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

ns .... I was now sepa¬ rated from all of my friends. A former supervisor had ordered my transfer. He received me very kindly and even provided me with my own room .... During these days a parcel from home arrived. How I thought of my loved ones! Now I was separated from all my German broth¬ ers. There was no one with whom I could exchange a German word or share what was on my heart .... MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 197 A new chapter of my life began in this second camp. Early in the morning I went to the barns. I had barely entered when I was confronted by a group of young men and their leader. I knew immediately that these were not political prisoners. These crimi¬ nals enjoyed an advantage in the camp since they were considered no worse than the political prisoners .... The greatest difficulty from a management point of view was that they were regarded as reliable people. Most of them had been sent here as hardened criminals — thieves, murderers, rapists, embezzlers — in short peo¬ ple who were untrustworthy. These were my future barnhands and watchmen. They were true to form and showed me no re¬ spect whatsoever when we met. Their faces reflected insolence and brazenness .... Fortunately my superior warned me about them in advance .... Briefly they explained to me why they cared for some horses and not for others .... I smiled and thanked them for their candor and expressed the confidence that I would be able to get along with such bright lads and that eventually all the horses would be well-cared for. Somehow this broke the ice and subsequently the boys showed only their good side, obeying all orders and new regulations. Even today I still have a good impression of those vagabonds. I walked through their room to get to my quarters. I always carefully locked the trunk in which I kept my belongings yet things steadily disappeared. One day after they had done their [barn] work extremely well I walked through the room and before I said goodnight I placed the keys to my door and the trunk on their table. I announced that I was no longer locking anything, since no lock was secure against the likes of them. Furthermore I planned to treat them with more respect and courtesy. Rather gleefully their leader announced that I had assessed them correctly and that henceforth nothing would be missing. They were, he declared, ready to accept me as one of them. I agreed, making sure they understood that I was still in charge. They were as good as their word .... The pressure of [a longterm] captivity lay like a lead weight upon our hearts. We somehow hoped the government would re¬ view our cases. Many of those arrested in 1937 were freed, yet as the fall of 1938 approached and with it the first anniversary of our captivity we began to lose heart. We could not fathom spending ten years like this. In summer it was hot and humid and we were 198 JOURNEYS plagued by millions of mosquitos every minute