A Tale of Two Newspapers: Die Mennonitische Rundschau (1880-2007) and der Bote (1924-2008)

Abstract: Two North American Mennonite German-language newspapers founded by immigrants from Russia--one in the nineteenth century, the other in the twentieth--reflect the different patterns of immigration and the changing forms of social community and religious organization in North America. Their influence reached far beyond their bases in the United States and later Canada, extending back to Europe at different periods and throughout Latin America in the twentieth century, following the Russian Mennonite diaspora. The papers played an important role in maintaining social connections, promoting political viewpoints, and developing different religious conferences before language shifts caused their decline and eventual closure in Canada. Between 2007 and 2008, two leading German-language Mennonite newspapers published in Canada, Der Bote and the Mennonitische Rundschau, ceased publication. Both were founded and published by Mennonites who had immigrated to North America from Russia and its successor state, the Soviet Union. The Rundschau was founded in the United States for immigrants from Russia of the 1870s; the Bote by immigrants of the 1920s who mainly settled in Canada. In their time, however, both papers served new immigrant groups, including Mennonites who left the Soviet Union after 1945. Although by the 1920s both papers were based in Canada, they reached readers throughout and beyond North America. Initially founded as independent publishing ventures, both papers eventually became associated with the two major religious denominations dominated by Mennonites from Russia and their descendants: the General Conference of Mennonites of North America and the North American Conference of Mennonite Brethren. The former had been founded shortly before the arrival of Mennonites from Russia in North America, although many of these immigrants would join the conference and dominate some of its districts. The latter conference of Mennonite Brethren represented a group that emerged in Russia after 1860 and emphasized a personal conversion experience, baptism by immersion, and evangelism within and outside the larger Mennonite community. The Mennonite Brethren established itself in North America following the 1870 immigration movement but its numbers were greatly enhanced by the arrival of immigrants from the Soviet Union in the 1920s. The demise of both papers reflects the larger pattern of assimilation of most immigrant groups in North America, including language shifts into English, and the subsequent economic challenges of publishing newspapers in German for a rapidly declining population of Mennonite speakers of the language. In their time, however, both papers served large Mennonite communities. This article seeks to assess the significance of the two newspapers for these communities and to show how their aims and content reveal much about the role of printing in communication between diasporic groups and within social networks, in reflecting cultural tastes, in expressing religious opinions, and in understanding the politics of congregations, conferences, and individuals. Reflected in the news pages is a history of successive generations within the context of their times and the place of Mennonites in the world. THE RISE OF A MENNONITE PRESS Many religious groups in Europe and North America took advantage of increasingly affordable printing technology in the nineteenth century to publish magazines and newspapers and distribute them to increasingly literate communities through improved communication networks. In Europe publications were often restricted by law and subjected to censorship, but in America freedom of religion combined with freedom of expression to produce a vibrant and diverse literature. (1) Between 1822 and 1853, 188 new religious periodicals appeared in print in North America. By 1880 this number had increased tenfold to almost 2,000, of which at least nine were Mennonite. …

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