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About 25 people including direct descendants of the first Mennonites took in what organizers called a soft opening of the Peace Trail at the Mennonite Landing. It was on that site that on Aug. 2, 1874, those Mennonites left the paddlewheel, The International, to start their new life. It began as a five mile walk to the Schantz Sheds, before moving on to start villages in the East Reserve. Held on June 1, Manitoba Trails Day, the ceremony also included an introduction to the Peace Trail itself, highlighting the ten waypoints designed to allow people to reflect on the Mennonite experience. Glen Klassen, EastMenn Historical Committee chair told the crowd the land they were on is important. “We are now standing on a place where my great-great-grandfather Johann Koop and his family and his church family got off the paddleboat in 1874,” he said. “They stepped off the boat here and entered the promised land.” As he shared the waypoints on the trail, Klassen remarked on the final stop, the Dirk Willems Peace Garden at the Mennonite Heritage Village. Willems was famously escaping prison across a frozen river when he returned to rescue a guard that fell through the ice, even thought that meant he would be caught and later executed. “He was a giver,” Klassen said. “We on the other hand by settling on prairie soil were takers. How ironic then that we should take, albeit legally, so much land for ourselves.” “Maybe walking, cycling or driving the Peace Trail is one way of saying thank-you to the previous owners, the Indigenous peoples and the Metis.” A new pamphlet allows people to drive the peace trail, though some waypoints are reached only by dirt roads so caution is recommended. Waypoints include the Mennonite Landing site, river lot panels, Hespeler Park Niverville, Shantz Immigration Sheds Cairn, Tourond Discovery Centre, Gruenfeld Cemetery and Cairn, Chortitz Church and Cemetery, Rosenthal Nature Park, Blind Creek Trailhead and Keating Cairn, and the Dirk Willems Peace Garden at the Mennonite Heritage Village. Klassen said some work remains to be done as panels are planned for some of the stops. Memorandums of Understanding are still required between the four municipalities which the trail flows through.

Dan Vadeboncoeur, CTV News Winnipeg, August 11, 2023 A new documentary is telling the story of how Mennonites first came to Manitoba nearly 150 years ago. The Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society (MMHS) has received a $65,000 grant from the Province of Manitoba to help fund the project. The documentary is being written and directed by Toronto-based filmmaker Dale Hildebrand, who grew up in Halbstadt, Man. MMHS president Conrad Stoesz said it’s been a long time since a movie about Mennonites has been made in our province. “I think 1999 was the last time a documentary was made, and those documentaries tended to focus on who the Mennonites were at that time, in 1999, and very little about the early years in Manitoba. Stoesz said the film will focus on the migration of the Mennonite peoples to Manitoba, and the first few years spent here. “The leaving of imperial Russia in 1874, the crossing of the ocean, and the establishment of communities here in the province,” he said. The documentary will be made up of interviews with historians, as well as documents and photographs from the MMHS archives, and computer-generated re-creations of life in the late 1800s. Stoesz said it will be a challenge to tell this story visually, due to a lack of pictures from the era. “They didn’t have money or time to be taking photographs, they were trying to eke out an existence on the prairie,” he said. “So we don’t have a lot of photos, and that’s why the computer-generated materials and re-enactments are important.” Filmmakers will be shooting re-enactment scenes at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. Filming is slated to begin in the fall, with the movie to be released next year. Stoesz said the government grant has put them at about 75 per cent of funding. A sample script has been written by Hildebrand and his sister Eleanor Chornoboy, who has been researching the topic tirelessly at the Mennonite Heritage Archives. “Collecting materials, collecting stories, finding information,” said Stoesz. The documentary will premiere at the Mennonite Heritage Village next summer. After that, Stoesz hopes to screen it for schools and other community groups. “Commemoration is important, it builds community, it builds identity,” said Stoesz. “It provides momentum and a reason to care about a person’s past.”

Lori Penner, The Carillon, May 15, 2023 The Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society (MMHS) Annual General Meeting (AGM) drew a large crowd of members and visitors to the historic Commons Barn in Neubergthal on April 29. Since it was founded in 1958, MMHS has continued to foster an understanding of and respect for the history and beliefs of the Mennonite people in the past and present, and to challenge them to give new expression to this heritage in the future. The MMHS works with communities to promote historical research and publications, search out and preserve historical sites and Mennonite cemeteries. They also organize lectures and provide resources for school and organizations and encourage the expression of the Mennonite experience in various areas, such as literature, drama, history, fine arts, music, geography, sociology, and religion. They also work in cooperation with various Mennonite archives and museums, to collect, preserve, and exhibit articles and documents of historical value, and interpret and promote the religious convictions of the Anabaptist-Mennonite people, past and present. Members and standing committees come from across the province. MMHS President Conrad Stoesz reflected on 2022 and how things are becoming busier as they move out of pandemic restrictions and have finally been able to resume many of their activities. This included the unveiling of a plaque near Niverville, which marks the buildings that Jakob Schantz built to house the Mennonite pioneers for the first few weeks as they prepared to build new communities east of the Red River. Their society magazine, Heritage Posting, under the guidance of Glen Klassen, continues to thrive, and this was the first time in several years that MMHA representatives were able to attend national meetings in Saskatchewan. Stoesz noted a number of important anniversaries in their communities. “This past year marked the 100th anniversary of the move of 7,000 Mennonites to Mexico because of heavy handed assimilation policies of the provincial government in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. MMHS members were active in helping Mennonite Heritage Village, MHSC, and the Plett Foundation bring to fruition traveling exhibits to mark the anniversary.” That exhibit is on display at the MHC Gallery in Winnipeg and will spend the next two years traveling through Ontario and Western Canada. Stoesz also noted that next year is the 150th anniversary of Mennonites in Manitoba, 2025 is the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist Movement, and 2026 the 100th anniversary of Mennonites in Paraguay. The MMHS is encouraging congregations, conferences, families, and communities to consider marking Manitoba Mennonite 150th, through special services, reunions, publications, websites, dramas, or possibly a cairn or plaque. “Commemorating anniversaries and important events within a community is crucial in preserving and understanding the shared history and values that shape its identity,” he said. “It provides an opportunity for community members to come together, reflect on the past, and consider a legacy they wish to leave for future generations. It also helps to keep the memory of key moments and individuals alive, which can be a source of inspiration and pride.” Stoesz said that the ongoing war in Ukraine is a reminder of the importance of the work they do in their historical societies, archives, libraries, museums, and institutes. As part of Russia’s effort to reclaim Ukraine, he fears that cultural sites such as libraries, museums and archives will be targeted. “This war is not only about land and resources, but it is also about the past and who gets to define it.” He told the audience that despite challenges such as lack of volunteers, increased costs and reduced income, the work that the MMHS does is essential to the communities they serve. “Let’s remember that we’re not just collecting dusty books, torn documents, or broken furniture, but we are helping our communities to define their identity – our identity.” Stoesz also acted as keynote speaker at the AGM, transporting guests back 130 years as he revisited the split of the West Reserve Bergthal in Manitoba, and the formation of the Bergthaler and Sommerfelder churches in the 1890s. Based on his extensive research, he brought events and personalities that shaped this pivotal time in Manitoba Mennonite history to life. The AGM also included a viewing of the movie, Conform: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico. The thought-provoking documentary explores the challenges Mennonites faced in Canada and their journey to Mexico after World War One. Director Andrew Wall fielded questions from the audience, to gain a deeper insight into this important story. “The idea for the film started in 2019. It took about a year to put together, do all the interviews and the re-enactments. It’s a complicated sort of nuanced story, based on the research that’s been done, and from the archives. We just try to tell the story of how it was.” Wall has produced and directed several other award-winning films about the Mennonite experience through Refuge 31 Films. Conform: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico gleaned a Best Documentary Feature award at the 2023 Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival. “This is a story that needs to be told and shouldn’t be forgotten. It was a complicated story, and I think both sides didn’t really know what they were getting into. There was a portion of the communities who moved away because of the school issue, but the other half remained and adjusted and moved on. Their viewpoints were all valid and their perspective was worth remembering and looking at.”