When my parents Heinrich Neufeld and Helene Winter decided to get married, the church in Neuenburg, Ukraine had been closed by the communist government and not a preacher was left in the village. Heinrich’s brother Johann and sister-in-law Maria were the last couple able to get married a few weeks earlier in nearby Chortitza.
They heard that there might still be a minister left in the neighbouring village of Rosenthal about nine kilometers south. Helene’s Uncle Peter (her foster father), left by foot a few days before and returned with the news that Rev. Johann Neufeld was hiding out at his son’s place, having left his own village fleeing for his life. Times were getting worse daily and most ministers and thousands of others were being sent to the mines and forests of Siberia to work as slave labour under horrible conditions, from which only a very few ever returned.
Rev. Neufeld told Uncle Peter that he didn’t know what would happen to him from one day to the next, but if he would come on the 17th of November and arrive and leave in the dark he would perform the marriage if he was still around.
They set off by foot mid afternoon with a small suitcase which contained Helene’s black baptism dress (yes, black was the style in that period), a veil trimmed with myrrh (greenery) and the traditional white bow with long ties for Heinrich. Helene’s aunt Katharine Winter came along as their witness.
The house was all black as heavy blankets were hung in front of the windows to hide any light showing to the outside. They were married in a tiny room which contained one chair and a table. Around it stood the bridal couple, the minister, his wife and their witness. The room was dimly lit but Rev. Neufeld knew the vows and Bible verses off by heart so he didn’t need to read them.
Rev. Neufeld had no legal documents with him; a slip of paper was all he could present. The official marriage certificate was issued twelve years later in Germany by Ältester Heinrich Winter, Helene’s uncle.
These were such dangerous times that when the three of them went to leave, the Neufeld’s gave them their Schlorre (slippers) to wear. When they got past the garden they were to throw them back and put on their own shoes so that the tracks could not be traced to visitors.
They walked back to Neuenburg after this, tired and stressed but happy and in love. The next day their friends and relatives gathered at the Winter family home for a wedding feast. The meal was followed by singing and later a dance was held at the village clubhouse. In order to attend the wedding, the guests were permitted a rare afternoon off from the Kochose (communal farm), where everyone had to work and Heinrich was head of the tractor brigade.
So began a marriage that lasted sixty-two years with the death of Helene in 1997 and Heinrich in 2000. They were blessed with five children (two passed away in infancy) and a good life in this wonderful country of Canada for fifty-two years.
Submitted by daughter Erna Neufeld Tiessen
ET 2008
