BMancaster Farming, Saturday, March 30, 1996
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
GRANTSVILLE, Md. Ruth
Reimer Yoder remembers what it
was like to be a refugee.
Now, a farm wife living in
Grantsville, Md., Ruth is often
asked to share her life’s story. In
the last few weeks. Ruth has been
speaking at several promotional
dinners for the upcoming Pennsyl
vania Relief Sale, which helps
needy families throughout the
world.
Ruth was seven years old when
she, her pregnant mother, and two
siblings 8 and 10 years old fled
their home in Danzig, Germany.
Because Ruth’s father was in the
army, he could not be contacted.
Tlie family boarded a small ship
to cross the Baltic Sea. The small
vessel was to transport them to a
larger ship.
But the larger ship hit a sea
mine, and the family watched it
sink, realizing their own narrow
escape. Later, their own ship was
damaged by enemy air attacks.
Because several soldiers on
deck were killed and the ship deve
loped a leak, the captain steered
the ship toward the closest shore
Denmark.
‘They graciously allowed us
ashore,” Ruth said.
During the end of World War 11,
thousands of people were fleeing
Germany. The refugee camps were
crowded and food was scarce.
A piece of bread and a thin soup
was served daily, but it was never
enough to satisfy their starving
stomachs.
“I remember standing outside
the camp’s kitchen window. What
ever they threw out pea shells,
outer cabbage leaves we
devoured,” Ruth said.
As a special treat, muskrats
were cooked in the soup that was
served for Sunday dinner. “We
(the children) thought it tasted so
good because it was meat, but
mother didn’t share our sentiments
because she had helped prepare the
muskrats,” Ruth said.
Shortly after their arrival.
Ruth’s mother gave birth to a baby
girl.
The survival rate of children in
the camp under three years of age
was low because sanitary facilities
were poor. There was no hot water
“One great thing is that our whole family Including my
grandmother suvlved,” Ruth said of this picture of the
Relmer family, which was taken In 1949 soon after their
release from being In a refugee camp for more than three
years. From left from row: Ruth’s grandmother, mother,
Heidi, father and Dieter. Back row from left are Lisa, Hans,
and Ruth.
Once A Refugee, Now A Farm Wife,
Ruth Tells Her Story To Raise Money
For Pennsylvania Relief Sale
This It the Yoder family on their farm in Grantsville, Md.
From left, front row: Dick Yoder and wife Karin; and Heidi
Yoder. Middle row: Karen Yoder Tice, Greg Bender, Brent
Mast, Jennifer Bender, and Wendy and Jodi Mast. Back row:
and soap. The baby contracted
boils all over her body. Doctors cut
open the boils to drain and treat
them with a special solution.
Ruth’s baby sister survived only to
later contract a severe digestive ill
ness. The baby was taken to a hos
pital outside of camp. While there,
she was pronounced dead and her
crib was put outside.
But a passing nurse noticed she
was still alive. The nurse took the
baby home with her and nursed her
back to health.
While in the camp, the family
was delighted when workers with
the Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC) handed out care packages.
One of the first items they were
given was a blanket, which Ruth’s
mother cut into several pieces in
which to wrap the newborn baby.
“I also very well remember
Peter and Elfreda Dyck from MCC
coming into the camp and having
Sunday School with the many
children there. They even handed
out little picture cards, something
special for us children. We also
received pencils. How happy we
were!”
Although the war ended soon
after the family’s arrival at the
refugee camps, there was no place
for the 30,(XX) refugees to go. They
were considered civil war prison
ers retained in a barbed wire
fenced area and guarded by men
with guns.
During the first year the family
spent in the refugee camp, they
were uncertain whether or not
Ruth’s father was alive. Through
the tracing services of MCC, her
father was notified of the family’s
whereabouts, but they were unable
to be reunited with him until after
the family had spent VA years in
the refugee camp.
Ruth, her mother, and brothers
and sisters were put on a train for
nothem Germany.
“I still remember my father
meeting us at the train station. It
was night.”
Although relieved to be reunited
as a family, the family was totally
destitute. In the refugee camps,
they had at least received bread
and soup every day.
Ruth’s father worked for a local
farmer, but the $l7 monthly wage
was not enough money to support a
fpMESTEA
mm* nmm
Marvin Tice, Ruth and Kenneth Yoder, Annetta Yoder,
Dwight Yoder, Isolde Yoder Bender, and Bill and Sylvia Yod
er Mast.
family. Ruth’s mother helped with
the milking and the children: hoed,
picked potatoes, and did other odd
jobs in exchange for a piece of
bread or an occasional dime.
“We were happy with whatever
we were given,” Ruth said. “But it
was very difficult surviving."
Again, MCC came to the fami
ly’s rescue. On a regular basis,
they sent food such as flour, apple
butter, and canned meat
When we butchered one chick
en, we ate everything—feet head,
and neck. One chicken needed to
make two meals for seven people.
During the time in the refugee
camp, the children received no
schooling. When they settled in
nothem Germany they returned to
school.
“I still remember that first day. I
wanted to sink through the floor, I
was dressed so awful compared to
the families who had remained in
the area,” Ruth said. “In Denmark,
everyone was poor, so it hadn’t
bothered me before.”
Schoolwoik too was difficult.
Having missed so much school,
she and her siblings were uncertain
during those first few months
exactly what they were to be
doing. Butßuth managed to stay in
the class with her peers.
Because the family had settled
in a different part of Germany than
where they had lived before the
war, they were considered refu
gees and treated as second-class
citizens. They were not encour-
aged to continue schooling and the
local residents did not want their
children to associate, much less,
marry the refugees. \
One of Ruth’s classmates had
broken her arm. Ruth went to her
home to write her lessons.
“The people were very rich and
treated me nicely,” Ruth said. “At
Christmastime, they gave me a box
with a doll baby and goodies. I was
the only one in her family to get
such a nice present,” Ruth said.
There were other German refu
gee families scattered all over
North Germany. MCC asked
Ruth’s father to be a relief distribu
tor in the area.
During these years, American
young men went to Germany
through a Pax program. “Pax is
Latin for peace. Instead of coming
to our country to destroy, they
came to rebuild,” Ruth said.
' One of the areas, called Espelk
amp, had been an ammunition
storage and arsenal, which hadn’t
been found and destroyed. The
bunkers and barracks were used to
house refugees and the PAX boys
who built houses for them.
Eventually Ruth’s family was
the recipient of one of the houses
the PAX people built
“Otherwise it would have been
impossible for us to own a house,
but the labor of the PAX boys
counted as downpayment and
again we were grateful,” Ruth said.
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