© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Last updated September 23, 2013)
Walter Jansen (1913-2006) was born in the village of Gnadenfeld, Molotschna colony, Ukraine as the fourth of five children in the family of Peter Janzen (1886-1938) and Anna Voth (1888-1977), a family of affluence and prominence. His father was an educated man who traveled as a buyer of fabrics, sugar and other household goods which were attractive to socially progressive and wealthy patrons, eventually becoming the head accountant of an implement manufacturer in Waldehim. With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 and the Revolution of 1917 the business was closed. As a child, Walter experienced this chaotic time, when roving bandits invaded their home, threatening his mother with a knife and gun. Walter Jansen completed high school in Gnadenfeld in 1930 and then entered the school of engineering in Chortitza. He was exposed to state propaganda; and, he had to continually deal with a shortage of food. He graduated in 1934. In 1936 Walter Jansen got a job in Melitopol. Walter Jansen was arrested on December 6 was arrested for counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to 3 years in a labour camp in Waronesh. This time haunted Jansen for the rest of his life. Eventually Jansen returned home to live with his mother (his father and numerous other male relatives had been murdered). In 1940 he found work at the tractor station near Gnadenfeld. One day in 1941 he was sent by the collective farm to dig anti tank trenches, which saved him from arrest the following day. In July the German army rolled into the area providing some relief from the Soviet oppression. Walter volunteered to work as an interpreter for the Germans, which required him to become part of the Gnadenfeld Ethnic German Horse Squadron. At this time he was also appointed mayor of the Gnadenfeld district.
On June 24, 1942 Walter married Linda Schulz (1919-2009), the daughter of Emil Schulz (1886-1938) and Wanda Schulz (1892-1947). She was the 4th of nine children and the first who survived childhood. Walter and Linda moved into Walter's mother's house along with Walter's sister Betty and her son, shortly after their wedding. Three sons were born to Walter and Linda Jansen -- Arno (1942-), Walfried (1949-) and Roalt (1953-).
With many others, the Jansen family left Ukraine in September 1943 with the the retreating German army. As an official working for the German army registering the evacuating population, Walter did not travel with his wife and son, who eventually crossed the Dutch border to safety in February 1946. On January 28, 1947 Walter, Linda, and Arno boarded the S.S. Vollendam, sailing for Paraguay, where they established a new life for themselves. They helped establish the Vollendam Colony, clearing land and making homes out of local materials. Walter worked for the local co-operative and later as director of the local hospital. The family remained in Paraguay until July 4, 1957 when they moved to Canada. Walter found a job as manager of Mitchell Fabrics in Winnipeg. He died in Winnipeg in 2006 and Linda, his wife, in 2009. In 2010 the children of Walter and Linda published a book based on their lives entitled "Our Stories." See the CMU library (call numberCT 1218 J35A3 2010) for a copy.
This fonds consists of memoirs written by Walter Jansen regarding his ancestors, life growing up in Russia until the evacuation to Germany in 1943. Linda's writings consist of diaries and memoirs starting in 1946 when the family arrived in Holland, life in Paraguay and in Winnipeg until 2007. Walter's writings and the early portions of Linda's diaries (1946-1957) are reproduced and edited in the book Our Stories by Walter and Linda Jansen, translated by Walfried Jansen, 2010. The materials give a firsthand account of life during a time of rapid and drastic changes for the Mennonite people who fled from the Ukraine, and eventually settled in Paraguay and Canada. Most people in Walter's position and his age did not survive the war.
Inventory file list available.
German
Described by Conrad Stoesz September 20, 2010, updated by Conrad Soesz September 23, 2013.
No restrictions to access.
Son Walfried Jansen of East St. Paul, Manitoba donated the material included published translations in September 2010 and a few of Linda's diaries in the summer of 2013.
Accession no: 2010-059, 2013-078.
Memoirs of Walter Jansen, p. 67-74. -- 1985-1989.
2 Linda Jansen diaries. -- 1958-1970, 2008-2009.
9. Linda Jansen diary. -- 1975-1985.