Book by refugee's child lends insights
By Catherine Ferguson SNJM
"I am the child of a refugee," Anna Ungar Goodwin begins, introducing both herself and her just-published book, By Force and Fear: A Stolen Homeland.
The story is based on accounts her father shared with her family when she was a child, recalling his traumatic experiences as a 12-year-old fleeing his homeland during the upheaval of the Russian Revolution, the devastating famine of 1921 to 1922 and the Communist takeover.
"I wrote the book now so that others can understand what so many refugees from countless countries have endured—fleeing their homeland under murderous and cruel regimes—and to encourage reaching out to help them in compassion and solidarity."
Because Anna was not present and is not a historian, she identifies the book as creative fiction. Still, she carefully reconstructs true events as best she can, alternating between her own voice as a young girl in Manitoba listening to her father's stories, and her father's voice as a child fleeing the attacking Tatars, the Black Army, the Red Army and the White Army during the chaos of revolution and war.
This refugee story is not a secret, but it has been largely absent from the history studied in U.S. schools.
The book, which is available at Aunties Bookstore, traces the roots of these events back to the mid-18th century, when Catherine the Great, a German noblewoman, married Russian Czar Peter III to forge a political alliance.
Some 20 years after the marriage, Catherine orchestrated a coup d'état and became the first Czarina of Russia. She then invited German farmers to settle in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border, offering them land and resources. Many accepted, prospered and became a dominant force in the local economy—while native Russians, unable to thrive on the land, fell into desperate poverty.
Resentment grew. When the czars were overthrown in the early 20th century, long memories and deep grievances fueled violence. Russian Tatars and other groups attacked the prosperous German communities, forcing families to abandon their homes and flee for their lives.
One such family was that of Anna's father, Chnals (Cornelius) Ungar. Drawing from his memories, Anna reconstructs their harrowing thousand-mile flight from the Tereker Villages in Russia to Bakhmut in Ukraine, and ultimately to the Steinbach region southeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Anna grew up with her parents and sister on a farm in rural Manitoba. Though she loved her father, she remembers their relationship as difficult.
"I never knew what was going to happen with him. Sometimes he was gentle and patient, and other times explosive in his reactions," she said.
Later, through her psychotherapy studies, she came to believe her father suffered from untreated PTSD caused by his refugee trauma.
"In those days, no one had a name for it. Mental health care was nonexistent in rural Manitoba. We just knew his responses were unpredictable. As much as we wanted to hear his story, he could only share fragments before becoming overwhelmed."
Despite that pain, the more she heard, the more she realized her family's—and particularly her father's—experiences profoundly shaped her life.
"I was raised," she explained, "to believe that we must live the teachings of Christ: 'Love your neighbor. Care for the stranger. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'"
Her career path reflected this conviction. Beginning as a nurse in Canada, she carried her father's words as a guiding force:
"Always be strong. Be strong."
"Be afraid but do it anyway."
"Help others in need. It might be you next time. We NEVER thought it would be us."
These words resonated particularly as she recounted her father's memory of the treatment the refugees received when they sought shelter for a time in a village called Kasi Jurt, where most of the people were Muslims who spoke no German—only Turkish and very little Russian.
Chnals remembered that, when they arrived in the village, his father told them they must first wait to see if they would be welcome. Several women dressed in Muslim garb gathered in the village crying. Then, after about 20 minutes of waiting in their wagon, his father came back with the invitation to come to the lunch that had been prepared for them with flatbread and lamb.
Later that same day, her father remembered his mother following some of the Muslim women into one of the homes. When she came back, she was in tears and told her husband, "They are so kind. They're giving our family their best bedroom." They had noticed that Chnals' mother was pregnant.
Anna's professional life continued this legacy of care. After earning her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Manitoba, she worked as a nurse in Canada for two years.
As a young woman with an adventurous spirit, she then accepted an invitation from a friend who had received a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley. She had asked Anna to come and live with her and be a nurse in the United States. Employed as a nurse at Alta Bates Medical Center, she became disillusioned with the U.S. healthcare system, which treated patients according to their insurance status.
She recalled one moment vividly: "A man about 50 came in an ambulance with a severe heart attack. I rushed him to a room and began treatment, as I would have in Canada. My supervisor ran to the room and stopped me—because he had no insurance. He had to be transferred to a hospital in San Francisco that accepted uninsured patients, an hour away. I could not continue in such a system."
In Berkeley, however, she also met her future husband, Ronald Goodwin, a research scientist in invertebrate pathology, a field which led them to visit and move to several areas of the world.
After marrying, Anna pursued a master's degree in child, adolescent and family psychology at the University of Maryland. Ron pursued research first in Australia, then in Europe and returned to Maryland, where he worked with the USDA (Department of Agriculture).
After several years there, Anna's life took another turn when Ron was transferred to the USDA labs in Bozeman, Mont.
Anna soon became aware of the lack of mental health services and established a private practice, quickly earning a reputation in the field. Her work also expanded into doing workshops and writing. She also taught classes at Montana State University
Her first book, co-written with Barbara Labovitz Boik on sand-play therapy and published by W.W. Norton, became a well-known textbook in the field. It was later translated into Chinese.
When Anna and Ron retired, they moved to Coeur d'Alene, where she continued doing workshops for psychotherapists and taught some extension classes for the University of Idaho. She authored several accessible works on PTSD, designed to help both sufferers and their families.
Now, with By Force and Fear, she returns to the story that shaped her life.
"It has taken me a lifetime to live this story and a long time to write it, but now is the right time to bring my father's experience and wisdom to today's world," she commented.
Her father's counsel feels especially urgent to her in the current climate:
• "Keep your faith and live it every day."
• "Never, never let your past divide you. We must connect and collaborate in love for everyone, instead of dividing in fear and anger."
• "Never, never let your freedoms go."
His story continues to give her hope.
"It is sometimes difficult to remember, but now—as before—we must stand up together for our values, morals and beliefs, and act on them, she said. "History shows us this has happened before, and it will happen again when we are ready."
