Born in Engels, Saratov Region in 1925. In accordance with the Ukase dated
the 28 August 1941 we were resettled to Siberia by force, and in the summer of
1942 a lighter took us to the Ust-Yeniseysk District. The barge was overcrowded
– there were 350 people in all. We were assigned to different settlementst:
Ust-Port, Baikalovsk, Ladygin Yar. I got to the Nosonovsk Island. The first year
was an extremely hard one. I went fishing together with Kaspar Mel.
Since 1963 we have been living in Karaul. I was working for the fishing industry for 21 years.
In Nikandrovsk I met my wife to-be, Amalia Yakovlevna Foos. We got married in Nosonovsk in 1947. She is also a native from the Volga Region. Both her parents as well as mine died very early. We were all alone, without a family. It was a hard time. And all the youngsters were dying from lice.
We had to pull and tow tree trunks, and were suffering from pangs of hunger. Once, we did not get anything to eat for three days. We were not allowed to eat fish, either; moreover, during the very first year, our fishing results were, in fact, very poor. During the 1950s we lived in Baikalovsk and Sidorovsk. We brought up five children – four daughters and a son.
Recorded in the settlement of Karaul in 1995
Wais D.D., 1950