Chortitza Colony
In 1929–30 as part of the Soviet policy of korenizatsia, it was converted into a national district promoting development of the German language culture.
When the region became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 through the First Partition of Poland, the Prussian Government enacted a law making it difficult for Mennonites to acquire land.
This compelled a significant part of the Mennonite population to seek better opportunities in nearby cities, Danzig in particular.
Though land opportunities were scattered throughout Russia, the largest tracts available were along the banks and watershed of the Volga River south of Saratov.
Colonization attempts were intensified in 1774 after the Russo-Turkish War when Potemkin was appointed governor general of South Russia which included territory recently won from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The Mennonite congregations elected two delegates, Jakob Höppner and Johann Bartsch, who von Trappe arranged to send to Russia at government expense.
They departed in the fall of 1786, sailing first to Riga, then traveling cross country, arriving at the Dnieper in late November.
They found a suitable settlement location, then returned home by way of Saint Petersburg, where they met with Crown Prince Paul, who confirmed the promises made by von Trappe.
[2] The special privileges included guarantees of religious freedom, exemption from military service, 70 ha (175 acres) of free land for each family, exemption from swearing oaths in legal proceedings, ability to establish their own schools and teach in their own language, the right to restrict the establishment of taverns and the ability to make their own beverages.
[3] Upon their return, Höppner and Bartsch found that four families had already departed for Riga and hundreds more were eager to immigrate.
[citation needed] Mennonite settlers, 228 families in all, set out for Russia in the winter of 1787, arriving in Dubrovna (today in Belarus) in fall of 1788, where they over-wintered.
Internal friction among the settlers, rooted in a long-standing division separating Frisian and Flemish branches of the church who lived in different ways, was compounded by the lack of ministerial leadership.
Church leaders are traditionally selected from among the lay brothers of the congregation and were expected to serve for life as unpaid pastors.
[citation needed] Initially families built temporary shelters such as sod dugouts and tents while a few tried to live in their wagons.
As their difficulties mounted, the settlers accused Höppner and Bartsch of keeping government money intended for colony use.
[5] When the next wave of Mennonite settlers came to Russia In 1803, they over-wintered in Chortitza Colony before moving on to form the Molotschna settlement.
Chortitza, along with the other Mennonite settlements, functioned as a democratic state, enjoying freedoms beyond those of ordinary Russian peasants.
[6] At a time when compulsory education was unknown in Europe, the Mennonite colonies formed an elementary school in each village.
[10] The four-year secondary programs taught religion, history, arithmetic, science, Russian and German language and literature, geography, penmanship, and art.
[11] The co-educational teacher training seminary, founded as a separate institution in 1914, expanded what had been a two-year extension of the secondary school to a three-year program.
By the early twentieth century, a growing number of students extended their education to gimnaziia, schools of trade and commerce, and universities in Switzerland, Germany, as well as Russia.
In 1864 land was rented from Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia to form Fürstenland,[12] which by 1911 consisted of five villages with 1800 residents.
[13] Further colonies were established at Bergthal (1836), Yazykovo (1869), Nepluyevka (1870), Schlachtin and Baratov (1871), Ignatyevo (1888), and Borissovo (1892)[14] Eventually an economy developed and the Chortitza settlement prospered.
In later years, the three largest factories were combined into a single business and, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, produced tractors and automobiles under the Saporoschetz brand.
During the period mid October 1919 to the last week in December of that year, Makhno's army occupied all the colony's villages and much of the district up to Ekaterinoslav (current Dnipro).
In 1923 many of the former large landowners, ministers and internal refugees migrated to Canada, mainly to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with credit provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
[21] As World War II began in 1941, the Soviet government intended to deport all the residents of Chortitza to Siberia, but the German Wehrmacht advanced so quickly, the plan could not be executed.
As the Red Army entered German territory they seized refugees attempting to flee the Soviet Union.
