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

koz cattle farm. We thought the Lord had prepared a table in the presence of our enemies. We were not lonely and our days were filled with productive work .... Several months later things became very difficult. There was a sharp clash between the workers and the administrative head [of the sovkoz]. A truckload of soldiers was called in and several were sentenced to a ten-year term in the labor camp .... Meanwhile we were concerned about buying a cow. The chil¬ dren were small and needed milk for their health, but we simply did not have the money for such a purchase. I went to Kleefeld to see Mr. Huebert and Mr. Loewen .... Huebert lent me 700 rubles without asking for any guarantee .... Mrs. Loewen [in the absence of her husband] lent me another 300 rubles without asking any questions. [With my 2000 rubles] I now had plenty of money to buy a fine cow. Mother and I left for Melitopol to find such a cow. It is difficult to imagine the setting of a city like Melitopol in the early 1930s. Even before we drove into the yard of our hotel I urged mother to watch our things carefully. We went into the restaurant to have our tea — naturally without sugar or bread since you needed ration coupons for these. Mother declared she simply could not sit there and have the eyes of many thin and starving people looking at her. Many were already swollen and walked from table to table [seeking food]. All were imminent candidates for death. People on the streets were not much different. Mother wanted to go home to the children immediately. She did not want to be murdered on the way home because we owned a cow. The market was a place of many contrasts. There were people of every type and class. Some came to trade their last possessions for a crust of bread, others were speculators intent on filling their pockets. Everywhere there was hunger and distress. As we went from market to market we occasionally heard the cry of someone whose money had been stolen. We did not even have the courage to ask the price of a cow and thereby invite a thief to search our pockets. Finally at the edge of the market we found a woman holding a cow, which looked more like a slaughter animal than a milk cow. We were sympathetic to the plight of this unfortunate woman who was only concerned with feeding her family. She claimed it was a good milk producer, due to calve in a month and MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 165 possessed of a calm and gende nature. We believed her. Unobtru¬ sively we paid her the money, tied the cow to our wagon and started for home. We paid just under 3000 rubles for her, almost too little for a good cow. She was a large, strong cow and easily kept pace with the horses. How the children rejoiced when we arrived home. Yes our dear children — they sensed the concerns and sorrows of their parents far too early. They knew without us telling them that things at our house were not as comfortable as elsewhere. They played