Katharina Janzen

born in Memrick, Molotschna Colony in 1910

My father was Jacob Janzen, who died in 1941, and my mother was a Martens who died in 1943. My siblings were Jacob, Dietrich, Peter, Justina, Maria and two half sisters, Lena and Annie.

John Janzen, born in 1907, and I were married in 1933 in the beautiful, large Mennonite church built in 1898 in Kalinovka, Memrick. Reverend Jacob Dyck married us. The village had a Mennonite Brethren church as well.

We lived there until the beginning of WWII in 1941 when John was drafted into the Russian army. Our son John remembers how everyone was crying when his father put on his jacket and they took him away. One year later, my husband joined the German army where he was a translator. Our children, John and Jacob, and I then lived with John's parents. Kiev was bombed by the Germans. In November of 1941 my children and I, along with my husband's parents, were sent to Siberia. Our train had forty cars with about three families in each car, plus eight cars at the rear carrying German and Russian prisoners.

Each car contained several boards on the sides to sit or sleep on and one pail. We took as much food with us as we had time to prepare. We had butchered a pig in advance with our relatives, the Schellenbergs, which we cooked and fried and packed as well as possible. We used newspapers, rags and whatever we had to wrap the meat. We got water whenever the train stopped. We had taken one plate and one cup and cutlery for each family member.

We needed to make stops along the way so the entire trip took one month. Our train was hit by a bomb, killing many passengers. Our car was spared and our boys, six and four years old, stayed healthy throughout the trip. The Schellenbergs were not so fortunate. They had four children: Hans, Peter, Lena and Anna. Peter and Anna, both toddlers, died of cold and hunger. When the train stopped, a hole was dug and the children were buried.

And Uncle Schellenberg got caught under the train's wheels and was cut into pieces.

We finally arrived at the Kolchos (collective farm). Shortly thereafter, my father-in-law, Jacob Janzen died suddenly at 64 years. We searched for a doctor in the nearby Russian village but found none. We dug a hole and lined it with boards that we found, then we placed straw into the grave. My mother-in-law Lena Schellenberg Janzen died later in Siberia, as well.

We didn't hear from my husband until the early 1950s. He had come to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from Germany in 1948. Aunt Anna Warkentin, who was a cousin of Cornie Driedger's mother, wrote to Russia to her sister, who in turn wrote to us saying that my husband was still living. In 1956 we got a letter saying that John had moved to Leamington, Ontario where he lived with Sawatzky's on John Street. He had found work at the Heinz company driving a lift truck and was an active member and Vorsänger (song leader) at the Leamington United Mennonite Church.

On June 7, 1966, I was able to come to Canada with my son Jacob. Here we were reunited with my husband and Jake's father after a separation of 25 years. My husband died several months after our arrival, in October of 1966. John and Erma came to Canada with their three children seven years later, in 1973.

Today I am a resident of the Leamington Mennonite Home where I am lovingly cared for. My family consists of my two sons, their wives, six grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.

AK 2008

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