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

under his supervision in Nikolaifeld. That day he was assigned his death number as a po¬ litical criminal and buried without song or ceremony or coffin. For his soul it was truly a liberation. Did it really matter where they placed his body? His body lies in the cold frozen tundra, but the sound of the trumpet at the Lord's return will also reach that lonely spot (1 Cor. 16). Six years later (1943) my school comrade Abraham Huebner, still a young man, followed him .... All the logging camps were located along rivers in order to facilitate the transport of the logs. In the early 1930s no other 194 JOURNEYS means of transportation existed .... Our camp extended for some ten kilometers through swampy (especially in summer) and almost impassable primeval forest. Whether winter or summer, the work was always difficult. In winter, temperatures of over minus 50C prevailed. Though the clothes and the felt boots were adequate, it was difficult to work in such heavily padded gear .... Then too most of the prisoners were malnourished and fa¬ tigued. Even if the food based on the fulfillment of the norm was adequate, the prisoners who arrived had already endured months of imprisonment and the difficulties of transportation. They were in poor physical condition and suffered from low morale. They began to work in a state of total physical exhaustion .... By the time winter came to an end the workers were few and the sick and dying many. Most of the prisoners and their supervisors felt that by the fall of 1937 the object of the camp was the systematic de¬ struction of its inhabitants .... One day in early spring (1938) a special commission suddenly arrived to inspect the camp .... Before evening all the inhabit¬ ants of the camp were called together to hear the commission's report. The head administration was declared incompetent and new persons appointed. No position, not even the lowliest, es¬ caped the purge. They were not only forced to hand in their uni¬ forms but were designated as “wreckers” and subject to further persecution. Fine words of comfort were spoken to the prisoners. Many of the hard-pressed prisoners, driven from house and home, stood with tears in their eyes. Would they ever be rescued from this misery and nameless suffering? Was there still a justice in this world which distinguished between the guilty and the innocent? The words of the orator seemed to rekindle the courage we lost during the winter months .... Things changed after that. Next morning a medical commis¬ sion examined all the brigades scheduled for work and placed two- thirds of the men into rehabilitation barracks. Over half of the barracks became rehabilitation centres. A hospital was established and regular doctors brought in. The food ration was doubled and the quality of the food improved substantially .... Yes the com¬ mission brought many changes, except in our horse barn, where normal procedure and order remain