Path of Thorns

Paths of Thorns is the story of Jacob Abramovich Neufeld (1895–1960), a prominent Soviet Mennonite leader and writer, as well as one of these Mennonites sent to the Gulag.

Harvey L. Dyck is a professor emeritus in the History Department at the University of Toronto.

‘Path of Thorns is a welcome English language addition to the Mennonite story and poignant reminder of the brutality that humans are capable of, while also capturing some of the best of Mennonite faith and human kindness.’

Benjamin W. Goossen:

‘Path of Thorns is easily the most substantial published first-person account of Soviet Mennonite life from the 1920s through the Second World War.’

Royden Loewen:

‘Harvey Dyck has done a splendid job of translating Neufeld’s dense and intelligent prose and offering an insightful analysis.’

Colin P. Neufeldt:

‘The book provides an important firsthand account of life in the gulag and a unique perspective on the Nazi invasion of Ukraine.’

Aileen Friesen:

‘A highly readable translation of Neufeld’s writings… Dyck offers new insights into how Soviet interrogators weaved grand narratives, drawing friends and colleagues to implicate each other and themselves in fabricated crimes. This adds a deeper understanding of the world in which Neufeld’s experiences unfolded.’

Mark Jantzen, Department of History, Bethel College, Kansas:

“Path of Thorns is a chilling and personal reminder of the immense suffering imposed on inhabitants of the Soviet Union by both Stalin and Hitler as well as a testament to the impossible moral dilemmas faced by those who were sucked up into the maelstrom of this history.”

Sergei Zhuk, Department of History, Ball State University:

“Jacob A. Neufeld’s fascinating memoirs vividly reveal the various experiences of Russian (Ukrainian) Mennonites from the time of Stalin’s collectivization campaign in Soviet Ukraine, through World War II, to the Mennonite exodus from Soviet territory to Germany and then to Canada. This book will be a remarkable historical source for those who are interested in the everyday life of a small religious minority which survived not only the ‘inferno’ of Soviet modernization after the N.E.P., but also the hell of the war and tragedy of repatriation from one country to another.”