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

d we left the crowd for the cover of darkness. He came to warn and inform me that all the men on the earlier train were arrested when they arrived at home. After they confirmed my absence with my wife, a certain Rudolph, who for many years was the scourge of Suvorovka, volunteered to go to Muniralnye Vody to arrest me. Because she could not leave the children my Anna begged Gerhard to go and warn me. We found a safe place and consulted as to what we should do. After a long discussion we came to the conclusion that I should travel directly to Moscow, investigate the emigration possibilities and make my decision accordingly. Upon his return home Gerhard would take my wife and children to another settlement where we had friends and relatives. He went home and I boarded a train in the opposite direction to avoid my adversary Rudolph. I traveled to Georgievsk, spent the night and next morning there, and then boarded a passenger train for the three-and-a-half day trip to Moscow. It was not a pleasant journey. Since child¬ hood I dreamt about the places I wanted to visit, but I never an¬ ticipated this journey or many of my later travels. Moscow pre¬ sented a dismal picture. Initially I felt this was not our pathway. In spite of my pessimism the other people, some thirty thousand of them, seemed in good spirits. The two earlier emigration trains, which also carried our elder Ekk, stopped in Leningrad and did not proceed further. Meanwhile the number of people arriving in Moscow steadily increased. Over one thousand people arrived on some days. The 146 JOURNEYS suburbs of Moscow were overfilled. There were some Lutherans and Catholics, but most were Mennonites. They arrived from all settlements, including some from the distant Amur colony. I wrote home as soon as I could advising my family to main¬ tain a state of readiness yet stay put for the time being. I need not have written. The next day someone called my name ... it was my neighbor Gerhard Born. He and his wife and my entire fam¬ ily had come [to Moscow] a few days ago and had been searching for us among the various German groups. They had actually reached Moscow before I did and found accommodation in a sum¬ mer home. Some of our leaders began to organize us into groups of one hundred and fifty to two hundred persons. We became group eleven. The Russian government had not anticipated such an in¬ flux of people and issued decrees to stem the tide. Moscow stu¬ dents, the government press and pamphlets informed us there would be no emigration because North America refused to accept us. We were urged to return home as soon as possible, even at government expense. Many promises were made including the restoration of our inventory and the investigation of corrupt local authorities. No one listened, all wanted to leave and tensions were at an all time high. Several weeks passed. Finally the government resorted to force. On several successive n