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110-804: The term "Russian Mennonite" refers to the country which they resided in before their immigration to the Americas rather than their ethnic heritage. The term "Low-German Mennonites" is also used in order to avoid this conflation. In the early-to-mid 16th century, Mennonites began to flee to the Vistula Delta region in the Kingdom of Poland in order to avoid persecution in the Low Countries —especially Friesland and Flanders —seeking religious freedom and exemption from military service . They gradually replaced their Dutch and Frisian languages with

220-593: A Constitutional Democratic party member from Crimea, was a member of the fourth Duma. At a time when compulsory education was unknown in Europe, the Mennonite colonies formed an elementary school in each village. Students learned practical skills such as reading and writing German and arithmetic. Religion was included as was singing in many schools. The teacher was typically a craftsperson or herder, untrained in teaching, who fit class time around his occupation. In 1820

330-696: A Mennonite Brethren congregation. All aspects of life in Neu Samara were "disrupted and bedevilled by war and the revolution, famine, collectivization , and terror" during the time it was part of the Soviet Union . Along with all of Russia, Neu Samara suffered through the Russian famine of 1921 . They received food aid from North American Mennonites through the American Mennonite Relief program . A key organizer of this relief effort

440-495: A Mennonite congregation was required to enjoy the special benefits the Russian government provided to colonists, excommunication had broader implications. This was softened by the various internal factions, which allowed a person banned from one congregation to join another. As nationalism grew in central Europe, the Russian government could no longer justify the special status of its German-speaking colonists. In 1870 they announced

550-523: A Russification plan that would end all special privileges by 1880. Mennonites were particularly alarmed at the possibility of losing their exemption from military service and their right for schools to use the German language, which they believed was necessary to maintain their cultural and religious life. Delegates were sent to Petersburg in 1871 to meet with the czar and appeal for relief on religious grounds. They met with high officials, but failed to present

660-417: A book while seated at a table. Frisian pastors stood while delivering the sermon. Pastors were untrained and chosen from within the congregation. Unpaid pastors were selected from among the wealthier members—large landowners, sometimes teachers—allowing them to make a living while serving the congregation. The combined effect of respect for their position and material wealth gave them substantial influence over

770-628: A commission to North America in the summer of 1920 to alert American Mennonites of the dire conditions of war-torn Ukraine. Their plight succeeded in uniting various branches of Mennonites to form the Mennonite Central Committee in an effort to coordinate aid. The new organization planned to provide aid to Ukraine via existing Mennonite relief work in Istanbul . The Istanbul group, mainly Goshen College graduates, produced three volunteers, who at great risk entered Ukraine during

880-711: A delegation of twelve explored North America, seeking large tracts of fertile farmland. This group consisted of Leonhard Sudermann and Jacob Buller of the Alexanderwohl congregation representing the Molotschna settlement; Tobias Unruh from Volhynia settlements; Andreas Schrag of the Swiss Volhynia congregations; Heinrich Wiebe, Jacob Peters and Cornelius Buhr from the Bergthal Colony ; William Ewert from West Prussia; Cornelius Toews and David Klassen of

990-402: A democratic state, enjoying freedoms beyond those of ordinary Russian peasants. In addition to village schools, the Mennonite colonies established their own hospitals, a mental hospital and a school for the deaf. They cared for orphans and elderly and provided an insurance program. By being largely self-sufficient in these local matters, they were able to minimize their burden on and contact with

1100-428: A family. The confiscated land was given to peasants from outside the Mennonite communities, often communist party members. These new villagers soon controlled the local government, further confiscating land and rights from the Mennonite majority by labeling landowners and leaders kulaks and sending them into exile. The government taxed the remaining landowners so heavily that they could not possibly produce enough to meet

1210-756: A good and well-measured proxy for the economic growth of the Commonwealth. The owner of a folwark usually signed a contract with the merchants of Gdańsk, who controlled 80% of this inland trade, to ship the grain to Gdańsk. Many rivers in the Commonwealth were used for shipping, including the Vistula, which had a relatively well-developed infrastructure, with river ports and granaries . Most river shipping travelled north, with southward transport being less profitable, and barges and rafts often being sold off in Gdańsk for lumber. In order to arrest recurrent flooding on

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1320-811: A large tract of land divided into two "Reserves". The Mennonites settled mostly in Manitoba in areas east and west of the Red River , called East Reserve and West Reserve . Vistula The Vistula ( / ˈ v ɪ s tj ʊ l ə / ; Polish : Wisła [ˈviswa] ; German : Weichsel [ˈvaɪksl] ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length. Its drainage basin , extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers 193,960 km (74,890 sq mi), of which 168,868 km (65,200 sq mi)

1430-516: A march toward structural discord. The chaos that followed the collapse of the Russian Provisional Government was devastating to much of Ukraine, including the Mennonite colonies. The Red and White armies moved through the region, confiscating food and livestock. Nestor Makhno 's anarchist army generally targeted Mennonites because they were thought of as " Kulaks " and an entity generally more advanced and wealthy than

1540-572: A project was undertaken to increase the traffic-carrying capacity of the river upstream of Warsaw by building a number of locks in and around Kraków , this project was not extended further, so that navigability of the Vistula remains limited. The potential of the river would increase considerably if a restoration of the east–west connection via the Narew – Bug – Mukhovets – Pripyat – Dnieper waterways were considered. The shifting economic importance of parts of Europe may make this option more likely. Vistula

1650-491: A reputation for outstanding efficiency and quality and were noted across Russia for their agricultural and organizational abilities. The precedent of non-resistant national service had been established years before and the Mennonites therefore had a system to handle military service requests at the outbreak of war. During World War I , 5000 Mennonite men served in both forestry and hospital units and transported wounded from

1760-439: Is Pleschanowo. Pleschanowo and nearby Donskoj have grown significantly since 1967, and include many non-Germans. Other villages have also increased in population. Podolsk und Lugowsk have grown into a single town. Most villages now have more than the original central street. The economy of Neu Samara has been based on collective farming since collectivization of private property. After a few years with only one collective farm for

1870-613: Is anecdotal and based on family memoirs and letters from the Gulags. Peter Letkemann of University of Winnipeg characterizes the casualties and abuses of this period as "victims of terror and repression in the Soviet Union during the 40-year period from 1917–1956." This would overlap somewhat with the "Siberian Germans" deported to that region who have lost touch entirely with the Mennonite mainstream worldwide. Between 1987 and 1993 about 100,000 persons of Mennonite origin emigrated from

1980-760: Is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains ), where it begins with the White Little Vistula ( Biała Wisełka ) and the Black Little Vistula ( Czarna Wisełka ). It flows through Poland's largest cities, including Kraków , Sandomierz , Warsaw , Płock , Włocławek , Toruń , Bydgoszcz , Świecie , Grudziądz , Tczew and Gdańsk . It empties into

2090-726: Is the northern part of the proposed E40 waterway , continuing eastward into the Bug River , linking the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea . Large parts of the Vistula Basin were occupied by the Iron Age Lusatian and Przeworsk cultures in the first millennium BC. Genetic analysis indicates that there has been an unbroken genetic continuity of the inhabitants over the last 3,500 years. The Vistula Basin along with

2200-878: The Fernheim and Friesland Colonies. A group of Mennonites from western Siberia who subsequently settled along the Amur in unrealized hopes of better living conditions, escaped over the frozen river to Harbin , China. A few hundred were allowed entry into California and Washington. The majority remained as refugees until the Nansen International Office for Refugees of the League of Nations intervened and arranged resettlement in Paraguay and Brazil in 1932. Those that remained in their home villages were subject to exile to Siberia and other remote regions east of

2310-775: The Holodomor in Ukraine, there was active persecution of German-speaking people as a potential threat to the state, and a ban on organized religion. The hostilities of World War I had increased tensions with ethnic Ukrainians, and Mennonites with family members living abroad were targeted during the Great Purge . The Mennonites suffered persecution by the Stalinist regime, which advocated state atheism . As pacifists within an increasingly military regime under Stalin and then (after invasion of Ukraine and parts of Russia by Hitler )

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2420-761: The Kleine Gemeinde and Paul and Lorenz Tschetter representing the Hutterites . This group returned with positive reports of good land available in Manitoba , Minnesota , South Dakota , Nebraska and Kansas . The more conservative groups—those from Kleine Gemeinde , Bergthal and Chortitza—chose Canada, which promised privileges equal to those previously held in Russia and a large tract of land to reestablish colonies in Manitoba ( East Reserve and West Reserve ). The more liberal groups—those from Molotschna—and

2530-538: The Low German language spoken in the area, blending into it elements of their native tongues to create a distinct dialect known as Plautdietsch . Today Plautdietsch is the distinct Mennonite language that developed over a period of 300 years in the Vistula delta region and south Russia. The Mennonites of Dutch origin were joined by Mennonites from other parts of Europe, including the German-speaking parts of

2640-602: The North Sea somewhere at the latitude of contemporary Scotland. The climate of the Vistula valley, its plants, animals, and its very character changed considerably during the process of glacial retreat. Vistula is navigable from the Baltic Sea to Bydgoszcz (where the Bydgoszcz Canal joins the river). It can accommodate modest river vessels of CEMT class II. Farther upstream the river depth lessens. Although

2750-747: The Oder river in Germany. After the war in late 1946, the former Austrian SS member Amon Göth was sentenced to death and hung on 13 September at the Montelupich Prison in Kraków, not far from the site of the Płaszów camp , the camp of which he was commandant throughout The Holocaust . His remains were cremated and the ashes thrown in the Vistula River. Neu Samara Colony Neu Samara

2860-599: The Swiss Confederacy . In 1772, most of the Vistula delta was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the First Partition 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 remainder of the Vistula delta was annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. Catherine

2970-482: The Urals . From 1929 to 1940, one in eight men were removed, usually under the pretext of political accusations, to labor camps from which few ever returned or were heard from again. With the onset of economic and agricultural reforms, large estates and the communal land of the Mennonite colonies were confiscated. The next step was to reduce the model farms by 60% and then another 50% percent—an insufficient size to support

3080-635: The Vistula near Warsaw , Kazuń Nowy and Nowe Wymyśle , came under Russian control after Mazovia was annexed by Russia at the Congress of Vienna (1815). Some of these families emigrated to the Molotschna settlement after it was established. Deutsch-Michalin near Machnovka was founded in 1787. Many families from this settlement moved to nearby Volhynia in 1802. Swiss Mennonites of Amish descent from Galicia settled near Dubno , Volhynia province in 1815. Other Galician Mennonites lived near Lviv . When

3190-537: The Vistula Lagoon ( Zalew Wiślany ) or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta of six main branches ( Leniwka , Przekop , Śmiała Wisła , Martwa Wisła , Nogat and Szkarpawa ). The river has many associations with Polish culture , history and national identity. It is Poland's most important waterway and natural symbol , flowing notably through Kraków and the capital Warsaw , and

3300-426: The collectivization and dekulakization programs. Herds of cattle died mainly because of the lack of supplies and feed. In early 1931 land was tilled using cows as draft animals . The most difficult period came with World War II . Neu Samara was not purged to the extent of other German settlements, but almost the whole adult population was evicted to forced labor camps . The remaining villagers needed to replace

3410-491: The 16th century most of the grain exported was leaving Poland through Gdańsk, which because of its location at the end of the Vistula and its tributary waterway and of its Baltic seaport trade role became the wealthiest, most highly developed, and by far the largest centre of crafts and manufacturing, and the most autonomous of the Polish cities. Other towns were negatively affected by Gdańsk's near-monopoly in foreign trade. During

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3520-628: The 1880s, where they expected Christ's imminent return. They settled in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and in the Khanate of Khiva . For those who remained in Russia, the military service question was resolved by 1880 with a substitute four-year forestry service program for men of military age. During the period of the 'Great War', the Mennonites in Russia were well advanced socially and economically. Many large agricultural estates and business entities were controlled by Mennonite interests. They had

3630-718: The Alpine zone to which the Alps and the Carpathians belong. The Vistula begins in the Carpathian mountains. The run and character of the river were shaped by ice sheets flowing down from the Scandinavian peninsula. The last ice sheet entered the area of Poland about 20,000 years ago. During periods of warmer weather, the ancient Vistula, "Pra-Wisła", searched for the shortest way to the sea—thousands of years ago it flowed into

3740-531: The Baltic area as a centre of merchants and trade and as a port city. At this time the surrounding lands were inhabited by Pomeranians , but Gdańsk soon became a starting point for German settlement of the largely fallow Vistulan country. Before its peak in 1618, trade increased by a factor of 20 from 1491. This factor is evident when looking at the tonnage of grain traded on the river in the key years of: 1491: 14,000; 1537: 23,000; 1563: 150,000; 1618: 310,000. In

3850-482: The Chortitza and Molotschna settlements which, with population increase, numbered about 45,000. Forty daughter colonies were established by 1914, occupying nearly 12,000 square kilometres (4,600 sq mi), with a total population of 100,000. The colonists formed villages of fifteen to thirty families, each with 70 ha (175 acres) of land. The settlements retained some communal land and a common granary for use by

3960-430: The Chortitza villages formed one district; Molotschna was divided into two districts: Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld. A district superintendent headed a regional bureau that could administer corporal punishment and handle other matters affecting the villages in common. 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

4070-500: The German ). According to the most popular variant, popularized by the 15th-century historian Jan Długosz , Wanda, daughter of King Krak , became queen of the Poles upon her father's death. She refused to marry a German prince Rytigier (Rüdiger), who took offence and invaded Poland, but was repelled. Wanda however committed suicide , drowning in the Vistula River, to ensure he would not invade her country again. For hundreds of years

4180-565: The Great of Russia issued a manifesto in 1763 inviting all Europeans to come and settle various pieces of land within New Russia (today Southern Ukraine ) and especially in the Volga region . Mennonites from the Vistula delta region sent delegates to negotiate an extension of this manifesto and, in 1789, Crown Prince Paul signed a new agreement with them. The Mennonite migration to Russia from

4290-542: The Hutterites chose the United States. Entire communities such as Alexanderwohl and Bergtal prepared to move as a unit as well as many individual families from among the other Mennonite villages. They sold their property, often at reduced prices and worked through the red tape and high fees of procuring passports. Realizing that 40,000 of Russia's most industrious farmers were preparing to leave for North America,

4400-424: The Mennonite people and their institutions. Property and possessions began to be confiscated for the war effort and certain industrial complexes turned to military production (some voluntarily). Much of the Mennonite hope at that time was based on the preservation of the existing Russian Provisional Government . However, as the war progressed, the social tide turned against the existing power structure and Russia began

4510-1050: The Molotschna colony started a secondary school at Ohrloff, bringing a trained teacher from Prussia. The Central School was started in Chortitza in 1842. Over three thousand pupils attended the Central School with up to 8% of the colonists receiving a secondary education. A school of commerce was started in Halbstadt employing a faculty with full graduate education. Those who wanted to pursue post-secondary education attended universities in Switzerland, Germany as well as Russia. Typically each village or group of villages organized an independent congregation . Cultural and traditional differences between Frisian and Flemish Mennonites were also reflected in those of their churches. They all agreed on fundamental Mennonite beliefs such as believer's baptism , nonresistance and avoidance of oaths . Pastors of Flemish congregations read sermons from

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4620-584: The Nazis, and as "Volga Germans" whose abuse Hitler had used as a pretext to invade, Mennonites were subject to special pressure to join military units. Mennonites played a central role in managing the labor force at Stutthof concentration camp , and some, recruited into SS units, served as guards at concentration camps or carried out shootings of prisoners. Other Mennonites were conscripted by force into German units as support and shock troops and some participated in anti-partisan operations. Most history of this period

4730-712: The Prussian government eliminated exemption from military service on religious grounds, most of the remaining Mennonites were eager to emigrate to Russia. They were offered land along the Volga River in Samara Governorate and exemption from military service for twenty years, after which they could pay a special exemption tax. Two settlements, Trakt and Alt-Samara (to distinguish it from Neu Samara Colony ), were founded in 1853 and 1861 respectively. By 1870 about 9000 individuals had immigrated to Russia, mostly to

4840-786: The Prussian-annexed Vistula delta was led by Jacob Hoeppner and Johann Bartsch. Their settlement territory was northwest of the Sea of Azov , and had just been acquired from the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–1774 . Many of the Mennonites in Prussia accepted this invitation, establishing Chortitza on the Dnieper River as their first colony in 1789. A second larger colony, Molotschna ,

4950-577: The River Vistula and its valley spans over 2 million years. The river is connected to the geological period called the Quaternary , in which distinct cooling of the climate took place. In the last million years, an ice sheet entered the area of Poland eight times, bringing along with it changes of reaches of the river. In warmer periods, when the ice sheet retreated, the Vistula deepened and widened its valley. The river took its present shape within

5060-448: The Russian government sent Eduard Totleben to the colonies in May 1874. Meeting with community leaders, he exaggerated the difficulties that would be encountered in North America and offered an alternative national service that would not be connected in any way to the military. His intervention convinced the more liberal Mennonites to stay. Between 1874 and 1880, of the approximately 45,000 Mennonites in South Russia, 10,000 departed for

5170-446: The Russian government. Mennonites stayed out of Russian politics and social movements that preceded the Russian revolution. After the Russian Revolution of 1905 they did exercise their right to vote. Most aligned themselves with the Octobrist Party because of its guarantee of religious freedoms and freedom of the press for minority groups. Hermann Bergmann was an Octobrist member of the Third and Fourth State Dumas ; Peter Schröder,

5280-418: The Soviet authorities and issued new standards and expectations. Education was to be controlled according to these new directives by the State, and families were eventually to be separated, with children sent to various live-in schools, while parents were to be assigned according to State needs. These directives were described by a Volga German teacher, Henry Wieler, who attended these State meetings and related

5390-603: The Soviet authorities. The impacts of the trauma experienced during World War I and the Russian Revolution had lasting impacts on Russian Mennonites. Even though Mennonites who emigrated to North America experienced drastically less violence and the privilege of land ownership, many still showed very high levels of psychological distress. First through third generation Mennonites in North America were found to have high levels of depression, hysteria, psychasthenia, post traumatic stress disorder, ego strength, anxiety, repression, and over-controlled hostility. Mennonites of Molotschna sent

5500-399: The Soviet government to do relief work among the villages of Ukraine (see Russian famine of 1921 ). Kitchens provided 25,000 people a day with rations over a period of three years beginning in 1922, with a peak of 40,000 servings during August of that year. Fifty Fordson tractor and plow combinations were sent to Mennonite villages to replace horses that had been stolen and confiscated during

5610-439: The Soviet government, Moscow would not deal with them directly. Emigrants bound for Canada were processed through Riga . Those who could not pass the medical exam—usually because of trachoma —were allowed to stay in Germany and Southampton in England until they were healthy. By 1930, 21,000 Mennonites had arrived in Canada, most on credit provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway . Another group went to Paraguay where they founded

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5720-489: The US where the majority over a period of several decades assimilated more or less into the mainstream society. Russian Mennonites settled much of South Central Kansas , which owes its reputation as a wheat-producing state in large measure to its early Mennonite settlers. Winter wheat was introduced to Kansas in 1873. The following year the Mennonites, who had experience with dry land farming in Russia, quickly took advantage of its characteristics, resulting in rapid expansion of

5830-426: The USSR to Germany. Today in Ukraine there are three Mennonite communities in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Kherson Oblast and a Mennonite community in Ternopol Oblast . After 1870 about 18,000 Russian Mennonites, fearing conscription into military service and state influence on their education systems, emigrated to the Plains States of the US and the Western Provinces of Canada. The more liberal went in general to

5940-435: The United States and 8,000 for Manitoba. The settlement of Mennonites, primarily in the central United States, where available cropland had similarity to that in the Crimean Peninsula, coincided with the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. Others looked east, and in one of the strangest chapters of Mennonite history, Claas Epp, Jr. , Abraham Peters and other leaders led hundreds of Mennonites to Central Asia in

6050-401: The Vistula Lagoon, now for flood control closed to the east with a lock) and a west-flowing branch (the Danzig (Gdańsk) Vistula, Przegalinie branch, reached the sea in Danzig). Until the 14th century, the Elbing Vistula was the bigger. List of right and left tributaries with a nearby city, from source to mouth: According to flood studies carried out by Zbigniew Pruszak, who is the co-author of

6160-437: The Vistula and the Neman . It provided a link with the Black Sea to the south through the Oginski Canal , Dnieper River , Berezina Canal, and Dvina River . The Baltic Sea– Vistula– Dnieper– Black Sea route with its rivers was one of the most ancient trade routes, the Amber Road , on which amber and other items were traded from Northern Europe to Greece, Asia, Egypt , and elsewhere. The Vistula estuary

6270-404: The Vistula below this point is sometimes called the Leniwka . Various causes (rain, snow melt, ice jams ) have caused many severe floods of the Vistula over the centuries. Land in the area was sometimes depopulated by severe flooding, and later had to be resettled. See (Figure 7, on page 812 at History of floods on the River Vistula ) for a reconstruction map of the delta area as it was around

6380-416: The absent workers, leaving much of the work to 13- and 14-year-old children. Many never returned from the labor camps after the war. In spite of the economic difficulties the situation of the residents gradually improved. On 1 January 1967 Neu-Samara became part of the newly formed Krasnogwardejskij District (previously Neu-Samara belonged to the Sorotschinsker District). The district's administrative center

6490-484: The anarchist army warring throughout the colonies. Based on the tragedy unfolding around them, some of the avowed pacifist Mennonites turned to self-defense and established militia units ( Selbstschutz ) to ward off raiding forces with the help of the German Army. This was regarded as a failure of spiritual commitment by many within the community (currently and at the time). The forces initially achieved some military success in defending Mennonite colonies and families while

6600-417: The battlefield to Moscow and Ekaterinoslav hospitals. The Mennonite congregations were responsible for funding these forms of alternative service, as well as supporting the men's families during their absence, a burden of 3.5 million rubles annually. During this time there was a progressive breakdown in the autonomy of the Mennonite colonies and social and financial pressure began to take their effect on

6710-436: The border of his lands. In 1308 the Teutonic Knights captured the Gdańsk castle and murdered the population. Since then the event is known as the Gdańsk slaughter . The Order had inherited Gniew from Sambor II , thus gaining a foothold on the left bank of the Vistula. Many granaries and storehouses, built in the 14th century, line the banks of the Vistula. In the 15th century the city of Gdańsk gained great importance in

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6820-495: The communities tried to escape and/or relocate. Ultimately the self-defence militia was overwhelmed once Makhno's anarchists aligned themselves with the Red Army early in 1919. While the resistance certainly helped defend Mennonite communities against initial attacks, it may also have served to inflame some of the atrocities that followed. After this period, many Mennonites were dispossessed and ultimately their remaining properties and possessions were nationalized ( collectivization ) by

6930-422: The community. Church discipline was exercised in the form of excommunication against those who had committed sins and refused to repent and ask for forgiveness. The most conservative congregations practiced " avoidance ", which entailed cutting all business and most social ties with an unrepentant member, but members still had the obligation to help the shunned person if he was in grave need. Because being part of

7040-434: The confluences with the Narew river and the Bug river; and bottom, from the confluence with Narew to the sea. The Vistula river basin covers 194,424 square kilometres (75,068 square miles) (in Poland 168,700 square kilometres (65,135 square miles)); its average altitude is 270 metres (886 feet) above sea level . In addition, the majority of its river basin (55%) is 100 to 200 m above sea level; over 3 ⁄ 4 of

7150-410: The course of their offensive and were waiting on the other side of the Vistula River in full force, would help in the battle for Warsaw. However, the Soviets let down the Poles, stopping their advance at the Vistula and branding the insurgents as criminals in radio broadcasts. In early 1945, in the Vistula–Oder Offensive , the Red Army crossed the Vistula and drove the German Wehrmacht back past

7260-443: The czar with their petition. A similar attempt the next year was also unsuccessful, but were assured by the Tsar's brother Grand Duke Konstantin that the new law would provide a way to address the concerns of the Mennonites in the form of noncombatant military service. The most conscientious Mennonites could not accept any form of service that supported making war, prompting their community leaders to seek immigration options. In 1873

7370-413: The decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War Battle of Warsaw (sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula ), was fought as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and nearby Modlin Fortress by the river's mouth. The Polish September campaign included battles over control of the mouth of the Vistula, and of the city of Gdańsk, close to

7480-548: The eight largest Mennonite-owned factories produced 6% of the total Russian output (over 3 million rubles), shipped machinery to all parts of the empire and employed 1744 workers. The annual output of Lepp and Wallman of Schönwiese was 50,000 mowers, 3000 threshing machines , thousands of gangplows in addition to other farm equipment. Flour and feed mills were originally wind-powered, a skill transplanted from Prussia. These were eventually replaced with motor- and steam-driven mills. Milling and its supporting industries grew to dominate

7590-443: The eighth century, some of which coalesced later into larger ones. Among the tribes listed in the Bavarian Geographer 's ninth-century document was the Vistulans ( Wiślanie ) in southern Poland. Kraków and Wiślica were their main centres. Many Polish legends are connected with the Vistula river and the beginnings of Polish statehood . One of the most enduring is that about Princess Wanda co nie chciała Niemca ( who rejected

7700-448: The events in his detailed Journal, Tagabook, which today is partially translated but available in the published book, The Quiet in the Land, by Henry Wieler. In 1937 and 1938 the NKVD carried out ethnically motivated purges of German descendants and German language speakers, including Mennonites. As Stalin fomented cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church in World War II, Mennonites and Protestants were seen as more dangerous. During

7810-448: The industrial economy of the colonies and nearby communities. Mennonite colonies were self-governing with little intervention from the Russian authorities. The village, the basic unit of government, was headed by an elected magistrate who oversaw village affairs. Each village controlled its own school and roads, and cared for the poor. Male landowners decided local matters at village assemblies. Villages were grouped into districts. All of

7920-425: The initial settlement. Later three additional villages were formed: Annenskoje, Wladimirowka und Ischalka. In the 1950s Annenskoje, Kamenetz und Wladimirowka were dissolved. In spite of the initial economic difficulties, the colony was prospering by the beginning of World War I . By 1917 there were 14 villages and nine estates with a total of 32,600 ha (80,600 acres) and a population of 3,670. A Mennonite congregation

8030-597: The lands of the Rhine , Danube , Elbe , and Oder came to be called Magna Germania by Roman authors of the first century AD. This does not imply that the inhabitants were " Germanic peoples " in the modern sense of the term; Tacitus , when describing the Venethi , Peucini and Fenni , wrote that he was not sure if he should call them Germans, since they had settlements and they fought on foot, or rather Sarmatians since they have some similar customs to them. Ptolemy , in

8140-516: The last 14,000 years, after the complete recession of the Scandinavian ice sheet from the area. At present, along with the Vistula valley, erosion of the banks and collecting of new deposits are still occurring. As the principal river of Poland, the Vistula is also in the centre of Europe. Three principal geographical and geological land masses of the continent meet in its river basin: the Eastern European Plain , Western Europe, and

8250-525: The lower Vistula, the Prussian government in 1889–95 constructed an artificial channel about 12 kilometres (7 miles) east of Gdańsk (German name: Danzig )—known as the Vistula Cut (German: Weichseldurchstich ; Polish: Przekop Wisły )—that acted as a huge sluice, diverting much of the Vistula flow directly into the Baltic . As a result, the historic Vistula channel through Gdańsk lost much of its flow and

8360-610: The milling industry in the state. It is planted in the fall and harvested in June and July of the following summer, and is therefore ideally suited to cold winters and the hot, dry Kansas summers. Kansas remains a top producer of wheat in America to this day. The more conservative Old Colony , Bergthal Mennonites and Kleine Gemeinde went to Canada which promised privileges equal to those previously held in Russia (no conscription into military service and German language private schools) and

8470-467: The mouth, where the river Nogat splits off. The Nogat also starts separately as a river named (on this map ) Alte Nogat (Old Nogat) south of Kwidzyn , but further north it picks up water from a crosslink with the Vistula, and becomes a distributary of the Vistula, flowing away northeast into the Vistula Lagoon (Polish: Zalew Wiślany) with a small delta. The Nogat formed part of the border between East Prussia and interwar Poland. The other channel of

8580-603: The name Istula . Ammianus Marcellinus referred to the Bisula (Book   22) in the 380s. In the sixth century Jordanes ( Getica   5 & 17) used Viscla . The Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith refers to the Wistla . The 12th-century Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek Latinised the river's name as Vandalus , a form presumably influenced by Lithuanian vanduõ 'water'. Jan Długosz (1415–1480) in his Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae contextually points to

8690-493: The next. Since agriculture was the main economic activity, an expanding class of discontented, landless poor arose. Their problems tended to be ignored by the village assembly, which consisted of voting landowners. 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

8800-511: The obligation and their land was confiscated as payment. As collectivization proceeded, there was some hope that Mennonites could run their own collective farms , but with the introduction of Stalin's first five-year plan there was no hope that such a scheme would be allowed. Starting in 1918 religious freedoms were restricted. Churches and congregations had to be registered with the government. Ministers were disenfranchised and lost their rights as citizens. Ministers could not be teachers, which

8910-629: The ongoing Russian Civil War . They arrived in the Mennonite village of Halbstadt in the Molotschna settlement just as General Wrangel of the White Army was retreating. Two of the volunteers withdrew with the Wrangel army, while Clayton Kratz , who remained in Halbstadt as it was overrun by the Red Army, was never heard from again. A year passed before official permission was received from

9020-625: The phrase "Country upon Vistula" ( Polish : kraj nad Wisłą ) can be synonymous with Poland. Historically, the river was also important for the Baltic and German ( Prussian ) peoples. The Vistula has given its name to the last glacial period that occurred in northern Europe, approximately between 100,000 and 10,000 BC, the Weichselian glaciation . The name Vistula first appears in the written record of Pomponius Mela (3.33) in AD   40. Pliny in AD   77 in his Natural History names

9130-441: The poor in lean years. Income from communal property provided funding for large projects, such as forming daughter colonies for the growing population. Insurance was also organized separately and outside of the control of the Russian government. 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

9240-444: The proper dry-land 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. Expanding population and the associated pressure for more farmland became a problem by 1860. The terms of the settlement agreement prevented farms from being divided; they were required to pass intact from one generation to

9350-534: The reign of Stephen Báthory Poland ruled two main Baltic Sea ports: Gdańsk controlling the Vistula river trade and Riga controlling the Western Dvina trade. Both cities were among the largest in the country. Around 70% the exports from Gdańsk were of grain. Grain was also the largest export commodity of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The volume of traded grain can be considered

9460-491: The river Vistla (4.81, 4.97, 4.100). The root of the name Vistula is often thought to come from Proto-Indo-European * weys- : 'to ooze, flow slowly' (cf. Sanskrit अवेषन् avēṣan "they flowed", Old Norse veisa "slime"), and similar elements appear in many European river-names (e.g. Svislach (Berezina) , Svislach (Neman) , Weser , Viešinta ). In writing about the river and its peoples, Ptolemy uses Greek spelling: Ouistoula . Other ancient sources spell

9570-601: The river basin (right-hand to left-hand side) is 73–27%. The most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch , which ended around 10,000 BC, is called the Vistulian glaciation or Weichselian glaciation in regard to north-central Europe. The river forms a wide delta called Żuławy Wiślane , or the "Vistula Fens" in English. The delta currently starts around Biała Góra near Sztum , about 50 km (31 mi) from

9680-606: The river basin ranges from 100 to 300 metres (328 to 984 feet) in altitude. The highest point of the river basin is at 2,655 metres (8,711 feet) (Gerlach Peak in the Tatra mountains ). One of the features of the river basin of the Vistula is its asymmetry—in great measure resulting from the tilting direction of the Central European Lowland toward the northwest, the direction of the flow of glacial waters, and considerable predisposition of its older base. The asymmetry of

9790-589: The river delta. During the Invasion of Poland (1939) , after the initial battles in Pomerelia , the remains of the Polish Army of Pomerania withdrew to the southern bank of the Vistula. After defending Toruń for several days, the army withdrew further south under pressure of the overall strained strategic situation, and took part in the main battle of Bzura . The Auschwitz complex of concentration camps

9900-493: The river was one of the main trading arteries of Poland, and the castles that line its banks were highly prized possessions. Salt , timber , grain , and building stone were among goods shipped via that route between the 10th and 13th centuries. In the 14th century the lower Vistula was controlled by the Teutonic Knights Order, invited in 1226 by Konrad I of Masovia to help him fight the pagan Prussians on

10010-594: The river, stating "of the eastern nations, of the Polish east, from the brightness of the water the White Water...so named" ( Alba aqua ), perhaps referring to the White Little Vistula ( Biała Wisełka ). In the course of history the river has borne similar names in different languages: German: Weichsel ; Low German : Wießel ; Dutch : Wijsel [ˈʋɛisəl] ; Yiddish : ווייסל Yiddish pronunciation: [ˈvajsl̩] ; and Russian : Висла , romanized :  Visla . Vistula rises in

10120-540: The scientific paper Implications of SLR and further studies carried out by scientists attending Poland's Final International ASTRA Conference, and predictions stated by climate scientists at the climate change pre-summit in Copenhagen , it is highly likely most of the Vistula Delta region (which is below sea level ) will be flooded due to the sea level rise caused by climate change by 2100. The history of

10230-527: The second century AD, would describe the Vistula as the border between Germania and Sarmatia . Vistula River used to be connected to the Dnieper River , and thence to the Black Sea via the Augustów Canal , a technological marvel with numerous sluices contributing to its aesthetic appeal. It was the first waterway in Central Europe to provide a direct link between the two major rivers,

10340-519: The southern Silesian Voivodeship close to the tripoint involving the Czech Republic and Slovakia from two sources: Czarna ("Black") Wisełka at altitude 1,107 m (3,632 ft) and Biała ("White") Wisełka at altitude 1,080 m (3,540 ft). Both are on the western slope of Barania Góra in the Silesian Beskids in Poland. Vistula can be divided into three parts: upper, from its sources to Sandomierz ; central, from Sandomierz to

10450-658: The surplus at the market. This extra income allowed them to purchase automobiles and motorbikes. Religious persecution eased for a short time after World War II. Baptisms and church service could be performed during that time. Another atheism campaign started at the end of the 1950s. A gradual loosening of this policy didn't occur until the 1970s. Congregations were formed again during this time, most of which registered as Baptist churches. The leadership at this time included elder Daniel Janzen of Donskoj. The second greatest wave of immigration has happened since 1998. In 1990 there were 7,434 residents of German background in Neu Samara. By

10560-597: The surrounding Ukrainian peasants. The Mennonites' Germanic background also served to inflame negative sentiment during the period of revolution. It is also rumored that Makhno himself had served on a Mennonite estate in childhood and harbored negative feelings based on treatment he received while employed there. Hundreds of Mennonites were murdered, robbed, imprisoned and raped during this period, and villages including (and around) Chortitza, Zagradovka and Nikolaipol were damaged and destroyed. Many more people died from typhus , cholera and sexually transmitted diseases , spread by

10670-612: The territory of interbellum Poland was drained northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula (total area of drainage basin of the Vistula within boundaries of the Second Polish Republic was 180,300 km (69,600 sq mi), the Niemen (51,600 km  [19,900 sq mi]), the Oder (46,700 km  [18,000 sq mi]) and the Daugava (10,400 km  [4,000 sq mi]). In 1920

10780-489: 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 . As wheat farming expanded, the demand for mills and farm equipment grew. The first large foundry was established in Chortitza in 1860 and other firms followed. By 1911

10890-543: The war. The cost of this relief effort was $ 1.2 million. As conditions improved, Mennonites turned their attention from survival to emigration. Though the New Economic Policy appeared to be less radical than previous Soviet reforms, thousands of Mennonites saw no future under the communists. After years of negotiation with foreign governments and Moscow, arrangements were made for emigration to Canada, Paraguay and Argentina. Because Canada had not recognized

11000-653: The whole settlement, each village formed its own collective. In the 1950s there was another expansion of collective farms. In the end, all of the German villages except Ischalka divided into one of three collectives: "Komsomolez" centered in Bogomasowo, "Karl Marx" centered in Podolsk and "Saweti Lenina" centered in Pleschanowo. A great part of the income came from the villagers' own ¼ and later ½ ha (0.6, later 1.2 acre) parcels, which they could manage themselves and sell

11110-636: The year 1300: note much more water in the area, and the west end of the Vistula Lagoon (Frisches Haff) was bigger and nearly continuous with the Drausen See . As with some aggrading rivers, the lower Vistula has been subject to channel changing. Near the sea, the Vistula was diverted sideways by coastal sand as a result of longshore drift and split into an east-flowing branch (the Elbing (Elbląg) Vistula, Elbinger Weichsel, Szkarpawa, flows into

11220-435: Was Canadian Cornelius F. Klassen who grew up in Neu Samara. The easing political and economic conditions of the 1920s permitted a wave of around 700 people to immigrate to Canada and Paraguay . The basis for the immigration lay in increasing religious repression and economic stagnation. Religious persecution increased considerably in 1931-32 when all churches were closed. The Germans of Neu Samara endured more suffering through

11330-614: Was a colony of Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites in the Orenburg region of Russia . Neu Samara was founded by Mennonite settlers of Plautdietsch language, culture and ancestry in 1891-92 who came from the Molotschna mother colony on the Sea of Azov in Russian Empire . Initially twelve villages were founded: Kamenetz, Pleschanowo, Krassikowo, Kaltan, Lugowsk, Podolsk, Donskoj, Dolinsk, Jugowka, Klinok, Kuterlja, Bogomasowo. About 500 families totaling 2,600 individuals made up

11440-596: Was at the confluence of the Vistula and the Soła rivers. Ashes of murdered Auschwitz victims were dumped into the river. During World War II prisoners of war from the Nazi Stalag XX-B camp were assigned to cut ice blocks from the River Vistula. The ice would then be transported by truck to the local beer houses. The 1944 Warsaw Uprising was planned with the expectation that the Soviet forces, who had arrived in

11550-469: Was formed in 1891 at Pleschanowo, which had 1,034 baptized members in 1905, along with another 2,689 unbaptized attendees. Elder Daniel Boschmann led the congregation. The Mennonite Brethren congregation in Lugowsk built a very beautiful church building in 1901 that is now used as government administrative offices. Abraham Martens was elder of this congregation. An Alliance Church In Donskoj later became

11660-493: Was founded in 1804. Mennonites lived alongside Nogais —semi- nomadic pastoralists—in the Molotschna region of southern Ukraine starting from 1803, when Mennonites first arrived, until 1860, when the Nogai Tatars departed. Mennonites provided agricultural jobs to Nogais and rented pasture from them. Nogai raids on Mennonite herds were a constant problem in the first two decades of settlement. Two Mennonite settlements on

11770-679: Was known thereafter as the Dead Vistula (German: Tote Weichsel ; Polish: Martwa Wisła ). German states acquired complete control of the region in 1795–1812 (see: Partitions of Poland ), as well as during the World Wars, in 1914–1918 and 1939–1945. From 1867 to 1917, after the collapse of the January Uprising (1863–1865), the Russian tsarist administration called the Kingdom of Poland the Vistula Land . Almost 75% of

11880-600: Was prohibited. Sunday was abolished as a holiday. During World War I the Russians had permitted Mennonites to serve in non-combat capacities in the military. This practice was not continued. Following the Russian withdrawal from World War I, the Russian Civil War ensued, with an ultimate Red victory. The Russian Mennonites, many of whom were also known as being part of the one million or so Volga Germans living in their own established communities, were approached by

11990-457: Was settled by Slavs in the seventh and eighth century. Based on archeological and linguistic findings, it has been postulated that these settlers moved northward along the Vistula River. This however contradicts another hypothesis supported by some researchers saying the Veleti moved westward from the Vistula delta. A number of West Slavic Polish tribes formed small dominions beginning in

12100-443: Was the livelihood of many Mennonite pastors. They and their family members could not join cooperatives or craft guilds. Because of these restrictions, ministers had a strong incentive to emigrate, and few were willing to replace them. Congregations could no longer do charitable work of any kind, which destroyed the well developed social institutions with the Mennonite colonies. Villages lost control of their schools; all religious content

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