© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Last updated 2 February, 2011)


  • Albrecht, Abram P., 1912-1993


    Retrieval numbers: Photo Collection 680; Textual: Volume 5500:1-4

    Title: Albrecht family fonds
    Dates: 1905-2009 , predominant 1905-1926
    Extent: 4 photographs
    Extent: 1 cm of textual records
    Repository: Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives

    Historical note

    The Albrecht family immigrated to Canada from the Russia in 1925 and settled in Manitoba. The family included the parents Peter A. Albrecht (1882-1952) and Maria (Dyck) Albrecht (1888-1965)and their three sons Peter (1910-1993), Abram (1912-1993) and Henry (1913-2007). As member a of the Mennonite community in Imperial Russia, Peter A. Albrecht, did alternative service in a forestry camp, serving as the camp's treasurer. In the forestry camps (Forestei), the young men learned to work together, performed labour for the good of the country and remained true to their conscience by not participating in direct military war actions. The young men were proud of their uniforms, often wearing them on Sundays, on holidays and for photographs. After 1914, these forestry men served in the Red Cross until 1917. The Albrecht family cherished the few items that survived from their life in Russia, when the came to Canada.

    Scope and content note

    This fonds contains a composite photograph consisting of 167 individual portraits of Mennonite men that served in the Imperial Russia's Forestry service at Razin, a photograph of teacher Heinrich Johan Dueck (1862-1922) with students of school(Dueck was a teacher in Kleefeld, Gnadental and Klippenstal, Molotschna), and a 1903 funeral photo of 18 year-old Heinrich Albrecht of Prangenau (South Russia) showing the coffin being transported with a horse drawn carriage. This fonds also includes background information on the Razin Forestei where members of the Warkentin and Albrecht family served plus genealogical information on the Albrecht, Peters, von Kampen, and Warkentin families. Some of the data is an update for the published family history book entitled, "John Warkentin and his Descendants 1820-1990".

    Index terms

    Subject terms

  • Forestry - Imperial Russia
  • Conscience Objection to war

    Creators

  • Albrecht, Abram P., 1912-1993
  • Razin Forestry - Imperial Russia

    Adjunct descriptive data

    Finding aids

    Inventory file list

    Notes

    Custodial history

    The items in this fonds were acquired by Ike (I.H.) Warkentin, the son-in-law of Abram P. Albrecht, one of the the three sons of Peter A. Albrecht. Abram P. Albrecht wrote to Ike: "Besides my father Peter A. Albrecht, Forestry treasurer, there are five Warkentins in the picture. Why don't you do some research on them. Then give the picture to the place best suited."

    Language

    Some German, some Russian (with translation)

    Arrangement

    Arranged and described by Alf Redekopp, January 2011.

    Restrictions on access

    None to access

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Uke (I.H.) Warkentin of Arnes, Manitoba

    Other notes

    Acc. No. 2009-069.


    Inventory File List - Textual Records
    Volume 5500
    Albrecht family fonds
    Acc. No. 2009-069
    1. About Albrecht family / compiled by I.H. Warkentin. – [2000?].
    2. About Warkentin family / compiled by I.H. Warkentin. – [2000?]
    3. Forestei: Razin / by F.P. Froese. – [before 1983].
    4. About von Kampen family / compiled by I.H. Warketin and, “A Black Spot on our story” (about the Selbstschutz=self-defense in 1918 in Russia) by Anton Sawatzky and recorded by Peter J. Dyck (Scottdale, PA). This file contains information about Peter J. von Kampen (1891-1923), leader of the Selbstschutz in Eichenfeld prior to the October 26, 1919 massacre, as collected by I.H. Warkentin. – 2000.
    Collection Number:
    680 Albrecht Family Photograph Collection
    680:1 Teacher Heinrich J. Dueck with students. - [before 1922]. - 22x16.5 cm; b&w.

    This photo shows Heinrich Johann Dueck (1862-1922) with a group of over 100 students. Dueck was born

    22 Jan. 1862 in Halbstadt and died 1 August 1922 in Klippenfeld. He was a teacher in Kleefeld,

    Gnadental and Klippenfeld villages in Molotschna. His wife was Susanna (Wiens) Dueck was born in

    Ebenfeld, South Russia in 1865 and died in Kasachstan in 1941.
    680:2 Heinrich Albrecht funeral. - 1903. - 23.5x18.5 cm; b&w.

    This photo show the funeral coffin with Heinrich Albrecht (1886-1903) displayed on a horse-drawn carriage

    in the village of Prangenau, Molotschna. Left to right: two hired men holding the horse; then behind the

    coffin, Maria Albrecht (Mrs. Friesen), Abram Albrecht and his wife Malwine, Anna Albrecht (mother of the

    deceased), Peter Albrecht and David Albrecht.
    680:3 Peter J. von Kampen, Leader of Nicolaipol Selbstschutz. - [ca. 1913]. - .

    This photo shows three men posing in uniform sitting around a writing desk. The man in the centre is

    Peter J. von Kampen who later was trained by the occupying German army (March 1918) for self-defense

    purposes and who became the leader of the Nicolaipol Region Selbstschutz. He was the leader in

    Eichenfeld just prior to the the October 26, 1919 massacre. He went into hiding, and apparently with

    forged documents lived incognito as a barnyard work with the registered name of Johann Penner. He died

    on 20 July 1923 of malaria in Batoon, on the Black Sea.
    680:4 Rezin Forstei Composite photo. - 1905. - 56X45 cm: b&w.

    This photo is consists of 167 individual portraits of Mennonite men who performed alternative service in

    Imperial Russia in forestry service in Rezin. Each photo includes the person's name [written in Russian].

    The photo includes the Russian director U.A. Leman, Russian supervisor E.I. Ladchenko and two

    Mennonite ministers, G.G. Nikkel Molotschna) and K.B. Fast (Chortitza). The names have all been

    transcribed on a legend for the photo. Numbers 5-21 are the 17 men who were part of the camp administration.