Leonid Koehn (Кейн) of Antonowka

Leonid Koehn (Кейн) was the "last" Mennonite living in Antonowka, or for that matter, probably all of Volhynia.  Leonid (equivalent to Leonard in English) was born in 1935, a year before the deportation of the Volhynian Germans.  We don't know how many Antonowka families were deported in March and Juen of 1936, but for instance, 30 families from Lilewa were evicted at this point (Згортання «коренізації» та відновлення політики репресій в середині та другій половині 30-их років ХХ століття, Валерій Ковальчук, Юрій Корзун).  Probably little Leonid, along with his family, was swept up in this mass eviction movement.  

We don't know where Leonid and his family were taken but many of the others from this area ended up in Kazakhstan, namely in the areas near Kellerovka and Kokshetau.  These unfortunate souls were unceremoniously loaded onto train cars, shipped to the east, and basically dumped in the frigid steppe where they had to then fend for themselves.  See various articles by Otto Pohl explaining the details of this inhumane action on the part of the Soviets.

The amazing part is that after a certain period of time (probably after 1953 - after Stalin's death), Leonid was able to make his way back to Antonowka!  He lived with his family in Antonowka ever after, thinking that he was of Czech ancestry.  Remember that, as the Mennonites vacated Antonowka in 1874, they were bought out by Czech settlers.  The history of these Czechs can be found here https://www.volynaci.cz/.  Leonid and his wife, Lyuba, were even interviewed for this article in 2002, saying that they were Czech (https://m.day.kyiv.ua/ru/article/obshchestvo/antonovskie-chehi?fbclid=IwAR0_jqa_SJasmwnhsqKnhyKOQdIm7LnqmXAIDccT4pIV3h8ujer8QmbRjxg).

We can be absolutely sure, though, that Leonid was German.  And, given the number of Mennonite Koehns who came to USA from Antonowka in 1874, we can be almost certain Leonid was a relative.

Leonid's was Ernst Köhn, born 28 Feb 1893, and baptized in Karolswalde in 1912 under the authority of the local Lutheran parish.  Ernst's father was named Andreas Köhn, maybe born in the 1890s.  Honestly, there really isn't a more typical Antonowka Mennonite name than Andreas Köhn.

Many visitors from America after the fall of the USSR met Leonid, I've visited with several of them and they've said he was a kindly man who liked to talk.  Shane Koehn, after a trip to Ukraine in 2007, says that Leonid seemed to be sick, perhaps with some sort of paralysis.  However, Leonid's wife showed them the graves of Leonid's father, Ernst (1895-1980), and grandfather, Andreas, in the Antonowka cemetery at the west edge of the village.

In 2020, I corresponded a little with the Catholic priest in Ostrog, Father Vitold-Yodif Kovaliv, and he remembered burying Leonid in 2009.  The priest still goes to the cemetery periodically to bless the graves there.  We also know for a fact that Leonid had children and grandchildren and that some of these grandchildren, married into local Ostrog families, live today as Ukrainians probably completely unknowing of their Mennonite ancestry.

Volhynian Low German Mennonites Bound for the Holy Land, 1874

Not all Mennonites leaving the Russian Empire in 1874 sought to migrate to North America.  A fascinating example of a Mennonite group attempting emigration away from the Russian Empire in 1874 is that of a group of Volhynians bound for Jerusalem.  

This group left Volhynia sometime in 1874 (although perhaps a little bit later) and were bound, according to sources, for Jerusalem or the Holy Land.  The group seems to have been made up of Antonowka (Volhynia) villagers.  According to Adam B. Ratzlaff obituary, the group wanted to return to Jerusalem for the millennium, when Jesus would return there.  According to the Adam B. Ratzlaff obit, they may have even made it to the Holy Land but since there was no land available, returned to Turkey.  Sources (Benjamin Kane obit, John A. Voth obit, Anna Schlabach-Schmidt obit, A.B. Ratzlaff obit, Henry B. Nightingale History, “31 Orphans” story, Benjamin H. Ratzlaff GRanDMA entry) all agree that the group’s progress was hampered by war – some say that war was between Turkey and Russia.  That would probably mean the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78).  But any of the altercations related to the 1875-78 Great Eastern Crisis of the Ottoman Empire could also have been the cause (for instance: April 1876 Uprising in Bulgaria; Serbian-Turkish Wars (1876–1878); Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78); Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877)).

We don’t know how this group traveled from Volhynia (Ostrog) to Jerusalem; they could have used horses/wagons, train, or ship.  Rail would seem most likely although routes in 1874 would not have been direct.

Apparently there were 31 Volhynian Mennonites in the group:

• Benjamin Heinrich (99898) and Eva Schmidt Ratzlaff (99899) Family

• Jacob (404392) and Maria Schmidt Koehn (404393) Family

• Peter (d1877; 143953) and Anna (Koehn, b24 Apr 1847; 1434952) Koehn Family

• Abraham (1435069) and Magdalina Voth Family

• Benjamin Andreas (280075) and Eva Nachtigal Ratzlaff (72833) Family

The group either achieved their goal of reaching Jerusalem – or they didn’t – we don’t know for sure.  But due to wars in the area wound up in the vicinity of Tulcea (now in Romania; then in Ottoman Empire).  In the Tulcea area, they apparently ran out of money and were forced to stop traveling.  Therefore they took up residence among the Dobrujan Germans of the Baptist faith (these Dobrojans were familiar with the Mennonites having been known to purchase industrial equipment from factories in Chortitza Colony as early as the 1860s).  (see “Baptismus in Neu-Danzig und Cataloi” by Silke Neureuther).  During this time, a couple new children were even born.  My conclusion is that they likely lived in the village of Cataloi, about 6 miles south of Tulcea.

In Cataloi, they lived among these Baptists, as well as Romanian Muslim Turks, and local Jewish folks, for as many as 7 years.  During this time, all the fathers of the families died of disease except for Benjamin A. Ratzlaff.  Benjamin's daughter, Agnetha, was married to Frank Edinger.  According to Edinger's 1 August 1945 obituary, he was born in Cataloi.  Historians of the Dobrojan Germans indicate to me that they anticipate these Mennonites are likely buried at the cemetery in Cataloi.  To survive, some of the Mennonite children remembered becoming employed to perform, specifically for Jews, menial tasks on the sabbath in order to produce a tiny bit of income.  At least one Mennonite girl left her family here near Tulcea when she met and married a local Turk (she and her Romanian-Turkish husband later emigrated to Hillsboro, KS, and thus you had an Orthodox Turk living in Hillsboro).

By 1877, this group had contacted Mennonites in Kansas and appealed for help.  It would take several more years to collect enough money to purchase passage to USA.  They finally arrived in New York on 3 January 1881 aboard the S.S. Belgenland and most, presumably, wound up in Kansas.

Jeziorki Cemetery

Zabytek.pl (https://zabytek.pl/en/obiekty/cmentarz-ewangelicki-672258) gives this description of the Jeziorki cemetery in an undated report (my guess is that this was authored in the mid- to late- 1980s).

At the point of the report, the cemetery had deteriorated to a degree so that dating the place was made impossible but the estimate was made of a 19th century establishment.  The area was approximately .25 hectares.  The place was described as located on the northern slope of the hill, about 100 m from the road.  It was almost a perfect square and covered in vegetation.  The tombstones only existed in fragments and the place was in progressive deterioration.

This schematic drawing is included in the report:

And this photo of an old gravestone is also included.  It's a very interesting photo of a stone but likely from the 19th century.  I can see that it's written in German but I cannot read many words.  It's likely a Lutheran-era stone.

These are some views of the cemetery taken over the last few years (2019-2024)

The cemetery is basically bordered by trees.  Inside the ring of trees, the floor of the place is covered with weeds and lilacs.

Only one stone still stands upright above the undergrowth.

Could this be a fragment of an 18th century, hand-carved gravestone?

Map showing location

Przechówko Village Burial Records

 From Zabytek.pl (https://zabytek.pl/en/obiekty/cmentarz-ewangelicki-672656) we learn there were no discernably inscribed gravestones at the Przechówko cemetery in 1987 and that the cemetery was unused after 1945.  The total area was .12 hectares.  The cemetery was described as located on a high slope near farm buildings with access via a dirt road along the railway tracks from Przechowo-Swiecie station.  It was located on a oval space, divided roughly into 4 quarters.  The tombstones were broken and overgrown with grasses, weeds, and lilacs, surrounded by white poplar trees.  The report gives this drawing of the space:

The church records for the Mennonite congregation at Przechowko were compiled beginning in the year 1784 by the church elder.  These records indicate specifically about 80 people buried at Przechowko.  However, during the ca. 225 years the Mennonites lived in the village, certainly there should be significantly more than 80 individuals buried there.  Given the size of the village in the 18^th century (as many as 12 farms), there is obviously insufficient data for the early years of the Mennonite period.  For example, only 19 burials are recorded in the church records during the 18^th century and we can be confident that there should be significantly more than that.

The death records for Przechowko Village, as recorded in volumes of the Lutherische Kirchenbücher, Kirche Schwetz, record 431 individuals buried at the cemetery from the years 1744-1930.  These entries overlap with the Mennonite records from the year 1744 to 1819/20 but only a handful of burials are duplicated.  The Lutheran records, from about the year 1820, seem to be fairly reliable given the consistent nature of the burials, month over month, year over year.

Populations in Przechowko:

o   1162 Tax document: 31 people (3 households)

o   1773 Kataster: 12 families

o   1789: 12 families (https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/przech.htm)

o   1801 12 families (since 1642) (https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/przech.htm)

o   1813: 21 males over age 21 (https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/przech.htm)

o   1819: 19 families sold property (https://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/przech.htm)

o   early 19^th century Polish WIG maps: 17 households

o   c1900: 167 (http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_IX/127)

o   1910: 92 (https://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?westpreussen/schwetz.htm)

Altogether, we have 506 burials listed in these sources for the Przechowko cemetery for the years c1700-1930.  Again, the data is likely fairly reliable between the years 1820 to 1930 so we can draw conclusions from an analysis of the recordings:

In two years, burials reached a total of 14 – the highest during the time frame studied (1844 and 1850).  In 1844 the burials are reasonably distributed throughout the year; 7 males and 7 females; 8 under age 5 (5f, 3m), with only 1 burial (m) over 80.  Two burials share the same surname – Liedske (and another Liedtke is listed very late in the previous year) – so three burials from the same family?

In 1850 the burials are again reasonably distributed throughout the year; 6 males and 8 females; 8 under age 5 (3m, 5f), with only 1 burial (m) over 80.  The Wordelmann Family lost 3 children (aged 9, 6, and 1) in this same year.  Did the Wordelmann Family become infected with a disease?

14 burials in one year seems a very high number for this village that likely had 17 households at this time.  82% of the households experienced a death.

 

47% of all burials were children under the age of 5 years of age.  25% of those who lived beyond the age of 5 years were buried after the age of 70.

More than 10% of all burials occurred during the month of February.  Less than 7% of burials occurred during the months of May, June, and October.

Of 431 entrants, 54% male and 43% are female.  Females appear slightly more likely to escape childhood with 48% of the total burials under age 5 given to females whereas 52% of the total burials under age 5 were males.  On the other hand, females appear less likely to live to an age greater than 80 years; only 2% of total female burials were over 80 whereas 5% of males were over 80.

Przechowko Village Burial List