Update on Alex in Ukraine

 I have been asked by several people to provide an update regarding my friend Alex who I wrote about several days ago.  Alex took his wife and daughters to the Polish border last Saturday (Feb 26).  The wife and daughters went to Łódź, Poland, while Alex then returned to Zhytomyr, Ukraine.  Since then, I’ve talked to them numerous times and I’d just like to provide an update.

Alex’s wife and daughters returned to Alex’s brother’s house in Łódź, Poland (I’m not going to use anyone’s name except Alex’s in order to protect their privacy).  There are a large number of Ukrainian refugees in Łódź and Alex’s wife is networking with them.  She’s a clinical psychologist so, as time allows, she’s using her skills to counsel some of these refugees.  As we can imagine, there’s a very high level of stress and anxiety among these folks.  They’ve suddenly been displaced to a foreign land, and they have no idea what the future holds.  Alex’s wife is cheerfully putting her talents to work to help them.

She’s also helping to evacuate more people from Zhytomyr into Poland.  Yesterday she spent a great deal of time trying to find ways to evacuate an elderly couple from Zhytomyr.

The Polish government is providing a certain amount of support to these refugees.  The wife and daughters went to the store yesterday to buy a few clothing items.  They were forced to leave Ukraine with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.  While they were going to a relative’s house, they’re still struggling to gather all the supplies they’ll need.

Alex’s wife is acutely aware of the destruction that’s going on back in Ukraine.  She mentions that it’s very quiet and peaceful in Łódź and she feels a little guilty that she’s in such an environment when Alex is back in Ukraine right in the middle of the danger.

Alex is back in Zhytomyr and he’s pretty busy right now.  He wrote me yesterday saying that he’s very busy making sandbags and then stacking the sandbags into walls and other defensive-type structures.  He’s been surprised at how quickly he learned how to do this efficiently.  A sandbag wall has to be built just so, with holes at just the right height so a rifle can have a place to shoot through.  He’s quickly become proficient with this.  Alex has joked that he’s stunned how fast a truckload of sand can be emptied into sandbags when the situation is so desperate!

Crews of Zhytomyr men are going through the city making sandbag defenses in this way.  They are already accustomed to the sound of the air raid sirens and don’t let them slow their work.  Alex, as well as the other men, have learned that it is absolutely critical to complete this work with a smile!  They have to do everything they can to keep their spirits up, otherwise they will crumble.  The camaraderie that is growing among these men is incredible and strong bonds are being forged.

They are well aware that the outskirts of Kyiv are only 70 miles to the east.  Of course, Kyiv is one of the locations that the Russians are heavily targeting, and the city is slowly being encircled.  2 days ago, on the east edge of Zhytomyr on the road to Kyiv, a bridge was blown up.  The Ukrainians were at that point still in control of this highway but I don’t know what the situation is by now.

Supplies on the shelves at the stores are dwindling; bread is already all gone.  Fuel and diesel are all gone.  Some people had been stockpiling food because they suspected this was coming.  For now, Alex is OK as far as food goes.

Last night, (for us in USA the night, in Ukraine it was daytime on Wednesday, 2 March) missiles hit an area on the east side of Zhytomyr.  We don’t know exactly what the missiles were targeting but extensive damage was done to a hospital.  I don’t know exactly what to call it – it’s not a hospital exactly, it’s a birth center – a facility that just provides care and services for birthing mothers.  The missiles were perhaps targeting an area across the street from this facility, but everything’s gone now.  Early estimates are that 2 are dead and 16 wounded.  Among these casualties are several children.

Each minute, Alex’s situation becomes more precarious.  The Russian army continues to advance and even though the Ukrainians are putting up a heroic stand, they are severely underpowered.  Please contact your congressional representatives right now and put pressure on them.  Please consider donating to a reputable charity like the MCC, Catholic Charities, or Heart to Heart International.  Also, please see this list of charities for more options.

How to Donate to Help Ukraine

 If you are looking for good places to donate to help the situation in Ukraine, please consider this information:

War on the Horizon

 Volhynia is a region of northwestern Ukraine.  Most Americans aren’t familiar with it, but it’s been around in various forms since the 10th century or so.  Some cities in Volhynia have celebrated 1,000-year anniversaries.  It’s an out-of-the-way place in more ways than one; the people in Volhynia are genuine, hard-working, and free. 

Over the past year I’ve come to know several people in Volhynia, mostly living in the area surrounding the ancient city of Ostrog.  This is a little-known area, and it doesn’t play into modern politics much.  It’s not rich in resources like the Donbas, it’s not consequential in the way Kyiv or Odessa are.  But this is the heart of Ukraine like few other places in the country.  People here still wear the Vyshyvanka (just Google it), they worship God in traditional wooden churches with onion domes, they appreciate the sunrise.

The culture in Ostrog, and Volhynia, and Ukraine, owes not a jot to Russia.  It may be true that modern-day Ukraine’s borders were to an extent drawn by the Soviets, but Ukraine has its own distinctive language, cuisine, literature, architecture, and folklore, all of which pre-dates Russia.  If Moscow is first mentioned in the 12th century, Kyiv can be traced back to the 5th century.  Ostrog itself pre-dates Moscow and is home to one of the oldest academies of higher learning in the Slavic world – much older than any university in Russia.  It was also here that the first Bible was printed in a Slavic language.  If you’re trying to claim that Ukraine or Volhynia owe anything of their culture to Russia or Moscow, you’re straight up wrong and you can just go jump in a lake.

Today, Ostrog is not an important center in Ukraine in any way (except, arguably, culturally).  The invading Russian army is probably not too interested in the place except for the presence of the nearby nuclear power plant, which is one of four such power plants in Ukraine.  Although it lacks importance, the Russians will still need to consolidate their presence in the country by securing places like Ostrog and so Russian soldiers are beginning to make appearances.  A small battle has been fought already at nearby Slavuta and the occasional Russian helicopter flies overhead.

Yuri is one of my best friends in the area.  He’s a schoolteacher at the lyceum a dozen miles south of Ostrog in the large village of Pluzhne and be likes to hunt mushrooms and hike in the woods in his spare time.  He lives with his wife and their Siberian Husky in a small, simple house.  Just he and his wife – the first one home from work gets to light the wood stove to heat the house for the evening.  Even in this out-of-the-way village, Yuri has several times already visited a local bomb shelter when the sirens in Pluzhne sounded.  Yuri’s two grown children live in Kyiv, 4 hours to the east by car.  Yuri’s son is an active-duty soldier in the capital and will fight to the death to protect his homeland.  He is right now active in the battle for Kyiv.  His daughter may be a little less robust.  On Thursday, Yuri drove to Kyiv to fetch her back to Pluzhne.  She was frazzled after the last few days in the city – she hadn’t slept and was extremely anxious if any loud noise sounded.  Hopefully she’s safe now in the village.

Sergey is another friend, also living in Pluzhne.  He’s a lecturer at the ancient academy in Ostrog specializing in criminal law.  Sergey is a scholar and an intellectual and has a great interest in the history of the local area.  He has also visited bomb shelters in the past days and is now active spreading information using tools such as Facebook.  Sergey warns of saboteurs in the area who leave marks indicating rendezvous locations for Russian military.  He has also pointed out that clerics in churches of the Moscow Patriarchate may not be totally on the level right now.  The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is currently split, one patriarchate based in Moscow and one in Kyiv.  Be wary of those from Moscow.  Sergey can also tell you exactly how to make a Molotov Cocktail and precisely where to aim it to inflict the most damage as you hurl it towards a Russian tank.  

Alexander is a very interesting man living on a farm just outside Ostrog.  His day job is farming but he spends an inordinate amount of time promoting tourism in Ostrog.  The town is the Youth Capital of Ukraine for the year 2022 and it was Alexander’s dream to establish several different programs locally which would spur tourism and help grow the economy.  Since mid-day on Thursday the 25th, Alexander has been helping to patrol the local roads near Ostrog.  He served in active-duty military for many years and experienced combat during the 2014 Russian incursion which saw the annexation of Crimea.  Alexander is happy to help patrol Ostrog but bemoans the lack of effective weaponry.  He is currently patrolling with a hunting rifle, stopping suspicious vehicles on the roads outside Ostrog; one of many local men keeping the town safe. 

Alexander took this photo this morning.  It depicts a beautiful sunrise in Ostrog, but just beyond that horizon, lies battle and destruction in the form of the Russian military.  It’s coming.

The lives of these three friends are hanging from threads right now.  They may not be involved in heavy battle, like Yuri’s son is in Kyiv.  But they hear the rumbling and they can feel it coming.  It won’t be long now.

These are real people who just a week ago were living their simple, small-town lives.  Now their worlds have been turned upside down and they honestly don’t know if they’ll survive another week.  They are all fiercely proud of their country – they have every right to be – and they will fight tooth and nail to save it.  We in the West might have a hard time envisioning what’s going on in Ukraine right now but the fact is that ordinary people, just like us, are suffering and that’s only going to get worse.  Our government leaders are not doing enough yet to stop this evil invasion.  Please contact your congressional leaders right now and demand action.

Ukraine Invaded

 My journey through my family genealogy has led me to meet a great many people all around the world.  With the events of the past several days – namely the aggressive Russian invasion of Ukraine – the lives of several dear Ukrainian friends have come into sharp focus.  Here in USA, the news we’re getting about the invasion is on a macro level; so far, we’re hearing about specific areas of conflict, what the Russian battle plans might be, or how the West hopes to respond.  So far, I have seen very little information on the micro level – about how this diabolical incursion by Russia is affecting normal Ukrainians.  But it’s very important for those of us in the West, safe in our suburban enclaves, to understand that real people are suffering right now… and they need help.

My friend Alex is a man from the Volhynian city of Zhytomyr.  Zhytomyr is located about 75 miles due west of Kyiv and with a population of just over 250,000, is one of the more important cities in west-central Ukraine.  Alex is an historian and a tour guide.  He has helped me for years to access archives here and there in Ukraine and produced documents for me which have helped to greatly enhanced my knowledge of my ancestors.  Alex used to work as an archivist in Zhytomyr but in recent years has been primarily a tour guide taking descendants of German settlers to their ancestral villages.  

Alex lives with his wife, Vika, and two daughters and they are a picture-perfect family.  COVID hit them hard and Vika was sick for a long time.  She’s finally recovering nicely and is able to get back to the family’s other passion – their work for charity.  Both Alex and Vika are instrumental with their work for Samaritan Ministries in Ukraine.  The organization has been active for almost 30 years helping under-privileged people in Ukraine in a number of different ways.

But then came the Russian invasion of February 24.  On the 25th, I messaged Alex to see if he was safe.  His reply came almost immediately – he with his wife and daughters, along with 2 or 3 other families, had traveled to Ustylúh which is a town on the Ukrainian-Polish border.  Alex’s brother lives in Poland, so the family’s goal was to go to Poland to avoid the war.  Approaching Ustylúh, they found that the line to cross the border was about 10 kilometers long.  As they began their wait in line, Alex discovered that he would not be allowed to cross the border.  An order had been issued by the Ukrainian government that no Ukrainian males between the ages of 18 to 60 would be allowed to leave – they were all necessary for the defense of the country.

Alex’s heart sank as he realized that he would be separated from his family.  His brother was already waiting for his family on the Polish side of the border, and when they reached the head of the line to be processed, Vika and the girls would be allowed to cross the border – but Alex would have to remain in Ukraine.  Thus began an excruciating wait.  As their place in line drew nearer and nearer to the border, Alex knew that his time with his family was growing ever shorter.  After they crossed the border, would he ever see them again?  He would return to Ukraine to place his life on the line for the defense of Ukraine… and his family would be safe in Poland.  But would this be the last goodbye?

After a 35-hour wait, Alex hugged his wife and daughters for the last time.  They put on brave faces and took a quick group photo.  I can’t even begin to imagine the emotions involved with this nightmare situation.  Vika and the girls safely met Alex’s brother on the other side of the border and Alex, heartbroken, was left on the east side to find his way back to Zhytomyr any way he could.

The roads across the countryside in Ukraine are particularly dangerous since the invasion.  The locals are setting up checkpoints to stop all vehicles since the presence of saboteurs is already well-established.  These saboteurs are Russian sympathizers who seek to infiltrate the countryside and pave the way for the Russian military.  They’re leaving paint marks on roads or tying ribbons on trees to mark military rendezvous points.  Locals are destroying these markers when they find them and beginning to check every vehicle’s purpose.  Alex was looking at a 275-mile hitchhike trip across dangerous countryside.  

Alex walked for about 10km until some good people on their way to Radomyshl picked him up.  When I last checked with him, he was walking the remaining distance to his home.  It was an excruciating journey but he’ll make it.  

He doesn’t know what to expect when he gets home.  His wife and daughters were turned into refugees and he, a scholarly historian, has been turned into a soldier.  He is happy to fight for his beloved homeland but it’s not really what he was cut out to do.  He’ll meet up with friends in Zhytomyr and help prepare defenses.  And as the Russians advance, the danger to his own well-being increases.  Vika and the girls are safe in Łódź, Poland – for now.

This innocent family has been torn apart – just like thousands of others in Ukraine.  Alex will bravely put his life on the line for the defense of Ukraine – just like thousands of other Ukrainian men are doing.  What is the West doing to alleviate the situation?  Not enough.  Feckless Western leaders have sat on their hands for years while Putin has prepared the way for such an invasion.  We could easily follow the thread of events over the last 10-15 years that have led to Putin finally feeling empowered enough to launch this incursion.  Western leaders stand poised to just let this atrocious tyrant recklessly violate Ukraine’s sovereignty.  They’ll level sanctions at Putin.  Yeah, that oughta do the trick.  Please.  I’m just some guy living a quiet life in the Midwest USA and I can tell you from here that the only thing Putin understands is boots on the ground.  Sanctions will do nothing and after Ukraine falls and all the Ukrainians begin to suffer fates similar to Alex, then Lithuania and Estonia and Latvia… and Poland, are next.

Слава Україні!

Героям слава!

Слава Україні!

 The majority of the Low German Mennonites in Volhynia lived near the town of Ostrog. During the 20th century, this area was no stranger to the presence of the military, and it drew (and continues to draw) its share of strategic attention.

· After 1921, the map of the area was redrawn and Karolswalde found itself located directly on the Polish-Soviet border. At this time, the village was re-name Prykordonne, a term roughly equivalent to “border”. Much smuggling across the border into Poland occurred here.

· Pluzhnyansky District, to which the Mennonite village of Fürstendorf (Lilewa) belonged, was home to much violence. In the early 1920s, anti-Bolshevik insurgents operated in the area and carried out attacks on numerous villages. In 1930, a peasant uprising centered at Pluzhne included 22 local villages.

· During the build-up to World War II, the Stalin Line was built and this passed right through the Ostrog area. This was a line of concrete bunkers designed to provide fortification against German invasion. Deserted bunkers of the Stalin Line are located in the Mennonite villages of Fürstendorf (Lilewa) and Jadwanin. During World War II, several battles were fought in this very area.

· In 1959, the USSR established a military base at nearby Slavuta. This base would become a home to the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces which controlled the USSR’s land based inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). R-5M missiles, and later RSD-10 Pioneer-UTTKh missiles, all equipped with nuclear warheads, were stationed here until 1991. Tens of thousands of tons of ammunition were kept here.

· While no longer a major home to military, the Ostrog area is still today the site of one of Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants. Nearby Netishyn is home to the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant which houses two nuclear reactors.

The fiercest battles of this week’s invasion are near Kyiv and in the Donbas but there is action in Volhynia too. I have a lot of good friends in the Ostrog area. These friends have been called to bomb shelters several times already. Russian forces have arrived in Shepetivka, about 25 miles se from Ostrog, and explosions have racked the airport at Rivne, about 25 miles nw from Ostrog. Folks are volunteering computers, suitcases, first aid kits, automobiles, etc., to the local military units. Others are already seeking transportation to the Polish border. Police are advising people to be on the lookout for Russians, masquerading as locals, who are scouting for the Russian military. The locals are to report any suspicious people or vehicles. These saboteurs have left marks - painted spots on the ground or bits of ribbon tied to trees - identifying places for Russian military to rendezvous. Every Ukrainian is vowing to fight for their homeland and for their freedom. I’m praying right now specifically for Alex, Sergey, Yuri, Marina, Alyona, Natasha, Alexander, Ludmila, Tetiana, Natalia, and their families.  At the same time I'll admit that I'm cursing feckless western politicians and bureaucrats.  Слава Україні!

In Memory of Martin Reuther

Several months ago, quite by accident, I met a man named Martin Reuther.  Martin had been scouring the internet searching for items about Volhynia and came across this very blog.  He then searched for me on Facebook and we struck up a chat.  He was very friendly and was more than a little surprised of my interest in Volhynia.

He mentioned that the very next day, he’d be traveling to Pluzhne and that he’d be passing through Lisna (Lilewa) and he volunteered to take some photos for me.  Sure enough, the next day he was back and he was offering some photos of the village and cemetery there.  I thanked him profusely and then he mentioned that he ran an NGO from Zdolbitsa where he had lived for a couple years (he was originally from Germany).  His NGO focused on multi-cultural connections.  He himself worked to connect people in other countries and right then he was working to connect the agriculture school in Pluzhne with one in USA.  His goal was for the two schools to share knowledge, learn from one another, and especially for the Ukrainian students to practice their English skills in dealing with the Americans.

We talked about the fact that my ancestors, German settlers in Volhynia, established several villages in the Pluzhne-Ostrog area and that there are many descendants of these settlers in North America who are interested in the history.  Martin seemed very intrigued that there could be people in North America who were thinking about their roots in Ukraine – people who might travel to Ukraine or who would be trying to learn more about the area.

Early on, Martin suggested that we talk via Zoom.  He called me and we had a chat about the type of work he does and what my interests were in Volhynia.  He was a very relaxed buy; big smile and very confident of himself.  

At that time, Martin was working with the city of Ostrog, trying to get them to hire him as some sort of cultural advisor.  He said if he could get them to hire him, he’d try to set up a small Mennonite museum in the town somehow.  He had me write an email to city administrators to let them know I was researching their town, that my ancestors were from there, and there was interest from the USA in their town.  These efforts came to nothing.  He later told me that he was almost literally down on his knees begging these administrators to recognize Mennonite heritage in the area but they weren’t interested.

In the summer, we were on vacation – somewhere in Wisconsin – and one morning I got a text from Martin.  He had a breakthrough with the agriculture school in Pluzhne and needed to find an American college or university that had a strong agriculture school to partner with.  He and I and another of his colleagues went back and forth for several days debating a couple different schools and looking for contacts.  It seemed that Martin had adopted me as an American contact and he wasn’t shy about asking for help.  I didn’t have a problem whatsoever trying to help him since he seemed like such a good guy.

All was quiet for a while and Martin mentioned once that he’s paired the school in Pluzhne with the University of Maryland.  All during this time he was connecting me on Facebook to people and organizations in Ostrog.  My Facebook feed got to the point where I couldn’t do anything with it – every post that came across was in Ukrainian.  I didn’t even see my American friends anymore.

Then one day Martin appeared and he wanted to phone me.  He’d had a meeting in Pluzhne and now he had his chance to press on with some sort of initiative with German Mennonites in Pluzhne.  He asked me when I was coming to visit and when I did, I’d sleep in his house and eat his food.  He told me that whatever we did – set up a Mennonite museum or whatever – we’d get grants from the government.  No one needed to come with a suitcase full of money although he’d welcome that if it happened.  We talked via Facebook as he walked along a road towards his home.  He was confident and happy and I know no he was totally in his element.  He was walking in the sunshine, out in the open in a small town, solidifying an international friendship.  That’s what Martin was all about.

The next several weeks had us setting up a Facebook chat with several Ukrainian locals.  Martin connected me with a Volyn-German museum in Germany.  We had a Zoom conference call with a number of folks and Martin always insisted we all speak English.  One of his goals with the whole deal was for the Ukrainians to practice their English on me.

We had a lot of back-and-forth on that chat and then one day Martin suggested that we should adopt the project of restoring a Mennonite house.  Several weeks prior, one of the Ukrainians in the chat took photos in Karolswalde and we decided that one of the houses he photographed had to be Mennonite-built.  I asked Martin if he was serious and he said absolutely!  He said the chat had come to a point where we needed a goal – a project to work on – and the restoration of a house was perfect.

The next several days we talked about logistics, etc.  And then Martin contacted me again in a few days and told me to write a letter to administration officials in Khmelnitsky.  His Pluzhne-Univ of Maryland project was rolling, he had mentioned me and the Mennonites to them, and they wanted to help.  I promptly sent out a message and within a few days I had a letter from a Khmelnitsky official saying she supported efforts and would help organize.  She supported using Mennonite history in the area to create relationships.  Another few days and I had a similar letter from the head of the village community of Pluzhnanska.  Wow!  I had two different local administrations pledging their support!  This was much farther than I’d ever been with relations with Volhynian folks!

The chat continued and intensified.  Alexander and Sergey would go into Karolswalde in 3 weeks and initiate negotiations to purchase the house.  Martin said he and I would begin working to write up the project.  I didn’t know exactly what that meant but assumed it would be so Martin could apply to the appropriate organizations for funding.  We added a couple more members to the chat and really – this house restoration thing was for real!  This is actually getting of the ground!  Martin mentioned that we needed to organize an online conference to talk about what was going on.  We need more people involved, more opportunities for funding.

That night I couldn’t sleep.  I got up about 2:00 wanting to move to the couch to sleep.  I grabbed my phone so I’d have it for a clock and I noticed there was activity at the chat – several messages from Sergey and Yuri and Alexander all in Ukrainian.  Ugh – I need to translate it but it might be something exciting.  The first message was from Sergey – “Martin is dead”.  Yuri denied it but Sergey persisted.  “He’s dead.  Go look at his Facebook page”.  Back-and-forth…  and it was true.  I’d talked to him about 15 hours previously but now he was, in fact, dead.  Martin had apparently had a pulmonary embolism and suffered sudden death from a heart attack.

Just devastated.  Here was a guy – just 41 years old – with a wife and a young son – he’s energetic, kind, enthusiastic, full of ideas and motivation.  He had created German departments at a couple Ukrainian universities, created his own NGO to support multinational cultural projects, and now he was gone.  He knew how to do everything – he knew how to get funding, how to contact and connect people, knew all the languages, he had contacts everywhere.  And he was gone.  

I didn’t really even know this guy but I’m absolutely gutted.  My plans for restoring a Mennonite house may or may not come true now – that’s an aside actually.  We were getting really close to getting things rolling and I may never get that close again.  That’s beside the point.

I’m finding out, via Facebook, that Martin was almost “famous”.  He was known and admired all across Europe and there are articles being written about him.  I don’t know if he was religious, I don’t know what his politics were, I really don’t know much about him.  But he tried to help me.  He invited me into his home.  He was enthusiastic with idea that at first seemed really far-fetched to me, but with his guidance I now believe it could have actually happened.  I learned a lot from Martin in just a few short months – he taught me lessons I hope I won’t soon forget.  

If we’re able to travel to Ukraine next spring, one of my goals will be to find Martin’s grave and take a few moments there to think about what he’s done for me.  Thanks for everything, Martin.  I’m very grateful to you.  Rest in peace for now but I sincerely hope we’ll meet again someday.

Article: The Last Interview Of Martin Reuther

Martin Reuther 31.01.1980 - 06.11.2021

A Post in Memory of Benjamin Johan Nachtigal

Benjamin Johan Nachtigal was born 1 March 1887, the 4th child of Johan David and Helena (Decker), probably in Menziliski, Ostrog County, Volyn Governorate, Russia.  As a youth, he was baptized by his father, a minister of the Lilewa congregation. [1]

The village of Leeleva (Lilewa) showing the house of John Nightingale (Johan David Nachtigal) towards the lower left, in Menziliski. 

Benjamin grew up in the tiny village several miles south of Ostrog.  Menziliski was situated in a clearing in the forest just south of the small town of Kuniv.  The boy probably spent a lot of time working as day labor for nearby farming operations, cutting wood in the forest, or spinning and weaving linen.  For a year or two, he probably would have attended school at the Andreas Ratzlaff house in Lilewa, learning to spell words on a handheld slate.  The house where he lived was made of logs cut from the forest and had a simple dirt floor.  Jewish peddlers from Kuniv frequently traveled the roads near the village, as did as Polish Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox folks.  Once in a while, Gypsies camped in the nearby forests and even Muslims could be seen coming from Yuvkivtsi to Ostrog.  Benjamin oftentimes went with his father to sell linen in the fairs at Kuniv or Ostrog.

One of the factors that influenced his childhood was the fact that he was a firsthand witness to the erosion of the Mennonite community of Ostrog County.  By the time he was 25 years old he had witnessed no less than 30 Mennonite families of the Lilewa Mennonite congregation leave Volhynia for USA.  He watched 3 of his brothers leave for USA, as well as his Decker grandparents and 2 aunts and uncles.  Other close family relatives left Volhynia for villages of the more prosperous Molotschna and Chortitza Colonies in New Russia.  When he was a just a small boy, one of his Decker uncles left for Siberia.  He himself stayed in Volhynia to watch after his aging parents, who by the early 19-teens moved to Alexandertal Mennonite Colony near Samara.  By this time the Mennonite community in Ostrog County which had once numbered in the thousands, dwindled to single digits.  A great many of the Mennonites had been replaced by German Baptists.  Benjamin’s younger sister and brother also stayed in Volynia during this time but by the mid-1920s, they had also moved to Crimea and Canada.[2]

Benjamin Johan Nachtigal, near Warsaw, on his wedding; 1913

On 12 March 1913, at 3:00 in the afternoon, Benjamin was married to Anna Ebert, (b1893, daughter of Zacharias and Anna (Bartel)).  Anna was from the village of Markowschisna near Deutsche Kazun.  The wedding may have taken place in the church at Deutche Kazun and perhaps Benjamin became acquainted with his bride through contact with the Low German Mennonite community at Lindenthal in Zhytomir County.  Benjamin traveled to Kazun for the wedding and even had his photo taken for the occasion.  After the wedding, the young couple came back to Ostrog and made their home either in Lilewa or Menziliski, where the groom’s parents lived.[3]

Shepetivka County in the 1920s.  Ostrog was on the other side of the border, in Poland [4]

Four sons were born to the couple: Ewald (1913), Adolf (1915), Richard (1917), and Daniel (1919).  During the Russian Civil War, Ben was called away to serve in the White Army where we believe he was a medical officer.  After the war, the Lilewa area was collectivized and the villages Lilewa, Michalivka, Dertka, Jadwanin, and Sivir, were organized into one collective.  

Benjamin Johan Nachtigal in his military uniform

Times were tough; churches in the county were destroyed, schools were consolidated, languages other than Russian were forbidden.  Riots occurred and both citizens and government officials were killed.   Volhynia was a dangerous place; many dark, terrifying nights passed as various ethnic groups and partisans rained down violence upon one another.  One summer morning in 1925 the violence visited Benjamin’s family.  While walking home along the road to Dertka, his wife Anna witnessed an attack upon innocent villagers by local partisans.  Afraid for her life, she crouched under some bushes by the side of the road, hiding under her shawl.  Later that day she was found, deceased, her body curled up under the shawl.  She had literally been scared to death and died there by the side of the road.[5]

As the 1930s began, life did not get easier in Volhynia.  In winter 1930, in next-door Pluzhne, an uprising occurred which engulfed more than 20 nearby villages.  The rioters demanded an end to the destruction of churches, an end to dekulakization, and an end to the communist regime.  The Soviets bludgeoned the uprising; 49 villagers were killed or arrested while upwards of 2,000 were arrested.[6]

Benjamin re-married to a local woman named Olga and they lived there for another 11 years until Germans in Shepetowka County were rounded up and deported to Kazakhstan.  400 German and Polish families were evicted from Pluzhne Volost, where the Nachtigals lived, in March of 1936.  Benjamin, together with Olga and his sons Adolf and Richard (Ewald had been conscripted into the Red Army and Daniel had been beaten to death by a neighbor), were loaded onto a train of cattle cars and traveled almost 2,000 miles to Kokshetau, Kazakhstan.  They traveled with only what they could carry, relying on the kindness of locals to provide food and water.

40 trains, each containing 600-900 Volhynian deportees, arrived at the train station at Tayinsha (Тайынша), North Kazakhstan Oblast, in the spring and summer of 1936.  The deportees were organized onto existing kolkhozes and lived under deplorable conditions.  Buildings had no roofs or windows, shipments of food took months to arrive, starvation was rampant.  In 1943 son Adolf was convicted as a spy and imprisoned at Jezkazgan (likely one of the camps of the Steplag system; Adolf was a very unfortunate name to have in Russia in 1943) to work in the mines.  Son Ewald was executed at a Gulag camp somewhere in Krasnoyarsk.  Benjamin himself was likely conscripted into the Labor Army.[7]

Benjamin Nachtigal, late in his life, with wife Olga and unknown younger lady (step-daughter?)

Benjamin wasn’t forgotten by his brothers in USA.  In 1953, the brothers pooled a good amount of money together and mailed it to Benjamin.  The thought was that Benjamin could use the money to bring himself and his family to North America.  The money, however, was discovered by the KGB.  Benjamin was afraid for his life and turned it over to the local government.  The money was then contributed to the building fund for an orphanage in a nearby town or village.[8]

Konstantinovka, circled in red, northeast from Kokshetau in Chkalovo District of Northern Kazakhstan [9]

Benjamin lived out his days in Kazakhstan, dying in the tiny village of Konstantinowka (near Chkalovo/Чкалово) on 2 March 1970, 1 day clear of his 83rd birthday.  The descendants of Benjamin and Anna were flung across the world; from Estonia to Germany to Moscow to Jezkazgan to Oregon and California.

[1] See John David Nightengale Family Record, Hattie Mae Nightengale, 1976; Descendants of John David Nightengale, Johanna Rempel, 2012; Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry, CMHS, GM21-01 Jan 2021.)

[2] Post-1875 Volhynian Immigrants; Rodney D Ratzlaff; December, 2019.

[3] Civil Records for the Mennonite Congregation of Deutsch Kazun, Poland: 1868 – 1913; Translated from Russian to German and condensed by Wilhelm Friesen, Detmold, Germany; Edited and Indexed by Glenn H. Penner.

[4] Українська: Волинська губернія, фрагмент мапи Української соц. рад. республіки, адміністративний поділ після 12 квітня 1923 року.

[5] Валерій Ковальчук; Двічі в одну річку; нариси з історії підрадянської Заславщини; ЗАСЛАВ, 2005; Personal interviews with Ludmila Nachtigal Heitz, granddaughter to Benjamin J Nachtigal.

[6] Uprising of the peasants of the Shepetivka district (1930); https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Повстання_селян_Шепетівської_округи_(1930).

[7] German Russians in Chkalovsky district Kokchetav oblasti; vserusskie blog; Pohl, J. Otto, “The Deportation and Destruction of the German Minority in the USSR”, 2001.

[8] Descendants of John David Nightengale, Johanna Rempel, 2012.

[9] N-42-4; Soviet military topographic map series 1.50000.

photos courtesy of Ludmila Nachtigal Heitz