The Mennonite Village of Karolswalde
By Rodney D. Ratzlaff
October 2021
Karolswalde
(50°16'59.5"N 26°29'32.9"E)
This village in
present-day Rivne Oblast; Ostrog Rayon (Рівненська область; Острозький
Район/міськрада) was founded by Low German-speaking Mennonite settlers in
1801. In his own baptism records, the
last Mennonite Ältester of the village, Tobias A. Unruh, spelled the name
“Karolswalde”, thus we will use this spelling throughout this account. At different times, and by peoples of various
ethnicities, the village has been known by different names. Before 1939 the village was known alternately
as Karolswalde (or similar) or Slobodskie-Galendry (or similar). Karolswalde, or literally “Karol’s-forest” in
English, was the original name given to the village at its establishment in
1801. The namesake for the village was
Prince Karol Jabłonowski, mayor of Ostrog and owner of the tract of land in
1801 where the village was established. In
1886 the administration of Volyn Governorate passed a new regulation requiring
that the names of German villages should be adjusted to Slavic equivalents.[1] At that time Karolswalde came to be known as Slobodskie-Galendry/Слободские-Галендры
which in Polish or Ukrainian would translate to something like “Dutch
Slobodka”. Dutch being a nod to the
Mennonite settlers, or Olędrzy/Holländer/Голендри,
who originally settled the village and Slobodka or Sloboda being an eastern
European term for a settlement which enjoys special tax-free benefits – thus
the “Dutch Tax-Free Village”. After
1939 when the area was claimed by the U.S.S.R., the village was named
Prikordonnoe (Прикордонное), a derivation of the Russian word for
“border”. The nearby Viliya (Вілія)
River at that time marked the border between the U.S.S.R. and Poland and the
village sat nearly right on top of it.
Today, in Ukrainian, the village is Prykordonne (Прикордонне).
Karolswalde is
a particularly significant village in Volhynian Mennonite history as well as Volhynian
German history. Over the course of the
19th century, Volyn Governorate became a primary destination for
German migration from Poland. With large
areas of uncultivated and sparsely populated land, Volyn was an attractive
destination and German settlement there accelerated until by 1881 Germans made
up over 4% of the population of the governorate.[2] Large numbers of German Mennonites,
Lutherans, Baptists, and Catholics from the Vistula area in Poland and Prussia
came to Volyn and one of the very first permanent settlements in the
governorate was Karolswalde.[3] The establishment of Karolswalde would help
signal the beginning of a significant immigration movement into the governorate.
Karolswalde was
founded by Low German Mennonites, an Anabaptist sect which originated in the
Dutch lowlands in the early 16th century. Adherents were named Mennists or Mennonites
after an influential 16th Century leader named Menno Simons. In the 16th century the Dutch
lowlands were a hotbed for development of Protestant sects which the Catholic
Hapsburg and Spanish overlords sought to quell.
As a product of the resultant persecution, many Mennonites found a new
home in the liberal Polish kingdom.
Mennonites began settling in the Vistula River delta and valley as early
as the mid-16th century and quickly established footholds from
Gdansk and Elblag in the north, all the way south to Torun. The Mennonites were welcomed by local rulers and
landowners because of their expertise with draining marshes and flooded
river-bottom areas and turning this into effective farmland. The Vistula River delta and valley, prone to
annual flooding, was at the time generally desolate and unproductive. The Mennonites helped to build dikes, pumps, canals,
etc., which contributed to minimize the effects of the flooding. The Mennonites in the area grew prosperous
and increased greatly in number throughout the second half of the 16th
century, right through the 17th and 18th centuries, and
even into the 19th century.
Typically, these Mennonites are known as Low German Mennonites since
they spoke a dialect of the Low German language.[4]
This time
period (16th-18th Centuries) roughly corresponded to the
period of Polish history known as the First Republic or the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth (1569-1795). This was a
time when Poland was one of the most vital countries in Europe. For many years during this period, Poland was
very prosperous, and the government was quite liberal and forward-thinking in
many different ways.
Most of these
Low German Mennonites during this period lived in the area known as Royal
Prussia, which roughly was the left-bank of the Vistula from Gdansk to Chełmno. Royal Prussia was an area directly under the
Crown’s control, not to be confused with Ducal Prussia. Ducal Prussia was roughly right-bank Vistula
of the same area, under the control of the Duke of Prussia, at times a
[nominal] vassal of the Polish Crown.
Ducal Prussia was decidedly less liberal and developed more militaristic
policies than did Royal Prussia.
The First
Republic of Poland, liberal as it was, was severely hampered by its governmental
system. The nobility dominated the country
and made the task of governing very difficult for the elected king. As a result of fractured internal politics,
Poland suffered a long decline during this period, gradually losing power in
eastern and central Europe to its neighbors Prussia, Russia, and the Habsburg
Monarchy (Austria).
By 1772,
Poland’s power had eroded to the point where these three great powers, Prussia,
Russia, and Austria, began to divide Polish lands between themselves in the divisions
known as the Partitions of Poland. The
three Partitions, in 1772, 1793, and 1795, divided Poland completely and by the
end of 1795, Poland ceased to exist as an independent political entity. Most of Royal Prussia, the lands occupied by
the Mennonites, was ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia (the successor to Ducal
Prussia) and thus these pacifist anabaptists found themselves under the rule of
the militaristic Prussians. At this
time, in a general sense, the lands formerly known as Royal Prussia became West
Prussia while the lands formerly known as Ducal Prussia became East
Prussia. Among other ramifications, the
Mennonites were forbidden to buy new land and were compelled to pay heavy taxes
in lieu of military service. Even by the
1780s, many Mennonites began looking for a new home which would allow them to
freely practice their vocations as well as their religion.[5]
At the same
time when Poland was on the decline, Imperial Russia was expanding and
increasing in power. Russia gained
territory in Poland during the Partitions but it also gained much land in the
south after wars with Ottoman Turkey in the 1760s-70s. New Russia or Novorossiya was
established during the second half of the 18th century and included
lands along the Black and Azov Seacoasts.
In an effort to colonize all these new lands with productive
agriculturalists, Imperial Russia’s sovereign, Empress Catherine II (the Great,
the German princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst) issued her 1763 manifesto formally
inviting German farmers into New Russia and offering them numerous appealing
taxation and other benefits which guaranteed them a fair level of
autonomy. These benefits looked attractive
to the Low German Mennonites along the Vistula who were at the time struggling
with the ramifications of the Polish Partitions. Foremost in the Mennonites’ minds were the
problem of balancing economic stability with religious freedom; they needed to
be able to make a good living on the land while also maintaining religious
liberty and military exemptions.
Catherine’s manifesto guaranteed these religious benefits without
reservation for settlers in New Russia.[6] The situation for Mennonites in Volyn,
however, was unique.[7] Many and varied were the reasons which
brought Mennonite settlers into the Imperial governorate. While Catherine’s 1763 manifesto stood as the
foundation for colonization (along with Tsar Paul’s 1800 privlegium, as well as
Tsar Alexander I’s 1804 manifesto) settlers on privately owned land in Volyn
probably arrived when local landowners sought them out. Volhynian landowners needed skilled
agriculturalists to cultivate their estates and likely sent agents into Prussia
to tout opportunities for potential colonists.[8] Since these settlers were not invited by the
Russian government, “they were not subject to the legislation which governed
the life of the invited colonists of the Volga and Black Sea regions,
nor, on the other hand, did they enjoy the special rights and privileges which
Catherine's 1763 manifesto had bestowed upon those.”[9]
Against this
political backdrop a very specific group of Low German Mennonites, centered at
the community of Przechowka along the Vistula between Grudziadz and Chełmno,
accepted an offer to move onto land owned by Antoni Protazy Potocki, the
starost of Vinnytsia, typically known by his nickname, Prot. Prot Potocki observed Mennonites selling
their wares in the markets of Warsaw, and, impressed by their deportment,
invited them to move onto lands he owned south of Berdychiv on estates at
Makhnowka and Samgorodok.[10] The Mennonites accepted the offer and moved
onto this land in 1791 with a charter signed by the Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, the very last king of the
Polish First Republic.[11] The charter guaranteed the Mennonites
specific taxation rights, religious freedoms, economic privileges, etc. In 1791 they established farms near the
village of Michalin[12] and set to work mainly
making cheese, producing textiles, and turning out various woodworking products. At that time, Michalin was under the
administration of the Braclaw Voivoideship of the Polish First Republic.
Only two years
passed, though, until the 1793 Partition after which point these Mennonites at
Michalin found themselves living on the east side of the new Russian-Polish
border. No longer were they subjects of
the Polish Crown but now were living in the Empire of Russia. With the 1793 Partition, the Braclaw
Voivoideship became the Bratslav Vicegerency (Bratslavskoe Namestnychestvo/Брацлавське
намісництво) and suddenly all the rights and benefits associated with
Stanisław August’s charter were in question since these Mennonites lived on
privately-owned land. Then in 1796,
Bratslav Vicegerency was dissolved by the Russian government and the land was
divided between the neighboring Kyiv and Podol Governorates; Michalin thus went
to Kyiv. From there it took only a very
short period of time for local tax collectors to start demanding higher
payments from the Mennonites who soon dispatched their elder, Cornelius Wedel[13], to St. Petersburg to
appeal the Mennonites’ rights previously guaranteed by the now-defunct Polish
king.[14]
Low German Mennonite Settlements in Volyn Governorate in the 19th Century
The matter was
made very complicated due to the numerous changes of administration, the fact
that the Mennonites occupied privately-owned land, and the disputed social
classification of the Mennonites. To
make a long story short, while Elder Wedel toiled with legal battles in St.
Petersburg, the Michalin villagers in 1798 were given the opportunity by local
administrators to search for a new place to settle[15] and by August 1801, 19
families were set to sign a contract with Karol Jabłonowski, mayor of Ostrog,
to settle a tract of land near to the southwest of his town in central Volyn
Governorate. The new village was then named
Karolswalde in honor of Jabłonowski.
We should make
a short aside here to discuss the legendary origin of Karolswalde. Above, we have outlined very briefly the
events that did, in fact, lead to the establishment of Karolswalde but there is
a colorful legend which has persisted for many, many years about which a reader
should be made aware.
During the same
period as the village of Michalin was settled (1791), other Mennonite colonies
were established in New Russia; namely Chortitza (established 1789) and
Molotschna (established 1804). These two
colonies would become the largest early settlements to which Low German
Mennonites migrated from villages between Gdansk and Torun. Many migrant Mennonites traveled overland
from the Vistula homelands to New Russia and the route would have probably utilized
in some way the ancient Via Regia through western Ukraine, passing
through the Volhynian towns of Volodymyr-Volynsky, Dubno, Rivne, and Zhytomyr before
turning on to Kyiv. The legend goes that
the Mennonite family of Karol Dirks was traveling with just such a Mennonite
caravan, bound for New Russia, when one of the Dirks boys, 16-year-old Jacob,
became very ill. The caravan, camped
near the Polish-Russian border (presumably near Ostrog) delayed only so much in
order to wait for the sick boy before it needed to carry on. The Dirks family agreed to leave the boy in
the care of friendly border guards who promised to send him along south with
the next caravan. The family then traveled
without their oldest son only a very short distance before they realized they
could not, in fact, bear to leave the boy.
The family turned back to go fetch the youth and, alone in the forest
near Ostrog, they founded Karolswalde and named the village after the father,
Mr. Karol Dirks. The younger son of the
family, Benjamin, would go on to become the second Ältester of the
Mennonite church in Karolswalde.[16]
This legend is
demonstrably false. While colorful and
interesting it deserves to be put to bed once and for all. The story falls apart looking at the history
of the well-known Mennonite Ältester, Benjamin Dirks. Dirks was probably born in Neu Dessau,
Brandenburg, in 1781, and his father’s name was Johann. Villages in Neumark, Brandenburg, such as Neu
Dessau, were established by Przechowka congregants in the 1760s. Records demonstrate that this particular
Dirks family resided in Neu Dessau until 1811 at which time they left the Neumark
for Volyn.[17] The family did come to live in Karolswalde
but that village was established already in 1801. If in 1811 Benjamin Dirks had a brother who
fell ill near Ostrog, and if the family was forced to desert a caravan bound
for New Russia, then the family would have already found a village named
Karolswalde at which they could settle.
Further, the well-known Mennonite genealogical database, GRanDMA,
contains no father-son pairings Karol-and-Jacob Dirks from even close to the
right time period.[18] That does not offer conclusive proof such a
pair could not have existed but with information currently available it
certainly does not seem likely. Finally,
none of the original settlers of Karolswalde were named Karol or had the
surname Dirks.
The original
land contract for the village of Karolswalde was signed on 8 September
1801. This is one of the earliest known land
contracts in Volyn Governorate for a permanent German settlement and we will
present it here in its entirety for the very first time in English. The contract was executed between the
land-owner Prince Karol Jabłonowski and the colonists
David Unruh, Peter Isaac, Martin Voth, Martin Boese, Erdman Nickel, Gerhard
Nickel, Andreas Koehn, David Penner, Jakob Toews, Dominik (Benjamin) Wedel,
Jakob Ratzlaff, Andreas Nachtigal, Peter Jantz, Theresa Unruh, Theresa Koehn,
Martin Unruh, Martina Koehn, Eva Voth, and Eva Buller. While new evidence is surfacing all the time,
the unfortunate truth is that we are currently unable to identify all these
individuals using the GRanDMA database.
However, given these specific surnames we can conclude that most of
these settlers likely originated in villages along the Vistula River associated
with the Groningen Old Flemish Mennonite congregation at Przechowka near the
Polish town of Swiecie.[19]
Translation from Polish
Between
his Excellency Prince Karol Jabłonowski, the owner of the town of Ostrog with
villages, on one side, and David Unruh, Peter Isaac, Martin Voth, Martin Boese,
Ertman Nickel, Gerhard Nickel, here present colonists, and other Olędrzy
settling but not present here – Andreas Koehn, David Penner, Jakob Toews,
Dominik Wedel, Jakob Ratzlaff, Andreas Nachtigal, Peter Jantz, Theresa Unruh,
Theresa Koehn, Martin Unruh, Martina Koehn, Eva Voth, Eva Buller, on the other
side, have herewith concluded this firm and unchangeable contract for the
eternal times, in the following paragraphs:
Duties
of the Owner:
1.
In
the next spring, His Excellency Prince Jabłonowski shall order to measure and
divide hayfields behind the village of Slobodka over the river Viliya, so that
20 voloks[20]
each containing 30 morgs are made, as
well as 10 voloks of uncultivated
land for sowing, and also 4 such uncultivated voloks in another place near
the town of Ostrog, where the colonists shall uproot the trees and build their
houses.
2.
For
building of their houses in the Prussian manner, the colonists are allowed to
cut down thick wood from the Viliya forests and thin wood from the Ostrog
forests in the amount required at no charge, after which they shall build and
farm at their own expense.
3.
His
Excellency Prince Jabłonowski promises for those colonists exemption from the
payment of czynsz[21]
for three years in the circumstances prescribed in the paragraph 1.
4.
His
Excellency Prince Jabłonowski promises to give two hundred zlotys to
each family, due to be returned in full in silver coins after three years.
5.
To
the extent allowed by the law, the Prince promises to the colonists freedom of
religion and vows not to interfere with anything on the subject.
6.
The
Prince promises to those colonists the exemption from any duties, except for
the undersigned czynsz, from any service at the court of the owner in
the city, and no one shall ever have the right to demand such duties, except
for the appointed czynsz.
7.
The
mentioned colonists shall have unlimited freedom to sell the agricultural
products they produce as well as handcrafted items in the city of Ostrog or
elsewhere at no charge and without any interference.
8.
The
colonists are allowed to keep bees and apiaries on the land assigned to them at
no charge or fee.
9.
The
Prince ensures that instead of taking recruits from colonists, he shall take
recruits from other settlements owned by him, and colonists shall be obliged to
pay recruit duties, poll tax charges and other state payments on their own.
10. In the same way, the owner promises
every diligence on his part so that the houses of the colonists are dismissed
from boarding.
11. The owner shall hold the colonists
exempt from all the payments for the crafts they make within their Wirtschaft
and guarantees that such shall not be charged.
12. If any of the colonists does not like to
live here anymore, the owner shall allow him to sell his belongings and leave
but before that the colonist shall find another farm-holder to occupy this
piece of land and transfer to him all the obligations hereunder.
13. For the spiritual matters of the
above-mentioned colonists, the owner promises to give a half volok without any payment.
For
the benefits and freedom given by the owner, the colonists on their part vouch
as follows.
Duties
of the Colonists:
1.
After
the colonists settle on the ground of the Ostrog area, they will be exempt of
any payments in the first year, while in the second and third year each
householder shall pay to the owner 20 zlotys annually.
2.
In
the fourth year the colonists shall pay czynsz
for hayfields – four zlotys of silver in coins from each morg without any exceptions and for the
sowed land – also four zlotys, deducting one third of those lands as
being fallow and not generating any profits.
3.
The
colonists shall not buy any drinks anywhere else for all their needs but in the
owner's estates, and in places designated by him for this subject. In the same way, they shall grind the grain
for their needs only at the landlord’s mills at the usual fee.
4.
The
above-mentioned colonists shall be subject to the local law, government, and
justice. However, the Prince, wishing to
reduce his efforts in controlling the order in the settlement, allows herewith
that the colonists choose one person among them and introduce him to the Prince,
so that this person would receive Prince’s instructions and be held responsible
for the order and justice in the settlement and have the right to report to the
Prince about any unsettled complaint.
This
voluntarily concluded contract, which is mutually benefiting and is accepted by
both parties, is herewith signed and shall be submitted to the Ostrog Powiat
court.
Executed
in Ostrog on September 08, 1801
The
original signed by
Prince Karol Jabłonowski
David Unruh
Peter Isaak
Martin Voth
Martin Boese
Ertman Nickel
August 09, 1801
The
nobleman Jan Radinsky, attorney of Prince Karol Jabłonowski, has submitted this
contract between his obligee on the one hand, and the Olędrzy colonists of the
Mennonite religion wishing to settle on the ground of the city of Ostrog, on
the other hand, to the Ostrog Powiat court. The contract has been written on the stamped
paper in 2 columns in Polish and German, with Polish side being wax sealed and
signed by the Prince and German side signed by six Olędrzy settlers.
Accepted
by Andrey Shchepkovsky, vice regent of the zemstvo Ostrog.
[stamps]
(taxes
to the treasury were collected)[22]
The Colony of Karolswalde (Кол. Карлсъ-вальдъ)[23]
The Mennonites
thereafter cleared land, cut wood from the nearby forests, and built
houses. The village was situated in a
north-south orientation, with a main road running roughly parallel with the
small Klinovets stream. Houses were
situated on the west side of the road and fields stretched out further to the
west. Situated in this manner, each
field gained access to water from the Klinovets. Each farmer also in this way held highland
for crops and lowland for pasture and hay.[24] Houses would have been staggered in order to
prevent fire spreading one house to the next.
A church was built in the center of the village. A cemetery sat at the northern edge while a
school was near the southern edge. In
time, two taverns were built: one near the northern edge and another near the
southern edge. At the south end of the
village there was a bridge over the Klinovets just as the stream bent east and
the road bent west. South of the bridge
was the village of Karolsberge, and then the road continued on to Kam'yanka.[25]
Houses were
built in the Olędrzy-Mennonite style with
living quarters for people and animals all contained in one structure. The house was at the end of the structure
facing the road while the barn and stable at the other. Most structures were built upon stone
foundations. Each house would have
contained a large central oven which was used to cook as well as for heat. Wattle fencing may have been built and
several wells would have been dug. Since
wood was plentiful, the Mennonites presumably would have used similar building
methods as their brethren in the Vistula River valley. In fact, today we can still find structures
in the village which are remarkably similar to houses found in the Vistula
valley.[26]
Olędrzy house in Karolswalde, probably Mennonite-built. Photo courtesy of Robert Delaplane
Mennonites
practiced many vocations during the 19th century in
Karolswalde. Rye was the primary crop
they would have grown but cultivation of this sort was not particularly
lucrative. Dairying and raising
livestock were more profitable but most families still needed to supplement income
in some way. Most houses had spinning
wheels and looms and a great number of families toiled well into the evenings
spinning flax into bales of linen. Other
sources of income were apiculture, carpentry, and masonry. Some hired themselves out as day labor on
nearby estates, others lumberjacked in the nearby forests, still others worked
at clay mines in Vil'bivne or tanneries in Ostrog.[27] The Mennonites of Karolswalde, for various
reasons, never grew to be rich and it was characteristic for them to look to depart
Volyn to join larger, more prosperous Mennonite colonies in New Russia when or
if they could.[28]
The original 19
Karolswalde families in 1801 increased to 41 families by 1820.[29] The village during this early period was
supplemented by additional settlers; while some came from Neumark between
1806-1818[30],
others could have come from varied locations such as Przechowka or other
villages in Volyn such as Waldheim/Dosidorf or Sophiewka.
In 1804,
another Mennonite village was founded a very short distance to the west which
was named Antonowka.[31] The villagers here were from Jeziorki, in
West Prussia, and they were closely related to the Karolswalde villagers as
well as those from the Neumark.[32] All these Mennonites could trace their roots
back to Przechowka along the Vistula.
Additional villages were established at Karolsberge (1828), Jadwanin
(1858), Grünthal (1865), Fürstendorf (1868), and Fürstenthal (1869).[33] Another village, Mezeliska, was established
in the 1860s but at this time we cannot pin down the exact year.[34] Still more Mennonites lived in the woods
north of Kuniv and the Viliya River, in the Novomalyn Forest.[35] Close relatives to these Mennonites also
established the villages of Waldheim in 1817 and Dosidorf in 1819, both in Novograd-Volynsky
County, about 35 miles to the northeast.[36] By 1874, the village of Karolswalde numbered
750 souls[37]
and from 1854-1874 no fewer than 263 youths of the village had been baptized by
the Mennonite Ältester.[38]
Karolswalde
itself was established on a tract of land immediately south of Slobidka, a
small village adjoining Ostrog Nowo Miasto to the southwest. The center of Karolswalde is less than four
miles from the Ostrog Castle. Across the
Viliya River to the north is the large village of Mezhyrich.[39] The monastery in the village is less than two
miles straight north of the center of Karolswalde. In the very early 19th century,
Mennonites sometimes apparently referred to Karolswalde as the Mezhyrich colony.[40] Typically, however, Mennonites have lumped
Karolswalde, Antonowka, and the other villages in the immediate vicinity
together calling them either the Karolswalde Circuit or the Ostrog Circuit.
The first
Mennonite Ältester in Karolswalde was Martin Abram Voth who served from
the village’s inception until 1817. He
was succeeded by Benjamin Johann Dirks who served from 1817 until 1853. From 1854, the village was served by Tobias Andreas
Unruh. Along with these Ältestern,
numerous ministers and teachers served the community including Ernst Voth,
Benjamin Unruh, Heinrich Dirks, Johann Schartner, Peter Unruh, Peter Isaac, and
Johann Jantz.[41]
As the 19th
Century wore on, more and more German settlers moved into Volyn Governorate. The bulk of these coming after the
mid-century point were from religious denominations other than Mennonite. All seemed to be well for the Mennonites
across the Empire, from Volyn to the larger settlements in New Russia. However, after hard lessons learned as a
result of defeat in the Crimean War (1853-56) the Russian government began to
look seriously at its military conscription policies. Already in 1870, the debate began within the
Russian government to adopt a universal military conscription policy. Mennonites took very seriously the threat of
universal conscription and immediately sent delegations to St. Petersburg to
appeal the eternal rights of non-resistance due them according to Catherine’s
manifesto. When that did not look
promising, stalwart Mennonite groups arranged for representatives to travel to
North America in order to scout locations for a new home. Among the Mennonites interested in leaving
the Empire of Russia if a military conscription law was passed were those in
Volyn Governorate, specifically those of the Karolswalde Circuit who struggled
economically. On 1 January 1874 the
military conscription law was indeed passed[42] and the dye was thus cast
for Mennonite departure.
Already in the
early months of 1874 the Mennonites of Karolswalde, as well as the other Mennonite
villages nearby to Ostrog, began to prepare to leave Russia. Villagers began to sell their belongings and
raise the money for the voyage to America.
The majority of Mennonites left Volyn under the leadership of Ältester
Tobias A. Unruh in late 1874. Most of
the residents of Karolswalde traveled aboard the S.S. City of London, the S.S.
City of Montreal, and the S.S. Abbotsford, which all departed from Hamburg,
Germany, in the autumn of 1874. The City
of London and the City of Montreal departed Europe from Liverpool, England, bound
for New York City. The Abbotsford
suffered two collisions and an outbreak of smallpox. Passengers were subsequently loaded aboard
the S.S. Kenilworth and the S.S. Illinois, each arriving at Philadelphia in
January 1875.[43] The Low German Mennonites who remained in Volyn
largely consolidated at Fürstendorf/Lilewa (today known as Lisna) after this
time.[44]
After the
Mennonites left Volyn, Karolswalde became inhabited by Lutheran Germans
arriving into Imperial Russia for the first time. These Lutherans came from a village in Poland
near Iłowo called Sochy/Sachen. For more
information about Karolswalde during the Lutheran period, see “From Karlswalde,
Volhynia, to Village Hill, Connecticut” by Claire S. Krause, Journal of the
American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Vol 11., No. 2, Summer 1988
(pages 31-34). During the post-Mennonite
period, the Lutheran Church of Karolswalde was administered by the parish based
in Rivne. For more information see
“Kirchspiele in den Gouvernements Wolhynien, Podolien und Kiew 1909” at https://wolhynien.de/index.htm.
This past
summer we have celebrated the 220th anniversary of the settlement of
the village of Karolswalde. The
establishment of this Low German Mennonite village stands as an exceptionally
important event within the larger scope of the history of German colonization
in Volhynia. The village was the hub for
Low German Mennonites in Volyn Governorate and today descendants are spread
throughout the world from Siberia and Kazakhstan, across Europe, and right
through Canada and the U.S.A. Karolswalde
and the other Mennonite villages have received minimal attention from
historians over the years. Today, more
information is surfacing all the time which may finally reveal the full history
of this village that is so vital to the stories of the Mennonites and Germans in
Volhynia.
[1] Kostiuk, Mykhailo, The German
Colonies in Volhynia, Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe,
Calgary, 2020, p 148.
[2] Ibid., p 28.
[3] Воронин, Александр Федосеевич, Об
иностранных поселенцах в Юго-западном крае, Киев, Унив. тип., ценз. 1873, p
4. See also Kostiuk, Mykhailo, p
26. Earlier German settlements may have
existed. Swiss Mennonites settled at
Michelsdorf near Chelm in 1782. While
inside traditional bounds of Volhynia Michelsdorf was outside the borders of
Volyn Governorate. Likewise, Michalin,
founded by Low German Mennonites in 1791, was also outside the borders of Volyn
Governorate. Finally, German porcelain
artisans were settled at Korets in 1783.
Therefore, Korets could be considered the site of the earliest German
settlement in Volyn Governorate.
[4] They can also be known as Prussian
Mennonites or as Olędrzy/Holländer/Голендри. This is a term symbolizing their Dutch
heritage but even more so that their villages were established according to
Dutch Law.
[5] For Mennonite history in Poland, see Schapansky,
Henry, The Mennonite Migrations (and The Old Colony, Russia), Country
Graphics & Printing Ltd., Rosenort, Manitoba, Canada, 2006, chapters 1-3.
[6] Catherine’s 1763 Manifesto was issued
on July 22, 1763. I have consulted a
translation by Fred C. Koch which was taken from a German text that was
published in "Volk auf dem Weg", June 1962. The original document is held in the
Stadtarchiv of Ulm, Germany.
[7] Geisinger, Adam, “A Volhynian German
Contract”, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Work Paper No.
25, Winter 1977, pp13, 14. See also Kostiuk,
Mykhailo, chapter 2.
[8] Kostiuk, Mykhailo, p 38.
[9] Geisinger, Adam, p 13.
[10] Воронин, Александр Федосеевич, pp 1-4.;
see also Kuhn, Walter. "Deutsche Täufersiedlungen im West-Ukrainischen
Raume." Zeitschrift fur Ostforschung IV (1955), pp 492-3.
[11] St Petersburg Archives [RGIA] Reel No.
4, Fond No. 383, Opis No. 29, Dielo No. 1208, Request No. 147, Document No. 45,
pp 1-12.
[12] Located at 49°35'13.3"N
28°47'25.1"E.
[13] Henry Schapansky suggests this man
could be Cornels Wedel #81618 in the GRanDMA database (p 152), see “Cornels
Wedel”, GRanDMA (Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry),
California Mennonite Historical Society (CMHS), GM21-01 January 2021.
[14] More details regarding this conflict
can be found in documents on Reels 2 and 4 of files housed at the Mennonite
Heritage Archives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
For more information see “Collection ORG-St. Petersburg Microfilming
Project”, Mennonite Archival Information Database (MAID), 24 June 2021,
https://archives.mhsc.ca/index.php/st-petersburg-microfilming-project.
[15] St. Petersburg Archives (RGIA) Fond 383
Opis 29 Delo 161 Page 153: Letter to the Expedition of State Economy,
Trusteeship on behalf of the Foreigners and Rural Housekeeping, from the
Government of the Kiev Guberniya, dated 26 October 1798.
[16] Unruh, Abe J., The Helpless Poles,
Pine Hill Press, Inc, 1973, p 59.
[17] Richert, John D., “Mennonite Families
in the Neumark Region, Brandenburg, Prussia, 1765-1834”, compiled January 2019.
[18] GRanDMA (Genealogical Registry and
Database of Mennonite Ancestry), California Mennonite Historical Society
(CMHS), GM21-01 January 2021.
[19] “Przechowka Church Records”, Prussian
Mennonite Genealogical Resources, 24 June 2021, https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/Przechowka_Church_Register.html.
Studying the church records we can see that typical surnames in the
congregation included Ratzlaff, Schmidt, Wedel, Unrau, Buller, Nachtigal,
Becker, Voht, Pankratz, Koehn, Richert, Jantz, Funck, Cornels, Frey, Sparling,
Isaac, Decker, Dircks, Tesmer, Lierman, Thoms, etc. While Boese and Nickel were not common names
at Przechowka, they could be found at other Mennonite congregations in the
Vistula River valley.
[20] 1 volok was similar in size to 1
dessiatin.
[21] Quit-rent.
[22] 1801 Karolswalde Land Contract (St
Petersburg Archives [RGIA] Reel 8 Fond 383 Opis 29 Delo 1212 Request 155
Documents 37-39), translated by Tatiana Drozdova, edited by Rod Ratzlaff.
[23] Karolswalde on the map "
Военно-топографическая карта европейской России 1: 126 000" (known as
"Schubert's map"), VTK_Ryad_XXII_List_5_Volynskaya_gub, 1860.
[24] Janz, Jacob B., “Mennonite Life in
Volynia” (translated by Agnes Janz Hubert, notes by John B. Toews), Journal of
the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring
1978, pp 6-12.
[25] Several period map series exist showing
the village in the 19th century. For instance, see military topographic maps of
the Russian Empire by Fyodor Schubert, maps of the 3rd Military Mapping Survey
of Austria-Hungary, or maps of the Polish Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny (WIG).
[26] The house in the photo by Robert
Delaplane stands in ruins today. The
house, however, bears a striking resemblance to Low German Mennonite houses
along the Vistula River in Poland. More
research is needed to determine if the house in question could indeed be a
Mennonite-built structure. It is quite
certainly an Olędrzy structure but is it old enough to be
Mennonite-built? Research is also
on-going regarding remains of a foundation which some villagers say was the
church.
[27] See various anecdotal histories
including: “Autobiography” by Tobias T. Koehn; “Genealogy of Tobias P Wedel;
Life in Russian Village Antonofka” by Victor and Viola Koehn; “From Village
Life to Kansas Plains” by Jacob B. Unruh; “Leeleva” by Velma Penner Unruh. For much more information on daily life in
Karolswalde, see additional histories such as “Karolswalde” by Verney Unruh
(personal interviews with Rev. Jacob Unruh and Mrs. Peter Goertz, April, 1945),
and “Mennonite Life in Volhynia, 1800-1874” by Jacob B. Janz, Journal of the
American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1978,
pp 6-12.
[28] For instance, see “Waldheim, Molotschna
and Heinrichsdorf, Volhynia 1833-1851”, Russian Mennonite Genealogical
Resources, 24 June 2021,
https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Waldheim_and_Heinrichsdorf.pdf.
[29] St Petersburg Archives [RGIA] Reel 8
Fond 383 Opis 29 Delo 1212 Request 155 Document 53; see also St Petersburg
Archives [RGIA] Reel 8 Fond 383 Opis 29 Delo 1212 Request 155 Documents 29
which corroborates by listing 41 families with a total of 162 souls.
[30] See Richert, John D.; see also Kuhn,
Walter pp 491-497; see also Schapansky, Henry, pp 152-153.
[31] 1804 Antonowka Land Contract (St
Petersburg Archives [RGIA] Reel 8 Fond 383 Opis 29 Delo 1212 Request 155
Documents 34-36), see also “Antonovka Land Contract, 1804”, Russian Mennonite
Genealogical Resources, 24 June 2021,
https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Antonovka_Land_Contract_1804.pdf.
[32] Przechowka was the original Groningen
Old Flemish congregation in Polish Prussia.
Over time, daughter congregations were established in Polish and
Prussian lands at Schönsee, Jeziorki, Wymysle, and the Neumark. Considerable movement from congregants among
these villages took place. Additional
daughter colonies were founded first at Michalin, then Karolswalde and
Antonowka in Volyn Governorate, then Waldheim, Franztal, and Gnadenfeld in the
Molotschna Colony. Some of these were
direct descendants of one another (for instance, Jeziorki begat Antonowka;
Brenkenhofswalde (Neumark) begat Gnadenfeld) but all were very closely related
and all traced ancestry back to Przechowka.
[33] Воронин, Александр Федосеевич, p 6.
[34] Only two baptismal candidates are
listed from the village Mezeliska (Miendzylaski/Mezelski/Mezheleski/Mesheleski)
in Ältester Unruh’s records: one in 1868, the other in 1870. Abe J. Unruh associates the village with
Antonowka and Fürstendorf/Lilewa.
Anecdotal records might lead one to believe families returning to Ostrog
County from Dosidorf about 1868 may have established the village about the same
time as Lilewa (for instance see John David Nachtigal/Helena Decker Nachtigal
family records) (see “Land Contract for Mennonite Colonists Resettling in the Village
of Dosidorf, 1848”, Russian Mennonite Genealogical Resources, 24 June 2021, https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Dosidorf_Land_Contract_20_October_1847.pdf).
In the “Autobiography of Tobias T. Koehn (10 Sept 1860- 7 Apr 1931) we
read that the village was established about 1863. Czech records indicate that the village was
eliminated in 1939 (“Mežiliska”, Volyňských Čechů, 14 September 2021,
https://www.volynaci.cz/obec/332/).
[35] “Elder Tobias Unruh Baptism Register:
1854-1889”, Russian Mennonite Genealogical Resources, 24 June 2021,
https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/russia/Tobias_Unruh_Baptism_Register.html.
[36] Воронин, Александр Федосеевич, pp 5-6; see
also 1819 Dosidorf Land Contract (St Petersburg Archives [RGIA] Reel 8 Fond 383
Opis 29 Delo 1212 Request 155 Document No. 41), translated by Alexander
Tabunshchik, edited by Rodney D. Ratzlaff.
[37] St. Petersburg Archives; Fond 1246 Opis
1 Delo 8 page 137.
[38] Elder Tobias Unruh Baptism Register:
1854-1889”; it should also be noted that a final village, Heinrichsdorf, was
founded in 1848 a short distance northwest from Berdychiv. This village was founded by Mennonites who in
1836 departed settlements in Rivne and Lutsk Counties and moved to Waldheim
village in the Molotschna Mennonite settlement.
Dissatisfied with life in the Molotschna, they returned to Volyn and
founded Heinrichsdorf. The villagers
here were served by the Ältester at Karolswalde.
[39] Ostrog itself is a town that has been
vitally important to Volhynian history and culture. The town was founded as early as 1100,
receiving Magdeburg rights in 1585. It is
the home of the Ostrog Academy (founded 1586), the oldest academy of higher
learning in Ukraine, and is also the site of the printing of the Ostrog Bible,
first printing of the Bible in a Slavic language (1580). The monastery in Mezhyrich, Holy Trinity
Monastery, was founded by the Ostrog family in 1520.
[40] See 1806 correspondence written from
Jacob Wiens to Elder Johann Kauenhowen at Chortitza (Mennonitiscbe Warte,
June 1938).
[41] Ratzlaff, Rodney D., “Low German
Mennonite Clergy in Volhynia”, January 2020.
[42] Persson, Gudrun, “The Russian Army and
Foreign Wars (1859-1871)”, London School of Economics and Political Science,
1999, pp 26 and 47.
[43] Ratzlaff, Rodney D., “Tobias A. Unruh
and the Low German Mennonites of Volhynia”, Freeman, South Dakota, November
2019, pp 20-23.
[44] Unruh, The Helpless Poles, p 126;
Krause, Claire Schachinger, “From Karlswalde, Volhynia, to Village Hill,
Connecticut”, Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from
Russia, Vol 11., No. 2, Summer 1988 (pages 31-34). The theory that most Low German Mennonites in
Ostrog County consolidated into the village of Lilewa/Fürstendorf after 1874 is
corroborated by the fact that most Mennonite emigrants arriving in North
America from Volyn after 1875 indicated that Lilewa was their village of
origin.
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