Commemorative candle . The Taimyr Region during the years of political repressions . Memoirs
Born in 1925 in the hamlet of Wiesenmiller, Seelmann District, ASSR of the Volga-Germans. In they were deported to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in 1942 he found himself in the Taimyr Region as a forced settler. He worked for the fishing industry, for the fish cannery in the hamlet of Ust-Port as a fireman, locksmith and machinist. Today he lives in the settlement of Ust-Port.
In the autumn of 1941 I celebrated his 14th birthday. I left school after the 7th term. And by this schooling was finished at all. On September 4 or 5 my mother, three elder sisters and I were deported to Siberia.
On 1 June 1942 we were all deported further to the north. Mother and my sisters got to Turukhansk, while I was transferred to the lower reaches of the Yenisey, at first to the settlement of Innokentyewskiy, afterwards to a fishing base called Laida situated in Ust-Yeniseysker District. I worked as a loader and fisherman. I had to carry flour sackes onmy shoulders, tow heavy fishing nets and fish traps. When the nets were wet, we were unable to move them from the spot.
I can hardly believe myself what kind of a live we were forced to lead at that time. We had no money, no food, no clothing. „Everything for the front, everything for victory!“ – was the slogan, while we were starving to death. We nourished on living fish, flaying their skin and swallowing them in going. We were terribly afraid that the representatives of the local authorities would notice that we had pilfered fish.
After the war the best fishers were sent to Sakhalin. My wife and I also left for this island. On the way her pains were beginning prematurely. They allowed us to get off the train in Turukhansk, where we then stayed for 17 months in all. As they did not find any person to accompany us to Sakhalin, we were finally compelled to go back to our previous place of residence.
I worked for the boiler house of the Ust-Port fish cannery. And now, Iam not twiddling my thumbs, either – I am now working for the boarding school, and my boiler house is considered to be exemplary.
I often recall our house and village on the river Volga. There we had a better life than in Siberia. At the end of our road there was a windmill. We had a wonderful climate. We had to leave behind so much good: cereals, flour, the entire harvest, all the cattle.
The most imoportant thing is that you always do a good job and live straight. And this is how we lived ....
Recorded in the settlement of Ust-Port in 1991
Leitung für Kultur und Kunst der Verwaltung des Autonomen Gebietes Tajmyr (Dolganen
/ Nenzen).
Heimatkunde-Museum des Autonomen Gebietes Tajmyr.
„Museumsbote“. Ausgabe 1.
Dudinka, 2001