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

me decently even though I had relatives abroad (an uncle in Germany and a brother in Canada). A number of outstanding specialists worked here. Furthermore it was a model farm for the Agricultural Institute for Animal Husbandry in Askania-Nova. Askania-Nova was a nature preserve. In 1828 Duke Friedrich Ferdinand Anhalt-Ketenski acquired the property at little cost. An estate was founded bearing the same name as the one in Germany. Later a colonist named Pfalz-Fein acquired the property. By 1889 this estate was already a gigantic and unique nature preserve. In 1904 an experimental station was founded and scientific research involving cross-breeding etc. was carried out by famous scientists. After the revolution in 1917 it was nationalized. The scientists of the institute also carried on their research and experiments at “Rosovka.” I was drawn into their work and acquired a lot of ISLAND IN THE STEPPE 103 useful knowledge for my profession in the areas of selection, ge¬ netics and biology. The greatest difficulty for me lay in the fact that all the research was carried on in the Ukrainian language. Officially it was declared that life was better than ever. In reality tensions increased and the number of arrests grew steadily. During the famine of 1932-1933 arrests rose dramatically because of the “theft of socialist property.” The women were especially hard hit. In order to save their children from death by famine they sewed large pouches under their skirts in order to collect grain. Then too there were the so-called “slanderers,” people who criti¬ cized the officials. Later this was called by the ominous name “counter-revolutionary propaganda.” My Arrest and Imprisonment I had just returned from a sports event one rainy night in January 1936, when there was a knock at my door. Two men in leather jackets came in and showed me both an arrest and a search warrant. They brought me to the village office where Saposhnikov, an “old acquaintance” and NKVD representative awaited me. He was also an agricultural official. We once had an argument. He wanted all cows including the pure breeds and the sick, for plough¬ ing. I pointed out a regulation which forbade the use of cows for ploughing. He raged and swore fearfully then warned, “I’ll get you.” Now I was in his office and he looked at me scornfully. “I told you we’d meet again.” He ordered everyone out and began the interrogation. “What did Paul Janzen give you?” My school comrade Paul Janzen, already arrested in October 1935, had gradu¬ ated from the Melitopol Teachers’ College and worked in an inter¬ mediate school in Askania-Nova. “1 haven’t seen Paul recently, but we correspond. There has not been a letter for a long time.” Saposhnikov became extremely angry. Horsemen were sent to my village to search the house. I was very concerned about my mother, who never recovered from my father’s murder. Naturally they found nothing. I was nevertheless