Latin America Mennonite Immigration to Paraguay 1929-1969: Correspondence, research data, minutes, MoU, economic development committee, maps, hospital building and road plans, etc.
Maxwell H. Kratz was one of three men elected to the first Mennonite Central Committee on 27 September 1920. He was active in the leadership of MCC during its first projects of Russian relief, the purchase of land in Paraguay, and its incorporation. IX-02 includes Maxwell H. Kratz's MCC correspondence 1921-1934 related to 62 Russian refugees immigrating to the U.S. from Constantinople (present Istanbul, Turkey) and refugee immigration to Paraguay.
Files include records of MCC work from 1920 to 1935. Sub-series include Levi Mumaw's correspondence (Executive Secretary 1920-1935), immigration files of the first 62 refugees assisted by MCC, records of the material aid and efforts to assist refugees in Constantinople (present Istanbul, Turkey).
The letters are mostly concerned with the day-to-day activities of the writers, as well as events that might hold personal significance for them or for Peter; they mention everything from daily work and birthdays or funerals, to mass travel to Moscow for passports and the arrests of male family members by Russian authorities. Also included are a number of postcards that were sent to Peter in the 1930s, and a songbook belonging to Anna Janzen (1889-1977), Peter’s maternal aunt. The main letter writers include Brother Gerhard Priess (1898-1935), sister Katharina Priess (1903-1981) who moved to Nowo-Sibirsk, sister Maria Glasner (1911-1987) who moved to Nowo-Sibirsk, and cousin Käthe Dyck (1910-) who moved to Nowo-Sibirsk.
