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Jakob Janzen in 1929
My great-grandfather Jakob Janzen [GM #421304] (Яков Петрович Янцен) was born on June 10, 1893, in Schoental, Crimea, to a family of Peter and Anna Janzen. He had three older sisters (Elizabeth, Anna, Helena) and three brothers (Peter, Dietrich and Hans).
After graduating high school, Jakob served in the Russian Army as a male nurse from November 1914 to March 1918.
On June 6, 1918, he married Katharina Harder, and their first child Abraham was born in March 1919 (1). At that time Jakob left his father’s house and started to live on his own with his family in Tschongrav (Chongrav) where he worked as a clerk.
Their daughter Frieda was born there, presumably on November 22, 1920. The next year, the family had another son, Hans, who died in infancy (2).
Since 1922, Jakob has been earning his living through farming. The family resided in a rented place in Topalovka for a couple of years, and their son, Peter, was presumably born there on September 23, 1923. Later, the family moved to their house in Spat, where their daughter, Anna, was born on January 26, 1926.
Abraham and Justina Harder and their children and grandchildren on 13 June 1924 at the Grossweide orphanage. Jakob and Katharina Janzen sit on the right with their kids. Mennonite Heritage Archive, CA MHC PP-2 Photos 497-124.0
In 1927 Jakob was disenfranchised and deprived of the property for the first time. The family was sent to Borangar village. A couple of months later, Jakob managed to restore his rights, return to Spat, and reclaim his property. In 1928, the family welcomed another son, Gerhard.
Around that time, Jakob began working at the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation “Agrojoint” as a construction foreman. That was the last job he had in Crimea. On May 16, 1931, the Bolsheviks disenfranchised Jakob for the second time and sentenced him and his family to be sent to a special settlement.
Proof of employment reference issued by “Agrojoint” on March 4, 1931. MVD in Crimea region. Fond 9. Delo 1247.
May 16, 1931, marked the last time little Gerhard was listed as a family member. There is no trace of him in any subsequent documents. Presumably, he died on the way or in the initial days of the exile.
On May 26, 1931, Jakob and his family arrived at the Kasskoe settlement in the Arkhangelsk region. There, he was assigned a job as a wood carter. Later that year, on October 25, 1931, my grandmother Elena was born.
Jakob maintained constant correspondence with his sister, Helena, and her husband, Abraham Harder, who lived in Germany at that time. Due to the almost unbearable living conditions at Kasskoe, the Harders regularly sent goods and money to the Janzens. Eventually, this correspondence became the reason for initiating an investigative case against Jakob. He was arrested at Kasskoe on January 17, 1933.
Jakob Janzen presumably in January 1933. UFSB in Arkhangelsk region. Fond 7. Delo P-14928.
On March 25, 1933, Jakob was sentenced to 5 years in a labor camp. He arrived in Siblag (3) on April 19, 1933. In the camp, Jakob worked as a coal miner, a foreman, and a bookkeeper. He was released from the Osinovka unit of Siblag on November 19, 1936. While Jakob was in the camp, his wife and children were transferred to the Dubrovka special settlement. On December 5, 1936, Jakob reunited with the family there.
Personal file of Jakob Janzen at the Northern Forestry. OMVA LS. Fond 151. Opis 1. Delo 6.
Until July 1937 Jakob worked at the Obozersky train station as a foreman, a cashier, and a guard. From July 1937 onwards, he worked as a construction foreman at the Northern Forestry (4).
On March 22, 1938, Jakob was arrested again in Dubrovka, as another investigative case was initiated against him. Jakob was detained in Nyandoma prison for about two months. On May 20, 1938, he was transferred to Arkhangelsk prison (5).
On November 2, 1938, Jakob was sentenced to the death penalty. He was executed on November 15, 1938. The family wasn’t informed of his death.
Twenty years later the Janzens were finally released as special settlers. On October 10, 1958, Jakob’s son Peter submitted a request about his father to the General Prosecutor’s Office. The Arkhangelsk Regional Court reviewed Jakob Janzen’s case from 1938 and dismissed it on April 28, 1959, due to a lack of evidence supporting the accusation.
On May 16, 1959, following the KGB’s directive, the Plesetsky regional registry office issued Jakob Janzen’s death certificate stating that he died on November 15, 1942, in a camp from “purulent pleurisy”.
Copy of Jakob Janzen’s death certificate issued in 1959.
On September 29, 1989, Jakob Janzen was rehabilitated by the Archangelsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office in the 1933 case.
On September 4, 2019, Jakob Janzen was rehabilitated by the Archangelsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office in the 1938 case.
On December 25, 2019, the Plesetsky regional registry office reissued Jakob Janzen’s death certificate with the correct date of death.
(1) Anna (Epp) Ens, The House of Heinrich: The story of Heinrich Epp (1811-1863), (Winnipeg, Man.: Epp Book Committee, 1980), p. 252. (2) Ibid.
(3) Siblag = Sibirsky ITL, the largest labor camp system in Western Siberia.
(4) OMVA LS. Fond 151. Opis 1. Delo 6.
(5) RGVA. Fond 18444. Delo 153. Tom 2.