Rewriting the Break Event: Mennonites and Migration in Canadian Literature by Robert Zacharias

Review of Rewriting the Break Event: Mennonites and Migration in Canadian Literature by Robert Zacharias

Historical and Pedagogical Chronology of the Development of Ethno-confessional Musical Education of Mennonites in the South of Ukraine (End of the 18th - Early XX Centuries)

Historical and chronological principles that the development of musical education of Mennonites in the South of Ukraine (from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century) is based on were explained. With the use of archetype and historical-cultural methods of research and implementation of historical and pedagogical reconstruction, an educational-organizational criterion and its indicator (subordination of Mennonite schools) were determined. The main research problem is to maintain the integrity of the ethno-religious Mennonite group among the representatives of the titular nation with the help of spiritual music. The main result: three stages of historical and pedagogical development of musical education of Mennonites in the South of Ukraine were substantiated. The significance of the study is that the deficiency of historical and pedagogical knowledge about the spiritual music education of national minorities, which for centuries lived on Ukrainian lands and influenced the history of musical education in Ukraine, was eliminated

Mennonite COs Under the Russian Tsars (1787-1917)

The story of Russian Mennonite conscientious objectors (hereafter COs) is probably not well-known. It is a very important story because it explains in large part how it is that we now are Canadians and not Russians, why we live where we do, and why this “objecting” feature is still a facet of our lives today. Without the events of that story, none of us would be here in Altona, Manitoba, Canada, this evening, and in all likelihood, not be what makes us tick. (This essay is a slightly revised talk given to the Altona History Seekers at Garden on Tenth on March 16, 2017

Life Writing and Mennonite Identity - Review: Essay of Mennonite Women\u27s Memoirs

Excerpt: Rhoda Janzen’s recent success is enviable, her hefty book deal with a prominent press and the publicity that followed her first memoir the kind of triumphs to which writers often aspire. Her book Mennonite in a Little Black Dress has – in its own way – brought Mennonitism to the mainstream, introducing readers (and plenty of them) to a religious sect that remains, to many, enigmatic and exotic. The book’s title alone is alluring, juxtaposing the long-held stereotypes about cape-dress-wearing and be-capped Mennonites with the startling image of a skimpy black shift, a modern emblem of sexy fashion: and so, it seems, entirely not Mennonite

Book Review: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home

Excerpt: An honest admission: When I first saw Rhoda Janzen’s new book featured in Time magazine and in The New York Times, my initial impulse was toward envy—unadulterated, green-as-possible envy. As a fledgling writer who grew up in a close Mennonite community, I often dreamed of creating a humorous memoir about my religious upbringing, complete with satirical observations about the peculiarities of Mennonite culture. Janzen’s Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was the book I always wanted to write. That the author had received a good bit of publicity for her work only intensified my shade of green. After finishing Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, however, I’m convinced the book is misnamed, and that the publisher added “Mennonite” to the title as a clever marketing tool: the cache of a seemingly exotic religious sect being used to sell a different type of story. Certainly Mennonites play a role in Janzen’s book, but only as a quiet thrum to a much larger, more complex and more compelling story about the author’s spiritual quest to discover the self she had lost, and the results of her efforts

Review of: \u3cem\u3eIn the Fiery Furnace: Life in Ukraine, Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Germany: The Autobiography of Johann and Elfriede Steffen\u3c/em\u3e—Edward Kline (translation)

This is the autobiography of Johann and Elfriede Wall Steffen. They were Russian Mennonites who lived under Communist rule from after World War I until 1988. Russian Mennonites suffered much during the famine of the 1930s, then during the persecution of the “Great Purge” (1936-1938). During World War II, when Germans occupied Ukraine, Russian Mennonites with German heritage had several years of peace. But when the Russians drove the German army westward, Mennonites suffered severely. Thousands were exiled to Siberia where many died due to hard labour and starvation. [First paragraph.

Taking Dominion to End Dominion: The Mennonite Influence on the End of Russian Serfdom

Serfdom in Russia was abolished in 1861, only 76 years after the first Mennonites were invited into Russia by Catherine II. By examining the lifestyle of the Mennonites who settled in the agriculturally productive “New Russia” (modern-day Ukraine), as well as the impact that the Mennonites had on the Imperial family, peasantry, and government, it is evident that the Mennonites played a recognizable role in bringing about the abolition of serfdom across the empire

Review of Klippenstein\u27s Peace and War, Mennonite Conscientious Objectors in Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union before World War II, and other COs in Eastern Europe

Review of Lawrence Klippenstein, Peace and War, Mennonite Conscientious Objectors in Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union before World War II, and other COs in Eastern Europe, Winnipeg, MB. 2017. 367pp. $30.00 including postage outside Canada