Dutch or German?

My immediate Ratzlaff grandfathers, Albert, Andreas and Jacob Ratzlaff, spoke low German and lived among the ethnically German Mennonite settlers in Volhynia and Kansas.  At some point, the idea took hold that they were of Dutch descent.  The Green Ratzlaff book indicates that Jacob Ratzlaff was born in Holland in 1842.  Jacob’s son Henry, upon his immigration to the United States in 1893, dictated that his surname be spelled “Ratzloff” as he felt this spelling more closely resembled the original Dutch spelling.  With all due respect to my forefathers, without whose wisdom and foresight I wouldn't be here today, I must disagree with the hypothesis that we are of Dutch descent.

There is no doubt the Prussian Mennonites communicated with their brethren in Holland.  The Mennonite Church in Holland was seen as the mother church from which the Prussian Church took direction and the City of Danzig, particularly, was influenced by its trading partners in the Netherlands.  We have records of visits to Prussia from the Dutch church fathers (for instance: http://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/cong_15/hulshoff.pdf).  The Prussian government restricted new candidates from joining the Mennonite church in Prussia since they wanted to limit the growth of the population from whom they would receive no military support.  For this reason, the very first Ratzlaff, upon his desire to join the Mennonite Church, travelled to Holland for the conversion process.  His wife, a Voth woman, probably died there.  But there is very little historical evidence to show that the Ratzlaffs ever lived in Holland.  In the updated version to the Green Ratzlaff book, Cornelius Krahn, one of the most learned and respected Mennonite historians, is quoted as having said that no Ratzlaffs were ever in Holland.  Krahn was of the opinion that the Ratzlaffs were originally Germans from Prussia and Danzig. 

I submit that one of the reasons our forefathers thought they were from Holland was because they carried the name Hollander with them from Prussia into Russia.  Wojciech Marchlewski, in his articles (http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=15&lang=en, http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=13&lang=en, http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=maz&id=17&lang=en) discusses the origin and use of the term Hollander.  A Hollander was a type of village in areas of 18^th Century Poland (Powisle, Masovia, Prussia, etc).  Originally, a Hollander was a village of Dutch folks, but later it described more of an economic/social characterization than an ethnic one.  In the third article above, “Different Neighbors; Everyday life of Hollander Colonists in Powisle in the 19^th Century”, Marchlewski describes Hollander like this:

The economic activity commenced by the Mennonites in the 16^th century in Poland led to creation of a specific family model, known as the Hollander settlement.  This model should be considered as a social economic system, composed of interrelated elements such as: legal status, social and territorial organization, settlements network, construction, draining techniques, trade.

Karolswalde, the first Mennonite village settled in the Ostrog area, was very near the Polish/Ukrainian border.  By the year 1800 (near which time the village was inhabited by Mennonites), the area had passed from Polish to Russian hands, although the “natives” in the area were ethnically Ukrainian.  Therefore, the village had several different names which it was called by the local governments and populace.  Karolswalde was its German name, and Holendry Slobodzkie its Polish name, later it was named Pykordonne by the Russians and Ukrainians.  The Poles named the village Holendry Slobodzkie as the villagers were Hollander as described in Marchlewski’s articles listed above, or at least they had come from Hollander villages from farther up in Prussia.  We should also remember that the native Poles, Ukrainians and Russians disliked one another and would have resisted using an ethnic name other than their own.  I feel the Germans (our Ratzlaffs included), having come from Prussia (which was actually a Polish state at that time) later would have preferred using the Polish name rather than a Ukrainian or Russian one.  The Germans had much more in common with the Poles than with the Ukrainians or Russians.

Marchlewski focuses on Hollander villages in the Masovian area of Poland.  Masovia contained the Mennonite villages near Gambin: Deutsche Wymysle, Deutsch Kazun, and a couple others.  Some Ratzlaffs did live in these villages in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries; the villages were all daughter congregations of Przechowka.  I suspect somehow my Volhynian Ratzlaffs are related to these Masovians in some way although I don’t know how yet.

My point is that the term Hollander, in the time and area in question, did not refer to ethnicity.  Our Ratzlaff ancestors, not having the easy access to information we have today, would have just known that their grandfathers came from a village with Holland in the name of it – therefore they made the easy conclusion that the village must have been Dutch.  I can understand very easily how this mistake could have been made.

I know that there are those among our family who will always choose to believe that our Ratzlaff ancestors came from Holland, and that may be something I’ll never be able to 100% disprove.  However, I feel with the help of Marchlewski’s work on the Polish Hollander villages we may have an important clue as to how what I regard as a misconception could have originated.

The Green Ratzlaff book indicates that Jacob Ratzlaff was born in Holland on 08/12/1842 and emigrated to Volhynia when Jacob was 25 (1867).  I think it’s most likely that Jacob was born in Holendry Slobodzkie (Karolswalde) in 1842 and at some point moved to Zabara.  1867 would be a likely year for Jacob’s return to the Ostrog area, as Eva was born in 1864 (location unknown, perhaps Zabara) and Andreas was born in 1869 in Leeleva.  Later generations may have confused the move from Zabara with a move from Holland. 

Lastly, there were other villages in Volhynia or nearby regions with Hollander in their names, indicating possible descent from the Hollander villages of Poland.  Hollander villages in the Volhynia area include but are not limited to:

• Holdendry Slobodzkie (Karolswalde) – south of Ostrog

• Josefin-Holendry (Powiat Lutsk)

• Aleksandrowka Holendry (Powiat Kovel)

• (Kol) Holendrow – immediately north or west of Michalin (somewhat south, southeast of Berdichev, in Kiev Gubernia)

3 villages among German Colonies along the Bug, south of Brest, near the borders of Volhynia Gubernia (Powiat Volodymyr-Volyn) and Grodno Oblast:

• Zabuskie (Sabushskie) Holendry
• Holendry Swierzowskie
• Nowiny-Holendry