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[ Silence ] [THEME MUSIC] (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) [music]

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(dramatic music) (helicopter whirring) (dramatic music) (helicopter whirring)

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( Bachelor in Paradise music) (helicopter whirring) (dramatic music) We are all of us traveling on a journey.

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A journey through time, through history. A personal journey through events that mark us and change us and make us what we are. Yes, I remember. I hate to tell the stories.

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They are not pleasant. [music] Robbing, plundering, raping, killing. [music]

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Sometimes you think, was it really real that you got through all that? [music] And I'm quite sure that that is the mark that our Russian experience has left on us. [music]

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This is the story of a people whose journey has taken them through some of the most violent events of modern history. It's difficult to imagine what Russia was like at the turn of the century,

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before the first great war, before the revolution. It was a country of disturbing social contrasts. The incredibly rich lived in the midst of the desperately poor.

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Lives of yawning boredom set against lives of endless toil. (choral music) It was a time before religion was denounced

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as the opiate of the masses God was declared an enemy of the state. But that was before. Russia and her people have changed a lot since then.

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(dramatic music) All great nations have a heart. For America, it's Wall Street. For Britain, it's Piccadilly Circus.

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But today, the undisputed heart of the Soviet Union is Red Square. Here beneath the banners, the heart of Russia pumps with pride, pride in her own strength,

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pride in her commitment to the communist way of life. In a bold new social experiment, the Soviet government is attempting to do the impossible. People from over 160 different ethnic backgrounds

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are being slowly forged into a new creation, a new man, a universal communist man. This new creation will be a man of military might, lean and self-reliant, a man whose ultimate belief

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is no longer in God, but in the power of the state. But not all citizens of the Soviet Union are marching to the tune of that great socialist ideal. (singing in foreign language)

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These people choose instead to gather together and sing hymns, traditional hymns, hymns sung not in Russian, but in German. Behind the words of worship and praise

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is a quiet sense of purpose, a purpose they feel far greater than the molding of a new communist society. They are a people of faith.

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They are the Mennonites of Russia. - A true Mennonite should really be a very godly person that believes in God and Jesus Christ and follows the Bible, or lives according to the Bible.

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(choral music) - There are over one million Mennonites scattered in 40 different countries around the world, including Canada, the United States,

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Europe, and South America. - I have a very deep feeling for my fellow Mennonites living today in Russia. We do not know how many of them there are,

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but somewhere like 50,000 or so. They live under very difficult situations. Now, I'm not thinking economically, too, but that's not what I'm thinking of.

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I mean, their ideology and the ideology of the state, they have nothing in common. They are contradictory to each other. - For the Mennonites, this present conflict of ideologies

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is only the latest skirmish in a long battle. A battle for survival that has lasted for more than five centuries. (singing in foreign language)

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The first Mennonites emerged in Switzerland about the time of the Reformation. They were called Anabaptists. They believed in the authority of the Bible,

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in adult baptism, and in God's desire that all men live a peaceful, nonviolent life. In Holland, their leader became Menno Simons, a former priest.

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His followers became known as Mennonites. But Europe in the 15th century was not a welcome place for new religious ideas. They were proclaimed heretics.

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They were hunted down and mercilessly put to death. In the 16th century alone, 1,500 Mennonites were cruelly tortured for their faith. - They were always considered to be an outgroup,

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you know, like peculiar people, because they had the courage to think differently from what the mass thought. This made our character to a very great extent. We began to mistrust the outside people, you know?

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Anyone that is not in our group, well, you just don't trust them. You don't speak to them. You don't show yourself to them as you are.

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- At the height of the persecutions, They left everything behind and fled for their lives. They went north to Prussia. But all too soon, the familiar pattern

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of religious conflict and persecution had them on the move again. For the next 300 years, the Mennonites became a migratory people,

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a people destined, it seemed, to be without a country. It was seen as a timely answer to prayer when in 1786, Queen Catherine, empress of all the Russias, offered them sanctuary and free land in the southern Ukraine.

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By the end of the 1700s, Mennonite families began to settle near the banks of the Dnieper River. With Catherine's guarantee of religious freedom and exemption from military service,

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the Mennonites began to view their new home in Russia as a gift from God, their very own promised land. One of the first settlements was established on the island of Kortitsa.

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Soon, other colonies like the Molochna blossomed around the Nepe River. By the time the Mennonites first arrived on Kortitsa, this giant oak tree was a local legend.

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It was thought to be over 1,000 years old. Centuries before, Cossack warriors were said to have gathered for battle beneath its branches. Now a more peaceful people took it

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as a symbol of their new life in Russia. With its roots deep in the Russian soil and its branches reaching up to heaven, it gave the Mennonites a sense of security and permanence

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after so many years of migration. The land around the Nepper proved to be extremely fertile. By the late 1800s, the settlements were some of the most prosperous in all of Russia

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for the families that clustered around the Nepper. Russia was a haven. It was a time of peace and happiness, a time when life was like a long, soft summer evening.

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These years were the golden years for the Mennonites of Russia, years of peace and prosperity, years of growth. [music playing] (soft piano music)

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(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music)

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(soft piano music) (soft piano music) [ Music ] I love to tell my little granddaughter who is five years old

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about the time when I was a little girl in a beautiful village in southern Russia. I love to tell her about the moonlit nights when we were awake when we shouldn't be. I love to tell her about the lovely lilacs, the lovely conifers that we do not have here.

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Very different kinds of trees. I love to tell her about the happiness that we enjoyed when we were small. We were all together. Everybody knew everyone else. I still love to teach her many of the songs

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which we sang, which we grew into. They've always been there, we've never learned them. They were there when we were born. - They deliberately established a sophisticated,

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self-contained ethnic island rising above the surrounding sea of Russian culture. Their years in Prussia had left a cultural impression on the Mennonites.

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had abandoned the Dutch language in favor of German. In many ways, they remained aloof from the mainstream of Russian life, isolated by their language and their beliefs.

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Russian law encouraged the separation and was especially firm on limiting the spread of their religious beliefs. But the Mennonites became known throughout the country

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as a hardworking, innovative people. They had a unique talent for adapting the latest discoveries in technology and a flair for turning a profit, too.

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While their Russian neighbors continued to till the land with crude wooden plows, the Mennonites pioneered the use of new mechanical farm equipment. Before long, huge factories run by the more enterprising

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Mennonites were mass producing all kinds of machinery. Hundreds of people were employed. Now Mennonites labored side by side with Russian workers. Some saw this as a healthy sign, a growing acceptance

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of the outside world. Others saw it as a new responsibility. - I was born in a small town in which my father had started a Mennonite community there.

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Our forefathers, when they came to Russia, they had to settle in secluded groups and not mix with the Russians and not evangelize the Russians, leave them as they were.

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Well, they couldn't help it. They all got servants from the Russians and they should have evangelized them all. And they didn't.

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They let them be servants and not even treat them like a Christian should treat them many times. As early as 1860, some Mennonites were sensing a certain loss of spiritual vitality

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within the community. The rush towards commerce and prosperity had left many of them with a tradition, but not a faith. In a revival of commitment, some of the Mennonites

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formed the Brethren Church. While the spiritual tone of the community as a whole improved, Some of the old problems continued. - We fell short of the ideal.

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We, men and women, especially said that we lived on a high level, on a high ethical level. My parents and my people in the village, they wanted to treat these Russians fairly,

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but they should have gone one step further. The question should also have been, what can we do for these people? - However, in Russia, there were others

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who were ignoring the same question. Tsar Nicholas II and a small privileged class of aristocrats, together with the leaders of the Orthodox Church, virtually ruled Russia.

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They spent their days consumed with matters of protocol and ceremony, oblivious to the crushing needs of their own people. It was an oversight that was soon to prove fatal.

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Life for most Russian peasants was a constant struggle for survival. While most of the world toyed with a new invention called the aeroplane, they were hopelessly trapped in a society that was more medieval than modern.

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But that was about to change. Already discontent among the peasants was beginning to mount. Rioting and demonstrations started as early as 1905. The spark that was to burst into flames 12 years later

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was beginning to smolder. Russia was on the verge of a major political convulsion. To the Mennonites, peacefully enjoying the fruits of their labors, the rumblings of revolution

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seemed like distant thunder. Their lives had never been better. Isolated by their language and faith, they believed that these golden years of prosperity

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would never end. 1914, the world was at war. Russia declared war on Germany, and the Tsar ordered the mobilization

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of all able-bodied men, all men without exception. A wave of fear spread through the Mennonite settlements. Some saw in this move the first signs of a confrontation over their pacifism.

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The fear over the loss of their military exemption had prompted almost one third of the community to leave Russia in the 1870s and migrate to the United States and Canada.

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Now those who remained behind began to wonder if they too would have to decide to fight or flee. Fortunately, this fear proved to be unfounded. The Mennonites were given the status

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of conscientious objectors and allowed to serve in non-combat roles. During the war, more than 13,000 Mennonites went into the forestry service and into the medical corps.

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They wore the Red Cross in their tunics and went to the front carrying bandages instead of rifles. But as the war to end all wars began to cost Russian troops more and more casualties,

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attitudes began to change. Russian soldiers were being killed by German bullets. Suspicion began to grow about these peculiar people who not only spoke German,

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but now who refused to fight and die for Russia. The Tsar decreed that the German language was forbidden and that all German-held land was to be seized. But before this could be carried out,

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the Tsar was deposed. A new crisis began to shake Russian society. Vladimir Lenin had chosen his time wisely. Russia was now staggering under the weight of the war,

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and peasant discontent was surfacing again. He spoke passionately about a new Russia and called for revolution. - New ideas were coming in.

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I remember for the first time a train stopped not far away from where we lived, and they distributed pamphlets. One pamphlet was the idea of the communists.

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And there I read it for the very first time. When I came home, I told my father, I said, "Well, these people here, there's a new party, "the Communist Party, and they propose this and that."

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My father said, "Nothing like that can happen. "If they should attempt that, "then Europe will declare a crusade on them. "No, that's impossible."

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You know, this was the introduction to it. It became possible after all. And Lenin, I think, was much smarter than my father my father and many other people, Lenin said,

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"Never fear, we'll give this bourgeois a chance "to make a little money on this deal, "and they are always willing to commit suicide for profit." And he was right in that.

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- On October 25th, 1917, Lenin led the Bolsheviks up the steps of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. In a matter of hours, the old government had been thrown out.

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Russia was the first truly socialist country in history. - Absolutely all concept that we had had were being questioned. Family relations, social relations,

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absolutely everything. Was it right or was it wrong? - Total chaos became the order of the day. Russia was now virtually fighting two wars,

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one with Germany and one with herself. Russian nobility, backed by European interests, formed the White Army. Lenin and the Bolsheviks formed the Red Army.

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And like two great bears locked in a struggle to the death, the two armies rolled and fought throughout Russia. Suddenly, the land around the Dnieper became a battleground. - One army was placed on one side of our town

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and the other army on the other side of town. Then one would occupy and shoot and bomb, then the others would occupy and shoot and bomb. To switch around like that and then go through this fear

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of that they would take us and kill us because they did take many rich people, they wanted to do away with all the rich people. - The White Army were in Aleksandrovsk,

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which is now Zaporozhye, and they were on the other side of the Dnieper River. And we lived on the west bank of the Nepe River. So they exchanged cannon fire, you know.

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And one of the cannons of the White Army must have struck a dead tree behind our yard there. And we lived right next to a forest. And so that tree started to burn.

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And at night, it was all aglow, you know. And then these Russian soldiers thought, well, And my dad, he went out and gave those white army people a sign. That is a sign.

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So they wanted to take him out and shoot him. They were so convinced that he had done that. And then they came in the middle of the night, and with their rifle butts, they banged against the door and made an awful racket, you know.

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And my dad went up and opened the door. "What's it? What's up?" Well, they said, "So and so, you gave the enemy a sign, and they will come now, and

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then you are a spy, and we want to shoot you." So they start to drag him out. Then mother came, and she screamed and held tight to dad, and then we woke all up, you know.

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And all the children went around, grabbed dad and mom around a big bundle, you know, and we screamed at the top of our voices. And finally, I think they softened up or something. Maybe one of them had children at home too,

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and they saw all that crying and commotion. And finally, they swore and turned around and went out and never came back. But my father was white as a sheet.

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He thought this was his last hour. (dramatic music) In the Mennonite settlements, peace had been replaced by fear.

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Women left their homes only when necessary. Even simple chores became dangerous. (speaking in foreign language) Yo mama.

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We always lived in fear. Nobody was safe to walk, especially a woman. The bandits would come any time and open the door. We are here. We demand anything.

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They demanded anything. [MUSIC PLAYING] (ominous music) - A terrible feeling when I'd shared a bed with my mother.

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We were so short of space and I'd sleep with my mother and of course she always anticipated that by one o'clock or two o'clock they would come and get her and banish her

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and she would have to leave us. This happened so often in so many cases. And I remember twisting and turning and perspiring with my mother. And sometimes I would just lie very still and she didn't know that I wasn't sleeping.

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But I never slept until mother would fall asleep. And mother fell asleep only around three or four o'clock and we heard the clock chime the time. And then you were safe for that particular night. I think these things haunt me.

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(horse snorts) (dramatic music) (woman screams) - Mom, Mama!

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(woman screams) (dramatic music) Russia was now a country adrift. With no central authority, a frightening wave of anarchy

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began to spread across the land. (dramatic music) And the worst was yet to come. - You see, the jails of Russia were being opened

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and all this totally irresponsible element was set free. They organized and so you have, and they armed themselves. So you had all of a sudden, all over Russia, little groups of throat cuts, actually.

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They were not really proletarian, they were criminal. The kind of people that we have here too, that rape five old years children and put poison into medicine, you know,

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that kind of people, we had them too. And they began to murder, they began to violate people. - Such a man was Nestor Makhnov. Before going to jail, he had worked on a Mennonite estate.

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Remembering their wealth and their vulnerability, He headed back to the Ukraine. In a matter of months, the name Makhno became the most feared name in all of southern Russia.

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Just a few short years before, life for the Mennonites had been a long, soft summer evening. Now it became a terrifying journey into hell. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[music] [speaking in foreign language] [gunshot] [speaking in foreign language]

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[gunshot] [screaming] I remember so clearly when we heard about our father's death. A man came over and said to my mother,

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"Well, now, you know, the team is back." And my mother said, "But are they all there?" And he said, "No, Dick isn't there." And I remember that something happened to my mother.

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She seemed to turn into a stone. She never reacted to us. She didn't bother about us. Apparently that's what we thought.

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The next day I felt so left out and so alone. And I decided I was going to go out and play. Children don't know what death means, not when you're five years old.

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And I went to play in a barn where we often played with two other little girls, neighbors of ours. And when we came into this barn, I remember we opened the door and I still see the light,

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the rays of light falling onto something so ghastly. It was my father with a shattered head. (fire crackling) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Rachnov led a loose band of anarchists against the defenseless Mennonites.

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With a fury that was chilling, they flew into the settlements, burning, looting, raping, and torturing hundreds of people. In another village, 81 people

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were brutally murdered in one night. - They murdered the whole family. In one case, they murdered the whole family and children and all, and then cut off their heads

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and set them around the table, you know? for fun. There was no reason for it. But they enjoyed it. Once again the Mennonites felt the flames of persecution flare up around them. Some saw in Makhnov's actions God's judgment on their loss of spiritual zeal.

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Others looked into his face and saw the very image of the devil himself. Now totally vulnerable, their lives spared by the whim of this madman, the Mennonites turned to the only real security they had, their trust in God. To the Russians they were the enemy, but to the Mennonites, the German army that marched

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into the Ukraine in 1918 were a welcome sight. (singing in foreign language) [Music] (singing in foreign language)

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[music] [music] [music] (singing in foreign language)

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In all their years in Russia, They had never seen an army quite like this one, an army that sang familiar German songs as they marched along.

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No wonder the children of the villages were overcome with curiosity. [ Music ] The excitement filled the settlements as the soldiers were eagerly taken into various homes in the village.

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[singing in German] (singing in foreign language) [singing in German] There were soldiers billeted in the home like this one, Birr, Alfred Birr was in our house.

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But I enjoyed him, you know, he could tell stories and he was, happened to be a photographer. And I would sit there in the evening when he was developing his films and he'd tell me about the life elsewhere. With the Germans came order and stability.

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[speaking in German] Makhnov had fled when they arrived. Once again, there was a feeling of peace in the community. But with that peace came something

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foreign to the Mennonites-- weapons of war. [speaking in German] [speaking in German]

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We played soldiers all the time. Guns were to be had anywhere, as much as you like, as many as you like. All we needed to do go to the riverside and pick them up. So my father made us

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throw them into the well on top of the hill and it was filled up with these things. As pacifists, the Mennonites faced a difficult moral dilemma. Unable to condone the use of weapons, they were still impressed by their power to keep the peace and keep Makhnov away.

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[ Foreign Language ] But almost as soon as they arrived, the German army gathered up its gear and headed for home. The war was over.

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(dramatic music) (airplane engine roaring) For most of the world, it was a time of giddy euphoria. The war to end all wars had itself finally ended.

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In Russia, however, the ruinous civil war still continued to rage. (hooves clopping) With the German army gone,

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the Mennonites were once again defenseless. Anarchy began to creep back into the settlements. Hundreds of Mennonites were left homeless. In desperation, they fled for safety.

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(dramatic music) Like a nightmare of recurring horror, Makhnov and his bandits materialized once again. (dramatic music)

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[MUSIC PLAYING] (HORSE NEIGHING) (YELLING) (GUNSHOT)

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(SCREAMING) (GUNSHOT) (YELLING) One more!

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One last! (YELLING) (gunshot) ♪ (dramatic music)

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(gunshot) (dogs barking) ♪ (dramatic music) (gunshot)

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(dogs barking) (gunshot) ♪ (dramatic music) (dogs barking)

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[ Music ] (soft music) [Music] [music playing]

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One day, a fellow came and said to my father, listen, there's some people that want to come to you and kill you. Well, then my father was very nervous, and he gathered the family and the servants

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that was in the house and had a prayer meeting. What to do? And then after the prayer, my father stood up. He said, I have--

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I am convinced I have to stay here. And to my brother, the eldest brother, he-- to him, he said, Jake, if you want go with-- you had a newborn boy.

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If you want to go, you just go. But I have to stay. And Jake said, I stay then, too. And so they stayed.

00:38:50.720 - 00:39:07.820

And my sister, widow of his sister, was pregnant. Her husband was killed-- was shot about four months prior to death. And she stayed with her three children,

00:39:07.820 - 00:39:30.620

and she was pregnant in the ninth month. And then they came in, lined up, father, mother, brother Jake, and John, and Mr. Schellenberg. He was the overseer on the yard.

00:39:30.620 - 00:39:46.700

And they lined him up. And then the man said, here, now you have to give me 50,000 rubles. At that time, it was not very much money either.

00:39:46.700 - 00:40:00.440

Like a-- and-- but his father said to him, now listen. All day they was coming and going, going and coming, all the daytime. They came and have taken everything.

00:40:00.440 - 00:40:13.640

But gave me permission that I can go to my servants on my yard. I said, I think I can borrow that money by my people. Well, they said, I will call to three.

00:40:13.640 - 00:40:24.120

And if you don't have them-- so he called one, and then they went out. One won't stay. The others, I don't quite know how many there were.

00:40:24.120 - 00:40:49.920

They went out and grabbed everything they could get hold of and put it in bags. And then they came back and they molested my sister. That was the worst thing. The widow was the baby in ninth month.

00:40:49.920 - 00:41:06.920

And then they came back and said, "Two." And they went again around. And then it came through Father's hand and so, bang. Father was shot, fell down.

00:41:06.920 - 00:41:28.520

My brother, my younger brother, he left, threw himself on a bed and with a hand before his eyes and he was waiting for his bullet. And father, he was not dead yet, and he whispered to him,

00:41:28.520 - 00:41:41.720

John, save yourself. And before that, as the first shot went off, then Mr. Schellenberg, he jumped to the window, opened the window, jumped out, and ran out.

00:41:41.720 - 00:41:58.320

And as father said to John that, he just jumped up and ran to the window and went out too. Mother, they wanted to go too, to the window and then one shot hit her and then she yelled very loud

00:41:58.320 - 00:42:16.360

and then she got the second shot and then she was dead. And they used the bullets with explosion and her head, brain was spelled against the wall against the wall.

00:42:16.360 - 00:42:37.600

I have seen that later. Yeah, after my father was shot, he lived 28 hour. And it was very, very hard time for him. Especially what he have gone through physically

00:42:37.600 - 00:43:02.300

and spiritually, it was very, very hard. Physically, the pain was terrible. There was no-- no doctor could be reached, no pills. He was a conscientious objector, as I already said, and believed.

00:43:02.300 - 00:43:35.580

And he thought he did the right thing. And now, here was a lie. And the-- you had the day. Oh, that's too traumatic.

00:43:40.660 - 00:43:55.840

Yeah, he believed so much, very much, and was conscientious, strong believer in conscientious objection. And here now he was lying.

00:43:55.840 - 00:44:08.720

And that was a very, very hard struggle to him. And he's even-- at the last moment, he prayed. And I don't know how to say that in English. (speaking German)

00:44:08.800 - 00:44:26.640

not to go astray in the last moments. - For the Mennonites, their lives became a dark journey through madness and death. Peace had been replaced by fear,

00:44:26.640 - 00:44:36.980

and now fear was being replaced by anger. Traditionally as pacifists, they had fled when danger threatened. Now there was talk in the villages

00:44:36.980 - 00:44:55.040

of staying and even fighting. - Christ himself talks, do not resist him who is evil, but whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

00:44:55.040 - 00:45:09.060

- Yes, but the scriptures also say to take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. - But pacifism is always in the way of our people. Our forefathers were ready to die for it.

00:45:09.060 - 00:45:17.820

- Last night, Makhnov attacked our home and my two boys are dead. We must do something. - Sister, love your enemies

00:45:17.820 - 00:45:31.620

and pray for those who persecute you. - Words, words, words will not stop Makhnov. I say let's take up the gun and protect our families. - Our weapons are not swords and spears,

00:45:31.620 - 00:45:44.420

but patience and love. Last night it was my family. Tonight it might be yours, or yours, or even yours, brother. Have you forgotten that Knuth murdered my wife?

00:45:44.420 - 00:46:02.340

We all must remember that vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. You may have certain theories. You may have certain beliefs.

00:46:02.340 - 00:46:15.660

But there seems to be a point where you just, maybe due to our weakness, you know, the Bible refers to human beings sometimes like earthen vessels.

00:46:15.660 - 00:46:25.820

Maybe that's because that's what we are. But there's a point where you just cannot endure things any longer. - We asked the police to help us when anything happens.

00:46:25.820 - 00:46:45.900

And there was no police, so we helped ourselves. But when you see they're coming into your house, robbing and raping the women, young or old. When you see a soldier sitting at the edge of your bed

00:46:45.900 - 00:47:05.660

or your mother, you are no longer pacifist anymore. A young man, a male especially, seeing himself as the protector of the females, well, he cannot stand by and let a group of roughnecks,

00:47:05.660 - 00:47:24.180

gang rape, those that he loves. He just can't do that. He will fight, no matter what his convictions. - After almost four centuries of pacifism,

00:47:24.180 - 00:47:37.660

the savage ray of Makhnov brought the Mennonites to a turning point, to a spiritual crisis. (birds chirping) Men began to arm themselves and form defense units

00:47:37.660 - 00:47:48.420

called Selbstschutz. Together they took turns guarding their villages and those they loved. (bells tolling)

00:47:48.420 - 00:48:22.260

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [SPEAKING GERMAN] [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:48:22.260 - 00:48:44.880

Yes, they say it's the greatest mistake, but not everybody. We that went through that don't say that. Our children do. Yes, I joined the Zeltruts.

00:48:44.880 - 00:48:55.280

Yes. I was 18 years old at that time. And even today, I'm not one of those that condemns the Zeltruts absolutely

00:48:55.280 - 00:49:07.480

and say that was a very bad mistake. I don't know whether that was a mistake. Maybe that was the right thing to do. I could have killed everyone that I saw.

00:49:07.480 - 00:49:26.960

I was not that-- I was a young man of 17, 18. "Man, you are not going so much by what you are taught in Sunday school. You were, as I say, we didn't care.

00:49:26.960 - 00:49:58.320

I would have killed everyone if I could have, or even tortured them for that matter." What I felt, I felt in the first place, to throw all the whole question about the non-resistance overboard and go and kill every Makhno, that was the worst group, every Makhnovich and give him the bullet.

00:49:58.320 - 00:50:19.520

But today I say, and I have then thank God that He gave me the power to overcome that feelings. The Holy Spirit gave me the power and the prayer. And I think the prayer of my father and my mother.

00:50:19.520 - 00:50:49.080

I know they have prayed very much for me. And that have kept me up, and I am thankful today that I can say I have not sent nobody into the Christless eternity. We pray, lead us not into temptation.

00:50:49.080 - 00:51:16.820

We know we are vulnerable, and I am the last one to blame too much. But before the Selbstschutz could grow into a full-scale military force, peace returned to Russia. By 1921, Lenin and the Bolsheviks had finally routed the White Army.

00:51:16.820 - 00:51:29.360

But the long years of war had left Russia mortally wounded. She had paid a heavy price. The cities were rubble. Transportation was at a standstill.

00:51:29.360 - 00:51:43.160

The streets began to fill up with homeless refugees. The economy was in a total shambles. As if this wasn't enough, another weight of misery was heaped onto the sagging shoulders of the Russian people.

00:51:43.160 - 00:51:55.120

A sudden drought struck, causing massive crop failures. Russia was now a land of famine. Millions of people began to starve. The unthinkable began to happen.

00:51:55.120 - 00:52:05.160

Several incidents of cannibalism were reported in the rural areas. For the Mennonites caught in the midst of the famine, it seemed that their parents' dream of utopia

00:52:05.160 - 00:52:21.800

had become an unspeakable nightmare. - Every time my mother baked, We make great big loaves. The loaves here in Canada would be about four of those loaves would make one loaf.

00:52:21.800 - 00:52:43.400

And then as soon after it was cooled off, she would slice this into pieces. And then in the morning, that next morning, there would be lots of hungry people standing at the fence already just waiting for somebody to come out. And as soon as somebody appeared, they would stretch their hands through the fence and

00:52:43.400 - 00:52:53.040

beg, "Let me have a piece, let me have a piece. I'm starving, I'm starving." And Mother couldn't take it. She would never go out.

00:52:53.040 - 00:53:07.040

But my older sister and myself, we went and handed out. I guess we didn't feel it as deeply. There was a famine, really a famine. And then around Christmas, we had our last things to eat.

00:53:07.040 - 00:53:19.940

We got nothing for Christmas, only a piece of bread, and that was actually the last. And then we scraped through till about February. And then it was really gone.

00:53:19.940 - 00:53:36.000

When we peeled potatoes, mom took the potato peel and put it aside, and those peels we planted in spring. And they would grow and give potatoes, you know, but we had to eat the potatoes, you know.

00:53:36.000 - 00:53:50.880

And finally, we had nothing to eat, so she cooked the potato peels, and we ate them too. Then we started to catch some crows and ate some crows. But finally, everything was gone.

00:53:50.880 - 00:54:07.360

In about middle of February, we had just nothing. (dramatic music) - While Russia was struggling through the famine, The rest of the world was dancing the Charleston.

00:54:07.360 - 00:54:23.280

It was the roaring '20s, boom time, when both skirts and stocks climbed to outrageous heights. In the midst of the frivolity, urgent pleas for help reached Mennonites in North America.

00:54:23.280 - 00:54:33.800

The response was immediate. Mennonites around the world closed ranks in an effort to relieve the suffering in Russia. Food, clothing, even farm equipment was sent.

00:54:33.800 - 00:54:43.080

A group known as the Mennonite Central Committee was formed to assist in channeling aid to relatives in Russia. As a result, conditions slowly improved

00:54:43.080 - 00:54:56.340

during the mid-20s. Then suddenly, the nation was plunged into mourning. Lenin was dead. Even while Lenin lay in state,

00:54:56.340 - 00:55:07.280

a power struggle for leadership was taking place. One man emerged the victor. That man was Joseph Stalin. If Lenin had given the Russian people

00:55:07.280 - 00:55:18.320

the vision and the fire for revolution, then Joseph Stalin would become the hammer that would mold them into the new Soviet state. His goal was modernization.

00:55:18.320 - 00:55:29.520

His method was the five-year plan. First issued in 1928, it was an all-out commitment of Russia's resources and energies. Stalin was forcing her to make a mad dash,

00:55:29.520 - 00:55:40.180

finally, to enter the 20th century. (explosion) Even the mighty Nepper was forced to submit. A huge hydroelectric dam was being built near Kortitsa.

00:55:40.180 - 00:55:52.760

The first five year plan drastically changed the face of Russia and her heart as well. There was no room in Stalin's new Russia for faith in anything but modern technology.

00:55:52.760 - 00:56:07.560

Anti-religious propaganda was being taught in the schools. Already the foundations for the new communist man were being laid. I can remember especially one incident about this great debate.

00:56:07.560 - 00:56:32.560

We children always call that when father was called to have a debate with one of our schoolteachers. He was a communist from Russia. His name was Disher. And he teached anthropology and he teached us evolution. like we were all developing slowly from an ape.

00:56:32.560 - 00:56:48.560

And now he wanted an open discussion with my father. And if there, the topic at that night, what I remember most vividly was, "Is there a God?" And there was, I remember my feelings when this curtain went off

00:56:48.560 - 00:57:06.440

and my father was standing there. He seems to me so helpless, so forlorn, and so little and so tiny against all those people who were sitting there and they were playing for the opening to International and everything was like communist oriented and

00:57:06.440 - 00:57:24.640

Then the question him very hard and it was almost a half an hour some there was some applause and some shouts and the last sentence was what father said You are the best example that there is a God and

00:57:24.640 - 00:57:43.640

And he asked, "Why? Why we? We don't believe in a God." "But why you fight Him?" "Nobody fights against something that non-exists, that doesn't exist." So then there was a very big applause and I was very happy that my father could say that.

00:57:43.640 - 00:57:58.580

We walked home very quietly. We didn't speak a word on our way home. (bells ringing) The Mennonites who had suffered with their fellow Russians

00:57:58.580 - 00:58:13.520

through the years of war, revolution, and famine were now seen as aliens, not as Russians, but as Germans, Germans who persisted in their belief in God. They were called kulaks, exploiters,

00:58:13.520 - 00:58:39.240

and their estates were taken over by the state. All through the 20s, groups of Mennonites had been slipping out of Russia and escaping abroad. The years of anarchy, war, famine, and now increased persecution convinced more and more people that the Golden Age was gone and would never return. They felt that it was time to

00:58:39.240 - 00:58:56.440

leave, once again to search for a new country they could call home. I remember the utter hopelessness, the sadness which all the people, not only my mother, not only our family, which we all had. [Shouting]

00:58:56.440 - 00:59:12.640

I remember coming to the train station and my mother's brother coming to say goodbye to us. [Shouting] And I remember so well that the train was stopped ready for us to enter. They were just boxcars, of course.

00:59:12.640 - 00:59:32.880

It was a cattle train, really. That didn't matter because we were glad enough to get out. But I remember that everybody stopped quietly for a while, and the men removed their hats.

00:59:32.880 - 00:59:43.100

And they sang, [SPEAKING GERMAN] God be with you till we meet again. and then we entered the train and left. (train whistle)

00:59:43.100 - 01:00:22.640

- It was a journey that took a day and a night. traveling from Moscow to the Latvian border. They were hours of uncertainty. They knew that the Soviet government

01:00:22.640 - 01:00:36.240

could change things at a moment's notice. - We were very fortunate to get out. When we did get out, it became increasingly difficult after that

01:00:36.240 - 01:00:46.840

for people to leave Russia. This cattle car had been carefully swept and cleaned and they had planks right across, you know, sort of a platform on either side.

01:00:46.840 - 01:00:58.480

Dreadfully crowded, of course. You slept on there, you sat on there, and all our goods, worldly possessions, were there. (horses galloping)

01:00:58.480 - 01:01:42.440

[HORSE GALLOPING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [music] [singing in German]

01:01:42.440 - 01:01:55.960

(singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) [singing in German]

01:01:55.960 - 01:02:21.960

[singing in German] [ Music ] [ Music ] [singing in German]

01:02:21.960 - 01:02:29.960

[singing in German] [singing in German] [singing in German] [singing in German]

01:02:29.960 - 01:02:39.800

[singing in German] [singing in German] [singing in German] (singing in foreign language)

01:02:39.800 - 01:03:22.300

[singing in German] [ Sound of train ] >> We all had a peculiar feeling, a feeling that you weren't,

01:03:22.300 - 01:03:28.620

that we didn't know exactly where we were going. We knew we had left everything behind, but there was no future.

01:03:28.620 - 01:03:43.320

There was no, nothing constant. There was no polar star by which you could take direction. - But one point that was fixed in everyone's mind was the border crossing between Russia and Latvia.

01:03:43.320 - 01:03:59.180

It was marked by a huge wooden gate, the Red Gate. For the Mennonites, it became the symbol of freedom. (speaking in foreign language) No one considered themselves truly safe

01:03:59.180 - 01:04:14.400

until he had passed beneath its high arch. - When somebody saw it first, the news went through the train just like a telephone, you know, and everybody looked out,

01:04:14.400 - 01:04:28.100

oh, there it is, there it is, and then the train stopped. (speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music)

01:04:28.100 - 01:05:00.840

Just several hundred yards of track now separated the Mennonites from the border and freedom. (speaking in foreign language) Officially, the Russians were looking

01:05:00.840 - 01:05:17.040

for false exit papers, or maybe even someone who had deserted the army. Unofficially, they took valuables and money from the terrified Mennonites.

01:05:17.040 - 01:05:43.060

(dramatic music) (baby cooing) (speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music)

01:05:43.060 - 01:05:53.060

(baby crying) (baby crying) Oh, yeah. [whimpering]

01:05:53.060 - 01:06:02.040

(Crying) (moaning) (crying) (dramatic music)

01:06:02.040 - 01:06:13.060

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

01:06:13.060 - 01:06:23.220

(growling) (growling) (thunder rumbling) (dramatic music)

01:06:23.220 - 01:06:33.300

(crying) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (baby crying)

01:06:33.300 - 01:06:49.800

(baby crying) (baby crying) (dramatic music) (bells ringing)

01:06:49.800 - 01:07:15.320

(speaking in foreign language) (dog panting) (scribbling) (dog panting)

01:07:15.320 - 01:07:25.420

(panting) [panting] (panting) (dramatic music)

01:07:25.420 - 01:07:35.860

(dramatic music) (roaring) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

01:07:35.860 - 01:07:54.140

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) [MUSIC]

01:07:54.140 - 01:08:24.600

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [music] [WATER FALLING]

01:08:24.600 - 01:08:57.620

[MUSIC PLAYING] And then slowly it went past the gate. Well, we felt so free, so relieved. We felt like we were out of prison,

01:08:57.620 - 01:09:11.440

released from prison somehow. And when we passed the gate, we sang that song, and, "Oh, we praise you, all the Lord." And, "Oh, we are so thankful."

01:09:18.620 - 01:09:30.680

and probably because of the older people. You could see how their eyes sparkled and how they left and smiled and embraced each other's and you could see it there.

01:09:30.680 - 01:09:50.260

(singing in foreign language) - The joy of escaping from Russia was always bittersweet. Ahead lay a new life and new opportunities. But behind were loved ones who might never be seen again.

01:09:50.260 - 01:10:09.500

For every Mennonite that passed through this gate and out of danger, another three remained behind in Russia. Some had chosen to stay, but for most there was no choice. Many had been imprisoned or sent

01:10:09.500 - 01:10:20.320

to forced labor camps in Siberia. When the last trains crossed the border in 1929, there were still close to 80,000 Mennonites scattered throughout the Soviet Union.

01:10:20.320 - 01:10:35.120

For them, the years of hardship were not yet over. In many ways, they had just begun. Since coming to power in 1924, Stalin had ruthlessly suppressed all opposition,

01:10:35.120 - 01:10:46.320

both real and imagined. In 1933, he began a series of purges that would ultimately cause over 15 million Soviet citizens to vanish without a trace.

01:10:46.320 - 01:10:58.640

The Mennonites, who dared to stand up for their belief in God and for refusing to fight in the army, were obvious targets for the secret police. It was always in the night they came,

01:10:58.640 - 01:11:08.040

when it was dark and nobody in. We knew already when this black-- we called him Black Raven. A car like that came to the village.

01:11:08.040 - 01:11:18.160

Some fathers would be missing the next morning. And we were here, we had seen the black raven come into the village that night, and we were wondering whose house would it be.

01:11:18.160 - 01:11:37.040

And that one night it was ours. And then my father was taken away to jail. - Stalin tried very hard to break the back of anyone who believed in God.

01:11:39.800 - 01:11:48.960

I stayed there for three months. I was terribly tortured. - Churches were devastated. Their buildings closed.

01:11:48.960 - 01:11:58.160

Leaders taken. In the old colony of Cortice, 465 men were either exiled or imprisoned in one year alone.

01:11:58.160 - 01:12:21.560

Most were never seen again. He came back an old man, and broken spirit, white hair. And he was only 55 at that time when he came back. But he looked like a very old man.

01:12:21.560 - 01:12:43.360

But a man from the village had saved him, Otherwise he would have gone to Siberia, like many other men had to go. That night they never came back.

01:12:43.360 - 01:12:59.760

- Siberia was used by Stalin as a dumping ground for anyone who refused to fit his communist ideal. Throughout the '30s, more and more Mennonites found themselves exiled to this hostile wasteland.

01:12:59.760 - 01:13:23.200

While Stalin was busy beating the Russian people into submission, another angry voice began to be heard, this time in Germany. Soon the world would once again be at war.

01:13:23.200 - 01:13:37.920

In 1941, the inevitable happened. Hitler ordered his troops into Russia. (explosions booming) It wasn't long before German divisions

01:13:37.920 - 01:13:52.560

were again advancing on the Ukraine. Stalin was all too familiar with the welcome they received in the First Great War. He ordered the immediate evacuation of all Germans

01:13:52.560 - 01:14:04.680

living in southern Russia. The war was violent and costly for each side. Leningrad, Stalingrad, Moscow itself, the battles were fierce and bloody.

01:14:04.680 - 01:14:12.480

Slowly, Russia began to force the Germans back across the border. The doorway out of Russia was beginning quickly to swing shut.

01:14:12.480 - 01:14:29.960

The Mennonites decided to make a run for it. They loaded all they could onto wagons and headed after the retreating German army. Less than two centuries ago, their forefathers

01:14:29.960 - 01:14:40.560

had come to Russia in search of peace. They had found it beyond their wildest expectations. They had watched helplessly as that peace had been violently snatched from them.

01:14:40.560 - 01:14:50.260

Now they were doing everything possible to flee Russia forever. But unknown to them, their destiny was being decided elsewhere.

01:14:50.260 - 01:15:02.000

The war was quickly coming to an end as Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt and Yalta to decide the future of Europe. Stalin was firm about one thing.

01:15:02.000 - 01:15:19.360

He wanted all of the people who'd escaped during the war to be rounded up and brought back to Russia. Roosevelt and Churchill reluctantly agreed. Hundreds of Mennonites were caught in the dragnet

01:15:19.360 - 01:16:02.880

and were forcibly taken back across the border into Russia. Some managed to flee again, but for those Mennonites who were captured, the land that had once been their home became their prison. [ Music ] Today the Nepe River flows as strong and as sure

01:16:02.880 - 01:16:16.660

as it has for centuries. But life along its banks has changed. Its white, sandy beaches have become a favorite playground for vacationers from all over the Soviet Union.

01:16:16.660 - 01:16:28.780

Its waters have been harnessed to power the sprawling new factories in the industrial city of Zaporozhye. For 17 years, John Taves lived in a small village

01:16:28.780 - 01:16:52.860

the Nepper. Now, after 56 years in North America, he's coming back. Back to the place his forefathers called their promised land. Across the water and high up on the hill, the Mennonites that lived during the Golden Age watched silently over the river they loved.

01:16:52.860 - 01:17:14.800

[ Music ] Names from the past, from a time before the days their lives became history. [ Music ] The buildings they built still stand.

01:17:14.800 - 01:17:27.540

The hospitals, the factories, the schools. Some still in use today, but the people that use them now know little about the people who built them or their history.

01:17:27.540 - 01:17:48.000

However, for John Taves as he walks the streets of Gnadenfeld, the past is still very much alive. - I saw people active. I saw the man that was killed when the Red Army came in

01:17:48.540 - 01:18:05.940

from the West End. I thought of the tremendous difficult times that we'd had there, when we had nothing to eat. From September that one year until March

01:18:05.940 - 01:18:23.140

of the following spring, there hadn't been a sign of a loaf of bread anywhere. This came very vividly to my mind. And with that, the suffering of those people

01:18:23.140 - 01:18:41.780

who had lived there, that they endured. There is no Molokshina. There is no old colony, Khorchatsa. - Today, Mennonites are scattered throughout Russia.

01:18:41.780 - 01:18:53.120

Many live in the far off reaches of Siberia, near towns like Omsk and Novosibirsk. Others live further south on the barren plains of Kazakhstan in towns like Karaganda.

01:18:53.120 - 01:19:08.040

Karaganda is a tough, gritty mining town some 5,000 kilometers east of the Dnepr. Life in Karaganda centers around the mines. There's only one reason why Karaganda exists,

01:19:08.040 - 01:19:15.180

and that's coal. Those who live there say that it's a place you don't choose to go to. It's a place that they send you.

01:19:15.180 - 01:19:28.940

The first Mennonites arrived here in the late '30s. Others followed after the fateful Yalta Agreement. John Taves has traveled halfway around the world to this place to meet his brother.

01:19:28.940 - 01:19:58.760

A brother he hasn't seen for over 56 years. We were very close, my brother and I, always. A moment of heaven on earth, it has been for me to see my brother.

01:19:58.760 - 01:20:16.940

The tremendous inner joy and satisfaction. That's what it has meant to me. (birds chirping) Each year, there are fewer and fewer Mennonites

01:20:16.940 - 01:20:29.700

in Karaganda who remember what life was like in Russia before the wars and the revolution. For several generations, they have known no other home. There are 5,000 people in Karaganda

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that can claim Mennonite background, that is, claim it if they want to. For the majority of them, the pressures of the state, The advancement given to party members,

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the thrill of being a part of the great communist experiment have shaken them loose from the faith of their fathers. Some turn toward God and become fastened in their faith. Others turn the other way.

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It is a kind of a division. It had, in that respect, a kind of cleansing effect upon the community as a whole. (speaking in foreign language)

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- But some still dare to hold onto that tradition of faith. (choir singing in foreign language) - Deep down in my heart, I always was convinced there was a God and there was a truth that was higher than us and in leading and that

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has really helped me. Faith has been the enduring strength of the Mennonites of Russia. Faith that has survived the flames of persecution. Faith that led them across Europe and into Russia. Faith that held firm during the terrible years of war and revolution, of famine and purge.

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I always believed in that verse, "All things work together for good unto those that love the Lord." And always something good turned out. It's through suffering when you have lost everything and have nothing to look back on or nothing to stand on, then many people do turn to God.

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If any one people have the right to ask God why, in spite of their faith, they still suffer, the Mennonites do. Some have asked the question and heard nothing. Others have asked and now understand.

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The early Christians in Rome were thrown before the animals. People sat there and watched them being torn to pieces. Undoubtedly, these people, these Christians, they prayed to God, they were afraid of their death, they asked Him to prevent this tragedy, but their prayer was not fulfilled.

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They may have too, as just, how can we explain that? But when we look back over the 2,000 years, we see that these people did not die in vain. They were actually the seed of the church, you know, their blood that they shed at that time has strengthened untold generations, gave faith and confidence to millions of others.

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It was a witness. [singing] >>God can comfort us, and so in turn we can comfort other people. I'm thankful for every hard experience I've had in my life.

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Every bit as thankful for all the good experiences I've had in my life. I wouldn't have one of them not to have happened. - Here in Karaganda, there is no wide river like the Neper.

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no giant oak tree to symbolize strength and permanence. These people have lived through a time of great change and it has changed them greatly. Today, instead of huge estates, they live in modest homes.

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Instead of owning entire factories, they work deep in the coal mines of Karaganda. Instead of being thought of as innovative pioneers, they are ridiculed for their faith.

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If their experiences in Russia have taught them one lesson, it's that there is no such thing as permanence, at least in this life. The only true security comes from faith in God.

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This truth has brought a new golden age to the Mennonites of Russia, not a golden age made up of estates and farms and factories, but a golden age of the spirit,

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a golden age of faith. (gentle music) [Music] (dramatic music)

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♪ (dramatic music) (dramatic music) ♪♪ ♪♪

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[Music] (music) (gentle music) [Music]

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[Music] (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)

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(gentle music) (gentle music) [Music] [Music]

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[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [BLANK_AUDIO]