This is a copy of a photo showing families boarding a freight train car in preparation to leave Russia in the 1920s. About four families lived in one of these small freight cars for about two weeks en route to Riga, providing their own food along the way. Photograph in Gerhard Lohrenz, HERITAGE REMEMBERED: A Pictorial Survey of Mennonites in Prussia and Russia, revised and enlarged (Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1977), 264.
This is composite image of the passport photos of some of the Susanna Funk family members (daughter and sons with spouses) that emigrated from Russia to Canada. They came in three separate groups, two in July 1923 and one in December 1926.
Postcard of a gate at the border of the Soviet Union, probably at Latvia. The view is looking towards the Soviet Union. Neufeld relatives of the Penner family crossed through this gate in 1924. Description accompanying photograph reads: "Gate exiting Russia that Oma and Opa Neufeld's train passed through, 1924." "Oma and Opa Neufeld" are Peter Neufeld and Gertrude (Fast) Neufeld. The writing on the arch (in Russian) translates, in part: "SSSR: Greetings to the workers of the West." On the columns supporting the arch, the left one translates "Long live the commune." The right one translates "Death to capitalism." The writing on the bottom, likely in Latvian, possibly refers to the Latvian town of Zilupe on the Russian border.
This is a photo of Mennonites in Southern Russia boarding trains. They were leaving for Canada. Parting was bitter. Many knew that it was for life. [HR 264]
Maxwell H. Kratz was one of three men elected to the first Mennonite Central Committee on 27 September 1920. He was active in the leadership of MCC during its first projects of Russian relief, the purchase of land in Paraguay, and its incorporation. IX-02 includes Maxwell H. Kratz's MCC correspondence 1921-1934 related to 62 Russian refugees immigrating to the U.S. from Constantinople (present Istanbul, Turkey) and refugee immigration to Paraguay.
