Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies

Have you seen it? Over the past four months, there have been more than twenty public screenings of THE RUSSLAENDER MIGRATION, from Montreal to Victoria. We are now pleased to announce that the film is available to stream on YouTube. Tell your friends and family!

THE RUSSLAENDER MIGRATION | Full Documentary – LA MIGRATION DES RUSSLAENDER | Documentaire complet Between 1923 and 1930, some 21,000 Mennonites migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada. To mark the centenary of the beginning of this migration, events were...

Last supper in Gdansk, ending the study trip. Six University of Winnipeg students journeyed through the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland to explore the theme of Mennonites and Conflict with 24 other tour participants. Much knowledge and laughter was shared in this intergenerational experiential learning experience.

Mennonites were expelled from Poland after the Second World War. However, many traces of the four centuries of Mennonite presence in the Vistula River delta region remain, including buildings that are still in use. Noah is standing in front of the former Mennonite church in Rozgart, while Emily is in front of the former Mennonite church in Elbląg. Both are now used for worship by Catholic communities that are doing their best to preserve the buildings through local support.

At Malbork Castle (Marienburg), constructed in the 13th century by the Order of Teutonic Knights, a Catholic military order, after their conquest of Old Prussia. After the Knights were defeated by the Polish king in the 15th century, the castle became a royal residence. Here, in the Chapter House of the High Castle, Prof. Friesen has assumed the seat of the Grand Master.

Built in the late 18th century and rebuilt around 1825 by a certain Peter Epp, this house, known as Danziger Kopf, is one of the best-preserved examples of traditional Mennonite-style arcaded architecture remaining in the Vistula Delta region. The study group spent all of yesterday touring former Mennonite settlements in the area.

At the castle of the Pomeranian Dukes in Szczecin, Poland. Apparently the students have revolted against Prof. Friesen because she assigned too many readings. Hopefully they don't send her to the dungeon!

The study group took a walking tour of the northern German city of Lübeck, the unofficial capital of the medieval Hanseatic League. The buildings along the canal were built as salt storehouses (photo by student Emily). See the comments for the story behind the devil receiving the students’ thumbs-down.

Our students visited the Menno-Kate cottage at Bad Oldesloe. According to tradition, the cottage was occupied by Menno Simons’s printer; beside it stands the Menno Linden, a linden tree supposedly planted by Menno Simons. They also visited a memorial to Menno at the site of the former village of Wüstenfelde, where he spent his last years. The marker gives his year of death as 1559, as mistakenly reported by older historical texts. Scholarly consensus is that he actually died in 1561.

Prof. Friesen was all bundled up for the boat tour of the Hamburg harbour. Thanks to student Kylie for the photo!

Not everything is about Mennonite history on this trip. A group of students visited Hamburg’s impressive Elbphilharmonie for a concert.