Chortitza Colony - Anarchy

Anarchy

A long period of prosperity was broken by World War I (1914–1918), which led into the Russian Civil War, interrupting the lives of Chortitza's residents. Mennonites served as medics during the war, caring for injured soldiers. For a short time after the war, the German army occupied Ukraine, including Chortitza. After the Armistice at the end of 1918 the German soldiers withdrew. A self-defense force was organized within the villages, perhaps with help and weapons from the German army. Some of the Mennonites took part in this force, even though they traditionally opposed military service on religious grounds. Civil war raged from 1917 to 1921 as the communists tried to take power. Things were chaotic in Ukraine during this period of constant revolution. Nestor Makhno's army would target the Mennonite colonies because they were considered Kulaks and far better off than the regular Ukrainian peasants. Initially the villages attempted to protect themselves with the help of the self-defense force. Resisting Makhno was no longer possible during one of his alliances with the Red Army.

During the period mid October 1919 to the last week in December of that year, Makhno's army occupied all the colony’s villages and much of the district up to Dnipropetrovsk (then Ekaterioslav). The Makhnovists invaded the colonists’ homes, murdered and raped at will, and spread venereal diseases and typhus. The latter epidemic ultimately infected roughly 95% of the local population, of which more than 10% died.