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

dges’ questions with reason and cleverness. There were also comic moments. The Redekopp brothers were charged with disassem¬ bling a machine gun and hiding it in a barrel of sunflower oil. Several judicial officials could not hide their smiles. The trial lasted for several weeks. I had a good lawyer who pointed out the positive testimonies of my “Rosovka” colleagues. Since Paul and I had different lawyers, however, each tried to put the blame on the other person .... The trial ended on the evening of May 19, 1936. We were all locked in a room then brought into the court at 1 a . m . Paul got ten years. The list was long and I waited expectantly. Would I be freed? Then came the sentence — four years imprisonment and two years deprivation of civil rights .... The Redekopp brothers were released for lack of evidence .... Now the guards took charge of us. We were taken to the prison and passed through six massive iron gates before we reached the inner courtyard. The furnishings of our cells consisted of a wooden bed frame, a toilet pail at the door and a small light hanging from the ceiling, that was all ... . Next day we were led into a large room with tables, benches, paper and pens. Before the trial we learned that we could appeal our sentence within three days and now our lawyers stood ready to help us draft our appeals. I already knew what could happen: the lighter sentences were usually doubled and no one knew of any sentence which was reduced. When the judge learned I was not launching an appeal he became very angry. By 108 JOURNEYS admitting my guilt, he argued, I cast a shadow on all the others. He bristled with hate, but my lawyer insisted that I, Paul, and my former teacher were within our rights. In 1960 I learned by chance that the chairman of the judiciary, Romanenko, as well as the state attorney, were executed in 1937 as “enemies of the people.” Their crime: too many light sentences and too many acquittals. After two weeks we were transferred to a large room holding about one hundred men. We still slept on wooden bed frames - by 1937 there were not enough of these and the prisoners simply sat on the cement floor. Paul and I played dominos with bread. Since I had not appealed my sentence I came to a cell for work¬ ing prisoners .... Cell number sixty-two was large, bright and held twenty-two inmates. Engineers, office workers, barbers and others “lived” here. I was assigned to the mechanical division as control¬ ler-registrar. An industrial complex with various divisions was at¬ tached to the prison. It was located in the basement rooms of the immense prison, built during the reign of Catherine II. But back to our cell. It had iron bed frames, straw mattresses, coarse sheets, army blankets. Many prisoners even had their own pillow. This cell enjoyed a special privilege. In the evening the cell door remained open and we walked along the corridors, visit¬ ing with each other in whisp