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

Abstract

The article explores the genesis and transformation of Soviet ethnoconfessional communities in the 1g40s-1g60s, 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.