View source for Rempel, Nikolai Peter (1891-1938?)

Nikolai Peter Rempel: farmer, carpenter, and collective secretary; born 6 January 1891 on an [[Estate Owners|estate]] near Station Sofiefka, [[Schlachtin Mennonite Settlement (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine)|Schlachtin Mennonite Settlement]], South [[Russia|Russia]], to Peter and Margaretha (Thiessen) Rempel. He was the youngest of six children in the family. On 8 July 1928, he married Katharina Neufeld in [[Ebenfeld (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine)|Ebenfeld]], South Russia. The couple had three children, one of whom died in childhood. In the autumn of 1937, Nikolai was arrested and [[Exile (Banishment)|exiled]]. One telegram arrived from him a year later, but he presumably died not long afterwards.

Nikolai (or Nicolai) grew up on an estate in South Russia. He completed <em>[[Education, Mennonite|Zentralschule]]</em> in [[Gnadenfeld (Molotschna Mennonite settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Gnadenfeld]] before continuing on with his education in [[Berdyansk (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Berdyansk]] and then spending a few years at his parents’ home, likely working on the estate. He was then drafted into the <em>[[Forsteidienst|Forstei]]</em>, spending six years in forestry service at the [[Anadol Forestry Service Camp (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine)|Anadol Camp]]. In 1926, Nikolai bought some land in Friedensdorf, Molotschna Mennonite Settlement. On 8 July 1928, he married Katharina Neufeld, daughter of Jakob and Maria (Kaethler) Neufeld, from Estate Ebenfeld near Gulyaipole. They settled in Friedensdorf, [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna Mennonite Settlement,]] where Nikolai had bought some land. They had a son and two daughters, one of whom died at age two.

With [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization]], Rempel became secretary of the Friedensdorf farm but was arrested several times and imprisoned in [[Melitopol (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Melitopol]]. After his release, he moved several times before returning to Friedensdorf, where he worked as a carpenter. In the fall of 1937, when something went wrong with a project, Nikolai and three of his helpers were arrested and taken to jail in [[Waldheim (Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine)|Waldheim]], where they were presumably tried and sentenced to exile. Other than one telegram sent a year after his arrest, Nikolai has not been heard from since then and likely died in exile. His wife and two surviving children joined the [[Great Trek, 1943-1945|Great Trek]] and reached [[Canada|Canada]] in 1948.


= Bibliography =
GRANDMA (The <strong>G</strong>enealogical <strong>R</strong>egistry <strong>an</strong>d <strong>D</strong>atabase of <strong>M</strong>ennonite <strong>A</strong>ncestry) Database, 6.06 ed. Fresno, CA: <span class="link-external">[http://calmenno.org/index.htm California Mennonite Historical Society]</span>, 2011: #352629.

Obituary. “Katharina Rempel.” <em>Der Bote</em> 62(18 Dec. 1985): 6.

Rempel family information.

Toews, Aron A. <em>Mennonitische Märtyrer: der jüngsten Vergangenheit und der Gegenwart</em>, 2 vols. [Abbotsford, B.C.]: Selbstverlag des Verfassers, 1949-1954: v. II, 198-199.


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