Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

No. 11, December, 1997
The Gebietsamt or Municipal office in Bergthal built during the 1860s. It had a boardroom where the Oberschulz
and his 15 member council held their deliberations and office and private residence for the secretary. The
Bergthaler did not boast about their financial progress but the well-constructed and modern public buildings
speak for themselves. Photo courtesy of The Bergthal Colony, page 30.
Gemeindespeicher (“community granary”) where
a year’s supply of flour and seed grain was stored,
the Brandordnung (“mutual fire insurance company”),
and the village assembly (“Schultebut”)
where decisions regarding village life were made
in a democratic and public forum.
Social services were provided pursuant to the
commitment of the Chortitzer Gemeinde “to look
unto the necessities of the saints”. This included
access to a sound elementary education for all in
the community regardless of wealth or social station,
provision of foster parents and/or guardians
for orphans, special assistance for the handicapped
and disabled, and financial assistance for widows
and the elderly. In addition to the more formal
institutions already referred to, these social
policy objectives were achieved by way of the
Armenkasse (“poor box”) which provided funds
used by the deacons to look after the poor, the
1899 - Peter Neufeld (1821-1922), settled in Ebenfeld,
Manitoba, on Section 4-7-6E, a mile west of Steinbach
on the north side of the present-day P.T.H.52
where Dr. Paul Peters lives today, staking out a
“chutor” of 800 acres of prime farmland for himself
and his sons. Peter Neufeld was born in the Chortitza
Colony, experienced the move to the Bergthal Colony,
and then the 1874 emigration to Canada. Photo courtesy
of Audrey Toews, Steinbach, Manitoba.
widows and the fatherless.
These social structures and other community
constructs such as closely knit extended families,
village communities and, of course, the Gemeinde
itself, provided a social safety net for the poor,
the disadvantaged and marginalized within the
Chortitzer Gemeinde which was centuries ahead
of its time. These institutions were transplanted
in their entirety from Imperial Russia to Manitoba
in 1874 and are generally well-known and
have already been dealt with in other sources.
Bergthal became the most successful example
of the colony settlement system among the Russian
Mennonites. Through wise leadership and
the providence of God, Bergthal avoided the extreme
factionalism generated by radical Separatist-Pietists
whose fervent proselytizing broke up
families and church communities in the Old
Colony and in the Molotschna Colony.
The landless dispute, a near revolt of disenfranchised
workers in the Molotschna Colony, was
avoided by the Bergthal landowners who were
willing to sacrifice of their property time and time
again in order to provide for the needs of their
less fortunate neighbours and friends. At the time
of emigration, Aeltester Wiebe and Oberschulz
Peters set an example by agreeing to a write down
of their deposits in the Waisenamt which provided
a fund so that even the poorest in the community
could emigrate to Manitoba in 1874-6.
Das Verstossene Kind.
The story of “Das Verstossene Kind”, literally
the rejected child, better than anything I know,
describes the religious faith and spirituality of the
Bergthaler/Chortitzer.
On April 12, 1863, “Das Verstossene Kind”
was born to a young Russian woman in the home
of her relative, the Russian herdsman in
Heuboden. The mother had worked as a maid in
Schönfeld. She did not want the baby and so it
was thrown into a pig pen.
The baby was rescued by Mrs. Johann
Doerksen and nursed by Mrs. Jakob Harder,
Heuboden. After the foster-mother died, she was
replaced by a woman who was indifferent to the
child and when the immigration came to pass,
they told him that they could not afford to take
him along.
The evening after his foster-parents had left,
5
Oberschulz Jakob Peters found the child weeping
by the village well.
“Johann, aren’t you gone yet? asked Jakob Peters.
Slowly Johann raised himself up, looked fearfully
in the direction of the voice and recognized
the Oberschulz.
“The others have all left except me,” he replied.
“They did not wish to take me along.”
“Then you must come with me,” said Jakob
Peters, without hesitation. “You can stay with us
until something turns up.”
Johann stood up, took hold of the proffered
hand and allowed himself to be led to the Peter’s
home. Here the Oberschulz gave him something
to eat and drink. Then he said,” Johann, you are
now my son; and if you like it here you may stay.
Next year I want to move to America and you can
come along. I will not leave you here....”
True to his word, the Oberschulz brought
Johann to Manitoba in 1876. In 1887 Johann
joined the Chortitzer Gemeinde and adopted the
name Johann Peters. In time Johann married and
raised a large family—The Bergthal Colony, pages
39-40. A more detailed account is found in the
book about the Oberschulz by John Dyck. The
complete heart-wrenching story is told by William
Enns, Das Verstossene Kind, 132 pages.
East Reserve Settlement, 1874.
About 500 families of the Bergthaler started
arriving in the East Reserve in August, 1874. The
“Brot Schult Registers” of the Bergthaler
Gemeinde, which recorded the aid given to each
family by way of loans and credits, indicate that
they originally intended to settle in 25 villages
with 15 to 20 families in each, which would have
been in keeping with the practice in Russia: see
Irene Kroeker, “Brot Schult Registers” in
Preservings, No. 8, June 1996, pages 40-44.
However, the E. Reserve did not have large
Maria Dyck Schroeder (1840-1900), one of the dynamic
women of Bergthal, Imperial Russia. She won
her husband’s heart by quoting Goethe’s poetry. Photo
courtesy of Wm. Schroeder, Bergthal Colony, page 43.