Autje and Neitje Move Ruth and Cheryl

Autje and Neitje’s nighttime transfer of Ruth and Cheryl was a covert rescue that secured Greta Loewen’s horses for the women’s planned departure from Molotschna Colony. The horses reached temporary shelter in Chortiza Colony, but the scheme also exposed the violence used to control the people left behind: when Klaas Loewen discovered they were missing, he hit Mariche and slapped Autje.

The Nighttime Transfer

Neitje recounts that the plan began after Klaas went to have his rotten tooth pulled by Agata Friesen. With Neitje’s father away in the city with the other men, Autje slipped out of the house and ran to fetch Neitje. The two young women then went to Greta’s barn and, in complete darkness, saddled Ruth and Cheryl and rode them to Chortiza Colony.

They met the Koop brothers behind the Chortiza church, near an open pit used to burn animal carcasses. The location was familiar ground for the young people of both colonies, who spent leisure time there on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Autje and Neitje persuaded the brothers to hide the horses overnight in their father’s barn.

The Horses Secured for Departure

The timing made the concealment possible. Early the next morning, after Klaas had left for the city, the Koop brothers were to return Ruth and Cheryl to Molotschna Colony and Greta’s barn. Klaas had gone without the horses, angry at their absence but grateful that his tooth had been pulled. Once back at the barn, Greta’s beloved team would be safe and ready to accompany the women on their journey.

When Neitje finishes her account, most of the women smile and nod appreciatively. Greta thanks the young women for saving Ruth and Cheryl from being auctioned, while also saying she would not have wanted them to compromise their virtue. The horses’ rescue thus carries a dispute about the means of protection: the practical success of the plan does not prevent the older women from judging the risks the girls took.

Violence Behind the Disappearance

Mariche answers that judgment by explaining what Klaas did when he found the horses gone. He demanded to know where they were. Mariche said they had broken out of the barn while he was unconscious having his tooth pulled, blaming someone for leaving the door open. Klaas called her explanation a lie and hit her twice; after the first blow, he also dismissed the idea that the horses would run, describing them as lazy. Greta objects to that description, but Mariche’s account turns the horses’ disappearance into a record of violence against the women as well as a rescue of the animals.

When Autje tried to intervene, Klaas slapped her face. Mariche then asks what more needs to be said and urges the women to continue. The episode makes the cost of the concealed transfer explicit: Ruth and Cheryl are safe for the planned journey, but their absence provokes punishment in the household. Autje and Neitje’s action protects the means of departure; Mariche’s testimony shows the danger that accompanies making that departure possible.