Immigration Waves of Mennonites 1683 to 1997
Source: various
.
Wave Dates Numbers From To Type
1 1683-1705 200 Lower Rhine, Germany Germantown PA German
2 1707-1756 3,400 Switzerland & Palatinate Southeastern PA Swiss (Conservative)
. . 300 Switzerland & Palatinate Southeastern PA Swiss-Amish
3 1815-1860 3,000 Alsace, Bavaria & Hesse Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ontario Swiss-Amish
4 1830-1895 500 Switzerland Ohio Swiss-Conservative
5 1865-1895 300 Switzerland Ohio, Indiana, Illinois Swiss-Conservative
6 1873-1884 10,000 South Russia (Ukraine) Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota Prussian/Russian German Kirchliche/MB/KMB/Hutterites
. . 8,000 South Russia (Ukraine) Manitoba Same as above
. . 1,000 Galicia, Volhynia Kansas, S. & N. Dakota Prussian & Swiss
7 1922-1929 21,000 USSR Canada, Paraguay, Brazil Prussian/Russian
8 1941-1948 12,000 USSR via Western Europe Paraguay, Brazil, Canada Prussian/Russian
9 1970-1985 13,000 USSR West Germany Umsiedler*
10 1987-1997 100,000 USSR Germany Aussiedler*

*Post-war Soviet Mennonite refugees moving to West Germany were generally referred to as "Umsiedler" (resettled) until roughly the period of glasnost and perestroika and the first influx of East Germans to West Germany via Czechoslovakia.. Thereafter they were generally referred to as "Aussiedler" (emigrants). These last two waves of immigrants came largely from the Soviet or post-Soviet Asian Republics. While some Mennonites had moved to Siberia before WWI seeking land, most of these Mennonites had been exiled during four periods:

  • early Soviet period to 1922
  • 1929 to 1938 - the Stalin terror
  • in advance of the German invasion in 1941 - especially Molotschna & Crimea residents
  • end of WWII - 20,000 + recaptured Mennonite refugees who fled with retreating German Army

    • .
    The settlements of Asian exile and waves of immigrants were largely made up of women because many of the men, especially (former) church leaders, teachers, landowners and industrialists had been executed.

    Return to main Cruise page