Under Bolshevik and Nazi rule, nearly one-third of all Soviet Mennonites – including more than half of all adult men – perished, while a large number were exiled to the east and the north by the Soviet secret police (NKVD). Others fled westward on long treks, seeking refuge in Germany during the Second World War. However, at war’s end, the majority of the USSR refugees living in Germany were sent to the Soviet Gulag, where many died.

Paths of Thorns is the story of Jacob Abramovich Neufeld (1895–1960), a prominent Soviet Mennonite leader and writer, as well as one of these Mennonites sent to the Gulag. Consisting of three parts – a Gulag memoir, a memoir-history, and a long letter from Neufeld to his wife – this volume mirrors the life and suffering of Neufeld’s generation of Soviet Mennonites. In the words of editor and translator Harvey L. Dyck, “Neufeld’s writings elevate a simple story of terror and survival into a remarkable chronicle and analysis of the cataclysm that swept away his small but significant ethno-religious community.”

Jacob J. Neufeld's profile page

Harvey L. Dyck is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. He is author of Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia, 1926-1933: A Study in Diplomatic Instability, and editor and translator of A Mennonite in Russia: The Diaries of Jacob D. Epp.

Harvey L. Dyck's profile page

Sarah Dyck's profile page

‘Path of Thorns is easily the most substantial published first-person account of Soviet Mennonite life from the 1920s through the Second World War.’

Nova Religio vol 20:02:2016

‘A highly readable translation of Neufeld’s writings… Dyck offers new insights into how Soviet interrogators weaved grand narratives, drawing friends and colleagues to implicate each other and themselves in fabricated crimes. This adds a deeper understanding of the world in which Neufeld’s experiences unfolded.’

The Russian Review vol 73:04:2014

‘The book provides an important firsthand account of life in the gulag and a unique perspective on the Nazi invasion of Ukraine.’

The Mennonite Quarterly, April 2015

‘Harvey Dyck has done a splendid job of translating Neufeld’s dense and intelligent prose and offering an insightful analysis.’

University of Toronto Quarterly vol 84:03:2015

‘Path of Thorns is a welcome English language addition to the Mennonite story and poignant reminder of the brutality that humans are capable of, while also capturing some of the best of Mennonite faith and human kindness.’

Journal of Mennonite Studies vol 35:2017