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

a large number of wagons pulled by horses and had commanded the village in¬ habitants to collect the foreigners and their goods. There was a deep gully fifteen kilometers from the village where they were to be unloaded. By evening the village was to be cleansed! What a fright that was! Mr. Epp told father to walk to a large Russian village and suggested mother and I should stay inside the house and not show ourselves. In this way we might be able to stay over Easter. We followed his advice .... We thought of the families who had been expelled. Some of them were loaded in the rain and actually taken to the gully. The families with children had driven to a Russian village and sympathetic Russians had given them shelter, even if it was only temporary. Among these were the Bartels from Schoensee; elder Ediger from Schoensee; elder Peter Nikkei from Orloff; elder janzen from Landskrone; the minister Heinrich Harder from Halbstadt .... We spent Easter behind drawn shades and wondered where father was. He returned after a week and, in the event we had to leave, had secured accomodation in a Russian village. Many Germans had already found lodging there. We decided to stay and wait .... One Sunday when we were all at Mariechen’s house Heinrich Hildebrand (whom she had married) said that our parents could spend the winter with them and if it were possible Lena and I could come and live there as well.... In the fall Heinrich wanted to build a small room in the barn. Lena liked the idea and imme¬ diately began to clean up a corner .... In September Lena and I moved in. We again had a home but not for long .... By No¬ vember it got rather cold and since a stove could not be set up in the small room I decided to spend the winter in Kleefeld with Heinrich and Neta. I arrived there in early November. It was a lovely day. Since Neta worked as a milkmaid and Heinrich as a bricklayer, I took over the household and looked after Marta, who celebrated her first birthday in October .... MEMOIRS OF JUSTIN A MARTENS 57 Our brother Peter in Alexanderkrone was also exiled with his family. As one who was disenfranchised he was sent away to do convict labor. He had to herd the prisons cattle in the mountains during the day and bring them back for the night. For this he received a bit of bread, sugar and tea. His wife Mariechen and their two children, Mika and Sara, were deeply impoverished (three of their children had died). When they were expelled they carried all their belongings in a children’s wagon. Mariechen pulled and the children clung to her skirt. Thus they left for Paulsheim .... It began to rain and they got soaked and could go no further .... When they finally arrived at her sister’s house in Paulsheim her sister said, “You can live with us but we can’t give you anything to eat.” They were already looking after their mother. Peter knew that his wife and children were starving and so he saved his sparse ratio