the Sister Left Behind

The following is a series of letters from Greta Loewen (nee Rempel) to her family after most of her brothers and sister (Evangeline, Arthur, Frank and Dietrich Rempel) had emigrated to America in 1923. 

Greta's parents were Elisabeth Dirks and Gustav Aron Rempel. Gustav eventually became the manager of the Marienskaja estate that was owned by my great grandfather Heinrich A. Klassen. Greta's mother died in 1920 in Gnadenfeld, South Russia (now Ukraine). Her father died in 1922.

Greta' brother Dietrich was one of the ones who emigrated to America and was instrumental in enabling my Uncle Dietrich to emigrate from Germany to America in 1953. His children are my cousins.

I found these letters very hard to read. For most of us, the difficulties of life are inevitable but come and go. They come from various sources, some random and some self-inflicted. In Greta's case, in addition to what life is normally like, there was the added escalating cruelty of the Communist government in Russia beginning in the late 1910's. 

The letters are well introduced by Greta's brother Arthur and her son Walter Loewen.

There is a nature trail in Arthur's honor near Walla Walla, Washington. He passed away in 2007.