Days of Terror in Orloff
by Helene Friesen Neumann Wiens, translated by Richard and Elfrieda (Neumann) Ratslaff

The harvest in 1919 had been fairly good.  Farmers had piled up large straw piles at the back of their farm yards.  Then we received news that a band under Machno would also arrive at our village, Orloff No. 6.

 On Friday, November 29, 1919, Machno’s bandits arrived.   Our children came home from school early.  Several men had entered the school, so the teachers instructed the children to hurry home.

  Not long after, men on horses and with wagons rode into our village from our end.

 The road was very muddy, and we had thick fog, allowing  some people to escape and hide behind the piles of straw heaped in the back of the farmyards.
 Soon, seven riders came into the Fasts’ yard. (My grandparents rented a house in the back of the yard of Abram Fast, the first place on the south end of the village).

  Mrs. Fast, the Grandmother, and grown-up daughter Neta, as well as Abram and Just, were in our house. No one wanted to stay in the large house. The Heinrich Blocks and two children were also at our place. I wanted my husband  to hide, but he wouldn’t leave us.

 Some of the men dismounted. Mr. Fast and the mute, Jacob, were at the barn door. The bandits encircled Mr. Fast.  As my husband rushed to help, a bandit hit him with a blow of the hand: he was to stay back.  Then, two riders came to our door. By this time, I also had gone outside. One of the bandits dismounted, while the other charged at my husband and gave him such a blow on the head with his sword that he fell, and blood flowed to the ground.  Then he demanded money from me.  My husband raised himself up and said. “I have the money,” and gave it to the bandit who was standing beside him.

 The rider raised his sword to give me a blow to the head, but the other bandit pulled me away. The rider then attacked my husband again, while the other man pushed me into the bedroom and demanded more money. He placed  his revolver on my chest and cried out, “I will  shoot you!”

 “Father, forgive them, for they are drunk and do not know what they are doing,” I prayed in Russian.  Then he did to me what they did to many women and girls...

  Only on ten farms did the straw piles remain, the rest were all set on fire. In ten places the houses were burning. As evening approached, the sight was terrible. On the ground, a very bright fire, above, dark smoke, and then fog. Dead or wounded people lay on almost every yard.  It was terrible, for there was no one to help.  All who were left alive had  to fend for themselves.

 The bandits left before evening leaving thirty-nine dead; several died later from their wounds. In the cemetery, a long grave was dug, and straw was brought by wagon and placed in the bottom of it. The corpses were placed into the grave as they were found...More straw was piled on top of the bodies and then covered with earth. I did not see any of the corpses. I was busy with my wounded husband. This happened Friday afternoon.

     On Sunday, the first help arrived from Orloff No. 4 : Franz Bahnmann, Peter Janzen, and Aron Jacob Janzen, who had all been Sanit?ter during the war, dressed the wounds. By Wednesday, the school was a hospital.... In the afternoon, they also brought my husband there. I  had been very much afraid that I would not give him the proper care, and was relieved to have that worry taken from me. I cooked and baked, and brought it there to help feed the sick. A number of these also died from their wounds. The Blocks’ house had been burned down so the Heinrich Blocks and two children lived with me until mid January when school reopened.  The remaining wounded were placed in a small house beside the school where they received care. My husband and Peter Wiebe from No. 12 were taken in by Mrs. Siemens in the Sommerstube, including board; one of the Sanit?ter walked there and dressed their wounds. After several weeks, my husband came home, but several wounds were still not healed, and I had to continue dressing them. Hans and Jasch had undertaken to take care of the livestock, and by dividing the workload, they were able to carry it out very well.

   The Russian peasants were given much of the land that had belonged to the German villages. We, who had been without land, also received an allotment of land. We planted grain, several desjatinen, as well as sunflowers to make oil, watermelons, beans and pumpkins to feed  cows. We always had work to do. Obtaining footwear and clothing became an ever greater worry. To me now, it is a miracle that we were able to do it.