Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100

Art gallery nurtures connections with the past

“Gate to the Past” by Renate Dau Klaassen. (Photo courtesy of Renate Dau Klaassen)

Marjorie Wall Hofer admires Leah Klassen’s painting “In the Garden.” (Photo by Maria H. Klassen)

“Memory of Home” by Martin Klaassen. (Photo courtesy of Renate Dau Klaassen)

An art gallery lines the hallway between the sanctuary and the auditorium of the Niagara United Mennonite Church near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The art hanging there reminds viewers of God’s guidance through difficult times, including separation, loss and escape.

MoM 100: Using technology to bring Mennonite history to life

Brent Wiebe with his wife, Gail (l). (Photo by John Longhurst)

It’s impossible today to see what the former Mennonite homes, schools, churches and villages in Ukraine looked like in the past—back when they were full of family, farm and business life.

But by using modern technology, Brent Wiebe is giving it a good try. 

Wiebe, a member of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta, is using things like 3D scanning, virtual environments and computer animation to help people in the 21st century see what life was like for Mennonites over 100 years ago.

MoM 100: Tour like a pilgrimage for young adult

Emily Friesen. (Photo by John Longhurst)

For Emily Friesen, the Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour was like a pilgrimage.

“As I travelled on the tour, I kept thinking about what it meant for our ancestors to make this journey,” said Friesen, 28, a textile artist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

She had read about her great-grandfather’s travels from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1927 before going on the tour.

MoM 100: Jews and Mennonites in the Soviet Union 100 years ago

Daniel Dekel-Chen. (Photo courtesy of John Longhurst)

One thing participants in the Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour have been reminded during the trip is that the experiences facing their ancestors in the Soviet Union were not unique. Other groups also faced hardship and crisis there at the same time.

This was a point underscored by Jonathan Dekel-Chen of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem at “The Russlaender Mennonites: War, Dislocation, And New Beginnings,” a July 14-15 conference at the University of Winnipeg.

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Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100
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MoM 100: Author Sarah Klassen shares about her book The Russian Daughter

Author Sarah Klassen (right). (Photo by John Longhurst)

“I think of my novel as a migration narrative.”

That’s what author Sarah Klassen said about her new book, The Russian Daughter, at “The Russlaender Mennonites: War, Dislocation, And New Beginnings,” a July 14-15 conference at the University of Winnipeg.

Klassen, the award-winning author of 12 books, was interviewed by Canadian Mennonite University English professor Sue Sorensen.

“There’s a connection between my novel and the anniversary,” she said, noting how the main characters “have to face a question our ancestors faced in 1920s: To leave or to stay?”

Train trip to mark 100th anniversary of Mennonites coming to Canada from Soviet Union

The Fairmont Château Frontenac, first stop on the “Russlaender 100.” (Photo by Billy Wilson, Flickr)

One hundred years ago, the first of 21,000 Mennonites who left the former Soviet Union boarded a train in Quebec City for new lives across Canada. On July 6, some of their descendants, along with others, will replicate that journey. Over 120 people have signed up for all or parts of, “Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100,” a three-stage train trip from Quebec City to Abbotsford, B.C.

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