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

them. Aron is given to philosophical pon¬ tificating, Abram to clinical analysis. Both women and both men recall events long after they happened. The women recapture a sense of immediacy, bolstered by emotion and feeling. The men seek to interpret, to bring order to ongoing chaos. There is considerable variation in the literary quality of the memoirs. The translation tries to take this into account by seek¬ ing to reflect their sophistication or simplicity as well as their syn¬ tax and style. The continuity of the narrative constituted the fun¬ damental editorial principle and determined whether moderate or severe deletions were made. 'SMB 1 ■ ^AtRfsassES tmmm IP? :.^ira Anna 21 A nna Kroeker was reluctant to record her memoirs. She feared as she expressed it, “that publicity might diminish or even slander her [precious] experiences with the Lord.” [Lebensbericht einer Russlanddeutschen , p. 1] Furthermore, her ego might inadvertently contend with God for recognition and honor. She need not have worried. Her account is forthright with no overtones of self-pity or false piety. Like Justina, she does not minimalize the whys of life and like her, implicitly clings to a sovereign God who responds in times of deepest crisis. In all likelihood Anna was the daughter of Mennonite farmers whose ancestors migrated to Central Asia under the leadership of the millennialistically inclined Claas Epp. Unfortunately she provided no information about her parent s origins, only that they moved from Kirghizia to Kazakhstan under the most trying circumstances. Her first memories are of the strong leadership exercised by her mother during the course of that difficult journey. Unfortunately she does not identify the new settlement nor does she indicate whether other Mennonites joined them in this frontier venture. Anna grew up in a devout home and remembers her fathers in¬ telligible morning and evening devotions as well as her mother telling Bible stories during the dark evenings when they could not afford the oil for their lamps. Piety and strict discipline characterized her paren¬ tal home, while difficult life circumstances and crises molded her spir¬ itual formation from a young age. Her deep longing to learn and become a teacher never came to fruition. Again and again she found herself in situations that were not of her choosing and certainly not to her liking. On the other hand, a series of near brushes with death — a collapsing root cellar, a vicious dog attack, runaway horses, a collaps¬ ing river bank and malaria — all assured her of Gods continuing pro¬ vision for her life. This in part accounts for her tenacity of faith and courage in the face of incredible odds throughout her later life. Annas account is characterized by its honesty and candor, its straightforward disclosure of inner feelings and its optimism. She demonstrates no understanding of massive processes of the