Moving to Molotschna 5

The previous posts in the Moving to Molotschna series, which has been running parallel to the Alexanderwohl series (see here, here, here, and here), have covered some of the obstacles that Mennonites emigrating from Prussia/Poland to Molotschna had to overcome, such as the distance of the journey (ca. 900 miles), the time it took to travel that distance (up to seven weeks), the paperwork needed before the journey could begin (a passport from Prussia and a visa, or entrance permit, from Russia), the difficulty of securing permission to emigrate (which led some to leave illegally), and the exit tax of 10 percent on an emigrant’s assets before he or she could legally leave.

These significant disincentives to leaving were counterbalanced by the hope for land ownership and freedom from any expectation to serve in a military role, a freedom that was being progressively eroded in Prussia. The Russian government also sweetened the pot by offering funding for those who wished to settle in Molotschna. Heinrich Goerz explains:

The Russian government sought to lure the settlers with financial assistance. They were given travel funds of 10 rubles per family and 50 rubles for horses and wagons. After completing the journey they received food rations of eight kopeks per person per day until the next harvest. They were granted an additional 25 rubles for agricultural implements, 100 rubles for cattle and household furnishings and 159 rubles worth of lumber. (Goerz 1993, 4)

David G. Rempel offers slightly different details, but the general picture remains the same:

They all received from the government the following financial assistance: ten rubles per person for travelling expenses, fifty rubles per family for forage, 125 rubles per family for the acquisition of implements, stocks, etc., 100 rubles worth of lumber, fifteen rubles for seed grains, and eight kopeks per person per day for food from the arrival at the place of settlement until the first harvest. (Rempel 1935, 122)

Goerz and Rempel agree on the nature of this funding: “these monies were not a gift but an interest-free cash advance which was to be repaid over the next 10 years. The interest free period was extended for five more years because of crop failures” (Goerz 1993, 4)

These terms were made available during the initial wave of emigration, from 1803 through the first part of 1806. Rempel notes, however, that the war of 1806–1807 forced the suspension of emigration and that the pace slowed in the immediate aftermath of the war (1935, 124). After several years of limited emigration, the war of 1812 put a halt to nearly all immigration until it once again began in 1819, when seventy-five Mennonite families moved to Molotschna (1935, 125).

During this time the Russian government was experiencing financial difficulty, as well as a startling drop in the value of the paper ruble, which lost two-thirds of its value in the space of three years. As a result, the Russian government “cut down the large appropriations which it had previously set aside for purposes of colonization” (Rempel 1935, 124). Initially it decided that “no financial assistance whatsoever would be granted, but that those who possessed their own means would be granted land and the same privileges and rights as were accorded to the earlier immigrants” (1935, 125). However, in 1820 “the Committee of Ministers decided to admit annually 200 Mennonite families until the Molochnaia district was all settled, for which purpose it appropriated a sum of 300,000 rubles” (1935, 125).

The purpose of offering this somewhat detailed account is to enable us to recognize the ebb and flow of not only the Mennonite migration to Molotscha but also the Russian government’s funding of that emigration. The earliest settlers (1803–1806) received support for the journey and funding for their establishment of new households; later settlers (1808–1811, 1819–1833) apparently received only the latter.

Works Cited

Goerz, Heinrich. 1993. The Molotschna Settlement. Translated by Al Reimer and John B. Toews. Echo Historical Series. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Rempel, David G. 1935. The Mennonite Migration to New Russia (1787–1870). MQR 9:71–91, 109–28. 

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.