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Mennonite Heritage Centre news

Goossen family photos

The Mennonite Heritage Centre recently acquired 31 high quality photographs of the Jacob Johann Goossen (1858–1920) and Aganetha Kaethler (1861–1946) family. These were donated by John Enns. The Goossens owned the large Wintergruen estate which was about 30 verst away from Schoensee, Molotschna. Jacob and Aganetha had thirteen children, seven of which survived early childhood. In 1906 the family took a first class holiday to Europe and the USA to avoid difficulties in Russia immediately after the Russo–Japanese War. They visited family and friends in North America and returned to Wintergruen in June 1907. The family continued to live at the estate until October 1918 when they left for their own safety. On December 10, 1918 the estate was pillaged by Machno bandits. Jacob Goossen died in 1920 and the situation in Russia continued to become more desperate. In 1922 daughter Maria left Russia to join her fiancé A.A. Friesen in Canada who was a prominent member on the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization. On June 21, 1924 the family sold their last cow, the little furniture they had, and boarded a train in Lichtenau, Molotschna immigrating to Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan. For more information on this family see Daydreams & Nightmares; Life on the Wintergruen Estate, by Helena Goossen Friesen.

The Jacob Johann Goossen family photo taken in the family garden on the Wintergruen estate. Back row: Maria (1889–1934), Aganetha (1885–1934), Katharina (1887–1904). Front row: Anna (1897–1922), Aganetha (Kaethler) Goossen (1861–1946), Johann (1899–1979), Jacob (1858–1920), Helena (1895–1985), Elise (1890– ).

Video review

Women of Courage. An address by Marlene Epp on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the post World War II Mennonite immigration to Canada, at the Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach, MB, in the summer of 1998 / videotaped, edited and produced by Otto Klassen.

Reviewed by Gerhard Ens of Winnipeg, MB.

We all know, of course, that videotaping a public address too often simply results in yet another “speaking head” depiction, but somehow this is the only way we Mennonites can preserve and popularize events of historical importance.

Marlene Epp is the daughter of the well known late Mennonite historian, Dr. Frank H. Epp. As she says in this video: “I grew up in a home where we lived and breathed Mennonite history.” A few years ago she undertook a significant research project on a subject in which relatively little was known objectively, namely of the fate of women without men – the women of the latest major wave of immigration to Canada during the decade of 1948–1958.

A very large number of the women of this migration had lost husbands, brothers and sons in Stalin’s infamous purges during the years of 1937 and 1938 and to the armed forces of both the Soviet Union and Germany who simply conscripted them into military service. In her research Ms. Epp has interviewed scores of these women some forty years after they were “widowed” and has written a book titled “Courageous Women”.

Marlene Epp is a superb reporter. We sense that the subject is very close to her heart and are therefore not surprised when she reveals that her own mother-in-law is, in fact, one of these women. Her matter-of-fact reporting style, with only the odd catch in her voice betraying the poignancy of the subject matter, makes the whole subject stark and surrealistic. “We will never find out how many of these women were raped”, Ms Epp says. “They simply refuse to talk about that. Whenever one opens up a little, we find that the women endured this ultimate degradation of their bodies as a act of protection for their children or as the only means of survival in a world gone absolutely mad.” What added insult to injury, Ms. Epp reports further, was the lack of empathy and understanding when they came to meet their unscathed relatives in Canada. “And yet”, Ms. Epp reports, “it is absolutely marvelous how faith not only survived in this climate, but was actually strengthened and passed on to fatherless children growing up under these conditions.

This video is an eye opener of endless fascination. Otto Klassen has once again produced a “simple” video with astonishing effect. He has skillfully woven into the texture of Ms. Epp’s report footage from his extensive film library depicting women in the Great Trek managing teams of horses and repairing vehicles while at the same time nursing their children, cooking for their families, bedding down the infirmed and, most heart breaking of all, burying the dead along the endless trek.

The video is available at the MHC, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M4 for $15.00 plus postage and handling.

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