Reunited at last, Raske family looks to freedom

(Editor’s Note:

Arthur Raske has been a resident of Kasson since 2008. As a very young child he found himself caught up in an international conflict. A family visit to see his grandparents in in 1939 turned into a multi-year stay in Nazi Germany and a harrowing escape from East to West Germany after the war. This is Part Two of his story.)

As soon as Art’s father arrived in Frankfurt in late 1945, he applied to the Russian officials for a Visitors’ Visa to visit his family and when in East Germany, to set in motion the paperwork for an Exit Permit for his family.

After more than a year of praying and waiting, he was finally rewarded in November 1947, when he received a Visitors’ Visa and the family was united after five years of separation. The Visitors’ Visa needed to be accompanied by a detailed itinerary and be followed precisely. The local Communist officials were assigned a quota of people with capitalistic ideas, who were presumed to live in the district. Such people must be found and “liquidated” (a bullet to the head in a nearby forest) to prevent their ideas from infecting others. His dad prayed that God would not only miraculously provide an Exit Permit, but also to be provided in two weeks (both impossible).

With the Exit Permit application on its way, their dad exercised his leap of faith by searching for a truck driver that would take the family and their meager belongings to a town with a border crossing. Every truck in East Germany was tightly controlled by the government with their detailed itinerary and cargo specified and reviewed. God led them to a truck driver who was willing to risk his life to haul unapproved goods and people (they had no permit to travel within East Germany). God may have used the hatred of that driver, who did it to spite the hated Communists. It was agreed that the driver would come to their house to make the arrangements to transport them to the border.

The truck driver did not come on the appointed day or the next day so this added concern, for now, their dad had overstayed his Visitors’ Visa and his presence was now illegal. He would be subject to arrest and a one-way “walk into the woods.” Hans wondered: “Why the delay when time is of the essence?”

That night their dad stayed up praying, and in the anguish of soul “put out the fleece,” much like Gideon did in Old Testament times. He prayed: Lord if the driver arrives at 4 p.m. tomorrow I will know that it is your will that I take my family to the border — even without an Exit Permit.” The next day the family lost all track of time as they played board games but were startled at the loud knock on the door — it was 4 p.m. exactly. Their dad concluded that it was God’s will to proceed to attempt to cross into West Germany, and continued with plans to head there.

It would be certain imprisonment and death to their family to try and cross the border without an Exit Permit. The Iron Curtain was almost a mile wide and a formidable barrier. They had no wire-cutters and would there be forests to hide them? Would they have to dodge bullets or be chased down by dogs? If captured would there be torture and would their mother and sister suffer horrible humiliation before death would end their suffering?

The truck driver informed them that he would pick them up the next day near dusk — another delay increasing the chances of their father being arrested. After weeks of balmy Indian Summer, the temperatures plunged to record lows, and this became an important part of God’s plan.

The next day the family of five crammed their meager possessions into three suitcases and a trunk. This also included their mother’s beloved antique, foot-treadle sewing machine that she had used to patch and re-patch their clothing. The evening came, but the truck didn’t! They waited and shivered all night, without sleep, in their unheated room as none of them had a jacket, blanket, or winter clothing. Why did God delay them now and why this terrible, cold weather?

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