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This photo is of seven of Elfrieda (Gossen) Dyck’s school mates from her grade 8 class at the school in Halbstadt who came to visit her in Ladekopp in the summer of 1943. Their names are, left to right standing: Astra Sparwirt, Irene Euteneier, Victor Bergen and Lilie Schatschneider. Left to right sitting are: Elfrieda Gossen, Frieda Schwitay, Mariechen Regehr, Lydia Geyer. Victor was the only boy in their class of 13 students. His mother was Ukrainian and his father a Mennonite.

A sewing class in the home of the instructor. Alida’s mother, Anna Unruh is seated at her sewing machine on the left. The other young women in the class are: (clockwise, left to right) Alice Hiller, Froescher, Herta Dause, Lena Suderman, the instructor, Irma Martens, Kasianj. The name of the young woman seated in the front is not known.

The Mennonite Church (General Conference) choir in Kleefeld. Peter Peters, the leader of the choir and maternal grandfather of Marg Boldt may be the man seated in the middle of the middle row (4th from the right).

Choir of the Schoensee Mennonite Brethren Church. In second row from the bottom, 4th from the left (sitting) is Johann Bartels, leader of the choir and lay minister. To his right, 5th from the left is Jakob Brauer, a minister. Four of Anna Wall’s siblings, a brother-in-law and two cousins are on this photo. They are identified as follows:

Greta Bartels, daughter of Johann Bartels is 3rd from left in the front row.
Tina Wall, sister to Anna is 2nd from left in the 2nd row, up from the bottom of the photo. (Tina lives in St. Catharines as well and at present is 95 years of age.)
Lena Wall, sister to Anna is 1st at the left in the 3rd row, up from the bottom of the photo.
Sara Hamm, the oldest sister of Anna is the 6th from the left, in the 3rd row, up from the bottom of the photo.
Nicolas Hamm, husband of Sara is the 5th from the left in the 4th (top) row.
Abram Wall (Jr.), brother of Anna, is 7th from the left in the 4th (top) row.
Kornelius Bartels, son of Johann Bartels, the choir leader is the 8th from the left in the 4th (top) row.

This photo is of The Mennonite Church (General Conference) choir in Kleefeld. Peter Peters, the leader of the choir and maternal grandfather of Marg Boldt may be the man seated in the middle of the middle row (4th from the right).

The Unruh Family, parents and 8 children, their ages given in brackets. Seated (left to right): David (20); the mother, Maria (nee Schellenberg); the father, Heinrich (59); Abraham (14). Standing (left to right): Maria (11); Peter (16); Erna Neumann (wife of David); Anna (25), Alida’s mother; Helena (26); Heinrich (23); Kaethe (10). Alida’s grandfather, Heinrich Unruh, returned home to his family on Dec. 31, 1938 after enduring 6 years of hard labour in a prison camp (Gefangenschaft). The entire family had suffered serious consequences due to his imprisonment. The four oldest siblings had to work at manual labour however received only 50% of their wages because they were considered “enemies of the people”. Ten-year-old Kaethe has the distended belly of malnutrition. She was also quite ashamed of her underpants, which were her brother’s cut-off pants and are visible under the dress. This photo was published in: Harry Loewen, ed. Road to Freedom, Mennonites Escape the Land of Suffering (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2000), p.66.

Parents of the Schoensee Mennonite Brethren Church choir members. In second row from top the man at the far left is Johann Bartels, leader of the choir and lay minister. In front of him is his wife Anna (Martens) Bartels. Beside him (to the right) are Anna Wall’s parents, Abraham Abram and Helena Wall. Anna is the only young child in the photo. She is sitting on her mother’s knee.

The young Unruh family. Heinrich and Maria Unruh, grandparents of Alida, are pictured with (left to right) Helene aged 3, baby Heinrich 6 months, and two year old Anna (mother of Alida). This photo was taken when grandfather had come home on leave from the medical corps during WW I.

The property of Gerhard Klassen in Rückenau, a house with two gates. Mr. Klassen owned the General Store where Elvera’s father, Jakob Bergen and her uncle, Martin Duerksen worked. The Duerksen family lived there and Elvera’s family lived there as well after fleeing from Blumenort for safety. Mathilda and Martin Duerksen stand in the middle of the picture by the gate. At the other gate, to the left are two of their children Gerhard and Anna (called Njuta).

A three story pharmacy building. The name on the building is: Association of J. A. Pekker or Pekkerl. Workers are standing in front of the building. Jakob Barkowsky, Rita's grandfather was the son of Michael
Barkowsky, who was apparently very poor and died while quite young. Of the four children, only the youngest was able to remain with the mother. Jakob was taken in by a Pekker family in Tiegenhagen for whom he then worked.