Biographical Sketch

Hermann Abram Bergmann was born in West Prussia June 2, 1850, to Abram Bergmann and Susanna Friesen. He immigrated with his parents to southern Russia when he was twelve years old. His father bought a large estate near the village of Solyonoye in the province of Ekaterinoslav. Herman married Helena Heinrichs and together they had eleven children, six of whom survived childhood.

When Hermann gained control of the estate, he bought more land increasing the estate to about 30,000 acres. He was a member of the landed gentry which had a virtual monopoly on important positions in the rural agencies of the government. He soon came to various positions of influence such as a member of the Ekaterinoslav county governing committee and consequently a member of this county’s assembly. In addition, he held other positions such as director of small loans society, overseer of the Ekaterinoslav orphanage, and member of the board of directors of the Mennonite High School at Nikolaipol. In 1905, the Bergmann family moved from the estate and took up residence in the city of Ekaterinoslav.

Bergmann belonged to the Octoberist party which supported the Tzar. He became a member of the third (1907–1912) and fourth (1912–1917) Russian parliament, or Duma, after the gentry’s presence was increased at the cost of the peasantry. During the winter of 1918–1919, when anarchy swept across Russia, Bergmann and some of his relatives were murdered by bandits near the end of January 1919. Some of his children were exiled, others died, his wife and some children immigrated to Saskatchewan in 1923.