Commemorative candle. The Taimyr Region during the years
of political repressions. Memoir
Grigoriy Filippovich and Frieda Genrikhovna Muss
Grigoriy Friedrichovich is from Kolpino, Leningrad Region. In March 1942 he was first deported to the Krasnoyarsk Territory and then, in the summer, down the river Yenisey to the settlement of Potapovo in the Taimyr Region; his wife to-be, Frieda Genrikhovna Schmal, was deported to this place, too. She was 16 years old at that time.
F.G. Muss during a commemoration ceremony in the Taimyr Regional Museum
of
Local Lore
on the Day in commemoration of the victims of political repressions.
Dudinka. 1999
As far as F.G. Muss recalls, there were about 1500 special settlers in Potapovo in 1942. In 1945 only 400 of them had remained alive. Many had died from hunger, due to the very rough climate or because they had been taken ill by scurvy. The most difficult and challenging month was the April of the year 1943. They could hardly manage to bury all the dead bodies in time. Within just one month five individuals died in Frieda Genrikhovna’s family. Only in September 1944 they removed from their dug-outs into real houses. The special settlers built up the settlement of Potapovo by their own hands. In 1949 son Viktor was born, the very first Potapovo-German.
House built by special settlers in 1943 .
Schoolbuilding built by special settlers between 1947 and 1958.
Taimyr Regional Museum of Local Lore
Fund for cultural initiatives
(Mikhail-Prokhorov-Foundation)
2006