Introduction

Ich ruf es in die Welt hinaus,
Und mag es laut und schrill ertönen, Und tut’s den zarten Ohren weh—
Ich kann dem Drang nicht wehren!
Des Herzens Not verlangt Gehör,
Die Welt, sie muss es hören!
Denn unsrer Seelen Not ist schwer;
Es muss der Schrei die Lösung bringen!

I call out to the world
And may it sound loud and shrill, and hurt the delicate ears— I can’t resist the urge!
The heart’s need demands hearing,
The world needs to hear it!
Because the need of our souls is heavy;
The scream must bring the solution!

This diary has been written during those fateful days and months when the tragic fratricide, or call it civil war, was at its climax in Southern Russia, a territory which now is known as the Ukraine. Most of the severe fighting during the revolutionary wars occurred north of the Black and the Azov Seas. The steppe to both sides of the Dnieper for hundreds and hundreds of miles is the most fertile land in the whole of Russia, if not in all Europe. Because of the fertility of this region Germany fought her way into that land during the Great War. When Germany was defeated in 1918 her hold on this distant country weakened instantly, and in a few weeks the Germans either had left on their own accord, or they were driven out. In the East of this region, north of the Caucasus and between the Azov Sea and the Caspian Lake, the White army, composed of reactionary forces under Denikin, had organized to fight the Bolsheviks. As soon as the Ukraine was evacuated by the Germans the Denikin forces moved into the granary of Russia. What happened to this movement is well known. Once more this fertile territory became a region of anarchy. There came such adventurers as Gregoryev and Petlyura, the Ukrainian nationalists, ruthless in their struggle for dominance. Various kinds of Anarchists pushed the loosely organized forces about, creating a chaos which at times came near to driving the poor inhabitants of these villages into despair, helpless as they were in the hands of merciless robbers and murderers.

The most cruel outlaws were the “Black” detachments of Makhno-Anarchists. Makhno was a sly and shrewd leader who acted in the fashion described by the Romans as veni vidi vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). In fact, Makhno fascinated thousands of unattached people. These men were either possessed by hatred against all who were not Black, or they were simply eager to loot the country. They were from 25 to 30 years of age. The majority had been previously prepared for their bloody profession in military service by Tzarist officers. This kind of training, indeed, had not been beneficial to their characters. Then came the destructive influence of war time. And now, after eight years of systematic drill for killing, arose the opportunity for slaughter on individual initiative. Their brutality was not as much the expression of an eagerness for real fighting, where, after all, one’s own life is at stake, as it was spite against defenseless settlers of Western races, Swedes, Swiss, Germans, and Dutch.

This diary, then, relates in the main the tribulations of the Dutch settlers who had succeeded in establishing flourishing farms and towns on both sides of the Dnieper stream. They had served already during the war as scape goats when the Tzaristic estate owners were trembling for fear of revolt against the prevailing system of land ownership. The Panslavists sought to direct the anger of the peasants toward people of foreign extraction although these “foreigners” had lived for over a century in Russia. They had been invited in the past to settle there in order to introduce better methods of farming. They were not thanked for their constructive work but became, gradually, objects of oppression. The Tzarist government was about to exile them all to Siberia (complete preparations had been made) when the first thunder of the Great Revolution shook that regime to its rotten foundation. Prospects, in the first wave of brotherly feeling, were bright even for these foreign settlers. But they became “undesirable” soon enough. This diary tells of the most crucial period of these peaceful people of Russia.

Many of the surviving Dutch farmers have since left Russia and emigrated into the hospitable land of Canada. Today over 22,000 of those sufferers are settled as farmers in Ontario as well as the western provinces.

The Author.
1930