Mennonite Memorial Monument

On October 10, 2009, this Mennonite Memorial Monument was unveiled in a public park in the one-time village of Chortitza, centre of the first settlement of Mennonites in Ukraine in tsarist Russia, to honour the 30,000 Mennonite victims who died needlessly during Stalin's reign of terror. It consists of three life-size silhouettes: a woman, a man and two children. The designer created silhouettes on a mantle to represent absent family members, thus creating a special place for private contemplation or for sharing family history with others.
An inscription in English, German, Russian and Ukrainian reads: "To Mennonite victims of tribulation, Stalinist terror and religious oppression", and quotes the words of Scripture, "Blessed are those who mourn."
The park where the monument is located is surrounded by buildings erected by Mennonites.
The monument bears enduring witness to the suffering of many thousands who ended their days in unmarked graves.

Let us remember those of the Fransen family who perished secondary to starvation and violence under the communist regime:

Klaas Fransen (1851-1922) - died in Mariawohl of starvation and typhus.

Children of Klaas Fransen
Kornelius Fransen (1883 - 1919) - died in Mariawohl of starvation and typhus.

Nicholas Fransen (1879 - 1922) - died in Mariawohl of starvation and typhus.

Abraham Fransen (1886 - 1934) - died in Mariawohl of starvation during Stalin's manufactured famine.

Jakob Fransen (1885 -1941) - disappeared from Mariawohl on September 1, 1941; died en route to Stalin's gulag.

Franz Fransen (1889 - 1943) - sent from Mariawohl to Siberia on March 25, 1938. Later it was learned he was shot by the communists in Melitopol, Molotschna in October 1943.

Katharina Fransen (1877 - 1944) and husband Franz Dueck (1878 - 1943) - died in exile in Schewtschenowka, Kazakhstan.

Children of Jakob Fransen (1885 - 1941)
Heinrich Fransen (1920 - 1940) - teacher in Caucasus; abducted & disappeared during the turmoil of WW II; never heard from again.

Son-in-law Gerhard Enns (1911 - 1942) - disappeared from Mariawohl on Sept 1, 1941, same as his father-in-law; never heard from again. His wife, Liese Fransen Enns lives in Germany, age 97.

Jakob Fransen (1918 - 1942) - disappeared from Mariawohl on Sept 1, 1941, same as his father; never heard from again.

Kornelius Fransen (1915 - 1944) - disappeared from Mariawohl on Sept 1, 1941, same as his father; never heard from again.