When Their Time Was Up
Mennonite immigration from Russia to Saskatchewan
For many Mennonites, Russia was "heimat nummer fünf" (homeland number 5). From their origins in the Netherlands and Switzerland, the "Russian" Mennonites had already moved through what is now part of Belgium, Southern Germany, and Prussia.
A Russian Mennonite Family, ca. 1920.
In 1786, the Empress Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great) reached out to Mennonites in Prussia to invite them to settle in Russia on land acquired from the Turko-Russian war. Facing persecution in Prussia, and promised a life of religious freedom, many chose to accept the invitation.
Empress Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great). Source: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93960337
By 1789, the first Mennonite settlement in Russia, Chortitza, was established. The settlements of Molotschna, Am Trakt, and Alexander followed shortly after. By 1859, over 10,000 Mennonites had settled in Russia.
A sketch of the Mennonite settlements at Chortitza. Source: Warendorfer assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site plan for the Mennonite Settlement on Chortitza Island (Insel Chortitza). Those familiar with Mennonites in Canada will recognize many (or all) of the surnames. Source: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
150 years later, with their religion, culture and livelihood under threat, the Mennonites were again on the move. There were two waves of emigration from Russia to North America: the first, in 1873, saw ~18,000 Mennonites arrive in Canada and the American Midwest. The second wave occurred in the 1920s. Of the 25,000 who left Russia during the second wave, ~21,000 ended up in Canada. Many settled in Saskatchewan, in particular around Rosthern and Swift Current.
This map shows the path many may have taken from the Russian settlements to North America. Zoom in for all place names along the trip.
One family's path from the Molotschna colony to Superb, SK, briefly settling in Provost, AB along the way. The path from the colony to Moscow, Russia and then Riga, Latvia may have been more typical of the 1920s wave of immigration, when traveling by rail to Moscow and then to Riga may have been more common. Source: Peter Warkentin
Since the 1920s, some of the more conservative groups of Mennonites have left Canada and the US in search of sixth or seventh "heimats," where they can live without outsider influence or interference. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some Mennonites in North America now consider themselves "cultural" Mennonites - separate from the church but not from their culture or some of the Mennonite ideals.
A Mennonite farm near Guernsey, Saskatchewan.
