Mexico. 1905), Rosengart, formerly of the In 1922-26 some 6000 or approxi- Fürstenlandt Colony, South Rus- mately half of the Old Colonists in sia (see Preservings, No. 14, Canada, chose to suffer the bitter fate of pages 49-72). The new commu- exile rather than to submit to the arbi- nity consisted of immigrants from trary suppression of religious freedoms, the Chortitza “old” Colony and the illegal expropriation of property and its daughter settlements in the the resulting oppression and hostile cul- Black Sea region who were, tural landscape. Mexico provided a therefore, known as “Alt- harsh physical environment but proved Kolonier” or “Old Colonists”. to be fertile ground for the growth of The Reinländer Gemeinde at- the Old Colony church, spawning new tempted nothing less than the res- settlements within Mexico as well as in toration of the Apostolic Order Belize (1958), Paraguay and Bolivia. in the tradition of their Flemish For 128 years the Old Colony Anabaptist forebears of Refor- Mennonites have persevered through mation times who had suffered a exile, poverty and harassment, blazing a century of fierce persecution for trail of Biblical faithfulness across North their faith (see Preservings, No. and South America. In this issue of 22, pages 1-44). The Flemish Preservings we proudly feature the Old Ordnung included a paradigm of Colonists, so often misunderstood and grassroots democracy, commit- denigrated by their assimilationistic and ment to the Gemeinde over indi- progressivistic Mennonite co-religion- vidualism, pure orthodox teach- ists. We celebrate the immense contri- ings (“Rein” meaning pure), butions which they have made to the yieldedness or surrender to the Christian church, serving as a light and will of God (Gelassenheit), tol- model of a people separated unto God eration for other faiths, penitence in the “old” New Testament tradition of and following Jesus (Nachfolge) “following Jesus”. as the key to salvation, and a vis- The Editor. ible church separated from the world in the spirit of medieval monasticism. Inside This Issue The Reinländer quickly grew to become one of the major Feature Articles .............. 3-44 branches of the Mennonite President’s Report ............. 45 church and, certainly, the largest Editorial ........................ 46-50 within the Flemish-Russian stream (comparable to the Amish Guest Essay ................. 51-52 and Old Orders among the Letters .......................... 53-55 American-Swiss Mennonites). Susanna Peters, age 7, Colony Riva Palacios, Bolivia, showing her younger News ............................ 56-67 By the turn of the century the de- sisters how to correctly ride a horse. Susanna is the daughter of Isaak Peters and nomination had established suc- has 11 siblings. Devout Christian formation as the sure path to salvation, respect Articles ....................... 68-125 cessful colonies near Hague and for elders and authority, and genuine family values and strong work ethic are an Material Culture ....... 126-132 Swift Current, Saskatchewan, essential part of Old Colony faith and culture. Such large families are a blessing Book Reviews .......... 133-139 and later, also a pioneering settle- of God and the backbone of the church. Photo - Kennert Giesbrecht, Men. Post, May 16, 2003, page 4. Introduction - The Old Colonists - Following Jesus Originating in the Flemish Gemeinden of Impe- ing in the exile of many conservatives from Canada. Hans Denck and a religious culture which exalted rial Russia, 3800 Old Colonists established them- During the 1920s some 8,000 Old Colonists, individualism and spiritualism. The editorial out- selves on the treeless plain between the Red River Sommerfelder and Chortitzers fled Canada rather lines the story of Ludwig Keller and how his ideas and the Pembina Hills in Manitoba in 1875-78. The than compromise their faith. There is always a so- and writings became the ideological vehicle for re- Reinländer Gemeinde has steadily expanded ever cial cost for the oppression of minorities. Marjan jecting the Gospel-centric teachings of Menno since, becoming the largest - and certainly, the fast- Blok has written that over half of Antwerp migrated Simons and for attacking and denigrating his spiri- est growing - branch of the Flemish-Russian Men- after its fall in 1585 and that the Netherlands would tual descendants. nonite diaspora. A quarter of Russian Mennonite never have had its “golden age” had it not been for Some of the earliest scholarly writings about the descendants - some 150-200,000 souls - would the Flemish emigres and the money and skills they Old Colonists such as The Old Colony Menno- proudly claim ancestral and spiritual roots in this brought (Pres., No. 22, page 26). I have estimated nites: Dilemmas of Ethnic Minority Life (Baltimore, community (Endnote). Comparable membership that “harrying the good people out of the land” in 1969) by Calvin Redekop, and They Sought a Coun- statistics for other denominations are: Mennonite the 1920s is still costing the Canadian GNP some try (Berkeley, 1971) by Leonard Sawatzky evalu- Church USA 110,000; Amish 83,000; Mennonite $3,000,000,000.00 annually in lost revenue. ated them in terms of how well and quickly they Church Canada 37,000; M.B. Canada 34,000. Many capable writers among the Old Colonists assimilated - the narrative of modernization. The Previous issues of Preservings (No.s 14-17) have left a rich literary legacy. We are proud to Old Colonists, of course, did not fare well by this focused on the founding and early years of the publish two of these writings. The historical ac- standard as the story of the Flemish Mennonites Reinländer Gemeinde in Manitoba. This issue will count “Schools and Community” by teacher David since the days of the Reformation was one of faith- follow the Old Colonists through their unfolding Harder creates an authoritative narrative for their fulness to Christo-centric faith and heroic resis- history as they established new settlements in history in Mexico up to 1960. I first read the ac- tance to assimilation and proselytization whether in Mexico, Belize, Bolivia and Paraguay. count of the suffering and death of deacon Isaak Flanders, Zeeland, Frisland or Polish-Prussia. Un- Where other sectarian movements among the Dyck in 1944, written by his father Ältester Isaak fortunately, some Mennonite academics have seem- Russian Mennonites (with the exception of the M. Dyck (1889-1969), Blumenfeld, Mexico, while ingly failed to realize how important it is for a com- Kleine Gemeinde), set out to repudiate and renounce on a flight from Winnipeg to Toronto last October. munity to remain firmly rooted and anchored within their traditional Christo-centric faith, the vision of I was deeply moved by Ohm Isaak’s description of its tradition and “....to resist the siren call of mod- the Old Colonists was to return to the purity and his son’s suffering and death which provides a strik- ernization and accommodation that has seduced so zeal of their Anabaptist ancestors, hence the name ing voice for the genuine piety and deep biblical much of western civilization,” Eric Margolis, Wpg. “Reinländer”, speaking for the Flemish vision of religiosity of the Old Colonists. Sun, Oct. 19, 2003. “pure” teaching and a “pure” church. The Old Colo- Sjouke Voolstra has been referred to by Dr. Regrettably, also, the condescending tone estab- nists have experienced sacrifice, hardship and per- Walter Klaassen as “....the most important recent lished by such academic works has been adopted as secution (and errors), but have also manifested stead- interpreter of Menno Simons.” In his book, Menno the voice for much of the writing about conservative fastness in the New Testament tradition of peni- Simons: His Image and Message (Newton, Kan- Mennonites in Canada and particularly by those tar- tence and following Jesus. sas, 1997), 109 pages, Voolstra portrays Menno as geting them for conversion to so-called Evangelical The persecution of Hutterites in South Dakato a faithful parish priest who sought to return the religious culture. Scholarship has evolved and be- as well as the Kleine Gemeinde in Kansas, speaks sacraments to their apostolic purity. Voolstra’s well- come more sophisticated and immigrant and minor- for the anti-Pacifist, anti-German mania which swept reasoned treatise places Menno within the context ity groups are now examined from different perspec- North America during and after World War One. of the Roman Catholic church assuming leadership tives, including their strategies and success in resist- The Old Order Mennonites of Ontario had more after 1536 of a part of the diverse Melchorite ing assimilation. These more nuanced studies cer- difficulties securing military exemptions than the Anabaptist movement. In the process Menno es- tainly recognize the immense contributions which conservatives of Western Canada who were pro- tablished a new denomination which sought to be a the Old Colonists have made to society with their tected by their Privilegium negotiated prior to immi- discipled, visible church “without spot and wrinkle.” ethos of resettlement and pioneering (the frontier ex- gration in 1874. In the U.S.A. oppression of An abridgement of Voolstra’s book forms a valu- perience). Several articles from back issues of Men- Hutterites, Amish, Conservative and Old Order able companion piece to the articles on our Flemish nonite Life from the 1940s and ‘50s by writers J.