Russian Mennonites. The Writer Explores

¶ … Russian Mennonites. The writer explores the history and structure of the Mennonite society in Russia and discusses their function and purpose as they see it. There were four sources used to complete this paper.

Russian Mennonites explained

During the cold war many western societies believed that Russia so severely restricted its residents religiously that anyone who lived there was automatically told what to believe and what faith he or she should follow, however, when one closely examines the Russian nation throughout history one will find that the Mennonites were actually invited to live there however, once they began to settle in their lives became very oppressed.

The year was 1786 and Catherine II made the decision to invite the Mennonite community to live in Russia and settle their colony for good. She made many promises of land, freedom to practice their religion and the ability to live tax free in her effort to attract them to her country (Russian Mennonites (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/mennonites.html).

She also promised that no Mennonite would be asked to serve in the military.

It sounded too good to be true and in fact only lasted a few decades. By then the new Russian Czar made the decision to revoke the tax and military exemptions that had been provided by the promise of Catherine II which created a mass exodus from the country to other parts of the world (Russian Mennonites (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/mennonites.html).During those years of promise however, the Mennonites managed to set up a faith based in the basic principles that still apply today.

As the Mennonite population began to grow it was influenced by other faiths including the Baptist religion.

The Baptist influence among the Mennonites in Russia coincided with the revival that was started through the work of Eduard Wust and became noticeable when the traditional Mennonite form of baptism was changed on 23 September 1860 by the group which introduced baptism by immersion (Menno Lite: (http://www.thirdway.com/menno/lite/?C=59).When the newly founded Mennonite Brethren Church in 1862 made immersion compulsory it adopted a characteristic Baptist practice, which it apparently took over from that group (Menno Lite: (http://www.thirdway.com/menno/lite/?C=59)."

When Mennonites in Russia lost their exemption to serve in the military the government did agree to allow some of those eligible for draft to serve their duty in the national forestry service (Forestry Service among Mennonites in Tsarist Russia (http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Forestry_Service_Report_1908.htm).

Mennonite managed more than 1,200 fellow Mennonites in the camps that were spread across the nation however, it was still ordering them into service and it was something that went against their religious doctrine, therefore the Mennonite population in Russia began to decline as the members continued to move outside to other nations (Forestry Service among Mennonites in Tsarist Russia (http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Forestry_Service_Report_1908.htm).

History

The true history of Russian Mennonites begins in the middle 1500's when Mennonites began moving from the low countries to the Vistula delta region which was located in the area of Royal Prussia (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

In 1772, most of the Mennonites' land in the Vistula area became part of Prussia in the first of the Partitions of Poland. Frederick William II of Prussia ascended the throne in 1786 and imposed heavy fees on the Mennonites in exchange for continued military exemption (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

When the 1760's came along and Catherine II made her offer to allow Mennonites to settle in Russia it appealed for unexplained reasons to large numbers of German Mennonites who began migrating to Russia to start new lives.

In 1789 a new manifesto was signed that extended the promises that had been made by Catherine II and more Mennonites began to migrate to the farm land of Russia where they were promised good, carefree lives without worries of taxes or war service (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

Two Mennonite settlements on the Vistula near Warsaw, Deutsch-Kazun and Deutsch-Wymysle, came under Russian control when the border was readjusted at the Congress of Vienna (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).Some of these families emigrated to the Molotschna settlement after it was established. Deutsch-Michalin near Machnovka was founded in 1787(the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).Many families from this settlement moved to nearby Volhynia in 1802(the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).Swiss Mennonites of Amish descent from Galicia settled near Dubno, Volhynia province in 1815. Other Galician Mennonites lived near Lemberg (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

By 1870 there were almost 10,000 Mennonite immigrants residing within the boundaries of Russia. By 1914 there were more than forty daughter colonies that totaled a population of more than 100,000 Mennonite immigrants that chose to live in Russia as long as the promises made by Catherine the Great were being kept.

Russian Mennonites survived by farming the land and raising herds of animals for eating, sale and slaughter (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

The colonists worked together to form and support villages. Each village contained approximately 15-30 families and each family had an approximate land gift given to them of about 70 acres. In addition to the individual properties the Mennonites created areas of communal and shared land on which granaries were built for the purpose of supporting everyone's cattle feed needs (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

Initially the settlers raised cattle, sheep and general crops to provide for their household. The barren steppes were much drier than their Vistula delta homeland and it took years to work out the proper dryland farming practices. They grew mulberries for the silk industry, produced honey, flax and tobacco, and marketed fruits and vegetables for city markets. By the 1830s wheat became the dominant crop (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

By the mid-1800's the exploding population of Russian Mennonites created problems as the population ran out of land. In addition there were more mouths to feed on the same land as there had been before, and the same amount of land could no longer support the number of animals and food crops needed to feed the new population.

When the settlement agreement had been reached there was a provision included that said the land could not be divided and were ordered to pass in their entirety from one generation to the next within the family of the original settlers.

The only Mennonites who had voting rights were the landowners, which created a large middle population of nonworking residents who didn't own land and had no way to start new lives that would be of value (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

By the early 1860s the problem became so acute that the landless organized a party that petitioned the Russian government for relief. A combination of factors relieved their plight. The Russian government permitted farms to be divided in half or quarters and ordered release of the village's communal land. The colonies themselves purchased land and formed daughter colonies on the eastern frontier extending into Siberia and Turkestan. These new colonies included Bergtal, Neu Samara Colony and the Mennonite settlements of Altai (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

As the demand for farming wheat continued to grow the demand for more equipment and mills grew as well and it was not long before Mennonite owned factories were producing large percentages of the total Russian product, when they did not represent a large percentage of the population itself.

In 1860 it was reported that Mennonite owned factories actually produced six percent of the total Russian outgoing product that had a value of more than three million rubbles.

The annual output of Lepp and Wallman of Schnwiese was 50,000 mowers, 3000 threshing machines, thousands of gangplows in addition to other farm equipment (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).Flour and feed mills were originally wind-powered, a skill transplanted from Prussia (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).These were eventually replaced with motor and steam driven mills. Milling and its supporting industries grew to dominate the industrial economy of the colonies and nearby communities (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

The Mennonite colonies were also allowed to govern themselves and did so with almost no Russian government intervention.

Each village had an elected magistrate that was responsible for overseeing the entire village, much like an American mayor of a city does today. In addition the villages were allowed to control their schools, the roads and to determine how they would care for the sick, poor and mentally ill without government interference.

The villages belonged to groups called districts and each district had a superintendent, much like America has county executives overseeing each county.

Insurance and fire protection were handled at the regional level, as well as dealing with delinquents and other social problems. The Mennonite colonies functioned as a democratic state, enjoying freedoms beyond those of ordinary Russian peasants (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

Mennonite communities built their own medical facilities, mental wards and schools for the handicapped students. Their orphans and seniors were cared for within the villages and the government of Russia left them alone to run their villages as they saw fit (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).

Mennonites stayed out of Russian politics and social movements that preceded the Russian revolution (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).After the Russian Revolution of 1905 they did exercise their right to vote (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite).Most aligned themselves with the Octobrist Party because of its guarantee of religious freedoms and freedom of the press for minority groups (the Russian Mennonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mennonite)."

Each village generally had its own congregation that was independent of the other Russian Mennonite congregations.