The Steppes Are the Colour of Sepia: A Mennonite Memoir.

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.

Recent years have brought an explosion of writing about the history of Canadian Mennonites. Much of that work has focused on two groups that came from Russia—the Kanadier who arrived in Canada beginning in the 1870s and the Russlaender who immigrated in the 1920s. But few authors have explored the experiences of those Mennonites who remained behind the Iron Curtain after Canada closed the door to immigrants in 1930. In The Steppes are the Colour of Sepia: A Mennonite Memoir, Connie Braun helps fill that gap in Mennonite history.

Braun tells the story of her father’s family, the Letkemanns. This work is not an orthodox historical account; the author originally wrote this for her father, and the tone of a family history dominates. Uncritically and without much analysis, the author relates the dramatic experiences of her family as passed down within her family. Since they did not join the movement of Mennonites to Canada in the 1920s, the Letkemann family experienced several decades of the Stalinist era. Under Stalin, Russian Mennonites suffered unspeakable horrors; many even disappeared without a trace. Although they faced their share of hardships, the Letkemanns survived. Then, after years of living as wartime refugees, the family finally immigrated to Canada after the Second World War.

The book’s title and colourful cover suggest that the author brings a creative approach to this work. Braun’s artistic orientation also becomes evident as one reads the book. But at times, especially early in the book, the writing style overwhelms the material presented. As the book progresses, the writer allows the story to move to the forefront. In several respects the story may lack accuracy. Repeatedly, for example, Braun speaks of her family spending time in Siberia, yet the Volga area that she refers to was far from Siberia. And while the author speaks glowingly of the Ukranian steppes, she depreciatively dismisses Canada’s prairies, Canada’s geographical equivalent to the steppes. 

Braun provides a welcome addition to the literature on Mennonites in Russia and Canada by telling her family’s story. Mennonites and non-Mennonites alike will enjoy and find value in this book.