Alexanderwohl 36

The last two posts demonstrated that it is both plausible that Alexander I could have encountered the Przechovka Mennonites on their journey to Molotschna (Alexander was, after all, not merely tsar of Russia but also king of Congress Poland) and reasonable to think that Alexander did, in fact, meet the group just outside of Warsaw (contemporary accounts place him in Warsaw at the exact time that the Mennonites camped outside of the city). This post picks up at that point in order to reflect on several important details of the etiological account, with particular interest in what Alexander is reported to have said to the church leaders and what the district official Fadeyev said when he gave the village its name. For ease of reference, I repeat the relevant portion of the community report:

When this community, which had existed as a church in Prussia for over 200 years, emigrated to Russia under the leadership of its church Ältester (elder), Peter Wedel, they rested for two days on the south side of the city of Warsaw. Tsar Alexander I—may he rest in peace—and a segment of his troops were outside the city engaging in field manoeuvres. We waited anxiously when the tsar, who had been alerted by several passing generals, stopped his carriage and beckoned with his right hand. Several church leaders ran to him and were asked where we came from and where we were going. When he heard we were going to Molotschna in southern Russia the tsar said: “I wish you luck on your journey. Greet your brethren for I have been there.” This happened on September 14, 1820.

When we arrived in Molotschna these greetings were promptly conveyed by Peter Wedel, our Ältester, to the congregations gathered in the churches. When the office in Ekaterinoslav heard of this extraordinary event, the chief judge Fadeyev immortalized it by naming the colony Alexanderwohl because, as he said, “Tsar Alexander has wished you well.”

1. Alexander I

Alexander’s quoted dialogue is only two sentences long, but each is worthy of notice. We begin with the second sentence: “Greet your brethren for I have been there.” Alexander’s statement is no throw-away line. In fact, Alexander had visited Molotschna colony just two years prior. Peter M. Friesen’s The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia (see the link to an online copy in the Online Resources section to the right) includes a first-person account from the Mennonite head of the household that Alexander visited: David Hiebert of Lindenau, Molotschna (Friesen 1980, 173–75).

His Majesty ate with apparent appetite, drank beer and coffee, and, while eating enquired as to our circumstances in the most affable manner: how long we had been in his empire, how we liked it and whether or not we had any complaints about anyone. To this we answered: “No, but we would like to thank Your Imperial Majesty for his great mercy and gracious reception. We would also like to request grace and Your Majesty’s protection for the future; not only for ourselves but also for our brothers-in-the-faith in Prussia, who because of the great and difficult war, have come into dire straits, so that they too might find acceptance and support here.” Thereupon the emperor said to my wife: “Yes, dear child, it shall be done.” (175)

Although we cannot verify the details of the story—the Hieberts’ request on behalf of the Prussian Mennonites who were expected to make their way to Russia or Alexander’s promise to give aid and support to future immigrants—we should note that this account is entirely consistent with the second sentence of Alexander’s comment: he had personally visited Molotschna, so he asked the traveling group from Przechovka to greet their fellow Mennonites when they arrived at their final destination in Molotschna.

The first sentence merits close scrutiny as well, since it may affect how we understand and interpret the etiology of the village name. Alexander begins his dialogue with a simple statement: “I wish you luck on your journey.” Note first that Alexander expressed a wish; he did not make a promise or offer concrete assistance. Second, his wish was for the journey, not for their lives once they arrived in Molotschna. We might speculate on why he limited his wish to the journey, but for now we simply note it as potentially important for our understanding of this tale. Third, Alexander wished them luck, or Glück in German, an important word choice in light of what follows.

2. Fadeyev

Now that we have observed exactly what Alexander said, we can read with greater insight what the district mayor Fadeyev said when he named the village. We begin by noting first that the Przechovka group did exactly what Alexander asked when they arrived: they conveyed the tsar’s greetings to all their fellow Mennonites. Then we are told that the district office in Ekaterinoslav heard of “this extraordinary event,” Fadeyev “immortalized” it by giving the village (colony in the terminology of that day) a particular name.

At the risk of sounding cynical, I find the characterization of the tsar’s wish as an extraordinary event a bit of a stretch. Alexander wished the party good luck on their journey, in other words, safe travels. He also asked them to greet people he had previously met. Neither of these qualify, in my view, as anything out of the ordinary; they are, rather, niceties that one would hope are more mundane than spectacular. Certainly one would not expect a wish for someone to have safe travels to be immortalized in a village name.

We should also note that Alexander did not wish the Przechovka Mennonites well (German wohl), as Fadeyev claims in this account; in fact, he wished them luck, Glück. One must wonder why the village is not more accurately named Alexanderglück, to immortalize what Alexander actually said. Something is wrong with this picture; the details at the end of the account seem at odds with those at its beginning. 

We have established thus far that it is both plausible and highly likely that Alexander encountered the Przechovka Mennonites south of Warsaw. The report of their encounter, with its wish for safe travels and a request to greet the Mennonites whom Alexander had met just two years previously, also has the ring of truth to it. Still, when we get to the whole point of the tale, an explanation of what the village name means, the internal logic of the story starts to fall apart and makes much less sense. 

This leads me to wonder whether, although the larger story of the encounter is historically accurate, the precise explanation given for the naming is somewhat less than true. I am not suggesting that the Alexanderwohl settlers made anything up, but I do think we should ask whether there may be a better explanation for the village name than the one that Fadeyev supplied and the townspeople adopted into their historical self-understanding. We will pursue that possibility, and an alternate explanation, in the following post.

Work Cited

Friesen, Peter M. 1980. The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 1789–1910. 2nd ed. Translated by J. B. Toews, Abraham Friesen, Peter J. Klassen, and Harry Loewen. Fresno, CA: Board of Christian Literature, General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.