Neitje

Neitje is a young woman of Molotschna Colony whose quiet reserve gives way to practical courage as the women prepare to leave. Her actions with Autje help protect Greta Loewen’s horses, while her later silence under suspicion exposes the danger and strain surrounding the plan. She leaves Molotschna with the departing group, laughing as she goes.

Identity and Place Among the Women

Neitje is closely associated with Autje: the two sit together in the hayloft, sometimes on its window ledge, and later undertake a dangerous errand as a pair. The narrator describes them as able to make themselves seem like stone, a composure that contrasts with the exuberance they show at the moment of departure. The book offers little biographical detail about Neitje, but repeatedly places her among the younger women whose friendships and resourcefulness support the collective effort.

Neitje’s circumstances are shaped by a colony in which women are planning to leave while many men are away in the city. Her actions do not amount to a public declaration; instead, she contributes through secrecy, coordination, and decisions made outside the meeting’s formal debate. The contrast between her reticence and her initiative is central to her role.

The Horses and the Secret Journey

After Klaas Loewen leaves to have a rotten tooth treated by Agata Friesen, Autje slips out of the house and runs to Neitje. Together they go to Greta Loewen’s barn in complete darkness, saddle Ruth and Cheryl, and ride the horses to Chortiza Colony. There, behind the church and near the pit used for burning animal carcasses, they meet the Koop brothers, whom young people from both colonies encounter during their leisure time.

The girls persuade the brothers to shelter Ruth and Cheryl overnight in their barn. The timing matters: the horses are to be returned to Greta’s barn early the next morning, after Klaas has gone to the city, so that Greta’s team will be safe and ready for the women’s journey. Neitje’s contribution is therefore both immediate and logistical. She helps move valuable animals across a colony boundary, secures temporary shelter, and protects a necessary part of the planned departure without alerting Klaas.

When Neitje recounts what happened, the women respond with smiles, nods, and appreciation. Her account turns a concealed risk into evidence that the plan can depend on the younger women’s initiative. The episode also shows the practical network behind the departure: a barn, saddles taken from Earnest Thiessen’s tack room, a late-night ride, and an agreement with the Koop brothers all serve the larger purpose of getting the horses ready to leave.

Suspicion and Family Conflict

Neitje’s relationship with Salome Friesen is marked by a sharp exchange. When Salome asks her to repeat a muttered remark, Neitje answers softly that Salome has demeaned herself many times for far less than two good horses. Salome demands to know what she means, but Neitje says nothing more. Her brief reply suggests a history of conflict and gives the argument over the horses a personal edge; the evidence does not resolve the dispute.

Later, Mariche Loewen asks whether Neitje and Autje knew the Koop brothers were in Molotschna. Both girls look away and refuse to answer, frightened. Salome then asks whether they told the brothers about the women’s plan. The scene leaves their knowledge and any disclosure uncertain: their silence is clear, but it does not establish what they told the men. The episode marks a shift from their earlier success in securing help to the vulnerability of being suspected of endangering the departure.

Departure and Narrative Role

Near the end of the preparations, Salome uses Belladonna Veterinary Spray to make the Koop brothers unconscious after having Autje and Neitje draw them to the loft under a pretense of intimacy. She tells the girls to go to the buggies behind the schoolhouse because it is time to leave. The account assigns Salome the central role in this intervention, while placing the girls within the plan that keeps the brothers from going to the city to inform on the women.

Neitje and Autje say goodbye to August Epp over their shoulders, climb down the ladder, and run laughing away from the barn and Molotschna. Their final movement reverses the secrecy of the nighttime ride: the girls who had quietly carried the horses toward safety now depart openly with the women. Neitje’s narrative importance lies in this combination of reserve and action. She is not the plan’s spokesperson, but her practical alliance with Autje helps make departure possible, and her final laughter gives the escape a note of youthful release.