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

parents were still in bed. Sud¬ denly I found it very difficult to part from my parents and I wept bitterly. Mother kissed me goodbye and father walked me to the street. I had the sense that it was the last time I would see my parents .... Spring came and Neta wrote to Heinrich saying that we were preparing to send him a parcel for the journey home and that these last months before his return seemed rather long. In May we packed a parcel with canned butter, smoked ham and sugar. We packaged it very carefully and told ourselves that it was the last one before he returned. We got a letter from him at the begin¬ ning of June, but the parcel had not yet arrived. Throughout the letter there was no mention of coming home. In fact it seemed he had an inkling that he would never return. Ajnong other things he wrote, Dear Neta, if we should not see each other again here [on MEMOIRS OFJUSTINA MARTENS 67 earth] let us earnestly strive to all meet in our heavenly home. Don’t be concerned only with the temporal. Take time for the children. And you dear sister Justina, stay with Neta and the children and strive for those things which are above. Neta was deeply disappointed with the letter because there was no word of his coming home. She said it was like a farewell letter. It was exactly that, since we never heard from him again. We, of course, did not know that so we continued to wait for the next letter which never came. When war broke out on June 22 our hope was lost. His return was so imminent — only seven weeks— and now the war began. We saved the last letter as Heinrich’s last will and testament. Even the children knew that daddy’s farewell letter lay in the Bible. The letter was a sacred legacy .... Naturally we did not know what this unfortunate war held in store for us — especially for us Germans .... The days became increasingly turbulent. Airplanes screamed through the skies and our village was filled with troops. One day the order came to prepare for trench digging. Every fourth housewife was to come as well as all men between 16 and 60. They went to the village soviet and were marched away. Then men were transported to the railway station but God alone knew their destination. Next came the women and Neta too had to leave. The cattle had already been driven away. Now some Crimea Germans arrived on their wagons. They had been attacked en route. They were quartered in Kliewer’s house, which was formerly a kindergarten .... I was at home with the children. Klara had also stayed with her chil¬ dren. There was tremendous confusion .... “Soon your 'Hitlers’ will be here,” the soldiers said, “a few more days and you will be able to tell them eveything!” That is exactly what happened, but not as we imagined. We did not see any 'Hitlers.’ It was Saturday and we were cleaning. After all everything had to be in order when the Germans came. Mrs. Regehr dropped by and when she saw me cleaning said,