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CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Vivid stories of Mennonites caught in war

Ken Reddig

Road to Freedom: Mennonites Escape the Land of Suffering Harry Loewen, ed. Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora Press; co-published with Herald Press, 2000. Hardcover. 302 pp. $39.50.

Books that surprise you by their stories as well as the people you know in them are always of interest to me. Reading Road to Freedom proved to be such an experience.

I was amazed at the stories. Having grown up in the aftermath of World War II, I knew some of the stories of post-war Mennonites in Russia and Germany. Because my family is entirely descended from immigrants that came to North America in the 1870s, these stories were detached from my own family experience.

Another surprise was finding out that some of the people I sit with in church are those who made their way to North America by walking the arduous route from Russia through eastern Europe and into Germany. To read their stories, and hear of the pain they went through, was a revelation to me. The stories that made the most significant impression on me were those of the women. Their strength, endurance and capacity to absorb hatred, fear and abuse are indelibly etched into my memory.

The book begins with a brief report of the 50-year reunion/celebration held in the summer 1998, commemorating the arrival of these refugee/immigrants in Canada. This section is replete with photos of the two major Manitoba events. The next section, written by Harry Loewen, is a concise history of Mennonites in imperial Russia and sets the stage for the remainder of the book – the stories and pictures of dozens of individuals and families who trekked from Russia to German refugee camps in 1943.

Well edited and amply illustrated, Road to Freedom vividly details the stories of individuals caught in the sobering reality of war. This book is not about geo-political conflicts; it is about ordinary people who are victims of a major international conflict. It reminds us that when we read or hear of major conflicts in the news, behind each conflict is the reality that many innocent people are being hurt or killed. The stories in this book graphically reveal how people managed to survive, as well as the importance of their incredible faith in Christ that sustained them during their darkest hours.

I encourage churches to have a copy of this book available. It lends itself well for use in adult Sunday school classes, and the stories of children in war situations could be carefully used in elementary and youth classes.

Ken Reddig is a Mennonite historian currently serving as director of Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba. He is a member of McIvor Ave. MB Church in Winnipeg.

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Last modified January 8, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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