The Only Grandfather I Ever Knew

Caught between opposing
nations at war – captured as
an enemy by both – he escaped
and lived to tell about it,
but a surprise awaited him
many years later.
I will tell this story in the
best way we remember
him telling it to us.


David was born on May 6, 1909 in Russia. He worked as a bookkeeper and a livestock inspector for his village. He married a woman by the name of Helen and they had three children together. In 1941, Hitler ordered the march of three million troops into Russia and the Russian army sent David to take their best horses east, away from the Germans. This plan failed when the German army caught up with him and took him captive.

As their captive, he returned to his home and found that, while he had been gone, his village had been evacuated by the Russians. (It most likely had to do with the fact the Mennonites were culturally tied with Germany. Whole villages were being removed so that when the Germans would arrive, no one would be left.) The women and older children had been sent to work in a labor camp in Siberia and the smaller children were scattered in a number of orphanages. All that was left of them were their toys lying in the yard.

David was obviously devastated and torn as to what he should do now, but it turned out that as a prisoner of the Germans, he didn’t have any choice. When they found out that he actually spoke German, they used his abilities to their advantage and made him mayor of a group of villages. He was put in charge of rebuilding them in order to feed and support the fighting German army. This went on for a couple of years, and in a sense the Germans became the liberators from the communist rule for those Mennonites who still remained, blinding them to the atrocities that were inflicted upon non-German people.

In the winter of 1942-43 the Germans began losing the war with the Russians and eventually David was recaptured by the Russians. By now he was despised by the Russians because he had served under the Germans and they thought that he had collaborated with them.

As the Russians were pushing the German army westward, David and some of his fellow prisoners, knowing that their days were numbered, discussed a plan to escape. The day came when they were able to get away and hide until nightfall. They went into the forest and tried to cross a small river which separated the Russians and Germans, but they were spotted and became the targets of the Russians. David jumped into the river and hid under some plants, while bullets were landing all around him. Finally they stopped and he managed to make it to shore. He didn’t know where he was and he was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the bank. (to be continued - click here for next part)