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Beliefs
Religious beliefs were an essential part of life for the German colonists in Russia. That focus on the church and religion was transplanted in America and held an important place for those who migrated to Portland. In many ways, the church was both the spiritual and social center of the Volga German community.
Most of the Volga German immigrants that settled in Albina migrated from Protestant colonies in Russia. These settlers founded a number of their own churches in Albina beginning in 1892. The Catholic Volga Germans that settled in Portland joined existing congregations. |
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From the time of their settlement in Portland until the 1940s, the traditional religious practices of Protestant Volga Germans were carried on with little change. The factors that sustained these traditions were vigorous religious fervor, a mutual feeling of strangeness in a strange land, and the ties of shared nationality and faith. As in Russia, men and women were seated in separate sections of the church. The men occupied the pews on the right side of the sanctuary, and the women and children sat on the left side. The older women from Russia wore a black Halstuch (scarf) to cover their heads. Women were prohibited from attending business meetings, voting, or holding office. These practices did not change until the early 1950s. Around the same time, English began to replace the German language at church services.
The church was a gathering point for many special events such as baptisms, confirmations, marriages, mission festivals, choir cantatas, church picnics, Sunday school programs, fund-raising events, and sports teams. The Easter and Christmas celebrations are fondly remembered by all who attended. Periodically, the various Volga German churches would gather together on Sunday nights for joint services.
Herbert L. Hergert wrote in 1998:
The church was a gathering point for many special events such as baptisms, confirmations, marriages, mission festivals, choir cantatas, church picnics, Sunday school programs, fund-raising events, and sports teams. The Easter and Christmas celebrations are fondly remembered by all who attended. Periodically, the various Volga German churches would gather together on Sunday nights for joint services.
Herbert L. Hergert wrote in 1998:
"As a boy in the 1930's, I can recall that there were four German speaking churches within an eight block radius in Portland. I do not remember them being referred to by their denominational affiliation. Rather they were called Rev. Hopp's Church, or Rev. Hagelganz's Church, or in the case of St. Paul's, Rev. Hergert's Church. There seemed to be a considerable amount of loyalty and people lined up on the side of their particular church affiliation (assuming of course, that they had one)."
Conflicts between the immigrant parents and their American-born children arose as time passed. The most common issues that caused friction were religion, language, clothing, recreation, and amusements. The American-born offspring dared to scrutinize and question the traditional customs imported from Russia.
The transition from German to English became a severe challenge for the church and brought about a decline in the Brotherhood and overall church attendance. The older Brethren held to the German language with great tenacity. The insistence on preserving the German language brought about an exodus of young converts who organized their own prayer meetings, a development strenuously opposed by the older members.
The older generations didn't want to have their children learn English because they feared they would fall away from their beliefs and that their hearts would become "a tangled wilderness of passions and self-centeredness." They wanted the next generations to have the same religious moorings to sustain them in the buffetings of the world.
The excerpt below from Emma Schwabenland Haynes's book titled Emma's Thesis - The German-Russians on the Volga and in the United States expresses the tensions that came with change.
The transition from German to English became a severe challenge for the church and brought about a decline in the Brotherhood and overall church attendance. The older Brethren held to the German language with great tenacity. The insistence on preserving the German language brought about an exodus of young converts who organized their own prayer meetings, a development strenuously opposed by the older members.
The older generations didn't want to have their children learn English because they feared they would fall away from their beliefs and that their hearts would become "a tangled wilderness of passions and self-centeredness." They wanted the next generations to have the same religious moorings to sustain them in the buffetings of the world.
The excerpt below from Emma Schwabenland Haynes's book titled Emma's Thesis - The German-Russians on the Volga and in the United States expresses the tensions that came with change.
"One of the outstanding characteristics in the religious life of German-Russian Americans is the extreme quarrelsomeness prevailing in most of their churches. This is partly due to the fact that the more progressive members desire to introduce innovations of various kinds of the church services, while the more conservative members insist on the retention of old customs."
Unlike Russia, where there was only one church in each village, many denominations wooed the Volga Germans in the United States, confusing them with competing claims. Among the denominations that organized congregations made up of Volga Germans were the Missouri Synod, American Lutheran Church, Reformed Church in the United States (German Reformed Church), German Evangelical Synod of North America, German Methodists, German Baptists, and Seventh-day Adventists. Roughly 45 percent of those from Protestant churches in Russia remained Lutheran, 20 percent were divided among Methodists and Baptists, and 5 percent joined the Reformed Church. By the 1930s, 30 percent of the Volga German Protestants in the United States were members of Congregational churches. The Congregational church was undoubtedly the preferred denomination in Portland, as they allowed individual churches freedom to practice their beliefs in their own way.
Sources
Eisenach, George J. A History of the German Congregational Churches in the United States. Yankton, SD: Pioneer, 1938. Print.
Eisenach, George J. Pietism and the Russian Germans in the United States. Berne, IN: Berne, 1948. Print.
Haynes, Emma S. My Mother's People. 1959. Unpublished manuscript. Print.
Haynes, Emma S. German-Russians on the Volga and in the United States. 1996. Print.
Eisenach, George J. Pietism and the Russian Germans in the United States. Berne, IN: Berne, 1948. Print.
Haynes, Emma S. My Mother's People. 1959. Unpublished manuscript. Print.
Haynes, Emma S. German-Russians on the Volga and in the United States. 1996. Print.
Last updated October 21, 2023