JOURNEYS Mennonite Stories of Faith and Survival in Stalins Russia, John B. Toews, 1998

d known I may not have found her in that massive concentration camp .... ISLAND IN THE STEPPE 135 Children in Karlag Let me talk about the children born in the camp. From the very beginning of the camp’s organization it faced the “problem” of children . Children were born in camps and prisons in spite of many laws and proscriptions. Unfortunately, pregnancy and birth did not mean a reduction of the sentence. It was impossible to prevent contact between men and women in an agricultural camp. They tried everything: separate barracks, farms, fences, punish¬ ment and extension of one’s term, all to no avail. The camp ad¬ ministration was powerless against nature and so accepted the in¬ evitable. In a green park area of Dolinka a children’s division was set up. When the date of delivery approached the women were transferred here. A special birthing department was established. The women worked in the vegetable plantations or the sewing workshops. A fixed time after giving birth they were required to return to their former place of work. If they behaved they re¬ ceived visiting rights. After their release many took their children with them, though some left them behind in children’s homes. The care of the children in the Dolinka home was good since all of the food was locally produced. The children received the name of the mother, though the father’s name was sometimes dis¬ closed. After five years the children were sent to homes outside the camp whose addresses the mothers were given. In the camp the children were cared for by doctors, nurses and teachers — all prisoners. Since almost all were separated from their own chil¬ dren they gave extra special love and care to the camp children. At the time of their arrest most of their own children were placed in children’s homes where they were taught to hate their parents, the “traitors” or “enemies of the people” as the socialism of the day described them. In many instances the children denounced their parents as traitors and even if they were after reunited, could not find a common language of communication. Many couples found one another in the camps, though they were only legally married after their release. I knew many of them. To this day they are living in enviable unity and harmony. I knew of one couple who had three children during their imprisonment, all of whom were placed in various homes. The father was re¬ leased first, found all the children and looked after them until his wife joined them. Eventually the camp administration accepted these illegal marriages and even tried to keep partners together, 136 JOURNEYS but that was certainly not the case at first. Sanctimonious people sometimes condemned these women with words like “see how quickly she forgot her husband.” This was pure hypocrisy. These were widows whose husbands had been killed. Most of these women were sentenced to a ten-year term. They were young and still had a futur