In Search of Freedom

The year is 1926. The Russian Revolution is past, and the grip of communism tightens around the Mennonite people in Western Siberia. Luise Letkemann yearns for freedom, security, and marriage to Daniel Martens, but escalating oppression from Stalin’s regime threatens to destroy everything she lives for and believes in. 

Daniel would be content with Luise and a degree of compromise with the state, but as he faces life-and-death situations at every turn, he realizes there is no middle ground. A confrontation between Daniel and Soveit officials results in far-reaching consequences. 

Over time and vast distances, Luise and Daniel struggle to survive separation, threats, life-changing decisions, harsh climate, and a sinister personal vendetta by a Soviet official. Will Luise and Daniel be reunited? Will their faith survive the test?

Is there freedom on the other side of the Amur River, and what will that freedom cost?

Manchuria has been home to the Martens and Giesinger families ever since they escaped Soviet Russia in 1930. At fifteen years of age, Danny Martens and Rachel Giesinger are content with their lives, and with each other.

But the end of World War II changes everything. In 1945, the Soviets invade northern China, infiltrating the temporary vacuum of power, and repatriate all men who were older than twenty years when they fled the Soviet Union.

Robbed of home, livelihood and security, Danny’s family and friends move southward, trying unsuccessfully to acquire emigration papers.

Amid the difficulties, a ghost from the past stalks the Martens family in search of vengeance for previously hidden crimes. Danny struggles to honor his father’s wish to move his family out of the country, but all his plans are thwarted.

In desperation, Danny’s mother requests sponsorship from friends, Phillip Wieler and Jasch Fast, who emigrated to the States in 1932. In spite of their own struggles with personal and economic tragedy, the Wielers and the Fasts attempt to help their friends who are held captive In a Foreign Land.

This story is based loosely on memoirs of a survivor.

Bound by a secret and a promise, Danny and Rachel Martens immigrate to America from China via Germany in 1952. They settle into life in Oregon, and Danny’s business flourishes. But memories and flashbacks from the Korean War plague his dreams.

Their daughter, Diana, grows up restless and willful. The undeniable love of family and friends eases her troubles, but she is unwilling to give in to God’s persistent tug on her life. 

Diana’s unquenchable curiosity aggravates an already challenging journey. She travels to Austria for Bible college in 1970 and searches for her roots in her birth city of Berlin, where she discovers more than she bargained for. Why have her parents lied about her true identity all these years? Will this new revelation change the course of her life and alienate her from those she loves? And when does a promise become a curse?