Grievous teachings from history
My mother, whose maidenname was Olga Ivanovna Greb, often told me about the hard time of her childhood and youth. And there were a lot of things to tell and to recall, for those years were years of hunger, misery, affliction and strokes of fate. Even today, when I ask her to tell me a little bit more about the past, Mum recalls and sees clear pictures in front of her eyes which reflect the hardness of those times.
Mum grew up in the hamlet of Wiesenmiller, Seelmann District, Saratov Region. One early morning in September 1941 the whole family was deported to Siberia. Mum yet remembers the night before they left, when her father and mother slaughtered a pig, prepared sausages and baked bread. This was supposed to be there only food for many, many days – until they had finally reached Siberia. They were not allowed to take any bigger things along – they were forced to leave everything behind – their house, the cattle. And their little farm was not a small one – at that time they were owners of cows and pigs, goats and chicken.
They were taken to the train station on carts. Then they had to board a train and were only allowed to get off again in a place called Daursk. The arrival of the resettlers had already been expected, for they were immediately allocated to different kolkhoz farms. The Greb family got to the village of Vilinki.
The local Russians expected to see something strange in front of them; they seriously believed that the Germans were entirely different people, though they proved themselves to be just of the same kind. They were not distinguishable from the Russians except by their language. Step by step they got accustomed to eachother. There was nothing they could have shared. They all met the same fate – the world was on war, everybody was sorrow-stricken, had his trials and tribulations, all of them had to work for the kolkhoz farm and cope with pangs of hunger. In the village they received foodstuffs, but they were by far not enough; the people did not have the possibility to eat their fill. After the potato harvest they were allowed to go to the fields, in order to once again dig over the whole land and search for „forgotten“ potatoes, which were meanwhile all frozen.
The Grebs were a very big family – there were seven children. They were accomodated in an abandoned house at the village outskirts and lived there until January 1942. Then the father set off to search for a new place of residence. He got to the Balakhtinsk District, where he found a job (incidental earnings) as a school caretaker. He was assigned a room and soonafter took in the rest of the family. There were no horses, no carts. Therefore they sat the four youngest children into a big chest, which was loaded on a sledge, and then they all set off on foot. Her father did not work as a caretaker for a long time. Soonafter he and his brother were mobilized into the trudarmy. And then the elder sisters met the same fate. They were taken to Swerdlovsk, where they had to work in the woods. They were fed badly and most of them got hunger oedema.
Finally, the family had to leave the room, which they had been permitted to live in, while the father had still worked as a caretaker, and were forced to remove to a barracks. There was a Russian stove, but they had practically nothing to heat it with. The youngest children slept on top of the stove, the remaining family members on planks.
Some time later our Mum’s father was demobilized from the Labour Army, due to his bad state of health. He was very weak and covered with hunger oedema. But as soon as he had slightly recovered, they came to mobilize him into the trudarmy again – to the village of Sorokino. Once again the family was left behind without bread-earner.
My grandmother was working without respite – she was pumping water for the horses. When the water was frozen, she and a colleague had to chisel the chunk of ice out and then continue to pump. It was so cold that she once returned home with frostbitten toes. My Mum recalls that she cried from pain, and that the others, commiserating with her, were crying too. Afterwards my grandmother was incapable of working for a very long time.
After she had recovered she began to transport hay and firewood by means of horses. Later she was even supplied a cow. Mum had just accomplished the 12 th year of her life at that time; they wanted to officially send he to another place to work as a trailer hand, but grandmother was not prepared to give her permission. They had to cope with so many adversities, were suffering from hunger – and then they should invite another trouble by compelling a child to work? They picked frozen potatoes, from which they baked flat cakes, they gathered wild strawberries on the woods and would then eat them with milk (supplied by their cow). This was the one and only dessert at that time.
In the autumn life became even more troublesome, and now it was Mon who had to go and work as a trailer help. It was hard physical labour for the girl, who had to heave heavy stocks, work outside in frozen mud and cold, in order to get a living for the family and herself.
In 1947 the grandmother left to reunite with her husband. Afterwards they both returned, in order to take their children in, as well. In 1949 Mum worked there as a milkmaid. She was responsible for 15 cows, which all had to be milked by hand – twice a day, and even three times during the summer. She was working there for three years. Then she got married, the kolkhoz farm was liquidated and the family left for Magansk. In 2002 she left for Germany.
This is the story of our Mum. The impacts of the occurrences of those years now become noticeable. Her legs hurt. She has to undergo an operation. She wishes us, her children and grandchildren that we may never suffer hardship, poverty and grief. I am very glad that at least now she can live in calm and peace making a living.
On the photos:
Olga (Greb) Schneider
Olga Schneider‘s (Vasileva‘s) daughter
The above material was arranged by the Sosnovoborsk Organization of Victims of Political Repressions.