From Bremerhaven to Freedom

The previous post included a photo of Bea Buller and other MCC workers standing in front of a ship at Bremerhaven, Germany (see here). The Mennonite Archival Information Database (MAID) caption to the photo identified most of the people in the photo, including Peter and Elfrieda Dyck, who are standing behind the main group on the ship’s gangplank.

The earlier post mentioned that Mennonite refugees were transported to South America on four separate occasions, each time setting out from the port of Bremerhaven, Germany. The dates on which the ships departed were 1 February 1947, 25 February 1948, 16 May 1948, and 7 October 1948, each time under the leadership of Peter and/or Elfrieda Dyck, the couple standing on the gangplank.

Thanks to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) YouTube channel, the Dycks’ story is available for all to hear and, even more important, to see. Peter and Elfrieda Dyck created a series of three videos that tell and show in full the story of the rescue of thousands of Russian-born Mennonites from the clutches of Stalin’s Soviet Union and their relocation to South America. 

The first video, titled “Berlin Exodus” (see here) is an hour-long presentation that Peter Dyck made in a Mennonite church near Schickley, Nebraska, a village 14 miles south of Grafton—so not terribly far from our family’s home. In this service Dyck presents the full story of the rescue of over a thousand Mennonites who found themselves trapped in the American sector of Berlin, surrounded by Soviet-controlled East Germany.

The second video, “Gott Kann” (here), covers much of the same ground but, after a brief introduction by Peter and Elfrieda, offers an amazing film record of the story, beginning with the months spent in Berlin, the arrival of the train at Bremerhaven, the loading and departure of the Volendam, the voyage, and the arrival of the refugees in their new land and their new homes. 

To be clear, this is actual film of the events as they happened, not a cinematic re-creation of them. I note that because the film shows the same group of people included in the photograph above. The significant scene begins at the 11:30 mark of the linked video, with refugees walking up the same gangplank that appears in the background of the photo. If you stop the video at 11:41 (or thereabouts), you will see that, in addition to the refugees boarding the ship, a group of individuals remains on the dock, clearly with no intention of joining the voyage.

This group is or at least includes, I believe, the individuals included in the MAID photo. Upon closer inspection, one might even suggest that Bea is the woman standing to the far left: the lighter color of her winter coat, the lighter-colored scarf, and the dark boots all match what we see in the photo. Of course, we really cannot know with certainty if that is Bea or even if she appears in this frame.

A little farther along, from 11:58 to 12:09, we see a group waving goodbye as the ship sails off.

In this case we can draw some certain connections between the MAID photograph and the film. Note first that there are three men—two wearing hats and one sans hat—in both shots. In addition, Peter Dyck identifies one of the hat-wearing men as C. F. Klassen, who is also named in the photo. One difference between the two is obvious: the MAID photo includes six women; the film shows seven. One wonders if the “extra” woman in the film is the person who took the photograph; we cannot know. Neither can we tell (at least I cannot) if or where Bea appears in the film.

One thing we can conclude with reasonable certainty is that the MAID photograph was taken on 1 February 1947, at the first transport of the Mennonite refugees on the Volendam. Earlier we dated the photo based on Henry and Bea’s personal chronology (they were not in Europe in 1948, when all the other voyages set out); now we have visual confirmation that the group pictured in the MAID photo is the same as that shown in the film taken in 1947. The photo’s date is certain.

The first two videos will be of the greatest interest to readers of this blog, but the third video, titled “New Beginnings” (here) is also well worth viewing. This final film offers footage taken before, during, and after the three voyages made in 1948. 

Before we leave this topic, there is one more photograph to share, courtesy of the MCC Media Space (see here).

Here an even larger group on shore bids farewell to the Volendam and its grateful passengers. Whether Bea is in this photograph is unknown. Perhaps someone with sharper eyes and greater patience than I have would like to venture a guess.

 

If you would like to learn even more about Peter and Elfrieda Dyck and their work resettling Mennonite refugees, you can read their Up from the Rubble (Dyck and Dyck 1991). The book is available online (here), if you are willing to register for a free Archive.org account.

Works Consulted

Bos, C. A. W. 1959. “Volendam.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.

Dyck, Peter, and Elfrieda Dyck. 1991. Up from the Rubble. Scottdale, PA: Herald. Available online here.

Dyck, Peter J. and Richard D. Thiessen. 2022 “Refugees.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.