Chapters of the Journey

The family’s journeys · Laß dir an meiner Gnade genügen (1989)
Tap a chapter to show or hide it. The round markers add the family’s journeys from Laß dir an meiner Gnade genügen — tap a journey to lay it over the map. 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 Journeys of the Siebert Family

Abram “Heinz” Siebert’s numbered route from “Gebt der Wahrheit die Ehre” (1950–52) — and, from the legend, the journeys of the whole family from “Laß dir an meiner Gnade genügen” (1989): Ella & Lilli’s flight west, Mutter Siebert’s road to Orsk, and the brothers’ Trudarmee years.

The Journey of Abram “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, borders and country names, so it works fully offline. Each stop’s panel now includes a “Historical background” note you can expand. New: the legend now also carries the journeys of the whole family from Laß dir an meiner Gnade genügen (1989) — Ella and Lilli’s flight to Vreden, Mutter Siebert’s road to Orsk and back, and the brothers’ Trudarmee years — drawn as round lettered markers you can switch on beside Heinz’s numbered route.