Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada.

David M. Quiring teaches history at the University of Saskatchewan. He
is the author of CCF Colonialism in Northern Saskatchewan: Battling
Parish Priests, Bootleggers, and Fur Sharks.

With this fascinating account of his family’s experiences, Arthur Kroeger makes a substantial contribution to the recent flood of writing about the Mennonite experience in Russia and Canada. Between the covers of this book are two quite distinct stories. The author first describes the lives of the Kroeger family in the Ukraine before the Russian Revolution and during the decade of turmoil that followed. The second part of the book recounts the family’s experiences after relocating to Alberta’s drought stricken Palliser Triangle. Along with other Russlaender, the family immigrated to Canada in the 1920s, just in time for the Great Depression. The lasting emotional scars carried by Heinrich and Helena Kroeger from their time in Russia provide a connection between the two stories and help explain their actions in Canada.

Much like other Russlaender who lived through the Russian Revolution and the early years of Soviet rule, Heinrich and Helena Kroeger arrived in Canada weakened, if not broken. While they wisely and heroically saved their children from the worst horrors of the Stalin years, the parents who led the way to Canada became a lost generation. The hardships they faced in Russia and then in Canada wore them down. Yet, eventually, they experienced the joy of watching their offspring blossom in Canada. Amazingly, Heinrich and Helena’s children have achieved outstanding success in their chosen fields.

Hard Passage is a family history, in the same vein as many family histories that have been published in recent decades. However, Arthur Kroeger’s writing includes substantially more historical research and analysis than do many family histories. As a result, this book will appeal to a broader audience, including other Mennonites and academics interested in Mennonite immigration and prairie history. Published by the University of Alberta Press, Hard Passage is a very worthy book.