This obsession was dramatically evidenced by the well planned attack carried out against the Witnesses in April 1951. Just two years ago, in 1999, Professor Sergei Ivanenko, a respected Russian scholar, observed in his book The People Who Are Never Without Their Bibles that in early April 1951, “more than 5,000 families of Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Moldavian, and Baltic Soviet republics were sent to ‘a permanent settlement’ in Siberia, the Far East, and Kazakhstan.”

Worthy of Remembrance

Can you imagine the effort involved in that attack—in one day rounding up thousands of families of Witnesses throughout such a large area? Think of coordinating hundreds, if not thousands, of personnel—first of all to identify the Witnesses and then, under cover of darkness, to carry out simultaneous surprise raids on their homes. Following that, there was the work of loading the people into carts, wagons, and other vehicles; taking them to railroad stations; and transferring them to freight cars.

Think, too, of the suffering of the victims. Can you imagine what it was like to be forced to travel thousands of miles—for up to three weeks or more—in overcrowded, unsanitary freight cars that had only a bucket for toilet facilities? And try to imagine being dumped off in the Siberian wilderness, knowing that in order to survive, you would have to eke out an existence in that harsh environment.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the April 1951 exile of Jehovah’s Witnesses. To tell the story of their faithfulness despite decades of persecution, the experiences of survivors have been videotaped. These reveal that—even as was the case with first-century Christians—attempts to prevent people from worshiping God are ultimately doomed to failure.

What the Exile Accomplished

The Soviets soon learned that stopping the Witnesses from worshiping Jehovah would be much more difficult than they had imagined. Despite the protests of their captors, the Witnesses sang praises to Jehovah while being forced into exile and hung signs on their railway cars that said: “Jehovah’s Witnesses on Board.” One Witness explained: “At the railroad stations along the way, we met other trains carrying those being exiled, and we saw the signs that were hung on the railway cars.” What encouragement this provided!

So rather than being disheartened, those being exiled reflected the spirit of Jesus’ apostles. The Bible says that after these were flogged and ordered to stop preaching, “they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ.” (Acts 5:40-42) Indeed, as Kolarz said about the exile, “this was not the end of the ‘Witnesses’ in Russia, but only the beginning of a new chapter in their proselytising activities. They even tried to propagate their faith when they stopped at stations on their way into exile.”

When the Witnesses arrived at their various destinations and were dropped off, they gained a good reputation for being obedient hard workers. Yet, at the same time, in imitation of Christ’s apostles, they, in effect, told their oppressors: ‘We cannot stop speaking about our God.’ (Acts 4:20) Many listened to what the Witnesses taught and joined them in serving God.

The consequence was just as Kolarz explained: “In deporting them the Soviet Government could have done nothing better for the dissemination of their faith. Out of their village isolation [in the western Soviet republics] the ‘Witnesses’ were brought into a wider world, even if this was only the terrible world of the concentration and slave labour camps.”

[Box/Picture on page 7]

ONE OF THOUSANDS—Fyodor Kalin Describes His Family’s Exile

Our family lived in the village of Vilshanitsa, in western Ukraine. In the morning darkness of April 8, 1951, officers with dogs came, woke us up, and told us that by a decree from the government in Moscow, we were being sent to Siberia. But if we signed a document saying that we were no longer Jehovah’s Witnesses, we could stay. Our family of seven, including my parents and siblings, were determined to remain Witnesses. I was then 19 years old.

One officer said: “Take along beans, corn, flour, pickles, cabbage—otherwise how are you going to feed the children?” We were also allowed to butcher some chickens and a pig and to take the meat with us. Two horse-drawn carts were brought, and everything was loaded into them and taken to the town of Hriplin. There, about 40 or 50 of us were crammed into a freight car, and the door was shut.

The car had a few planks for us to sleep on—not enough for everyone—and a stove with some coal and wood. We cooked on the stove, using cookware we had brought. But there was no toilet—we simply used a bucket. Later, we made a round opening in the floor, fixed the bucket in it, and hung blankets around it for some privacy.

We lived cramped together in that freight car as we slowly made our way thousands of miles to an unknown destination. At first, we were somewhat downhearted. But as we sang Kingdom songs together—with such vigor that later we could hardly speak—we felt joyful. The commander would open the doors and tell us to stop, but we would not stop until we had finished. When we stopped at stations along the way, many learned that Jehovah’s Witnesses were being sent into exile. Finally, after 17 or 18 days in that freight car, we were dropped off in Siberia near Lake Baikal.

[Picture]

I am standing in the back row, right

[Picture on page 6]

Thousands were transported to Siberia in freight cars

[Picture on page 8, 9]

The Vovchuks were deported to Irkutsk, Siberia, in 1951 and continue as faithful Christians today