Justa’s Escape: A Journey from WWII Ukraine

By Justina Neufeld, Russell Binkley and Beverly Olson Buller

In this real-life adventure, Justa, youngest of ten children in a Mennonite family in WWII era Ukraine, revisits a childhood in totalitarian Stalinist USSR. When authorities swoop down in the middle of the night to seize neighbor's fathers, Justa begins to dread the dark. Would her beloved papa be next? As both armies--German and Russian--approach, thirteen-year-old Justa and her family hurriedly pack their wagon to flee. What valuables should they take? What must they leave behind? How will the absent brothers find them? Will the family ever be whole again? What dangers do they face? In the end, who will survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: May 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666795240

Justina Neufeld

Justina Neufeld, youngest of ten siblings, was caught in the suffering and turmoil of the Stalinist purges and World War II. As a teenager, she fled her homeland. Separated from her mother, she lived as a refugee for four years in Europe. Rescued by Mennonite Central Committee worker Peter Dyck, she and one brother’s family were brought to safety in Holland. In 1947, Justina immigrated to the United States. The war scattered her parents and siblings across three continents. Neufeld graduated with a college degree in nursing administration and a master’s degree in gerontology. Now retired, she lives with her Maltipoo, Gigi, in North Newton, Kansas. She is also the author of A Family Torn Apart.

Book preview

1.png

Justa’s Escape

A Journey from WWII Ukraine

Justina Neufeld with Russell Binkley

Foreword by Beverley Olson Buller

Justa’s Escape

A Journey from WWII Ukraine

Copyright ©

2022

Justina Neufeld and Russell Binkley. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

, Eugene, OR

97401

.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

Eugene, OR

97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-9526-4

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-9525-7

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-9524-0

04/28/22

Table of Contents

Justa’s Escape

Foreword

I. My Name Is Justa

II. Playing

III. Letter from Ukraine

IV. A Day I Will Never Forget; Abram has Died

V. I Want to Be Awake When They Come for Papa

VI. A Scary Night; Wodjanaja, 1937

VII. July 16, 1938; Starting School

VIII. My Tante, the Storyteller

IX. It Is Cold in Our House

X. Tante Remembers

XI. An Evening without Tante

XII. Springtime in My Village

XIII. Other Signs of Spring

XIV. My First Swimming Lesson

XV. Bringing News; Moshe the Peddler

XVI. The Gypsies

XVII. Mama Is Sick

XVIII. Brother Hans Comes Home

XIX. Summer Chore

XX. Butchering Day

XXI. Waiting for Papa

XXII. 1941; My World Turns Upside Down

XXIII. A Letter to Lillian

XXIV. Church

XXV. New Teacher, New Language

XXVI. 1943; The War Goes On

XXVII. October 22, 1943; The Front Approaches

XXVIII. The Journey Continues

XXIX. How Can We Go On?

XXX. The Refugee Camp

XXXI. Elsa, Where Are You?

XXXII. Nina’s Secret

XXXIII. Out of the Camp

XXXIV. More Changes

XXXV. Awful! Awful!

XXXVI. Letters to Mama

XXXVII. Tagebuch (Daybook), Part One; The Americans

XXXVIII. Tagebuch, Part Two; Fear and Waiting

XXXIX. Tagebuch (Daybook), Part Three; Was It God?

XL. Tagebuch, Part Four; The Netherlands

XLI. Tagebuch, Part Five: Mama Is Alive!

XLII. Tagebuch, Part Six; The Ship

XLIII. Tagebuch, Part Seven; We Arrive

XLIV. Home?

XLV. A New School

XLVI. Minnesota: Pure White Outside; Deep Dark Inside

XLVII. Yet Again, A New School

XLVIII. Study, Study, and Study Some More

XLIX. High School Graduation

L. Surprise! Surprises!

Afterword

Acknowledgements

"Justina Neufeld’s story of her escape to Western Europe and North America during and after World War II is one of the most widely told stories of the Mennonite experience. She has told her story to hundreds of audiences and recorded it in print with her book A Family Torn Apart. Now she has written a new version for young adult readers. Another generation will now have the opportunity to get in touch with a remarkably remembered dramatic past."

—James C. Juhnke, coauthor of The Missing Peace: The Search for Nonviolent Alternatives in United States History

In the lyric simplicity of free verse, this young girl’s coming-of-age story is heartrending for its honesty. Yet, it is a tribute to life and hope in its recall of the specific details of village life. Memorably recorded details tell us we were alive in this world and that our lives mattered. . . . Faithfulness to a girl’s real lived experience makes this story beautiful, timeless, powerful, and necessary.

—Raylene Hinz Penner, author of Searching for Sacred Ground: The Story of Chief Lawrence Hart, Mennonite

Justina Neufeld shares in riveting detail the story of her hardships in and escape from war-torn Ukraine, the scattering of her family, her rescue by Peter and Elfrieda Dyck, and her eventual passage to the United States, where she found a home. She recreates the world of her childhood and takes the reader on the difficult travail across Europe. This book provides readers with a journey from which they will emerge grateful and enlightened.

—Beverley Olson Buller, author of A Prairie Peter Pan

This story made me want to return to the classroom just so I could create an immersive unit . . . using Justina’s story as the base text. The universal themes of family, coming of age, and coping with change and loss make the narrative engaging to readers. This story is timely, given the refugee/immigrant situation right now in the US.

—Leslie Wright, fourth-grade teacher

I highly recommend this book. It deserves great conversations about values, religion, and resiliency. It’s a story about a real refugee, now a vibrant ninety-one-year-old woman, who not only survived but thrived as a nurse, friend, and ambassador of peace.

—Dorothy Nickel Friesen, author of The Pastor Wears a Skirt: Stories of Gender and Ministry

A youthful Justina yearns for adventure and an escape from village life in Ukraine. She ends up on a journey far greater than she imagined or wanted. . . . Neufeld’s narrative is soulful and hopeful, anxious and deeply personal, and ultimately a testament to the reach and power of the Mennonite diaspora amidst the world’s greatest theater of war. Prepare to be reminded of the power of humanity and the good in others.

—Jon C. Gering, Bethel College

A friend once urged a young Justina Neufeld to record her life. This lyrical adaptation of her longer memoir fulfills that promise, sharing a story that takes readers on her memorable journey from the Ukraine to the United States. Without condescending to readers, she enriches her narrative with important observations about Mennonites, the USSR, World War II, and unchanging human nature.

—David Sprunger, Concordia College

Family Tree

Foreword

Books have long provided young readers with a way to vicariously experience pain, sadness, and hardship. The book you are holding does that for young readers today.

Justina Neufeld is a polished, friendly, knowledgeable professional with a past that informs her but is generally kept hidden. Now she shares in riveting detail the story of her hardships in and escape from war-torn Ukraine, the scattering of her family, her rescue by Peter and Elfrieda Dyck, and her eventual passage to the United States, where she has found a home. She recreates the world of her childhood, including tea parties with her best friend, counting butterflies, going barefoot from spring to nearly winter, and learning to swim in a cow pond. But she also takes the reader with her on the difficult travail across Europe as fighting approaches her small village in 1943 and the family must leave nearly everything behind. Sprinkled with words from and references to her Ukrainian culture, this book provides a visit to an earlier time and a long-gone world.

The journey Justina details in this book is not just one comprised of travel via rough wagons and troop ships but one of a young girl growing to womanhood, making important realizations about herself. At her lowest, Justina remembers thinking, I could die before I grow up. Helping her mother recover from malaria prompts a desire that is later fulfilled: I could be a nurse. Thankfully, reflection leads to the understanding that while there was pain and suffering, there was much happiness later.

Young readers want to know what happened next? and do not like unfinished stories. Justina does not disappoint in that regard. She shares with readers her completion of high school, just a year later than her age group, her first date, and how she began sharing about her experiences at churches. Because she knows readers will wonder if her scattered family ever reunited, she includes a letter to the reader that fills in the blanks on her life until now.

Justina made friends wherever she lived. This same quality draws the reader in as she shares her incredible story of moving from a life filled with fear to a life of opportunity. I am proud to call her my friend and am thankful she decided to share her story with a younger audience.

Beverley Olson Buller

Author of From Emporia and A Prairie Peter Pan

I. My Name Is Justa

My name is Justina Neufeld,

but I have been called by other names.

One name was Justa, pronounced