41. Mary’s Memories of Life in the Village of Ebentahl in the Ukraine.

(My Mother, Mary, wrote these notes in 1996 and I added to them from phone converstaions and other notes she had made.)  

  Mary remembers: "Ebenthal was a village with a store, a hospital, a school, and 25 houses.  The family house was right in the village.  At first it was on the edge of town, then many smaller houses were built at ends of the village, so our house was more in the middle of town.  Those who built on the edge of town came from poorer areas and were called ‘anziedler’.  All of the village people were German speaking.  Dycks were our neighbors."
            Ebenthal had an elementary school, kindergarten and six grades, and a secondary school.  These Mennonite run schools were gradually taken over by the state.  The new director was a non-Mennonite and all Mennonite teachers were forced to give up their positions or adjust to the Communist philosophy of education.  By the time Mary was in school all the teaching was controlled by the communists.
            Mary remembers that in school they were told there was no God, and that Stalin would look after them. We were now free people and did not need God. Stalin and Lenin were our saviors, and the anthem they sang in part said "there is no God, no king, no taxman, we the people are in charge."
            Mary remembers Christmas Eve 1928 when she was 10 years old.  "We were living under a communist government.  On Christmas Eve we all had to go to the school for an evening program.  There on the stage was a tall Christmas tree beautifully decorated with candles. The evening was conducted like a "laugh in".  The teachers made jokes of all the Christmas traditions.  We ended the evening singing the song "there is no God, no king, no higher authority, we are the free people."  My sisters and I ran home in the deep snow.
            When we came into the house there was a great smell of fresh baked buns and goodies.  We took off our boots and coats and went into the living room.  There stood the tree our Papa had decorated while we were away.  It had candles and everything beautiful on it.  Oh, how we admired it!  Then Mama took her guitar and we sang "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht"  (Silent Night, Holy Night).  It was my part to recite the Christmas story according to the Gospel of Luke, and my sisters all had recitations to say.  We always believed what our parents taught us and we prayed."
            Mary remembers the family being very close and loving.  "We had kindergarten and school and also a high school and a hospital, but no church. So I only got to go to church twice. We had to drive a long way with horse and buggy. Anyhow, our dear father read Bible stories and sang songs with us as Mother played the guitar."
            "When the Communist government took over it was called the people's government.  At that time all machines stopped making things, so we could only get things from Jewish traveling salesmen, who came through in summer.  These were Jewish tailors who came to their village, made suits for the men, and coats and jackets.  They traveled by camel or bulls or oxen.  There would be a call through the village that the ‘shemaka’ are here, so then we could buy thread, needles, cloth, wool for knitting, and things like that.  They came in covered wagons.  The only way we got news was by someone coming from another village and telling us what was happening, like when the ‘shemaka’ were arriving."        

http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Memrik_Mennonite_Settlement_(Dnipropetrovsk_Oblast,_Ukraine)

              Ebenthal is at the top of this map of the Memrik Settlement and the Russian name Nikolayevka is used. Ebenthal was near the Kharkov/Mariupol Railroad line, 2 miles from the Zhelanaya Train Station.

Courtesy Heritage Remembered p. 95

            Although many of the Mennonites had motor vehicles before the revolution apparently they were confiscated by the communists along with all the wealthy estates in the area.  Mary remembers the horse drawn sled in winter.

             Mary remembers watching for the train a short distance from the village to see when their father would come home from work.               

A Droschka  Picture courtesy of "In The Fullness of Time" p.179

             Peter had a fancy horse drawn carriage called a "droschka" driven by a Russian hired hand that took him to and from the train station.  

This picture has a caption "Ebenthal 1928".
Peter looks the part of a professional business man.             

            Peter was an accountant, so he worked in an office.  He also was the buyer of all the goods for the village General Store which belonged to the communist government. So he had to travel to big cities to buy the goods.       

            "Being an accountant was a public service, and my father was pressured to give communist speeches on May Day, etc. He could not bring himself to make speeches to praise the new communist way of life so when he was scheduled to make a speech he would leave with the excuse that he needed to go to the Black Sea for a cure for his lungs."