The rise and fall of a Russian Mennonite village

Neu-Samara. A Mennonite Village East of the Volga Jackpine Books, 2002.

Neu-Samara: A Mennonite Village East of the Volga, was originally compiled by Jacob H. Brucks and Henry P. Hooge in 1964. One of the aims was to pass on the knowledge of the past so it can be “a source of strength and the basis of a renewed confidence for us and our children”. In 2002 John Isaak and Tena Wiebe translated, edited, and added an epilogue to the book, making it accessible to the next generation.

Neu-Samara was established in 1891 with 12 villages encompassing 59,400 acres. The settlers came from the Molotschna Colony in South Russia looking for new farmland. The whole settlement is 14 miles long and seven miles wide. The settlers built shelters out of dirt on the virgin land. From this humble beginning, progress was vigorous in Neu-Samara, with the common saying “he who pays his debts, increases his wealth”. Soon large estates, brick houses, a five-story water mill, churches and schools were established. This progress stopped when Russia declared war on Germany in 1914. With Germany the enemy, people who spoke German were looked upon with suspicion. Famine, confiscation of land and property, and banishment for many people followed. The book includes letters written by former Neu-Samara people recounting stories of living through the experience of banishment and losing loved ones to starvation and overwork.

The book is comprised of small vignettes of life in the colony by people writing from their memories. These are grouped by theme. More than a dozen different writers are represented. This makes the job of the translator more challenging adapting to the various writing styles. However, this style also allows the book to tell the story of the common person and of the traditions important to the everyday Mennonite living in Neu-Samara.

An epilogue by Tena Wiebe which includes colour, current day photos of the building of Neu-Samara including homes, churches, schools, and the five-story mill follows the translated section. The book concludes with an account of Margareta Martens’s life as one of the remaining residents of Neu-Samara. It gives a glimpse into the life of an individual after 1930 when information about life in Russia was very scarce.

Conrad Stoesz is archivist with the Centre for MB Studies in Winnipeg.