Christmas Gift of Freedom

Conrad was a thin man, but strong—he had to be for the hard work that was his routine. But by 1896 things were bleak for him in Odessa, Russia—formerly the land of Ukraine. The Bolsheviks and the Communists were slowly starving him and his fellow German immigrants. 

His grandparents, parents and other hardworking families had made the barren land abundant with wheat over the last century. The government was now confiscating their land, crops, supplies, and food provisions—amid the brutally cold winter. 

Harvest in Ukraine 1800's Photo: Myasoedov

Born in the port city of Odessa, Conrad was loyal to his new homeland, but he couldn’t escape his German heritage. A ship docked in Odessa was heading to England for Christmas. Conrad was hustled aboard, then onto another ship heading to America—a place he’d heard had land to grow wheat and the freedom to grow it. 

He worked as a deckhand to pay his fare, arriving at Ellis Island with only his farming and blacksmithing skills. From there he joined a wagon train heading west on the old Oregon Trail.

Conrad met his future wife, Catherine, in Ritzville, Washington. They settled in a wheat growing community named after their former homeland—Odessa.

 

The Odessa families were an intensely loyal group. Their American born sons joined the military in their new nation because they knew the value of freedom and it was worth fighting to defend it.  

 

Back in Russia, Lenin was taking over the country and purging remaining Germans. Any able-bodied German had been sent to the Siberian labor camps. By 1941 Stalin had eradicated all the former German settlements. Russia ruled with an iron fist. 

 

Not many of these Odessa families lived to see their former homeland liberated. But I have—I’m Conrad’s great-granddaughter. In 1991, Ukraine regained its sovereignty when the former Soviet Union crumbled. 

 

My Grandfather's wheat land 1983

Then came Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin.

 

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine has been brutal. But Putin underestimated the will of the Ukrainians. Maybe he didn’t realize they have a long lineage of strong, freedom-loving people—people willing to fight for what they don’t want to lose.

 

Americans are a freedom-loving people too. In a season of gift-giving, freedom is a blessed gift. And I’m praying for the freedom-loving Ukrainians and others across our world living without it.


Photo: Gayatri Malhotra  Ukraine



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