AC Aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution

Mr. Thomas Wiens, who owned a neighboring estate in our area, was in Ohrloff in 1919 when the Christmas school holidays came along. He wanted to take Lisa and Anni (his daughter, who was also in the girls' school back to his home for the Christmas holidays. But since he was a widower and the Red Army was taking over from the White Army, after many adventures, he reached Memrik, a Mennonite settlement, and he had to stay there. He contracted typhoid, the sickness that was spread by soldiers and he died in Memrik. Relatives of Lisa and Anni lived in Memrik and they took them in. 

In the spring when the trains were no longer so occupied by soldiers, they came back to Ohrloff. Abram and Jasch, and a sister, Mika. Her mother and her brother Hans had been killed by bandits on the estate. One of the sons had married and moved away. The siblings lived together but in 1922, Anni died from typhoid. It was very hard for Mika to lose her only sister. She married Hans Dick and later they emigrated to Canada.

My brother Alex had enlisted in the White Army. There he got typhoid. He became unconscious and was put into a hospital. When he awoke, the hospital was in Red hand. He regained his strength and the Reds gave him a job in the hospital as a clerk. In the summer of 1920, he was released and he came to us in Ohrloff. Here our whole family was once again together, but not for long.

Father’s relatives gave us the most essential furniture and a cow. The town gave each family that resided there a plot of land for growing vegetables. So we had had enough to eat. In 1921, there was a crop failure in the area and the government took over the last grain from the farmers and the famine began.People from the Russian villages came to beg for bread. Very many children came and begged, “Little mother, give us a piece of bread.” Many had reached the stage of malnutrition where their bodies become very swollen. The government had taken the last grain from the Russian farmers. The Reds had plans to starve out all of the Ukrainian population. This artificial famine led to the deaths of 10,000,000 Ukrainians.

On New Year’s Eve 1921, my sister Mariechen came and announced her engagement to the high school teacher, Hans Janzen. Even in the most difficult times, cupid does not rest. Janzen was earning a salary as a teacher. Mariechen was very adept at sewing and in making things. She had made dolls from old materials and used them to barter for groceries. Food was very scarce. 

In the winter, we had an evening of entertainment at the high school. We young people had all attended the event. When we returned home the Reds were in the house making a search. They turned everything upside down and took what they wanted. When they left, they took their father with them. We didn’t know if he’d ever come back. That was hard for us. The next day, a Russian friend of Kolja advised him to leave Ohrloff immediately because he would also be arrested. We knew he would be shot because he had been in the White Army. Immediately, he picked up some clothes and some food and disappeared. We didn’t know where.

We began inquiries about where father had been taken. After a period of time, we learned that my father had been sent to Grishino, the railway station nearest to our estate. It was not far from the Memrik colony where mother had close relations. Mother prepared immediately to go there with someone who was traveling there in a wagon. With the help of relatives she came to Grishino and received permission to talk with father. He told her that he had been accused of the fact that when the White Army had been in control, people had been hanged in our estate. This wasn’t true of course. Mother went immediately to the court and spoke with the judge. When the workers on the estate heard that father had been arrested and imprisoned in Grishino, the man, who was not delivered to the Austrians because of my father’s plea on his behalf, came to the court and pleaded for father’s life. He said that father had saved his life and now he begged for his help. Then father was brought before the court and asked if he had ever saved someone’s life. He said, “ No”. Then they asked him if he knew the man and was it true that the Austrians had wanted to take him and that father had stood up for him. Then father remembered and said, “Yes, that was true.” Well, the man is here and is asking for your life. Very soon, they released him and allowed him to go free and he came home with mother. But all of this took months.

At this time, we were starving. One day, I came to Alex and told him that we had nothing to eat. He said, “You know I have done some work for a man, perhaps he can give me something.” He asked, and the man brought us some cornmeal. Mariechen and I took turns cooking, week about. It was the week when it was my turn to cook. In the morning, I went to the pasture to gather “Lodig”. Lodig was a weed that people were eating at the time. Then, unexpectedly, Mr. Isaac Ediger from the next village came to visit. He converse with Alex. My only thought was a hope that he wouldn't stay for the noon day meal. We ourselves ate what was available but I didn’t want to offer such a soup to a guest. (Mr. Ediger was our administrator on Zawetuaja when we moved to Bogadarowka). However, he stayed, and stayed and noontime came. Everyone sat down at the table and said “Grace” and ate. Soon after dinner he drove off. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t get over it very readily. However, in the next week, Salomon Ediger came and delivered a wagonload of food. This was great riches at the time because for a very long time we had very little to eat. We were very grateful to him and to God. The Edigers lived in Altenau on a farmer’s yard. The farmers had probably gathered a little more than we had.

In 1922, Russia received Dutch and American Relief. In Ohrloff, we got the Dutch Kitchen. Every day, meals were prepared and delivered. In our family, father, who was already beginning to swell, and Gerhard, who was also very undernourished, received this help. These kitchens saved many lives.

When father and mother were at home again, Mariechen and Hans decided to get married. Their wedding was on May 22, 1922. Since food was so scarce and since we had no more flour, only the Johann Janzen family was invited to the reception. Then, shortly before the wedding the products from the Dutch Kitchen had to be picked up from the railway station in Lichtenau. Alex volunteered to help and he was given a pail full of white flour. Oh, how glad we were to be able to bake zwiebach for the wedding! Since many flowers were in bloom in Russia at the time, we decorated the church beautifully with flowers and greenery.

From the good times, Mariechen got two lovely silk dresses, a white one and a yellow one. She wore the white one at the wedding, and borrowed a veil from aunt Anna Reimer, and so she was a beautiful bride. Bishop Jakob Janzen married them. The choir sang nice songs. Then we had a reception at home. Gretchen Janzen and I had to get into our everyday clothes in order to milk the cow. It was a long way to walk to aunt Agnes Reimer’s where our cow was housed. But then we quickly changed into our good clothes and in the evening, the young people got together and we played games and sang many folk songs. When the bridal wreath was “played out”, the celebration came to an end. Mariechen and Hans moved into a room in the high school.

Already in 1920 preparations for the migration to Canada had begun. The families who wanted to emigrate were registered and passed had to be procured. At that time, father was not convinced that we should emigrate, but he registered our family and said we could always refuse later. But after his experience in Grishino, he only wanted to emigrate.