Media Reviews & ResponsesIndividual Responses
"I had the opportunity to attend Ruth's evening when she presented her findings, launched the book of letters, and showed the documentary movie to her own Mennonite community. It was an extraordinary event and an opportunity to see what a powerful gift her project is to that community, as well as how proud they are of her. She was very, very good; the movie is powerful and very well done. The audience, which included a number of Gulag survivors and several of her informants, were totally engrossed and incredibly moved."
(Professor Richard Coe, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia)
"Saturday night I attended the book and film launch of Gulag letters. Ruth Derksen Siemens has completed her project and it is indeed a labour of love and an insight into a very difficult period of time for the Mennonite people. The evening was inspiring as the packed house paid close attention to all that was said. After the video was shown, the cellist, Joel Stobbe, played two of the favourite hymns from that era and a faint accompaniment was detected as those in attendance reminisced almost silently with their muted humming. By the last stanza of the final hymn, the sound had grown to a beautiful four part harmony. It was an emotional moment and unforgettable. The stories must be kept alive, and with endeavours such as Through the Red Gate and the book Remember Us the coming generations will have no excuse."
(T.Friesen)
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Media Coverage
Postcards from Hell: Letters tell forgotten stories of Stalin's Gulag
Bethel College News – November 10, 2009
Melanie Zuercher
Stories of horror and courage in Stalin's gulags uncovered
Yorkshire Post – June 1, 2009
John Roberts
Postcards from Hell
Sunday Times Magazine – May 31, 2009
Nightmarish history feels all too real
Vancouver Sun – April 5, 2008
Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun
Nightmarish history feels all too real
Vancouver Sun – April 5, 2008
Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun
Letters from inside Stalin's Gulag
Surrey Now – April 1, 2008
Alan Campbell, Special to Surrey Now
Booknotes: Letters from inside Stalin's Gulag
Waterloo Record – March 29, 2008
Jon Fear
Out To See out to mine TV landscape
Vancouver Province – March 23, 2008
Suzanne Fournier, The Province
Pages from the past
Abbotsford News – March 1, 2008
John Morrow / The Abbotsford News
Surviving the Soviet Gulag
Vancouver Sun – Saturday, April 15, 2006
Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun
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