Halbstadt 2

The opening sentences of the Halbstadt community report (see here) set the stage for the ensuing history of the village. In 1801, the Prussian king Frederick William III decreed that Mennonites could not buy any property from non-Mennonites. As a result, the Mennonite communities of West Prussia (formerly Poland) did not have sufficient land for the new families of their ever-growing population. The next section of the report sets the stage for and then reports the Mennonite response.

Now Mennonites had already immigrated to south Russia at the request of Her Majesty the Empress Catherine. On the basis of this request and of the privileges granted by His Majesty Emperor Paul, Most High, on 6 September 1800, to the Mennonites who had settled in the Chortitza district in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate, a significant number of families from the Kingdom of Prussia—the province of West Prussia and the administrative districts of Marienwerder and Danzig—emigrated in 1803 and 1804 to south Russia, where they settled in the Taurida Governorate. (For the full translation and German original, see here.)

Mennonites had already immigrated. Over a decade before the 1801 decree, in 1789, more than two hundred Mennonite families, mostly from the Danzig area, had left Poland to establish the Chortitza colony (see Bergmann and Krahn 1955). Their experience offered both a precedent and encouragement for those who founded Halbstadt to do the same.

south Russia. The use of this geographical designation is a little surprising, since one might expect the term New Russia. However, the terms overlap to some extent, and there is no doubt as to the meaning. As is made explicit below, the Chortitza colony is in view.

Empress Catherine. Catherine II (the Great) reigned from 1762 until her death in 1796. It was during her rule that the territory known as New Russia (Novorossiya) became part of the Russian Empire. Because the new territory was largely unsettled (although not uninhabited, as seminomadic Nogai lived in the region) in 1764 Catherine invited a number of European peoples, including Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, Poles, Italians, and Germans, to colonize the area. The Mennonite emigration to Russia was part of this broader invitation and movement of peoples to the east.

Emperor Paul, Most High. When Catherine died, her son Paul seized the throne (probably against her wishes, as she favored his son and her grandson, Alexander). Paul reigned fewer than five years and was killed in a palace coup in March 1801. He was then succeeded by Alexander, after whom the Mennonite village Alexanderwohl was named. Still, Paul played a significant role in Russian Mennonite history (see next), which may explain why he is given the appellation Most High (see “Most High Declaration” in the post Halbstadt 1). 

privileges granted … on 6 September 1800. The reference here is to the privilegium, or charter of privileges, that Tsar Paul issued in September 1800, so a little more than a year before Frederick William III limited the ability of West Prussian Mennonites to acquire land. The Russian privilegium codified and guaranteed the rights of Mennonites who settled within New Russia. The charter begins:

Condescending to the petition of the Mennonites settled in the New Russian government, whose excellent industry and morality may, according to the testimony of the authorities, be held up as a model to the foreigners settled there and thereby deserve special consideration, now therefore with this Imperial Charter We most graciously wish not only to confirm all their rights and advantages specified in the preliminary agreement concluded with them, but in order co stimulate their industry and concern in agriculture even more, to grant them also other advantages, as follows…. (Urry 1989, 282)

The charter goes on to guarantee Mennonites the freedom to practice their religion according to their tenets and customs, the right to possess and pass on to their descendants the 65 dessiatins granted to each family, the option of giving simple assent instead of being required to take an oath, and exemption from military service, among other privileges important to Mennonites. The charter was directed first to the Mennonites of the Chortitza colony, but it presumably extended “to all those [Mennonites] who come to Russia in the future” (§3).

Yekaterinoslav Governorate. The Russian Empire was subdivided into administrative districts known as guberniyas, also known as governorates or provinces. New Russia (modern Ukraine) comprised nine guberniyas, two of which are of interest to us: Yekaterinoslav (or Ekaterinoslav) and Taurida. In the map below (modified from an original created by Alex Tora), Yekaterinoslav is shown in yellow; Taurida (which includes Crimea) is the green area below it. 

The Chortitza colony was located within Yekaterinoslav; the Molotschna colony was within Taurida (see further below). 

significant number of families. According to Woltner (1941, 88 n. 5), 310 Mennonite families entered Russia during 1803–1804. Rempel lists 359 Mennonite families who moved to Russia during those years (2007, 57–95). Whatever the actual figure, the number of families was indeed significant.

Kingdom of Prussia … province of West Prussia … administrative districts of Marienwerder and Danzig. The geographical description moves from the general to the specific. The Kingdom of Prussia was made up of a number of provinces. The province West Prussia contained territory that Prussia had acquired from the first partion of Poland in 1772. Each province was further divided into administrative districts. The Mennonite immigrants referenced in the Halbstadt Gemeindebericht came from Danzig and Marienwerder (see the map of West Prussia below). For reference, our family lived in the Schwetz district to the southeast of Marienwerder, in Przechówko. The Przechówko church was on the west bank of the Vistula River; Marienwerder was on the east side.

emigrated in 1803 and 1804 to south Russia. The community report provides a summary statement of the emigration at the end of this paragraph, then adds details in the following paragraphs. It seems that the summary has the broader migration in view, not merely that which led to the founding of Halbstadt. Note again the reference to south Russia rather than New Russia.

settled in the Taurida Governorate. As noted above, Chortitza was located within the Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Molotschna within the Taurida Governorate (see first map above).

By the end of its first paragraph, the Halbstadt report has set the stage for the story of the founding of the village. The founders were part of a large group of Mennonite families who left West Prussia to escape increasing pressure to abandon an important tenet of their faith. At the invitation and encouragement of the Russian government, they traveled to the southern part of New Russia to settle the wilderness and start new lives.

Works Cited

Bergmann, Cornelius, and Cornelius Krahn. 1955. Chortitza Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.

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

Urry, James. 1989. None but Saints: The Transformation of Mennonite Life in Russia 1789–1889. Winnipeg: Hyperion.

Woltner, Margarete. 1941. Die Gemeindeberichte von 1848 der deutschen Siedlungen am Schwarzen Meer. Sammlung Georg Leibbrandt 4. Leipzig: Hirzel.