Hierschau

This book, written with the general reader in mind, provides an interesting and valuable microscopic view of a small nineteenth-century Mennonite village that becomes representative of all the Mennonite colonies and life on the South Russian steppes. Through the many details and individual personalities in one village, the reader gains significant insights into the larger Russian Mennonite world. The story of Hiershau is unique in another way. The village, as its name implies ("Look here!"), was to be a model, an example of Mennonite agricultural thrift and progress. Planned by the…