Jakob Höppner

Jakob Höppner (born January 3, 1748 in Danzig , West Prussia , † March 4, 1826 in Chortyzja , Ukraine ) was one of the delegates who, together with Johann Bartsch , looked for new settlement areas in Russia on behalf of the West Prussian Mennonites . They carried out their task under difficult circumstances.

Life

The situation of the Mennonites in West Prussia had deteriorated considerably. In the course of the first partition of Poland in 1772 , their settlement areas fell to Prussia . In several edicts they were forbidden to acquire land and further restrictions were imposed. As early as July 22, 1763, Tsarina Katharina the Great of German descent had issued a manifesto that promised new settlers land and religious freedom. In 1786 the envoy Georg von Trappe invited the Mennonites to settle in southern Russia on behalf of the Tsarina . Then Johann Bartsch and Jakob Höppner were sent to look for new settlement areas for the Mennonites willing to emigrate. Before she left, there were difficulties with the Danzig Council, which wanted to prevent the emigration. Nevertheless, Höppner and Bartsch traveled to Russia as representatives of the Russian government, where they also met Prince Potemkin and the Tsarina personally. They decided on a fertile settlement area near Berislaw.

At her instigation, 228 poor families emigrated in horse carts, and later also on barges, on an arduous journey to southern Russia (today's Ukraine) in 1789. But instead of getting their original settlement area, Prince Potemkin, after whom the term Potemkin villages was named, ordered the Mennonites to settle on the island of Khortytsia on the Dnieper River . This area was owned by the prince and personal motives for it can be assumed. In any case, this area was no comparison to the promised land, whereupon the resettlers resented Höppner and Bartsch. They received little thanks for their efforts. Jakob Höppner was even thrown into prison by the Russian government for alleged embezzlement of capital and exiled to Siberia . A year later he was allowed to return.

Höppner settled on the island of Chortitza, where he and his family took an active part in Mennonite life. When he died there, he was not buried in the cemetery, but on his own land at his request because the people had treated him so badly. In 1889 a memorial was erected on his grave in his honor. This memorial is now in the Mennonite Heritage Village open-air museum in Steinbach, Manitoba , Canada .

Web links

• Eastern settlement of the Mennonites
• Jakob Höppner (English)