6. Mennonites Loose Privileges

        In 1772 the Vistula delta was annexed by Prussia and the privileges the Mennonites had enjoyed for many years began to change.  King Fredrick ended the centuries-long beneficial arrangements between the Mennonites and the government and forced the Mennonites to either serve in the military, or pay exorbitant military taxes.  So when Catherine the Great of Russia invited farmers from West Prussia to settle in the Ukraine, the Mennonites responded favorably.  Fredrick's successor Fredrick William III did not want to lose these valuable Prussian farmers so he required those who emigrated to pay a 10% tax on their possessions.  Because of this tax the first Mennonites to migrate were the landless and poor with less to lose from the taxation. The first group left in 1789 and settled in the Chortitza settlement on the Dnieper River of South Russia.

The complete story of the Chortitza settlement can be seen at:
http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Chortitza_Mennonite_Settlement_(Zaporizhia_Oblast,_Ukraine)