Barnaul (also Slavgorod), a Mennonite settlement named after the city of Barnaul on the Ob River in the Altai district in West Siberia, formerly the province of Tomsk. The Barnaul Mennonite settlement was flanked by many other Mennonite settlements located in the vicinity of Omsk, Slavgorod, and Pavlodar. It was some 100 miles (160 km) south of the great Siberian railroad line between Omsk and Novo-Nikolaievsk (now Novosibirsk), 120 miles (195 km) north of Pavlodar on the Irtish River and 10 miles (16 km) from the city of Slavgorod. In later years the city of Barnaul was connected by rail with the main line.

Barnaul Settlement, Siberia, Russia Mennonite Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 235

In the beginning of the 20th century this region, known as the Kulundian steppes, was desolate and inhabited only by nomads with herds of cattle. The first Mennonites in West Siberia were those in Akmolinsk near Omsk and Friesenov in 1897 ff. In 1906 landless Mennonites of the Orenburg Mennonite settlement organized to locate land for settlement purposes in West Siberia. Heinrich Krüger and Jakob Peters were sent as delegates to study land and conditions under which a settlement could be made. They met in West Siberia with delegates from other Mennonite settlements in the Ukraine and together made arrangements with the government to reserve for them some 60,000 dessiatines (162,000 acres) of land near Barnaul. In 1907 the first families from Orenburg arrived to start the Barnaul settlement (some sources set the date as of 1909). Soon various settlers from the Zagradovka, Chortitza, Molotschna, and other Mennonite settlements located in this area. Each male member of the family received from the government 40 acres of land. The Mennonites followed their own method of distributing this land among themselves in farms of equal size. The families without any means received 400 rubles from the settlement funds of the mother colonies. The pioneer conditions were very hard. The crops were fair, but the market was far away and poor.

One of the outstanding early leaders of the Barnaul settlement was Jakob A. Reimer who was its first mayor (Oberschulze) 1910-1914, and who was said to have been called "the Moses of the Mennonites" by an official in Petersburg. The municipality (volost) center was located in the village of Orlov. In 1917 the municipality was divided, with Chortitza as a second center.

The Barnaul settlement consisted in 1925 of some 58 villages with a population of 13,173. Most of these villages belonged to the Barnaul settlement proper. However, as time went on the families increased and more settlers arrived and numerous smaller settlements sprang up on the fringes of this settlement.

The Orlov municipality of the Barnaul settlement consisted of the following 26 villages: Gnadenfeld, Tiege, Lichtfelde, Schönwiese, Schönau, Schönsee, Nikolaidorf, Alexeyfeld, Reinfeld, Protassov, Schöntal, Grünfeld, Orlov, Rosenhof, Friedensfeld, Alexandrovka, Tchernovka, Rosenwald, Nikolaipol, Berezovka, Hochstädt, Ebenfeld, Blumenort, Gnadenheim, Kleefeld, and Shumanovka. The Chortitza municipality consisted of the following eight villages: Halbstadt, Alexanderkron, Karatal, Chortitza, Markovka, Grieshenka (Alexanderfeld), Stepncye, and Golenki.

Besides the main Barnaul settlement there were five smaller ones which increased from year to year. About 15 miles (25 km) to the west was the new settlement Bas Agatch with two villages, Dolinovka and Suvorovka. Svistunovo, 45 miles (72 km) east of Slavgorod, consisted of two villages, Dolinovka and Tchernyevka. Tchaiatchi with the two villages, Nikolayevka and Tatianovka, was located 42 miles (67 km) east of Slavgorod. Gliaden, located 72 miles (115 km) east of Slavgorod, consisted of five villages, while Pashvia was located some 48 miles (78 km) east of Slavgorod consisting of four villages, Ananyevka, Markovka, Ekaterinovka, and Grigoryevka.

In addition to these little settlements bordering on the Barnaul settlement there were larger ones more distantly located from Barnaul which were not necessarily a part of this settlement. Among them were the Pavlodar, the Minussinsk, the Omsk, the Friesenov, the Tchunaievka settlements and others.

About two thirds of the population belonged to the Mennonite Church and most of the others to the Mennonite Brethren. Several families belonged to the Allianz-Gemeinde and the Adventists.

The Mennonite Church was divided into five districts averaging 350 baptized members each in 1913: Orlov, Grünfeld, Reinfeld, Shumanovka, and Markovka. The elders in 1913 were Kornelius Harder, Jakob Gerbrandt (graduate of Bethel College), and Kornelius Wienss. Ministers were Anton Löwen, H. Sawatzky, Jakob Enns, and others. The church buildings were located in Schönsee, Grünfeld, Kleefeld, and Markovka. In Orlov the town hall was used for worship services and in some villages private homes.

The Mennonite Brethren were similarly divided into five districts: Schöntal, Schönwiese, Alexandrovka, Gnadenheim, and Alexanderfeld. Elder Jakob Wiens of the Pavlodar settlement served as elder (1913). Ministers were Aaron Reimer, Peter Bärgen, Schmidt, Isaak Braun, and Abram Ratzlaff (1913). Meetinghouses were located in all the villages mentioned as districts and in Alexanderkron.

In all villages elementary schools had been established and the instruction was given in the German and Russian languages. Originally the schoolhouses were primitive and only a few of the teachers had training or experience in teaching. Gradually schools were built in most of the villages and trained teachers were hired. Outstanding among the teachers were Jakob Wedel, Johann D. Friesen, Anton Löwen, and Johann Dyck. Annually two teachers' conferences took place at which lectures were given and common problems were discussed. In 1913 an organization planned and promoted the establishment of a secondary school. It is not known whether it ever materialized.

Most of the village occupants were farmers. The farms averaged 135 acres. Of each farm a few acres were set aside to be rented out. The income formed a fund to be used to buy land for the next generation. There were nine stores, four windmills, two steam mills, one motor mill, and a number of smith and carpenter shops located in the various villages. In Orlov the government erected a hospital and a post office.

During World War I most of the men were drafted, which handicapped the normal development and progress of the new settlement considerably. After the Revolution the great poverty of the settlement was somewhat relieved through American Mennonite help. Until 1925 the Mennonites continued private farming and ownership. In 1926 Grünfeld started collective farming. In 1927 other villages began to work most of their land collectively, though each retained some of his property. The government supported this effort by making tractors and threshing machines available. In 1928 radical collectivization was introduced and many of the Mennonite farmers exiled as kulaks. Ministers and churches were taxed to a degree that it was impossible to fulfill the obligations. Religious instruction to young people was prohibited. After 1928 the ministers were gradually exiled and the churches confiscated. Thus collectivization, exile, and the entire religious policy of Communism broke the Mennonite way of life. However, the settlement was completely disintegrated as was the case with most of those in European Russia. Hardly any Mennonites from Siberia had been fortunate enough to leave Russia and to come to America by the 1950s.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 235-236. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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