Where is Heinrichsdorf?

On the one hand, this could be Buller Time’s shortest post, a mere three words: no one knows. On the other hand, for better or for worse, Buller Time has never let ignorance stand in its way or prevent it from attempting to discover at least plausible answers to questions of family history. So, with full and honest recognition that our search for Heinrichsdorf may be futile, this post will look just the same. It never hurts to try, right?

1. The Mennonite consensus seems to be that Heinrichsdorf was located somewhere between the towns of Berdychiv (Berdichev) and Zhytomyr (Zhitomir) in the southeast corner of Volhynia. For example, William Schroeder and Helmut T. Huebert’s Mennonite Historical Atlas locates the village of Heinrichsdorf where the red dot is in the map below, that is, about a third of the way up on the road from Berdichev to Zhitomir (Schroeder and Huebert 1996, 57).

They write later of a number of Waldheim residents leaving Molotschna and “founding the village of Heinrichsdorf north of Berdichev” (Schroeder and Huebert 1996, 57).

Likewise, Martin H. Schrag explains that “the dissatisfied [Waldheim] members secured permission from the Russian government to return to Volhynia, and accordingly in 1848 they trekked back to Volhynia and founded the village of Heinrichsdorf some miles north of Berdichev in Eastern Volhynia” (1959). Although both sources agree on the location, I have been unable to uncover the basis or evidence for locating Heinrichsdorf north of Berdichev. Perhaps one of the historical documents associated with Heinrichsdorf locates it north of Berdichev; if so, Buller Time would like to hear about that.

2. To complicate matters, the Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe Volhynian Gazetteer (here) states what we know for certain, that the precise location is lost, but then gives the latitude and longitude for where they think the village was: 49.5800 28.1806.

Zhitomir is toward the top and just right of center, and Berdichev is center right. The red marker is the location of the SGGEE coordinates, roughly 28 miles southwest of Berdichev. The gazetteer is based on the work of Dr. Frank Stewner, who seems to be expert in Volhynian historical geography, but once again we do not know the basis or evidence for locating Heinrichsdorf here as opposed to somewhere else.

One additional piece of evidence might be taken into consideration. In an obscure book titled The Prussian-Polish Mennonites Settling in South Dakota 1874 and Soon After, John A. Boese writes, “Near Zhitomir was the village of Heinrichsdorf and then some 20 miles east was the village of Michalin near the west boundry of the province of Kiev” (Boese 1967).

I do not know what to make of this bit of evidence. Boese’s book apparently presents facts and stories passed down to him. Interestingly, the same individual compiled a genealogical chart for Henry and Eva Buller from the 1700s, a matter worth noting not only because his subjects were Bullers but also because he created the chart in 1930, which would indicate that he was not that far removed from the Mennonites who had moved from Heinrichsdorf (where some of his family lived) to South Dakota. In other words, Boese’s information may be reliable.

Why this matters to us is evident in the Google satellite photo below.

Berdichev is located toward the top, right of center. The line at the bottom extends from Michalin on the right (east) to the location where the SGGEE Volhynian Gazetteer locates Heinrichsdorf on the left (west). The distance between them is just over 27 miles. Boese wrote above that Michalin was “some 20 miles east” of Heinrichsdorf; the creator of the gazetteer apparently concurs.

The agreement between the SGGEE Volhynian Gazetteer and Boese’s oral-history account certainly does not settle the matter. However, it does call into question the standard location of Heinrichsdorf some 8–10 miles north of Berdichev. In fact, Heinrichsdorf may well have been roughly 28 miles southwest of Berdichev.

In the end, all we can know at this point is that Heinrichsdorf was located somewhere in the area of Berdichev. Maybe someday someone will locate Heinrichsdorf a little more precisely. That would be a good thing for Bullers for one simple reason: wherever Heinrichsdorf was located, some of our family members still rest in peace there.



Works Cited

Boese, John A. 1967. The Prussian-Polish Mennonites Settling in South Dakota 1874 and Soon After. Freeman, SD: Pine Hill Press. Available online here.

Schrag, Martin H. 1959. Volhynia (Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.

Schroeder, William, and Helmut T. Huebert. 1996. Mennonite Historical Atlas. 2nd ed. Winnipeg: Springfield.