This photo is of the former home of Johann Wiens in Tiege, Molotschna (near Molotschna River). Johann Wiens was a minister in the Elmwood MB Church in Winnipeg and Allianz minister in Russia.
This photo is of the point where the Dnieper River and Nieder Chortitza rivers join. A rolling country side is in thbe background and another boat can be seen on the water to the right.
this photo is of a man and woman in front of a former Mennonite home in Lichtenau, Molotschna. Visible is the street, trees along the street, white picket fence, flower garden and in the background a white house with light blue trim.
This photo is of the Schoenfeldsche Berg, or Schoenfeld mountain which in actuality is a small rise in the landscape, but enough so that you could look over the Bergthal village because it was in a small valley. The photo show telephone poles on the rise.
This photo is of the battleground near the river Kalke between the Russians and Mongolians in 1223. This is near the Bergthal Colony, Kamennaja Magila, the Black Hills of Bergthal area (about 6 miles N.W. of Bergthal itself). In this photo is a wet field with water sitting on it. A lone telephone pole in the center and mountains in the background.
This photo is of an ancient stone carving / sculpture called a "Baba". These life sized stone statues possibly linked to fertility cult were made by the Scythians. These objects are located near a burial mound in the village of Chortitza. To the right of the sculpture are flowers and trees are in the background.
This photo is of three boys sitting on the sand on the beach on Chortitza Island (Insel Chortitza). The boys are playing in the sand. The sand is unusual in that the grains are angular in shape.
This photo is looking along Halbstadt's main street. In the foreground is a white house whose paint is peeling. The window frames are blue and a truck is parked right beside one wall. Hydro lines run along the street. Several people are walking or standing on the street
This photo is of a former Mennonite barn along a roadside in the village of Waldheim, Molotschna Colony. Brick building painted white. A small clump of trees can be seen at one end of the barn
This photo is a combination of three photos pieced together by photographer Bill Schroeder on one of his trips/tours of the Ukraine. A road is in the foreground and a low fence surrounds the oak tree. Inside the fence is a few boulders and grass. Behind the grass in the background are smaller trees and a woman a small structure. A modern building can be seen through the trees on the far right in the back. -- Note: this photo is over sized. Bill Schroeder's comments on this picture are: The famous old oak in the village of Chortitza provided shelter for the first Mennonite immigrants from the Vistula Delta in 1789. The tree is estimated to be about seven hundred years old. It had a height of thirty-six meters (115 feet). The crown had a diameter of forty-three meters (137 feet ), and the trunk had a diameter of about 3.4 meters (about 11 feet). The shape of its leaves was similar through slightly smaller then the leaves of the burr oak common in the prairie states and provinces in North America. Because of its size, great age and unusual shape the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who live in that area till 1774, considered this oak to be sacred. The practice of worshiping an oak tree was a carry-over from per-Christian times (988) when Slavic people worshiped Perun and Svantovit. This magnificent oak served as a natural monument for many years. It was protected by the state and served as a popular tourist attraction. Unfortunately the old oak died during the 1990s. (William Schroeder). See MHC 631.6 for enhanced version.