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

ed to our wagons which were filled with hay. What was this all about? My first instinct was to go to our director. He was a long¬ time communist but open to discussion and balanced in his judg¬ ments. When I met him he told me he could not help us in this situation. His advice had been rejected and he was powerless to do anything. He deeply regretted the turn of events. Dumb¬ struck I returned to the men for further consultation. As I walked through the horsebarn I saw the men following the chap who asked us to haul the grain [on Sunday evening]. He asked me to join them. We entered the large harness room with its barred win¬ dows. It was usually locked. Our leader asked us to wait until the key was brought to him. We were under the impression that an explanation was forthcoming in the harness room. When we were all in the room the man simply left without an explanation and locked the door. We were effectively isolated from the very collec¬ tive we spent years working for. We still had no idea what this was all about. We felt a foreboding of evil. During the course of the evening and the first part of the night the other drivers from Kleefeld and Prangenau were also brought in. No one slept. It was a night of terror in that harness room. My thoughts tumbled over one an¬ other in endless disarray. Morning finally broke. Soon a delega¬ tion of several men appeared led by the person who betrayed us. We were led out of the building and stepped forward when our MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 167 family name was called. Finally the oldest person in the delega¬ tion addressed us. “We have had complaints against you from the local authorities in your judicial district. Your entire group apparently owes the state over one thousand rubles.” 1 owed thirty rubles and some of my colleagues considerably more. “After deliberations we have decided,” the man continued, “1) To seize your horses, harnesses and wagons as state property and they are no longer in your possession; 2) Your seed grain will likewise be seized in lieu of the debt; 3) Those who live on the sovkoz have twenty-four hours to leave for any destination you wish. The sovkoz makes no claim on any of your other possessions and you are free to take them with you.” We parted immediately. Once again we learned we were peo¬ ple without any civil rights. People could do anything they wished with us. I was amazed they did not arrest us and place us in the district prison. My plan was to get home to Anna as quickly as possible and inform her of what had happened. We had to pack our linens, sell our pig and take our cow to Uncle Franz in Lichtenau. . . . No one wanted to buy the pig for which we paid 1000 rubles a few days earlier. We had to leave and so I went to collect our cow for the thirty kilometer journey to Lichtenau. We arrived at our destination around 3 P.M. Uncle Franz and Aunt Marie were happy to accept us. Then I took the truck I had bo