Figure 1.--The best-known Mennonite group in America is the Amish. They attend public schools, but often small rural primary schools which have classed through the 8th grade. They often make up aubstantialm part of the class. Here is one of these schools, probably during the 1930s.

The Mennonites because of several tennants of the faith, especially pacifism brought them into conflict with civil authotity. While the Mennonites began in Switzerland, they were driven out of that country into first neigboring European countries and thn Russia and the English colonies in America. Throughout Germany and mamy other European countries there were very strict conscription laws. There were also problems with religious authorities. Thus much of the history of the Mennonites was seeking out countries where they could practice their faith without inteference from civil and religious authorities. A major refuge was Tsarist Russia, but the victory of the Bloshevicks changed this. Eventually America and Canada proved to be the two countries where Mennoites communities could most safely develop and prosper. This became especially true after the Revolution when the new Federal Constitutiion with its Bill of Rights established the principle of religious freedom. Even in America, however, the Mennotites encountered some problems.

Historical Communities: Origins

Switzerland

Luther's Protestant Reformatuon soom morphed into many Protestant faiths. The Mennonites were one of those sects. They developedout of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland and spread largely within the Holy Roman Empire, which at the time of the Reformation included both Switzerland and the the Netherlands. A Zurrich group seceded from the state church (1523-25). Zwingli and the Zurich City Council reacted to the Anabaptists with intense persecution in an effort to supress the movement. [Schrag] The persecution in Zurich and other areas of Switzerland drove many Anabaptists to the neighboring northern and eastern areas (Alsace, the Palatinate, Tyrol, Moravia and the Netherlands) where they found a greater degree of toleratuon, at least temporarily. Those who survived fled to the mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany and lived quietly. Here began the Amish tradition of farming and holding their worship services in homes rather than churches. A young Catholic priest from the Netherlands named Menno Simons joined the Anabaptist movement. His writings and leadership united many of the Anabaptist groups, who became called Mennonites. A Swiss bishop, Jacob Amman, broke from the Mennonite church (1693). His followers came to be called the "Amish." Although the two groups have split several times, the Amish and Mennonite churches still share the same basic beliefs concerning baptism, non-resistance, and basic Bible doctrines. They differ in matters of dress, technology, language, form of worship, and interpretation of the Bible. The Amish and Mennonites both settled in Pennsylvania as part of William Penn's "holy experiment" of religious tolerance.

Moravia (Czechoslovakia)

Anabaptists in Moravia organized along communal lines and took their name from Jacob Hutter who joined the group in 1529. They became known as the Hutterian Brethren.

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands a Catholic priest, Menno Simons (1496?-1561), was moved by their message, converted, and joined the movement (1536). He emerged as the leader of the Dutch Anabaptists (Doopesgezinde). They were initially referred to as the Swiss Bretheren, but as they became estanlisjed in the Netherlands and Simons; leadership establishd, began to be called 'Menists' and finally 'Mennonites'. The Dutch Anabaptist Movement was strongest in Amsterdam and Leeuwarden and included nearby German cities like Emden (East Friesland) and M�nster. This group alsp spread to Danzig which had an important Dutch community. The Anabastists were violently supressed througout the Empire. Leaders in particular were arrested and executed. There was a strong thread of Pacifism among many, which included even resort to self defene. The Mennonites were moderate Anabaptists. Simons provided thoughful leadership, in sharp contrast to the fanatical Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster (1534-35). Simons helped to establish a degree of balance to the Anabaptist movement. Dutch Menninites issued the Dordrecht Confession (1632).As a result the Mennontites along with the Amish and Hutterites were the few Anabaptist groups to survive early perecution and the European religious wars. A Dutch reader writes that the Anabaptist movement in the Netherlands that evolved into the Mennoinites was primarily Dutch rather than Swiss. He writes, "Except for some churches, there are no traces in the Netherlands of Swiss Anabaptists who left Switzerland to settle in Holland, in freedom. Never heard of it. Dutch society had welcomed Spanish and Portuguese Jews and French Huguenots and German Jews (Anne Frank), but Swiss?" [Stueck] It may well be that the numbers of Swiss refugees were swamped by much larger numbers of Dutch converts. This issue is not addressed in the sources we consulted. But it would seem likely given the spread of the Anabatist movement and the substantial numbers who joined the movement in the Low Countries which became the area where the Mennoites developed. This would suggest that while Anabaptism origunated in witzerland, the Mennonite movement became a ethnically primarily a Dutch movement.

Germany

Mennonites spread from Switzerland to many areas of Germany and Austria. There were different threads of the Anapatist movement. Areas in the northeast became associated wiuth the Mennitites in the Low Countries. In the southwest the Huterites were ijfluentia. Inthe southeast close to Switzerland, the Amish became important. The Anabaptists became targets in the dreadful religious wars. This culminated in the the Thirty Years War. Anabaptists throughout Germany were subjected to terrible persecution and violence. Anabaptism as a result did not survive as a major movement in Germany. Only groups like the Menonittes and Huterites who migrated from Gerany survived. Many early Anabaptists were put to death as heretics by both Catholics and Protestants. Those who survived fled to the mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany and lived quietly in isolated areas. Here began the Amish tradition of farming and holding their worship services in homes rather than churches which could be easily identified.

Volksdeutsche in Russia

The offer by Tsarina Chatherine the Great was especially attractive to the Germans because they were allowed to live as communities under their own laws and were exempted from military service. Most of Volksdeutsche in the Russian Empire were Lutheran. There was also a small number of Mennonites. The story of the Mennonites in Russia is one small part of the larger part Volksdeutsche story. Etnic Germans in the Russian Empire woukd eventually excded more than 2 million people. As Russian policies changed toward the Folksdeutsche in the 19th century, some moved to Canada. Large numbers were killed when Stalin during World War II deported the Volksdeutsche from their Volga farms to Siberia (1941).

Russia/Ukraine

The Ukraine at the time the Volksdeutsche arrived was a art of the Tsarist Empire, seized from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Ottoman Empire. Mennonites who were being perscecuted began to move from the Low Countries (especially Friesland) and Flanders east into the Vistula delta region of Poland where it emptied into the Baltic. Here with special dispensations they were able to find both religious freedom and exemption from military service. They gradually lost their Dutch and Frisian languages (both similar to German) and began speaking the Plautdietsch dialect spoken by the larger Volkdeutsche community in the area. Some elements of their original languages were incorporated into their Plautdietsch. As a result, Plautdietsch as it developed over a period of 300 years in the Vistula delta region and southern Russia/Ukraine. Russian Emperess Catherine the Great, of German origins, issued a Manifesto inviting Europeans to come and settle land within Russia, especially in the poorly developed Volga River region (1763). Germans more than any other nationality responded in large numbers. The attraction was fich farm land. The Mennoites in the Vistula region came under the control of Prussia as a result of the First Polish Partition (1772). King Frederick William II of Prussia became soon shortly after (1786). He was willing to continue the military exemptions they enjoyed under milirary rule, but imposed heavy taxes. As a result, members of the community moveed further east beyond Prussian control. Mennonites in the Vistula delta approached Russian officials to negotiate an extension of Catherine's 1763 Manifesto. Crown Prince Paul signed a new agreement with the Mennonites (1789). This began the Mennonite migration to the southern regions of the Tsarist Empire. Jacob Hoeppner and Johann Bartsch led the migration. The first Mennonite settlements were northwest of the Sea of Azov, an almost enclosed sea northeast of the Black Sea. The Russians had just acquired the area from Ottoman Empire as a result of the Russo-Turkish War (1768-74). A substantial part of the Vistula Menninites accepted the Tsarist invitation. Their first colony was Chortitza on the Dnieper (1789). They founded a second, larger colony at Molotschna (1803). Beginning in the late-19th century as a result of Alexander III russification effort, some of the Mennoites began emigrating to countries offering more political freedom. Those that remained were forcibly relocated by Stalin after the German invasion of the Soviet Union (1941). he Mennonites were not specifically targeted, but were part of aarger ation against ethnic Germans. Very few Mennonites are Germans in general are now found in the Ukraine.

France

Anabaptist groups including the Mennonites established communities in France, but did not survive persecution. French Anabaptists was strongest in the north and became primarily associatd with the Mennonites offshoot with developed in the Low Countries. Anabaptists first appeared in the east of Frace close to Switzerland at an early phase of the Protestant Reformation. Strasbourg to the north along the Rhine played important role. The city was a haven for a variety of Protestant religious dissidents during the early formative period of Protestantism. A leading figure was Pilgram Marpeck who came to Strasbourg because of its relative tolerance (1528-32). He worked as a timber supervisor and engineer. But evn for Strasbourg, Anabaptism was a Protestant step too far. City authorities eventually expelled him because of his Anabaptist religiou prostelization. Protestant clerics like Martin Bucer convinced city authorities to expell all known Anabaptists--the Edict of February 16, 1534). Despite this, only 20 years later, Anabaptists were again present and active in Strasbourg. One report describes an Anabaptist congregation of about 100 people (1556). Strasbourg become a location for Anabaptist ministers to meet abd confer. There were repeated gatherings (1554, 1555, 1557, 1568, 1592, and 1607). One source describes a 1554 conference attended by 600 Anabaptists. Persecution continued, however, Anabaptists increasingly moved out of Strasbourg into the countryside. Here they could quitely practive theur faith in relative safty. Alsace as a result became the most important center of Anabaptism in France. And because of the location near the Low Countries, it gradually became associated with the Mennotite movement. There were, however, repeated attempts by French authorities to expel them from Alsace. Gradually many French Mennoites migrated to America where there were greater religious toleration. This began with the foundation of the English colony of Pennsylvania based on the idea of religious toleration. King Charles II granted William Penn, a Quaker, a royal charter for a new colony (1681).

Modern Communities

There are many Mennonite communities around the world today. The most stable are in capitalist North America. Here freedom of relgion, the healthy capitalist economy, and the rule of law have all created the perfect enviorment for these communities to thrive and proper. None are in Europe where the Anabaptists/Mennonites originated. They are some in Latin America and one in Africa. The vomminity in Mexico had to disolve because of the lack of a strong national tradition of the rule of law. The future of the other Latin American communities is unclera. The expanding importance of Protestantism in Katin Americam is a promising sign. Economic and political trends are less certain.

Sources

Cañás Bottos, Lorenzo. Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia: Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future (Brill: 2008).

Lahrichi, Kamilia. "This tiny colony in Argentina doesn't believe in Spanish, tango, or soccer," Globlpost (June 9, 2015).

Schrag, Martin. "The European History of the Swiss Mennonites," Volhynia (1956).

Stueck, Rudi. E-mail message (March 7, 2015).

Created: 9:14 PM 5/17/2010
Last updated: 12:05 AM 5/25/2020