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01 June 2009
Sheffield graduate unravels the horror of Stalin’s reign
A postgraduate from the University of Sheffield has brought to life the
horror of 1930s Russia during Stalin’s reign through a film and book
documenting the experiences of her extended family of Russian
Mennonites. In the film, Through the Red Gate and the book, ‘Remember
Us’: Letters from Stalin’s Gulag (1930-37), Dr Ruth Derksen Siemens
recounts the discovery of a collection of letters written by a family
exiled to Stalin’s prison camp in the Gulag*.
Historians estimate that 45 to 60 million people lost their lives during
Stalin’s reign, approximately four times the number of people who lost
their lives during the Holocaust, yet very few of the experiences of
these prisoners has been documented, especially in letters.
At the heart of the book and the documentary, and central to Dr
Derksen’s PhD studies at the University of Sheffield, are 463 letters.
The Regehr family (three-year old Jascha, nine-year old Lena, her
twelve-year old sister Tina, older siblings and parents) wrote 131
letters from their prison camp. They knew it was hazardous to write or
receive letters from outside the USSR – NKVD documents verify that it
was a crime to have “contacts abroad”. However, in a testament to the
true human spirit and the need to connect with loved ones, a total of
463 letters did, somehow, travel out of the Gulag through subversive
avenues of mail delivery.
All 463 letters were stored in a Campbell’s Soup box for almost 60 years
before they were finally discovered in an attic in Canada. The letters
from Stalin’s Russia constitute the largest international corpus to date
and permission to research and write about the letters was given to
Derksen by Peter Bargen who found the letters.
Peter’s brother, Frank Bargen, was cleaning out the attic of his
parents’ old things in August 1989. He saw only junk and boxes that were
’cluttering up the place.’ After calling Peter to take a look, both
realised that the letters were from their close relatives who had been
left behind and forced into the Gulag. Peter and Frank,, with their
parents, had narrowly escaped Russia in 1929. Most of their aunts,
uncles and young cousins were caught in Stalin’s snare. Little Lena
(nine years’ old) asks ‘What will become of us?’. Her sister Maria
(twelve) sends a sketch of the smelter where she is forced to work for a
ration of bread. Her brother is tortured to death and her father pleads,
‘Remember us – Do not forget us’.
Despite the hardship and the unthinkable horrors that the Regehr family
endured, Lena and some of her family survived the Gulag. In Cologne in
2004, Lena was interviewed for the film and her vivid recollections
guide the viewer through the story. Lena was the last remaining survivor
of her family, but died a few months ago.
Following her encounter with the letters. Dr Ruth Derksen, a first
generation Canadian of Russian Mennonite descent, pursued a PhD in the
Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies Centre at the University of
Sheffield. She has found the research experience both compelling and
harrowing. ”The silence needs to be broken” she insists. Growing up in
Vancouver, I did not know my own story. But the world does not know this
story. Too many see the Red Star or the Hammer & Sickle image and do not
know that it is my relatives’ Swastika. It is the icon of terror for
millions of the victims and survivors of Stalin’s brutality.”
Copies of the book ‘Remember Us’: Letters from Stalin’s Gulag
(1930-1937) and the documentary DVD Through The Red Gate (produced by
Out To See Entertainment Inc.) are available for purchase at
www.gulagletters.com. The film is viewable at www.throughtheredgate.com
for $4.99, the DVD costs $19.95 and the book is $24.95. Portions of the
profits are being donated to Mennonite Historical Societies in Canada.
*Gulag: an acronym for Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei; literally “Main Camp
Administration,” The Gulag is commonly known as the state administered
system of forced labour camps and prisons in the Soviet Union (1930-55)
Ruth Derksen Siemens is a first-generation Canadian of Russian Mennonite
descent who grew up in Vancouver, Her undergraduate and first graduate
degree were completed at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
Engagement with the letters prompted her to pursue a PhD in the Bakhtin
Centre, located in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies Centre
at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is now an instructor of
rhetoric and writing at the University of British Columbia, a researcher
and historian.
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