Agata

Agata is a mother, colony dentist, and active voice in the Molotschna women’s meetings. As the women weigh whether to leave, she combines practical judgment with attention to others’ grief: she comforts Salome Friesen, proposes that every boy under fifteen accompany the women, and insists that her own final journey should take her away from Molotschna. Her participation makes the debate about departure also a debate about whom the women will protect and what kind of community they might build.

Identity and Place in the Meetings

Agata is the mother of Ona Friesen and Salome Friesen and belongs to the Friesen family whose views are among those debated in the meetings. The gatherings take place in a hayloft, where the women discuss their options and plans. August Epp records the proceedings at Ona Friesen’s request. Because the women are unable to read or write, he translates their spoken Plautdietsch into English as he takes the minutes; Ona proposes preserving a large paper list of the options as an artifact for others to discover. Agata’s contributions thus reach readers through a record made by someone outside the group, even as the meeting gives the women a place to reason and decide together.

Her position in the colony is also practical and skilled. After her father, the previous colony dentist, died, he left his tools in her care, and Agata became the colony dentist. When she recounts an incident involving Klaas Loewen, she identifies him and explains that he was suffering from a painful rotten molar. This detail establishes her knowledge of his condition, while the account also places her among the women discussing the violence and injuries within their community.

Care and Solidarity

Agata responds to Salome’s grief over leaving Aaron behind by putting an arm around her shoulders. She tells Salome that the pain of separation can strengthen her and the other grieving mothers in rebuilding a better colony for everyone. Mejal Loewen, who has often been at odds with Salome, crosses the plywood table to embrace her as well. Agata’s reassurance does not erase the cost of leaving; it gives that loss a place within the women’s shared purpose.

In another quiet scene, Ona Friesen rubs Agata’s feet in an effort to restore their circulation. Agata sings a hymn with Ona, joining only every few words because she is short of breath. The scene reverses the usual direction of her care: the colony dentist and mother is herself physically weakened and being tended to. Her body’s limits remain present alongside her authority in the meetings, rather than displacing it.

The Question of the Boys

When the women consider who may accompany them, the existing age boundaries leave boys aged thirteen and fourteen in an uncertain position. Fifteen-year-old boys are already with the men, while boys twelve and under are allowed to join the women. Salome asks why the boys in between should be left behind, particularly if the accused men return and the girls and women are no longer in the colony. Agata proposes that all boys under fifteen accompany the women, directly extending the plan to include those thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds.

The proposal makes the departure plan answer to differing vulnerabilities among the young, rather than treating the women’s needs as separate from the boys’. It also carries practical uncertainty: when Mariche Loewen asks where the women are going, Greta Loewen acknowledges that they do not know exactly. Agata’s motion therefore identifies whom the women should bring, even before they can name a destination.

Departure and Narrative Significance

Agata does not treat the departure as an uncomplicated escape into a known future. When Cornelius cannot join because his mother belongs to the Do Nothing camp, Agata reassures the younger women that he and his mother may still change their minds and join them elsewhere. Mariche counters that once the men return, no women will be allowed to leave. Agata’s hope is therefore offered against a stark warning, not as certainty that every separation can be undone.

As the women prepare to go, Agata tells Ona Friesen that she will not be buried in Molotschna and asks for help into a buggy, saying she will die on the trail if necessary. Ona laughs, but her eyes fill with tears. The statement expresses Agata’s resolve while exposing the physical cost of the journey: she is short of breath and will need assistance, yet she will not accept burial in the place she is leaving. Her role in the meetings is defined by this conjunction of care, deliberation, and determination—not by freedom from vulnerability, but by her insistence that vulnerability need not decide where she belongs.