Soviet Mennonites Bielefeld苏联比勒费尔德.pdfVIP

Soviet Mennonites inBielefeld, Germany, 1950-1990 Hans P. Werner, Uui~v~:siljiof JTi1717ipeg The intense yearning to leave the Soviet Union for Germany, the country Soviet Mennonites had come to consider their homeland, is reflected in the ~nemoirsof Soviet Mennonite minister Peter Derltsen. Derksen arrived in Germany in 1979and in his published memoirs recalls how the question of getting to Germany had collie U P over and over again when he was still in the Soviet Union. Together wit11 other family ~iiembei-slie had written many letters requesting the Soviet a~~thoritiesto grant them permission to return to their fatherland. The desire to go to Germany was so great it threatened to eclipse even peoples deeply held faith. As Derlisen comments: If everyone had been so motivated to get to heaven as they \yere to get to Germany! This paper examines how Soviet Mennonites came to terms with their images of Gerniariy in tile particular context oftheir lived experience in the city of Bielefeld. Located in northern Gernlar~y,Bielefeld is a medium-sized city that became the home for many Soviet Mennonite U177siedle1.,as they were called in Mennonite circles. or A~nsiedlei;as German society labelled them. The discussio~ibegins by reflecting on the sit~~ationof Soviet Vlennonites as that of a diaspora. The concept of diaspora has recently been extended to help understand and explain the culture of ethnic iiiinorities other than Jews, on whose account the word originally entered the language. Viewing the experience of Soviet Mennonites under the rubric of a diaspora offers particular insights into notions of home, homeland, and feeling at home. First generation Mennonite in~migrantsin Bielefeld are an example of a diasporic group that comes home. The second part of this paper w