| Who were the Mennonites? |
| The Anabaptists were a group of Swiss, German, and Dutch reformers starting in the early 1500s. Some Anabaptists were followers of Menno Simons (1496–1561) who was an Anabaptist reformer from Friesland (today a province of The Netherlands). His followers were called Mennonites. Mennonites rejected infant baptism, violence toward others, and stressed the separation of church and state. reformers were severely persecuted by the inquisition. escaped persecution by immigrating to North America, helped to found Germantown in the English colony of Pennsylvania in the 1680s. The Pennsylvania Mennonites became what are now known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Those who went east, immigrated to the delta of the Vistula River in Prussia/Poland, south and east of the city of Danzig in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The Vistula delta has lowlands below sea level, very much like the Netherlands and the Mennonite’s skill in building wind water pumps and dike management was in demand. In 1772 Frederick II (the Great of Prussia) annexed north Poland, creating east and west Prussia. Mennonites worried that their sons would be conscripted into the Prussian army. Also, a growing Mennonite population made land scarce on the reservations Mennonites were alloted. (later eastern Ukraine) as part of a program by Czarina Katherine II (the Great of Russia) (reign: 1762-1796) to introduce north central Europeans, to lands then recently taken from the Turks/Cossacks. The original Mennonite immigration to Russia took place from 1788 to 1802. In 1788 a first group of 228 Mennonite families left East Prussia for Russia. They were soon followed by another group of 234 families for a total of 462 original colonists. The first Mennonite settlement in Russia was called Chortitza. Chortitza was founded in 1789. Later, more villages were built in new settlements, the Molotschna, and Bergthal to name two. The Russian government located the Mennonites in an area then called New Russia or South Russia, that had been occupied by unruly Zaporozh'ye Cossacks who's loyalties were often with the Turks. The area assigned to Mennonites was near the modern city of Zaporozh'ye, in an area called Chortitza on the Dnieper River, in what is now south central Ukraine. At the same time the Zaporozh'ye Cossacks were displaced. The Cossacks never forgot this and when the last of the Romanovs was overthrown in 1917, they exacted terrible revenge on those Mennonites still living in the region. Czarina Katherine II and later her son, Czar Paul I, gave the Mennonites a charter that granted them certain liberties, especially that they could be semi-self governing, have their own schools, and practice their own religion including exemption from military service and certain taxes. |
| An Anabaptist martyr c. 1544 |
| Menno Simons |
Danzig Poland in the 1560s
Czarina Katherine II the Great of Russia
Frederick II the Great of Prussia
Czar Alexander II of Russia
PICTURE CREDITS, THIS PAGE:
An Anabaptist martyr c. 1544:
Mennonite Library and Archives, Mennonite Church USA Archives - Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas.
Menno Simons:
Mennoniten.de
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Gemeinden in Deutschland
ALL OTHER MAPS AND PORTRAITS:
wikipedia.org
An Anabaptist martyr c. 1544:
Mennonite Library and Archives, Mennonite Church USA Archives - Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas.
Menno Simons:
Mennoniten.de
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Gemeinden in Deutschland
ALL OTHER MAPS AND PORTRAITS:
wikipedia.org
During the next hundred years the Mennonites turned the
southern steppes into the bread basket of Russia. They became
model farmers. They built villages and towns planted orchards
and wood lots. They started industries that ranged from clock
making to heavy farm equipment. They built hospitals, and
schools and orphanages.
The beginning of the reign of Alexander II ( reign: 1855-1881),
coincided with the end of Crimean War (1853-1856) which was a
catastrophic disaster for Russia. Thereafter, Czar Alexander II,
constantly fearful of a large scale peasant revolt, brought about
several reform programs. One of these was the Russification,
both political and cultural, of all non-Russian ethnic groups in
Russia. This included the German Mennonites. In 1870 he also
voided the charters that the Mennonites had been granted.
After some negotiations the Russian government gave the
Mennonites ten years (1870-1880) to either leave of comply. In
1873 a group of twelve delegates from different Mennonite areas
in Russia were dispatched to North America by the Mennonite
leadership. Following their good reports, in 1874, Mennonites
emigrated en-mass to North America, particularly central Canada,
Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas.
southern steppes into the bread basket of Russia. They became
model farmers. They built villages and towns planted orchards
and wood lots. They started industries that ranged from clock
making to heavy farm equipment. They built hospitals, and
schools and orphanages.
The beginning of the reign of Alexander II ( reign: 1855-1881),
coincided with the end of Crimean War (1853-1856) which was a
catastrophic disaster for Russia. Thereafter, Czar Alexander II,
constantly fearful of a large scale peasant revolt, brought about
several reform programs. One of these was the Russification,
both political and cultural, of all non-Russian ethnic groups in
Russia. This included the German Mennonites. In 1870 he also
voided the charters that the Mennonites had been granted.
After some negotiations the Russian government gave the
Mennonites ten years (1870-1880) to either leave of comply. In
1873 a group of twelve delegates from different Mennonite areas
in Russia were dispatched to North America by the Mennonite
leadership. Following their good reports, in 1874, Mennonites
emigrated en-mass to North America, particularly central Canada,
Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas.
The Mennonite settlement
of Molotschna was the
largest of the settlement
areas given to the
Mennonites. (This picture
will enlarge.)
of Molotschna was the
largest of the settlement
areas given to the
Mennonites. (This picture
will enlarge.)
Chortitza, the Mennonites first
settlement area. (This picture
will enlarge.)
settlement area. (This picture
will enlarge.)
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