A little more than a century ago, on 29 November 1919, Peter Buller, resident of a Russian village named Tiege, was mutilated to death in the middle of the night (Lohrenz 2000, 109). Sixteen of his fellow villagers, all Mennonites, met a similar fate.
Thousands of miles away, another Peter Buller enjoyed a life of security and growing prosperity on a farm 4 miles east of Henderson, Nebraska. As far as we know, Peter and his wife Margaretha Epp Buller and their eleven children—including thirteen-year-old Cornelius, or Chris—slept through the night of 29 November without incident.
Although these two men shared a name, a common ancestry and religious heritage, and likely even a vocation (farming), their fates could not have been more different. One Peter died violently at the hands of a lawless mob; the other lived to age ninety-five and passed on peacefully after a full, rich life. How, one might wonder, could two men with so much in common meet such different ends?
The answer lies not with the men themselves but with their locations. Peter Buller of Tiege lived in Russia in the aftermath of the 1917 revolution; Peter Buller of Henderson, our own ancestor, enjoyed the stability and security of life in the United States. The determining factor of each man’s fate was simply whether his family had emigrated from or remained in Russia.
Since we already know, in general if not in every detail, the story of the Bullers who left Russia, this series will focus on those who remained. Our goal will be to identify as many Bullers who remained in Russia as we can and to describe their lives in as much detail as our sources and knowledge of the Russian context permits.
Unlike many other Buller Time series, this one will not involve systematically sifting through a body of evidence; rather, this series will, I expect, find bits of information, pieces of evidence, that we will then place within their historical, geographical, social, and, if possible, genealogical contexts so that we learn not only about other members of our broader family but also about the worlds in which they lived. To use a cinematic analogy, Bullers Who Remained will not be a feature length film but rather a series of independent short clips with a common interest.
We should realize at the outset that we will not be able to locate genealogically some of the Bullers whom we discover. Peter Buller of Tiege, for example, is certainly a member of our larger family, but thus far we cannot even hint at where in the family tree he might fit. At present we cannot even say if he was married and had children and, if so, what happened to them after his murder that night. It may be that, over time, as we collect and then connect the puzzle pieces of the Bullers who remained, we will be able to locate Peter Buller of Tiege more precisely or even put flesh on the bare bones of his life. However, it is also possible that we will never learn anything more of Peter Buller of Tiege; should that be the case, let us take heart in the fact that Peter has at least been named, that his story has not been forgotten, that a memory of him still lives on this earth.
Finally, understanding the contexts of the Bullers who remained requires a working knowledge of Russian history. Therefore, before we proceed with this series, we will lay the foundation by briefly surveying the high points of Russian history from the mid-nineteenth century on, roughly from the time of the Crimean War through the reigns of Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II and then on to the Russian Revolution and the consequent formation of the Soviet state. Our survey of Russian history will be kept separate from the Bullers Who Remained series for the sake of simplicity, but it will be crucial for our explorations in the latter series, so I hope readers give the historical context its proper due.
That is the broad plan for the first part (or more) of 2020: to begin with history, then turn to a search for all the Bullers who remained in Russia.
Work Cited
Lohrenz, Gerhard. 2000. Zagradovka: History of a Mennonite Settlement in Southern Russia. Translated by Victor G. Doerksen. Echo Historical Series. Winnipeg: CMBC Publications and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.
The answer lies not with the men themselves but with their locations. Peter Buller of Tiege lived in Russia in the aftermath of the 1917 revolution; Peter Buller of Henderson, our own ancestor, enjoyed the stability and security of life in the United States. The determining factor of each man’s fate was simply whether his family had emigrated from or remained in Russia.
Since we already know, in general if not in every detail, the story of the Bullers who left Russia, this series will focus on those who remained. Our goal will be to identify as many Bullers who remained in Russia as we can and to describe their lives in as much detail as our sources and knowledge of the Russian context permits.
Unlike many other Buller Time series, this one will not involve systematically sifting through a body of evidence; rather, this series will, I expect, find bits of information, pieces of evidence, that we will then place within their historical, geographical, social, and, if possible, genealogical contexts so that we learn not only about other members of our broader family but also about the worlds in which they lived. To use a cinematic analogy, Bullers Who Remained will not be a feature length film but rather a series of independent short clips with a common interest.
We should realize at the outset that we will not be able to locate genealogically some of the Bullers whom we discover. Peter Buller of Tiege, for example, is certainly a member of our larger family, but thus far we cannot even hint at where in the family tree he might fit. At present we cannot even say if he was married and had children and, if so, what happened to them after his murder that night. It may be that, over time, as we collect and then connect the puzzle pieces of the Bullers who remained, we will be able to locate Peter Buller of Tiege more precisely or even put flesh on the bare bones of his life. However, it is also possible that we will never learn anything more of Peter Buller of Tiege; should that be the case, let us take heart in the fact that Peter has at least been named, that his story has not been forgotten, that a memory of him still lives on this earth.
Finally, understanding the contexts of the Bullers who remained requires a working knowledge of Russian history. Therefore, before we proceed with this series, we will lay the foundation by briefly surveying the high points of Russian history from the mid-nineteenth century on, roughly from the time of the Crimean War through the reigns of Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II and then on to the Russian Revolution and the consequent formation of the Soviet state. Our survey of Russian history will be kept separate from the Bullers Who Remained series for the sake of simplicity, but it will be crucial for our explorations in the latter series, so I hope readers give the historical context its proper due.
That is the broad plan for the first part (or more) of 2020: to begin with history, then turn to a search for all the Bullers who remained in Russia.
Work Cited
Lohrenz, Gerhard. 2000. Zagradovka: History of a Mennonite Settlement in Southern Russia. Translated by Victor G. Doerksen. Echo Historical Series. Winnipeg: CMBC Publications and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.
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