“This film documents the spiritual battles and sufferings of Mennonites in Soviet Russia from the introduction of the first Five-Year Plan in October 1928 to the end of the Great Terror in 1938. Soviet plans for the complete collectivization of agriculture, the elimination of so-called ‘kulaks’ and the closing of all churches struck a hard blow to the traditional Mennonite way of life.” The film covers information such as the Mennonites that left the Soviet Union, as well as those who remained and suffered in Northern Russia, Siberia, and Kolyma. Other details include life in the collective farms, round ups of the secret police with results of exile to camps or death. The story is told by Otto Klassen derived from personal experience, and includes photographs and film footage from the times in discussion. The film belongs to a series of five that explains history from 1789-1945.
Remembering Russia 1914-1927 – War and the End of Mennonite Tranquility: (2006) (43 min.)
“The Mennonites in Southern Russia, present-day Ukraine had become affluent. They worked hard in their tight-knit communities, bound by a common language and faith. The level of cultural and social achievement had surpassed their Russian neighbors. For most Mennonites, life was what they made it, largely undisturbed by national or international events.” In the years leading up to Russia’s joining of the war in 1914, social, economic and political changes broke down Tsarist regime authority. The film covers all of this information, along with the ways that the 1917 Russian Revolution occurred. Following this, was the civil war which had many negative affects on the Mennonites. As a result, Mennonites fled to Canada. Much of this knowledge is of firsthand experience re-visited by Otto Klassen.