| Annenfeld was one of the first significant Mennonite villages in Crimea.
2G-grandfather Peter
P. Warkentin and his family lived in the region, 18 km away together with his in-laws,
Johann and Katharina
Wiens. A current resident suggested that "Germans" used
to live about that distance north. Later the Warkentins would move farther away, but in 1871, Johann and
Katharina moved to Annenfeld where they bought a windmill for grinding grain. Johann
worked there as a miller until late 1874. They left for Marion County,
Kansas, a few months after the Warkentins and others in Annenfeld, waiting
for the mill to sell. The Krimmer
Mennonite Brethren, who became the Gnadenau church in Marion County, Kansas, also were
centered in Annenfeld. The photo below shows the broad, tree-lined streets laid out
by the Mennonites in this small village.
 The village now
provides homes for workers in a large collective farm. The land in Crimea is, if
anything, flatter even than that of the Molotschna region. In the distance, members
of a tractor brigade were getting in their fall plowing.
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