A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

nnonites who were conscientious objectors to military service. Although the so-called People's Courts (who examined conscientious objectors) granted exemption from military service during the NEP period, this policy changed in the late twenties. Fven in the earlier post-revolutionary period the legal provisions for conscientious objectors were not universally carried out. and it is estimated that more than two hundred men were shot because of their refusal to bear arms. The Stalin Constitution of 1936 made no provision for conscientious objectors. Article 133 stated, "The defense of the Fatherland is the sacred duty of every citizen of the U.S.S.R."' 1 ' When World War 11 broke out, exemption from military service had ceased. The number of martyrs for I heir faith in this area of discipleship will probably never become known. Ry 1929 the Mennonites who remained in Russia realized the implications of the first five-year plan for their economic and religious survival. The prospects were indeed bleak. When rumors began to circulate in the Mennonite colonies that a few families had been able to secure legal passports in Moscow, a mass flight to the capital began. In a desperate attempt to escape, some fourteen thousand Mennonites made their way to Moscow in the fall and winter of 1929. The dramatic story of this flight and its consequences is told in the book At the Gates of Moscow."' Fewer than six thousand managed to get to Germany from where they left for Canada and South America. More might have been able to leave if Germany and Canada had been quicker to grant visas, but these nations were entering a period of economic depression and had serious unemployment problems. The fate of the eight thousand Mennonites who were unable to leave was indescribably tragic. They attempted to return home, but many never arrived: they were sent to prison or exile with hard labor in the forests of the North. The period from 1930 to 1940 is characterized by the dissolution of congregations and the cessation of all organized religious activity. By I93. r > most churches were being used as clubhouses, theatres or granaries. Anti-religious propaganda and a lack of religious leadership led to a serious decline not only in membership, but also in Christian faith and ethics. In the purges of 1937-38 many of the remaining Mennonite leaders and ministers were sent into exile. The invasion of the Soviet Union by Hitler's armies in 1941 brought further suffering to the Mennonites, especially in South Russia. Many were evacuated and deported to Siberia or Central Asia. l ; or those who were able to remain in the Mennonite colonies, or return to them, the German occupation from 1941 to 1943 provided a brief interlude of relative religious freedom. "While Russians suffered miserably at the hands of the Nazis, German-speaking peoples enjoyed IN THK SHADOW OK DKATH 123 numerous privileges: churches were opened and religiou