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

a there were rumors about the executions in Del- Del. Ever so carefully I began to investigate. Dolinka had a cloth¬ ing depot where the clothes of deceased or executed prisoners were sold. I found the clothes of two of the men arrested with Hans. Obviously they were executed. There were also the personal ef¬ fects of Jacob Wiebe of Lichtfelde, who was a well known doctor in our region. In November I found out that a transport of able bodied pris¬ oners had been sent to the far north and someone saw my brother Hans among them. I felt very sorry for my brother, but at least he was not executed. Much later he sent me news from Petschora, a northern river. In 1946 he returned from the camp as an invalid and told me about the terrible things which happened in Del-Del. If excavations are ever carried out there, people should not be sur ¬ prised to find horse and human skeletons lying together. I was very depressed and unhappy, but could tell no one of my find .... I continued my work. A new laboratory was constructed for milk and wool analyses. A group of specialists and scientists ar¬ rived from Dolinka. We also got a new head for our section named Bikovski, a one time head of a NKVD sovkoz in Georgia. He was an original fellow — clever, well educated, a drunkard and cynic. One day when he was drunk he was stopped by the police. WLen he got out of his truck he smashed the two officers together. As consequence he was sentenced to five years as a “socially danger- ISLAND IN THE STEPPE 121 ous element.”. . . He was succeeded by a certain Buckraschvilli, a one-time member of the All Russian Central Executive Commit¬ tee which functioned until 1936. He was a friend of Enukidse, a relative of Stalin .... During the time of mass terror and reprisals an army of secret informers played a crucial role. The system could not work with¬ out them .... Our camp also had its share of these people. Usu¬ ally they were quickly unmasked, avoided and despised. As soon as they were discovered they were transferred elsewhere and new ones took their place. “To Be or Not to Be” We got a new camp head named Koneva. She was about forty years of age and possessed a domineering nature. She dressed in riding pants and leather boots. She soon took notice of me and I became the subject of her derogatory remarks. Unfortunately I too made some uncomplimentary comments about her and soon found I had an evil and crafty enemy. One day she told me the special NKVD agent Somov wanted to see me. He was a gruesome person and a known sadist. After a long wait I was asked to come in. He wanted to know what the scientists and especially Fortunatov were doing at the station. What funds were available and how were they spent? What kind of results were they having? Then he claimed Fortunatov was a sabo¬ teur and was misusing funds. In brief he wanted me to sign up as a spy and keep my eyes on Fortunatov. I exploded declaring I would n