Gora, Dirk
Stories
1
Chapters
46
Words
30.3 K
Comments
0
Reading
2 h, 31 m
Autumn will soon be over; we hope that before long it will become very cold. It is true, we do not know what fuel we will have to heat the house with this winter; and yet our hope is based on the help of the frost. The idea is this: as soon as the Dnieper freezes and the ice will bear weight, then a change must come, for then either those on the other side can cross the river, or these here can force the others to retire. If the others are the Whites and they are able to repulse these Anarchists, then many…- 30.3 K • Completed
- Yesterday I called on our old neighbor. He is a retired teacher who, of course, does not get his pension any more, since everything is topsy-turvy. It is hard on that old man who has labored during thirty years in a toilsome position. And now he has to starve. His house is afflicted in a special manner. Although all rooms had been searched through and all furs and warm clothes had been stolen, “they” demand anew every day some treasures. His daughter had buried the family silverware in the garden. Once…
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- Up till now the cow of Marguerite’s brother was in our stable, replacing the dead one. Somebody has followed Marguerite or has found out somehow; at any rate it became known that the cow had belonged to people whose son was a volunteer. An Anarchist came to get the cow back. Marguerite appealed to the men quartered in her home. She asked them to help her to keep the cow if they still wanted to drink milk. This appeal was useless however. Should they stand against their own thief comrades? Where the milk…
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- One could laugh if things were not so tragic. I am expected to write verses about Makhno! That is what our telephone operators want. They did not say so directly to me, but they have asked my friend whether I would be willing to do it. They have the idea that Father Makhno appears a hero to me, as he does to them. Of course, there is some selfish ambition in it; they want to present that piece of poetry to their chief and thus win his special favor. My friend has tried to dissuade them from that idea by…
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- Our minister went away last night. He escaped through the window. He had to make haste as our house was being filled up again with looters. The old man was wading through the mud, which was deep after many days of rain.— I dared to appear in the street today. I saw none of the inhabitants there. There is busy traffic, however. The Anarchists are moving from one house to the other. Because the streets are deep in mud, the horsemen ride at full speed along the sidewalks, as if each were an orderly. I…
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- Yesterday evening our so-called soldiers left our house to meet their enemies. Along the Dnieper a front line has been established. Even these bands, seemingly so loosely constituted, must have some organization for battle. There is a wild crackling and shooting. From the other side, from the city of Alexandrovsk, our village is being bombarded. But it scarcely frightens us. Right near to our house a projectile exploded with a deafening detonation. The splinters reached our porch-door. It is a relief to…
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- For four days we have had no chance to undress. No chance at all. No rest. Last night we had to take in nineteen men. At first there were only eight. Steadily their number increased. At midnight the last came in. For each party we were compelled to furnish a meal. The last ones had a wounded man with them. I never heard a man swear like this man who had a lead bullet in his body.— This morning there was a great excitement for Marguerite. Someone of these uninvited guests had discovered the hundred…
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- We are all irretrievably lost. All streets are filled with men. The stream of the Makhno-Anarchists is flooding back. They are driven back over the bridge on our side. Who drives them? What power? Nobody knows. But the wrath of the repulsed Anarchists is without measure. Again we are held accountable here, in the village of these Dutch farmers. And what prospects! They do not want to merely go through the village as they did before, they intend to stay here now. All houses are occupied by these…
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- We are told Makhno has gone over the Dnieper bridge and has proceeded toward Berdyansk on the Azov sea. If that is true, he will surely not avoid the hundred Dutch or German villages in the rich Molotchnaya region. Thus, these too, will be exposed to unrestrained license. Here anarchy is growing, although the Makhno Anarchists have disappeared. In the neighboring Ukrainian villages smaller or larger bands have started acting after the example of their predecessors. They demand tribute which we are not…
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- This was the first day that no Anarchist passed through our place. Frightened and shy people come out of their houses and gather in little groups. Everyone wants to unbosom himself, to unburden his mind. Alas! what a sight these farm villages present, usually so clean and orderly. Even the housewives who, being Dutch, would never allow any disorder whatsoever in the home, even they rest their hands in their laps, tired from the labor of past days. Think of what they have gone through in these days! Day and…
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