Alexanderfeld (Zagradovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine)
Alexanderfeld, a village in the Mennonite settlement of Zagradovka in the Russian province of Kherson, 70 miles (115 km) north of the city of Kherson, near the Ingulets, a tributary of the Dnieper, was founded in 1872 by Mennonites from the Molotschna colony. The railroad station was Nikolo-Kozelsk (17 miles (28 km) distant) and the postal station was Tiege. The population was reduced in 1909 by the emigration of one hundred persons to Siberia (Tomsk province, Barnaul district) and in 1913 numbered 220. Half of these belonged to the Mennonite Church (united with the Nikolaifeld Mennonite Church) and half to the Mennonite Brethren (united with the Tiege Mennonite Brethren Church). The inhabitants were almost exclusively engaged in farming and cattle raising. There were two steam mills in Alexanderfeld. The village embraced 3,500 acres of land. In 1908 the population was 411.
During the Russian Revolution of 1917 and especially at the time of the occupation of Zagradovka by Makhno, the Mennonites suffered very severely and some of the villages were completely destroyed.
The collectivization of Alexanderfeld was begun in 1930, and resulted in the exile of many kulaks. Deportation was repeated in 1937-1938, when during one night 62 men and three women of Alexanderfeld, of a total population of 350, were exiled. During the German invasion of the Ukraine at the beginning of World War II the Soviets first evacuated all men between the ages of 18 and 50 and then the total population. Most of the people, however, fell into the hands of the German army and were returned to their homes. In October 1943 the population of Alexanderfeld left Russia with the others to be settled in the Warthegau, Germany. When Germany collapsed, the Red army sent many of them back to Russia while the remaining found new homes in Canada and Paraguay.
Bibliography
Lohrenz, Gerhard. Sagradowka: die Geschichte einer mennonitischen Ansiedlung im Süden Russlands.'Rosthern, Sask.: Echo-Verlag, 1947.
Lohrenz, Gerhard. Zagradovka : history of a Mennonite settlement in southern Russia. Winnipeg : CMBC Publications, 2000.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 21.
| Author(s) | Christian Hege |
|---|---|
| Cornelius Krahn | |
| Date Published | 1955 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hege, Christian and Cornelius Krahn. "Alexanderfeld (Zagradovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1955. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Alexanderfeld_(Zagradovka,_Kherson_Oblast,_Ukraine)&oldid=132387.
APA style
Hege, Christian and Cornelius Krahn. (1955). Alexanderfeld (Zagradovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Alexanderfeld_(Zagradovka,_Kherson_Oblast,_Ukraine)&oldid=132387.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 44. All rights reserved.
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