Looking out for my brothers”: “Mary Neumann’s recollections of B.B. Janz

Her apartment in the heart of Abbotsford is well-appointed, full of natural light, and feminine. Pictures of her family of origin, her wedding, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – her treasures on earth – adorn the walls.

Mary Neumann greets me with a hug, “My good friend’s daughter has come to visit me.” She is shrunk at over 90 years, but her eyes are as bright as ever. I remember her from my childhood, as the storekeeper’s wife from Arnold, B.C., not realizing until much later that she is the daughter of Mennonite statesman B.B. Janz, to whom many of us owe gratitude for being in Canada.

When asked for impressions of her father, she does not hesitate. “I loved my father very much,” she says, “so the least I can do is tell about him.”

I was born in a village in Ukraine called Tiege, where our father B.B. Janz was the teacher. At school Papa was my teacher and I didn’t know what to call him, so I didn’t call him anything. At home, he played the violin while he taught us many songs, and he also had us perform in front of the school. He read us stories and got quite emotional during the sad parts. We little girls all cried, too. Then he was called for his two years of alternative military service in the forest, and was rarely home. On one of his visits, he brought me a doll cradle of woven twigs that he had made during the cold, dark and lonely winter nights.

Revolution, civil war, forced collection of grain and produce, Makhno’s massacres, famine and disease began to decimate the country and the Mennonite villages. B.B. Janz, ordained as a minister in 1909, felt an overwhelming responsibility to help his people. He corresponded with American Mennonites about the plight of their brothers and sisters in Europe, and chaired the “Union of Descendants of Dutch Lineage,” the foremost Mennonite political organization in Russia at that time. By 1921, he was chief negotiator and diplomat, trying to negotiate the release of Mennonite youth conscripted into the Red army, and clearing the way for American Mennonite relief agencies to send food to the starving colonies. (This was the beginning of what would be Mennonite Central Committee.)

When the poor years came and food was scarce, I remember mother and we children standing as we always did, to say grace before the meal. Mother said “Amen,” and suddenly she fell to the floor. She had given what food there was to us, and had fainted from hunger. One day when father was home, an American visitor entered our little house. Oh, how wonderful he looked with beautiful clothes, shiny shoes, lovely things, and he was so well groomed! Father had been begging for bread from his “brothers” in America, and this man had been sent to see conditions in Russia. Soon we had a food kitchen in the local school, as did most of the Mennonite villages, and the neediest, mostly children and the elderly, could receive a meal a day. What joy!

The B. B. Janz family. Mary is front centre.

Foreseeing a bleak future for Mennonites in Russia, B.B. Janz was the first leader to seriously explore emigration. His tenacity and integrity gave him influence with Russian authorities. During this time, he was usually away from his family, in meetings in Charkov or Moscow. When he was home, the house was always full of people seeking his help to emigrate.

We began to dread it whenever dad was home. We were five children and two parents in a little house, and my sisters and I slept on the “pull-out” bench beneath the front room settee. We could not go to bed until the last visitor had decided to leave!

One day, a Communist friend came to my father and said, “Janz, it is high time that you get out of this country, because they are looking for you!” Dad bought his visa in a different city and came to say good-by. He returned to Moscow with his hat deep over his forehead and his collar up, and left on the train for Latvia. Months later, we also left. How quiet it was on the train as we neared the border and the train went slower and slower. Praise God, the train was not stopped. Men threw their hats in the air, and we sang, “Now Thank We All Our God”! Arrangements had been made for us to travel to Southampton, England, and as our ship docked, Father appeared on the deck. What a reunion!

The family settled in Coaldale, Alberta, where B.B.Janz became the leading minister of the Mennonite Brethren church there. His work on behalf of his people continued as he travelled for the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, helped found a Bible school and high school in Coaldale, and served on boards such as MCC, Christian Press and the Canadian MB Conference. He is still lauded for what he did for the larger community; by his daughter he is also remembered, however, because of music, stories and a doll cradle.

Left, the 3 remaining Janz siblings: (l–r) Mary Neumann, Jake Janz, Martha Dueck at the dedication of the Janz memorial, Coaldale, Alta., August 2002.

Helen Rose Pauls is a member of Sardis (B.C.) Community Church. Mary Neumann’s memories of B.B. Janz are taken from an interview, the Canadian Mennonite Encyclopedia, and a speech she wrote for her 90th birthday.