In 1859, Michael Waldner and Jakob Hofer (1830–1900) successfully reestablished a community of goods among some Hutterites in Hutterdorf, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire.
In 1860, another group of Hutterites did the same under the leadership of Darius Walter (1835–1903) also in Hutterdorf, Ukraine, but on the opposite side of the village.
During the first winter, the Dariusleut lived on government grounds at Silver Lake, South Dakota.
[2] Shortly after World War I, two Hutterite conscientious objectors, Joseph and Michael Hofer, died in an American prison.
This and growing anti-German sentiment caused the emigration of all six Dariusleut colonies to Alberta, Canada, in the following years.