It has been
a week of new adventures. While we might have a basic plan for the day, the
events often unfold in surprising ways.
This week was no exception to that rule.
Last Sunday
we were invited to attend the service at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in
Tokmak. After the service, they were
going to have a light lunch for everyone and then have a “round table”
discussion with us. There was no clue for us as to what the topic of the
discussion would be. It turns out they
were just curious about us and had many questions. The questions included: what are Mennonites,
what were our ancestors doing in this area of Ukraine, and why did they leave. They were all reasonable questions from
people who had limited knowledge of their local history but were curious as to
why the Mennonite Centre exists. I have
gotten used to giving a two minute history of Mennonites including why our
ancestors moved to Ukraine.
The question
as to why the Mennonites left Ukraine gets into a delicate area. History has many changing perspectives in
defining who are the “good guys” and who are the “bad guys”. My parents knew exactly who the “bad guys”
were. They were the bandits that
plundered, murdered and raped the Mennonite villages during the unrest of the
Civil War in 1917-1921. The bad guys
were also the communist authorities that destroyed the Mennonite way of
life. The current local population will
have had a life time of learning in schools that the bad guys were the “kulaks”
(rich people) who got their wealth by stealing from the poor. As there is no common understanding of who
the “bad guys” are, there is no point in using labels in describing
anybody. I did acknowledge the
disruption and hurts of the Civil War without trying to pass judgement on
anybody and how that resulted in 20,000 Mennonites leaving Ukraine for Canada
in the 1920’s. I also described how the
events of World War II resulted in all remaining Mennonites leaving the area, either
voluntarily or forcibly.
Deep in Discussion |
I also had a
question for them. For people who had
grown up under communism, which actively promoted an atheist way of life, I
asked them why they were attending a church and if they could give me a glimpse
into their faith journey. Most answers
were a bit of a cop-out as they described why they left the Orthodox Church to
join the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church.
A few did attempt to address my question of why they had a faith
life. For some there had been a parental
influence, one person referenced a radio program that got her started, and a
number commented on the warm influence of Father Taras, their young priest. It was a beautiful warm conversation that we
all enjoyed.
Group with Father Taras at the End |
On Sunday
afternoon we took a drive with George Dyck out to the south-east area of the former
Molotschna settlement to look at some Mennonite villages. This included the village of Alexanderthal,
my father’s ancestral village. I had
been there a number of times and was recognized by one of the locals. We continued on to the site of the former
Steinbach estate where we turned around to retrace our steps back to the
highway. As we drove back through
Alexanderthal we were waved down by a man I had never seen before. He must have heard that there were Mennonite tourists
in the area and desperately wanted to show us a photograph. It was an old picture of a class of children
posing with their teacher. We took a picture
of his photo. George Dyck posted the
picture on Facebook on a site dedicated to Mennonite genealogy and within an
hour the photo had been identified. It
was the 1938 class in the Alexanderthal School. As the entire population of the village was
forcibly moved east to Kazakhstan in October 1941, one has to wonder about the
irony of the children with smiles on their faces. Many of them would not have survived the
forced relocation. Now I must go back to Alexanderthal someday with
an interpreter to find out how that man got the picture.
Class of 38 |
On Tuesday
morning we had an appointment to explore the tunnels under the former Mennonite
Credit Union building. A number of
people from town had expressed an interest in joining us. Mary had that look of quiet apprehension
about my joining the group. Oksana was
busy asking if anybody in the group had training in CPR. The director of the Sport’s School (the
Credit Union Building in Mennonite times) wanted us all to sign a statement
releasing her from all responsibility. Otherwise
everything else appeared normal. The
entrance was quite small and I can admit that I felt a bit apprehensive. I decided to deal with my apprehension by
crawling in first. It was a fairly tight
fit but I was assured that the tunnel would be larger than the initial
opening.
Tunnel Opening |
Yes the
tunnel was larger than the initial opening.
While others could walk in a very stooped fashion, I was too tall and
lacked the flexibility to move around as quickly as the others. A more straight forward way of describing it
would be too say that I was too old to be exploring tunnels. I did manage to crawl and see some parts of
the tunnel including a well located inside the tunnel. I was the first to emerge from the tunnel and
did see a look of relief on Mary’s face.
Well in the Tunnel |
The rest of
the crew did a thorough examination of the tunnels and emerged from the depth
with great smiles on their faces. There were 3 parallel tunnels under the Credit
Union building. The disappointing fact
is that despite all the local folklore, we have not seen any evidence that the
tunnels really go beyond the buildings. Further exploration (by others) is
required.
We have less than a week to go before we leave
Molochansk. The time has gone by too
quickly and we sit here wondering if there is some way we could extend our
stay. That would get too complicated, but
it reflects our feelings about the work of the Mennonite Centre.
Contemplating our Future with some Ice Cream |
If you wish
to know more about the work of the Mennonite Centre, you can check out our web
site at: http://www.mennonitecentre.ca/
or follow our daily activities on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Mennonite-Centre-Ukraine-735361069838076/
Why were the tunnels built? What was their purpose?
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