Historical note

The Albrecht family immigrated to Canada from the Russia in 1925 and settled in Manitoba. The family included the parents Peter A. Albrecht (1882-1952) and Maria (Dyck) Albrecht (1888-1965)and their three sons Peter (1910-1993), Abram (1912-1993) and Henry (1913-2007). As member a of the Mennonite community in Imperial Russia, Peter A. Albrecht, did alternative service in a forestry camp, serving as the camp's treasurer. In the forestry camps (Forestei), the young men learned to work together, performed labour for the good of the country and remained true to their conscience by not participating in direct military war actions. The young men were proud of their uniforms, often wearing them on Sundays, on holidays and for photographs. After 1914, these forestry men served in the Red Cross until 1917. The Albrecht family cherished the few items that survived from their life in Russia, when the came to Canada.

Scope and content note

This fonds contains a composite photograph consisting of 167 individual portraits of Mennonite men that served in the Imperial Russia's Forestry service at Razin, a photograph of teacher Heinrich Johan Dueck (1862-1922) with students of school(Dueck was a teacher in Kleefeld, Gnadental and Klippenstal, Molotschna), and a 1903 funeral photo of 18 year-old Heinrich Albrecht of Prangenau (South Russia) showing the coffin being transported with a horse drawn carriage. This fonds also includes background information on the Razin Forestei where members of the Warkentin and Albrecht family served plus genealogical information on the Albrecht, Peters, von Kampen, and Warkentin families. Some of the data is an update for the published family history book entitled, "John Warkentin and his Descendants 1820-1990".

Index terms

Subject terms

Creators

Adjunct descriptive data

Finding aids

Inventory file list

Notes

Custodial history

The items in this fonds were acquired by Ike (I.H.) Warkentin, the son-in-law of Abram P. Albrecht, one of the the three sons of Peter A. Albrecht. Abram P. Albrecht wrote to Ike: "Besides my father Peter A. Albrecht, Forestry treasurer, there are five Warkentins in the picture. Why don't you do some research on them. Then give the picture to the place best suited."

Language

Some German, some Russian (with translation)

Arrangement

Arranged and described by Alf Redekopp, January 2011.

Restrictions on access

None to access

Immediate source of acquisition

Uke (I.H.) Warkentin of Arnes, Manitoba

Other notes

Acc. No. 2009-069.

1. About Albrecht family / compiled by I.H. Warkentin. – [2000?].
2. About Warkentin family / compiled by I.H. Warkentin. – [2000?]
3. Forestei: Razin / by F.P. Froese. – [before 1983].
4. About von Kampen family / compiled by I.H. Warketin and, “A Black Spot on our story” (about the Selbstschutz=self-defense in 1918 in Russia) by Anton Sawatzky and recorded by Peter J. Dyck (Scottdale, PA). This file contains information about Peter J. von Kampen (1891-1923), leader of the Selbstschutz in Eichenfeld prior to the October 26, 1919 massacre, as collected by I.H. Warkentin. – 2000.