                                  T H E

                               Z E P H Y R

                      __     M A G A Z I N E
                     {__]++++++++++++++++++++++++++[]
                     Issue #49               11-10-87

                A weekly electronic magazine for users of
                            THE ZEPHYR II BBS
                        (Mesa, AZ - 602-894-6526)
                    owned and operated by T. H. Smith

                        Editor - Gene B. Williams

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                                (c) 1987

    THIS ISSUE:

         The following is a true story. It's a quickie rundown of a
    book I'm under contract to produce. Obviously, many details are
    left out. The danger and adventures of 35 years are compressed
    into a few pages.
         I might suggest that you do a little reading to get the feel
    for the era. Even a quick reading of the information on Soviet
    and German history from an Almanac will help you.
         I also encourage you to ask questions. Not only will that
    get the board here active, it will give me a chance to think (or
    rethink) events of the project.

                             RUN FOR FREEDOM

         In 1762 Catherine the Great took over the Romanov throne in
    Russia. She was a German princess, married into the Russian
    nobility and eventually took charge of Russia at a time when it
    was still living just a step above the stone-age. To make matters
    worse, invaders such as the Mongols had come into Russia. (Their
    influence can still be seen in those areas east of the Urals.)
         Like her predecessor, Peter the Great, she was determined to
    build a strong and independent Russia. To do this she needed
    people and labor. She turned to the people of her ancestors and
    promised them land, animals, machinery - and total freedom.
    They'd live and build in Russia, but remain German citizens
    without having to pay taxes or to serve in the Russian military.
    For many Germans, it was a dream come true. Thousands came to
    Russia and settled there.
         The Romanov empire fluctuated. Despite advances it made, it
    tended to be highly oppressive - particularly so with
    "foreigners" living on Russian soil.
         In 1905 a minor revolution took place. One incident was
    promptly titled, "Red Sunday." Citizens marched on the royal
    palace in Moscow. Soldiers fired on them, killing thousands of
    the unarmed peasants.
         The rebellion was put down, but only on the surface. It went
    underground and grew stronger, driven by the ideas of people such
    as Karl Marx. The idea was that the rich had had it too good for
    too long at the expense of the common citizen.
         Violence erupted again in March of 1917. The Bolshevik
    Revolution replaced the royal tyranny with one that was even
    worse.
         Caught in the middle of it was the Gruber family. Their
    ancestors had moved into Russia at the offer of Catherine. The
    highly educated Herr Petre Gruber had served the public for years
    - helping to build power plants and telephone companies, and
    taking an instrumental part in the design and construction of the
    5000-mile long Trans-Siberian Railroad.
         The Gruber family lived a good life in Odessa at the
    northern end of the Black Sea. They shared their wealth locally
    by supporting a local orphanage. But they committed two "crimes".
    They weren't Russian. And they were wealthy.
         In the summer of 1917 an employee of Herr Gruber's stomped
    into the office wearing the uniform of the Red Army. "I'm now in
    charge here," he announced. "Here is the schedule. Meet it or
    you'll be declared a saboteur."
         A matter of weeks later a unit of the Red guard knocked on
    their front door with orders for the family to vacate their home
    and property by the next morning.
         Petre Gruber managed to get passage for his family on the
    train. They had a perilous journey eastward, moving from town to
    town in an effort to stay ahead of the battles of the Red and
    White armies. Along along the way they had to part with some of
    what they'd managed to take. It was given to guards and officials
    along the way as bribes to let them pass.
         They had a second home in Kurgan near the Ural Mountains.
    For a short time, life became peaceful again. But soon the
    battles caught up with them. Young Ellichka Gruber was shot and
    trampled in one skirmish between the Red and White armies.
         Herr Gruber soon found himself facing two conflicting
    orders. One was to rebuild the local power plant. The other was
    to leave that day to serve with the Red Army. Failure to complete
    either order meant imprisonment - or death.
         His brother was also drafted. The two of them headed out
    with all the others. As soon as the chance presented itself,
    Petre ducked off into the darkness and then walked back home.
         He became a deserter. By the time he got back to the family
    home in Kurgan he learned that the Red Guard had been there
    first, and had once again decided that they wanted the house for
    themselves.
         The family had to run again. The grandfather stayed behind
    to be sure that the home wouldn't be vandalized. A few weeks
    later he was dragged from the house, taken to the barn and hung.
         The once wealthy family had nothing left but what they'd
    managed to carry away with them (mostly food), almost all of
    which had to be used to bribe officials to get them out of Kurgan
    and back to relative safety.
         Typhus was epidemic. People were dying everywhere. Madame
    Gruber developed tuberculosis. Young Ellichka was dying from a
    tumor. Medical help was almost impossible to find, and even more
    impossible to afford.
         The grandmother died of cholera. Another grandfather died of
    starvation during the crop failure of 1921. An uncle was arrested
    while walking along a street, accused of espionage, imprisoned
    and then executed. With the violence increasing, Herr Gruber
    made the dangerous journey back to Kurgan to bring his uncle,
    aunt and five children to safety. He arrived just in time witness
    the family being dragged into the backyard, lined up against a
    wall and shot.
         Leaving everything behind once more, the family worked its
    way south to the Iranian border. Herr Gruber made contact with a
    group of smugglers, giving them everything the family had left to
    guide them safely across the border. One of the smugglers turned
    out to be a double agent for the Red Army. The family escaped
    into the dangerous mountains, with the Red Guard just 5 minutes
    behind.
         On the journey through the perilous mountains, one of the
    people with them decided that he wanted to marry one of the
    Gruber daughters. She wanted nothing to do with him. His response
    was to attempt to throw her off the mountain path into the canyon
    below. Petre jumped in. In the struggle, the young maniac fell
    and was crushed by the rocks below.
         They got into Iran and were met by the local police. The
    chief of this group immediately began to search them. He
    confiscated everything they had, leaving them with nothing but
    the soiled and torn clothes they were wearing.
         They lived in relative peace in Iran for a number of years,
    despite the growing anti-Christian movements and the unrest that
    brought on World War II. Herr Gruber's skill and knowledge as
    both an electrical and mechanical engineer made him valuable in
    Iran, just as it had made him valuable in Russia - often the only
    reason he and his family were allowed to live.
         The family wealth began to grow again. Ellichka Gruber
    married the German Consulate in Tehran. After just 3 years
    Ellichka came home one day to find him dead of a heart attack.
         Meanwhile in Europe, a young man named Adolf Hitler had
    seized power and began to spread his control. Russia was trying
    to do the same thing. Both felt that they had claims to Poland
    (while the Polish people wanted nothing to do with either). World
    War II exploded on the world.
         It wasn't long before the war got into Iran. The Soviets
    were invading from one direction, the British from another and
    the Germans from still another.
         The Gruber family had little choice but to flee once more.
    It wasn't quick enough. Petre Gruber and his son-in-law were
    captured and sent to a prison camp. They were fortunate enough to
    have been captured by the British. Their prison camp was in
    Australia, where they were treated decently. Many thousands of
    others refuges were taken to Soviet prison camps, where about
    half died of disease, cold and starvation.
         Ellichka and her sister weren't much luckier. Just a few
    miles from the Turkish border they were met by Soviet soldiers.
    Everything was taken from them and they were told to walk the
    last few miles into Turkey.
         Penniless, they finally reached Vienna, along with thousands
    of other German refugees. From here they were sent to their
    ancestral home in Berlin.
         Life was difficult. At last they found a small apartment. It
    was so small that they had to put nails in the walls so that they
    could hang up the few pieces of furniture to provide room on the
    floor for sleeping.
         Then came the bombing raids.
         They again lost everything. In one raid they almost lost
    their lives. When the warning sirens went off, they headed for
    the only safe place - the subways. This time it wasn't so safe. A
    bomb struck immediately above and collapsed the walls in on them.
    Worse, the explosion had caused a water main to burst. The little
    room began to fill with water.
         They were trapped beneath the rubble, in the dark and with
    the sound of the rising water. It took more than a day for
    rescuers to get them out.
         With just a few periods of peace, they'd now lived in danger
    for nearly 30 years. Enough was enough. They moved to Halberstat
    where things were more quiet.
         They weren't quiet for long. Halberstat was also bombed
    almost out of existence. The family hid in the caves outside of
    town. All they had left were belongings that would fit in a small
    wagon - and Ellichka's new child.
         The war ended, and troubles began all over. Germany was
    divided between the conquering powers. Halberstat was in the
    Soviet Zone. As if the normal oppression wasn't enough, the
    Gruber was on a wanted list.
         Ellichka was in the process of trying to get a divorce from
    her husband. He beat her mercilessly and abused the child. When
    she told him of the divorce he became furious and turned the
    family in to the Soviets.
         A friend warned them. They grabbed what they could in 10
    minutes and fled, hoping to get to the British Zone.
         They weren't the only ones with that idea. The Soviets knew
    it and set up constant patrols along the roads. Again and again
    they had to dive into the bushes to hide, while swallowing the
    terror of watching the soldiers capture or shoot down those who
    weren't lucky enough to find a hiding place.
         Life wasn't good, but at least they'd made it to the British
    Zone and were treated decently. Over the next 7 years the family
    was reunited and eventually ended up in Paris. From there they
    boarded a ship and ended up in America.
         After 35 years, they finally found peace and freedom.

    UNTIL NEXT TIME

         I'll keep you all informed as to title change, publisher,
    publication date, etc.
         To date I've written pretty close to 10 million words. In
    all of that, this is the most exciting project I've done. Think
    of it like a roller coaster.
         It begins with the family having considerable wealth, and
    being such that they share this with anyone less fortunate. (For
    example, imagine the cost of supporting an orphanage with 65
    children in it - and then putting up those kids when the
    orphanage burns.) This is the highest peak of the roller coaster.
         Through no fault of their own they lose everything they had
    in Odessa. The roller coaster hits a steep drop.
         The family goes to Kurgan, and the roller coaster slowly and
    laboriously climbs to a low peak - and then drops even lower when
    the Red Guard takes the home, confiscates all property, lynches
    the grandfather and slaughters a whole family including the
    children.
         It comes up again, just slightly, in the town of Merv, and
    plunges straight to the ground floor when everything is taken
    from the family as they enter Iran.
         Now the coaster trudges slowly, with rusty and squeaking
    wheels, to another peak. The family reaches a level of fair
    wealth. Only to have the roller coaster dive not just to ground
    level but beneath when everything is once again taken from them,
    including the father and son-in-law.
         The next climb upwards is even more squeaky. The next plunge
    - when all their belongings are destroyed in the bombing raid and
    the family is trapped underground - is severe. The roller coaster
    barely manages to climb the next small rise, and falls again with
    Ellichka hiding in a trench with her baby son while soldiers are
    shooting those around her.
         It's now another 35 years later. Ellichka is still alive at
    78. The baby son she held in that trench is a noted psychologist
    living in Wisconsin. Both are comfortable. All turned out well
    for them. But that doesn't erase what happened.
         Try to imagine yourself going through even a part of that.
    Try to imagine soldiers banging on your door and telling you to
    leave NOW! Imagine them grabbing 7 of your relatives, down to a
    2-year-old child, and shooting them all in their own backyard.
         Imagine having the police take everything you have, and then
    throwing you into jail because you don't have anything.

         Next time?
         I don't know. Thane tells me that this subboard is the most
    widely read. It also gets the least response. That lack of
    response makes it very easy to put this on low priority.
         You want more frequent issues?
         Take a couple of minutes now and then to take part. Don't be
    silent reader.

Zephyr Magazine is © Gene Williams. All rights reserved.