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Son Writes Stirring Memoir of American Mother's Survival in Stalin's Gulag

by Randall Murphree
June 19, 2006

(AgapePress) - - In Dancing Under the Red Star, Karl Tobien writes a gripping account of Margaret Werner (his mother) and her three decades in Russia. Ford Motor Company sent the family there to help establish a Ford plant in1932. Both Margaret and her father wound up in prison.

The book is to be released June 20, and plans are under way for a screen version. Tobien, his wife Tina and their four children live in Cincinnati, Ohio. Randall Murphree interviewed the author for AgapePress.

AgapePress: For how long had you wanted to write this book?

Karl Tobien: I can't remember ever having an early conscious desire to write a book or to become a published author. What I can remember is having the distinct vision to make my mother's incredible story come to life, in some form or fashion including film, since about 1995 or 1996, just prior to her death. But it wasn't until three or four years later that I became personally inspired to write the book.

AP: Did your mother share this dream, or did it come along after her death?

KT: My mother was very guarded or reserved about certain aspects of her private life -- namely her 30 years in Russia. For many years after her return to the U.S., she purposely chose to live a quiet, humble life that was intentionally off the radar screen. She was not interested in personal notoriety, or in writing a book for the sake of public acclaim or attention.

Perhaps there were hidden fears instilled in her spirit resulting from her earlier years of total oppression. Though almost everyone who had known her throughout her later years, and those who knew bits and pieces of her story, always said that her story must one day be a book and a film. She was interested only in her immediate family knowing the details of her story.

AP: What obstacles did you have to overcome to get your book in print?

KT:First and foremost, the lengthy process of finding the right publisher, which, for a first-time author, is normally not such an easy task. I met with a couple of early disappointments along the way. But I was very blessed to have an undeniably powerful story to begin with, so I knew that I just needed to find the right publisher, one who felt equally touched by this inspirational and historically unprecedented account.

AP: How did you go about finding an agent and a publisher?

KT: I chose not to employ an agent. I was very fortunate and happy that WaterBrook Press, the inspirational division of Random House, was enthralled with the story from the onset, and quickly agreed that it just had to be published.

AP: You write your mother's story in first person. Is it based on her journals or oral history?

KT: It's actually a combination of things. Certainly a lot of it is based on a lifetime of growing up and hearing -- sometimes overhearing -- stories and conversations that she would have with friends and relatives over the years about different incidents. Then, also, in her later years -- I'd say in the early 1990s -- she began to write, not for the purpose of publishing a book, but she began to write some notes just to leave something on paper for her family, a family legacy.

To a degree we were unaware of a lot of the facts. I was certainly aware of the headlines, but a lot of the minute details eluded me. So my mother and I began to talk. We had a lot of conversations and I probably filled up a couple of legal pads with notes from talking with my mother. I took all that information along with the foundation she had given me, and I decided that first person was the only thing that really made sense. It's sort of my tribute to my mother in the telling of her story, which she was no longer going to be around to see finalized.

AP: You said you could write a book about your mother's years in the U.S.

KT: I think I could.

AP: You also said something about your father's story -- called it a story "for another time." Do you know his story well enough to write it?

KT: I know his story pretty well. But there are a lot of absent years in there. For over 30 years, we didn't know one another. I think a lot of the story just involves how we came to discover who he was and where he was and his whereabouts. That was something that my mother was able to accomplish for me before she passed. That was really quite a gift.

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion04626.shtml

Son Cites Ford Motor Role in 1930s American Prisoners in Stalin's Gulag

by Randall Murphree
June 20, 2006

(AgapePress) - - In Dancing Under the Red Star, Karl Tobien writes a gripping account of Margaret Werner (his mother) and her three decades in Russia. Ford Motor Company sent the family there to help establish a Ford plant in 1932. Both Margaret and her father wound up in prison.

The book is to be released June 20, and plans are under way for a screen version. Tobien, his wife Tina and their four children live in Cincinnati, Ohio. Randall Murphree interviewed the author for AgapePress.

AgapePress: What was Ford Motor Company's role in your mother's story?

Karl Tobien: I receive your [American Family Association] e-mails and AFA Journal regularly and I know that you've got some issues there with the Ford Motor Co. I can tell you, they're not going to be real thrilled with this book coming out either. Because there are going to be a few, maybe only subtle, but very truthful disclosures made in my book that might call some of Ford's early Soviet business activities into question.

You know, the book doesn't go overboard trying to slam the Ford Motor Company, but they turned a blind eye to what was happening to their American workers in Russia during this time. And what they're doing today with their activism and backing of the homosexual agenda is just totally appalling to me.

AP: Tell us about the film possibilities for Dancing Under the Red Star.

KT: We're about to get a motion picture launched also. I'm working with a wonderful film producer named Paul Pompian. You may be familiar with Paul. He's got a very notable feature film and TV production resume, with some good inspirational, value-based films like Joshua, Gideon and Swimming Upstream, and many others. He's got very impressive credentials, and I'm excited about Paul producing this film.

He's very intrigued about the Ford factor being a real hook in the story, as well as the story of a woman's hope and survival and her undying will to live during this time. Virtually no Americans are aware that these circumstances even existed and that Ford Motor Company's involvement over there was what it was.

A lot of people don't know that Henry Ford was basically working both sides of the fence in the years leading up to and during World War II. He was actually in cahoots with both Hitler and Stalin. At the same time, we're supposed to be allies with Russia during World War II, and a lot of that stuff was covered up by Wall Street. A lot of that stuff was covered up by our own politicians.

AP: What is the projected timetable for a film?

KT: Boy, I sure wish I could answer that one! Hollywood is a very strange place, subject to many elements. Our story is anointed by grace and the divine favor of God. I know that financing is the first consideration for a major feature project like this one. But I am confident that our film will soon get set up for production/distribution with a major studio, perhaps within the next few months.

AP: You intimated in the book that both your mother and your father led lives worthy of further exploration. Can you tell us if there are more Tobien titles in the works?

KT: I'd like to believe there are. I do have a few ideas I think I'd like to explore, which include perhaps tying up a few more loose ends pertaining to both my mother's and father's lives. Hopefully, that would be worthy material for another book. I would probably include much of my own bio as well. That story might be equally inspirational, but on a whole different, more contemporary level. I am very interested to see just what type of impact this book will have, and to find out what God's got in store for me in the future.

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion04632.shtml