Scope and content note

The Great Trek is a feature length documentary film of the Mennonite experience and exodus from Russia 1939-1945. It is about World War II and the Russian Mennonites who were part of a migration of people, not only of many individuals, but of entire populations. The movement began with the resettling of ethnic Germans after the annexation of the Baltic States in 1940 by the Soviet Union. After the outbreak of hostilities between Germany and the USSR, entire ethnic German colonies were uprooted and moved east. When the Soviet armies forced the German retreat beginning in 1943, all ethnic Germans were evacuated from Ukraine by the retreating German forces. Among them were 35,000 people of Mennonite origin and background.

This films consists of two parts – the first covering 1939-1943 and the second 1943-1945. Each part begins and ends with an introduction and closing comments by Mennonite historian, educator and editor Gerhard Ens. In this documentary, Otto Klassen has assembled a collage of documentary and newsreel footage made by German information services of the time and still photographs from the archives of the Federal Republic of Germany in Coblenz, private archives and from the archives of the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg to tell a story. The archival film footage gives the film an immediacy that narration and re-enactment cannot. The realism and horror is almost overpowering at times. Producer and director Otto Klassen has released both English and German versions of The Great Trek.

Also included with the moving images is a script, sequence summary and shot list, Correspondence related to archival footage acquired from German archives and reviews and congratulatory correspondence.

Index terms

Subject terms

Inventory File List

Video Collection

Vol 147 The Great Trek, 1939-1943 Part I. -- [199-]. -- 37 min. – VHS. Accession No: 00-014. – Note: duplicate of  Volume 242.

 

Vol 148 The Great Trek, 1939-1943 Part II. -- [199-]. -- 39 min. -- VHS. Accession No: 00-014. –                    Note: duplicate of Volume 243.

Vol 242 The Great Trek 1939-1943 Part 1/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 37 minutes. -- English. -- VHS. Accession No: 02-161. – Note: duplicate of Volume 147.

 

Vol 243 The Great Trek 1939-1943 Part 2/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 39 minutes. -- English. -- VHS. Accession No: 02-161. – Note: duplicate of Volume 148.

 

Vol 244 The Great Trek 1939-1943 Part 1+2 timecode for shot list/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- VHS. Accession No: 02-161.

 

Vol 245 The Great Trek/ Otto Klassen. -- 1996. -- 76 minuets. -- Betacam SP master, Print and Mag                X-Fer,. Used to make video English Version. Accession No: 02-161.

Film Collection

Vol 44 The Great Trek 1939-1943/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 3 reels of film A & B negative and optical track (English version) Show 1 Reel 1. Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 45 The Great Trek 1939-1943/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 3 reels of film A & B negative and optical track (English version) Show 1 Reel 2. Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 46 The Great Trek 1943-1945/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 3 reels A&B negative and optical tracks: Show # 2 Reel # 1 (English). Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 47 The Great Trek 1943-1945/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 4 reels A&B negative and optical tracks: Show # 1 Reel # 2 (English). Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 48 The Great Trek (1939-1943)/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 8 reels A&B negative and optical tracks: Intro to Show # 1 & 2. Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 49 The Great Trek (1939-1943)/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 3 reels A&B negative and optical tracks: End of Part II. Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 50 The Great Trek Part I/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 16 mm positive film and magnetic sound track (to make video master). Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 51 The Great Trek Part II/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 16 mm positive film and magnetic sound track (to make video master). Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 52 Der Große Trek (1. Teil)/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 16mm film (release print for viewing). Accession No: 02-161.

 

Vol 53 Der Große Trek (2. Teil)/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 16mm film (release print for viewing). Accession No: 02-161

 

Vol 54 The Great Trek Part I/ Otto Klassen. -- 1992. -- 16 mm film (release print for viewing).                           Accession No: 02-161