Шенфельдская волость: история возникновения и исчезновения меннонитских поселений
The author studies the history of the Shenfeld Mennonite volost foundation and destruction. The research tasks were as follows: to analyze the reasons of this volost establishing at the period of the colonist reform; to study development of the settlements at the second part of the 19th century, to find out how its inhabitants participated in the modernization processes; to follow the cultural and spiritual life of the colonies and Aleksandrovsky district as a whole; to highlight the problem of the Mennonite settlements destruction. The Shenfeld (Krasnopolskaya) volost was situated in the Aleksandrovsky district of the Ekaterinoslav province. It was founded in 1873. Its uniqueness lays in the fact that it did not have definite administrative-territorial boundaries, since the possessions were dispersed. The population was made up of the Mennonites from Molochansk and (partly) Khortytsa colonies. The families settled on farms, united into small villages. The process of the eastern part of Aleksandrovsky district settlement was a part of the German colonization in this area and in the province as a whole. However, the volost differed from the other ones because it only consisted of private farms. Its economy was organized on the purchased (not granted by the tsars) land. The author pays attention to Zilberfeld estate that is the least studied settlement of the volost. The fates of its owners have not been researched yet. The volost was famous for its prosperity and contributed greatly into this region economy development. The destruction of an entire volost during the Civil War, that was the result of the Makhnovist movement, is also one of the important parts of its tragic history. Key words: Mennonites, Shenfeld (Krasnopolskaya) volost, Alexandrovsky district, Ekaterinoslav province, Zilberfeld estate, Civil war, Yantsen family, Nestor Makhno.