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Wish I’d Been There: A Professor in Underwear
by Peter J. Dyck
I wish I had been at the Moscow Central Railway Station when Professor Alvin Miller from Ohio arrived there in his underwear.
The year was 1920. The First World War, the Revolution and the Civil War in Russia were over. Now famine stalked the land, killing men, women and children. The New York Times reported that people in Russia “are dying like flies.” The 120,000 Mennonites in their colonies were not exempt. I, too, was expected to die soon as is evidenced by my father’s entry in his diary that says “Little Peter won’t be with us much longer.”
Meanwhile a delegation of three men had been dispatched to America to tell the sad story. Paul’s statement that “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him,” (Romans 8:28) was about to be realized. American Mennonites met on July 27 in Elkhart, Indiana and organized the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for the sole purpose of bringing food to the starving Mennonites, and others, in Russia. Alvin Miller was to be their envoy.
Miller left Paris by train expecting to arrive in Moscow the next day. When night came he undressed, down to his long one-piece white underwear, hung his clothing on a hook, and went to sleep. When the conductor called out “Next station Moscow,” Alvin awoke with a start, reached for his clothing, and discovered that it was gone. Everything, including his shoes, had been stolen. It was cold outside and there was snow on the ground.
Meanwhile a delegation of Mennonites had come from the Ukraine to meet the first American relief worker and was waiting for him in the central station. There was no Alvin Miller. Finally they thought he might have taken a “droshke,” a horse-drawn taxi, to the hotel. They went outside. What they saw in the first dawn of the early morning was an incredibly strange sight, something like a snowman or a ghost, darting this way and that between the carriages. They investigated this unusual phenomenon, introduced themselves to Alvin Miller, got some clothing for the poor American professor—and the rest is history. Except to say that Alvin Miller had learned the first lesson in relief work: only after you have received, will you know how to give.
Peter J. Dyck, at home in Scottdale, Pa,. is well known as a story teller and advocate of Mennonite Central Committee. Peter J. Dyck was born in Russia, moved to Canada with his parents at age 12, and graduated from Goshen College and Bethany Theological Seminary. He served as pastor but most of his life was spent in service with the Mennonite Central Committee. He is married to Elfrieda Klassen, has two daughters and five grandchildren. Peter is now in active retirement in Scottdale, Pennsylvania and with Elfrieda attends the Kingview Mennonite Church.
Mennonite Historical Bulletin January 2000