Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

sian Mennonite community in Canada which
had just over 100,000 church members in 1989
for a total estimated around 150,000. This, of
course, does not count secular Mennonites,
“Swiss” Mennonites, and many thousands more
attending all manner of Baptist and other
American Fundamentalist-type churches. But
these numbers also include some 30,000 or
more who have returned to Canada from Latin
America during the past 3 decades, and others,
many of whom would be considered in the conservative
camp.
Conservative and Orthodox Mennonits also
have the advantage of having a clear and intellectually
defensible theological position
whereas reformed Mennonites are generally
articulated by a hodge-podge of outside influences
and alien religious cultures. Nevertheless
the reform groups in the Russian Mennonite
tradition have maintained clear control and
domination over conservative and orthodox coreligionists
by a variety of control techniques,
including the articulation of the historical experience,
skilful use of the media and propaganda,
strategic proselytizing, etc.
The founding of the General Conference
Church (and also the Holdeman Church) in the
1860s was articulated by the religious culture
and language of the American Revivalist movement,
later reinforced in Canada by the influx
of Mennonites from Russia after the Soviet
Revolution many of whom had adopted the
religous culture and language of Separatist-
Pietism. But the GCs were unique in that they
moved back to a more conservative Mennonite
ethos in the 1950s and subsequent decades, a
trend which might well be strengthened by a
GC/Mennonite Church merger.
As noted in some of the articles following,
the Latin American Mennonite community is
beset by many dangers not the least of which is
a burgeoning prosperity and development of a
powerful and wealthy upper class. Will these
people assume leadership roles within their
communities as is already evident in Mexico,
or will they use their wealth merely as a stepping
stone for assimilation into their host societies
as has too often been the case in Canada?
Like Orthodox and conservative Christians
everywhere, Latin American Mennonites are
also beset by all manner of proselytizers who
seek to destroy those whose vision was to replicate
the New Testament community and to be
the Church of God.
Certainly Latin American Mennonites will
be a well-spring of Low German culture and
the Plaut-Dietsch language for decades to come
and will provide a source of continual renewal
and a possible renaissance sometime in the future.
The conservative Mennonite community
is like a sleeping giant which may well awaken
and assume its destiny in the 21rst century.
Kanadier Diaspora.
Over the past few issues we had ran several
stories featuring individuals related to the pioneer
settlers of our local community who have
attained fame and success. The story by Robert
Loewen on John Denver, Issue 8, (related to
No. 11, December, 1997
the Kleine Gemeinde Koop family) and John
Dyck on Alfred van Vogt, Issue 10, (his science
fiction novels sold in the tens of millions),
who hails from an Old Colony background and
whose great-grandparents pioneered in the East
Reserve village of Chortitz in 1874, caught considerable
interest.
Although I consider this as “pop” history,
far removed from the quintessential “nittygritty”
of collecting documents, interviews and
writing the history of the every-day and common
place, these stories do have significance
as they help to dispel at least some of the negative
perceptions of the “Kanadier” people created
by earlier writers such as Peter M. Friesen
and Frank Epp, who considered them a lower
genetic and socio-economic race.
It is ironic, for example, that Alfred van
Vogt, by far the most widely published and
widely read writer ever to come out of the Russian
Mennonite tradition was an “Old
Colonier”. Too often we have not had enough
pride in our ethno-cultural group to track these
success stories.
We plan to run more of these items. In this
issue we proudly present the story of Major-
General Dennis Reimer, Chief of Staff of the
U.S. Army, C.E.O. of the most powerful military
machine in the world. Reimer comes from
what would be called the “Kanadier” in
Canada, the 1870s immigrants. Much to my
surprise, it turned out that Major-General
Reimer’s father was my fourth cousin on the
Siemens side.
Another story along this line, although more
directly related to the East Reserve, is that of
Cornelius Sawatzky, Governor of Boqueron
Province in Paraguay.
John Denver (1943-97). Folk singer John Denver
died in a tragic plane crash into the Pacific Ocean
off Monteray, California, on October 12, 1997.
John Denver, born John Deutschendorf, grew up
in Corn, Oklahoma, where he worked for Cornelius
Kroeker in the wheat harvest. He had a very close
relationship with his grandmother, Anna
Deutschendorf, known as “grandma Dutch” who
used to take him fishing at the creek when he was
little boy. 14 of his albums went gold and 8 were
ranked platinum, with over 1,000,000 units sold.
The LP “John Denver’s Greatest Hits” sold over
10,000,000 copies world wide. From Washita
County Enterprise, Oct. 16, 1997, page 12, and The
Sunday Oklahoman, October 19, 1997, Section A,
page 24, courtesy of Jo Ferguson, Midwest City,
Oklahoma. John Denver had numerous relatives
in the Hanover Steinbach area being a descendant
of the Muensterberg Koops, Molotschna
Colony, Imperial Russia.
13
The Soviet Inferno, 1917-87.
Congratulations to Professor Royden
Loewen, HSHS board member, for a sucessful
symposium on “Mennonites and the Soviet Inferno”,
organized in his position as Mennonite
Chair. August 22 and 23, 1997. The purpose of
the symposium was to kick-start a more detailed
study of the 100,000 Mennonites who suffered
under the Communist regime in Russia and of
the 35,000 who perished. The most intense repression
occured in 1937-1938, being the height
of Stalim’s most vicious purges.
An estimated 300 people attended the symposium
and heard papers by Harvey Dyck (University
of Toronto), Terry Martin (Harvard),
Colin Neufeldt (University of Alberta), Anne
Konrad (Toronto), Marlene Epp (University of
Waterloo), Walter Sawatzky (AMBS), Harry
Loewen (former Mennonite Chair), and others.
The event sparked controversy in terms of
whether Mennonites are entitled to speak of a
“holocost” or whether this “trivializes” the experience.
Brisk debate and personal probing is
always welcome and sure to stimulate the scholarly
process of research and writing, something
too often missing in Mennonite studies.
From the papers presented it was evident
that much work awaits to be done in this exciting—but
invariably tragic—field of studies.
Family Newsletters.
An interesting development in recent years
is the family newsletter which a number of extended
families are publishing in order to maintain
some sort of family identity and momentum
in documenting the clan history. The
“Harder Family Review” (now in its 39th issue)
published by my friend and “cousin” Dr.
Leland Harder, Box 363, North Newton, Kansas,
67117, is one of the more highly developed
examples of this genre of writing. “The
Ratzlaff Report” is a newsletter for persons with
that surname and can be ordered from P. Geoff,
Box 1482, Elgin, Illinois, 60121-1482.
The “Klippenstein” newsletter is an example
of such a newsletter in Manitoba.
Volume 1, No. 1, of “The Barkman Letter”
being “A Newsletter for the Family of Peter
M. Barkman” has recently been published. The
editors are Jerry Barkman and Johanna
Ferguson. Those readers up on their Steinbach
history will recall that Peter M. Barkman was
the youngest brother of Jakob (1824-75), the
Steinbach minister and leader who drowned in
the Red River in 1875. Those interested in “The
Barkman Letter” can write Rev. Jerry Barkman,
137 NW Reed Ln., Dallas, Oregon, 97338.
Subscription rate is $10US annually.
Articles.
The purpose of Preservings is to publish article
of relevance to the history and culture of
the East Reserve, Hanover Steinbach, community.
If you are interested in writing and/or publishing
an article, please contact the editor at
1(204)-326-6454, or 1(204)326-9022, or
1(204)474-5031, or submit your article o/c Box
1960, Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada, R0A 2A0.
In August I received an unsolicited article