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

om my wife and children for many days and my long¬ ing for them was immense. I promised to give up all thoughts of going to Canada as long as I was released and allowed to rejoin my MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 149 family. During my last hearing in the Lyubyanka I stated that I only wished to return to my village of Nikolaifeld in Suvorovka with my wife and children. At that time I still believed the inter¬ rogators would release their victim if they found him innocent. I obviously possesed no understanding of that world. Sometimes we humans need very little to ensure our happiness. New Years 1930 was the first time I found myself in strange circumstances and far from home. I had no idea where my wife and children were. There were a few Germans among the one hundred and twenty people in our cell. We said goodbye to the old year by quietly singing several songs and remembering New Years eves of bygone days with their abundant dinners. Then we went to sleep. Specially constructed double bunks lined the walls of the cell and each person was assigned his bed by the prison official. Because there was no more room I slept on a large table only suitable for one person. I was able to sleep alone but, since the table was in use, it meant getting up first and going to sleep last. During the day there was simply no place for me. I simply rolled up in my blanket wherever I could and prayed for my wife and children. On one occasion I saw a sizeable bread crust under one of the bunks. The Moscow prisoners got special parcels from home twice a week and this was obviously a crust dropped by a satiated Muscovite. After everyone had gone to sleep I carefully crawled towards the enticing crust, took it back to my blanket and, deeply thankful, devoured it. How I relished this “New Year s Cookie!” Never before or after have I enjoyed such a treat. In early January the authorities decided to hand people like me over to local authorities. We had no idea how this might hap¬ pen. It simply meant a transfer from one prison to another, usu¬ ally with a soldier escort devoid of all human empathy towards the unfortunate victims, who were transported like cattle. In mid- January they collected a large group of prisoners for transport to the Caucasus. Once more we Suvorovkavites were reunited. There was brother Gerhard Fast and B. Boldt from Fuerstental, Johann Epp from Arival, Nickel from Blumental, Heinrich Wiebe from Suvorovka, Heinrich Friesen from Kuban and myself from Nikolaifeld. Many of the leading Brethren, including my teacher Johann Toews, received a five-year northern exile sentence while in Moscow. My other teacher Heinrich Rosenfeld, the stepfather of my wife and hence my father-in-law, was freed after they al¬ most tortured him to death. 150 JOURNEYS We received our three day rations just before we left. Starved we devoured the bread and very salty fish. It was too much for our shrunken stomachs. The salt