Product Description

In the 1920s, 20,000 Mennonites left the newly formed Soviet Union and emigrated to Canada. Among them were Heinrich and Helena Kroeger and their five children. After living for 120 years in the comfortable surroundings of a Russian Mennonite community, the Kroeger family experienced war, revolution, a typhus epidemic, and hyper-inflation in quick succession. In 1926, they left their homeland to settle in an arid region of Western Canada. Based on Heinrich’s diaries and letters, and archival research, Hard Passage speaks to the indomitable spirit of Mennonite immigrants to the Canadian West.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1654365 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
"After a distinguished career as one of Canada’s top public servants, Arthur Kroeger turned his formidable intelligence and curiosity on his own family’s history–a history to which he had hitherto paid little attention. And what an extraordinary and moving tale he found! He takes us, over the course of three generations, from a bustling Mennonite village in Russian Ukraine in the late nineteenth century to the windswept landscape of Alberta in the mid-twentieth century. He also takes us deep into family traumas–the terrors of the anarchist uprisings in the Ukraine, the hunger of the Depression years on the Prairies. Kroeger’s account of his family’s struggles illuminates the Canadian immigrant experience with the kind of poignant details often lost in more general histories. His commitment to recording the strength and stamina of the Mennonite community is impressive, but it is the meticulous research and affectionate tone of this memoir that brings Hard Passage alive." Charlotte Gray

"The Kroeger family settled initially near the southeastern Alberta community of Naco (now a ghost town) and moved frequently from one abandoned farm to another, trying without much success, to make a living as farmers in an area known as the Palliser Triangle, a vast swath of heart-break territory across the three Prairie provinces that has inferior land and less rain than surrounding grain-growing areas. Crops were bad in the late 1920s in southeastern Alberta. The situation grew worse during the drought of the 1930s Depression. Meals at the Kroeger home were often boiled wheat, beet peelings or lard sandwiches.... [T]he facts of the stories, from the persecution of Mennonites in Russia, to their escape, and then their early deprivations on the Prairies, are mesmerizing and often brutal. The story of the discrimination they initially faced in Canada is timely and instructive... Paul Gessell, The Ottawa Citizen, February 18, 2007."

“I'm reading Hard Passage again and can hardly put the book down. It’s so gripping. From a reading of [the author's] father's diaries, he has so graphically brought to life the "Hard Journey" of his family. It is [my wife’s family] story, as well as tens of thousands of others. A tragedy that is dedicated to our memory, as well as future generations.” Ted Friesen, former President of the Canadian Mennonite Historical Society

"Both Justina and I have completed reading the most fascinating account of your family's odyssey, a hard passage indeed. Justina read it first and long before she was finished she kept saying, 'This is the best account of this kind we have,' and I agree. It is very sensitively done and deserves wide reading." Peter Penner, Calgary

"[Hard Passage] is a gripping story and hard to lay down. In fact, it would make an excellent movie." The Consort Enterprise, February 2007

"Arthur Kroeger…displays exacting research skills utilizing primary and secondary sources in Europe and North America as well as anecdotal family lore.…Taken together, the resulting narrative conveys an intriguing history that skillfully situates the Mennonite story within its larger context.” Wayne A. Holst, The Globe and Mail, April 21, 2007

"This book may seem like a family history but it is much more than that. True, it was written by a man who went through many of the difficult times mentioned in the book and can speak from first hand experience. But Arthur Kroeger also is an academic who served for ten years as Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa. The result is a family history set in the larger framework of Mennonite history in Europe and Canada....This book is well written, authoritative, yet very personal because of the diaries of Heinrich Kroeger and the author's own recollections. This is a rare treat in the field of family histories." Alberta History, Spring 2007.

"Imagine a story about a middle-class family who suffers through famine, disease, racial intolerance and the assault of Russian revolutionaries and you might begin to understand where the Kroegers' steely determination comes from. Hard Passage is interesting as a family memoir and it is well researched. [I]t¹s a testimonial to the hard work of all immigrant families and their contribution to this nation." Susan Jones, St. Albert Gazette, May 2, 2007

"In 1971, after his father's death, Arthur investigated the contents of a wooden box, one of two treasures Heinrich had brought with him from the Soviet Union (the other was a family clock). He found that it contained the cryptic notebooks his father had kept for decades, as well as letters and other documents. The contents of the box, supplemented by Kroeger's meticulous research, became the basis of Hard Passage. The result is a clearly written, dispassionate rendering of a heartbreaking story. Yes, the family survived, and even went on to prosper, eventually. But from their arrival in 1926, until the 1940s, their survival was tenuous, indeed." Faith Johnston, Winnipeg Free Press, July 22, 2007

"Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada is the marvellous fruit of Kroeger's voyage of discovery. On the one hand it represents a recovery of his parents' story and an effort to place their lives in the context of broader historical forces: from the Russian revolution to the dawn of the Canadian welfare state. But in its quietly ambitious way, Kroeger's compelling book part memoir, part social history accomplishes much more. Deftly shuttling between the personal and the public realm, Kroeger dispenses with the simplistic notion that families are mere passive actors altered by forces beyond their control. Instead, he shows how 'ordinary lives,' in their collectivity, both shape and are shaped by the political and public policy structures in which they are embedded." Christopher Wiebe, Literary Review of Canada, Vol. 15, No. 8, October 2007

From the Back Cover
After a distinguished career as one of Canada’s top public servants, Arthur Kroeger turned his formidable intelligence and curiosity on his own family’s history—a history to which he had hitherto paid little attention. And what an extraordinary and moving tale he found! He takes us, over the course of three generations, from a bustling Mennonite village in Russian Ukraine in the late nineteenth century to the windswept landscape of Alberta in the mid-twentieth century. He also takes us deep into family traumas—the terrors of the anarchist uprisings in the Ukraine, the hunger of the Depression years on the Prairies. Kroeger’s account of his family’s struggles illuminates the Canadian immigrant experience with the kind of poignant detail often lost in more general histories. His commitment to recording the strength and stamina of the Mennonite community is impressive, but it is the meticulous research and affectionate tone of this memoir that brings Hard Passage alive. Charlotte Gray

About the Author
Arthur Kroeger had a 34-year career in the federal public service, half spent serving as a deputy minister. After graduating from the University of Alberta, he studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Following his years in government, he taught at several Canadian universities, and served as chancellor at Carleton University. Arthur Kroeger currently resides in Ottawa.

Customer Reviews

Mennonite History
Excellent book about a personal experience of immigration from Russia to Canada. In addition, a lot of general information of Mennonite settlements in Russia, experience during the Russian revolution, and immigrations.

The author downplays his own evolution from being born in Russia, extreme poverty in Alberta, and how he managed to obtain an education and many considerable achievements and contributions.