The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story

Transcription

1 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story (source: Up From the Rubble) 1 Andrew Brown The Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission 1 Peter and Elfrieda Dyck, Up from the Rubble: The Epic Rescue of Thousands of War- Ravaged Mennonite Refugees (Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1991), 91. [photo: Mennonites on the Great Trek from Ukraine to Germany]

2 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 2 Table of Contents Introduction: Human Migration The Migration of the Mennonites Pre-1873: Early Migrations from Russia : Pioneers in the New World : The First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Civil War : Stalin, Collectivization, and the Red Gate : Finding Another Route : The Second World War and the Great Trek : The Cold War Present: The Fall of the Soviet Union Conclusion: The Mennonites and the Modern Migration Story... 85

3 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 3 Introduction: Human Migration Since the beginning of human history, people have been migrating all over the world, settling in lands on which to live for many different reasons. From the Biblical Garden of Eden to today s European Migrant Crisis, people have been moving all around the world. Whether people move around following seasonal food and labour sources, to flee violence and persecution, or to seek opportunities in a new land, these are all examples of human migration. (source: 2 In our globalized world, human migration is at its peak and presents new possibilities and challenges as we attempt to address increasing human migration patterns and frequencies. Migration is in the front and centre of our political realms with the Syrian Refugee Crisis, the European Migrant Crisis, and various immigration and border 2 Richard L. Harris, The Migration of Anatomically Modern Humans, The Transpacific Project, Genetic Research, Website: genetic-research/.

4 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 4 security issues in the United States. Despite human migration being quite common in human history, it is often presented today as a crisis or an issue. The Mennonites, an ethno-religious group that has migrated frequently in search of religious tolerance, freedom from persecution, and for economic opportunities, have experienced both the positive and negative sides of migration perspectives from their host countries. Because of the varying experiences of Mennonite migrations, the Mennonites serve as an excellent case study in which to analyze human migration. This paper attempts to present the migrations of the Mennonites from Russia as a part of the larger human migration story, looking at the various causes, reasons, and motivations for leaving Russia and eventually, how it relates to the human migration story today. The Mennonite migrations from Russia have been broken down into sections with background information on each migration period, a few personal accounts from Mennonite migrants, and an analysis of the migration period.

5 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 5 The Migrations of the Mennonites In 1525, the Mennonites rose out of the Anabaptist branch of the Reformation in Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. For the Mennonites, the Christian life meant a personal relationship with God, based on faith in, and obedience to, Jesus and his teachings. Due to their convictions and interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount, 3 they believed in a radical Christian discipleship that renounced all violence, advocated for a believer s baptism, and considered it more important to obey God than man or the state. This got them into trouble with the Church and the State, which in the Lutheran and Catholic areas of Europe, were essentially the same thing. (source: Mennonite Exodus) 4 3 Matthew Frank H. Epp, Mennonite Exodus: The Rescue and Resettlement of the Russian Mennonites Since the Communist Revolution (Altona, Manitoba: D. W. Friesen & Sons Ltd., 1962), 10.

6 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 6 As early as 1530, the Mennonites began immigrating to the Vistula Delta region in Polish Prussia to escape the persecution they experienced in Western Europe. When the Mennonites arrived, the Vistula Delta was largely swamp land unfit for agricultural use, but their knowledge of building dykes, water mills, and reclaiming land through Dutch agricultural practices, allowed the Mennonites to transform it into a fertile farming region. The Polish rulers were able to encourage Mennonite immigration, settlement, and agriculture by providing them with various economic privileges and exemptions from military service. 5 (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 6 5 Ibid., William Schroeder, Vistula Delta, Mennonite Church Canada, mennonitechurch.ca/programs/archives/holdings/schroeder_maps/021.pdf.

7 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 7 The Prussians began to fear the population increase of the Mennonites and their agricultural and economic dominance. In 1789, the Prussian authorities issued a decree forbidding the sale of land to Mennonites. 7 This made it difficult for the Mennonites, who with large families and growing agricultural projects were constantly in need of more land for expansion. In 1786, Empress Catherine II of Russia sent representatives to the Prussian Mennonites, offering economic privileges and rights to religious freedom if they were to settle in Russia s new Ukrainian territories gained from the Russo-Turkish War. 8 Over 10,000 Mennonite immigrants from Prussia established settlements in Russia at Chortitza in 1789, Molotschna in 1804, Am Trakt in 1853, and Alexander in From these settlements, further daughter colonies were established throughout Russia. (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 10 7 Ibid., Ibid. 9 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, William Schroeder, Mennonite Settlements in European Russia, Mennonite Church Canada, _maps/039.pdf.

8 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 8 Meanwhile, Mennonites from Switzerland and the Palatinate had begun settling in North America in 1683 at Germantown, Pennsylvania. 11 By 1786, the Mennonites had spread into Southern Ontario, as well. 12 Further large-scale Mennonite immigration to North America did not come until the Russian Mennonite (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 13 immigrations in 1873 and the 1920s. The Russian Mennonites first immigrated to North America in 1873, with approximately 18,000 Mennonites settling in reserves in Manitoba or in communities in the American Midwest. In Canada, the Mennonites had secured a Privilegium that secured certain rights and freedoms, including tracts of land set aside for exclusive Mennonite settlement. 14 In the United States, the Mennonites were treated as a normal immigrant group and settled on land they purchased privately. As Mennonites continued to migrate to North America, they continued to spread into neighbouring states and provinces. 11 Harold S. Bender, Cornelius Krahn, and John J. Friesen, Migrations, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1989, 12 Ibid. 13 William Schroeder, Mennonite Settlements in Pennsylvania and Ontario, Mennonite Church Canada, Schroeder_maps/182.pdf. 14 Bender, Krahn, and Friesen, Migrations, GAMEO.

9 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 9 (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 15 (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 16 In the 1920s, discontented with the Canadian government imposing the use of English in Mennonite schools, some of the more conservative Mennonites from Western Canada immigrated to Paraguay and Mexico, where they were able to secure similar rights and privileges. 17 The 1920s also saw another mass migration of Russian Mennonites leaving the Soviet Union, with 25,000 Mennonites settling in Canada and 21,000 settling in Mexico, Paraguay, or Brazil. 18 During the Second World War, approximately 35,000 Mennonites tried escaping Russia with the retreating German army 15 William Schroeder, Mennonite Settlements in the United States During the 1870 s, Mennonite Church Canada, Schroeder_maps/184.pdf. 16 William Schroeder, Mennonite Settlements in Manitoba ( ), Mennonite Church Canada, Schroeder_maps/175.pdf. 17 Bender, Krahn, and Friesen, Migrations, GAMEO. 18 Ibid.

10 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 10 in 1943, but only some 12,000 ever managed to escape to immigrate to Canada or South America. 19 Throughout their history, Mennonites have been constantly migrating, searching for freedom and safety in new lands, and seeking to leave once they feel that their religious and economic rights are jeopardized. The Mennonites are often celebrated as valued immigrants for their agricultural skills and hardworking reputation, but the local populations have (source: Mennonite Church Canada) 20 not always appreciated them, where they are seen as non-conforming foreigners or colonizers in their lands. Migration can be full of difficult issues and Mennonites know this from their history, but it can also be full of great opportunities and positive relationships. 19 Ibid. 20 William Schroeder, Mennonite Colonies in Paraguay, Mennonite Church Canada,

11 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 11 Pre-1873: Early Migrations from Russia Mennonites first came to Russia in 1788, establishing the Chortitza colony, and very few Mennonites left Russia before the major emigration in the 1870s. The few that left before the 1870s are relatively isolated incidents, but there are some noted Mennonite emigrants leaving west from Russia to Germany or the United States. 21 Those that left Russia left due to the increasing Russification of Russia, with policies placed on the Mennonites and others living in Russia to have the Russian language used in schools. This policy came into effect in 1866, but was pursued with greater intensity after While not all of the early Mennonite emigrants would have left because of new policies in Russia, others may have left to live with family in Europe or America, or simply for the desire for adventure. 21 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 3.

12 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 12 Johannes D. Dyck: 22 Johannes D. Dyck was born in 1826 in Poppau, West Prussia, near the modern city of Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. Johannes family was displaced and lost much of their land during the Napoleonic Wars and French Occupation of Prussia. Due to tough times in West Prussia and a general desire for adventure, Johannes set out for America on August 31, Johannes left his family and his fiancé, Helene Janzen, whom he promised to marry upon his return to Prussia in two years. He sailed out of Hamburg, Germany to New York City, which was supposed to take two or three weeks, but due to stormy seas, ended up taking two months instead. Johannes arrived in New York City on November 2, 1848 and immediately travelled to Chicago, where he worked as a bartender and learned to speak English. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, which started a gold rush, drawing people from all over the United States and the world to California to mine gold and get rich. Johannes eventually caught gold rush fever and left for California in February Because Johannes went to mine gold in California, many family histories refer to him as the 49er, despite the fact that he left in Johannes decided to buy a horse and buggy and travel with a group of people heading out to California that was led by an experienced guide, which was considerably cheaper than taking a boat to California and passing through the Panama Canal. The traveling party carried many guns and had to swear to defend the group with their lives as 22 Cornelius J. and Wilma L. Dyck, eds., A Pilgrim People (Elkhart, Indiana: Cornelius J. & Wilma L. Dyck, 1987),

13 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 13 they passed through Indian Territory, which made Johannes uncomfortable, but it was necessary to reach California. (source: A Pilgrim People) 23 They followed the Oregon Trail, passing many graves from people who had died of cholera or in conflicts with the Indigenous peoples. Johannes saw many scalped settlers and massacred villages of Indigenous peoples. There is little account of Johannes time mining gold in California, but it is assumed that he was near Sacramento. In 1853, Johannes packed up all of his gold and left California, hoping to make it back east and then home to Prussia. Along the way he was robbed by an Indian war party that stole his pack mule that was carrying all of his gold. Without any gold to bring home, Johannes returned to California for another five years. In 1858, Johannes finally returned to Prussia and married Helene Janzen. Helene had waited ten years, rather than the initial two years, as was planned. Johannes returned 23 Ibid., 18. [photo: Map of Dyck s journey to California]

14 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 14 with 3,000 rubles worth of gold, including this gold pocket watch and bracelet, which remain as family heirlooms. (source: A Pilgrim People) 24 In 1859, Johannes and Helene moved to Russia, following Johannes parents and family who had moved there while he was in America. They had moved from Prussia to Russia due to increased militarization in Prussia in the 1850s. In Russia, Johannes established a 129-acre farm, built a flourmill, and served as the Oberschulze (mayor) of Lysanderhoech in the Am Trakt Mennonite settlement from Ibid. [photo: Gold watch and bracelet from Dyck s time in California]

15 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : Pioneers in the New World In the mid-19 th Century, Russia began instituting Russification policies that began to change the relationship between the Mennonites and the Russian state. These policies included having the Russian language used in schools in 1866, and universal military service in the 1870s. 25 Despite a concession being made to the Mennonites for alternative or non-combatant service roles, thousands of Mennonites sought to leave Russia, as they felt their freedom and safety in Russia was coming to an end. In the early 1870s, approximately 54,000 Mennonites lived in Russia. 26 In the immigration to North America, starting in 1873, over 18,000 people, one-third of the Russian Mennonite population, left Russia. 27 Of the immigrants, approximately 7,500 Mennonites settled on reserves on the Canadian frontier in Manitoba, while 10,500 settled in the United States, largely in Kansas. 28 Immigrants from Chortitza tended to settle in Canada, while immigrants from Molotschna tended to settle in the United States. 29 Some of the others that remained in Russia sought to escape the enforcement of Russification by settling deeper into Asiatic Russia, where they hoped there would be less of an impact on their way of life. The sense of the Mennonite situation getting worse in Russia continued to encourage Mennonites to emigrate as late as When the First World War began, Mennonite emigration was halted. After 1914, life for the Mennonites in Russia would never be the same again. 25 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid., Ibid., 26.

16 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 16 David Dyck: 30 David Dyck was born in Nieder-Chortitza in the Chortitza Mennonite colony in south Russia (modern day Ukraine) in David immigrated to the United States with his family, arriving in Marion County, Kansas in The flat plains of the American Midwest were very similar to the Russian steppes that he grew up on in the Ukraine. In 1877, his family joined a Mennonite Brethren community in Woodson County, Kansas, where he (source: CMBS Photo Collection) 31 was elected minister. David s ministry took him to Colorado, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, where he worked in several churches as these Mennonite communities were being established with new Mennonite immigrants from Russia. His work helped these Mennonite pioneers, families, and communities get set up, while looking after the spiritual life of the immigrants by serving as a minister to these people. 30 David Dyck, The Life Story of Brother David Dyck ( ): An Autobiographical Sketch of Rev. Dyck s Ministry Within the Mennonite Brethren Church, translated by John P. Nickel, David Dyck fonds, Volume 922, File 3, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 31 CMBS Photo Collection, David Dyck, NP68-1-7, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

17 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 17 Gerhard G. Wiens: 32 Gerhard Wiens was born in the village of Blumenort in the Molotschna Mennonite colony in When he was young, his family moved to another Mennonite settlement in the Crimea. Gerhard became a teacher and a private tutor for a rich German family in the Crimea. In 1885, Gerhard s family immigrated to the United States, but Gerhard had to remain in Russia to fulfill his mandatory military service. He was able to use teaching as a valid exemption or alternative for his military service. While in Russia, Gerhard had invested a lot of money in an agricultural implements factory, where he lost a lot of his money, which he blames on the economic corruption in Russia. He decided that he wanted to immigrate to the United States, where there was liberty and justice for the small man. When Gerhard applied for his immigration papers, the Russians refused to grant him a passport, preventing him from leaving the country without a bribe. Fed up with the corruption, Gerhard hired an old Jewish man to lead him across the border into Austria. He eventually made his way into Germany and boarded the steam ship, Rugia on March 12, He arrived in Hillsboro, Kansas on March 23, 1892 and was shocked at what he saw in what would become his new home. Gerhard had lived with rich families in Russia, but many of the people in Kansas were poor farmers. One of his first impressions of Kansas was that there was not a cultured soul in sight. On the next day, a huge tornado struck and destroyed many buildings. 32 Margaret Wiens Meyer and Gerhard G. Wiens, The Wiens Family, (Westminster, California: Margaret Wiens Meyer, 1997).

18 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : The First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Civil War In the years leading up to start of the First World War, the Mennonites prospered in Russia, particularly economically and agriculturally. In 1914, the Mennonites had established about fifty new daughter settlements in the Crimea, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Turkestan from the original four mother settlements. 33 Altogether, these new colonies possessed 365 villages with over 4 million acres of land. 34 Further land increases came from rich individual farmers with large estates outside of the main colonies. There were about 384 large Mennonite estate owners, with some individuals owning as much 50,000 acres. 35 These estate owners accounted for about 30% of the total land owned by Mennonites in Russia. 36 In 1914, the Russians entered the First World War and Mennonite men were drafted into the alternative service or worked in the medical trains that serviced the armies. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution overthrew the Russian government and came to power, starting the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheviks removed Russia from the First World War, but German and Austrian forces continued to occupy Russian territory in the Ukraine to supply their armies. An estimated 110,000 Mennonites lived in Russia in The Russian Civil War was very hard on the Mennonites as they were major landowners, capitalists, and were associated with the foreign German occupiers for their German language and 33 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid., 3.

19 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 19 culture. Bandits raided, looted, and killed Mennonites for their wealth and land during the Civil War. One of the most notorious revolutionary bandits that attacked the Mennonites was Nestor Makhno. Makhno was the commander of the Anarchist Armies in the Ukraine and targeted estate owners, industrialists, and landowners who he believed to be the enemies of the working masses. In his youth, Makhno had been a cattle herder on various wealthy Mennonite estates. 38 The Mennonite colonies hit the hardest by Makhno were (source: GAMEO) 39 Borzenkovo, Zagradovka, and Chortitza, where between 11-15% of the colony s population died. 40 In response to Makhno s armies and various raiding bandits in the winter of , some Mennonite men were trained by the occupying German forces in the Ukraine into Selbstschutz (Self-Defense) units to defend the Mennonite settlements. During the Civil War, the Mennonite principles of nonresistance were put to the test. While some of the young Mennonite men chose to defend their families and settlements, most of the 38 Ibid, John G. Rempel, Makhno, Nestor ( ), Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1957, 40 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 33.

20 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 20 Mennonite leaders did not support their violent actions. 41 The Selbstschutz included roughly 2,700 Mennonite infantry and 300 cavalry. 42 (source: GAMEO) 43 Along with the horrors of the violence of the Russian Civil War, the Mennonites also faced rampant typhoid, an economic crisis, and famine. In the years of the Civil War, , an estimated 2,250 Mennonites died from violence, starvation, and disease. 44 If it were not for the relief efforts of the American and Dutch Mennonites in the Ukrainian Famine, an estimated 10,000 Mennonites would have died of malnutrition. 45 Some Mennonites were able to escape Russia during the Revolution and Civil War. An estimated 100 Mennonite families escaped with the departing German army in November 1918, many of whom were formerly rich estate owners. 46 During the Civil War, many Mennonite men were drafted into the White Army and 62 Mennonite soldiers 41 Ibid. 42 Cornelius Krahn and Al Reimer, Selbstschutz, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1990, 43 Ibid. [photo: Selbstschutz group from Molotschna, 1918] 44 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, Ibid., Ibid., 44.

21 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 21 were able to escape Russia with General Wrangel s retreating White Army to Istanbul, Turkey. 47 A further 249 Mennonites were able to escape from the South Caucasus Black Sea port of Batum to Istanbul, as well. 48 In Istanbul, the Mennonites were able to meet up with American Mennonite relief workers and were able to resettle the Mennonite refugees in the United States and in Germany. The Mennonite migrations during this period were largely refugee-based from the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid.

22 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 22 Peter H. Gerz: 49 Many Mennonites volunteered, were drafted, or were forced into fighting for the Red or White Armies in the Russian Civil War. In December of 1918, the White Army had been pushed back into the Ukraine and stayed overnight in Peter s village in Molotschna. The White Army officer read a list of five young Mennonite men, designating them for service in the White Army: D. J. Rempel, P. P. Neufeld, J. P. Letkeman, G. P. Gerz, and P. H. Gerz (Peter). On April 7, 1919, Peter said goodbye to his family and joined his White Army troop, in which there were twelve other Mennonites. Once connected with the troop, they left on a train to Rostov. They were unable to make it all the way to Rostov by train, as the Red Army had cut off the tracks part way through. Peter and the White Army continued the rest of the way on foot. December 23, 1919, Peter s troop arrived in Rostov and continued on into the Caucasus. The Red Army was pushing them back constantly, until the White Army had to evacuate the area. They left by ship from the Novorossiysk Black Sea port on March 13, 1920 for Sevastopol, Crimea. Peter s troop arrived on the Crimean Peninsula on March 15, Almost immediately, all of the German-speakers in the White Army were stationed in Kurman, a German-speaking village in the Crimea. Peter and a couple of his Mennonite friends were quartered at the house of Mrs. Klassen, a Mennonite widow in the town. By May 25, 1920, the White Army had broken through the Red Army stronghold on the northern Crimean isthmus and pushed them back into Ukraine. As the front 49 Irmgard Epp, ed., Constantinoplers: Escape from Bolshevism (Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford Publishing, 2006),

23 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 23 moved, Peter and his troop had to continually move. By September 20, 1920, the White Army had pushed the Reds back to the Dnieper River in Ukraine. After a couple weeks of stalemate, the Red Army broke over the Dnieper River and the White Army was in full retreat, all the way back to Sevastopol. The White Army was defeated. Many of the White Army soldiers were being evacuated from Crimea to Turkey to seek refuge. On November 1, 1920, Peter and the twelve other Mennonite soldiers in his troop were evacuated to Istanbul (Constantinople) on the remaining White Army ships. (source: Constantinoplers - Escape from Bolshevism) 50 Conditions on the ship were poor. Thousands of men packed onto the ship, to the point where the commanders had to order their men to shift more to the left or to the right to prevent the ship from leaning, allowing it to sit at even keel. Lice were rampant and food rations were poor. Daily rations on the ship included one loaf of bread for every sixty-three men and a very thin soup with a few grains of rice in it. Peter and the twelve Mennonite men traded one of their pants for a bag of bran, which they dipped in the seawater to make a sort of dough. They would then take the dough and wrap it around the hot pipes of the ship to make bread. 50 Ibid. [photo: White Army ships evacuating to Istanbul]

24 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 24 After a couple days, the ship arrived in Istanbul. They were not able to get off the ship at Istanbul, but had to continue on to Gallipoli, where a refugee camp was set up for them. In total, sixty-three ships left the Crimea with a total of 130,000 White Army soldiers, of which there were 110 Mennonite soldiers. When Peter and the twelve Mennonites in his troop got off the ship, they had to register as refugees with their nationalities. Peter had the clever idea to register as Dutch refugees, as their Mennonite heritage traces back to the Netherlands. Their commander laughed at them, but figured it was worth a try. The refugee camp was very large and many men tried to escape into Turkey or Bulgaria. On December 3, 1920, Peter and the twelve Mennonites were summoned to meet with the army commander. Fearing that they had done something wrong, the commander informed them that they had been discharged from the refugee camp. Turns out registering as Dutch worked! They took a boat to Istanbul and were moved into a barracks in the city, which due to the post-wwi occupation of Turkey, was patrolled by the French. On January 1, 1921, a man from the American Mennonite Relief Administration (AMRA), a branch of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), visited their barracks looking for Mennonites. He issued them fake Dutch I.D. cards so that they were allowed to leave the barracks and they snuck out to the AMRA headquarters in Istanbul. Peter informed the AMRA that there were many more Mennonite refugees in the camp at Gallipoli. By February, over 25 Mennonites had been taken out of the camps. The Mennonites were relocated to a villa that AMRA leased in Maltepe, on the other side of

25 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 25 the Bosporus from Istanbul. The villa was a mansion that once belonged to a rich Ottoman officer. The mansion was large enough to house many Mennonite refugees. During this time, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) was leading the Turkish War of Independence and the violence was nearing Istanbul. Many men applied for permission to leave to Germany, the United States, and other countries. On August 3, 1921, sixty-two Mennonites boarded a ship in Istanbul and left for America. Peter and a group of nine others received permission from Germany to emigrate. The Deutsche Mennoniten Hilfe (German Mennonite Help), a German Mennonite relief organization, had helped to organize their visas, as the German consulate in Istanbul had been shut down. Peter left Istanbul on November 11, 1921 on the train towards Germany. Along the way, there was political unrest in Hungary and the border had been closed, preventing Peter from carrying on to Germany. By December the border was opened again and they received their Hungarian and Serbian visas to pass through on their way to Germany. Peter was able to settle in Germany, with a group of other Mennonites in West Prussia.

26 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 26 Cornelius & Agnes Wall: 51 In the turmoil after the Bolshevik Revolution, many Mennonites wanted to leave Russia to live in peace elsewhere. Cornelius and Agnes Wall left Molotschna in January of 1922 and headed towards Batum, a city in the south of the Caucasus (today in Georgia). Batum is located on the Russian border with Turkey, on the Black Sea coast. From Batum, they hoped to attain Turkish visas to go to Istanbul and on to the United States. When the Walls arrived in Batum, the situation was terrible. Malaria and typhoid were rampant and food was scarce. There were sick and dying people everywhere. Cornelius and Agnes infant son, Arthur, died of malnutrition in Batum, as did countless other refugees. As the Allied forces occupied Turkey after the First World War, the refugees in Batum had to apply to the Italian consulate for Turkish visas. The Walls were eventually able to attain the required documents and sailed to Istanbul on the Cleopatra. In Istanbul, they heard a man speaking Low German, who ended up being from the AMRA and they were taken to the AMRA villa. There, they had lots of food, new clothes, and were able to live with other Mennonites in the beautiful villa. The Russian government was in exile in Istanbul and was able to issue passports for many Russian Mennonites to immigrate to the United States. On November 10, 1922, Cornelius and Agnes boarded the French ship, Braga, with many other Russian Mennonite refugees to New York City. From New York, Cornelius and Agnes went on to settle in Kansas. 51 Cornelius and Agnes Wall, As We Remember (Hillsboro, Kansas: Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1979),

27 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 27 Abraham Martens: 52 Abraham Martens was born in 1897 in Sergeevka, near Odessa, Ukraine. In 1914, Abraham married Tonya, a Yugoslavian woman. He was an officer in the Russian Army during the First World War and later in the Russian Civil War as a White Army officer. During the Civil War, Abraham contracted typhus, as many soldiers did, and was sent to Egypt to recover. It was believed that the hot, dry climate helped to cure diseases before medicines and vaccinations were available. Fortunately for Abraham, while being in Egypt, he was able to avoid the losses and heavy casualties of the White Army in Russia. By the time he had fully recovered, it was no longer safe to for him to return to Russia, as the Red Army was now in complete control. Instead, Abraham and Tonya returned to Tonya s home in Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, Abraham worked as the Minister of the Railways and lived a comfortable life with Tonya until the Second World War. In the Second World War, their city and home was destroyed by the German occupation and Allied bombings. Abraham also received anti-semitic discrimination from the occupying German forces for his Jewish-origin name. Abraham and his family fled into Austria after the Second World War and immigrated to Canada in 1949, settling in Winnipeg. 52 Abraham Martens memoirs, Abraham Martens fonds, Volume 1012, Files 2-3, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

28 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : Stalin, Collectivization, and the Red Gate In the 1920s, the Mennonites were desperately looking for ways to get out of Russia and established organizations to appeal to government officials to explore possibilities for migration due to the hard times in Russia under Stalin and his forced collectivization. Because the Soviet government was an atheistic group, the Mennonites could not organize under the Mennonite Church to appeal to the Soviet government. Instead, the Mennonites organized into economic or citizen groups. The two main groups the Mennonites organized were the Verband der Bürger Holländischer Herkunft (Association of Citizens of Dutch Extraction, VBHH) and the Allrussischer Mennonitischer Landwirtschaftlicher Verein (All-Russian Mennonite Agricultural Union, AMLV). The VBHH represented the Mennonites living in the Ukraine and the AMLV represented the Mennonites living in the rest of Russia. In the 1920s, there were approximately 65,000 Mennonites in the Ukraine and 45,000 Mennonites in the rest of Russia. 53 These two groups were officially working for the reconstruction of their communities after the Civil War, but were unofficially looking for prospects for mass emigration. 54 In their appeals to the Soviet government, they issued petitions requesting permission to allow Mennonite refugees in Russia and the Ukraine to emigrate. They coordinated with Russlandmennonitische Studienkommission (Russian Mennonite Study Commission), who had been sent out to explore immigration possibilities in Europe and the Americas. The Studienkommission, led by B. H. Unruh and A. A. Friesen, urged Mennonites in Canada, the United States, and Mexico to help the Russian Mennonites. 53 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, Ibid.

29 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 29 Their urging led to the creation of the Mennonite Central Committee in July 1920 and the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization in October In 1919, Mennonites were barred from immigrating to Canada due to an Order-in- Council on the grounds of being immigrants deemed undesirable owing to their peculiar customs, habits, modes of living, and methods of holding property, and because of their probable inability to become readily assimilated. 56 Another reason for the anti- Mennonite sentiment in Canada was due to the privileges granted to them by Canada in 1873, namely their exemption from military service. In 1921, William Lyon Mackenzie King became Prime Minister and repealed the Order-in-Council barring Mennonite immigration to Canada on June 2, The only thing standing in the way of the Mennonites now was the cost of transportation for immigration. Colonel J. S. Dennis, a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway, had seen the 1870s Mennonites settle the Canadian prairies, become industrious farmers, and pay off their travel debts very quickly. He advocated within the CPR to grant similar transportation loans to the Russian Mennonites to settle in Canada in In 1922, the Mennonite refugees in Russia gained permission from the Soviet government to emigrate from Moscow to Germany, from where they would leave to Canada, Paraguay, Mexico, or Brazil. The Soviets agreed to allow the Mennonite refugees to emigrate because they did not want continued international exposure to the 55 Harold S. Bender, Russlandmennonitische Studienkommission, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1959, Russlandmennonitische_Studienkommission. 56 Epp, Mennonite Exodus, Ibid., Ibid., 107.

30 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 30 failure of collectivization. 59 They hoped to disperse the refugee pockets by allowing them to migrate west when possible, or forcibly deport them to Siberia when not. As the Mennonites crossed the Soviet border on train, they passed through the Red Gate into Latvia. This gate became an iconic symbol of freedom for these Russian Mennonites. (source: Mennonite Exodus) 60 During , the years that the gate was open, nearly 25,000 Russian Mennonites were able to leave Russia ,000 were able to immigrate to Canada, and the remaining 4,000 immigrated to Mexico, Paraguay, or Brazil. 62 The reasons for emigrating varied based on the year. Emigration in the early 1920s was greatly influenced by the recent suffering in the Civil Wars and forced collectivization, whereas reasons for 59 John B. Toews, Czars, Soviets, & Mennonites (Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press, 1982), Epp, Mennonite Exodus, 107. [photo: The Red Gate on the border with Latvia] 61 Bender, Krahn, and Friesen, Migrations, GAMEO. 62 Ibid.

31 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 31 emigration in the late 1920s would have been around the serious reflection about the chances of a Mennonite future in Russia. 63 The individual opinions of Mennonites looking to emigrate would go back and forth: if there was hope for economic and cultural recovery in Russia, there would be less pressure to emigrate; if there was more government intolerance, there would be greater pressure to emigrate. 63 Toews, Czars, Soviets, & Mennonites, 108.

32 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 32 Benjamin B. Janz: 64 In 1921, the Mennonites right to non-combatant service in Russia was revoked and Benjamin B. B. Janz, a Mennonite Brethren leader, was elected to appeal to the Soviet government. He tried to (source: MB Herald) 65 negotiate for the release of young Mennonite men who had been conscripted into the Red Army. Janz also helped coordinate the Mennonite relief effort during the famine in the Ukraine. When the Mennonite situation in Soviet Russia seemed hopeless, Janz started to look for ways for the Mennonites to emigrate. He was one of the leaders of the Verband der Bürger Holländischer Herkunft (Association of Citizens of Dutch Extraction, VBHH) and helped 3,000 Mennonites emigrate from Russia in 1923, and a further 5,000 in Janz immigrated to Canada in 1926, but thousands of Mennonites were still able to emigrate from Russia every year until 1929, when Stalin closed the door to emigration. In Canada, Janz worked with the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, helped to liquidate the Mennonite Reiseschuld (travel debt), and worked closely with MCC to help Russian Mennonite refugees in Germany after the Second World War. 64 Benjamin B. Janz biographical papers, Benjamin B. Janz fonds, Volume 984, File XIV, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 65 Helen Rose Pauls, Looking Out for My Brothers: Mary Neumann s Recollections of B. B. Janz Mennonite Brethren Herald Vol. 43, No. 3 (February 27, 2004).

33 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 33 Cornelius F. Klassen: 66 In the 1920s, C. F. Klassen worked with many political groups representing the Mennonites in Soviet Russia, including the Allrussischer Mennonitischer Landwirtschaftlicher Verein (All- Russian Mennonite Agricultural Union, AMLV). The AMLV decided to organize into an economic interest group because the Soviet government was cracking down on religious groups and organizations. Klassen and the AMLV helped to (source: Ambassador to His People) 67 coordinate the MCC relief effort in Russia and the Ukraine, as well as help negotiate with the Soviet government to allow some Mennonites to emigrate from overcrowded Russian Mennonite villages. Klassen immigrated to Canada in 1928 and worked with the Canadian Pacific Railway to ensure that the Mennonite immigrants would pay off their travel loans, which added up to over $1,000,000. During the Second World War, he worked with MCC as the European Commissioner for Refugee Aid and Resettlement, helping over 10,000 Russian Mennonite refugees get visas, transportation, and permission to migrate to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay. 66 Herbert and Maureen Klassen, Ambassador to His People: C. F. Klassen and the Russian Mennonite Refugees (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Kindred Press, 1990). 67 Ibid.

34 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 34 Johannes J. Dyck: 68 In 1927, Johannes J. Dyck, the grandson of Johannes the 49er Dyck, was fleeing Russia with his family, trying to immigrate to Canada. Johannes, like his grandfather, served as the mayor of the Am Trakt Mennonite settlement and was a relatively wealthy man. The Soviet government did not allow emigrants leaving the country to take their money with them. Knowing that there would be searches at the border, Johannes needed to find a creative way to transport his family s considerable wealth out of the country. His solution was to buy a doll and stuff its hollow body with bank notes of American currency. Johannes then gave the doll to his daughter, Rena, without telling her about the treasure stored inside. If the guards were to ever find the hidden currency, Johannes would be killed and his family would be sent to Siberia. While the family was sent to their final strip-search, Rena had accidentally left her doll lying on the bench outside the searching room. After the search, when nothing could be found on the family, they they were cleared. Rena casually picked up her doll,swinging it by one arm, doll and went with her family to Canada. This picture, taken seventy-three years later in 2000, is of Rena and her doll. She donated this doll to the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg, where it is kept with other Mennonite artifacts and carries with it a fascinating story of Mennonite migration from Russia. (source: Canadian Mennonite) Cornelius J. and Wilma L. Dyck, eds., A Pilgrim People, Volume II (Elkhart, Indiana: Cornelius J. & Wilma L. Dyck, 1994),

35 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 35 Hermann A. Bergmann: 70 Hermann Bergmann was born June 12, 1850 in Dirschau, Gross Werder, Prussia, but moved with his family to an estate in south Russia in The Bergmannstal Estate was located by the village of Solyonoye, near the Chortitza colony. The estate was approximately 30,000 acres. (source: Heritage Remembered) Aiden Schlichting Enns, How a Doll Nearly Destroyed a Family Canadian Mennonite Vol. 4, No. 8 (April 17, 2000). [photo: Rena Dyck with her doll seventy-three years later] 70 Hermann, Bergmann A., Hermann Bergmann Collection, Volume 912, File 5, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 71 Gerhard H. Lohrenz, Heritage Remembered: A Pictorial Survey of Mennonites in Prussia and Russia (Winnipeg, Manitoba: CMBC Publications, 1974), 111.

36 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 36 Hermann s father died in 1864, two years after arriving in Russia. Hermann and his brother continued to enlarge the family estate and established their own estates near each other, as well. On the estate, Hermann raised sheep and operated a brick factory, a windmill, and a steam mill. He was quite a philanthropist as well, directing a small-credit bank to help peasants purchase land, operating an orphanage, and overseeing Mennonite schools in the region. Bergmann used his influence (source: Mennonite Estates) 72 to help repair the local Orthodox church by building a new fence and renovating the building for an agreement that the village would close their bar for six years! Bergmann joined the ranks of the landed gentry as a major landowner, a class that had a virtual monopoly on nearly all important positions in the Zemstvo (rural) government. He held many different political offices throughout his life. In (source: Mennonite Estates) , he was elected to the governing committee of Ekaterinoslav. Politically, Bergmann belonged to 72 Helmut Huebert, Mennonite Estates in Imperial Russia (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Springfield Publishers, 2005), 281. [photo: Bergmann wedding, 1872] 73 Ibid., 283. [photo: Hermann Bergmann with wife, Helena Heinrichs]

37 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 37 the Octobrist Party in Russia, a party that was satisfied by Czar Nicholas II s October Manifesto, which essentially established a Constitutional Monarchy. Hermann served on the Russian Duma (parliament) from Peter Schroeder, another major Mennonite landowner, also served on the Duma. With the Russian Revolution and Civil War, landowners, like Bergmann, were major targets, as they were seen as oppressive, aristocratic capitalists. In January 1919, the Bergmanns and many others tried to flee Russia, but were caught and imprisoned. Hermann, three of his sons, and several close family members were murdered. Hermann s wife, Helena, and some of their children were able to escape and immigrate to Fiske, Saskatchewan in 1923.

38 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 38 William J. Schellenberg: 74 In 1922, William Schellenberg and his family decided to leave Russia after the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War. He and his family packed up all of their belongings into a horse drawn wagon, hoping to get to Canada. In Kiev, they applied for permission to leave Russia, but were ultimately denied by the Soviet officials. Desperate to get out of Russia, (source: Arrival of New Immigrants) 75 Schellenberg crossed the border into Poland without permission. Once in Poland, they traveled on to Berlin, where he was able to attain traveling visas, allowing him to travel on to Frankfurt and on to Canada. The Schellenbergs arrived in Winkler, Manitoba in 1923, but continued moving around between Mennonite communities in Manitoba and southern Ontario. 74 William J. Schellenberg manuscript, trans., William J. Schellenberg fonds, Volume 2119, File 1, the Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 75 Bruno Penner, Arrival of New Immigrants cont d Pt. V Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association (December 6, 2015),

39 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : Finding Another Route When the Red Gate was closed in 1929, Mennonite emigration could no longer continue to the west. Hopeful emigrants had to find another route. Their eyes turned east to China and the Mennonites found various routes to escape Russia. The most common routes were crossing into Chinese Turkestan or into Manchuria, though less common routes through Iran, Mongolia, and the Gobi Desert were used as well. 76 In 1927, some of the Mennonites who were unable to emigrate established new Mennonite settlements along the Amur River on the border with China. 77 They believed that in this remote region they could live in peace away from the terrors of the Bolsheviks, the secret police, and collectivization. Some accounts even note that some believed that Russia would likely sell this territory to America or Japan. 78 Unfortunately, the Mennonite haven along the Amur River did not last long, as the Soviets and collectivization came to the region in Mennonites began fleeing across the Amur River into China to reach the Manchurian city of Harbin, where much of the White Army and other Russians had fled. In Harbin, hundreds of Mennonites were able to emigrate to California, Paraguay, and Brazil with the help of MCC and various international diplomats. 79 Escaping into China was a valid route for those looking to leave Russia until the Communists took power in China in Wilmer A. Harms, The Odyssey of Escapes from Russia: The Saga of Anna K (Hillsboro, Kansas: Hearth Publishing, 1998), Ibid., Ibid., Ibid.

40 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 40 Dr. Johann J. Isaak: 80 Dr. Johann J. Isaak was a physician and an ophthalmologist in Omsk, Russia and was drafted into the White Army as a doctor during the Civil War. As the White Army suffered continual losses to the Red Army, Dr. Isaak secretly sent his wife and family to the far eastern part of Russia, far away from the front. In 1923, he was reunited with his family and they fled Russia into Manchuria, China, settling in Harbin. Many former White Army soldiers and officers settled in Harbin, as well, fleeing Soviet Russia and the Red Army. In Harbin, Johann was able to set up a private medical practice and attracted much of the wealthier portions of the Chinese population and the foreign diplomats operating in the city. Eventually, more German and Mennonite refugees fleeing Russia began arriving in Harbin. As the numbers of Mennonites in Harbin began to increase, Dr. Isaak began talking to the Canadian Consul as to whether these Mennonites would be able to settle in Canada, but was flatly refused, as Canada was not accepting immigrants from China. Next, Johann contacted the American Consul, who appeared to be much more receptive to assisting in the situation. He told Dr. Isaak to tell a representative from the Mennonites in Harbin if they prepare a report describing their farming activities and explain why so many Mennonites were leaving Russia, he will pass it on to Washington. Johann Friesen was chosen and he prepared a report, complete with pictures of their orderly and well-kept farms back in Russia. Friesen s report was translated and forwarded to President Hoover in the United States. Eventually they were informed that the United States was prepared to accept Ibid.,

41 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 41 Russian Mennonite refugee immigrants from Harbin over a period of 16 months, if the Mennonites would agree to associate themselves with agricultural activities in the United States. Many of these Mennonites settled in California, farming in the San Joaquin Valley. After the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, Dr. Johann Isaak was unable to maintain his private medical practice in Harbin and he and his family immigrated to California in 1952.

42 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 42 John H. Thielmann: 81 John H. Thielmann was born in 1907 in Friedensfeld, near Ekaterinoslav (Dnipropetrovsk) in the Ukraine. His family owned a large, 2898-acre estate and a profitable flourmill. (source: Escape to Freedom) John H. Thielmann, Escape to Freedom (Mountain View, California: John H. Thielmann, 1995). 82 Ibid. [photo: Flourmill on Thielmann estate]

43 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 43 the estate. John lived with much of his extended family in their family apartment building on (source: Escape to Freedom) 83 In 1914, World War I broke out and John s father was drafted into the Russian army, serving as a medic in the Red Cross. The Russian army drafted many of their flourmill workers and over 500 of their horses for the war effort. Throughout the war, some prisoners of war, mostly Austrians, were sent to work in their mill. When the Russians exited the war in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution was beginning. Groups of Russian peasants roamed the countryside stealing, raping, and pillaging in the lawless state. Russian peasants stole many of their horses, cows, and wagons, as well as much of their farm equipment. The Thielmanns moved out of their large apartment building to a smaller house on the other side of the property to avoid troubles from thieves. 83 Ibid. [photo: Apartments on Thielmann estate]

44 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 44 Later, German and Austrian troops invaded the Ukraine in search of food to supply the soldiers still fighting in Europe, confiscating what wheat they could. The Germans moved into the Russian villages and commanded everyone to return all the animals and items that they had stolen. The Thielmanns received some of their cows and horses back. After the Germans left, the bandits returned again to terrorizing the countryside, especially rich, German-speaking people, like the Mennonites. One morning, a group of bandits came to the estate and thrust a pistol into John s father s mouth, demanding that he hand over all of their gold and silver. The family did as asked and the bandits left without hurting anyone. His father died of typhoid during the Civil War. Every year until he was 21 years old, John applied for visas to study in America. Other universities in the Soviet Union would not accept him because he was a capitalist Kulack (oppressor). When John turned 21 years old in 1928, he received a notice that he was to report to the induction centre on March 1, 1929 to be drafted into (source: Escape to Freedom) 84 the Soviet military. John s mother had heard rumours of Mennonites escaping Russia through Manchuria in China. Knowing his desire to get out of Russia, she asked him that if he had an opportunity, would he escape to China. He said he surely would. 84 Ibid. [photo: Thielmann family after death of father]

45 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 45 On February 2, 1929, John packed a sleeping bag, a suitcase, a wooden lunch box, and 84 Rubles, and said goodbye to his family, leaving on the train to Blagoveshchensk, in the far east of Russia. At that time, there were Mennonite colonies in the Amur River region, nearby Blagoveshchensk. (source: Escape to Freedom) 85 John arrived at his destination in Blagoveshchensk on March, He was over 6,000 miles from his induction precinct that he was supposed to report to for the Soviet Army. The Chinese city of Sachalian lay on the other side of the frozen Amur River from Blagoveshchensk, under a mile away. He located a group of other Mennonites planning to cross into China very soon: Henry Thielmann (cousin), Aaron and Agatha Langemann, George and Maria Froese, and Mrs. Balzer. 85 Ibid. [photo Thielmann s route to Harbin, China]

46 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 46 (source: Escape to Freedom) 86 Together, they packed their provisions and bought two horses and two sleighs to carry them over the crossing point. They even hired a Dutch farmer who would ride along ahead of them on lookout for border police. They had a code that if the Dutch farmer got off his horse on the right side, it meant that the coast was clear and they could cross here safely. But if he got off the left side, it meant that the border police were in sight. On March 8, 1929, the group crossed the Amur River into China, about two hours east of Blagoveshchensk. On the river, one sleigh got stuck in the snow, but the other horse and sleigh was able to help them out and they all crossed into China safely. Once in China, they travelled into the suburban area of Sahaljan, where the Chinese border police stopped them and took them in for interrogation, locking them in the local jail. John 86 Ibid. [photo: John Thielmann and other Mennonites that crossed the Amur River into China, 1929]

47 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 47 began to panic and think of what would happen if he were sent back to Russia: for the others, they would get 5 years of imprisonment for defecting, but as a draft-dodger, he would be executed. Three days later, the local innkeeper, whose wife was Russian and sympathized with their story, had convinced the border police to let them go. They were invited to stay with them at the inn and eat with the couple. They had to stay at the inn for two weeks until the next bus to the nearest rail station (280 miles away) would come because the bus did not operate in the winter. After the two weeks, they boarded the bus and left for the train station. The snow and the roads were so bad that at any incline in the road, every man had to get off the bus and help push the bus up the hill. Once at the rail station, they worried because both the Chinese and Soviet flag was being flown. The Russians and the Chinese had jointly constructed and operated the railway, but the Communists did not operate the train in China. Once the train came from Russia into China, they would change the train operators to Russian capitalists who had defected to China. They were safe from the Communists and rode the train to Harbin, China. Once in Harbin, Johann Friesen, the pioneer of defecting from Soviet Russia into China, met them at the rail station. By April 1929, about 250 Mennonite refugees had arrived in Harbin. They all wanted to migrate, if possible, to Canada or the United States. Dr. Johann Isaak, an eye specialist, treated all the families of the foreign attaches in Harbin and was on speaking terms with all of the international ambassadors in the city. He found out that Canada would not negotiate with any immigrant groups coming from China at the time, but the United States would.

48 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 48 Johann Friesen was requested to write a report and specify why they left Russia. The article was translated into English and forwarded to President Hoover. Having been in charge of the relief agency during the postwar period of 1920, President Hoover was familiar with the history of the Mennonite refugees in Russia. When this request was presented to Congress, they voted to allow these 250 refugees to be processed for entrance into the United States starting August In the meantime, John became a farmer in Manchuria, where he was given free land, room, and board, as well as a guaranteed $30 a month, with additional bonuses available for each acre he ploughed. (source: Escape to Freedom) 87 After harvest, John made his way back to Harbin to begin his journey to the United States. On December 24, 1929, he took a train from Harbin to Pusan, Korea. From 87 Ibid. [photo: Thielmann farming in Manchuria, China, 1929]

49 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 49 Pusan, the Mennonite refugees took a ferry to Shimonoseki, Japan and a Japanese train to Yokohama, where their trans-pacific voyage to San Francisco would depart from. Their ship, Taiyo Maru, a confiscated German vessel from World War I, left Yokohama and sailed for San Francisco, arriving January 30, (source: Escape to Freedom) 88 When other Mennonites heard of their escaping Russia through China to the United States, over 3,000 more Mennonites came to China, but they were denied entry into the Unites States. The Mennonite Central Committee took over the plight of these people stranded in China and was able to move them all to South America. 88 Ibid. [photo: Taiyo Maru ship in San Francisco, 1930]

50 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 50 The Schumanovka & Pribeschnoje Villages: 89 The Schumanovka and Pribeschnoje villages were Mennonite settlements along the Amur River, on the border with China. In 1927, the Mennonites began to settle in this far eastern land of Russia in hopes to establish a haven where they could live and worship freely, with less harassment from the Soviet government in a more remote region. By 1930, their hopes of establishing a haven were beginning to fail. They began to plan mass-escapes of their people from Russia to China. The Schumanovka village planned to cross the Amur River on December 15, They crossed with fifty-four horses and sleighs with 218 people into China. The very next morning, the Pribeschnoje village crossed the frozen river with thirteen horses and sleighs with eighty-seven people. Under the cover of heavy fog, the entire village made it safely to the shores of China. They attained residence permits for the entire village and travelled on to Harbin, where other Mennonite refugees were congregating. Both of the Mennonite villages arrived in Harbin in February The United States was in the middle of The Great Depression and did not want to take in any more immigrants at that time. Instead, the Mennonite Central Committee was able to coordinate the resettlement of these Russian Mennonites to Brazil and Paraguay. 89 Harms, The Odyssey of Escapes from Russia: The Saga of Anna K,

51 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 51 Jacob J. & Anna Dick: 90 Jacob Dick was born in south Russia, but lost his father at 11 years old and his mother at 15 years old, leaving him an orphan to face the horrors of the Russian Revolution and Civil War. During the Civil War he survived attacks from bandit soldiers and robbers, once missing a bullet by a hairbreadth and another instance when he was shot at from point blank range, but the bullet never left the chamber, sparing his life. He wrestled the gun from the bandit and the others ran away. Despite saving himself and the people in his group, he felt terrible for attacking the intruder after God had saved his life from the bandits. Jacob records that he was brought to faith when a friend of his gave him a Bible in He opened the Bible and read 1 Corinthians 10:13, No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. (Hint: foreshadowing) In 1924, many Mennonites fled Russia for Canada and Paraguay, but Jacob felt called to service by God in Russia, so he stayed. He joined a traveling Bible study group that visited Christians in many communities in secret, as the Soviet government banned Churches and Bible studies. This traveling Bible study group became a sort of wandering Bible school for him over three winters. Meanwhile, he met Anna Berg and they got married in She led a Sunday school for over 100 children for many years, meeting secretly in the forest. The 90 Anna Dick, From Exile in Russia to Missionaries in India, Papers of J.J. & Anna Dick, Record Group M173, Box 4, the Mennonite Library and Archives, Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, California.

52 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 52 government discovered this Sunday school and arrested the teachers for six months and closed the Sunday school. In 1930, as Stalin s purges began to intensify, many Christians were imprisoned and sent to concentration camps, including Jacob. Jacob was sent to a concentration camp in Dnieprostroy and was housed in a room with fifty-four other men, thirty-four of which were pastors, Sunday school teachers, or choir leaders and they were able to have secret worship meetings. While he was in the concentration camp, he received a letter from a friend who was a fellow inmate that had escaped the camp and fled into Chinese Turkestan. At first, Jacob did not believe that it would be right for him to try to escape, but some time later, another friend sent him a letter with the verse, 1 Corinthians 7:21, Were you a slave when you were called? Don t let it trouble you although if you can gain your freedom, do so. Jacob took it as a sign from God that he should escape to Chinese Turkestan. Jacob worked overtime and was able to get ten days off at the concentration camp to go visit his family in a nearby village. Jacob explained to Anna and their two young children and they left on their treacherous journey out of Russia late in 1931.

53 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 53 (source: From Exile in Russia to Missionary Work in India) 91 From Dnieprostroy they were able to secure travel documents and took a train to Moscow, where they would be able to catch another train to Alma Ata in Russian Turkestan, a nine-day 4,500-mile trip. In November 1931, they bought a horse and wagon with money they had sewn into the sleeve of Anna s dress, so that it would not be stolen, and traveled to Djarkent, a town 20 miles from the Chinese border. On the journey to Djarkent, they struggled with winter storms and tried to avoid police checkpoints. At one point they had to go through a checkpoint, but did not have the proper papers when the officers asked, but Jacob responded quick and boldly, Who 91 Abe Dueck, Jacob and Anna Dick: From Exile in Russia to Missionary Work in India, Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission, Profile of Mennonite Faith, February 26, [photo: The journey of the Dicks]

54 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 54 in the world would be able to live without a document in Russia? Would you? The police agreed and let them go. After the six-day journey, they arrived in Djarkent and spent the winter there. Tragically, Jacob s young son died of measles and pneumonia while in Djarkent. Jacob had to dig his own son s grave, Anna dressed his body, and they buried him alone in a box. While in Djarkent, they met with other Christians at secret meeting places. One evening that they did not attend the worship, the police conducted a raid and arrested the entire group. On April 10, 1932, they left Djarkent with a group of forty-eight other Russian refugees for the Chinese border. They traveled by night through the desert and hid in the cover of sand holes by day, dodging the police. Traveling with horse and wagon through rolling sand hills is extremely difficult. To help keep children quiet and asleep, many people used opium! Once, a little boy was given a little too much opium and was laughing and making trouble all night. During their fourth night in the desert, three Muslim men on horseback found them. At first, they thought that they were going to be captured, but these men were smugglers from China and offered to lead them across the dangerous route across the river into China. Once they made it into China, the Muslim men offered to lead them further into China to get past the Chinese border police. Afraid of refusing the men, they agreed and continued into China. The Muslim men demanded payment upfront and not too far into their journey had also sold them out to the Chinese border police. They were arrested and moved from one fortress prison to another for eight days. After being dispossessed of

55 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 55 what little they owned, the border police sent them back to Russia on foot. Along the way, they pleaded to the Chinese border police to let them go. Once the Russian border was in sight, they refused to go any further. Eventually the Chinese border police submitted and left them to their fate. The group now decided to break into small parties and try to regroup in Kuldja, about 60 miles into China. They all suffered in the desert on foot without water. Eventually, Jacob and Anna approached a town in need of water and entered the town, risking being caught. Amazingly, they passed by one of Jacob s friends that had also escaped the concentration camp in Russia. They had come to rescue and save Jacob and Anna, giving them travel documents for safe travel through China. They were able to get a wagon and travel the rest of the way to Kuldja. There were many Russian refugees in Kuldja. Within a few days, their entire family was sick with malaria for over a month. Kuldja is a very isolated city with the Gobi desert to the North and the East, the Russian border to the West, and the Tian Shan Mountains to the south. Jacob knew they had to cross the mountains, but was scared to do so before winter. The Lord spoke to him through Jeremiah 51:50, You survivors of the sword, go, do not linger! Remember the Lord in a distant land, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. In August 1932, Jacob and Anna hired a couple donkeys and set out for Aksu, 350 miles over the Tian Shan Mountains. They passed lots of soldiers on horseback and were scared because China was in the midst of the civil war, but the soldiers did them no harm. Through the mountains, they passed over two 15-mile long glaciers and endless desert.

56 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 56 Anna was hit very hard with dysentery, but recovered very quickly, despite being without medicine. They arrived in Kashgar in September 1932 and decided to spend the winter there. In Kashgar there was a Swedish Lutheran mission and the British consulate. Anna was hired as a private teacher in the house of the military general and Jacob opened a sockknitting factory, with help from the general. As the Chinese civil war neared Kashgar, the British consulate issued them emergency permits to travel to India and the Swedish missionaries generously gave them three horses and food provisions for a month. The Dicks left Kashgar for India in March They traveled alone and did not take a native guide, as they would travel a long distance along the Russian border and they feared that a guide would sell them out to the Russian border police, which was quite common. Five days into their journey in the mountains, they met a young English gentleman, Lord Allisworth, a famous British hunter, on the Pamir Plateau. Lord Allisworth offered to take them along with him to India. They accepted and joined his caravan in order to be more secure in traveling through the deep snow and cold weather. While traveling with Lord Allisworth, he called all of his servants together and told them that they were to now serve the Dicks as well as himself. They did not expect this and were inclined to refuse the servant s help, but they could not change Lord Allisworth s mind. They were used to sleeping in sleeping bags made of sheepskin in the open air on snow and ice, but now a tent was pitched for them each night. For the entire three-week journey, they had all of their meals prepared on a full set table with Lord Allisworth.

57 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 57 In April 1933, they climbed the Mintekka Pass, 15,000 feet above sea level, across the border into India. The region recorded 35 feet of snow that year, making it very difficult to travel through. Their road took them through the Hindu Kush Mountains, the highest path in the world, along roads that were sometimes only two or three feet wide. As they journeyed through the Hindu Kush valley, in the Hunza land, they met the king of the region, who told the story of his people s Macedonian descent. They were descendants of people that were cut off and left behind from the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great. Once they reached the British military outpost at Gilgit, India, they got visas to enter India. Lord Allisworth departed from Gilgit by airplane to Kashmir, where a leopard unfortunately killed him while he was hunting. The Dicks left Gilgit at the end of June 1933 to cross the Himalayas with their mules through the Bursil Pass. Once they arrived in Srinagar in Kashmir, they got a train ticket to Champa, in central India, to go to a Mennonite mission there. After a few months, they heard of a few vacant positions at the Mennonite Brethren mission in Hyderabad in southern India, and became missionaries there. Jacob felt called to be a missionary, stating, Since I was saved I always believe that every child of God is saved to be a missionary whatever the place or the special task might be.

58 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 58 (source: From Exile in Russia to Missionary Work in India) 92 Reflecting on this incredible journey that he and his family went through, Jacob writes, The Lord has brought us through all the way of about 16,000 miles over mountains of the highest passes of 15,000 feet above sea level and all this on horseback or walking. And the discovery of our expedition, which was arranged and accomplished by the Lord, is to state here to the glory of God, that the Lord is and abides faithful to His promises. 92 Ibid. [photo: The Dick family]

59 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 59 Jacob & Lili Goosen: 93 Jacob and Lili Goosen left their Mennonite village of Alexanderkrone in the Molotschna colony in September of They took a train heading to Alma Ata (modern day Kazakhstan). From there, they hired a guide and crossed the cold and deep waters of the Khorgos River on horseback into China. Once on Chinese soil, the Chinese border police robbed their group of all their money and valuable possessions, leaving them with very little, but did not harm or arrest them. The Goosens were able to continue on to Kuldja, China, a town that accepted many Russian refugees. There were many Mennonite refugees in Kuldja. As China was fighting their Civil War, this part of China was occupied by the Soviet Union. When World War II broke out in 1939, even though the Soviets were not at war with the Germans yet, all of the German men in Kuldja were taken to work camps in Kazakhstan. On July 26, 1939, Jacob Goosen was taken. Later in the war he was taken to Siberia. Lili was left to take care of her five children in Kuldja alone without any support from her husband. She had little money or food for her family. Between malnutrition and various diseases, three out of her five children died in Kuldja. In the fall of 1943, the Chinese Nationalist Army attacked Kuldja to free the region from Communist/Soviet control. Fighting in the region continued into 1946, with the Soviets and Chinese Communists pulling out. With the Chinese Nationalist Army in control, the refugees were free to travel anywhere inside China. Later in 1946, Lili and her children joined a group of Mennonites to leave Kuldja for Urumshi, the regional capital, to obtain passports and proper travel documents. From 93 Harms, The Odyssey of Escapes from Russia: The Saga of Anna K,

60 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 60 Urumshi, they were sent to Landshu to receive refugee papers. By April 1947, they had all of their papers worked out and traveled on to Shanghai. Along the way, in a city called Kaifeng, they met an MCC representative. He was able to transfer them to the MCC office and fed and cared for the Mennonite refugees. At the MCC house, they helped Lili and the others to write to family in Canada and Paraguay to set up immigration plans to the countries. Lili wrote to her uncle Abram Rempel in Saskatoon to help her and her children get permits to come to Canada. In January 1948, they received the proper documents allowing them to immigrate to Canada. Lili and her children boarded a ship in Shanghai on February 27, 1948 and sailed for Canada. They arrived in Vancouver on March 18, 1948 and continued on to settle in Saskatoon, near their relatives there. After 17 years of being refugees in China, Lili and her family were able to settle in Canada. Lili never received any information about Jacob, her husband, ever again.

61 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 61 Jakob Peters: 94 Jakob Peters was born in 1908 in Neuendorf, Chortitza. Jakob grew up and went to school in Neuendorf, eventually going on to the Chortitza Teachers Institute ( ). In 1928, he told his parents that he would not be coming home for the summer to help with the harvest because he and some friends were planning to go to the Caucasus to study plants. It was discovered later that he was not planning to study plants, but was going to escape from Russia. Jakob s family found this out when they received a letter from him from Persia/Iran. Eventually, Jakob and his friends made their way to Germany and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean to go to Brazil in He lived in Brazil until 1933, where he continued his teaching career. In 1933, Jakob decided to return to Germany to study in Berlin at the University for Children of German Nationals living abroad. In 1939, just as he was about to finish his Ph.D. and return to South America to teach in Paraguay, Germany invaded Poland, beginning the Second World War. During the War, he was not able to leave the country. When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Jakob was enlisted as an interpreter and stationed at Orel, Russia. Throughout the war, he was able to visit his family in Chortitza three times. Jakob sent his sister, Anna to Berlin where she worked in a German home and studied nursing in Danzig. In 1943, Jakob s family evacuated Ukraine with the retreating Germans and became refugees in Oberschlesian, Germany. In 1944, Jakob s sister, Anna received word that Jakob was missing in action and assumed to be dead after the Russians overtook his position. In 1948, Anna Peters and her parents immigrated to Canada, settling in Abbotsford, BC. 94 Margaret Bergen, Jakob Peters ( ), Jakob Peters fonds, Volume 5425, File 1d, the Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

62 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : The Second World War and the Great Trek During the Second World War, many Mennonite men were drafted into the Red Army, as they had no rights to conscientious objection on religious grounds in an atheistic society. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union, many Mennonites were relocated by the Soviets to Siberia or Central Asia because of the fear that the ethnically German Mennonites would cooperate with the German invaders. 95 Nearly all of the men aged were rounded up and marched off to unknown destinations. 96 Those that were not relocated ended up in a German occupied Ukraine. Many Mennonites greeted the German army as liberators from the horrors of the Soviets. Their churches were allowed to be open again and the Mennonites began to imagine a future in this new Ukraine. By September 1943, the Germans had begun losing to the Soviets and had been pushed back into the Ukraine. The Germans forced the Mennonites and the ethic Germans in the area to evacuate to Germany. Over 35,000 Mennonites took to the road, in what is referred to as the Great Trek. 97 They ran for their lives as the Soviet front followed them westward. 23,000 of these escaping Mennonites were captured by the Soviet army and sent to Siberian work camps, where many thousands died or were never heard from again. 98 The remaining 12,000 Mennonites became part of the refugee crisis that followed the Second World War. 8,000 of the Russian Mennonite refugees immigrated to Canada, while the 95 George K. Epp, World War ( ) - Soviet Union, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1989, ( )_-_Soviet_Union. 96 Ibid. 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid.

63 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 63 remaining 4,000 immigrated to Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina or remained in Germany Ibid.

64 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 64 Peter J. Dyck: 100 Peter Dyck, the son of Johannes J. Dyck, was born on the Am Trakt Mennonite colony in Russia in 1914 and immigrated to Canada with his family in Due to the MCC relief efforts in the Ukrainian famine and the support his family received when they immigrated to Canada, it may not be a surprise that Peter wanted to give back and work for MCC throughout his life. Peter began working for MCC in 1941, (source: GAMEO) 101 serving victims of the Second World War in England. He met and married his wife, Elfrieda Klassen during his service in Europe. After the war, Peter and Elfrieda were asked to work with the MCC relief program in the Netherlands helping the Russian Mennonite refugees in Europe. They helped transport thousands of Mennonite refugees to Canada and Paraguay after the carnage of the Second World War. Peter and Elfrieda orchestrated the great escape from Berlin and the transportation of the Mennonites to Paraguay on the Volendam. For his efforts, Peter Dyck was knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands for all the relief aid MCC brought to Holland under his direction. After being knighted, Peter remarked that it made him a true Menno-knight. 100 Dyck and Dyck, Up from the Rubble. 101 Bill Thiessen, Dyck, Peter J. ( ) Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (October 2010), Dyck_Peter_J.jpg&filetimestamp=

65 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 65 The 33 Survivors: 102 In 1941, the Germany army pushed through the Ukraine and the Mennonite villages in the Nieder-Chortitza area. The Germans dissolved the hated collective farms and were welcomed by the locals as liberators. Two years later, in October 1943, the Russians had pushed the Germans back into the Ukraine and the Mennonites were told to begin the evacuation. (source: Up From the Rubble) 103 On October 3, 61 Mennonites left on horse and wagon, taking with them what possessions they could. Next, on October 5, 163 Mennonites, consisting mostly of children, the elderly, and non-farmer people left Nieder-Chortitza by train. The following day guns could be heard and the Russian artillery began to hit the village. This prompted 102 Dyck and Dyck, Up From the Rubble, Ibid., 89. [photo: The route of the 33 Mennonites]

66 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 66 the remaining people to flee on October 7. In total, 614 Mennonites fled Nieder-Chortitza as the Russians pushed the Germans back. The Russians at Apostolovo overtook the train carrying the 163 Mennonites and they were sent back to the interior of Russia. On November 21, 1943, the other Mennonites had their horses confiscated by the German army and were sent to Łódź, Poland and were reunited with some other Mennonites from Nieder-Chortitza. As the Russians advanced further, the Mennonite refugees were sent to Dresden, Germany on December 23, Of the original 614, only 270 Mennonites survived the bitter cold train rides, a head-on train collision, and avoided Russian capture to make it to Dresden. In the spring of 1944, the front continued to be pushed westward. On April 5, 1944 the Mennonites were sent to Yugoslavia to work on the farms in the area, as the Mennonites were known as excellent farmers. Unfortunately, the local Yugoslavian people who had resisted the German occupation did not like the Mennonites, associating them with the German occupiers because of their German language. Some of the Mennonites in Yugoslavia left to go to Murau, Austria. Those that remained on the Yugoslavian farms (approx. 150 people) were never heard from again, presumably captured and sent back to Russia. When the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, it was rumoured that Austria was to be jointly-occupied by the Americans, the British, and the Russians and that the territory that the Mennonites were at in Murau would be under Russian control. On May 10, the group of 53 remaining Mennonites began to flee towards American-controlled Bavaria in southern Germany. On their way, they were intercepted by the British army

67 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 67 and were put into a refugee camp in Austria. The Mennonites tried to explain that they were refugees wanting to return to their country of origin in Holland. Unfortunately, without any papers or documents, they could not convince the British to let them go. In July 1945, the British shipped the Mennonites to Liezen, Austria a town on the border of the Russian portion of Austria. Fearing they were going to be sent back to Russia, the Mennonites jumped off the train and ran for their lives. Police followed them into the fields and fired their automatic rifles. Once the Mennonites were recaptured and forced back onto the train, one mother refused, saying, Shoot me and my children! Do it now! Do it right here! Then all this agony will be over. We are not going back to Russia! Despite the resistance, the Mennonites were sent back on the train with the instruction: Anyone leaving the train even for a moment will be shot on the spot. Yet, the first moment the guards turned their backs, the Mennonites ran into the fields once again, this time escaping. The next morning, the scattered groups of Mennonites began to head towards Salzburg. Only 33 Mennonites made it to Salzburg. In Salzburg, the group met with a Dutch International Red Cross representative and told him their story. They were immediately shipped to a Dutch refugee camp in Ulm, Germany, saving the lives of the remaining Mennonites, many of whom were suffering from extreme starvation. From Ulm, the Mennonites were sent to Maastricht, Holland where they met Peter Dyck. Peter Dyck was working with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Holland and worked with the Dutch Mennonites to help the remaining 33 Mennonites to leave the refugee camp to come to Steenwijk, Friesland in northern Holland. From there,

68 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 68 Mennonite Central Committee was able to help these refugees to immigrate to Canada and Paraguay. (source: Up From the Rubble) 104 After arriving in Friesland, Gerhard Neufeld stated, We have no words to express our gratitude to God, to you, and to the MCC for all that has been done for us. We were as good as dead, and are alive again. We were in Hell, and now we feel as if we are in Heaven. Our cup of joy is running over. 104 Ibid., 119. [photo: Group photograph of the 33 Mennonites]

69 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 69 The Berlin Escape and the Volendam: 105 In order to bring the Mennonites into Holland, MCC had to make an agreement with the Dutch government. The agreement was that MCC would take full responsibility for the maintenance of the Mennonite refugees while they were in Holland and would promise to move them to another country at the earliest opportunity. In return, the Dutch government would provide temporary asylum to the Mennonites. To bring the Mennonite refugees into Holland, they needed to obtain papers and documentation that would allow them to cross the border. As many had no identification documents, they were issued Mennonite Passports, or a Menno-Pass, that noted their Dutch origin and the agreement they had with the Dutch government. 5,000 Menno-Passes were printed. (source: Up From the Rubble) 106 Peter Dyck and MCC began looking for Mennonites in German refugee camps to bring to Holland. Screening was relatively easy, as most applicants just needed to have a last name like Klassen, Janzen, Dyck, or Friesen or speak Plautdietsch (Low 105 Ibid., Ibid., 124. [photo: The Menno Pass and Menno Card issued by the Dutch government]

70 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 70 German). About 420 Mennonite refugees were able to cross into Holland with the Menno-Pass. The Russian embassy in Holland began to pressure Holland to close the border to Soviet citizens and to return them to Russia, reminding them that there were over 10,000 Dutch refugees in Russian-controlled territories in Europe. The Dutch government agreed to close the border, but left the decision on going back to Russia up to the Mennonite refugees. There were no takers. No more Mennonites were admitted into Holland on the Menno-Pass agreement. Three days after the border was closed, a train carrying 315 Holland-bound Mennonites was turned around. Other Mennonites found their way into West Berlin illegally or crossed into West Germany to escape Russia, some through abandoned coalmine shafts! (source: Up from the Rubble) Ibid., 135. [photo: Location of the MCC camp in Berlin]

71 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 71 In 1946, 211 Mennonite refugees crossed into West Berlin. They were staying illegally at refugee camps and could not be given food rations. The American army colonel in the area told Peter Dyck and Mennonite Central Committee to take them. MCC was given a house on Ringstrasse 107 to start a Mennonite refugee camp. The refugee camp started with one house and 120 refugees. By the end of 1946, they had six houses and 1,200 Mennonite refugees. (source: Up From the Rubble) 108 It was hard to find a host country for 1,200 Mennonites, but even harder to transport them out of West Berlin without being captured by the Russians. After World War I, Canada accepted over 20,000 Russian Mennonite refugees, but after World War 108 Ibid., 187. [photo: MCC camp at Ringstrasse 107 in Berlin, 1946]

72 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 72 II, Canada had a much stricter immigration policy with medical and political screenings. The United States and Mexico, both, would not take refugee groups larger than 1,000. Paraguay, on the other hand, agreed to accept 3,000 refugees, only if they were all Mennonites. This seems like a strange immigration stipulation, but the Paraguayan government was really impressed by the group of Mennonite settlers from Canada that settled the inhospitable Chaco in They found the Volendam ship to charter their voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Peter Dyck met with the American army officials to discuss a plan to get 1,200 Mennonites from West Berlin past the Russians into West Germany Operation: Mennonite. Overcoming every sort of obstacle, delay, and wavering support by the American army officials, the Mennonites were able to join up with other Mennonite refugees from Holland and Munich aboard the Volendam on February 1, ,303 Mennonites were onboard the Volendam and set sail for Paraguay with about 300 refugees from Holland, 1000 from Munich, and 928 from Berlin.

73 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 73 Hans Werner: 109 Hans Werner was born in Nikolaipol, Siberia in 1917: the year of the Bolshevik Revolution. Due to the intense turmoil of the years of his upbringing, Hans did not learn about either his ancestry or Mennonite faith. Hans father died of cholera when he was young and had poor relationships with his stepfathers. Hans family tried to emigrate from Russia in 1929, but the Soviet police forced them back home, just as the last group of Mennonites was able to get permission to leave the country. (source: The Constructed Mennonite) 110 During his school days as a young boy, Hans had his name changed to Ivan, to become a Soviet student that was loyal to the state. Ivan s faith in the Soviet Union remained firm, even during Stalin s Great Terror of In 1938, Ivan was drafted 109 Hans Werner, The Constructed Mennonite: History, Memory, and the Second World War (Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press, 2013). 110 Ibid., 25. [phot: Werner family, Hans second from right]

74 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 74 into the Soviet Red Army, serving as an officer in the tank corps in the Winter War in 1940, in Finland. Ivan s faith in the state remained unshaken until he was rejected from enrolling in the pilot flight school because it was discovered that he had Mennonite relatives in Canada. They were afraid that he could become a traitor, despite his years of loyalty. When the German army invaded Russia in the Second World War, Ivan jumped out of his tank and surrendered to (source: The Constructed Mennonite) 111 the Germans. He changed his name to Johann and appealed to the Germans, claiming that he was a member of the Volksdeutsche (German people). The Germans welcomed him and drafted Johann as a mechanic. During the Second World War, Johann had a number of exciting experiences, including being shot down over the Mediterranean Sea, being wounded in Venice, and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. In 1945, Johann surrendered to American forces, where, contrary to popular belief, the Allied forces treated their prisoners of war quite poorly. Johann managed to survive and volunteered to work as a truck driver for the Americans. 111 Ibid., 73.

75 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 75 (source: The Constructed Mennonite) 112 In 1947, in the German town of Bamberg, Johann attended his first Mennonite church service. The other Mennonites were a little perplexed at his name, since the Werner surname was uncommon among Russian Mennonites. However, his fluency in Low German sealed his identity he was clearly Mennonite. 113 Here, Johann met his wife Margarethe Letkeman, a Russian Mennonite who had survived the Great Trek out of Russia. They were married in In 1952, with the assistance of C. F. Klassen and MCC, Johann and Margarethe immigrated to Canada, settling in Steinbach. In Canada, Johann changed his name again to John. 112 Ibid., 88. [photo: Johann as a truck driver for the American forces in Germany] 113 Ibid., 131.

76 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, : The Cold War Before 1970, Mennonite emigration from the Soviet Union was very restricted. 114 In the years after 1970, approximately 20,000 Mennonites were permitted to leave the Soviet Union to resettle in West Germany through family reunification programs as Umsiedler (Resettlers). 115 These resettlement and family reunification programs continued until the fall of the Soviet Union. In the late 1980s, approximately 55,000 Mennonites remained in Russia, many living in Siberia or Central Asia Gerhard Wölk Hildebrandt and Hans von Nissen, Umsiedler (Aussiedler), Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1989, Umsiedler_(Aussiedler). 115 Epp, World War ( ) - Soviet Union, GAMEO. 116 Ibid.

77 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 77 Isaak J. Reimer: 117 Not all the Mennonites that fled Russia in the Great Trek were able to make it to the safety of Western Europe. Isaak and Olga Reimer were captured by the Russians in Poland in 1943 and were sent back to Russia to forced labour camps. Isaak worked in the coalmines of the Ural Mountains and Olga was sent to Siberia, in the Irkutsk region. They endured ten years of forced labour before they were allowed to reunite with one another. With the assistance of relatives in Canada, they were able to immigrate to Canada in 1966, settling in Saskatoon. 117 Esther Patkau, Under the Shadow of the Almighty: Eleven Years in Exile, , Workuta, Siberia. The Experiences of Isaak and Olga Reimer (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Esther Patkau, 2006).

78 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 78 Johann F. Kroeker: 118 Johann Kroeker was born in Gnadenfeld, Russia in Throughout his life, Johann studied internationally at St. Chrischona Bible School in Switzerland and at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. In 1900, he and his wife went to Bombay, India as missionaries with the General Conference. In 1909, Johann became very sick and returned home to Russia with his wife. In Russia, Johann served as an evangelist among Mennonites in Siberia. As the Soviet government came to power and began to target the Church, Johann tried to find a way out of Russia. In 1929, Johann and his family attempted to escape Russia, crossing at the Amur River into China. The Kroeker family was caught in their escape attempt and sent to Siberia. Johann, his wife, and their oldest daughter died in their Siberian exile, but amazingly, their remaining three daughters were able to survive and immigrate to Canada in the 1980s. 118 Lillie (Mimi) Friesen, Johann Kroeker biography, Johann F. Kroeker Collection, Volume 995, File 15, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

79 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 79 Peter & Georgi P. Vins (Wiens): 119 Peter Wiens, the son of a Mennonite Brethren leader, was born in Borden, Saskatchewan and studied at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. After graduation in 1922, Peter went to Pittsburgh, where he ministered to Russian immigrants. He felt called to minister to the Russian people and felt a connection due to his Mennonite family history in Russia. In 1926, Peter went to Russia to minister to the Russian people, where he met Lydia Zharikova and they were married in While Peter and Lydia were ministering in Siberia, Georgi Petrovich Vins was born on August 4, 1928 in Blagoveschensk. (source: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies) The Russian Gospel Messenger, Georgi Vins: Promoted to Glory, August 4, 1928 January 11, 1998 (Elkhart, Indiana: Russian Gospel Ministries International, 1998), found in Georgi Vins (Wiens) fonds, Volume 1092, File 1, the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 120 Ibid. [photo: Infant Georgi Vins with his parents, Lydia and Peter]

80 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 80 In the 1930 s, the Soviet Union began to crack down more intensely on Christians. With Peter being a Baptist minister, he quickly became a target for threats from the NKVD (secret police, pre-kgb). The NKVD gave Peter a choice: quit preaching and return to America or give up your American citizenship, including all the rights and protections associated with it. Peter chose to stay and had his American citizenship revoked in the Soviet Union. Throughout the 1930 s, Peter was arrested three times, for lengths of 3 years, 9 months, and 10 years, respectively. In 1935, when Peter was arrested for 10 years, he was never seen or heard from ever again. No one knew what happened to him. He was assumed to have died in the concentration camps. Without Peter, Georgi and his mother moved to Kiev, Ukraine where Georgi studied to become an electrical engineer. In 1952, Georgi married Nadia and together had five children. Eventually, Georgi felt called to follow in his father s footsteps and became ordained as a Baptist evangelist in Georgi preached secretly in private homes, apartments, and even in the forest. In (source: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies) , he was caught and arrested. He was 121 Ibid.

81 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 81 sent to a labour camp in the Ural Mountains for 3 years. When he was released, Georgi was a little more cautious with his preaching, but continued his ministry. In 1974, he was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years in a Siberian labour camp, believing that he was going to suffer the same fate as his father. After 5 years in Siberia, Georgi was transferred by train to a prison in Moscow, but was not told why. On April 27, 1979, Georgi was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and exiled to the United States. The Carter administration had negotiated a prisoner exchange with the Soviet Union, where Georgi and four other prisoners were released to the United States in exchange for two Soviet spies. Later, his family was permitted to join him in the United States. (source: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies) Ibid. [photo: News coverage of Georgi s return to the United States, 1979]

82 The Russian Mennonites and the Global Migration Story Brown, 82 In America, Georgi began to speak out against the Soviet Union s persecution of Christians in Russia. Georgi was invited to the White House on several occasions to speak on the Soviet persecution of Christians, meeting both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. (source: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies) 123 In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev retracted the decree of Georgi s exile from Russia. In the later years of Georgi s life, he went on several trips back to Russia where he preached at churches, schools, colleges, prisons, and in the streets. In 1995, Georgi went to the KGB archives in Moscow and read the Top Secret NKVD file that they had on his father. The file confirmed that his father was executed in August 1936 at the age of Ibid. [photo: Vins meeting Ronald Reagan at the White House]