© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Last updated 2 February, 2011)
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.
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".
Inventory file list
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."
Some German, some Russian (with translation)
Arranged and described by Alf Redekopp, January 2011.
None to access
Uke (I.H.) Warkentin of Arnes, Manitoba
Acc. No. 2009-069.
Collection Number: | |
680 | Albrecht Family Photograph Collection |
680:1 | Teacher Heinrich J. Dueck with students. - [before 1922]. - 22x16.5 cm; b&w. |
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This photo shows Heinrich Johann Dueck (1862-1922) with a group of over 100 students. Dueck was born |
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22 Jan. 1862 in Halbstadt and died 1 August 1922 in Klippenfeld. He was a teacher in Kleefeld, |
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Gnadental and Klippenfeld villages in Molotschna. His wife was Susanna (Wiens) Dueck was born in |
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Ebenfeld, South Russia in 1865 and died in Kasachstan in 1941. |
680:2 | Heinrich Albrecht funeral. - 1903. - 23.5x18.5 cm; b&w. |
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This photo show the funeral coffin with Heinrich Albrecht (1886-1903) displayed on a horse-drawn carriage |
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in the village of Prangenau, Molotschna. Left to right: two hired men holding the horse; then behind the |
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coffin, Maria Albrecht (Mrs. Friesen), Abram Albrecht and his wife Malwine, Anna Albrecht (mother of the |
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deceased), Peter Albrecht and David Albrecht. |
680:3 | Peter J. von Kampen, Leader of Nicolaipol Selbstschutz. - [ca. 1913]. - . |
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This photo shows three men posing in uniform sitting around a writing desk. The man in the centre is |
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Peter J. von Kampen who later was trained by the occupying German army (March 1918) for self-defense |
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purposes and who became the leader of the Nicolaipol Region Selbstschutz. He was the leader in |
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Eichenfeld just prior to the the October 26, 1919 massacre. He went into hiding, and apparently with |
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forged documents lived incognito as a barnyard work with the registered name of Johann Penner. He died |
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on 20 July 1923 of malaria in Batoon, on the Black Sea. |
680:4 | Rezin Forstei Composite photo. - 1905. - 56X45 cm: b&w. |
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This photo is consists of 167 individual portraits of Mennonite men who performed alternative service in |
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Imperial Russia in forestry service in Rezin. Each photo includes the person's name [written in Russian]. |
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The photo includes the Russian director U.A. Leman, Russian supervisor E.I. Ladchenko and two |
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Mennonite ministers, G.G. Nikkel Molotschna) and K.B. Fast (Chortitza). The names have all been |
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transcribed on a legend for the photo. Numbers 5-21 are the 17 men who were part of the camp administration. |