Annihilation of the Kulaks: A personal journal written in the 1930s by a member of the Zacharias family documenting the annihilation of the Kulaks in Siberia. Many of our Zacharias family members were forced to participate in collectivization. The penalty for refusal was death.
Compulsory Return Transport: A personal journal describing the difficult times the author and other Mennonites experienced while waiting for exit visas from the former Soviet Union and the cruel forced return journey from the suburbs of Moscow to their village homes. These events happened from 1929 to 1930. On Sunday evening, November 17, 1929, the menacing return transport began from Perlowka, Malo-Metischtschi, and Tarasowka. The transport continued on the 18th. During the previous night, the GPU had written up a list of all the refugees. The refugees who were forced onto this return transport were mainly Mennonites and included members of the Zacharias family.
The summer of 1929 in Moscow: A personal journal describing the summer of 1929. Many Mennonites from Siberia spent that summer in Moscow and the suburbs of Moscow while waiting for their exit visas. Many of them were forcibly removed from Moscow and its’ suburbs and transported back to Siberia and to the villages they came from. Many of the children died on the return trips from the extreme cold, starvation and an outbreak of measles. October 1929 will remain in the memory of many people. This was the day that in the early morning hours the first group of refugees who had gathered in the passing months in Moscow were loaded into prepared cattle train cars to begin their trip back to Siberia.
Bernhard Giesbrecht’s Letter to His Children: The following is a translation of a German letter written by Bernhard Giesbrecht to his children in Canada dated October 30, 1934. The letter was written very carefully to avoid censorship by the Soviet government should the letter fall into the wrong hands. The letter was smuggled out of the Soviet Union in 1934.
History of Katarina and Maria Giesbrecht: Katarina and Maria Giesbrecht were the daughters of Bernhard and Helena (nee Zacharias) Giesbrecht. They were the granddaughters of Wilhelm and Anna (nee Peters) Zacharias. The sisters survived World War 1, World War 11, Hitler’s Birkenau Concentration Camp, and Stalin’s Gulag. They raised their sister Anna’s three orphaned children namely Helena (nee Zelmer) Neufeld, Heinrich Zelmer and Ewald Zelmer.
Autobiography of Isaak Isaak Zacharias: Isaak Isaak Zacharias was born on February 22, 1868, at Zachariasfeld, South Russia and this is his autobiography. Wilhelm, Isaak and Gerhard, three sons of Isaak Wilhelm Zacharias, the founder of the Zachariasfeld Estate, all farmed together on the estate, all experienced the same events during the revolution. All fled to Osterwick during the time of anarchy in 1918 and immigrated to Rosthern, Saskatchewan in the first contingent of Russian Mennonites to arrive in Canada. Full credit for this document belongs to Ruth Heinrichs and Heinz Bergen.
History of Johann Johann Epp and Family: The Great Grandfathers; from a thesis titled “SADLY THERE ARE NO DIARIES OF THE GRANDMOTHERS” HEALING ANCESTRAL WOUNDS ‘AN EXPLORATION OF TWO GRANDFATHERS’ PERSONAL MENNONITE TEXTS, 1852 ~ 1945; Permission granted by author Eleanore Margaret Koop.
Holodomor: Ten million children, women and men died in this horrendous genocide, the Holodomor of 1930-1934. The survivors who have shared their stories with me will live on forever in the hearts and minds of future generations. It is a testament to the resilient spirit of the Mennonite, German and Ukrainian people. Holodomor was genocide by starvation and one of the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind.
Nestor Makhno: Nestor Makhno was born on November 7, 1888. He was a terrorist. Between 1917 and 1921 he took advantage of the breakdown of law and order in Russia and assembled a band of thieves, rapists and murderers. My great grandfather and his family including my mom Helen (nee Giesbrecht ) Reimer were forced into the basement of their home by these monsters and left to die. Helen was a six-month-old baby at the time.
