The Final Years in Russia

A short look at my maternal grandmother's childhood (as memoired by her brother) tells some of the Russian history after World War I.

My grandmother, Liese, was the sixth child in a family with nine children. She was born in the village of Nikolajewka in 1914. They lived in a large farmhouse where the barn was attached to the house, so that in winter it was easy to go and tend to the livestock. The land they lived on was fertile and they had good harvests. Her mother usually had one or two Russian maids and her father also had a stable hand.

As my Oma began school and grew into her early teens, difficult changes came about. During the time of the Machno bands, her father was severely threatened several times, in their own home. One time when a Machno band came charging into their yard, swinging their sabres in the air and calling out for my great-grandfather, he looked into the eyes of the leader and recognized him as his former stable hand, named Kolja. Up on his horse now, looking down at great-grandfather, his voice got calmer, but still determined, as he said, "The time you hit me, I deserved it, but I did notice you were ready for another swing, and if you had done that, this day would turn out differently for you and we would not be leaving here so quickly." Hearing these words brought back the memory of how Kolja had lost patience with a foal, grabbed a stick and hit him so hard that the foal fell down. Great-grandpa had seen this and in anger had slapped Kolja on the ear. He had been ready to lash out with another swing at him, when he stopped for some reason. In retrospect, he believed it was the hand of God.

On another occasion, great-grandma had to take all the kids into another room as her husband was being held against a wall with firearms pointed at him. Miraculously he was spared again.

In the early 1920's inflation was such that 1,000,000 Rubles became 1 Ruble and in about 1925 a lot of land was taken from them in order to (supposedly) give it to those who didn’t have land. The communistic government strictly forbade any religious teaching. Those who were caught were taken somewhere, never to be heard from again. The school system was obviously affected by this as well, and on the classroom wall was a plaque that stated:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
Lenin.

The children had to be very careful not to talk at school about any religious activity in their homes, even when questioned, lest their parents be blacklisted.

The time came when people of various Christian faiths just couldn't take the difficulties any longer and they began to beseech help from other countries, since they couldn't just leave. In November of 1929 the family (13 people) left, as it got dark, for the train station. One of their long-time stable-hands drove them and they gave him the wagons and horses for doing this for them.
My great-uncle writes that at this time there were about fourteen to sixteen thousand people gathered in Moscow, trying to get documents to leave, and the government got alarmed. Thousands were forcibly sent back to their homes, but there arose a delegation who diligently sought to get help from Germany and eventually the German government gave permission for these refugees to come. M.C.C. and other Humanitarian Aid Groups promised to help.

On November 25, 1929 about 5,000 people received the all important documents that gave them permission to leave. In Germany they waited in refugee camps for a country that would take them in. My grandmother’s two older “newly wed” siblings got permission to go to Canada, but the rest of them left on July 12, 1930 from Hamburg on a ship to Paraguay.

A sample of the prized documents that gave hope for a better future