Chapters of the Journey

Tap a chapter to show or hide it. Click any numbered square on the map to read what happened there, with page references. Dashed lines trace the route in order. Locations marked ≈ are approximate. Drag to pan, scroll or use the + / − buttons to zoom.

The Journey of Heinz Siebert

Every place named in Karl Fast’s “Gebt der Wahrheit die Ehre” (1950–52) — from a Mennonite village on the Ural to the camps of the Ukraine, and home again. Page numbers refer to the original pagination of each part.

The Journey of Heinz Siebert

An interactive map to Karl Fast’s “Gebt der Wahrheit die Ehre” (three parts, 1950–1952)

Abram “Heinz” Siebert was born in 1921 in a Mennonite settlement where Europe meets Asia, on the Ural. This map follows him through forty-three stations of his life as told in the book: drafted into the Red Army, escaping a battlefield encirclement on foot, teaching in the German colonies of the occupied Ukraine, fleeing west by wagon and rail, forced into a German uniform, captured near Budapest, and finally — after four and a half years in Soviet captivity — released to the West in September 1949.

Click any numbered square to read a short account of what happened there and the page numbers where you can find it. Use the chapter legend to filter the map, or the Previous / Next buttons to walk the whole route in order. This map draws its own coastlines and borders, so it works fully offline.