This is the second part of a two-part series on the life of Martin B. Fast. For Part I, see Preservings issue 39.

After the First World War ended in 1918, a Civil War continued to rage in Russia. Although he was no longer affiliated with any publications, Martin Fast continued corresponding with – and sending contributions to – Mennonites in Russia, including those in the Siberian colonies. From Reedley, he watched as the financial conditions in Russia worsened. Advised to send Russian rubles, Fast purchased several, sending them in registered letters. He waited for answers to no avail. The letters came back to Reedley after wandering around the globe for a year and a half. To his surprise, the rubles were still in the envelopes and he deposited them in Reedley’s First National Bank vault.

He, along with many other Mennonite families in the Reedley area, began receiving even more urgent appeals from Siberian Mennonites. Due to the ongoing Civil War in this territory vital supplies, including warm clothing necessary to survive the coming winter, were scarce. Although he had long before given up his desire to be a foreign missionary, Fast felt that he could address this tangible mission need by providing warm clothing. He wrote to the American Red Cross, the Quakers, and the Old Mennonites and learned that clothing could indeed be sent to Siberia.¹

The logistical challenges were discussed in Mennonite publications. Some recommended that the clothing be shipped via the Atlantic Ocean. Fast, however, argued that items sent that way would not reach their intended Siberian destination. After making inquiries in San Francisco, he learned that the items could be sent to Seattle, Washington, and then be shipped directly to Vladivostok on a Russian freighter by the Pacific Ocean. Fast proposed such a route within Mennonite newspapers and many approved of this approach and soon boxes of clothing and bedding began arriving in Seattle.²

After obtaining official permission (Number 44451) from the War Trade Board in Washington, D. C., Fast and other volunteers began collecting boxes of clothing and bedding. During his many trips to Seattle, Fast found support and hospitality from J. F. Harms and his wife. The two men had much in common as Harms had also served as editor of the Mennonitische Rundschau (1880–1886) and, like Fast, had previously toured his Russian homeland, visiting many congregations. After the First World War, Harms also took on a prominent role in the promotion of relief work to alleviate the suffering among Russian Mennonites.³

Fast wanted to follow the crates to their Siberian destination, but he did not have travel money or a passport. On his return to Reedley, he found a letter from Harms, urging him to follow the shipment. Fast shared this proposal with his wife and together they prayed for guidance. Then, a letter from Kansas arrived with an anonymous offer to pay his expenses. At the county courthouse in Fresno he learned that very few passports were being issued. Putting his faith in God’s guidance, he sent in the application and despite the clerk’s warning his new passport arrived some three weeks later. Many came to bid him farewell and old friends from his days in the Midwest and new friends he made in California sent “fitting wishes for a safe trip and blessings on his work.”⁴

On the Pacific

Fast had planned to travel with Wilhelm Neufeld of the First Mennonite Church in Reedley. However, two days before Fast was to leave, his intended travel partner told him, “Brother Fast, the wind has shifted at our place.” Instead, Neufeld was making plans to visit his daughter, a missionary in China.⁵ Despite this setback, Fast was determined to proceed on his perilous journey. On the last day of June 1919, Fast left San Francisco on the Shinyo Maru. The next morning Fast saw some familiar faces onboard, including Dr. R. A. Torrey, an evangelist, pastor, and writer, who had recently been appointed dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. During the one-week sail to Honolulu, Fast, Torrey and others conversed about the teachings and basic beliefs of the Mennonites, including non-resistance and foot washing.⁶

After a few hours onshore in Honolulu, the passengers re-boarded the Shinyo Maru. During the eleven-day crossing to Japan, Fast abstained from games, picture shows, and other forms of entertainment, especially dancing. Some of them seemed to be totally innocent, he noted; but he harkened back to his youth in Rückenau, where, as a young boy, he had seen the trouble caused by people dancing in the local tavern. He recalled his mother’s admonition that “a person who dances will never go to heaven!”⁷

Fast and others were honored with an invitation to tea at the home of the president of the shipping line. After docking at the port near Tokyo, the guests boarded a streetcar to travel to his house, situated well out of town within a stone grotto and near a waterfall. Fast noted that the luxurious dwelling and the extravagant fare was “worth the trip.”⁸

The next leg of the trip was a twelve-hour train ride to the port city of Tsuruga on the Sea of Japan. The weather was very unsettled during the crossing to Vladivostok and Fast was relieved to arrive at his destination. He had been in transit for nearly a month. Eager to leave the ship, he mentally prepared to deal with Russian bureaucracy. Finally, with his passport and his belongings inspected, he stepped out onto dry land. “For good or evil, I was now in the land of banishment (exile), a place which nearly every Russian thinks of with horror and fear.”⁹ He was back in Russia, ready to help his fellow Mennonites in the settlements near Omsk.

Allies and Customs Officials

Fast discovered that Vladivostok was a staging area for Allied troops sent to assist in the Civil War. The American Red Cross, also headquartered in the city, was charged with treating Russian military personnel and civilians suffering from disease and malnourishment along the 4,100-mile-long Trans-Siberian Railway. Their main task was dealing with typhus, which was spreading quickly across the region. The Red Cross’s Inter-Allied Typhus Train, which became known as the ‘Great White Train,’ was a rolling clinic with facilities for bathing and delousing typhus victims along the railroad line.¹⁰

Fast did not let the turmoil in Vladivostok distract him. He found a hotel and headed for the customs house on the other side of the city’s huge bay. He had two goals: first to find the crates of supplies that had been shipped from the U.S., and second, to get them on a Red Cross train to Omsk. He had brought two important documents to Russia. The first was from the Russian Consul George F. Romanosky who had added “Relief Work, Gratis,” to his Russian visa, assuring him that the crates could enter the country duty free.¹¹ The second was from P. A. Wiebe, a church official in Lehigh, Kansas,¹² who had been “moved by the spirit” to send Fast a recommendation signed and stamped with a church seal.¹³

Fast was grateful for both documents and found them helpful when he was making arrangements to ship the crates to Omsk. But he quickly discovered that the documents were of no value at the customs house. There he discovered that the crates had arrived much earlier and were buried deep in the building. After a lengthy search, he was happy to see the big ‘W’ that he and Harms had drawn on each one. He walked along the rows of crates, touching each one. “So many people in America had prayed for these crates. And now I could welcome them in Russia.”¹⁴ Informed by customs officials that he would have to pay full duties on their contents, Fast appealed to the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok, but was told that only the Red Cross had an exemption and even the YMCA paid full customs. Fast persisted, but eventually, he was forced to accept the conditions in order to get on with his task.

Feeling isolated and having no one to consult, Fast sought out a church. He found a Russian Baptist church that held prayer meetings four times a week, and there he found fellowship with like-minded believers. He also learned of two families, Enns and Thiessen, who had earlier endured a forty-two-day trip from the Siberian interior to Vladivostok hoping to find a way to immigrate to the United States. He visited the two families and gave them some financial assistance with monies provided by Br. J. J. Flaming of Dinuba.¹⁵ In turn, the two men assisted Fast at the custom house. They were “very helpful in dealing with the complications.” The three men would often cross the bay, “only to be greeted with the sign zavtra (tomorrow).” On August 12, the doors were finally open.

The men began opening the crates so the officials could calculate the duty. To Fast’s dismay, the stacks of clothing, so carefully ironed and packed by the women in Seattle, were thrown about by the customs men. Fast summoned his courage and, brandishing his passport and the two official documents, grabbed one of the men. In Russian, German, and English he said, “You see, don’t you, that these are shirts? Why are you tearing everything apart?”¹⁶ After that, the Russians showed more respect for him and for the contents of the crates.

The U.S. consul in Vladivostok had warned him to stay with the items and that, as soon as they were weighed, to quickly re-pack them and close the crates to avoid theft. Thiessen stayed with the sorting while Fast watched over the re-packing and Enns repaired the broken crates and nailed all of them shut. Despite their precautions, items began disappearing and Fast realized that he would have to act quickly. He invited the officials to select what they needed: trousers, shirts, overcoats, and other items. Fast also gave several small children, very shabbily dressed, clothing. Then one of the guards, armed with a rifle and bayonet, approached. He had no shirt and was wearing little else. Fast dressed him up “American style.” Due to Fast’s quick thinking, the thefts stopped almost completely, and he thanked the “good Lord for the opportunity” to do some good.¹⁷

During this time, Fast received a letter from his wife, Elisabeth, informing him that Neufeld was on his way after all. Much relieved at the news, he often ran down to the harbor to meet the twice-weekly passenger ships, hoping that Neufeld would arrive and help him “with word and deed in the difficult work.”¹⁸

After nearly five weeks, the customs agent presented him with the bill. The U.S. consul had estimated the fee at about 5,000 rubles. But Fast was stunned to receive a bill for 23,200 rubles (some $380.00 U.S. dollars in 1919).¹⁹ The bill did not include other expenses – such as crossing the bay more than thirty times – or any personal expenditures. With no options but to pay the horrendous sum, Fast immediately contacted the U.S. consul in Omsk. He advised Fast to write a short letter explaining who the Mennonites were, where they had originated and where they now lived, and to explain why he was attempting to bring clothing and other items to Siberia. Fast did this and also included in the report how much he had paid in customs duties.²⁰ In addition, he submitted an official request for reimbursement of the duty fees and arranged that as soon as the U.S. consul received the money, it was to be deposited in an account for the support of poor Mennonites and the poor wives of Russian soldiers.

While fighting for a reduced customs bill, Fast was also negotiating a way to get the crates to Omsk – free of charge. Once again, he visited the U.S. consulate to ask for free transport, submitting his testimonials, words, and recommendations. Soon after, he received a letter from the director of the American Red Cross, a Mr. Strong, which “everywhere opened hearts and doors.” In another letter, a Mr. Cook, also of the Red Cross, promised to store the fifty-two crates in their warehouse and load them on the next westbound train. However, Cook added, this was very indefinite due to the “present military situation.”²¹

With his work nearly complete, Fast boarded a streetcar, headed for the Red Cross office and then to the customs house, which would soon be closing. The streetcar was, as always, very crowded. “You hang on if you can; others are simply left standing [on the curb].”²² As they approached the first stop, he reached for his pocketbook. It was gone. Everything was gone, his passport, his important documents and his rubles (approximately thirty-five U.S. dollars). He was not the only victim; several others were robbed that day. One lost 65,000 rubles. Fast placed a notice in the local newspaper requesting that the finder bring the wallet to the American Red Cross, but there was no response. The fifty-two crates were scheduled to be unloaded at the Red Cross headquarters the next day. He had no choice but to return to the U.S. consulate and apply for an emergency passport.

The next day, at the customs house, Fast rented several barges to carry the crates across the bay. He and his helpers had just begun loading them when a Russian man appeared, then several more and “soon the whole so called ‘Union.’”²³ They told Fast that he would have to hire them at a cost of 1,200 rubles. He took the group leader aside and negotiated a 350-ruble fee. The men carried the crates down to the water and helped load. The trip was long and difficult, as the barges were small and the weather was bad. Despite the wind and the rain, they eventually deposited the crates at the Red Cross headquarters. On September 1, the fifty-two crates were loaded onto a train that left for Omsk under military guard. The crates traveled at no cost, thanks to the above-mentioned testimonials and to the direct intervention of the U.S. consul.

Departure for Omsk

Neufeld arrived the day after the crates had been loaded and sent on their way. The two men shared their accounts of what had transpired since they had last met in Reedley and then prepared themselves to follow the crates as soon as possible. Fast reported, “That was no easy thing because travel in Russia has always been accompanied by difficulties. And now it was at least ten times worse.”²⁴ A week later, they boarded a train bound for Omsk, in the heart of Siberia. Situated on the Irtysh River, near its confluence with the Om River, the city of Omsk was close to Siberia’s first Mennonite villages that had developed close to the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The city was also the junction point for several other railroad lines, including one leading to the Mennonite settlement near Slavgorod.²⁵

Omsk had served as the headquarters of Aleksandr Kolchak’s provisional government during the Civil War. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army had entered the city in late 1919, forcing Kolchak and the White Army to retreat eastward along the Trans-Siberian towards Irkutsk.²⁶ Because of the destruction wreaked by the Red Army, trains had not traveled between Vladivostok and Omsk for some time. Fast recorded his impressions as he and Neufeld traveled westward, stopping briefly in Irkutsk. “Bridges were partially destroyed, railroad cars were lying on top of each other along the railroad tracks, and shattered glass covered railroad buildings and cars.”²⁷ After a journey of several days, the two men arrived in Omsk, still in the final throes of the Civil War. Additionally, the dreaded typhus was spreading in nearby villages.

Would Fast have set off for Siberia if he had known he would be entering a danger zone? He documented his trip in a book published soon after his return and often referred to his 1919 trip in later writings, but he rarely indicated concern for his own personal safety. He wrote extensively about the people he encountered and the hardships they were enduring; he only commented on the Civil War if the story involved suffering Mennonites.

He also did not give any ink to the importance of Omsk itself. Although he apparently sought out the U.S. consul when he first arrived, he didn’t inform his readers of that. Instead, he immediately launched into a description of the Irtysh, “a very large river,” which he had to cross to get to the Mennonite settlements located west of the city. No ferries were in sight, but he and Neufeld were so eager to reach their destination that they rented a small boat, loaded their luggage and started off in the rain. Fast thought of his uncle, Jakob Barkman, who had crossed the Red River near Winnipeg, Manitoba, under similar weather conditions. Barkman’s boat had overturned and he had drowned. “We folded our hands in prayer and finally, after a zig-zag course, we landed on the opposite shore.”²⁸ They were in the Siberian Mennonite settlements at last and were greeted with coffee and freshly baked bread, complete with butter, at the home of the Thessman family.

Fast and Neufeld soon separated in order to visit more people. As he traveled, Fast was greeted with open arms in village after village. Despite their impoverished conditions, his hosts fed him and housed him and transported him to the next village. It was early September, the time for threshing. In one field, he watched as workers attempted to harvest the grain. “Most of the grain lay loose in the fields. They had not been able to buy any binding twine.”²⁹

In his report, Fast referred briefly to the ongoing conflict, explaining that refugees, along with soldiers and officers with their families, were often quartered with the same families that took him in. “There always seemed to be room for an American and everywhere we enjoyed a most wonderful hospitality.”³⁰ On one of his first Sundays in the Omsk region, he attended a church service in Chunaevka, listening as the Sunday school teacher led his pupils in song. He took every opportunity to talk with the people he met. An elderly woman who had operated a flourishing orphanage about sixty-five miles away told him that the “Reds stole all the provisions, destroyed what they could not use, and scattered the children.”³¹

As he traveled on to Smolianovka, he found the ride through the grain fields and the neatly divided fields and forests belonging to the Mennonites to be very pleasant. “Earlier and particularly in the last few years these owners had made large contributions to help the poor. Now they were faced with quartering people. And the many refugees, who filled the streets and roads, had to be fed.” That night he stayed with the Konrads. “This family had suffered a great deal at the hands of the Reds, when they were active there. They had all been bound and thrown into the cellar. They were robbed of their valuables and 22,000 rubles, which at that time were worth considerably more than now. It is certainly something different to hear about such experiences than it is to read about them.”³²

He visited several poor families. At the first dwelling, the children were “half-naked” despite the cold, wet weather. When Fast shared his concern at their welfare, he was told they were all wearing everything they owned. “Even today I can still see that mother and her little ones standing in front of me! I wish from my heart that I could have taken a picture of them – but I will never forget what I saw.”³³ Conditions in the next home were even worse. The last of the flour had been used and there was nothing to eat. He visited more homes and found the same story. The husbands were gone and the families had no food and very little in the way of clothing. He instructed each of the women to go the miller and get all the flour they needed and that “the Americans” would pay for it.³⁴

Fast attended church services and impromptu gatherings at schools or in someone’s home. There, he heard more stories and listened to the weeping of women whose husbands were to leave for the front early the next morning. He listed the names of Mennonite men who had been shot by the Reds. At a church in Margenau, he spoke to Sunday School students who listened attentively as he talked about the fifty-two crates then on their way. Later, one little girl suggested to her mother that they go to America with Fast. She was sure that he could just pack her and her mother inside one of the crates and get them out of Siberia.

He visited farmers who were well to do, but they also had stories to tell. One family was caught in the middle of a fierce battle in which brother fought against brother. “Scarcely one man out of a hundred knew for what he was fighting.”³⁵ The brothers finally reached home again, relatively unscathed. Along the road and in the forest, they saw many who had been captured in the battle. They had been stripped to the waist and shot in the back.

During the course of his visit, Fast crossed the Irtysh many times. The ferry, a small steamboat, carried both people and cargo and the loading and unloading process was very tedious. Travelers often waited thirty-six hours to board. Plus, there was a toll. But with assistance from a local Mennonite man, Gerhard Wiens, and the U.S. consul in Omsk, along with the letter from the American Red Cross, Fast was able to board the ferry immediately and cross toll-free. “We are very grateful to the Lord who guided the hearts of the authorities.”³⁶

He met up with Neufeld, who had been at his sister’s home. Together they entered Omsk, planning to travel to the Slavgorod area. After some protracted negotiations, they received permission to leave Omsk. They boarded a steamer along with a “thousand or more persons, most of whom were poor Russians or refugees.” Then a military officer confiscated the vessel, ordering everyone to disembark. The ship was reversing directions. “There was nothing we could do, we had to get off.”³⁷

The two men tried to get on a train; however, in order to buy a ticket they had to show their certificate of permission to an official who had closed his office at two o’clock. “Again we found ourselves in a bad situation.” Fast hired a carriage to take him to the American consul: “He gave me a signed note and with that, we had no difficulty in buying a ticket.”³⁸ In the meantime, the train to Slavgorod had left and they were forced to spend the night in the waiting room. Finally, morning came and a train arrived. Once in Slavgorod, they hired a carriage. Neufeld got off at a friend’s house, while Fast and another traveler, Cornelius Klaassen, continued on, with the young coachman driving in deep mud, to their host, Peter Klaassen. There, they were able to wash themselves with hot water and put on clean clothes after their strenuous trip.

The next day was Sunday and Fast went to church, despite the snow, which was falling in large flakes. At the afternoon service, Fast described his relief work and then later attended a funeral for a very poor woman who had died of typhoid fever. Her daughter had died several days before and her husband and another child were also ill. They were among many others who had died of typhoid fever in that area in recent years.³⁹ He wrote of yet another woman who had used up the last of her flour and as she put the dough in the oven, prayed, “Lord, help us and give us our daily bread.” He also wrote of her joy after he purchased some flour and had it delivered to her.⁴⁰

Fast was stunned by what he saw and the stories that he heard, particularly in Slavgorod, where the accounts of atrocities committed by the Reds filled him with horror and revulsion. He related an account of a man named Unruh who owned delivery wagons. One day, Unruh was accosted by men on horseback who demanded to know if he was the owner. When he replied, “yes,” they commanded him and a neighbor standing nearby to come with them. They were taken out of town, stood up on the edge of a pit and shot. They were found dead the next morning, with their ears cut off. “They had done no harm to anyone and were considered among the most active and best men in the city. No one dared to say a word about it or ask about it.”⁴¹

Fast and Neufeld then went their separate ways. Neufeld went with Isaak Friesen while Fast and J. G. Wiens left for the Pavlodar settlement. In Pavlodar, Fast was again greatly affected by the dire straits of mothers and their children trying to survive without a father. In the village of Nadarovka, he visited a woman who, despite the cold day, was barefoot and inadequately dressed, as were her two children. As he sat in their mud hut and looked around, he realized there were no beds. He emptied his satchel, giving her nearly everything he had with him. He saw the same conditions at nearby homes. “Just rags on their bodies that did not cover their nakedness.” When Fast asked where the children slept, the mother told him that at night they brought straw into the house and used that for bedding. Fast felt like admonishing her, but the words died on his tongue. “The misery was too great.”⁴²

There were happier moments. In mid-October in Sofievka, Mennonites came early from far and wide for Harvest Sunday. By the time Fast arrived, every seat in the main building and in a temporary addition was filled. After two men had preached and the choirs had sung, they were treated to “delicious borscht” and other dishes. During the meal so many asked questions that the program was extended, giving Fast the opportunity to tell them about his experiences while in Siberia.⁴³

He was amazed at the close connections between the Mennonites in Russia and those in America. They inquired after relatives and friends and, in most cases, he could provide the information. In turn, they handed him letters and requests for help, which he promised to deliver. After a fitting closing, the whole gathering was treated to coffee and zwieback. Slavgorod celebrated an annual festival while he was there. The town was full of visitors – and of soldiers who confiscated the local school for themselves. Later that night a battle was fought in the nearby forest, which left “everyone feeling uneasy.”⁴⁴

The Crates Arrive

Fast was informed that the crates had finally arrived in Omsk, but that somewhere along the way, thieves had forced their way through the roof of the baggage car, opened two crates and stolen several items. Fortunately, the other fifty crates were still securely closed and a local man, Isaak Braun, was accompanying the crates to Slavgorod to prevent this from happening again.

A committee was formed to distribute the goods. Recalling all he had seen and heard, Fast realized that distributing the items to those who needed them most would not be easy. He told the men not to treat all the supplicants alike; the most deserving families should be at the top of the list.

With his mission accomplished, it was time to return to Vladivostok. Fast attended one last event, a harvest festival in Chunaevka. A large crowd had gathered and the hour of prayer was led by Isaak Braun, who, not long before, had been driven from his home, robbed of his money and his clothing, and cruelly beaten. He did not know where his family was or whether they were still alive. Listening as Braun prayed, many were deeply moved and “prayers for him and his family rose to the Throne of Grace.”⁴⁵ Later Fast spoke, thanking the Lord for the many blessings he had experienced on his mission of mercy and thanking everyone in the church for the love they had shown him. Many shook his hand as he left.

It was getting dark as his host, H. H. Warkentin, took the men to the train station. The area had become quite unsettled and mounted soldiers with rifles and bayonets were stationed on every street corner. In the darkness their carriage slid, and they nearly collided with one of these soldiers, who cursed and lashed at them with a whip before they could move on. The men boarded an express train, courtesy of the American consul. They were carrying letters and sealed packets from various consuls and officials and these items could not be entrusted to the Russian postal service. They were charged with handing the items to officials at various stations en route to Vladivostok. The train traveled slowly and during one night near Nikolsk, did not move for several hours. Toward morning, they heard a strange noise and, looking up, saw planes buzzing above them. They were dismayed to learn that the Bolsheviks were making their way east. Finally, the train moved on.

They arrived in Vladivostok after nine days of travel and discovered that eighty-seven more crates, sent from Seattle by Harms, had arrived. They worked for more than a week authorizing a firm recommended by the Red Cross to transfer the crates from the customs office to the Red Cross warehouse. The costs of transporting the crates to Omsk were to be borne by members of the church in Chunaevka.⁴⁶

After some final business, including retrieving his stolen passport, Fast bid farewell to Neufeld, who was staying on, and retraced his journey back to San Francisco. He arrived in good health in Reedley on November 25, although he weighed nearly twenty pounds less than when he had left for Siberia nearly five months earlier. Fast recorded the miles he had traveled since his June departure until his return: 22,624 miles by automobile, ship, train, and carriage and approximately 65 miles on foot in Vladivostok.⁴⁷ His appeals had raised donations totaling $43,963.10. He distributed $10,480.00 of this as food drafts, and the rest as general relief.⁴⁸ He also wrote a book detailing his relief trip to Siberia, Historical Report How the North American Mennonites Helped their Poor Brethren in the Faith in Russia, Now and Earlier. This book was distributed by the popular and widely read in the German-language newspaper, Vorwärts, edited by J. G. Fast.⁴⁹

Only a few days after his return, Fast and his wife, Elisabeth, embarked on a speaking tour, visiting nearly all the Mennonite churches in Kansas. Fast drew large audiences eager to hear news of their relatives and friends. As he described the perils, the hunger facing so many and the stark poverty of the women whose husbands had been conscripted into the military, he exhorted his audience to work together to provide continuing relief to those in need.

Fast and Neufeld’s relief efforts – and their trip reports – were closely observed by fellow Mennonites. As Hiebert wrote, “When these brethren had returned from their eventful mission, they told in graphic words of the famine conditions as they found them. People streamed together in large numbers to get all the information possible, and also to find an opportunity to share in the mission of benevolence in a truly Christian spirit.”⁵⁰

During his speaking tour, Fast met with representatives of Midwest Mennonite congregations in Hillsboro, Kansas. At the January 4, 1920, meeting, after hearing Fast’s stories for themselves, the men organized a committee with three representatives from each denomination. Fast (the only non-Kansas resident selected) represented the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren, along with Rev. D. E. Harder and Rev. J. J. Friesen, both of Hillsboro, Kansas. Later this committee was formalized as the Emergency Relief Committee of the Mennonites of North America. P. C. Hiebert (who would later head the newly formed MCC) was elected Chairman; D. E. Harder as Recording Secretary; D. J. Regier as Treasurer; and M. B. Fast as General Secretary.⁵¹

1. In 1915, a year after World War I had begun and two years before the United States entered the conflict, Fast was called to Chicago to create a German-language publication, Der Wahrheitsfreund, published by the KMB conference. ↩︎
2. A. L. Schellenberg, editor of the Zionsbote, a Mennonite Brethren publication, and Vorwärts, a newspaper, was one of those who supported Fast’s plan. Through Schellenberg’s intervention, the financial portion of the trip was underwritten. See Orlando Harms, “Mennonite Brethren Publishing House,” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 10 Feb 2019. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Brethren_Publishing_House&oldid=133236. ↩︎
3. John H. Lohrenz, “Harms, John F. (1855–1945).” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 10 Feb 2019. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Harms,_John_F._(1855–1945)&oldid=144157. ↩︎
4. M. B. Fast, Geschichtlicher Bericht Wie Die Mennoniten Nordamerikas Ihren Armen Glaubensgenossen in Russland Jetzt Und Früher Geholfen Haben: Meine Reise Nach Sibirien Und Zurück, Nebst Anhang Wann Und Warum Die Mennoniten Nach Amerika Kamen Und Die Gliederzahl der Verschiedenen Gemeinden, trans. George Reimer (Reedly, CA: M. B. Fast, 1919), 10. ↩︎
5. M. B. Fast, “Mitteilungen von etlichen der Grossen unter den Mennoniten in Russland und in Amerika. Beobachtungen und Erinnerungen von Jefferson Co. Dann noch von meinen vielseitigen Erfahrungen aus der frühen Jugend bis jetzt,” [hereafter “Mitteilungen”] trans. George Reimer, in Wahrheitsfreund (Inman, KS: Krimmer Mennonite Publishing Committee, 1935), 80–83. ↩︎
6. Fast, 11. ↩︎
7. Ibid., 13. ↩︎
8. Ibid., 15. ↩︎
9. Ibid., 17. ↩︎
10. Julia F. Irwin, “The Great White Train: Typhus, Sanitation, and U.S. International Development during the Russian Civil War,” Endeavour 36, no. 3 (Sept. 2012): 89–96, http://sites.bu.edu/revolutionaryrussia/files/2013/09/The-Great-White.pdf. ↩︎
11. Fast, 19. ↩︎
12. Pete V. Wiebe, “Springfield Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church (Marion County, Kansas, USA),“ Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online [hereafter GAMEO], 1959, http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Springfield_Krimmer_Mennonite_Brethren_Church_(Marion_County,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=117610, accessed 10 Feb 2019. ↩︎
13. Fast, 19. ↩︎
14. Ibid. ↩︎
15. Ibid., 33. ↩︎
16. Ibid., 20. ↩︎
17. Ibid., 21. ↩︎
18. Ibid., 20. ↩︎
19. Ibid., 22. ↩︎
20. Ibid., 26. ↩︎
21. Ibid., 25. ↩︎
22. Ibid., 23. ↩︎
23. Ibid., 25. ↩︎
24. Ibid., 30. ↩︎
25. Cornelius Krahn, “Omsk Mennonite Settlement (Siberia, Russia),” GAMEO, 1959, http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Omsk_Mennonite_Settlement_(Siberia,_Russia)&oldid=135021. https://www.greatrussiangifts.com/omsk/, accessed 10 Feb. 2019. ↩︎
26. “Omsk,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Dec. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk, accessed 10 Feb. 2019. ↩︎
27. Fast, 30. ↩︎
28. Ibid. ↩︎
29. Ibid., 35. ↩︎
30. Ibid., 34. ↩︎
31. Ibid., 62. ↩︎
32. Ibid., 43. ↩︎
33. Ibid., 44. ↩︎
34. Ibid. ↩︎
35. Ibid., 54. ↩︎
36. Ibid., 36. ↩︎
37. Ibid., 54. ↩︎
38. Ibid., 55. ↩︎
39. “Typhoid fever,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Feb. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever, accessed 10 Feb. 2019. ↩︎
40. Fast, 56. ↩︎
41. Ibid. ↩︎
42. Ibid., 65. ↩︎
43. Ibid., 66. ↩︎
44. Ibid., 73. ↩︎
45. Ibid., 75. ↩︎
46. Ibid., 43. ↩︎
47. Ibid., 84. ↩︎
48. P. C. Hiebert, Feeding the Hungry, American Mennonite Relief Operations under Mennonite Central Commitee (Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Central Committee, 1929), 33. ↩︎
49. Christian Neff and J. W. Nickel, “Ewert, Jacob G. (1874–1923),” GAMEO, 1956, http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ewert,_Jacob_G._(1874-1923)&oldid=145037, accessed 10 Feb. 2019. ↩︎
50. Hiebert, 35. ↩︎
51. Guy F. Hershberger and Atlee Beechy, “Relief Work,” GAMEO, 1989, http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Relief_Work&oldid=143711, accessed 9 Feb. 2019. ↩︎