Chortitza Colony

Chortitza Colony was a volost, a subdivision of Yekaterinoslav uezd within Yekaterinoslav Governorate in the Russian Empire, now in Ukraine. During the reign of Catherine the Great, the area was annexed by Russia after the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich. It was granted to Plautdietsch-speaking settlers (better known as Russian Mennonites) for colonization northwest of Khortytsia Island. The territory of the former colony is now split between the city of Zaporizhzhia and its adjacent Zaporizhzhia Raion, within Zaporizhia it is part of Voznesenskyi and Khortytskyi districts. Chortitza was founded in 1789 by Mennonite settlers of Dutch ancestry from the Vistula delta and consisted of many villages. It was the first of many Mennonite settlements in the Russian Empire. Because the Mennonites living in these villages emigrated or were evacuated or deported at the end of World War II, or emigrated after the collapse of the Soviet Union, few Mennonites are living in the area today. After establishment of the Soviet Union, the colony was converted into Khortytsia Raion, a predecessor of Zaporizhzhia Raion. In 1929–30 as part of the Soviet policy of korenizatsia, it was converted into a national district promoting development of the German language culture.