Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

No. 11, December, 1997
Jack Jack P PPenner
P enner ML MLA ML A Visits Visits Zaporozhye
Zaporozhye
Emerson MLA Jack Penner had opportunity to explore his Mennonite heritage during recent trade mission to Ukraine.
I recently returned from a provincial government
trade mission to Ukraine, where we cultivated
our economic and cultural relationships with
that country. I would like to describe our journey
to Ukraine as a step back in titne. Areas we visited
are and have stood still for decades. The architecture
demonstrates the inunense wealth that
must have once existed there. The City of Kiev is
a treasure of historical architecture not seen in
many other parts of the world.
The City of Lviv and the surrounding region
are the areas from which most of the Ukrainian
people in Manitoba originated. Again, these areas
illustrate enormous past wealth, as seen in
the large, well-preserved churches and the many
other ornate buildings dating back to the 16th and
17th centuries. This area was once ruled by Poland.
Later it became Russian territory and was
governed under the Communist system.
The Zaporozhye area in the southeast part of
Ukraine was virtually destroyed during the Russian
Revolution and suffered further damage during
the Second World War, when Gemian forces
occupied the region. However, the Russians eventually
regained control. Much of the city was rebuilt
during the Russian occupation of the
Zaporozhye area, as is demonstrated by its architectural
style. We were told there had been 2200
statues of Lenin in the city of Zaporozhye alone
at one time. Now there is only one Lenin statue
left and they were debating whether they should
retain it in remembrance of what not to do or how
to govern.
We were quite impressed at how freely we
could travel in the Ukraine, as well as how well
stocked their stores and markets were. Everywhere
we went, the residents were friendly and
answered our many questions. Our travels took
us to several of the Mennonite villages in the
Chortitza and Molotschna areas. The country has
tremendous tourism potential, as many people are
interested in discovering their Mennonite heritage.
They will be impressed by what they find
and how helpful people are about providing information.
Still other visitors will want to spend
time in the historic churches and see the other
well-preserved buildings of centuries past. Or,
they may simply want to take in the region’s natural
beauty.
We visited villages such as Neuendorf, where
we saw the “Hildebrand House” and we wondered
if this could have been Dora’s greatgrandfather’s
house. We were very impressed by
the architecture and the solidness of these buildings,
which could have been our family heritage.
Who knows?
Also impressive were the schools for girls and
boys and the “Kindershule”. It demonstrated how
important education must have been to our people
and it begs the question, is it still as important
here in Manitoba?
The careful layout and planning of communities,
the sturdy buildings, and the many old factories
in both the Molotschna and Chortitza areas,
were indicative of a very progressive and wealthy
people. Agriculture must have been the backbone
of the Mennonite communities, and it is still very
important to the people living in the old Mennonite
homes today. By the way, many of the factories
built by the Mennonites and taken over by
the Russians are still operating today, one example
being the Wilm’s flour mill in Halbstadt.
Of particular interest to me were the collective
farms. Some of them were very large, covering
twenty to thirty thousand acres, with 1000
head of cattle and 2000 hogs. A number had small
industries located on them as well, such as oil
crushing plants, a buckwheat dehulling facility, a
sausage plant and a flour mill. One farm we visited
had 600 residents. Of these, 363 worked on
the farm while the others were seniors collecting
a pension of $40 US a month. As a point of interest,
the people working on this farm had not been
paid at all this year. The farm manager told us he
would harvest his sugar beets, have them processed
and give the sugar to the people living on
the farm in lieu of wages. All the people working
on the farm had their own gardens and livestock
such as geese, ducks, chickens, cows, pigs, goats
and sheep, so there was no shortage of food. Some
of the residents sold their own produce along the
roadside to earn some money.
On another farm we were shown a brand new
tractor, a 350 horsepower Winnipeg-built New-
Holland model. They were very impressed with
its capabilities. Equally impressed were workers
at another collective farm who had a new John
Deere combine [Endnote] which had also been
put to very good use. These farmers told us that
they needed many more of these machines to make
their operations more efficient. The North American-built
machinery looked very impressive compared
to the older Russian-built equipment most
had to use on their farms.
It became very apparent that this country has
a huge agricultural potential and their government
leaders know it. On numerous occasions they
asked for assistance and advice in forming partnerships
with our province, our businesses and
our agricultural communities. We met with Ukrainian
president Leonid Kuchma and his government,
the prime minister and many of his cabinet.
They indicated to us a desire to pass legislation
which would allow private ownership of land,
as well as privatization of many of their factories
and businesses.
We had a meeting with the head of their
Oblatz, their equivalent of our province and premier,
his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of
Industry and Minister of Agriculture in the
Zaporozhye area. After the meeting where we
discussed future development, the Minister of
Agriculture asked us for a private meeting to discuss
how we marketed our products. I agreed to
this and six of their farm leaders also attended
this meeting. We spent three hours discussing
markets, prices, cropping practices and modern
farm practices. They wondered if we would be
interested in coming back to share our way of
farming with them. An opportunity perhaps? They
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certainly have huge potential for increased agricultural
production in the Ukraine.
When Sunday came around, we attended a
Mennonite church service in Zaporozhye, and we
met 70 parishioners of Mennonite descent. The
language used in church was German and translated
into Russian. We really felt at home there.
Reverend Frank Dyck and his wife Nettie serve
the church, which is located in downtown
Zaporozhye.
One thing I found interesting in my meetings
with govermnent officials was their interest in
discussing a church which had been built by the
Mennonites. It was located in Neuendorf and they
were interested in giving the church building back
to the Mennonites. This is something I would like
to discuss with some of our church leaders in
Manitoba, as well as the Mennonite Central Committee.
I believe there is a real opportunity for the
Mennonite community in Canada to assist the
Mennonite community in Zaporozhye. We could
help them in gaining access to this building, opening
an office for the MCC, as well as an activity
centre — in other words, a church in our old village
in Ukraine. This would demonstrate a willingness
to become involved in rebuilding the
Ukrainian economy, as well as a desire to reestablish
the church for Ukraine’s Mennonites.
The strong ancestral links between the people
of Manitoba and Ukraine offer a unique opportunity
to work together. We look forward to further
developing those economic and cultural relationships.
Both of our countries have much to gain by
strengthening these ties.
Jack Penner, Box 64, Homestead, Manitoba, R0A
0S0
Jack Penner, MLA visits Ukraine [Carillon News photo
Nov 10/97]
Endnote: This must have been the “Schors Collective
Farm” in the eastern Molotschna visited
by the 1996 Kleine Gemeinde Heritage Tour on
April 9, 1996. This Collective is farming some of
the same land farmed by our Kleine Gemeinde
ancestors during the 1850s and 60s—Editor’s
Note.