Johann Buller

Not patient enough for a larger book to finish downloading to my iPad several nights ago, I began reading one already loaded: Heinrich Woelk and Gerhard Woelk’s A Wilderness Journey: Glimpses of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia, 1925–1980. There one reads of how Russian Mennonites attempted to cope with and even escape the Soviet persecution of the early Stalinist period.

Another kind of way-station for harassed preachers and other believers were some Russian settlements—smaller and larger towns—where a few German families could live undetected for a period of time. They looked for protection in dispersal. One such place of refuge was the town Krasnogovka [sic: Krasnogorovka] in the Donetz Basin. Several families had come there in the years 1931–33, among them the old missionary to Sumatra, Gerhard Nickel of Gnadenfeld, with his family. (Woelk and Woelk 1982, 16–17)

Map by RGloucester.

The Donetz (Donets) Basin is more commonly known as the Donbass, the area highlighted in brown in the map to the right. The town Krasnogovka mentioned in the passage is a mistake for Krasnogorovka (modern Krasnohorivka). The red dot under the Do of Donbass marks the location of that town.

If all that is correct, then we can see that the town in question was 85–90 miles northeast of Molotschna colony, which is marked by a red dot under the word Zaporizhia.

Now that we know the geography behind this account, we are ready to read on. The Woelks list other Mennonites who moved to the town Krasnogorovka in order to avoid the Soviet persecution.

Also the minister Heinrich Harder, leader of the M.B. church in Halbstadt, who had worked for many years on the estate “Steinbach” and later as teacher at Sparrau, with his family. Another was the deacon Abram Dyck from Lichtfelde, Molotschna, with his family. And minister Gerhard Fleming of Rudnerweide, who had been teacher in Nickolaidorf for almost 20 years, then manager and preacher for some six years in the forestry camp Sherebkovo, and finally farmer in Rudnerweide, where he had led the small M.B. church—an affiliate of Alexandertal. While there, he lived with his children, the Heinrich Woelks. Others were the minister Johann Weier of Barvenkova and his family, the families of Johann Buller of Waldheim, Jakob Janzen of Lichtfelde, Jakob Dick of Steinfeld and others. (Woelk and Woelk 1982, 17)

Did you catch that? One of the families that moved to Krasnogorovka was the Johann Bullers of Waldheim. This will require further exploration, but reading of a Buller family from Waldheim, where our ancestor David lived for so many years, leads one to wonder whether Johann and family were part of our own immediate group of Bullers.

The account does not end here, as the Woelks continue:

The old missionary G. Nickel was soon called to his eternal rest. The other families lived in contact with each other and met on Sundays, as long as Sunday was still legally considered to be a day of rest. Soon this was changed and those days were considered days of rest which could be divided by the number six (thus: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30). …

So the believers here found time to meet together, for they were eager for spiritual food. Six or seven families met on the free days. Usually it was Heinrich Harder who read from the Bible and said something about it, leading to a discussion of a religious theme. This was followed by singing together (but not too loudly, so as not to be heard outside) and by prayer so that they left strengthened by the experience. This went on for a few years. They became accustomed to the loneliness and were satisfied not to be persecuted and to be able to make ends meet. But in 1936 this too came to an end. First, on April 24 Jakob Dick was taken at night from his large and poor family and put in prison. On April 30, again a day of rest, two young brothers Janzen (20 and 21 years of age) and the minister Heinrich Harder were arrested. The third arrest, on May 18 (again a rest day), took Heinrich Woelk and Johann Buller. All were accused of anti-revolutionary propaganda according to Article 54, 10 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. Soon after, Article 11 was also applied to them because they were considered as a group. It was clear that it was a matter of their religious meetings and conversations, but the investigating judges asserted that the religious meetings were only an excuse in order to advance the cause of Hitler, who had in the meantime come to power in Germany. …

After almost three months in prison three brethren were released. They were Heinrich Harder, Jakob Dick and Heinrich Woelk. … But the other three were judged and sentenced (though guiltless). The brothers Janzen never returned. Jakob Dick endured five years of imprisonment, then returned to his family in 1941. But when the war began, he was taken again and never returned. (Woelk and Woelk 1982, 17–18)

Frustratingly, the account does not contain a key piece of information of importance to us: What happened to Johann Buller? As the table below makes clear, two reports are given for Jakob Dick but none for Johann Buller.

Jakob Dick	released after three months or released after five years, then rearrested
Janzen 1	never returned
Janzen 2	never returned
Heinrich Harder	released after three months
Heinrich Woelk	released after three months
Johann Buller	???

Presumably one of the two reports for Jakob Dick applies to Johann Buller, so one can reasonably conclude that Johann Buller was released at some point. Given the level of detail for the second Jakob Dick report (return in 1941, followed by rearrest after the war), it seems most likely that the other report applies to Johann Buller: he was released three months after his arrest.

A subsequent post will explore whether Johann Buller was a somewhat close or much more distant relative of ours. Whatever the answer to that question may be, it is interesting to discover that, while one group of Bullers was hard at work on their Depression-era farms, another family of Bullers was focused on a much more basic task: securing the freedom to live and worship consistent with their faith.

Source Cited

Woelk, Heinrich, and Gerhard Woelk. 1982. A Wilderness Journey: Glimpses of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia, 1925–1980. Translated by Victor Doerksen. Perspectives on Mennonite Life and Thought 4. Fresno, CA: Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary.