Flight: Mennonites Facing the Soviet Empire in 1929-30, from the pages of the Mennonitische Rundschau

by Harold Jantz (Translator, Editor)

Flight provides a front-row seat to what many Canadian and American mennonites in the late 1920s learned about the experience of their spiritual kin in Soviet Russia. There may not have been another paper anywhere that could give the coverage the Mennonitische Rundschau gave to on-the-ground events in their former homeland, when Josef Stalin introduced what he called his Five-year plan in 1928.

It involved a massive attack on agriculture. Huge amounts of farm produce were seized and farms collectivized. The calendar was changed to a five-day week. All faith came under sustained attack. People were sent into exile or simply to new settlements not of their choosing. Many died. Ath the same time, fewer and fewer permits to emigrate were being granted. Industry was hugely advantaged.

This was the situation in 1929 when the items in this book began appearing. The summaries and translations in Flight provide a trove of information and insights into what readers of the Mennonitische Rundschau learned about the experiences of their loved ones in Russia and striking examples of faith sustained in times of huge tribulation.

735 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018