Born 1923 in the district of Unterwalden, ASSR of the Volga-Germans. Deported to the Krasnoyarsk Territory in 1941. As from 1942 she lived under forced resettlement in the Ust-Yeniseysk District, National Region of Tajmyr. Worked as a fisher-woman, worker for the tinned fish factory and nanny for the boarding-school. Lives in the settlement of Ust-Post.
- We were first afflicted by mischief in 1938, when they came to arrest our father. Until today we have not been able to find out about what happened to him then. Since then he is missing. There were eight children in our family.
On our way to Siberia they disconnected one of the waggons at some little
train station by error; this waggon was coupled to another train shortly after,
which went to Kazakhstan.
My elder sister happened to get into this waggon. Many years later, when we had
finally succeeded to trace eachother, I learned that the husband of one of my
sisters had been killed in the labour army.
I was the only member of our family, which came to the Taimyr Region. Two sisters were assigned to live in the Turukhansk Region, while mum an her younger children stayed in Siberia. In 1942 one contingent of special resettlers was taken to the fishing station of Laida in the Ust-Yeniseysk District, where they were now forced to learn the fisherman’s profession. When we still lived on the river Volga, I had worked as a milkmaid; therefore it gave me a lot of trouble to orient myself in my new, entirely different job.
Our whole brigade – 14 people altogether – lived in just one small room; we slept on two-storeyed plank beds. In Laida I became acquainted with my to-be husband - August Yakovlevich. After the war we removed to Ust-Port, where we found a job in a canning factory. We still live in the same settlement today. We brought up three children and six grandchildren.
We have been thinking of going back to the Volga Region one day, but you cannot simply wipe out 50 years of your life in Siberia. ....
Department od Culture and Art of the Administration of the Taimyr Region
(Dolganes / Nenzes)
Museum of Local Lore of the Autonomous Taimyr Region.
„Museum Messenger“. Issue 1.
Dudinka, 2001