Accession 2013.006
Title and Description
Kronsweide village collection. – 1919-ca. 1973. – 2 cm of textual records and other material.
Administrative/Biographical History
The village of Kronsweide, later referred to as Alt Kronsweide, was established in 1789. It was one of the first villages of the Chortitza Mennonite Settlement. It was situated between the Dnjeper and the Bug Rivers. The soil at the original site was quite rocky and many of the settlers relocated to what became known as Neu-Kronsweide. In 1919 the people and infrastructure of the village suffered severe damage at the hands of Nestor Machno’s marauding anarchists and by dissatisfied local Russians. The Bolsheviks renamed the village Wladimirowka and subjected its citizens to the tyrannies of the Stalinist era. In World War II, the village was occupied by the German army. Under the direction of the Reichsministerium fuer die besetzen Ostgebiete (Ministry for the occupied eastern territories) detailed reports were prepared to document the experiences of the German/Mennonite people. Many were regarded by the ministry as “Volksdeutsche” capable of participating in a greatly enlarged post-war German Reich.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of an undated 23-page village and family history. Neither the family name nor the name of the author are given, but the context suggests that it was written by a descendant of Peter Peters who is listed in the Kronswiede 1795 census report as a 16 year old. Then there is a second fourteen-page village and family history, written in 1973 by Franz P. Funk of Warman, Saskatchewan. A third, undated eight-page, village/family history titled “Memories of Kronswiede and Jasykowa” was written by Isaak Warkentin.
The largest part of the collection consists of numerous maps, reports, genealogical, family and statistical information documenting the history of the village and the experiences of the people under communist rule and under German military occupation. Similar detailed village reports (Dorfberichte) were prepared by the German occupation forces for many villages with large German (Volksdeutsche) people. This file has sufficient information for the writing of a quite comprehensive history of an important Russian Mennonite village.
Source of Acquisition
unkown
Notes:
Accession 2013.006