The Molotschna colony (in Plautdietscher language: Molosch ; also called Halbstadt after its capital ) is a former Russian-Mennonite settlement on the territory of today 's Zaporizhia Oblast in Ukraine . The area of the settlement is bounded in the west by the Molochna River (or in Russian Molochnaja). From this the settlement got its name. Today the country is administratively largely part of the Tokmak , Chernihivka and Melitopol Rajons . The closest major city is Melitopol to the southwest.
Molotschna was founded in 1804 by Mennonite settlers from West Prussia and consisted of 57 villages. It was the second (after the Chortitza colony ) and largest Mennonite colony in Russia . After the Germans moved and deported at the end of World War II, the majority of Ukrainians and Russians lived in these villages, as far as they still exist today.
history
After the settlement of Chortitza was founded in 1789, Mennonites from West Prussia visited Chortitza. Although the settlers in Chortitza had difficulties, the Mennonites found it tempting to emigrate to Russia in view of the situation in West Prussia. The Russian government also wanted to settle further groups of the Mennonites, who are regarded as model farmers. In 1800 the Russian Tsar Paul I issued a privilege to the Mennonites in which they should be exempt from military service "for ever". In West Prussia, however, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. the acquisition of land for Mennonites who did not want to do military service. Another reason could have been fear of changes in the wake of the French Revolution . They sought refuge in supposedly safe Russia.
In 1803 the first settlers arrived in the existing settlement of Chortitza and spent the winter there. In 1804 the first villages were founded. The Russian government reserved a piece of land on the Molochnaya River for the settlers. Each settler could get 65 desjatins (a good 71 hectares ) of land. In contrast to the settlement in Chortitza, now wealthy Mennonites also emigrated. They sold their farms and brought the money (after a withholding tax in Prussia) to Russia. They could therefore build up their economies more easily. In the years 1803–1806 365 families came to Molotschna. The Napoleonic wars prevented further emigration for the time being. 1819-2020 another 254 families came to Molotschna. When immigration to Molotschna ended in 1835, a total of 1200 families with around 6000 people had immigrated. The settlement owned about 120,000 desjatins of land. Part of it should not be distributed and reserved for future generations. This was intended to provide for the growing number of families.
Note: * today in Chernihivka district; ** today in Melitopol district; Rest in Tokmak Raion
The inhabitants of Molotschna shared the fate of the Chortitza settlement, they were evacuated to the Warthegau in 1943 and later deported back to the Soviet Union by the Red Army when they marched into Germany. There they were sent to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Many of their descendants now live in Germany, Canada, the United States, and South America. A large number of them are now multilingual and speak Plautdietsch in addition to the respective national language .
Sons and daughters of the Mennonite settlement Molotschna
Johann Cornies (1789–1848), an important Mennonite in Russia, promoter of agriculture and a progressive school system
Abram B. Enns (1887–1993), interpreter, writer and educator
William Neufeld (1901–1992), American javelin thrower of German Russian origin
Ben Klassen (1918–1993), right-wing extremist author, Christian fundamentalist leader
Helmut Oberlander (* 1924), translator in Sonderkommando 10a, war criminal
