David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

and outsiders. Wilma’s family emigrated
from Russia, where many Mennonites
settled in the eighteenth century. During
the Russian Revolution and the Stalinist
years, the Mennonites were persecuted
—viciously and repeatedly. Entire
Mennonite villages were wiped out.
Hundreds of adult men were shipped off
to Siberia. Their farms were looted and
burned to the ground—and entire
communities were forced to flee to the
United States and Canada. Derksen
showed me a picture of her great-aunt,
taken years ago in Russia. She said she
remembered her grandmother talking
about her sister while looking at that
same picture and weeping. Her great-
aunt had been a Sunday school teacher—