First of all, Ruta wants to say that she hasn’t written the following to receive sympathy but to show that these experiences were the means of leading her to enjoy things that are of Eternal worth.
I’d like to acquaint you with the youngest sister worker in Germany: Ruta Sprogis. She is 27 years old, truly a genuine, Godly girl. She, along with her companion, Anne Markle, visited us recently. I asked Ruta to give us her testimony, and it touched my heart so deeply, I want to share it with you. Ruta was born in East Prussia, near the Baltic Sea, the oldest of three children in the family. She had 2 younger brothers. Her parents were God-fearing Protestants.
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Until 1945 all went well for us. But then the Russian Front came near and we had to flee. But the Russians were much quicker than we were, and my father was taken away to their prison. They took away all our possessions. We became poorer and poorer. Mother had us three children, my two brothers – one 2 years old and the other 3, and I was 7 years old. We came as far west as the river, but the bridges had been destroyed, so we had to turn back.
During the next year we made our way back to our farm, but there was nothing there. The Russians had taken all, and there was no food. Mother and I had to take turns going begging. I remember, as a child, that my mother often told me about Jesus, who helped people in their need, and who went about doing good. When I was about 7 years old, I said to my mother one morning, “Mother, I’d like to see Jesus.” My mother answered, “Pray, my child. Perhaps God will show you Jesus in a dream.” I went to my room and did that, but the next morning I returned to my mother and said, “Mother, I prayed for God to show me Jesus, but I have not seen Him.” The answer was, “Just keep on praying, my child. Perhaps someday God will show Him to you.”
In 1947 my father came back from the Russian prison camp. Then again, they began to farm on a small portion of the land that had once belonged to us. In 1948, on Sunday a.m., some armed men came and took us all on a wagon to the town of Memel, where a train of cattle wagons was waiting for us. We were 70 to 80 people in such a wagon, old people, parents, and children all together. The doors were shut, and the train moved off to where we didn’t know. It was a 2 week trip. For the children, it was a new and exciting experience, a chance to see a little of the world, and nothing mattered, just as long as mother and daddy were along. Many became sick and died on the trip and others were born. We finally arrived in Siberia in a village called Grand Chicarsque. After 3 days in barracks, we were taken to a ship, and we traveled 24 hours on the river Jenisy, until we came to another river called Angara. There on the shores of this river we stayed 10 days and nights. The river was about 2 kilometers wide. The district looked rather nice: mountains, woods, wild trees, little villages made up of primitive huts. It was June, but the nights were icy cold, and it often rained. Every day we received something to eat, all in one pot.
Along with many others, my mother became very ill. She also had heart trouble. At the end of 10 days, all were led into a village. After another 2 weeks we came to the end and landed in a little village 1,000 kilometers from the nearest city and 1,000 kilometers from the nearest road or railway. A large group of people waited there for us. They were singing Russian. We were taken into barracks, many people together. After 3 days, those who were able to work were taken to another village, 18 km away. The father and other men, women and youth had to work felling trees in the woods. Once a week they were allowed to come home to their families. On Sunday evening they had to return. Mother and we children stayed in the barracks. We didn’t have very much to eat, and everyone was hungry.
My mother wasn’t able to go in search of food, so each morning at 3 a.m. I had to get up and go into the woods with other women to gather berries, mushrooms, and herbs. At this time, I was about 8 years old. We could hardly go later on in the day because of the heat and poisonous mosquitoes.
One afternoon when I returned from the woods with my berries, my little brothers, 5 and 6 years old, told me that mother had gone with some others into the woods to look for food but when those returned with whom the mother had gone, she was not with them. The women said they had lost sight of our mother and assumed that her pail was full and that she had returned home. At this time, I was 10 years old. I, along with some of those women there, went back to the woods to search for her, without avail. Darkness fell upon us, and we had to return home, sick at heart.
Our father came home that evening, and it was a sight I’ll never forget. He looked into the room, saw the 3 children huddled together, crying, and when he was told what had happened, he collapsed. The next day, he and some of his friends set out to search for his wife but found no trace. They assumed she was either eaten by wild animals, or that she sank in quicksand. This happened in August.
Then the need in our family was still greater. I was then 10 years old and had the responsibility for my 2 brothers who were then 5 and 6. I gathered berries and mushrooms, ears of corn, and I sometimes even stole potatoes from the fields. My father had to return to the mines, of course, so the 3 children were left alone. Three whole months we stayed alone, only seeing the father once a week when he was allowed to come home. We always looked forward to the weekend when Father came. Although he could bring us hardly anything, we were glad to have him there. Each time the father came, he brought two small loaves of bread, which I carefully divided, so that each had a little each day. We were always the first to stand on the shore to wait for the boats coming in and were always the last to leave on Sunday evening when he went away.
Each day, I went seeking enough food to keep the 3 of us alive, until snow came, which was in September. A lot of people died in that time because of the great change in climate, hunger and work. After 3 months we were allowed to go to where Father was and live with him in a little room in the barracks. That was something very special for us to be with him every evening.
The winter was very severe, and my brothers became sick. In December of that year, the youngest boy, who had just turned 6, died. In February of 1949, the other boy, then 7, became very ill, and because there was no medication, he also died. Died of starvation and cold.
We prayed a lot in these experiences. Their death made a great impression on me, and I began to question, “Why do we live? What is the purpose of life? What does the future hold for me?” Everything seemed so dark, as dark as night. I prayed that God would send Jesus to help me, but He did not come. There was no help.
In the autumn of 1949 my father married again, a German woman, also a refugee. The circumstances were so that I had to leave them and I went to work for a Russian family who had 2 children. There I received enough bread and potatoes, and I also learned the Russian language. I even went to school in the mornings. In the afternoons I looked after the children, and in the evenings, I did my homework. Once a week I visited my father. We loved each other. I was with the Russian family for 4 years, and they were quite good to me. After that I returned to my parents. The circumstances had improved. Now and again I felt the desire to see Jesus and get to know Him, but I could not think how this would ever come about.
In 1956, I could return to Memel, but alone. My father and stepmother were not allowed to come with me. My father thought it was better for me. He didn’t want me to live under such difficult circumstances with them and thought I could get a better job there. So, in July 1956 I returned to Memel to my stepmother’s sister. They did not have much either, and I had just what I had saved and what my father had given me, which wasn’t enough to go to a higher school to learn anything. So, I had to look for work as soon as possible.
My first job was on a building, digging and carrying bricks and cement to the second and third floor. There were no cranes there in those days, and as much was expected of women as of men. After 2 months I had the opportunity to work in the household of a family, and there I learned to do housework their way. The lady was the head of the lingerie department in a large store. After 3 months she suggested I work in her store, as she needed an honest girl. I was very happy for this opportunity. I got to know more people, and different experiences among young people. But I could not enjoy the world as other young people did, and I still had the desire to get to know Jesus.
In 1956 Chancellor Adenauer visited Khrushchev in Moscow and discussed the matter of prisoners and refugees from Germany, and then made a law that the Germans who could prove their nationality and had relatives in West Germany could go to them. My mother’s sister was already in West Germany. They had more success in fleeing, and through the Red Cross she found out where we were, got the necessary papers for me and my father in Siberia.
In October of 1958 I visited my aunt in West Germany, near Hamburg. It seemed to me a wonderful country and I thought, “Now I have reached the land where I will be happy and have all I want.” I had to begin to learn the German language because I had forgotten it. By this time, I realized that this fairyland didn’t give me what I had expected and what I needed, and then I began to look for Jesus. I went to church, and then to other meetings. Everywhere I heard the Word of God, but not his life, and I was still dissatisfied.
In 1959 my parents also returned from Siberia and found a place to live in Bremen, Germany. Quite near to them, the brother workers put up their tent: Arnold Scharmen, Horst Schulz, and Jimmy Jennings. My parents were the first to attend the meetings. In August I started to live with them and in September I started to attend the meetings. I had completely forgotten the German language because in Russia I was not allowed to talk in German. (So, at this time she was just in the process of relearning German and couldn’t understand so much of what was said in the meetings.) Carl was able to speak Russian with me between meetings, which meant much to me. At that time the workers were: Arnold Scharmen, Horst Schulz, and Waldermar Dettmam.
These meetings brought me into fellowship with Jesus. Germany didn’t satisfy me, but the Kingdom of God did. My parents, sorry to say, didn’t accept the Truth and tried to destroy the life of Jesus in me, but God helped me, just like He helped Mary & Joseph to care for this life. Even though the parents attended the tent mission each evening, they went to the Lutheran Church each Sunday morning, and I had to go along. My father was very strict, but the time came when I saw I couldn’t continue going to both places. So, one Sunday morning, my father came to me and said, “Ruta, get ready. We’re going to church.” I looked at him and said, “No, father. I’m not going anymore.” My father was astonished at my answer, and fell to his knees, weeping and pleading. Ordinarily, I would have then given in. My love for my father was so great, but I thought, “I cannot.” I went to my room, weeping and got down on my knees and prayed that God would help me to have strength to do the right thing. I opened my Bible and it fell open to Matthew 10, where Jesus said, “If ye love father or mother more than Me, ye cannot be My disciple.” To me, this was the answer. I arose, put on sunglasses, so no one could see that I had been weeping, took my Bible and went to the park to await time to go to the Sunday AM meeting in the tent. That scripture was my testimony that morning. From that time on, my parents turned very bitter and never attended another meeting. They have made it very hard for me, but I remained true.
At the age of 24 years, I entered the Harvest Field. The strong dislike I had in my heart for the Russians, who brought so much suffering and grief on the family, has now turned to a deep love for the souls of those people, and my greatest desire is to carry the Gospel to Russia to help them to see Jesus, as I have seen Him.
In 1970 my stepmother died. I came home when she became ill to care for her. After her death, the sister workers had Gospel meetings in our home. My father listened every evening but still didn’t accept the Truth. Three years later it was again necessary for me to come home because of my own health, and meetings were held again. This time God could open the blind eyes of my father. He severed his connections with all other religions and began in simplicity to serve God. Now he is in hearty fellowship with God and His children. The meetings are held in his home, and his home is open for the workers. This is a great miracle to me, and I am thankful.
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Ruta’s father is dead now. He left the home to a professing aunt, so meetings are still in the home. Ruta Sprogis laboured her last years in Siberia, but she became ill and came back to Germany, two months before she died. She died on December 28 of 2001, she was 63 years old.
NOTE: Approximately three million German Prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union during WW2, most of them during the great advances of the Red Army in the last year of the war. By 1950 almost all surviving POWs had been released, with the last prisoner returning from the USSR in 1956.
(According to Google)
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