As promised at the end of the previous post, we are returning to a passing comment that Henry P Buller made while reminiscing about his parents. Specifically, Henry recounted that in 1936 his parents “moved to southern California, where there was a gentleman—Pete Janzen—who Dad had helped to come from Russia in the early 1920s.” There is clearly more behind a remark such as this than immediately meets the eye. Fortunately, in this instance we are able to fill in some of the background both on Pete Janzen and the broader situation.
We begin, not with Pete Janzen, but with someone Janzen knew: Henry D. Remple. In 2001, Remple authored From Bolshevik Russia to America: A Mennonite Family Story (thanks to Carolyn Stucky for alerting me to it). This book, based on Remple’s diary, recounts the following story:
In 1922, six families from a tiny village in the Ukraine began a harrowing journey to America that would pit them against disease, starvation, and physical exhaustion. Ahead of them loomed an arduous route over thousands of miles of land and sea; behind them lay the ravages of World War I, the terrors of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and the misery of drought and famine. Among the émigrés was Henry D. Remple, who was just thirteen years old when his parents made the decision to leave their village with their nine sons and daughters. Of his eleven family members who left their village, only Henry and two sisters survived the voyage and reached their new home in America. Much of their journey to freedom is recorded in Henry’s diary, faithfully kept from 1922–1928. Captured among Henry’s diary entries and the reflections of he and his sisters are the experiences of their family and neighbors, all descendants of German-speaking Mennonites who had settled in the Ukraine years earlier. Nearly eighty-five years after it was written, the diary is a testament to the will to survive and the strength of the human spirit. (book blurb)
The book includes the text of Henry Remple’s diary, interspersed with explanations and elaborations from Henry, his sisters Agnes and Agatha, and, occasionally, Henry’s wife Mariana. Within this account of the Remple family’s experiences we encounter Pete Janzen, the man whom Peter P Buller had helped to come to the United States. More remarkably, in one of Henry’s explanatory paragraphs, we read of Peter P himself.
Our transit visa to Constantinople was good for six months. We now eagerly awaited news from our sponsors in America. The Mennonite Central Committee routinely notified Peter Janzen when money from sponsors arrived. One day Peter Janzen told Agatha that a Peter Buller from Lushton, York County, Nebraska, had sent $600.000, i.e. $200.00 for each of us. That amount would cover our ocean and rail fare to York, Nebraska, a small clothing allowance and a reserve of $25.00 per person, which each immigrant was required to have when entering the United States. (Remple 2001, 104)
Henry’s sister Agnes adds further details:
We learned later that Mr. Buller, a well-to-do farmer and minister, had read in church papers about the refugees in Batum and recruited relatives and church members to sponsor some of the refugees. He himself sponsored six refugees, including Peter Janzen. A George Rempel, Mr. Buller’s relative, thought the Rempel orphans [i.e., Henry, Agnes, and Agatha] might be relatives, so he sponsored Agatha. Mr Buller’s daughter, Mrs. Klaus Friesen, and her husband sponsored Henry. Mr. and Mrs. Abram Thiessen sponsored me. Mrs. Thiessen and Mr. George Rempel were sister and brother. (Remple 2001, 104–5)
The information packed into these brief accounts, as well as the background circumstances lying behind these events, will take some time to explore and explain. A number of questions come immediately to mind:
- What circumstances led the Remples and other Mennonites to leave their homes?
- Where did their journey begin, and where did it lead them on their way to the United States?
- How did the Mennonite Central Committee assist these Mennonites on their journeys?
- Who was Pete Janzen, and what role did he play in this migration to the United States?
- How did Peter P work with the Mennonite Central Committee in sponsoring immigrants?
- Who in Peter P’s circle of relatives, friends, and church members supported this effort?
No doubt additional questions will arise as we pursue answers to this initial set. In addition, Peter P and family are mentioned elsewhere in Henry Remple’s book, which will give us additional information and insights into this historically significant and personally important series of events.
Thus far we know that Peter P showed himself to be a brother in deed by sponsoring and encouraging others to sponsor Mennonites in need of assistance in making their way to the United States, where they could establish new homes and new lives. Much more waits to be discovered, I am confident, as we seek to learn more about this piece of Mennonite history and our family’s involvement in it.
Work Cited
Remple, Henry D. 2001. From Bolshevik Russia to America: A Mennonite Family Story. Pine Hill Press.
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