17. Health and Education

      Each village had a school where students were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, religion and music. The earliest teacher was typically a craftsperson or herder, untrained in teaching, who fit class time around his occupation.  In 1820 the Molotschna colony started a secondary school at Ohrloff and brought in a trained teacher from Prussia. A school of commerce was started in Halbstadt and offered a full graduate education with trained teachers. Those who wanted to pursue post-secondary education attended universities in Switzerland, Germany as well as Russia.     

      Mennonite colonies were self-governing with little intervention from the Russian authorities. Each village was headed by an elected magistrate who oversaw village affairs.  Villages controlled their own school, roads and cared for the poor. Male landowners decided local matters at village assemblies

A Mennonite Hospital

Photo courtesy of Heritage Remembered p. 119

            The Molotschna colony established its own hospitals, mental hospital, school for the deaf, orphanage and elder care homes.  The colony provided insurance and fire protection programs. 

The story of the Molotschna Colony can be seen at:
http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Molotschna_Mennonite_Settlement_(Zaporizhia_Oblast,_Ukraine)