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Hist. Mss. 1-892
Peter Dyck (1914- ) and Elfrieda (Klassen) Dyck (1917- ) Collection
Papers, 1939-94
3 Boxes (Large)
Biographical
Sketch
1914
Peter Dyck born in Russia to Mennonite parents.
1917 Elfrieda Klassen born in
Russia to
Mennonite parents.
1920s Uncertain of their future, many
Russian
Mennonites emigrated
to Canada, among them the Klassen and Dyck families. Elfrieda received
nurse’s training in Canada and was asked to serve with Mennonite
Central Committee (MCC) in Europe.
1942 Elfrieda traveled to
England
in 1942, where she met Peter
Dyck, also a worker with MCC. Together, Peter and Elfrieda managed a
boy’s home in England.
1944 Peter and Elfrieda were
married. As the Allied Armies had
victory on the European continent, relief organizations began work
there, including MCC. Volunteers were needed in Holland to distribute
aid, and Peter and Elfrieda went.
Amidst relief work, MCC found Mennonite refugees
from
Russia
attempting to enter Holland. Peter and Elfrieda were on the forefront
of assisting these Fluechtlinge (refugees). Word came through
the American Army that more Mennonites were in Berlin. Peter and
Elfrieda eventually began working with the thousands who waited in
Germany to emigrate to Canada. Canada would not accept all the
refugees, but Paraguay and other countries in South America did. Peter
and Elfrieda are remembered among Mennonites particularly for the Berlin
Exodus,
when the Russian Mennonites traveled from Berlin through the Soviet
sector of Germany to the seaport. They also then led and were on
several of these sea passages from Europe to South America, where the
Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union found new homes.
____ Peter and Elfrieda
supported
the work of MCC later as they
lived in Akron, Pennsylvania. Peter is a storyteller, and his telling
of the Berlin Exodus has been a source of oral history and the
faithfulness of God among Mennonite people. They now live in Scottdale,
Pennsylvania.
Administrative Information
These materials were deposited at the Archives
by
Peter J. Dyck,
Scottdale, Pennsylvania, via the Mennonite Central Committee in 1982
and 1995.
Brief biography
written by
Reuben
Miller, Archives intern, June 24, 1998, and file folder listing posted
on the Web. Collection cataloged and initial listing made by Dennis
Stoesz, September 13, 1995. Numbers added to file folders, and
inventory typed into computer as a Word document by Nelda Nussbaum,
November 1, 2001.
Series Listing
A. Correspondence, 1948-78 Page 2
B. Correspondence, 1939-94 Page 3
C. Organizations Distributing Bibles in Russia, 1972-94 Page 5
D. Der Mennonit, 1948-67 Page 6
Inventory Listing
Box 1 (Large)
A. Correspondence, 1948-78 (Organized
alphabetically)
1/1 Akron Correspondence, 1955-57
1/2 Argentina – Martin Duerksen, 1956
1/3 Arndt, Mara (Hamburg), 1956-57
1/4 Berlin Document Center, 1957
1/5 Canadian Committee for Reunification [of families separated in
WWII], 1961
1/6 Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization,
1958-61
1/7 Communism vs. Christianity in Eastern Europe, 1957
1/8 Czechoslovakia, 1962-65
1/9 Dyck, Peter, misc., 1958-59
1/10 East-West Buero Mitterlungen, 1960-62 (includes trip report by
Peter Dyck)
1/11 East-West Contact, 1959-61
1/12 East-West Interviews, 1960-70
1/13 East-West Program and Policy Decisions, 1959
1/14 East Zone Address List, 1959
1/15 German Red Cross, 1956-70
1/16 Heimkehrer, 1955-68
1/17 HOK – Awaiting Responses
1/18 HOK – Correspondence on Policy and Procedures, 1956-59
1/19 Hungary – Parcels, 1963
1/20 Immigrants coming to North America, 1948-70
1/21 Janz, B.B., 1957-58
1/22 Mennonite Heimtorskartei
1/23 Paraguay – Peter Duerksen, 1960
1/24 Poland Baptists, 1957-64
1/25 Poland Contacts and Correspondence, 1957-71
1/26 Poland MCC Visits, 1958-60
1/27 Radio Mission, 1961-66
1/28 Russia Baptists, 1956-77
1/29 Russia (Bibles to), 1968
1/30 Russia Exchange, 1966-71
1/31 Russia Family Reunion, 1961-66
1/32 Russia Literature, 1962-63
1/33 Russia – Mennonites in Russia, 1960-62 (Peter Dyck message to
World Conference)
1/34 Russia Money Transfer, 1958-76
1/35 Russia Religious Condition 1968-70
1/36 Russia Returnees 1958-60
1/37 Russia Unofficial visitors 1966-70
1/38 Schkartee – Miscellaneous 1955-57
1/39 Thustek – Mrs. Christa 1956-57
1/40 Tracing Ads, Newspapers (Non HOK) 1956-78
1/42 Tracing Services & Contacts (other)
1957-68
1/43 W.A.S.T. 1958-70
1/44 Youth Festival 1957-59
Box 2 (Large)
B. Correspondence, 1939-94
(Organized alphabetically)
2/1 American Mennonite Study Mission to
Europe
1950
2/2 Anatomy of A Mennonite Miracle: The Berlin Rescue of 30-31 Jan.
1947/ T. G. Regher
2/3 Articles and Reports 1960-1970
2/4 Articles and Reports ca 1947-1949
2/5 Articles on Service ca 1968-1985
2/6 Buenos Aires Mennonite Camp 1947
2/7 Charlton Monarch 1948
2/8 Documents ca 1940’s
2/9 Dueck, Helene Memoirs
2/10 Dyck, Peter Biography 1991
2/11 Dyck, Peter Conscientious Objector 1939-1945
2/12 Dyck, Peter & Elfrieda (Klassen) personal 1942-1994
2/13 East European names & addresses
2/14 East West Concerns & Newsletters 1987-1989
2/15 Erinnerungen: an die Flucht der Mennoniten aus Russland un ihre
Ansidedlung in Suedamerika/ C.A. DeFehr, n.d.
2/16 Europe Mission Study Conference (Bienenberg) 1967
2/17 European Mennonites 1951-1952, 1967
2/18 France Reconstruction Transportation Unit Wissembourg 1946-1986
2/19 General Correspondence 1940-1945
2/20 General Correspondence 1946
2/21a General Correspondence 1947 (two files)
2/21b General Correspondence 1947
2/22 General Correspondence 1948-1949
2/23 General Correspondence 1952-1989
2/24 Hartfeld, Herman "Die Kontextualisterung der Theologischen Doktrin
and Praxis des Aurechb der Sowjetunion n.d.
2/25 Lists of Refugees to South America ca 1947
2/26 Mennonitische Ruckwanderer aus Paraguay Ergebnisse eines Befragung
/ Han Duksen
2/27a Newspaper Clippings (Mennonite refugees et al) copied
2/27b Newspaper Clippings, (Mennonite refugees et al) original
2/28 Oral History Background Papers
2/29 Paraguay 1981-1984
2/30 Paraguay Interviews With Former Refugees 1983, 1988
2/31 Paraguay Maps
2/32 Refugee Poems
2/33 Russia 1968-1976
2/34 Russia 1977
2/35 Russia 1979-1988
2/36 Russia All – Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists
(AUCECB) Congress Report 1974, 1979
2/37 Russia All – Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists
(AUCECB) North America visit 1976
2/38 Russia maps
2/39 Russia Trip 1968
2/40 Russia Trip 1976
2/41 Russia Trip 1982
2/42 Russia Trip 1986
2/43 Russia Trip 1987
2/44 Russia Trip 1989
Box 3 (Large)
3/1 Russian Baptists ca 1989
3/2 Russian Bible Commentary 1986-1989
3/3 Russian Mennonites 1956-1988
3/4 Russian Mennonite Refugees Statements with Particular Reference to
Einbuergerung & Settlement in Poland 1948
3/5 Russian Prisoners 1981-82
3/6 Solzhenitsyn, Alexander 1973
3/7 South America ca 1948, 1988
3/8 South America Trip 1988
3/9 Speaking Engagements 1980
3/10 Speaking Engagements 1981
3/11 Speaking Engagements 1982
3/12 Speaking Engagements 1983
3/13 Speaking Engagements 1984
3/14 Speaking Engagements 1985
3/15 Speaking Engagements 1986
3/16 Speaking Engagements 1987
3/17 Speaking Engagements 1988
3/18 Speaking Engagements 1989
3/19 Speaking Engagements 1990
3/20 Speaking Engagements 1991
3/21 Speaking Engagements 1992
3/22 Speaking Engagements 1993
3/23 Speaking Engagements 1994
3/24 Taxal Edge 1942-1944
3/25 Volendam 1946-1948
3/26 Volendam I Tagebuch (Diary), Ruth Birkholts January 31-February
22, 1947
3/27 Volendam II Tagebuch (Diary), Miss Birkholtz 1948
3/28 Volendam, 1946-48: "Ship Rules" (Legal-size, found on side of box)
C. Organizations Distributing Bibles in
Russia,
1972-94
3/29 Brother Andrew, 1973-94
3/30 Bibles for Russia (includes smuggling) ca 1973
3/31 Christian Aid for Romania
3/32 Eastern European Mission
3/33 International Evangelism
3/34 Jesus to the Communist World / Wurmbrand
3/35 Jesus to the Iron Curtain
3/36 Mission Possible
3/37 Missionsbund (Licht im Osten)
3/38 Persecuted Church Commission, Inc.
3/39 Popoff, Peter
3/40 Russia for Christ
3/41 Slavic Gospel Association, Inc.
3/42 Underground Evangelism, 1972-80
3/43 The Voice of Triumph
3/44 World Christian Missions
D. Der Mennonit, 1948-67
3/45 Der Mennonit, 1948-52
3/46 Der Mennonit, 1953-57
3/47 Der Mennonit, 1958-62
3/48 Der Mennonit, 1963-67
February 9, 2004 / Posted on web by Rebecca Allen
September 30, 2003 / Updated by Helen Hostetler
File: "HM1-892.doc"
Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen, 1700 S
Main St.,
Goshen, Indiana 46526
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