Book Reviews

Rempel Peter. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788-1828., eds. A.H. Redekopp and R.D. Thiessen, (Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, 2000) pb., 249 pp., C$35.00.

Reviewed by Henry Schapansky

It is an exciting event when documentary material on the Russian Mennonites is made accessible to the public in book form. The documentary material presented in the present volume is in fact, supplementary to all these works, but in particular to B.H. Unruh's book and the 1835 Molotschna census data. Indeed, the reader will want to have both works at hand when going through this volume.

The documents assembled for this book may be grouped, and here I differ slightly from the view of the author in his preface, into the following categories:

1. The Old Colony lists of 1797 and 1806

2. The Grodno lists of 1803 -1810

3. Lists of households established in Russia 1815-1828

4. Lists of visas issued by the Russian Consulate at Danzig 1819-1828

1. The Old Colony lists of 1797 and 1806

The documentary lists under this section are among the most important of the whole book, being compiled at early dates than elsewhere in this book. For that matter only the B.H. Unruh's lists of 1793 and 1795 are dated earlier than 1797, and there are Old Colony families who may only be documented in the 1797 or 1806 lists. We may therefore be grateful indeed that this material has been published here.

The two lists were complied for quite different purposes and differ greatly in material presented. The 1797 list was a general Old Colony census (and included Kronsgarten) and contains information regarding the economic data of each household including the number of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs owned. Only the household head is named, but the total number of males and females in each family is tabulated. The lists are organised by villages, with a last section for new settlers not yet assigned to any particular village. The 1806 list was established for the purpose of establishing the tax free years remaining to each homestead. By homestead I mean homestead in the Canadian sense, according to the various provincial homestead acts, where families received a free grant of land (and some tax exempt years) under certain conditions. The German word is Wirtschaft. The 1806 list gives the name of the original owner of the homestead rights, and the owner in 1806, along with a count of males and females in the 1806 owner's family. The 1806 list therefore contains only the data relative to the 1806 Wirtschaft owners, and the original owners.

2. The Grodno Lists (1803-1810)

The great value of the Grodno lists is the inclusion of a considerable amount of information regarding the individual families, their travelling companions (relatives and servants) and the financial aid received. A good many details regarding arrival and departure dates, illnesses and routes taken are included. There is certainly a lot of new and additional material in this section, and for some families who do not overtly appear in the 1808 lists, this may be the only data presently available.

3 & 4. The Lists of Households and Visas after 1815

The most interesting and informative new data is contained in the visa lists themselves. Al the persons travelling on the passport are generally named and include various relatives (and the relationship to the passport owner), maiden names (in some cases) and the village where the passport-holder resided. All of this adds a great deal to our knowledge of the settlers.

As will be apparent to the reader, this volume contains much new and varied information. Some of the data will be more useful than other data. The importance of the data in sections 3 & 4 (as outlined above) have been recognized in this volume by the inclusion of a brief but excellent economic overview of the new settlers (1815-1825) by Conrad Stoez. Also included is a map of the Vistual delta and valley, detailing the villages from which many of the new settlers originally came. Included as well is some informative introductory commentary re the original lists. This book undoubtably deserves the popularity it will achieve.

Book Notes

New is a book about Howard W. Winkler entitled, The Papers of Howard W. Winkler, written by Irvin J. Kroeker. The book details the life and work of Winkler who was the Member of Parliament for Lisgar from 1935-1953. A unique aspect of this book is the summary at the end of the book giving the reader a taste of the Howard Winkler materials at the Provincial Archives of Manitoba. The book can be purchased from Open Door Communications, Box 68037 Osborne Village, Winnipeg, Mb., R3L 2V9.

Dr. Helmut Huebert has published a book entitled Events and People: Events In Russian Mennonite History and the People That Made them Happen. It contains biographies of various Mennonite leaders such as Deputy Jakob Bartsch, Aron Sawatzky, and Jakob Reimer. It also contains maps and interesting events such as floods and the Purge. This 258 pp. book, with index, can be bought from The Centre for M.B. Studies for $25.00.

Mennonites in the Global Village by Winnipeg Sociologist Leo Driedger documents the change in Mennonite thought as urbanization has occurred. It includes many interesting charts. This 264 pp. book was published by the U. of Toronto Press for $19.25.

Marlene Epp has authored a book entitled Women without Men, Mennonite Refugees of the Second World War. It documents the story of the lives of Mennonite families who lost their fathers and husbands and how the women coped with becoming refugees, and settling in a new country. This 275 pp. book was published by the University of Toronto Press.