Alexey Glushaev, Vera Kliueva

The "New" Mennonites of the Ural and Siberia: Genesis and Transformation of Ethnoconfessional Communities in the 1940S-1960S

Alexey Glushaev - Senior Lecturer, Department of Cultural Studies, Perm State Academy of Arts and Culture (Perm, Russia). perst-ur@mail.ru

Vera Kliueva - Senior Researcher of the Laboratory of Anthropology, Institute of Problems of the Development of the North, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science; Associate Professor, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow, Russia). vormpk@gmail.com

The article explores the genesis and transformation of Soviet ethnoconfessional communities in the 1940s-1960s, using the case of the so called "new" Mennonite communities in the Ural and Siberia. The development of these communities depended on the extreme conditions of a transition they went through, from the traditional rural life to the urban industrial setting. In these communities we see new mechanisms of solidarity, based on inter-communal and inter-religious communication. The preachers who developed patterns of survival contributed to the endurance of Mennonite identity in the Soviet time. Yet, the communities formed in the extreme circumstances of "special settlements" remained unstable and volatile.

The research was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for National Research on Christian Churches in Eastern Europe during the Cold War: Public Law and International Activism. 14 - 01 - 00488.

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Keywords: Germans, Mennonites, Baptists, religious communities, ethno-religious community, Mennonite Central Committee, religious practices.

Introduction

AFTER several waves of deportations and labor mobilizations, which began with the "Kulak" exile of the 1930s and lasted almost until the end of the 1940s, the geography of settlement of the German ethnic group of the USSR changed beyond recognition. Unlike in the pre-war years, when large German and Mennonite colonies existed in the European part of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, mostly in rural areas, 2 by the mid-1950s, Soviet Germans had moved far east and become a prominent ethnic group in the Urals and Siberia. According to the All-Union Census of 1959, the share of Germans in the structure of the population of the Urals was 1.1% of the total population, Siberia -4.6% 3. In the whole country, the census takers indicated a figure of 820016 people who considered themselves Germans.4
Forced migrations and ethnic displacements made Soviet Germans a special target group that was subjected to social and political discrimination in Soviet society for many years. Under the close control of various authorities were religious movements and confessional groups, which were united, according to the official language of archival documents, "persons of German nationality."

The problem of the genesis and transformation of German-speaking confessional communities in the Urals and Western Siberia in the post-war years is the subject of this study. In prices-

1. Most German-speaking Mennonites were descendants of Dutch colonists who migrated to the Russian Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By the beginning of the 20th century, Mennonite colonies represented ethno-confessional communities with a developed system of economic and cultural life.

2. Beyond the Urals until 1941, large German enclaves and Mennonite colonies were found only in Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, in what is now the Altai Territory and Omsk Region.

3. Matveeva N. V. Sotsial'no-demograficheskoe razvitie nemtsev SSSR v 1920-1950-kh. Avtoreferat diss.... Candidate of Historical Sciences Yekaterinburg, 2011. p. 24.

4. Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1959. RSFSR. Moscow: Gosstatisdat Publ., 1963, p. 328.

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Mennonite communities (fraternities) formed in the second half of the 1940s under extreme conditions of special exile, under the regime of special administrative supervision applied to the German population of the USSR, are the focus of the article's attention.5 The territorial scope of the study includes the regions of the Urals (Molotov [Perm] and Sverdlovsk regions) and Western Siberia (Tyumen and Tomsk regions). Our choice is explained by the fact that in retrospect these regions were never a place of compact Mennonite habitation. 6 In this case, the genesis of Mennonite communities is one of the results of the complex and sometimes dramatic socio - political processes that took place in these regions in the 1930s and 1940s.

In our opinion, Mennonite communities in the Ural and West Siberian industrial centers of the second half of the 1940s can be called "new", in contrast to the Mennonite communities that developed in rural areas of the southern, central and eastern regions of Russia in the XIX-early XX century. A distinctive feature of the "new" Mennonite communities was that they were formed in an extreme situation of transition from a traditional rural way of life to an urban and industrial way of life, which was accompanied by repressive state policies. Moreover, in wartime conditions, the total labor mobilization of the German population significantly changed the geography of settlement of German-speaking Mennonites.

Formation of "new" Mennonite communities in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Since the beginning of the 1930s, during the collectivization and deportation of part of the rural population, Germans-labor settlers appeared in the northern regions of the Urals and Western Siberia. Among the settlers were German-speaking Mennonites. For example, in 1935, in one of the

5. On the system of special administrative supervision in the regions of the Urals and Siberia, see: Belkovets L. P. Administrative and legal situation of Russian Germans in the special settlement of 1941-1955: Historical and legal research. Moscow: ROSSPEN; Foundation of the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, 2008; Stalinist Deportations. 1928 - 1953/Under the general editorship. acad. by A. N. Yakovlev; comp. by N. L. Pobol, P. M. Polyan. Moscow: MFD: Mainland, 2005; Suslov A. B. Special contingent in the Perm region (1929-1953). Moscow: ROSSPEN; B. N. Yeltsin Presidential Center Foundation, 2010. pp. 151-307.

6. Unlike, say, the Chkalov (Orenburg), Omsk and Altai regions, where Mennonite communities existed from the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX century.

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G. P. Fot 7, later an authoritative leader and preacher of the church Mennonites of the USSR, was exiled from the villages of the Cherdynsky district of the Perm Kama region together with his family.

By the beginning of the "Great Terror", practices of political investigation and persecution had already developed against religious minorities. Mennonites were repressed during the" Kulak "and" German " operations of the NKVD.8 A significant number of Mennonites were repressed in connection with "fascist insurgent organizations" as "agents of German intelligence" in 1937-1938. 9

The situation in which the Mennonites of the USSR found themselves on the eve of World War II can be described as follows: "Their church took such a crushing blow that only its name remains."10 As a result of the State's activities, intra-communal ties and organizational structures of religious groups were destroyed. In particular, in the Chkalov (Orenburg) and Omsk regions, and in the Altai Territory, where Mennonite colonies existed, prayer houses were closed, collective forms of religious instruction were prohibited, and the activities of preachers were restricted.11
As for the exiled Mennonites, their religious life was significantly limited by the supervised status of special settlers. The Protestant faith was reduced

7. See: Questionnaire of the arrested Fot G. P. 10.01.1938 / / PermGANI. F. 641/1. Op. 1. D. 7797. L. 5-ob.; Fot Genrikh Petrovich (1887-1973).

8. See for more details: Ethnoconfession in the Soviet state. Mennonites of Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s: Emigration and Repression. Documents and materials / Comp. and scientific editor Savin A. I. Novosibirsk: Posokh, 2009. pp. 29, 31.

9. The Soviet State and the Evangelical Churches of Siberia in 1920-1941. Documents and materials/Compilation, introductory article and comments by A. I. Savin. Novosibirsk: Posokh Publ., 2004, p. 73.

10. Zavatsky V. Evangelical movement in the USSR after the Second World War, Moscow, 1995, pp. 327-328.

11. Tyulyulyukin E. F. Rossiiskie nemtsy v istorii Orenburzhya (kontsets XIX-XX vv.) Orenburg: Pressa, 2006. pp. 134-136; Morgunov K. A. Religious organizations of Germans-Mennonites of the Orenburg region in the post-war period. Contribution to the development of society, Religion and Culture: Proceedings of the Russian Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to the 495th anniversary of the Reformation. November 16, 2012 Perm: Knizhnaya Ploshchad, 2012. pp. 157-158; Ethnoconfession in the Soviet state. Mennonites of Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s: Emigration and Repression. Documents and materials / Comp. and scientific editor Savina I. Novosibirsk: Posokh, 2009. pp. 33-45.

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It was preserved mainly in families and in a narrow circle of co-religionists 12.

In the post-war years, after the disbanding of the labor army and the replenishment of the "special contingent" at the expense of those repatriated from Germany, Mennonite meetings in the Ural and Siberian working settlements, in forest artels and collective farms became more and more noticeable. Almost simultaneously, in 1946-1947, Mennonite communities appeared in the Molotov, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, and Tomsk oblasts. 13 "In the new settlement of the Magnesium plant in barrack No. 54," a report from Solikamsk, Molotov Oblast, reported,"<...> repatriated Germans gather, mostly on Sunday at 9-12 o'clock. citizen Klein reads, and an old man < ... > explains to the audience [what was read] (he is the leader) " 14.

The restoration of religious life in Mennonite barrack communities15 was facilitated by the continuing tradition of Protestant confession, which placed "an emphasis on the idea of eternal predestination, on the inevitability and even goodness of suffering".16 Fate was perceived as the will of God, and for many people, it was not just a matter of faith.

12. See, for example: V. Weber. Soviet Germans: save the faith in spite of fate / / On the way to freedom of conscience, Moscow: Progress, 1989. p. 373_374.

13. Motrevich V. P., Radosteva Yu. A. Mennonites in the Sverdlovsk region in the 1940s and 1950s. Archive. History. Sovremennost': Sb. nauch. trudy, Issue 3. Yekaterinburg: Ural Publishing House. un-ta, 2003, p. 170; Nemtsy v Prikamye... Vol. 1. Archivnye dokumenty [The Germans in the Kama region]. Book 1 ... p. 327. Nam I. V. Mennonite communities in the Tomsk region in the conditions of "thaw" and "stagnation" (based on the materials of the State Archive of the Tomsk region) / / Germans of Siberia: history and Culture: materials of the VI International Scientific and Practical Conference. Omsk: Nauka Publishing House; OmSPU Publishing House, 2010. pp. 368-374; Klyueva V. P. Mennonites of the Tyumen region: a short history of the community (late 40s-80s of the XX century) / / Ibid. pp. 347_353; Gorbatov A.V. On the question of the number of Mennonite associations v Sibiri 1950 - 1960-kh godov [in Siberia of the 1950s and 1960s] / / Ibid., pp. 340-345; Soskovets L. I. Religious confessions of Western Siberia in the 40-60s of the XX century. Tomsk: TomSU Publishing House, 2003, pp. 201-212.

14. Letter from the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Solikamsk Civil Code of the CPSU (b) I. I. Kotelnikov to the head of the Solikamsk city department of the MTB about the activities of the local Mennonite sect. June 16, 1947 / / Germans in the Kama region. XX vek: Sbornik dokumentov i materialov v 2 tt. Vol.1. Archivnye dokumenty [Archive documents]. Book 2. Perm: "Pushka" Publ., 2006, p. 226.

15. On the concept of "barrack communities", see: Glushaev A. L. " Without preachers, in the corner of barracks...": Protestant "barrack communities" in the Perm Kama region of the 1940s-1950s / / State, religion, Church in Russia and abroad. 2012, N3-4. pp. 257-283.

16. Mitrokhin L. N. Baptism: history and modernity (philosophical and sociological essays). St. Petersburg: RKHGI, 1997, p. 397.

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"saving the immortal soul" required only personal and unconditional faith.

The feeling of the collapse of the former structures of the hostel, which were previously familiar and everyday for Soviet Germans, was reflected in their complaints, preserved in archival documents of the mid-1950s. Commissioner for the Molotov Region V. V. Belyaev reported on the mood among the German population:

We-the Germans-are in a lowly position here, we are used only as labor, <...> we don't have the personal life that we would like to live. We want to read a German newspaper, listen to a radio program in our native language, have our own church (others say: we need our own club)<...>; we want our children to go to a German school. In addition, the climate here is harsh, and we are used to having our own house, estate, even a small farm, garden 17...

This was also stated in letters from the Tyumen Region sent to relatives who lived abroad.: "All Germans are released, but we are deprived of our homeland forever, and we are not allowed to go abroad." 18
The wariness of others and the negative attitude towards former special settlers increased social frustration within the ethnic group, irritation at the double standards that they had to face in real life. "If we go to work, we are told 'comrade German', "an eyewitness is quoted as saying in a report from a Tyumen village," and if we receive money or buy goods in a store, we are called 'fritz', 'fascist '" 19.

Faced with the situation of social and ethnic segregation in society, a significant part of the German population began to perceive the life of religious communities as a real alternative to the existing relations of power and subordination in Soviet society, as an opportunity to preserve national identity. "Where can I hear my native speech, a song in German?-

17. Information report on the work of the Authorized Council for Religious Cults under the Molotov Regional Executive Committee for the first half of 1956. 18.07.1956 / / GAPK. f. r-1204 Op. 2 d. 7. l. 10-11.

18.Cit. Eichelberg E. A. Nemtsy v Tyumenskoi oblasti: istoriya i sovremennoe polozhenie [Germans in the Tyumen region: history and current situation]. Tyumen: Vector Buk Publ., 1999, p. 61.

19. Cited by Eichelberg E. A. Decree, op. p. 61.

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ke, "an unknown correspondent in the Soviet German newspaper Neues Leben asked and answered himself," only in the sect. " 20
It was not uncommon for the "new" German-speaking communities to unite people of different Protestant tendencies. For example, according to the memoirs of E. A. Eichelberg:

Despite the prohibitions, they organized religious meetings where they discussed their hard life. For example, my grandfather, Yakov Yakovlevich Eichelberg, who lived in the north of the Perm region at that time, held such meetings at home. <...> It was not uncommon for representatives of different faiths to meet together at meetings, which could not have happened before. Together with her Lutheran grandfather, his wife, Elena Korneevna Guibert, also participated in them, but she never ceased to consider herself a Mennonite.21
Ya. Ya. Eichelberg's name is listed in archival documents of the early 1960s as a member of the Mennonite community in Krasno-Vishersk, Perm region22.

Thus, ethnic and linguistic factors became decisive in the processes of consolidation of the people, and the religious component of community life was probably "perceived as the most harmless form of such consolidation" 23.

In other words, for the German population of barrack enclaves of industrial and rural settlements, in an environment of disintegration of family and personal ties, homelessness and social discrimination, the life of religious fraternities made up for lost social and personal ties, allowed them to speak their native language. This was also the focus of the activities of preachers who not only preached the gospel, but also created close-knit groups of co-religionists, where each person felt constant attention.

20.Cit. by: Soskovets L. I. Decree. Op. p. 208.

21. Eikhelberg E. A. Edict. op.P. 65.

22. From the report of the Authorized Council for Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Perm region V. V. Belyaev... on the activities of religious groups of German citizens in the Perm region. 1958 / / Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... pp. 234-240; List of Mennonites living and operating in Krasnovishersk, compiled by the authorized representative of the KGB Department of the USSR Council of Ministers for the Perm region in Krasnovishersk//Ibid., p. 265.

23. Bushmakov A.V. German religious associations in the Kama region. 1947-1980 // Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... p. 224.

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The " new " Mennonites between the desire for independence and the need to consolidate with ALL of them

The key moment in the history of the "new" Mennonite communities of the USSR occurred in the period 1955-1957, when preachers were able to establish constant communication between communities within the country, and details of the life of Mennonite groups became known abroad. By this time, the Mennonites had developed a circle of authoritative community leaders who influenced important decisions in church life.

One of these preachers was the previously mentioned G. P. Fot, who headed the Mennonite community in Krasnovishersk, in the north of the Perm Kama region, in the post-war years. Contemporary of G. P. Fot, presbyter of the Berezniki community of Evangelical Christians-Baptists R. K. Schlender spoke about the preacher as follows: "Fot's spiritual literacy is high. I consider him one of the most authoritative people of the spiritual world, who is like me and others [subsided] "brothers " and" sisters " make a strong impression. But it serves the Lord's cause only for money. " 24 Although the last phrase sounds unpleasant in the review, it should be noted that it was written by a Soviet official authorized by the Council for Religious Affairs (SDRC), and could have acquired a negative sound during the drafting of the document. It should be noted that G. P. Fot, being a school teacher-philologist by education and having teaching experience, 25 embodied the type of preacher of the early XX century, who combined pedagogical and religious activities in the Mennonite communities of southern Russia.26 According to the established tradition, the work of a teacher and, probably, a preacher was paid for from the funds of the community. However, we do not exclude quite ordinary reasons for cash payments related to preaching activities, with the need to make long trips to other regions of the country. The intensity of the preacher's migrations and his nomadic lifestyle in the 1950s is explained by the fact that the photo center turned out to be a large city.

24.Cit. po: Certificate of measures taken to eliminate violations of the Soviet legislation on cults by clergy and sectarians in the Perm region. 27.10.1960 / / PermGANI. F. 105. Op. 27. D. 133-L. 61.

25. Statement by G. P. Fot. 10.04 - 1936 // PermGANI. F. 641/1. Op. 1. D. 7797. L. 4.

26. See: Cherkashyna I. V. Historical experience of self-organization of the Russian Germans in the field of education, the Germans of Russia: historical experience and modern problems of self-organization: the Materials of international scientific-practical conference. Moscow, October 29 - 30, 2007, Moscow: MSNK-press, 2008, pp. 92-96.

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one of the last Mennonite elders (Alteste) in the USSR, 27 who could ordain senior preachers and appoint community leaders.

The name of G. P. Fot is associated with events that partly determined the evolution of "new" Mennonite communities in the Urals and Western Siberia. In the fall of 1956, two representatives of the Mennonite communities of the Perm Kama region, G. P. Fot of Krasnovishersk and I. K. Welk of Borovsk28, met in Moscow with the leaders of the Mennonite Central Committee, Harold S. Bender and David B. Vince. Wiens)29.

It should be noted that the leaders of the Mennonite Committee tried to gather preliminary information about the location, number and composition of Mennonite communities, and the attitude of believers to the union with Baptists. In their report, they mention groups formed in the north of Molotov, in the industrial cities of Borovsk, Solikamsk and Krasnovishersk. It was about six groups, which united 800 believers. Other data collected reported Mennonite communities in Ural cities such as Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk, or in areas of new land development, in the Kostanay region (Kazakhstan) and in Kirghizia30. Even though this information is conditional, it allows us to present the geographical distribution of Mennonite communities.

At the Moscow meeting, the situation of Mennonites in Soviet society was discussed cautiously.31 One of the questions was about the possibility of joining

27. In English-language archival documents, the status of G. P. Fot was emphasized by the word Elder. Alteste (elder). In his report on his trip to the USSR, Harold Bender wrote:: "For a long time, as we have been able to determine, Heinrich Foth was the only ordained elder." // Report on the mission to Russia by H. S. Bender and D. B. Wiens, October 26-November 16, 1956. P. 5. The authors thank J. Dyck for the unique opportunity to use this document.

28. Borovsk - in 1956 a city in the Molotov region. Subsequently, it was merged with the city of Solikamsk, Perm region. More than 10,000 Soviet Germans lived on the territory of Borovsk and Solikamsk in the 1950s. See: Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... p. 226.

29. This meeting was mentioned by Soviet authors, however, with a bias towards conspiracy theory. See: Krestyaninov V. F. Mennonites. Moscow: Politizdat, 1967. p. 55.

30. Report on the mission to Russia, p. 7.

31. " Velk I. K. and Fot G. P., being at a meeting with Bender, gave the latter correct information about the material and living situation of their Mennonite Germans... At the same time, they expressed harmful thoughts that we allegedly do not have a complete system.

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Mennonite communities to the All-Union Council of the EXB. Mennonite communities were supposed to register within the union, and in the future "they will be able to form their own organization as part of the Baptist union and, at a favorable time, leave the Baptist union without any problems and formalize a separate Mennonite conference or conferences" 32.

The issue of mutual recognition of church baptismal practices and participation of Evangelical Christians-Baptists and Mennonites-in joint rites was raised. Moreover, the doctrinal differences between the Mennonite faith and the Baptist faith were not significant. 33 Rather, it was about the difference in religious practices that developed in Mennonite fraternities. Thus, among church Mennonites, the rite of baptism was performed through pouring. The foreman, who is on his knees crossing himself, pours water three times from a jug (sprinkles it on his head). While fraternal Mennonites were baptized by immersion in a pool of water (just like Baptists).

Thus, the meeting emphasized the right of G. P. Fot and I. K. Belk to represent the Mennonite communities of the USSR both in the face of state bodies, religious associations of the country,and in relations with international Mennonite organizations abroad. 34
While maintaining international and regional ties, the elders and senior preachers decided to hold a kind of" congress " of Mennonites. In January 1957, a meeting was held in Solikamsk, organized by local Mennonites. The authorities reacted rather painfully, noting that "the so-called Mennonite congress in Solikamsk did not actually take place; on January 10, something similar to a meeting was held in Solikamsk".35
freedom of religion...". / / Report notes of the Commissioner... 06.04 - 23.05.1957 // Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... p. 230.

32. Report on the mission to Russia, p. 6.

33. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, Mennonites and Baptists have constantly interacted. Some Mennonite preachers received theological training in Baptist schools in Germany and England. Istoriya evangelskikh khristian-baptistov v SSSR [History of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the USSR]. Moscow: VSEKHB Publishing House, 1989, pp. 418-437.

34. In his book, W. Zawatski also mentions other Mennonite preachers, such as Philipp Kornies and Franz Pauls, who met with G. Ben - der and D. Zawatsky in the fall of 1956. See Zawatski, V. Evangelical movement in the USSR ... p. 328.

35. Memos of the Commissioner... 06.04- - 23.05.1957 // Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... p. 227.

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The memos of the Molotov Region Commissioner, V. V. Belyaev, do not contain much information about this meeting, but they do include details that were probably obtained quickly. It was reported that the Fot at the "meeting expressed the opinion that" there is no need to raise the issue of registration and unification with the EXB at the present time, since the attitude of the authorities towards us has changed for the better""36. In other words, the plan of interaction with the ALL-EXB, which was discussed at the Moscow meeting with North American Mennonites, was rejected. The prevailing view was that the Mennonites ' organizational problems should be solved independently.

Preachers from different regions toured German-speaking communities, helped religious activists organize prayer meetings, and conducted baptisms. For example, according to state security agencies in the Sverdlovsk Region, "a Mennonite group in Krasnoturinsk was visited by a preacher named FastI G. from Kazakhstan, who established a church council and ordained one of the leaders of the local Mennonite group, A. G. Kran, as a preacher; a preacher named Penner came to Karpinsk from the Perm Region." 37 In turn, religious life in the Tyumen community was revived after the arrival of preacher Dick from Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk region ,who "called on the faithful to activate < ... > religious activities" 38.

He repeatedly visited Mennonite groups in the Chkalov (Orenburg) region, in Stalinabad (Dushanbe) and Tashkent, Novosibirsk and Omsk, G. P. Fot 39. In 1959, in Tomsk, senior preachers in the region and preachers in the city, deacon and regent of the church choir were ordained.40
36. Ibid.

37.Cit. Motrevich V. P., Radosteva Yu. A. Mennonites in the Sverdlovsk region in the 1940s and 1950s. Archive. History. Sovremennost': Sb. nauch. trudy, Issue 3. Yekaterinburg: Ural Publishing House. univ., 2003, p. 172.

38. Spravka o deyatel'nosti sektantov-mennonitov, 3 Aug 1960 g. [Reference on the activities of Mennonite sectarians, August 3, 1960].

39. Reports of the Commissioner... 06.04- - 23.05.1957 // Germans in the Kama region ... Vol. 1. Archival documents. Book 2 ... p. 228.

40. Special message about the Mennonite sect in the territory of the Tomsk region, June 13, 1959 / / GATO. F. R-1786. Op. 1. D. 69. L. 26.; See also: Nam I. V. Struggle for survival: German religious communities of the Tomsk region in the years of "thaw" and "stagnation" German population in the post-Stalinist USSR, in the CIS and Baltic countries (1956-2000) / Proceedings of the 9th International Scientific Conference. Moscow,

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However, the issue of interaction between Mennonites and Baptist communities remained. The peculiarity of the situation was that in the Urals and Western Siberia, some communities of Evangelical Baptist Christians consisted exclusively of ethnic Germans.41 Taking into account the circumstances of the formation of German-speaking religious brotherhoods in these regions, we can only guess at the initial confessional orientation of believers and about the competition of different groups within the communities. The report of representatives of the Central Committee of Mennonites mentioned the problems associated with the joint performance of religious rites:

Baptists welcome the participation of Mennonites (in their services. - Author), but in many places where closed communion is practiced among them<...>, Mennonites were denied the breaking of bread, and, of course, those who do not accept immersion baptism do not have the opportunity to be baptized.42
Correspondents from the regions complained to G. P. Fot that they were not allowed to participate in the rite of breaking bread at prayer meetings of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. Refusal of communion was accompanied by insistent demands for repeated baptism through full immersion. "How many Of You Are There? - one of the elders asked, - 30 or 40? Come all of you. I will baptize you, then you can participate in the breaking of bread. " 43
Mennonite preachers and ordinary believers had to decide on what conditions to participate in the services of Baptist communities. In some Mennonite communities-

November 4-7, 2002, Moscow: International Union of German Culture, 2003, p. 307.

41. For example, by 1958, there were 28-29 Baptist groups in the Perm Region, comprising about 1,200 believers, of which 15 were entirely German (about 900 people). In those localities where" citizens of German nationality " were relatively few, they were included "in religious associations of evangelical Christians-Baptists together with citizens of other nationalities." // Report... 26.06.1958 / / GAPK. f. r-1204. On. 2. d. 7. l. 173.

42. Report on the mission to Russia, p. 5.

43.Cit. By: Chernyshov A. A. Mennonites in the Molotov (Perm) region in 1945-1957. Traditsiya podgotovki sluzhiteley v bratstve evangelskikh khristian-baptistov [Mennonites in the Molotov (Perm) region in 1945-1957]. History and prospects: Collection of articles, Moscow: RS EXB, 2013, p. 175.

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Church Mennonites were being "re-baptized" in the Philippines. An example of this is the events in the Tyumen Mennonite community, when in 1956, and then in 1958, a part of the church Mennonites was re-baptized. "Preachers Freze I. Y. and Rempel D. D. also made the sign of the cross in the "fraternal faith"44.

However, gradually, by the mid-1960s, the issue of "crossing over" faded into the background. Leaders of Baptist congregations have agreed to Mennonite autonomy; for example, in the EXB of Tomsk: "For Lutheran and Mennonite churchmen, the Council provides an opportunity and time to break its bread." 45 Of course, such gatherings contributed to the legalization of marginal Protestant groups.

Baptists ' recognition of Mennonite religious practices was directly influenced by the events of the early 1960s, which were associated with the aggravation of state-confessional relations. The anti-religious campaign launched in the late 1950s led to unexpected results for the authorities. There was a movement of Baptist initiatives46, which split the union organization of the EXB created in 1944. The initiators also received support from unregistered Mennonite communities. "As a rule," notes A.V. Gorbatov, "if there was a German group in the communities of 'initiators', then it was given the opportunity to conduct worship services separately from the brothers in the faith, in German,"47 and no special conditions were put forward for Mennonite prayer meetings. A similar rule was followed by a number of communities from the VSEKHB. Thus, the internal schism among the Baptist union led to a change in their attitude towards other Protestant groups. It should be added that in the future church Mennonites

44. Spravka o deyatel'nosti sektantov-mennonitov, 3 Aug 1960 g. [Reference on the activities of Mennonite sectarians, August 3, 1960].

45. Protocol No. 8 of the general meeting of the EXB community held on December 13, 1964 / / GATO. F. R-1786. Op. 1. D. 78. L. 20.

46. See: Nikolskaya T. K. Russkiy protestantism i gosudarstvennaya vlast v 1905 - 1991 godakh [Russian Protestantism and state power in 1905-1991]. SPb: Publishing House of the European University in Saint Petersburg, 2009. pp. 201-215.

47. Gorbatov A.V. The state and religious organizations of Siberia in the 1940s-1960s. Tomsk: Publishing House of Tomsk State Pedagogical University, 2008, p. 301.

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They preferred to communicate together with the ECB SC communities, and fraternal ones-with the VSEKHB communities.

The state-confessional policy aimed at uniting all Protestant communities within the framework of the VSEKHB did not contribute to the preservation of the "new" Mennonite communities in the Urals and Siberia. In such a situation, only the largest or most authoritative leaders of the church could survive. At the same time, the reasons for refusing to register Mennonite communities "under the umbrella of Baptists" (in the words of V. Zavatsky 48), in our opinion, are not limited only to disagreements on the dogma and practices of baptism, although this problem was recognized as urgent. More important were issues of status: for Mennonite religious leaders, joining the All-KGB was a downgrade of their status, as it was likely that they would lose the ability to make decisions about their communities. In addition, Mennonite communities, despite all the hardships and persecutions of the Soviet era, did not interrupt communication with their foreign co-religionists, receiving help and support from them, which also allowed them to feel their independence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that due to the fact that the "new" Mennonite communities lacked the old mechanisms of solidarity based on traditional loci of permanent residence, intra-communal economic ties, and continuity in the system of upbringing and education, the mechanisms of confessional and, more broadly, ethno-cultural self-organization of German-speaking communities came to the fore. This is especially evident in the activities of Mennonite groups in the Molotov (Perm), Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, and Tomsk regions, where German-speaking Mennonites were among the newcomers who were subjected to deportations, and among whom the confessional boundaries were not as clear as in pre-war times. Most often, German-speaking confessional associations were built on the basis of ethnic self-identification, a single language field.

48. Zavatsky V. Evangelical movement in the USSR, p. 328.

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Leaders of the "new" Mennonite communities, in particular G. P. Fot and I. K. Welk, tried in the second half of the 1950s to restore intra-church ties and create an independent union that would promote confessional and ethnic solidarity among Soviet Germans. However, the resistance of the authorities, who negatively assessed the prospects for the formation of a church organization with the expected international support, did not allow the union to develop.

Moreover, after the abolition of the special settlement regime for Germans, when a significant part of believers began to leave to reunite with relatives or simply in search of a better life, the "new" Mennonite communities were transformed under the influence of migration processes. They, figuratively speaking, either "drifted" across the expanses of the Soviet Union together with believers, or merged with similar Baptist communities, thereby expanding the social fields of interpersonal relations.

Bibliography/References

Archive materials

State Budgetary Institution of the Tyumen region " State Archive of socio-political History of the Tyumen region "(GASPITO).

F. 124 Tyumen Regional Committee of the CPSU (1944-1991).

Regional State State Institution " State Archive of the Tomsk Region "(GATO)

F. R-1786 Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Tomsk region (1944-1990)

State Regional Budgetary Institution "State Archive of Perm Krai" (GAPK)

F. R-1204 Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Perm region, 1925-2000.

State Regional Institution "Perm State Archive of Modern History "(PermGANI)

F. 105 Perm Regional Committee of the CPSU, Perm, Perm region, 1932-1992.

F.641/1 (Archival criminal cases on persons removed from operational registration in the Information Center of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Perm Regional Executive Committee. 1918 - 1991.

Report on the mission to Russia by H.S. Bender and D. B.Wiens, October 26 -November 16, 1956. - 14 p. [typescript, copy].

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