I Heard My People Cry

I Heard My People Cry
By:Elizabeth Lenci-Downs
Published on 2003-04-22 by Trafford Publishing

Written as a narrative, this is a true story of this period in history when thousands in the Ukraine and Crimea were forced to escape from Stalin's Russia. The author tells it like it was, exposing the myth and propaganda used to cover up what really happened to Lise and her Mennonite Brethren family. The book is full of the life of the times, the inescapable resolution to survive and a passion for freedom. It is told entirely through the lives and actions of the people of Tchongraw, Crimea and Lise Huebert Toews Gerig who escaped in their midst. It employs daily journals from 1917 to 1945 and Lise's words about her spellbinding childhood. Lise's father, Nikolai, urges his pregnant wife to flee Russia, promising that he will find her. One hundred and seventy people of Tchongraw refuse to leave anyone behind and march through the Ukraine singing forbidden hymns. Events are detailed as they affect individual members of Lise's people whose personalities, and the cultures that surround them, bring home the reality of their struggle. Johann is a mystery, Nick Enns walks out of Siberia to hold Mariechen in his arms. Justina defies Stalin's officers. Heroic Elizabeth Koop Huebert empowers her husband's people and places herself in peril to help her children out of Russia. Lise tells us, Love is all we had, Walter and I. We found each other again in time to say good-bye. Lise becomes a photographer of note in Canada after she is able to emigrate. Her story enriches the literature of these ethnic-German people whose ancestors were among the first Mennonite Brethren of Holland. Publication of this book awaited the freeing of a cousin who was granted Asylum in 1998. I Heard My People Cry has received an award and has been well reviewed. Writer's Digest Certificate of Merit - 2001 Self Published Book Awards I Heard My People Cry, One Family's Escape From Russia Nonfiction: What impressed me most about this book? The heart-felt emotions that come through in the writing. The section describing how the father is taken away, the prison visits, the final departure, were just riveting and so incredibly sad. I doubt anyone could read this without weeping. The time span the book covers is also impressive, detailing the first half of the 20th century in Russia and Europe, touching on the overall political situation while also looking at the very personal stories of a family being pulled along by the tidal wave of history unfolding around it. The photos and maps add wonderfully to the story, bringing faces to the characters and perspective to the places discussed. This is truly an epic work, congratulations. REVIEWS Independent Review EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY Menno Simons Historical Library July 30, 2003 Floyd L. Downs, Vice President Lenci Studios, Inc. P.O. Box 19206 Fountain Hills, AZ 85269-9206 Dear Mr. Downs; Thank you very much for your letter and the review copy of I Heard My People Cry by Elizabeth Lenci-Downs. We are delighted to add this important book to our library and sincerely appreciate your generosity. Elizabeth's book is a wonderful record of moving, significant experiences of persecuted but courageous persons. It is one more account of a Mennonite family's escape from Stalin's Russia during a time of great hardship. A story rich with human pathos, this compelling book reads like a novel and is very hard to put down. I Heard My People Cry is well organized, providing good historical background and context. The fine collection of varied photographs, the glossary and the appendix add much to the interest and usefulness of the volume. The front cover has a scene that arrests the reader's attention. I am truly impressed by this book. Elizabeth Lenci-Downs is to be congratulated on an outstanding piece of work. Again, thank you for your gift. Best wishes. Sincerely yours, Lois B. Bowman Librarian MENNO SIMONS HISTORICAL LIBRARY Harrisonburg VA 22802-2462 DANCE WITH EAGLES Reprint from: WINGS ISSUE NO. 1 - Feb. 02 By Allison Quattrocchi, J.D., Personal/Business Coach, Divorce Mediator and Attorney (480) 946-2936 BOOK REVIEW I HEARD MY PEOPLE CRY by Elizabeth Lenci-Downs, Published by Trafford Publishers, Suite 6E, 2333 Government Street, Victoria, B.C. V8T 4P4 Canada, www.trafford.com, Tel: 250-383-6864; & Lenci Studios, Inc., PO Box 19206, Fountain Hills, Arizona 85269, www.Lenci Studios.com, Tel: 480-816-3875. Available in major bookstores. Anytime I read a book I can't put down, I am eager to share it. This is a true story of the incredible struggle of a mother and her four children to survive in Stalin's Russia under the most oppressive, harsh and degrading circumstances imaginable. Yet she never loses her focus on escaping from Russia and finding freedom for herself and her family. The story of her life and the horror, fear, poverty and abuse she and her people - 120 women and children - faced is heroic. The first-hand reporting from one of the daughters (Lise) who lived the journey captures the reader in the moment and creates a fascinating commentary on life in Russia under Stalin. This is a story of raw courage, inconceivable physical and mental stamina, amazing family bonds, and monumental faith. Miraculously, they escape Russia with the Red Army at their heels, and after a total of 21 years of trying, are finally reunited with family in Canada. Some quotes: Of Stalin's Russia - From 1920 to 1940 one entire generation had been sacrificed. (This is probably very conservative.) One day (Mother) gathered books from one of the (deserted) houses, steamed the cloth covers off and sewed those cloth squares together. That was how she made underwear for us. During their frantic escape - Finally, she (mother) spoke quietly to Mary and me. 'Before we fall into Russian hands I'm going to kill you all and myself too,' she told us. On the train from Berlin to Poland, Lise was given an orange. I had never seen an orange, a beautiful round orange with dimpled skin. I thought it smelled like something from heaven and rubbed it over and over in my hands. At last, someone showed me how to eat it. That orange was the best part of going to Poland. For the reader, an orange will never look quite the same again. --- Allison Quattrocchi, J.D. This is the story of Louise Huebert Toews Gerig (Lise in the book) and Her People who were originally Dutch-German Mennonites of the Crimea and South Ukraine. The focus is on the years 1918Ñ1949, the Great Revolution, Lenin and the reign of terror under Stalin followed by three years of occupation of the southern Ukraine by the German army and the family's life in Poland as Black Sea Germans. The saga takes us from early Mennonite history to their migration to New Russia (Ukraine) in 1778, until Lise's family settle in the Crimea by the early 1900's. The theme, My People, threads throughout the whole book and gives the reader the impression that young Lise appreciated and treasured her grandfather's Christian teachings. The author writes about the manner of life, joys and prosperity of Dutch-German farmers in Ukraine and of those in the marine climate of the Crimean peninsula jutting into the Black Sea. The fruit and the flowers, meadows and mountains, the agricultural fields and gardens are described in exquisite picturesque language. The reader is impressed with the faith and trust, energy and endurance, hardship and suffering. How quickly the lot changed for the people throughout Russia when the Bolsheviks took over. From abundance, affluence and tranquillity, change came very quickly to fear, starvation, cold and hopelessness. One is moved to tears as you empathize with the horror and despairs of the young mother Elizabeth Koop Huebert as she copes with four y

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