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

s from Kleefeld. The director felt he had no work for me, not even as a day laborer. He sug¬ gested that if I had my own horses and wagon he would immedi¬ ately have a job for me. I was to think about the matter and come back to see him. My father-in-law supplied me with one horse and a wagon and I bought a second horse. I and others signed a [transportation] contract and we were on our way. They trusted us. We hauled almost all the supplies which the large sovkoz needed. Before long we possessed between eight and twelve wagons. Most of us were disenfranchised but no one seemed to care. Our source of income was secure and we lived accordingly. In January 1931 our father visited Suvorovka. A few days later he was contacted by the ministry in Melitopol. Since father was not at home his second son Alexander went in his place. When he emerged from the office he was white as chalk. He was secretly told they would be going abroad by ship from Leningrad in three or four days. We telegraphed father. No one, not even local authori¬ ties, were to be informed. Except for the journey to Leningrad, the state promised to cover all costs .... When father returned the suitcases were all packed and early the next morning we drove to the Lichtenau train station .... After several weeks we received the first letter from Germany. Not long after they left for Brazil where, amid great hardships, they settled in the primeval forest.... Our letter 160 JOURNEYS contact ended in 1934 and only resumed in the 1960s .... The separation brought us one benefit — we again possessed our own home plus a spacious barn, a large storage shed and other things which were left: behind, including a wagon and a team of horses. Since they were our only source of income I took good care of them .... We “owned” the house for less than a month, when it became generally known that the Rosenfelds had left. We now shared the house with a German communist and his wife and children and, since the state confiscated the house, we were now forced to pay rent. The document leaving the property to us which father signed before his departure was declared invalid. Not long after the cow which I purchased was confiscated to fulfill the meat quota .... We were devastated. We often asked ourselves why God was dealing with us so severely. There was nothing we could do. We had no legal recourse .... Yes there were wise and intel¬ ligent persons who objected to the prevailing caprice, but they too fell victim to the wild disorder. The highest government authori¬ ties who held power one day were trampled into the dust during the night.... Not long after this the director of our sovkoz called us into his office and asked us how long we planned to sit around Kleefeld and allow such injustice to prevail. He offered us accommodation in one of the empty homes in other villages of the sovkoz , but we were reluctant to leave our German village. In December 193