We will return to both these issues below, after we look at the original text and translation of the letter itself.
Waldheim, 29. April 1906. In No. 16 der “Friedensstimme” schreibt Peter Reimer, Utschastok Michailowskij, Sibirien, von dem Ansiedeln unserer deutschen Mennoniten auf Kronsländereien. Ich stimme mit Herr Reimer voll und ganz darin überein. Wir hätten schon längst bei unserer Regierung darum anhalten sollen. Ich glaube fest, daß wir gerade so 65 Deßjatinen familienweise bekämen, wie unsere Deutschen einst hier erhielten. Wie sind hier in Waldheim ungefähr 50 Familien, die zusammen um Land wirken. Wir frugen in Omsk, Siberien, beim Переселенческій Началникъ an, ob wir Mennoniten auch das Recht hätten auf Kronsland anzusiedeln und erhielten ein Schreiben: Ihr könnt Land haben, ohne jeglichen Unterschied. Schicken Sie Kundschaster her auszusuchen, Holz und Ackergeräte wird von der Regierung vorgestreckt. Darauf frugen wir weiter an, ob wir könnten 65 Desjatinen familienweise haben und unter welchen Bedingungen. Darauf erhielten wir ein Schreiben vom Чиновникъ Особыхъ порученій. die Ansiedler in sibirischen Steppenzonen können einen Landteil von 15 Desjatinen auf die Seele brauchbaren Landes erhalten. Es kann sellenweise oder familienweise (подворно), je nach Wunsch der Ansiedler selbst, festgestellt werden. Die Landanteile werden nach der Zahl der Seelen 50–200 Seelenanteile, auch größere bemessen. In den Gebieten Акмолинекъ und Семипалитинскъ erhalten die Ansiedler 100 Rubel Mithelfe, während im sibirischen Gouvernement (das sol wohl heißen: in den anderen Gouvernementsl A. K.) 165 Rubel. Krons- und Senistwoabgaben sind fünf Jahre frei, die folgenden fünf Jahre die halben Abgaben. Den Ansiedlern, welche 18 Jahre und darüber sind, wird die Ableistung der Wehrpflicht drei Jahre hinausgeschoben. Das Kronsland gehört den Ansiedlern zur immerwährenden Rutznießung. Den 9. Mai soll, so viel ich weiß, eine Zusammenkunft derer, die Lust haben anzusiedeln, in Waldheim stattfinden.
Buller
Buller
The second half of the letter appears to the right. I have broken the translation into paragraphs for ease of reading.
Waldheim, 29 April 1906
In no. 16 of the Friedensstimme, Peter Reimer of the Mikhailovsky district, Siberia, writes of the settling of our German Mennonites in crown lands. I agree with Mr. Reimer wholeheartedly. We have already intended to urge our government in favor of this. I firmly believe that we would get as much as 65 dessiatines per family, as our Germans once here received.
There are here in Waldheim about fifty families who together work the land. We asked in Omsk, Siberia, at the Переселенческій Началникъ [Emigration Head?], whether we Mennonites would also have the right to settle on crown land and received a letter: You can have land without any difference. Send scouts to search; timber and agricultural implements are advanced by the government.
Then we asked further if we could have 65 dessiatines per family and under what conditions. Then we received a letter from Чиновникъ Особыхъ порученій [Officer on Special Assignments]: settlers in Siberian steppe zones can obtain a land area of 15 dessiatines of tillable country soul. It can be set up locally or in families (подворно [homestead]), depending on the desire of the settlers themselves. The allotments are according to the number of souls 50–200 soul parts, also of larger dimensions.
In the regions of Акмолинекъ [Akmolinsk] and Семипалитинскъ [Semipalatinsk] the settlers receive 100 rubles’ assistance, while in the Siberian province (which should probably read: in the other gubernias. A. K.) 165 rubles. Crown and zemstvo duties are five years free, the next five years half-charges. Settlers who are eighteen years and above will have their military service be postponed for three years. The crown land belongs to the settlers as an everlasting usufruct. On 9 May, so far as I know, there is a meeting being held in Waldheim of those who wish to resettle.
Buller
In no. 16 of the Friedensstimme, Peter Reimer of the Mikhailovsky district, Siberia, writes of the settling of our German Mennonites in crown lands. I agree with Mr. Reimer wholeheartedly. We have already intended to urge our government in favor of this. I firmly believe that we would get as much as 65 dessiatines per family, as our Germans once here received.
There are here in Waldheim about fifty families who together work the land. We asked in Omsk, Siberia, at the Переселенческій Началникъ [Emigration Head?], whether we Mennonites would also have the right to settle on crown land and received a letter: You can have land without any difference. Send scouts to search; timber and agricultural implements are advanced by the government.
Then we asked further if we could have 65 dessiatines per family and under what conditions. Then we received a letter from Чиновникъ Особыхъ порученій [Officer on Special Assignments]: settlers in Siberian steppe zones can obtain a land area of 15 dessiatines of tillable country soul. It can be set up locally or in families (подворно [homestead]), depending on the desire of the settlers themselves. The allotments are according to the number of souls 50–200 soul parts, also of larger dimensions.
In the regions of Акмолинекъ [Akmolinsk] and Семипалитинскъ [Semipalatinsk] the settlers receive 100 rubles’ assistance, while in the Siberian province (which should probably read: in the other gubernias. A. K.) 165 rubles. Crown and zemstvo duties are five years free, the next five years half-charges. Settlers who are eighteen years and above will have their military service be postponed for three years. The crown land belongs to the settlers as an everlasting usufruct. On 9 May, so far as I know, there is a meeting being held in Waldheim of those who wish to resettle.
Buller
1. To start with the obvious, although we know that some Buller from Waldheim wrote this, we do not know which one. It is presumably not Heinrich, since we would expect Heinrich to list his first name, as he did every other time he wrote the Rundschau.
We know that a number of Buller families lived in Waldheim during the 1850s through the 1880s (we surveyed the evidence from Waldheim school records here), and Schroeder and Huebert list at least one Buller family still living in Waldheim in 1916 (1996, 42). In all likelihood, the letter writer is one of these “other” Bullers who was related to us much more distantly than Heinrich and kin.
2. The letter writer obviously knew Russian, since he or she uses the official Russian terms for what appear to be governmental offices and agents as well as places in the Kazakhstan region. None of the letters written by Heinrich contains Russian, which argues further that Heinrich is not the writer.
3. We catch the flavor of the day well, with some Waldheim residents discussing a move east in order to settle new territory. This letter writer, like many others in Waldheim (and probably elsewhere), was eager to move to the largely unsettled plains of Siberia/Kazakhstan. The appeal of resettlement was tangible: 100 rubles of government assistance; no taxes due to the crown or the local government (zemstvo) for five years, then only half for an additional three years; freedom from military service for eligible males for three years; and an allotment of land to which they would hold the right to all profits in perpetuity. No wonder there was excitement among many to resettle in the east.
In fact, an April 1908 letter that we read here reported that forty Waldheim families made this trek, leaving almost two years to the day after this letter. We also should remember what Heinrich wrote in February of 1907: “We will probably wait with our move to Siberia one more year.” Obviously, this would place their move in 1908, precisely when the forty families from Waldheim headed ease.
The sequence appears to be as follows (if we are permitted some speculation). Heinrich and family, along with other Waldheim residents, attended a meeting about resettlement on 9 May 1906. At some point during the next ten months they decided to move to Siberia/Kazakhstan. Between February 1907 and April 1908, Heinrich disposed of any goods that could not be taken with them, including the family farm.
4. It is unclear how much land the settlers could actually expect. The letter writer had asked for 65 dessiatines (175 acres), but the government agent spoke of only 15 dessiatines of tillable soil outside the village (in the country). There appears to be mention of additional land, or at least the possibility of it, but the “Die Landanteile werden nach der Zahl der Seelen 50–200 Seelenanteile, auch größere bemessen” makes little sense to me, apart from implying that the 15 dessiatines allotment was not written in stone.
Still, one might ask why Heinrich, who presumably had inherited his father David’s farm, would want to leave it behind for an unknown future. The answer probably lies in the size of the David Buller family farm in Waldheim: it was a half-Wirtschaft of only 88 acres, perhaps not enough to meet all of the family’s needs.
We may never know which Buller wrote this letter, but he or she has provided additional context for us to appreciate the times and the forces that led some of our relatives left in Molotschna to pick up their lives and move to Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, 2,500 miles to the east. Piece by piece the Buller family puzzle continues to be filled in and take shape.
Source
Schroeder, William, and Helmut T. Huebert. 1996. Mennonite Historical Atlas. 2nd ed. Winnipeg: Springfield.
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