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

t mother felt otherwise. I wasn’t certain what to do. I went to the central office where everyone was silent and fearful. I spoke with Jakob Ediger, who for some reason was not arrested. He felt I should stay... and I was naive enough to believe him. Only two months earlier the district head checked my documents and found everything in order. He asked me to go home and rear good soviet horses. I found comfort in this. If they were going to arrest me they would have done so already .... I stayed on and continued to work, but I was very uneasy. Anna felt the same way. Slowly the days passed. One day the district head paid me a visit. He was very reserved. He even paid me for the watermelons I gave him. Not long after I received a letter from Ediger ... asking me to go on an errand. I was reluctant to go and my wife advised against it. When the truck drove on to our yard to pick me up I went anyway. When I returned to my collective farm there was an enormous amount of work waiting for me. One thousand Zentner (one Zenter equals 50 kg.) of wet oats was in danger of heating up and we had to spread it. Further, a special commission was about to visit us in order to determine a ranking category for us ... . We worked hard preparing our horses for public MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 175 showing .... We had missed breakfast and around twelve noon our hunger got the better of us. Just then we saw our guests approaching. They were driving a truck and as they approached the men on the truck became visible. My breath almost stopped when the district head emerged from the cab. I calmed down after he shook our hands and greeted us ... . I asked our groom to bring out the best horses, but soon realized from the behavior of the chairman that this was not why they had come. I became very uneasy when he asked several more questions and suggested we drive to our house. When the truck stopped and all ten men jumped off as if by command I knew whom they came to visit. I hurried ahead to warn my wife. Her glance told me she knew these were uninvited guests. Once we were in the room where I usually kept my accounts the [district] chairman handed me a warrant for my arrest as well as a search warrant. Every last drawer in our home, barn and cellar was thoroughly searched .... I knew the chairman well. He had interrogated me ten days earlier concerning the twenty- two persons arrested on August 5-6, which included my father. At that time I told him that all of those people were respected and had a good reputation. He became visibly angry. Then I continued: “Just as you arrested those in my estimation innocent people, so you can fabricate something about me, arrest me and deport me.” I also told him I had blankets and pillows in readiness [in case of my own ar¬ rest]. He finally told me I’d better get home. I was very depressed. Johann Richert and I didn’t speak a word during our seven kilometer trip back to Neuhoffnung ..