I told you that I was going to read Anna Baerg’s diary, and then I fell down some rabbit holes, but I’m on the other side now — the book has been read. Here are a few things I wrote down as I read:
Diary editor Gerald Peters’ introduction stated that Anna was often kind of wrong about what was actually happening. And so each chapter begins with a historical account before Anna’s own entries, but I wonder if it would be more helpful if there were footnotes at each place where she’s wrong, stating what was the truth.
It was a strange experience to read about munitions in Kleefeld, and the front approaching Steinbach. As if a country in upheaval had been transplanted here. An alternate universe.
(Of course she was writing about the Steinbach and Kleefeld of Molotchna, Ukraine — not of Manitoba, Canada.)
Fascinating to read of the experience of a young woman in poor health with a sharp creative mind, observing all around her, in an extraordinary time.
A devastating quote from page 44:
“On Sunday, Willi sat on a bench crying, ‘I haven’t seen Papa for so long!’ And when I took him to the cemetery and showed him Father’s grave, he exclaimed that we should dig him out. ‘Go ahead!’ I answered and he began scraping and digging with his little hands…”
And page 67:
“One has heard a great deal about war, but it is a completely different story when one is caught in the middle of it.”
So, a bit about Anna Baerg. She dreamed of further education and more schooling but living in a time of war did not allow for that. She was also not healthy, in some places the diary mentions her spine. She could not really work. All she could do mostly was sit, dream, and write. She wrote poetry and many people commissioned her work. Some of her poems are included in the book, but honestly I find her prose far more captivating. She wrote well. Honestly and uniquely. From deep inside herself.
Her father died of typhus I think it was — one of the diseases carried to the villages by the marauding bandits and armies. But it seems the rest of the family was okay and somehow survived and together immigrated to Canada in 1924. Anna’s account of their train trip across Europe is fascinating to me. She tried very hard to write about every place the train travels through and I would say she succeeded brilliantly. You should read it.
The family arrived at Dominion City, Manitoba, and Anna later lived with her mother in Winnipeg, before moving to live with family in Saskatchewan, and then British Columbia. According to Grandma Online (she’s number 532544), Anna passed away in 1972 and is buried in Abbotsford. Much of her poetry had been published, but the GMOL entry does not mention her diary! (Published in 1985 by CMBC Publications, by the way.)
The epilogue notes that Anna’s health never improved. “Gradually she began to accept her situation, gaining an inner peace that was to remain with her for the rest of her days.”
It also states: “All her life Anna wanted to be a writer… she would surely have been happy and grateful to know that others have taken an interest in what she had to say.”
I think the treatment of Anna Baerg’s diary was thoughtful, considerate, beautiful. As was her writing. I’m so glad it was published and I sure wish more writing from Mennonite women a long time ago was this easily accessible. Feeling grateful for Anna’s writing and those who saw intrigue and value in it.
(Feature photo highlights the back of the book, with a photograph of Anna.)