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

he subject at hand after many pages. In such instances severe editorial nudges ensured continuity. Aron is fascinated by the small things of life: the construction of a pioneer home in a new village; the care and maintenance of horses; the building of a new horse barn in some remote prison camp. Lovingly he devotes paragraph after paragraph to whatever interests him. This fascination for the sequel of a happening or event inadvertently becomes a survival mechanism amid all the brutalities of camp life. Warkentin the prisoner sets long and short term goals for himself. These may involve a minor one-day project, the construction of a horse barn, nurturing a weakened herd of horses or simply the desire to see his family again. His interest in life is ongoing and sustaining. It allows him to make the best out of terrible situations. In his manuscript Aron emerges as an open, uncomplicated person. He is who he is and does not try to hide it. His transpar¬ ency is evident everywhere. A natural instinct for survival enables him to seize any advantage which came his way. Aggressive self- assertion combined with an intuitive ability to be in the right place ARON 141 at the right time. Survival depended upon who you knew, what contacts you had, the essential skills you offered, or even how of¬ ten you “oiled” the administrative mechanism of the camp. Bru¬ tality, starvation and disease claimed many more victims in Warkentins forestry Gulag then in Bergs agricultural Karlag. Lit¬ tle wonder that he unconsciously steels himself as his friends and colleagues from Suvorovka and elsewhere steadily perish. While goodness and kindness still exist they emerge infrequently and are supplanted by instincts which are primarily selfish and self-pre- serving. As Aron relives his days in the camps he demonstrates no special sense of guilt about the special advantages he enjoyed over others. Amid frequent changes of administration, the endless in¬ security about what might happen next, and the sheer physical exhaustion generated by long hours of physical labor, it was diffi¬ cult to nurture genuine compassion for others. That was the way things were and Warkentin does not depict them otherwise. A sense of continuity was difficult to achieve when translating and editing this manuscript. The author is always probing, re¬ flecting or moving far afield. Digressions of fifteen to twenty pages are common. What to leave in and what to take out often became agonizing decisions. Furthermore, his manuscipt was massive com¬ pared with the other three. The translation nevertheless tried to preserve the essence of his story and the style of his storytelling. The translation begins with Chapter four of the original manu¬ script. It follows sequentially except that chapters eleven and twelve were combined into one. 143 Memoirs of Aron Warkentin 4 T he domestic politics in our country suddenly shifted. There was a shar