New book illuminates Siberian Mennonite story

Ethno Confessions in a Soviet State: Mennonites in Siberia, 1920–1980, Annotated Archival Listing of Archival Documents and Materials, Select Documents is the first fruit of the Siberian Mennonite Research Project, begun in 2002 by the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Fresno, Cal.

Published jointly in March by the Center and the Russian Academy of Sciences, the book contains an annotated listing of 1,000 archival files, 103 selected documents, and a number of photographs and illustrations pertaining to the experience of Mennonites in Siberia. These were researched by Andrey Savin, a historian with the Russian Academy of Sciences, in archives in Siberia and Moscow. “Each file can be hundreds of pages long,” says Paul Toews, director of the Center.

An English edition of the book is scheduled for release in 2007 and two more volumes of documents are planned.

The Center for MB Studies in Fresno is operated by Fresno Pacific University (FPU) and MB Biblical Seminary.

—FPU release