Mennonite Heritage Cruises and cities of southern Ukraine: emotional, cultural, and worldview dialogue with the fatherland lost and regained, 1995-2018

Even though the Mennonites emphasized matters of religion and positioned themselves as a religious community, their history, accepted and recognized by the local population, became part of not sacred, but secular memory. It was integrated into the general context of Ukrainian political history. This process was made easier for the urban communities of southern Ukraine by the fact that the Ukrainians did not feel guilt towards the repressed minority. They considered themselves victims of the Soviet repressions as well. It should be noted that the “special sufferings” thesis, insisted on by Harvey Dick, has not gained traction in contemporary Ukrainian historiography. On the other hand, historians do admit that belonging to German culture and German religious denominations was a factor that increased the risk of falling victim to Stalinist terror (Eisfeld 2018: 121-122).

In a literal sense, the return of the Mennonites to the urban historical landscape of southern Ukraine was reaffirmed by the policy of decommunization. A number of names associated with this congregation appeared in the toponomy of Zaporizhzhia (Shoenwiese, Niebuhrivska, Andreas Wallman, Gerhard Rempel, Mennonite, Rozental streets), Dnipro (Khortytska, Ivan Izau streets), and Berdyansk (Mennonite Street). These names either replaced old Soviet figures or took their place next to the new Ukrainian pantheon of heroes formed during the years of independence (such as the heroes of Kruty, V. Chornovil, R. Shukhevych, and others). In Molochansk, many pre-Soviet ideologically neutral names were restored in the course of decommunization. The old toponymy of MoLochansk (Sadova, Parkova, Teatralna streets) brought back a touch of old-fashioned charm. As for the role of the Mennonite population, it found reflection in the town's anthem: “Here Cossack chaikas traversed the vastness of the milky river. The Mennonites founded you - you became known as Halbstadt forever!” These simple, easy to remember words confirm the local recognition of the Mennonite heritage and the success of the MHC in promoting their multi-vector programs.

Conclusions

Summing up the first decade of the activity of the MHC as a platform for promoting Mennonite commemorative programs in their lost homeland, Paul Toews wrote: The Ukrainians and the Mennonites from different countries are collaborating together nowadays. They work in effective partnership with humanitarian agencies, churches and church associations, universities and archives, agricultural cooperatives and small businesses. The Mennonites can again inspire people who have suffered for a long time and for whom the despair was endless. They easen life of old and feeble people, provide medical care to those who are in need, carry on various social practices, create conditions for social justice, support new research to understand our shared history. (Toews 2007: 2)

In fact, quite practical things hide behind these stirring words. In the midst of the ideological and historical upheaval and “moral revolution” in which Ukraine and its people found themselves after gaining independence, the Mennonite communities, in an effort to reassert their memory, successfully organized a dialogue with the population of the cities where their diasporas had flourished before. Such “return” to historical memory helped this ethno-confessional group to heal its old social trauma, caused both by the loss of the Motherland and by the unjust oblivion into which they had been violently thrown by the Bolshevik Regime.

After long decades of absence, the Mennonites returned to their native cities (Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Molochansk, Melitopol, Kherson), first in the form of individual tours and then collectively, as the Mennonite Heritage Cruises. At the beginning, the MHC (as a limited in number, close-knit association that represented the Mennonite congregations of the USA, Canada, FRG, etc.) were entirely a phenomenon of so-called nostalgic tourism. However, the cruises changed their goals very quickly. The shift was made under the influence of the intellectuals that participated in this “pilgrims' community”.

It was crucially important for the Mennonites to return to the public and historical context. The Mennonite Heritage Cruises initiated important philanthropic and commemorative projects, which were inspired by their sense of duty to their forebears as well as to their former fatherland. Also, the new goals were in keeping with the Mennonites' traditional practice and their ethics of maintaining a dialogue with the society around them. Thus, these kinds of activities were very organic to the Mennonites as devoted followers of Protestantism. This public form of “returning” led to a sporadic formation of cross-cultural memory groups, bringing together Mennonites and those representatives of the Local population who became familiar with, recognized, and accepted Mennonite culture as a part of their cities' historical past.

The outcome of the public commemorative events, stressing the idea of shared historical destinies, as well as charitable projects functioning on a permanent basis, was that the urban communities came to perceive the Mennonites as their former neighbors and fellow citizens. Academic programs supported research concerning the history of the German population in Ukraine. Mennonite toponyms appeared on city maps, and the memorial landscape of urban centers welcomed landmarks honoring the memory of this ethno-confessional community.

New emotional connections and knowledge related to the Mennonite diaspora gained a foothold in the minds of the local population. The so-called process of “adding memory” enriched the cities' history. Even though the thesis of the “special sufferings” of the Mennonites, enshrined the congregation's own “myth”, was not accepted by Ukrainian society, the group received “compensation”-respect and emotional response from ordinary people. Just as the Mennonites regained their homeland, the cities of southern Ukraine regained the Mennonites.

The establishment of a Mennonite exhibition withing the territory of the Khortytsia National Reserve, on the ground truly sacred to the Ukrainian people, looks very symbolic. That is exactly what the Mennonites aimed for: to be placed next to the Ukrainians in the history of the region.

Even though the MHC suspended their activity in 2018, the Mennonites are still present in Ukraine: most of their programs remain relevant and continue under the auspices of the Mennonite Center. These projects show Ukrainian society the example of a proper attitude towards both one's past and present. The Mennonite congregations of the US and Canada remain committed to Ukraine in good times and bad.

mennonite diaspora cruise memory

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