Janzen, Siegfried (1920-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Aug 15 p. 6

Birth date: 1920

text of obituary:

MCCer who helped refugees, prisoners dies

By Tara Tharayil

MCC Canada News Service

PETITCODIAC, New Brunswick — Siegfried Janzen, who helped thousands of refugees get from Germany to Canada after World War II and later became a pioneer in restorative justice work, died Aug. 2. He was 84.

Janzen served with Mennonite Central Committee in various roles over 60 years.

He was born in Ukraine in 1920. the family fled persecution in the Soviet Union, arriving in Canada in 1927.

As a conscientious objector, Janzen did alternative service in Ontario during world War II. There he met and married his wife, Margaret, in 1945. Soon after their wedding, the couple left to serve with MCC in the Netherlands and West Germany. From 1945-1950 they helped establish refugee camps at Gronau and Backnang. One became a processing center for people headed for South America and Canada. The Janzens helped 6,000 refugees get to Canada.

Returning to Canada, Janzen worked as a mason in Nova Scotia. He was ordained as a lay Baptist minister in 1980. Upon retiring in 1985, he dedicated himself to ministry and mediation with inmates.

As a member of MCC's community justice ministry, Janzen trained others in victim-offender mediation and advocated on behalf of inmates who were making efforts to reconcile with those they had offended. On several occasions, the Janzens opened their home to the spouses of inmates who could not otherwise afford to see them.

MCC Maritimes co-directors Tom and Judith Snowdon described Janzen as "a pioneer of restorative justice in the Maritimes, a companion of prisoners and a mediator who brought many people to a new level of peace with past difficulties."

The Janzens were recognized for their long service with MCC in 1996. They traveled to Akron, Pa., to share their story at the MCC offices and area churches.

Ron Mathies, a former director of MCC, said of the Janzens: "From their early years of helping refugees in post-World War II Europe, including an infant who would later become my wife, to their extensive pastoral ministries, they have put hands and feet of compassion to their Christian faith."

Janzen is survived by his wife, four daughters, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.