Alexanderwohl 3

Thus far in this series we have placed Alexanderwohol within its regional context (ca. 8 miles west of Waldheim and 7 miles north of Alexanderkrone) and identified the still-standing village school in recent satellite photos. This post moves on to the Alexanderwohl church building.

The satellite photographs displayed earlier leave little doubt that some structure still stands at the site of the church. Whether or not that is the original church remains to be seen. In fact, a great deal about the church remains to be seen, since there is some disagreement about both its beginning and its end.

1. The Date of Construction

The construction of the church building is frequently dated to 1865 (so Mennonitische Rundschau, 17 June 1981, cited in Duerksen and Duerksen 1987, 13; Krahn and Penner 2011). However, Duerksen and Duerksen also include Elder Peter Wedel’s report that 30 October 1860 was the date on which “our new church building was dedicated” (1987, 12). Is the printing of 1860 an error? Unfortunately, the source of Wedel’s report is not provided, so we cannot follow up to confirm or correct the date.

The 1860 date is also supported by the Alexanderwohl entry in Hege 1913, which reads: “Since 1860, the congregation has had a church in the village Alexanderwohl…; before then, worship services were held in the schoolhouse” (1:24–25; the German is: “Seit 1860 besitzt die Gemeinde eine Kirche im Dorf Alexanderwohl…, bis dahin wurden die Gottesdienste im Schulhause abgehalten”).

Without further evidence, preferably of the primary type, it is impossible to know when the church was constructed. The exact date is not crucial, more a matter of curiosity than of vital concern. If nothing else, this is another reminder of how many details of the Molotschna Mennonite experience remain unknown.

2. The Building

The original church building was an impressive structure. According to the Mennonitische Rundschau article, “The walls were of red kiln fired bricks. The church was forty feet wide and sixty feet long. A large gallery in the shape of a ‘U’ considerably increased the seating capacity” (in Duerksen and Duerksen 1987, 13).

Rudy P. Friesen (who also dates the construction to 1865) offers further details:

It was a large two storey structure generally based on the traditional Mennonite church design. Located parallel to the street, the building’s thick exterior masonry walls had plaster applied to them. The pulpit/platform was located along the long side facing the street. The small shuttered windows were the same size throughout whereas most of the early Mennonite churches had a series of tall windows behind the pulpit/platform. This created the appearance of a large two storey house. The hip gable roof, covered with clay tiles, was similar to that specified by Johann Cornies for village schools during the time of educational reform. It was used in several instances for church buildings.

The main entrance was located at the rear of the building facing the church yard. There were also small side entrances. Two large gateposts at the street emphasized the entrance to the church yard and a masonry fence separated it from the street. (1996, 208)

Given the size of the structure and the quality of its construction, it is no surprise that the residents of Alexanderwohl did not build it sooner. A project of this magnitude requires time and especially funding to complete, and there was no excess of the latter in Alexanderwohl’s early years, as its settlers worked to scratch out a living from the steppe land.

3. The Fate of the Building

Just as the beginning of the building is a matter of disagreement, so is its end. The Mennonitische Rundschau article cited above states simply: “The church was torn down before World War II” (Duerksen and Duerksen 1987, 13). The caption to a 1977 photograph in the Mennonite Archival Image Database (MAID) appears to concur: “This photo is of a flat roof building with a parking lot in front. This location is the site of the former Mennonite Church in Alexanderwohl, Molotschna colony” (for the photo, see here). 

Rudy Friesen, however, claims that the church still stands. The 1990s photograph he provides (right) differs greatly from the 1977 one, although one can see some resemblances between the two buildings. Friesen writes:

The building still exists today although it is virtually unrecognizable since it has been substantially altered. Only the lower half of the existing walls remain, but the recessed side entrance [pictured to the right?] and the window proportions are still recognizable. A new lower roof structure covered with clay tiles has totally changed the appearance of the building. It is now used as a storage building for the local collective farm. (Friesen 1996, 208)

How do we put all these disparate facts together? It may be that the church was not completely torn down before World War II, although it was probably significantly and substantially changed. The second story was apparently removed and a flat roof put in its place. This would explain the appearance of the building in the 1970s. Several decades later a new pitched roof was placed on top of the first, or original, floor; this is the structure that Friesen saw.

What the church looks like today (assuming Friesen is correct that the building still stands) is anyone’s guess. It is not the only, or the last, unanswered question about Alexanderwohl. We will take up yet another in the following post.

Works Cited

Friesen, Rudy P., with Sergey Shmakin. 1996. Into the Past: Buildings of the Mennonite Commonwealth. Winnepeg: Raduga.

Hege, Christian. 1913. Alexanderwohl. Mennonitisches Lexicon 1:24–25.

Krahn, Cornelius, and Glenn Penner. 2011. Alexanderwohl (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.