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

identity cards, were handed over to camp officials. It was immediately apparent that they treated us with less than respect. This became increasingly evident later on ... . For them we were dead wax figures on a chessboard, yet we still possessed our powers of reasoning and discernment. If we lost these we soon became wandering corpses and our days were numbered. It was evening before the exchange process was complete. Like the day of our arrest we stood there hungry, cold and shivering. We stood four abreast surrounded by armed soldiers and guard dogs. Our commander presented the usual instructions which we now knew by heart — keeping in ones row; appropriate distance between the rows; no lagging behind; no veering to the left or right; looking straight ahead; keeping silent. Anyone disobeying would be shot on sight. Slowly thousands of bodies supported by weak legs began to move forward. No one knew where to or for how long. Halfway to our camp we were met by a large mounted troop. I shall never forget the sight of those men on the small sturdy horses. Only two months earlier I was able to ride about to my hearts content. What beautiful horses I had and with what en¬ ergy they carried their rider! Those endless steppes where the ho- MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 185 rizon stretched as far as the eye could see .... And now at the beginning of my thirty-fifth year I found myself in this desolate [region] with low, icy clouds hanging just above the trees .... Was there anything good in all of this? I uttered many a sigh. It was a terrible birthday! Plagued by hunger pangs I faced the dark night. Only faith, hope and love for my family kept me afloat and saved me from despair. In spite of the difficulties of the journey we finally reached our destination. We stood at the wide open doors of a large, well lit camp. The fence stretched as far as the eye could see. Guards on the towers kept watch over the massive crowd. Our future commanders sat on either side of the gates, ready to receive their prisoners. Once inside the camp this mass of humanity from vari¬ ous peoples and nations was largely left to its own devices. In one way or another order would emerge from this apparent chaos. Now and then people were called out from this dense human mass. They were looking for professionals and specialists. Naturally there were disappointments and many were not properly placed. We Germans were assigned to separate barracks and classified as car¬ penters and building specialists. Since there were only a few of these we enjoyed a special status. Once we were ushered to our night accommodations, the hungry men waited for supper. How we needed those basic things like spoons and bowls which many had not brought along. We were given our tasks in the kitchen on the very first evening, helping with the distribution of the evening meal. It felt good to be useful again. After that first evening we became indispensab