Notizen zu dieser Person
Alt POB Ruckenau, South Russia Founder of the Kleine Gemeinde. One record says he died 28 Dec 1837.Unruh (p. 351) says he was born 16 Oct., and that he migrated to theMolotschna in 1804 from Neunhuben, Prussia. He became a preacher in1804. In the 1808 census, he is listed at Petershagen #4. JMH says hisfirst marriage occurred on 15 Feb. In the 1835 census, he is listed atPetershagen #4, where it says he came to Russia in 1804. Reimer, Klaas (1770-1837) Klaas Reimer, the founder of the Kleine Gemeinde (now EvangelicalMennonites), was born in Petershagen near Danzig, Germany. He marriedthe daughter of Elder Peter Epp and moved to the village of Neunhuben.On 1 September 1801 he was elected minister of the Flemish DanzigMennonite Church of which his father-in-law was elder. Reimer'sautobiography relates that he studied the Bible and Martyrs' Mirrordiligently. Encouraged by his dying father-in-law he decided thatthere was no future for the Mennonites in the Danzig area. He leftwith some thirty members of the church for Russia in 1804. During astop at the Old Colony he became acquainted with a like-mindedminister, Cornelius Janzen. From here Klaas Reimer and his groupproceeded to the Molotschna settlement where he established a home inPetershagen near Halbstadt. Reimer soon found himself in disagreementwith the leader of the church, Jakob Enns, and the religiousconditions of the church. He was opposed to the contributions made tothe Russian government during the Napoleonic War, to the punishment ofmiscreants in the Mennonite community, and to some "worldly" practicesamong the Mennonites. In 1812 he and a small group of the Flemishcongregations began to hold separate meetings in private homes.Cornelius Janzen had meanwhile joined this group. Klaas Reimer waselected elder in 1814 in the presence of Elder Heinrich Janzen of theSchönwiese Mennonite Church of the Old Colony who, however, refused toordain him as elder. Thus Klaas Reimer assumed the responsibilities ofan elder without official ordination. Cornelius Janzen, hisco-minister, preached an installation sermon and a group of someeighteen to twenty members considered itself organized and soon becameknown as the Kleine Gemeinde in distinction from the "Grosse Gemeinde"(the main body of Mennonites). Reimer and his followers were for sometime not recognized as a separate body of Mennonites. Reimer died on25 December 1837. Reimer's writings and concerns reveal that he was genuinely concernedin promoting and reforming the Mennonites in accord with thetraditions of the church and the writings of Menno Simons, DirkPhilips, and Peter Peters. These books were cherished by him and hisfollowers. On the other hand, Reimer had a very poor formal educationand had some narrow views on the basic concepts of Christianity andMennonitism. In the history of the Kleine Gemeinde the latter longovershadowed the good intentions and zeal of the founder and theleader of the group. -- CK 1989 Update Klaas Reimer, church reformer and founding elder of the KleineGemeinde (now Evangelical Mennonite Conference), was characterized byearlier historians as narrow, uneducated and ultra-conservative.Recent scholars, notably Delbert Plett, assess Reimer's role inRussian-Mennonite church history more favorably. They see him not asan intractable, fanatical religious legalist who established anobscure splinter group in the Molotschna colony, but as a dynamic,far-sighted leader who envisioned a "pure" church stressing Anabaptisttenets such as active discipleship, the use of the ban for offenders,and a simple, humble way of life away from others. Already an ordained minister when he emigrated to the Molotschnasettlement in 1805, Reimer was soon feuding with Elder Jakob Enns oversuch issues as contributions to government war funds and churchauthority versus civil authority. Reimer was well-versed inAnabaptist-Mennonite writings and saw himself as upholding thattradition. By 1812 he and his few followers were holding their ownservices, and after all appeals and even threats of banishment toSiberia had failed, Enns excommunicated Reimer and his group. Leavingthe parent church caused Reimer much agony and soul-searching, but hepersevered in the face of prolonged harassment and persecution fromhis co-religionists backed by government officials. Reimer also had toovercome the internal strife fomented by overzealous supporters whoconsidered him too moderate. Klaas Reimer's "descendants andbrethren," according to Plett, "regarded him as a giant man of God,"who deserves to be remembered as one of the most importantRussian-Mennonite church leaders of the 19th century. -- AR Bibliography The main source for Klaas Reimer's life and career is the briefautobiography he wrote shortly before his death: "Ein kleiner Aufsatz." Unpublished manuscript in the EvangelicalMennonite Conference Archives, Steinbach, Manitoba. Other valuable sources on Reimer's life are the diaries of AbrahamFriesen, the ministers' list of the Kleine Gemeinde, the Danzig Churchrecord, etc., all found in the original, transcript, or microfilm inMennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas,USA) and Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen, Indiana, USA); someoriginals were in possession of Elder David P. Reimer of Giroux, MB inthe 1950s. Reimer's account has been translated and annotated by: Plett, Delbert.The Golden Years: The Mennonite Kleine Gemeinde in Russia (1812-1849).Steinbach: D.F.P Publications, 1985: 149-97 Plett, Delbert. The Golden Years: The Mennonite Kleine Gemeinde inRussia (1812-1849). Steinbach: D.F.P Publications, 1985: 148-213 etpassim, gives a detailed although polemical account of Reimer's careerand achievements; Reimer, Al. "Klaas Reimer: Rebel Conservative, RadicalTraditionalist." Journal of Mennonite Studies, 3 (1985): 108-17,another favorable but more balanced view. Urry, James. None But Saints: The Transformation of Mennonite Life inRussia 1789-1889. Winnipeg: Hyperion Press, 1988. See also: Reimer, David P. "The History and Character of Our Great GrandfatherKlaas Reimer, and Peter J. B. Reimer." and "Klaas Reimer and HisTimes." Familienregister der Nachkommen von Klaas und Helena Reimermit Biographien der ersten drei Generationen. Winnipeg, MB: Regehr'sPrinting, 1958: 16-21, 24-27. For the less favorable, conventional view of Klaas Reimer see: Friesen, Peter M. The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia (1789-1910),trans. J. B. Toews and others. Fresno, CA: Board of ChristianLiterature [M.B.] Friesen, Peter M. Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft inRussland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte.Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911:75 ff. Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols.Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III,455. Krahn, Cornelius. "From Russia to Meade." Mennonite Life 6 (July1951): 18. "Zum 100jährigen Gedenktag des Vorältesten Klaas Reimer, Gründer derKleingemeinde." Christlicher Familienfreund (Winnipeg, MB: December1937): 2 f. Herald Press Information logo Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, andWaterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p, 278; vol.5, p. 758. All rights reserved. For information on ordering theencyclopedia visit the Herald Press website. ©1996-2009 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Allrights reserved. To cite this page: MLA style: Krahn, Cornelius and Al Reimer. "Reimer, Klaas(1770-1837)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989.Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 July2009 APA style: Krahn, Cornelius and Al Reimer. (1989). "Reimer, Klaas(1770-1837)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. GlobalAnabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 July 2009
Charles
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