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

d grams of bread. There was also a thin soup which contained two spoons of oatmeal porridge, barley or wheat. If one made twenty percent above the norm, a few grams of fish might be added. Who would have thought that one could remain capable of work on such a sparse diet and with such a distance to walk .... Happily the long summer nights of the north meant it was light when we left and light when we came home. In wintertime there was no daylight. On the third day on the job I was trying to saw down a tree some distance from the rest of my brigade. Here I chanced to converse with one of the supervisors who recognized me in spite of my ragged work clothes. He was surprised to find me doing such work. When I mentioned my family name he admitted he could do nothing for me. Current laws allowed no German to hold any responsible post. After I returned to camp that evening our supervisor called me in. He requested that I briefly share my life story with him. When I finished he mentioned that the supervisor had recom¬ mended I head a special brigade to look after the horses which had just arrived in camp. I accepted the position immediately. Now he called another administrator and together we inspected all the German brigades. We selected a unit of fifty capable men to com¬ prise the German teamster brigade. We were assigned the best accommodations in the horse park to take charge of our animals. We were saved, at least for the time being, for we were now in a position to care for ourselves. The horses were in good condition and with them we could fulfill our work norms. Ail those who could not handle horses were appointed as assistants. At least half of my men no longer walked to work, the rest were spared the high production norms associated with forest work and found it easier to earn their bread. In relatively few days we 214 JOURNEYS were achieving the highest norms for wood (log) transport and enjoyed every advantage. The wild berries, an effective measure against scurvy, were in season. Almost every day I allowed some of my men to pick berries which we then smuggled into the camp in baskets and mosquito netting. These were carefully distributed to the kitchen [workers], the accountant and the construction fore¬ man. Such actions, plus our good work record, secured the best positions and the best food for us. In the morning we were the first to leave, in the evening we immediately entered the dining hall and were guaranteed a seating place. Our luck ran out in midwinter. Jealousy and hate were at the root of the matter .... One of our horses accidently fell into a fire and as a result it spent several weeks in its stall. Section III consid¬ ered this as economic sabotage. I was relieved of my post and a Kazakh who knew absolutely nothing about the work or the work¬ ers put in my place. In a few short months the health of the entire brigade deteriorated to the point that two men were hospit