Khortiza, October 1, 1919

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 able to pay, and so they have recourse to inquisition and execution. They do not understand that there is nothing here to take. The mill and factory owners have fled. They knew they were considered candidates for death. “These hyenas” of the abandoned battlefields are almost more terrible than the Makhno Anarchists. They take hostages and torture them.

Today I met one of my girl-students. I had been told of the tragic end of her father. With silent nods she confirmed what I had heard. He was a prominent citizen, to whom this settlement owes many valuable improvements. They had taken him as hostage, and now his body lies on the other side of the Dnieper. His sons tried to bring over the body; they were chased away with insults. Verily, a Sophoclean tragedy!

Yesterday a clerk of the Saving company was with us. He showed us his flayed back and legs. Horrible! One becomes enraged at seeing such marks of barbarism.

But, alas, we are powerless and exposed to all licentiousness. The least resistance would make our situation worse. Very few of us are able to avert threatened violence: sometimes through quietness, sometimes through a word at the right time or through a taming look. Many mourn for members of their family who have been killed, others are wandering away from our place, being without shelter.

On the island the bandits have arranged a real Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Whosoever could not flee had to die. There is not a single colonist in the whole village.