Historian.
Born at Petersdorf, Russia on 27 July 1915, son of Johann Peters and Maria Siemens, he immigrated to Canada with his mother and younger brother in 1928, his father having been killed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. After receiving a teaching certificate, he was a teaching Principal of Horndean School (1947-1954), later moving to Winnipeg where he was a founder of what is now Westgate Mennonite Collegiate.
After preparing an MA thesis in History entitled “All things common: the Hutterites of Manitoba” at the University of Manitoba (1958) under a fellowship from the Manitoba Historical Society, he received a doctoral degree in History from the University of Gottingen in Germany. His principal field of study was the Hutterian Brethren. He returned to Winnipeg and taught briefly at the University of Manitoba before moving to Moorhead, Minnesota where he was a Professor of History at Moorhead State College for many years. He was actively involved in Mennonite publications as an editor, publisher, and contributor, and founded the Mennonitische Welt. For several years, he had a Low German radio program on CFAM.
On 27 June 1942, he married Elisabeth Dyck at Winnipeg and they had a daughter and a son.
He died on 9 September 1998 while travelling to Stratford, Ontario and his cremains were interred in the Brookside Cemetery.
His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
The Hutterites - History and Communal Organization of a Rural Group in Manitoba
MHS Transactions, Series 3, 1960-1961 Season
Marriage registration [Elizabeth Dyck, Victor John Peters], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 September 1998, page 38.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 December 2024
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