Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

he was imprisoned for fifteen days. His address has often served as point of contact with the CCECB. Renewed dissen- sion within the CCECB in 1980 led to his separation from Kriuchkov. Peter V. Rumachik (1981) is a Belorussian who has been leading the Dedovsk (Moscow Ob- last) congregation when not in prison or hiding. After a total of 114 years in prison and exile he tried to return home in 1977 but has been harassed by the authorities Reunification Rejected, 1964-1974 253 since (Vestnik istiny, 2-3/78, pp. 30-36). After serving a fifteen day sentence in June 1979 together with Shaptala, he was rearrested in August 1980 and sentenced to 3 years of strict regime. 59. AS 629, p. 9. 60. Ibid. Attached were thirty-one signatures, none of the CCECB members signing, 61. BL, 6-7/70 (AS 864). Khorev’s father, Ivan, when arrested during the Stalinist purges (he died after two years in prison) knelt and prayed with his children that all would come to share his faith. The son Mikhail Ivanovich (1931) was edu- cated as a medical doctor but joined the Initsiativniki in 1965 in Moldavia. He was arrested together with Georgi Vins in 1966 and during his prison term lost the sight of one eye. Before his latest arrest in 1978 he was fully blind but still impressed everyone with his deep spirituality. 62. AS 565, AS 441. The latter listed G. K. Kriuchkov, G. P. Vins, S. G. Dubovoi, and P. A. Iakimenkov in hiding. 63. BL, 2/78 printed the photos from the 1974 incident. 64. BL, 4/72 (AS 1806). New additions were M. I. Khorev, K. K. Kreker, and N. P. Khrapov. 65. BL, 1/77; 4/77; Vestnik istiny, 3-4/76, pp. 3-28. 66. AS 771, pp. 47-55; BL, 4/77. 67. Some of his experiences are related in his recent book, Gerhard Hamm, Du hast uns nie verlassen (Wuppertal: R. Brockhaus Verlag, 1978). 68. Peter D. Peters (1942) began his fourth prison term in 1978 (released in July 1980). He went on a futile hunger strike in order to get a copy of the Bible. 69. An especially unfortunate incident occurred in 1974 when one of the youths from Minsk, Nikolai Loiko, was severely wounded when a policeman’s gun fired (Bulletin No. 44, pp. 3-4). 70. Bourdeaux, Religious Ferment, p. 126f: 71. For example, Nauka i religiia, 7/73, pp. 76-79. Persons who knew her thought they detected unnecessary pride on her part at the trial. Her initial sentence was for three years but Maria stood up and said she wanted as long a sentence as her colleague Elena—five years. These observers noted that she had remained steadfast during the first three years but lost her faith during those two years when she had re- lied on herself! Conditions in Soviet women’s prisons are frightening for Christian or other decent women. ea Author's notes on meeting in Paderborn, West Germany, September 29, 73, AS 878, 879. The first printed version of BL was 7-8/71 (AS 880). 74, They were: Vitalii I. Pidchenko (1941), Ekaterina I. Gritsenio (1943), Vik- tor A. Pik