Biographical Sketch

Aron Warkentin was born on October 28, 1903 in Nikolaifeld, a village in the Suvorovka Mennonite settlement in the North Caucasus region. He received a good education here and also met the love of his life, Anna, whom he later married. He became a church leader in his village, and also fulfilled on top of his farming and family responsibilities. Being a rising star in the community was almost a death sentence during the late 1920s and 1930s. The new Russian government sought to establish an iron grip on the marionette like laws that aimed to control the movements, thoughts, and aspirations of its citizens. Aron Warkentin was imprisoned and sentenced to hard labor in the Russian Gulag. He survived to tell the story of his survival after he made his way to Germany where he died in 1987. A portion of his story is reccounted in John B. Toews’ book, Journeys: Mennonite Stories of Faith and Survival in Stalin’s Russia, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Kindred Press, 1998, pp. 139–223.