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Mennonite statesman

J. M. Klassen

David Toews Was Here 1870–1947 Harder, Helmut. Winnipeg, Man.: CMBC Publications, 2002. 347 pp., $24.00.

The author, Helmut Harder, professor emeritus of the Canadian Mennonite University, was born in Manitoba in 1934 of immigrant parents. He served as professor of theology at Canadian Mennonite Bible College until 1990 and was general secretary of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada from 1990 to 1999.

Harder traces the life of David Toews from his birth in 1870 in Lysanderhoehe in the Mennonite settlement am Trakt, Samara, to Turkestan, Kansas, Manitoba, Tiefengrund and Rosthern, Saskatchewan where he died in 1947. In this meticulously researched, carefully footnoted, and illustrated book, the author describes the path taken by this courageous and passionate man from childhood and youthful adventurer, to student, teacher, pastor, visionary negotiator, tireless traveller and senior elder statesman. Undaunted, this humble servant negotiated the cause of oppressed Mennonites in the Soviet Union with Canadian government officials, including Prime Minister McKenzie King and Colonel Dennis of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He signed on the line promising payment of the enormous travel debt to bring more than 20,000 Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada between 1923 and 1930. Not only was he concerned about Mennonites in the Soviet Union, but also about individuals who could not pass the Canadian medical requirements and were left behind in Europe, and the mentally ill who had to be placed into hospitals here in Canada. The Great Depression and the drought of the 30s made repayment of the Reiseschuld (travel debt) extremely difficult. Often discouraged by opposition from his critics, Toews placed his confidence in God and in His people, believing that they would accept responsibility for repayment of the debt. He encouraged, prodded, sometimes chided, Mennonites in Canada and the United States to be generous and to keep their commitment to pay the debt, to care for the sick and suffering and not to neglect the support of education and the creation of schools.

As church elder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBC), leader of Rosthern Junior College, conference leader and prolific writer in Der Bote, he had little time to devote to his family and to provide for their support. Too often the Toews family was in debt, not because of sloth or mismanagement, but because those pioneer days were difficult for all Mennonites. Churches had not yet learned to provide adequate support for their leaders. A house fire and the resulting tragic death of their youngest daughter, Irene, and injuries to others in the family, added to the burden. Harder does well to recognize the devoted and selfless support of his wife, Margarete, whom David missed terribly after she died in 1941.

This book is a tribute to a man who has done so much for Mennonites. As I read this story tears welled up in my eyes. I was among those fortunate ones who were rescued via Moscow and Germany in 1929–30. We couldn’t make the final payment of our Reiseschuld until March 21, 1945. I believe that those of us, and the descendants of those, who benefited from Toews’s work would be particularly interested in reading this book.

For me, this book has further significance. David Toews led the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBC) which eventually became the Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council (CMRIC) under the leadership of J.J. Thiessen. I succeeded J.J. Thiessen in 1963. When MCC Canada was formed in 1963, I became its first Executive Director. When I retired from MCCC I came by the old oak office desk which I had used at CMRIC and at MCCC and which, before me, had been used by J.J. Thiessen and, perhaps, by David Toews. When I see this book on my desk now, I think that the title is most appropriate: David Toews was here.

J.M. Klassen is a member of River East MB Church, Winnipeg.

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Last modified December 2, 2002.

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