Don Region (Don Voisko Province or Oblast) of Imperial Russia was the official name of the territory of Don Cossacks, roughly coniciding with today's Rostov Oblast of Russia and was located on the west side of the Don River, Russia, This region contained a number of small Mennonite settlements. At the mouth of the Don River, west of the city of Rostov, was the Mariupol Mennonite Brethren Church which was organized by Mennonite Brethren evangelists from the Molotschha settlement. The Planerkolonie, located north of Berdyansk, consisted primarily of non-Mennonite German settlers, largely Lutheran. Near by was the Bergthal Mennonite Settlement, which was dissolved in 1874 when the settlers went to Canada; the five Mennonite villages were incorporated into the Planer settlement. The Planer settlement spread into the eastern part of the Don Basin. Another daughter settlement of Planer originated north of Berdyansk, consisting of the villages of Neuhoffnung, Neuhoffnuhgsthal, Rosenfeld, and Neu-Stuttgart. It was here that Eduard Wüst began his evangelistic activities, which spread into the Molotschna Mennonite settlement causing the founding of the Mennonite Brethren. A small Mennonite settlement in the Don Region was the town of Millerovo, which became an industrial center of the Mennonites (see Millerovo Mennonite Brethren Church). In addition to Millerovo and Mariupol, the towns of Taganrog and Rostov had some Mennonite population.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1077. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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