View source for Akmolinsk (Akmola Province, Kazakhstan)

Akmolinsk (now Akmola; Kazakh: Ақмола облысы, Aqmola oblısı) was a district in the Kirghiz steppe of West Siberia, 240,000 square miles in area. Near [[Omsk (Siberia, Russia)|Omsk]]<em>, </em>the capital of the district of Akmolinsk, Mennonites from the Russian provinces of [[Taurida Guberniya (Ukraine)|Taurida]] and [[Samara Oblast (Russia)|Samara]] settled in 1899, among them the families of John Matthies, Franz Balzer, Julius Dick, Peter Dick from Taurida, and H. Ewert and Gerhard Ewert from Samara. Peter J. Wiens<strong> </strong>started a business in Omsk in 1897. These were the first Mennonites to settle in Siberia<strong>. </strong>In the year 1899 the brothers Peter, Nikolai and Johann Friesen with several other families bought a tract of land 160 miles (260 km) west of Omsk near the railroad station Tokushi, and founded the settlement of [[Friesenov (Omsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia)|Friesenov]]. In the following years numerous families settled on both sides of the Siberian railway. They secured their land usually from Russian officers and preferred to settle on individual farms. Some villages were, however, also formed, including Margenau, [[Alexandrovka (Russia)|Alexandrovka]] and Hamberg, near the station Gorkoye. The number of Mennonites in the district of Akmolinsk was about five thousand in 1913.

The settlements in Akmolinsk achieved relative prosperity, whereas the large settlements in the districts of Pavlodar and [[Barnaul Mennonite Settlement (Siberia, Russia)|Barnaul]] (province of [[Tomsk (Siberia, Russia)|Tomsk]]) were very poor. Near Omsk (New Omsk) a [[Omsk Mennonite Zentralschulen|four-year continuation schoo]]l was established in 1910 in connection with the village school, which had a six-year course. It was planned as a teachers' seminary for the Siberian Mennonites. Near Omsk the Mennonites Lepp and Friesen founded (1913) a farm implement factory.
= Bibliography =
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 17.
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 1, p. 30|date=1955|a1_last=Kröker|a1_first=A. J|a2_last= |a2_first= }}