Book of Memory on the victims of political repression
in the
Republic of Khakassia . Volume 3
I was born in the village of Bauer, Canton Kamenka, Autonomous Sowjet Socialist Republic of the Volga-Germans in October 1924.
I grew up in a large German family. My father was called Johann – my name was Heinrich. Much later, when I was working for the trudarmy, they simply changed my name into Andrei Ivanovich.
The village in which we lived, was very big. The streets were as straight as an arrow. Everything looked very clean. At that time it was a tradition that the people, unconditionally, swept the street in front of their house every evening. Neither pigs nor chickens or geese were to be seen; it was uncustomary to let them run free. The master of the house even used to accompany his cows to the common pasture at the other end of the village; in the evening he would drive them back home.
Our father was a simple member of the kolkhoz, a joiner by profession. In November 1937 he was arrested together with his brother; he never returned home … Father’s fate remained uncertain for a long time. I made inquiries by letter about him with various authorities, but there was no reply. Only in 1963 I received a paper certifying his death. The columns “cause of death” and “place of death” were crossed out. Last year only we succeeded to find out that he had been arrested for having “agitated against the kolkhoz and for being in touch with people in Germany”. On 18 November the trial took place and on 21 November 1937 he was shot by a firing squad.
After father’s arrest, mother was lft behind with eight children. Three of them died early – during the famine …
In 1941, as a consequence of the notorious ukase, all Germans were forced to leave their land, their homes. On 6 October we were all loaded on trucks and taken to the railroad station. There we were asked to get on so-called “calves’” waggons (red freight cars; translator’s note). Armed guards were standing all around us. Our train was made up of 60 waggons, one of which was exclusively occupied by guards. Nobody knew, where they were going to take us. The country was at war, the track was full of military transports. For that reason our stopovers dragged on for 2-3 days at each station. Travelling in “calves’” waggons was unhumane and degrading. In each waggon there were 15-20 families, all mixed – men, women, children. There were no toilets; we were not even supplied with water. Everybody ate, what he had taken along. When we were to leave our homes, they had permitted each individual to take along 20 kgs of general luggage, as well as foodstuffs which would suffice for one month. The people slaughtered their chickens and then poured them with melted bacon, so that the meat would not get spoiled. Moreover, they took along dried bread. During the long train stops they were cooking hot meals. We were en route for more than one and a half months. On 20 November, at nighttime, the train arrived at Chany Station in the region of Novosibirsk. There we were picked up by trucks, horses and sleighs. The heads of the kolkhoz farms went from waggon to waggon in search of experts. We could hear them ask: “Do you have a tractorist here?”, “Is any of you a blacksmith by profession?”, “Who among you is able to do a carpenter’s work?”, “We are now leaving for our sovkhoz!”. – Thus, we happened to get to the central farm of Sovkhoz N° 288. We were placed with families, who disposed of vacant rooms. The canteen supplied us with bread and free warm meals for about one week, until the newcomers had found a job and were able to earn their living. I very well recall that we arrived there in light clothes – we were dressed in short jackets and laced shoes. But we arrived there in the wintertime! Thanks to the people who helped us out with warm wadded trouers!
We remained frightened und unsociable for many months. The country was at war against the Germans, and the newspapers were writing articles about the germans, who were said to have horns and tails,. The local residents used to whisper secretly behind our backs, they were astonished that, in fact, we had neither horns nor tails. Later things were quite alright, we got used to the fact that we were ordinary people. The locals were surprised that we were able to speak Russian. But there was a big difference in the conversations, in the choice of words. All locals, without any exception, were permanently cursing and swearing. We wanted to sink through the floor with shame, for it was not the habit with us to using such an obscene language.
In February 1942 I was called up into the trud army, like all German men. I was 17 years old at that time. They took us to Sverdlovsk Region, to the Ivdelsk corrective labour camp, from where all former prisoners had been transported away. This place now became a closed living zone for us; there were numerous watch-towers and guards with machine pistols were dogging every footstep. I stayed there for 5 years. We had to go through a hard time; there was the permanent daily struggle to survive. Whn we arrived in the camp, there were 6000 Germans, mainly from the Caucasus; by the time I left, only 800 had survived – all the others had perished: by hunger, cold or diseases. The majority had died from dysentery. I do recall this so well, because I was working as a “medical officer” during the first five months of my stay in the camp – which means as a kind of first-aid attendant in one of the barracks. I had to carry all the dead bodies out. 15-20 people died every day.
It would happen that a parcel arrived from our relatives. They did not hand it out to us; we were just informed that a parcel had arrived, and then we were allowed to go and get its contents from the camp authorities in “instalments”.
After this terrible job as a “medical officer”, I was transferred to the felling area. We had to clear the trunks from their bark; they were destined for the production of sleepers. Those who refused to go to work or were unfit for some reason or other, were put into the holding cell.
Living conditions were so difficult that many Germans tried to commit various kinds of crimes, just to be sentenced to a new term. In such cases they would be jailed with ordinary prisoners, who usually received better food and were equipped with shoes, as well. Apart from this, the penitentiary system was milder. I myself tried several times to be confined to another term, however, it did not work out well.
In 1946, I was released from the labour army, since I had become an invalid: I had caught tuberculosis of the lungs. I received a passport and my former komsomol membership card, as well as a certificate confirming that my name had been changed into Andrei Ivanovich. When I asked for the reason, why it had been changes, they said: “There is no such name like yours in Russian; be happy that th released you!”
I returned to Chany in white wadded trousers and bast shoes. A widow took me in. She wanted me to help her with the transporting of ice. She gave me felt boots and a winter fur jacket … She did her best to nurse me back to health again after m long stay in the camp. I was young, wanted to meet girls, make friends. Once I went to the club, where the young generation used to turn up to play the balalaika and dance. I sat down on one of the benches, took my tobacco pouch rom my pocket and die not even notice that the people around me slept away. Suddenly I became aware that I ws sitting there all alone. They had all left, for I was looking all tattered and torn.
Later I worked as an accounting clerk and refueller for the tractorists’ brigade. In order to provide myself with “new”clothes, I exchanged cereals against footwear and trousers. Finally, in 1946, after having written numerous inquiries, I found out the whereabouts of my family. It turned out that they lived in Turukhansk District, Krasnoyarsk Territory. It was the third place they had been forced to settle in. After their deportation from Saratov egion in 1941, they had first been taken to Achinsk District, Krasnoyarsk Territory, from there they had been resettled to Kuragino District and then happened to get to Turukhansk. This did not only happen to our family, but to many. Of course, I wanted to leave for the place where my mother and brothers lived - by all means. However, the commandant did not give me the permission to do so.
Thus, I decided to leave despite his pohibition. For unauthorized abandonment of the place of settlement people were risking to be punished by 20 years of forced labour. They caught me twice, after I had already boarded the train … The third time I was successful. I managed to escape and fight my way through to Krasnoyarsk. There I took the steamer to Turukhansk. From Turukhansk I had to go another 150 kms by cutter. I asked someone to inform my family about my soon arrival by radio. Nine years had passed, since we had got separated. On that account I was unable to recognize my brothers and sisters. A week later some men from the special commandant’s ofice embarked, in order to search for me, the deserter, the runaway. The commandant summoned me to his office. He said: “According to law we ought to turn the key on you for the next 20 years, but now that you have already arrived in the place, where your relatives live ….Go and see that you get your life organized; you won’t be able to get away from here, anyway!” In fact, it was impossible to escape from this plce; you were cut off from the rest of the world. Nothing but swarms of midges and mosquitos around you – on every single centimeter. The sun came out hardly ever, the were the long, long polar nights …
In 1956 we followed my mother and brothers to a sovkhoz called “Yuzhniy”, situated in Kuragino District.
I worked for the workers’ committee as a cashier, then as a joiner … I began to deal with “politics”. I wrote a letter to Moscow about all the injustice that happened to the Germans, and became a freelance correspondant of the “New Life” press editorial department.
I undertook a trip to bakan, specially for the purpose to meet with F. Schessler, one of the members of the Soviet-German delegation, which went to Moscow, in order to achieve the restoration of the Volga-German ASSR and the full rehabilitation of the Soviet-Germans.
I was entrusted with public relations: the collection of signatures for the restoation of the autonomy …
The deputee head of the “New Life” propaganda department, Polyanskiy, came to Kuragino …
I organized the German organisation “Wiedergeburt” in Kuragino and appeared as one of the initiators of “Wiedergeburt” in Minusinsk. And then, suddenly, KGB agents began to get interested in my person. Twice they arrived by car from Abakan: “What kind of a politician is that man, who lives ther, in Yuzhniy?”
In 1984 my family and I removed to Abakan, where I organized a society of germans, too, and at least I succeeded in persuading the authorities to allow fromer trud armists to buy foodstuffs from the store – just like all ex-servicemen did. I persistently dealt with the problems concerning the rehabiltation of the Germans and worked for the municipal authorities as a secretary in charge of the rehabilitation commission.
A.I. Wagner
Abakan, 1998
Department of Documents of Modern History, Republic of Khakassia States Archives, Form 880, unpublished inventory 2, file 5, sheets 1-5. Original. Typewritten.
Anrei Ivanovich Wagner, former secretary in charge of the Abakan municipal commission of the restoration of the rights of victims of political repressiom, one of the first organizers of the German “Wiedergebort” organization in Khakassis. Was an active member of the Khakassian Republican “Memorial” organization.
INFORMATION
Administration of Internal Affairs, Saratov region, about the rehabilitation of
A.I. Wagner
N° 186/74, city of Saratov, 26 January 1994
Citizen Andrei Ivanovich Wagner
Year of birth – 1924, Place of birth …
Permanent place of residence before the beginning of repression – Saratov Region.
Based on the Ukase of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet “About the resettlement of the Volga-Germans”dated 28 August 1941, he was affected by expulsion by administrative means, as a consequence of which he was deported to resettle in Krasnoarsk Territory for political reasons and for reasons of his nationality.
Based on section 2, item “w” and section 3 of the RSFSR Law of the 10 October 1991 “About the rehabilitation of victims of political repression” we herewith confirm that citizen Andrei Ivanovich Wagner has been rehabilitated.
Deputee head of the UVD, Saratov Region, N.N. Vodopolov
Department of Documents of Modern History, Republic of Khakassia States Archives, Form 882, unpublished inventory 1, sheets 1-3. Copy. Typewritten.