Maria Plett 1931 letter

 from Russia to her siblings in Canada

Note: Maria Plett was Frank Klassen's aunt. She was about 54 years at the time of this writing. Maria was a sister to Henry Klassen; her siblings were Johann, Anna, Jacob, Heinrich and Franz Klassen. At the time of this writing Maria was living in Grossweide, Molotschna. Frida, Erna and Hilda were her grandchildren. Anna is Maria's daughter who lived with her. Lena is son Henry's wife: parents of Elsa, Miche and "Bub". Sara is married to Gerhard Kaethler (at that time serving in the army) and lives with her in-laws, with son Rudi. Hans is a movie technician, also at home. Brother Franz is Maria's brother and father of Frank F. Klassen who died of TB in 1935.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Will try to write a letter; waited this long until I could write something pleasant because I think that the letters from here have a sad content and it is well true. But the hardest times are nearly past; we get some things from our garden; when you will read this letter, if it is God's will, we should have bread again. But we have starved very much, you would not recognize me because I have lost so much weight. Now, you must remember my Anna, how slender she was; now I can wear her dresses. She has a very nice jacket for daily use; how often in winter have I wished that I could wear that jacket, but it was not possible, but when it is rainy weather, then I wear it. That gives you an idea how thin I am, and the poor children have cried often because they were hungry, but the Lord has helped us. The children were badly swollen, especially Hildegard who was swollen so badly she could hardly see with her eyes. It hurt my heart. As long as Jesus lives and His strength lifts me, fear and worry must flee and my heart must glow with love. The times, when you were in Gnadenfeld, were not as hard as now; we still had something. For example: chickens and sheep and also cattle that we could slaughter, but now we did not have that, but the Lord has helped us. It is with what the heart is filled that the mouth overflows.

Sister Anna has not suffered quite as much; she told me this week that they have as much bread as they need and did not have to divide it among themselves; though they had to mix cornmeal with it, they were never without. That is quite a bit, and the Duerkzens eat even bread made of wheat flour and also rye bread as much as they want. They also slaughtered pigs; he understands how to get things. _______, this pen writes so poorly, my sight is failing me too and I believe that these hard times that we live in have something to do with it. Until now I used to be able to see very well, and could do everything without glasses.

What do you do, are you working very hard; the boys must be nearly grown up? How large is your family? Will a daughter of yours live? Describe it all to us. I am wishing for a real long letter from you. Is your mother still alive, where does she live, do you have a cow and chickens, do you have fruit? I believe that you have no orchard. Our orchard is beautiful; going into the garden is a feast for the eyes; the beauty of nature, our heart and spirit is thankful for God's nature. We have fruit in our garden but it does not belong to us -- there are many plums but it is all so different. We receive only half of the vegetable garden; the other half is used by others. It all seems to go in disarray, but we have a Leader who controls everything. Yes, how often we felt His presence that is grace, oh, if we did not have it -- how often have we felt that we were at an end but we always received grace again; may the Lord keep us in faith. Another things about our circumstances; I am so alone but have a lot of work, for this year the weeds are done. Today I made some dill pickles. It is going to be a very poor (illegible - weak ink; it indicates as if she means the future). It seems I cannot finish this letter; a month has gone by since I started to write it; sometimes there is no desire to write and other times there is no time. It is time to wake the children and get them ready because they go to the Kinder Garten: Frida and Erna and Hilda go to the cradle class; when they are gone then I can sit down and continue my work undisturbed. I wake them at 8 o'clock. They receive their lunch and a snack at tea time, but it is not the best; always under strange surveillance with 60 other children and only one supervisor - it is Lena Suderman, and yet we have to be satisfied.

Anna leaves for work while we are still asleep. She works in the kitchen that feeds the workers and the school children for 100 men. If there would be enough produce it would not be so hard. She is the Sawedesche (Supervisor). They are well satisfied with her but the poor thing does everything as well as she possibly can. In spring, Anna was sent to work for the Kinder Garten and the Cradle class. It is very hard as she had to cook and bake very small loaves. As Anna got used to it, she could handle it. We have to put her in the large kitchen (it seems to be a comment made by the workers) but as Sawedesche (supervisor) Anna did not like the responsibility because the men were always dissatisfied with the cooks, and that is why Anna did not want to take the work. She went to the doctor and got a note that she was only fit for light work and we were quite satisfied, but at a meeting of the village it was a unanimous vote that she, and only she, was to be the cook, and we worried. They came to Anna and she gave them the Doctor's document. They told her that she did not have to do any work, only see to it that everything was done and keep order. It was an order as things are nowadays; it brought a lot of tears and is hard to overcome. I think that she will not be able to do it; it is impossible. She comes home dead tired every night. She leaves in the morning when we are all still sleeping but the Lord helps those that call on Him for help. She has now worked for a month and they praise her. It is somewhat better; she has to keep many records.

Heinrich is not allowed to work on the Steppe. He is cattle breeder and studied a course in winter and has to work in this region and receives a salary. Lena is not permitted to work; they are in the Zajus (union). Hans has worked longer; he is Kinomechanic (projectionist) and shows pictures in the evening and receives a good salary. The apparatus has to be transferred to different places. Hans rides the bicycle in the evening and returns at night. In winter it is more complicated.

Sara stills lives at Kaethlers, Gerhart is in the military; if everything goes normally he should finish his service in September. Sara is looking forward to the time when they can live together again; she has a neat boy, Rudi. Lena has three children: Elsa, Miche and a boy. She is also always busy; she does not send her children to the cradle class. We also have three children; they are very wild. I always say that they live with the spirit of the modern times.

It seems that it rains every day; we wish for nice sunshine. The crop is poor, the future looks dark and little do we get allotted for our share. The school children have to glean the fields.

The page is full. Received a letter from brother Franz, but it was not a happy one; he is sick. He writes that he had been swollen and that his feet are still badly swollen and that he has to hold them higher than his body and takes baths as hot as he can endure. He also writes about kidney problems.

Aunt Tisen was buried last week; she was 88 years old and her memory was getting poor. The family is saved a heavy burden. Greetings form all also sister Anna. She wants to write to you also.

Sister Maria Plett

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