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

y and heav¬ ily taxed upon arrival. Receiving either form of aid provided an¬ other excellent pretext for arrest and exile, namely contact with the West. The 1928-32 village exiles encountered a variety of fates. Some were sent out at night with only a suitcase and the clothes on their backs. Fellow villagers were threatened with a similar fate if they 8 JOURNEYS gave food or shelter to the unfortunates. Others were immedi¬ ately imprisoned, then sent into exile. A more systematic exile system appears to have been in place by early 1930 when prison¬ ers were packed into red freight cars and, under terrible condi¬ tions, sent to destinations like Kotlas, Murmansk, Vologda and Arkangelsk. Early exiles frequently involved the entire family. Once out of the prisoner trains there was the difficulty of getting to the campsite. Then came the question of survival in areas where barrack sites were inadequate or were not yet constructed. Even when shelter became available it was characterized by overcrowd¬ ing and difficult living conditions. Most of the men and women, whether experienced or not, were assigned as lumberjacks and woodcutters. Others worked in mines, construction or as road builders. Whatever the task, the workers faced long hours, virtually no days off, high work quotas, extreme cold and the day to day hazards of their work site. Minor infractions of barrack or work codes brought severe punishment. Food rations, normally tied to the fulfilment of work quotas, con¬ sisted of four to six hundred grams per day. Food parcels sent by relatives often arrived devoid of contents. Many survived by beg¬ ging from local villagers who, in spite of their own poverty, often proved generous. Camp survival not only meant overcoming severe work con¬ ditions and poor nutrition but the ravages of disease as well. Epi¬ demics of dysentery, typhus, pneumonia, hepatitis and tuberculo¬ sis were commonplace. Inmates received only cursory medical attention and were often not allowed access to local hospitals or the services of local doctors. Confronted by the loss of fiscal secu¬ rity, family and the community of faith the prisoners mental health deteriorated, resulting in depression and even suicide. Meanwhile collectivization continued at an unrelenting pace in the villages the exiles left behind. Livestock and farm machin¬ ery was seized by the state and Mennonite villagers had no option but to flee or join the collective. Now they confronted a variety of difficult and harassing situations. The collective often demanded the surrender of their village land and house. Such vacant houses might then be converted into granaries, livestock stalls, chicken barns or they were torn down and the materials used for collective farm construction. The kolkoz management usually demanded large entry fees as well as milk, meat or egg quotas based on the collectivist s few chickens, pig or cow. Each member was assigned