Heinrich Franz was an outstanding teacher among the Mennonites of Russia, and with Tobias Voth and Heinrich Heese a cofounder of their school system. He was born 6 October 1812 in West Prussia, and died 27 May 1889 at Neu-Halbstadt, Taurida. For three years he attended the Vereinsschule headed by F. W. Lange at Rodlofferhufen, near Marienburg; in 1832 he passed the Prussian teachers' examinations, became a tutor in his home town, then a teacher at the Brenkenhoffswalde school. After his emigration to Russia in 1832 he was for a short time a private teacher at Felsental, and 1835-1844 he taught in the Gnadenfeld village school. His abundant determination is attested by the fact that in order to learn the Russian language he served for two years as supervisor in the boarding-school of the Ekaterinoslav Gymnasium. As a teacher in the Chortitza Zentralschule 1846-1858 his influence was felt throughout the settlements in his teaching, in his influence on their school system, in the statutes he worked out for the Chortitza Mennonite schools and the schools in general. His deficient knowledge of Russian made him less effective in this field than his predecessor Heinrich Heese; but in German and arithmetic (including elementary algebra and geometry) he did outstanding work. With his "150 tables" in arithmetic and their key, Franz dominated the instruction in arithmetic for a half century, as he dominated religious music in the home, school, and church with his Choralbuch of 1860 with notes. Franz's most lasting influence lay in the strength of his personality and his Draconian severity in school. These traits also brought him into conflict with influential persons and with the Chortitza authorities, and he was consequently obliged to resign in 1858. He, of course, had enthusiastic supporters, but also outspoken opponents among his pupils. He again turned to private instruction in Gnadenfeld and on the Rosenhof at Brodsky, owned by Jacob Dick. In 1880 he resigned, having devoted 50 years to teaching. He settled in Neu-Halbstadt, where he gave a few hours' instruction in religion in the secondary school for girls, and in 1888 he edited and published the poems of Bernhard Harder, the popular preacher of the Russian Mennonite brotherhood. His memory survived, and he was spoken of simply as "der alte Franz."   

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 379-380. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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