The Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario encourages and supports a variety of projects which interpret Mennonite heritage to Mennonites and non-Mennonites alike through periodicals, workshops and seminars, public meetings, historical sites and publications.

Join us for our Fall Meeting on October 25, 2008 at Conrad Grebel University College, 140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo on the theme:

"Remember Us: Letters From Stalin's Gulag"

Remember Us: Letters from Stalin's Gulag by Ruth Derksen Siemens

In January 2008, the book Remember Us: Letters From Stalin's Gulag was released. In this volume, Dr. Ruth Derksen Siemens includes the letters written by Jasch and Maria (Goosen) Regehr and their children. Subsequent volumes will present all 463 letters in the corpus. A documentary, Through the Red Gate, was launched in February 2008. The film is comprised of Ruth Derksen Siemen's videotaped interviews with Peter Bargen, who tells the story of finding and translating the letters; and of reenactments of his family's dramatic escape from the Soviet Union in 1929 on the last train to Latvia, through the border's Red Gate, and into safety from deportation to Stalin's gulag. The film also features live interviews with two of the letter writers, Lena Bargen Dirksen and Tina Regehr, who tell their stories of survival. Peter Bargen was just seven years old when he and his family narrowly escaped the Russian Gulag and an almost certain death. The rest of his relatives were not so fortunate. During Stalin's reign (1922-53), thousands of Mennonites, along with 45-60 million people perished through enforced exile, execution, famine, and resulting disease.

Dr. Ruth Siemens Derksen will make a presentation, and we will have opportunity to see the film. Copies of the book and the DVD may be purchased.

This meeting is co-sponsored by the Institute of Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies (IAMS) at Conrad Grebel University College.

Take a virtual tour of the Brubacher House, an historical site co-sponsored by the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario and Conrad Grebel University College.

View a recent issue of Ontario Mennonite History
     (November 2005, Vol. 23 No.2) 
 (A publication of the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario)

If you would like to receive current issues of Ontario Mennonite History, become a member! See the Membership page or email us for further information.

The Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario is affiliated with and located at Conrad Grebel University College.