Return to the current lecture series.
The most recent years’ Menno Simons lectures are given below. For lectures prior to 2023, consult the archives below.
2024 Lectures
Dr. Eric Schmaltz presented “Russian Mennonite Diasporas on Four Continents in the Age of Empires, Revolutions, and Extremes Since the Late 19th Century” on Oct. 27-28.
Schmaltz is professor of history and global studies at Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU), Alva. He has a B.A. in history and German language from Saint Olaf College, an M.A. in history from the University of North Dakota-Grand Forks, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializing in ethnic Germans in Russia and the former USSR, along with ethnic and nationalities issues, genocide studies, and migration and transnational topics. He has served as chair of social sciences at NWOSU since 2019. In 2021, he was named to the Donovan Reichenberger Chair in History.
Schmaltz is co-founder and co-director of the endowed NWOSU Institute for Citizenship Studies and co-editor of its journal Civitas. From 2010-20, he served as GRHS Heritage Review editor (now editor-at-large). He has been on the AHSGR Journal editorial board since 2008 and is a member of the Academic Board of Advisors of the Volga German Institute at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
- Lecture 1: “Pioneers in the East: Mennonite Migrations and Settlements in the Former Russian Empire and the Former USSR, 1786-Present“
- Lecture 2: “Pioneers in the West: Russian Mennonite Diasporas to North America (Belize, Canada, Mexico and the United States), 1874-Present” (video not available)
- Lecture 3: “Pioneers in the South: Russian Mennonite Diasporas to South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay), 1874-Present“
2023 Lectures
Dr. Aileen Friesen presented “The Mennonites in Revolutionary Ukraine,” Oct. 29-30.
Friesen is associate professor of history at the University of Winnipeg, where she teaches courses in Mennonite history, European history and the history of peace and nonviolence. She also serves as executive director of the D.F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, and is general editor of the Mennonite Transnational Studies series at the University of Toronto Press.
A recognized authority on the Russian Mennonite experience, Friesen has published widely. Recent books include Colonizing Russia’s Promised Land: Orthodoxy and Community on the Siberian Steppe (University of Toronto Press, 2020) and The Russian Mennonite Story: The Heritage Cruise Lectures (Centre for Transnational Mennonites Studies, 2018), co-written with Paul Toews.
- Lecture 1: “Violence among Neighbours: Revolution and Tragedy in Southern Ukraine“
- Lecture 2: “Beyond the Red Gate: Mennonites and Emigration from Soviet Ukraine“
- Lecture 3: “In Love, We Remain: Family and Loss under Stalin“