Hahn, Eugen Kaspar von (1807-1874)
Eduard von Hahn was a Russian statesman. After the death of General Insov, Tsar Nicholas I appointed Eduard von Hahn, a young official of his chancellery, as president of the <em>Fürsorgekomitee</em> for the German settlers in South Russia, with its headquarters in Odessa. The emperor made this appointment in the early 1840s at the suggestion of Princess Helene Paulovna, who at the time played an important role in Russian court affairs. The charge to Hahn included the Mennonite settlements; here he brought about order with a firm hand. He frequently removed elders from office. Thus on 20 May 1842 he deposed Elder Jakob Warkentin in Halbstadt, and informed all the congregations of this event. This deed naturally produced some disquiet among the Mennonites of Russia; for it was unheard of that a government official would so rudely meddle in church matters. But in the end the people had to yield, for Warkentin had been guilty of civil offenses in interfering in government orders, in inciting disobedience to the local civil authorities, especially in the punishment of a member of the church, for whom the elder offered to take upon himself the labor imposed upon the offender; and in illegal operations in the election of an <em>Oberschulze</em>, and finally in unfounded and completely untenable charges against the local government (Gebietsamt).
In 1844 Elder Peter Schmidt of Waldheim was deposed because he baptized a Lutheran boy and received him into his congregation without government permission, and because he received into his congregation members expelled from other congregations contrary to the wishes and advice of the latter.
Furthermore, in 1847 Elder Heinrich Wiens of Gnadenheim was banished over the border into Prussia, because he excommunicated three members of his congregation for inflicting corporal punishment on an offender on command of the Schulzenamt.
Eduard von Hahn early recognized the importance and capability of Johann Cornies and gave him far-reaching authority; thus he contributed most effectively to Cornies' reformatory work and to the rapid cultural and economic progress of the Mennonite colony on the Molotschna, as the records in the archives of the Molotschna Agricultural Association show. Hahnsau of the Trakt settlement was named after Hahn.
Bibliography
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 232.
| Author(s) | David H Epp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Epp, David H. "Hahn, Eugen Kaspar von (1807-1874)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hahn,_Eugen_Kaspar_von_(1807-1874)&oldid=81585.
APA style
Epp, David H. (1956). Hahn, Eugen Kaspar von (1807-1874). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hahn,_Eugen_Kaspar_von_(1807-1874)&oldid=81585.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 628-629. All rights reserved.
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