We, Ksenia Ibe, Tatyana Tyshko, Tatyana Medvedeva and Oksana Nikolaeva, students of the 11th term, realized a project on the subject “Political repressions in the district of Pirovskoe”. Before being able to start with the planned task at all, we had to find out about about how the deportations to the Krasnoyarsk Territory were carried out. And we discovered that, practically, no official information about any deportations to the district of Pirovskoe are available. However, many victoms of repressions live in this district. We asked the social welfare office to organize and provide us with a list of victims of repressions, who live in the district of Pirovskoe. We formed two groups of twp persons each. Later, guided by the list, we held interviews among the repressed population of the elder generation, thus learning, how their families experienced the deportation, what happened to them during that time and how everything passed off. The list was made up by many names, so that we were unable to interview every single person mentioned. For this reason, the present project will be continued by students of our school in any case.
We chose the first address and went to see Alma Yakovlevna Wagner. Alma Yakovlevna replied to all our questions; but it was partly difficult for her to give a clear answer, since so many years had passed since then. Nevertheles, she provided us with a complete, coherent report.
Alma Yakovlevna Wagner was born in the village of Schulz, district of Krasnoyar, Saratow Region, on the 17th November 1927.
Before the deportation the family comprised seven individuals. Her father worked on the kolkhoz plantations as a fireman. The working conditions were very difficult; the kolkhoz workers cultivated tobacco and other plants. In former times they had a big farm (cows, piglets, sheep and chickens), their own house and a vegetable garden. Thus, the family made a living. They always paid taxes in time.
Alma Yakovlevna’s family was deported in 1941. At that time Alma Yakovlevna’s father was just out doing shift work; they were given twenty-four hours to pack their belongings. Afterwards they were taken to “Besmertnaia” (“The Immortal”; translator’s note) train station, from where they were sent away by train. They were not permitted to take anything but the most needed things: clothes, foodstuffs, … They were loaded on freight cars like cattle, but they did not have to face any violence. They finally arrived in Krasnoyarsk, where they stayed for a short time. Then they were to board a barge, which took them to Galanino.From there they got to Pirovskoe first on horseback and finally on foot. Alkma Yakovlevna’s family reached Pirovskoe in the spring, on October 2. The family stayed there for a short time only – just for two weeks, then they removed to the village of Kachaevo, where they lived in a house occupied by 8 families altogether. They were on friendly terms and helped eachother as best they could. There were no conflicts. Alma Yakovlevna did not go to school, for she was unable to speak Russian. At that time she was just 13 years old.
Soonafter Alma Yakovlevna began to work for the kolkhoz farm. She had no cause for complaint; her colleagues behaved friendly towards her, and “we earned as much as we deserved for the labour we had done”.
Alma Yakovlevna and her family were released from the status of beind special resettlers on the 1st February 1956. Afterwards their life did not change in the least. Everbody demonstrated solicitousness, but their situation did not change at all; “we continued to live as we did all the years before”.
Alma Yakovlevna did not relate to the Communist party.
She preserved all traditions, never forgetting about typical national dishes, either. She communicates with her homeland, where her sisters and most of her friends stayed; in spite of everything Alma Yakovlevna considers herself to be a Russian, for she has been living in Russia for so many years.
This is the story of Alma Yakovlevna. Unfortunately, she has no more pictures of that time, which is not really astonishing, for she removed so many times in her life. We thanked her for the conversation and went to the next address.
The next person interviewed by us was Nina Ottovna Vackhrusheva, who was not really able to help us, for at that time she had not been born yet; however, she recalled a couple of reports her relatives gave on the subject and was willing to tell them what she knew by hear-say.
Nina Ottovna Bakhrusheva was born in the hamlet of Pirovskoe on November 25, 1951.
Her family consisted of her sisters, mother, father and one of the grandmothers. Her sisters were still infantile; for that reason they did not have to work. The mother began to work for the kolkoz farm when she was fourteen. She had to work hard. They lived on the river Volga. They left the grandmother in Barnaul. They had a small farm: a few cows, sheep – it was hardly enough to feed the family.
In 1941 Nina Ottovna’s parents were deported; they were not permitted to take along more than what was absolutely necessary; they were given forty-eight hours to pack their belongings. The crowd gathered at the station; the deportees were forced to board freight cars, and then the train took them to Krasnoyarsk. The people were crying, but were rather astonished abour the fact that they were not treated with rudeness or impudence; even their houses were not subject to any search of rooms. Thus, the deported Germans arrived in Krasnoyarsk, from where they were soonafter taken to Galanino by horse. In September the Bakhrushevs were resettled in Pirovskoe. They had to build themselves simple dug-outs, in which they then lived for several years. Soon after Nina Ottovna’s birth, the family removed to Belsk. As of 1959 Nina Ottovna went to school; she never found studying difficult, although her classmates often teased and mocked, but she was able to bear the insults. Out of 10 terms Nina finished 8. Afterwards she became a seamstress; she served her apprenticeship with the Cooperative of Daily Services. Everything went normal, the more since Nina Ottovna had a diligent attitude towards learning and working.
After their release from special resettlement life became slightly more free, and they were finally allowed to even leave their place of residence.
Stalins death had no specific influence on the Vakhrushevs; they continued to live as they lived before, everything remained unchanged. They had a positive attitude towards the CPSU.
They preserved the traditions they knew at that time. Since Nina Ottovna thinks she is a Russian, she preserves Russiand traditions.
This is what Nina Ottovna tried to put across to us; and it was all she was able to tell us. We thanked her for the conversation and went to the people specified on the name list next.
Yekaterina Davydovna Zaidentsal was very happy about our visit. She was willing to tell us her story without any objections.
Yekaterina Davydovna Zaidentsal was born in the village of Alt-Urbach, Krasnoyar District, on the 7th November 1927.
Before their deportation the family was made up by three sisters, two
brothers and the parents.
The mother worked on the kolkhoz plantations, the father was a secretary with
the village Soviet. Both worked very hard. They also maintained a big homestead:
cows, piglets, chickens, goats. It was hardly enough to make ends meet and
support the family, for they were forced to pay the state in kind: 46 kilos of
meat and 210 liters of milk, and it seemed as if nobody was wondering about
where they should pay this tax from, and nobody took into account the fact that
there were five children to be fed.
They learned about the planned deportation of the family on the 13th of September 1941. The corresponding order had arrived from Moscow. The were displaced without bg delay; the government was of the opinion that they were on Hitler’s side. They were given 12 days to pack their belongings and allowed to take along the mostly needed things only. However, they were permitted to go by horse. The organizers of the action were quite restrained with regard to the deportees, and the people had no real cause for complaint. Their homes were not subject to any house search, nobody misbehaved, and there were no assaults, either.
They ha to walk all the way up to the train station on foot, a distance of about 35 kms, but, fortunately, some people kept horses with them; the deportees had respect for eachother, and those who had horses were willing to pass them to somebody else, if they were too exhausted to walk on. Having experienced the long trip by train, they continued by horse for another 16 days. This was the distance up to Krasnoyarsk . From there to Galanino – another 16 days, without changing the means of transport. Yekaterina Davydovna yet adds by way of explanation that it was awfully cold, when they were on the train, but they were at least provided with food. There was no stopover and new passengers did not board the train, either.
On October 4 the family arrived in Pirovskoe. Since there was no house, no apartment where they could move in, some good people were prepared to put them up. Living conditions were terrible – they were hungry, the people misbehaved towards them, for everybody thought they were fascists. Als the time they were confronted with insults and hurts. And there was another problem: almost none of Yekaterina Davydovna’s family members was able to speak Russian, and this was another reason for people to mock them.
In 1941 she went to school; she did well with her lessons. When Yekaterina Davydovna finished the 6th term, she was 14 years old. At the age of 16 she worked for district cooperative of mass consumer goods, where they had to saw timber. They worked for nothing but a mere “Thank you!”, but they always performed their tasks with utmost care and a distinct sense of responsibility.
They learned about their final release from special resettlement by an order issued by the Almighty in Moscow. Its wording had been printed in the newspaper. From that time Yekaterina Davydovna avowed herself to be Russian.
They did not take any interest in Stalin’s death. “Who cares?” they were thinking by themselves. Life slightly improved, but just – slightly, for they still suffered from hunger.
Yekaterina Davydovna considers herself Russian and for that reason keeps Russian traditions.
She has no contact with people living in her original homeland, she considers Russia to be her home country.
Well, this is the story Yekaterina Davydovna told us about her life. We thanked her for her preparedness to help us with our project and said good-bye. Thus, the activities of the group made up by Ksenia Ibe and Tatiana Tyshko ended.
The team made up by Oksana Nikolaevna and tatiana Medvedeva decided to begin their interviews with a male person. They made an appointment by phone and the respondent expressed his willingness to reply to the question.
Born on the 22.09.1935.
His family lived on the hamlet of Pronsk, Ryazan District (where they had settled down by enlistment, trying to get away from permanent hunger). In 1938, when his brother was born, they removed to the Volga Region. In their little village they lived virtuously and in comfort. The family was not very big. They lived on a farm. One evening in 1937 they arrested the father. He was sentenced to 8 months in a camp. After the war, the mother began to search after the father; she found out that he had meanwhile died during his imprisonment in Arkhangelsk.
In August 1941 the entire family was subject to political persecution. They were just given a couple of days to pack their belongings. During this time they were trying hard to put as many provisions as possible aside. They dried bread until they finally obtained rusk and baked cake. They took along a suitcase filled with clothes – most of the things were children’s clothes.
They went by steamship,train and horse – all in all two months. Conditions during transport were very bad. They were to board unheated freight cars. It was very cold. Once a day they were distributed some hot soup, sometimes they received bread. The train was forced to stop very often, because the country was at war. From time to time the train was standing still for a whole day. However, further victims of repressions did not get on the train en-route, for the freight cars were crwoded, anyway.
They had to change trains in Bolshaya Murta and were sent to the district of Pirovskoe. The children who were not yet of full age were put under the survey of the special commandant’s office. They arrived in the district of Pirovskoe, village of Ignatovo, early in October. They were placed with some locals, where living conditions were quite acceptable. And the residents behaved well towards them. The villagers of Ignatovo respected the newcomers, even took pity on them and helped them with whatever they could. They behaved properly towards Gottlieb Gottliebovich Golm’s family, for his mother and aunt were able to speak Russian, and the two women pitched in whenever a situation necessitated an interpretation. Only very few newcomers were able to speak Russian.
At the age of 8 Gottlieb Gottliebovich went to school for the first time. But all in all he just finished two terms, since the situation of his family was too bad. He felt like learning a great deal, but they would not even accept his presence in the evening school many years later: the condition precedent to this was graduation from the fifth term, but he had only finished three classes. He began to work at the age of six and quickly learned Russian. He worked as a shepherd and assistant handling the tractor trailers. At the age of 16 he was put under the wardship of the special commandant in charge of the technical school of the northern region, where he was taught how to build rafts over a period of three years. Although he was entitled to take holidays, nobody allowed him to leave. He was only released after Stalin’s death; that was in 1953, and, in the strict sense, it happened on the occasion of his mother’s death. In Bolshaya Murta he gave notice of his departure, but the authorities had not send his papers there. In spite of all adverse conditions and neglects on the part of the authorities he managed to convince the officials to issue a notice of departure. He arrived in Ignatovo on the 4th December 1953. The others were released late in 1954, when they were finally permitted to leave on holiday. But only in 1956 they were deregistered from the list defining them as special resettlers.
He was working in Ignatovo from 1955 to 1958; then he got married and removed to Pirovskoe, where he trained as a tractorist. Afterwards he took a job with the machine and tractor station. After its liquidation he worked again as a tractorist and later was employed with the administration of road-repair and road-building (1960-1966); after 1966 he worked for municipal institutions for another 35 years. Over a period of 20 years you could find his his name on the board of honour time and time again. In 1995 he was supposed to go on pension, but, as a matter of fact, he only went in 2000.
He never became a member of the Communist Party. The reason: he was unable to read and write. He deplores having not become a member of the Communist Party. He does not think much of today’s power. His wife died a couple of years ago. He has children.
As far as German festive days are concerned, he likes to celebrate Christmas and Easter. Every now and then his relatives in Germany give him a ring.
Born in the village of Alt-Urbach, Krasnoyar District, Saratov Region, Volga, on the 02.07.1934. There family was made up by eight children. They had a big house and their own homestead and cultivated cereals. The father – Heinrich Christianovich Gense (Hense) – worked as a teacher; he gave lessons in handicrafts. The mother was working for the kolkhoz farm.
In August 1941 an ukase signed by Kalinin was passed; it said that all Volga Germans were to be repressed. They were given just a couple of days to pack their mostly needed belongings, allowing them to take along nothing but a single suitcase. They decided to take along mainly childrens’ clothes, but would not do without sewin machine and wall clock, either. The night before their departure they were brought a full cartload of grain and poured it right in the middle of the courtyard. The cattle was removed, everything else remained behind. They left their home early in September. All repressed persons were loaded in freigt cars. Many of them starved during the trip. Once a day they were portioned out hot soup, sometimes bread. The four children younger than Amalia Genrikhovna all died. At that time Amalia Genrikhovna was six years old.
The had to get off the train in Galanino; from there they were sent to the village of Troitska in the Pirovskoe District. The father was called up to the army (labour army; translator’s note) at once. The rest of the family was pplaced with one of the grandmothers, who had already been living there for some time. She lived there in a small cottage together with her ill daughter. Later they removed to another house. The locals behaved well towards the Germans. They tried their best to at least slightly improve the miserable life of the newcomers. Amalia Genrikhovna recalls an incident, when the Germans who were not at all schooled in mushrooms, suffered from a serious fungus poisening, and the local residents came running along with milk to prevent them from dying. One month later the entire family removed to the hamlet of Pirovskoe.
None of them was able to speak Russian.
The mother worked for the combine of everyday commodities as a technician. At the age of 10 Amalia Genrikhovna went to school for the first time. Inspite of the fact that the family lived in grinding poverty and disposed of one exclusive outerwear to be used by all family members, Amalia managed to finish school (10 years). Afterwards she even graduated from technical school. At school she was treated in the same way as all the others – just normal. However, there was a boy of the tenth term, who used to lend his own school books to other students (he replaced the library), but he would not allow Germans to use them.
Since all children up to the age of 16 were registered, none of them was allowed to leave for another place.
After the war the father returned home and began to work as a carpenter.
On the 18th of January 1948 or 1949, all adults were called together and prompted to sign a certificate saying that they would not return to their home regions on the river Volga during the next 20-25 years. In March 1956 they were finally deregistered with the special commandant’s office.
When Stalin died everybody breathed a sigh of relief. And, in accordance with a statement made by Amalia Genrikhovna, his wife even clapped her hands, although she was at work. Half an hour later she was arrested and hauled off. Twenty-four hours later, the released her.
Nothing changed in their life.
She was not a member of the Communist Party and was not interested in a membership later on.
They just celebrate Christmas and Easter. All their ancestors live in the Volga Region.
Born on the 27.06.1950, when the family had already been resettled to Pirovskoe. Her parents were from the Volga –Saratov Region, Krasnoyar District, village of Alt-Urbach. There were six children in the family. They owned a nice farm, were breeding cows, cultivated tobacco, grew fruit and did market gardening.
In autumn 1941 the became victims of repressions, when her mother, Sofia Samuilovna Duttai (her father’s second wife), was twelve years old. They were given twenty-four hours to back the most necessary belongings. They just carried along, what they were able to hold in their hands. They had been informed before that they would not be en-route for a long time; for that reason, they only took along very few things. Mainly provisions for the trip. In Galinino they were asked to change for the hamlet of Pirovskoe. They lived in misery and were always hungry. In the spring, when the snow had melted away from the fields, they betook to the grainfields and looked for spikes that had fallen down. They gobbled them greedily and, as a consequence, sustained serious symptoms of poisoning. There they went to school immediately; their mother insisted on it, for she had finished a four year’s school education herself. In 1956 they received a document which certified that they had been released from the status of being special resettlers.
She has an indifferent attitude towards the Communist Party. None of her family members ever had anything to do with this party.
As far as German festive days are concerned, Zinaida Vasilevna only
celebrates Christmas and Easter. And she still knows how to prepare a limited
number of typical German meals.
She does not speak German, but Tattar an Russian. She has relatives living in
Germany, who she communicates with. She worked in the hamlet of Dolgovo as a
teacher.
Before we went to see Nina Mikhailovna about the interview, we called her by phone and asked her, if she was ready to tell us her story. Nina Mikhailovna replied that it was very difficult for her to recall all those events; however, she allowed us to see her. Although we had just become acquainted with this woman, she talked to us as if we were close relatives, and we were comfortable with the situation of having this conversation with her.
She was born in Murmansk on the 02.11.1935. Her father worked as an engineer of the Northern Railroad on the Kola Peninsula. Her mother had a job as a pattern-cutter. There was only one child – daughter Nina Mikhailovna Isachenko. They lived in a nice apartment. In February 1938 her father – Mikhail Sergeyevich Belyakov, was arrested and sentenced to maximum penalty – death by shooting. The arrest was based on the fact that Mikhail Sergeyevich had concealed his social origin from the authorities – he was the son of a kulak. Many times he was put to the torture; among other things they put him on an electric chair. However, Mikhail Sergeyevich’s wife – Maria Andreevna, decided to attempt to exert influence on his conviction, hoping to obtain a commutation of the sentence. Her brother was one of the bosses of the NKVD, and he managed to arrange a meeting between Maria Andreevna and Stalin – in person. Afterwards, the judgement was appealed against and, as a result, was amended into a ten years’ imprisonment with subsequent forced resettlement in camps of the Kolyma, where he then spent 18 years in all. He lived in the settlement of Yagodnoe, Magadan Region, where he got married for the second time – a forced labourer and inhabitant of the Kolyma Region, as well. They had children. After Stalin’s death, more precisely in 1956 only, his case was revised and verified and the procceedings against the father were finally closed for lack of corpus delicti. Anyway, he was only permitted to leave the place in 1961, at a time when he was already in bad health and had become an invalid. He died in 1970.
After the arrest of her father, ell their rooms were searched and, as a
result, they confiscated the entire property and ordered his wife to leave
Murmansk together with her little daughter within 24 hours. She was not
permitted to take along more than a suitcase full of clothes. Thus, they got to
Astrakhan, where the father’s parents lived. They stayse there for more than
three years. Then they removed to the Penza Region where, after the death of her
mother’s sister, four children had been left behind all alone. They received a
two-room apartment. Maria Andreevna accomodated the orphans with her family and
brought them up. They lived in utterly narrow circumstances and adverse
conditions. After a certain time the mother was forced to get married again,
just to be able to feed all the children. Being the wife of an enemy of the
people the mother was permanently confronted with humiliations, insults and
reproaches. With Little Nina finally formed up the opinion that, if people
called someone an enemy of the people, this was in absolute accordance with the
facts. She would not understand that you could not just libel and slander
another person in such a malicious way. Maria Andreevna felt hurt by her own
daughter and, bursting into tears, several times said: “There you raise up a
child, and then you receive your just deserts – you meet with ingratitude only”.
In 1942-43 the mother grew seriously ill, so that the five children, at the
request of the district department of education, were taken to the children’s
home in the city of Penza. She died shortly afterwards. In Penza Nina
successfully completed eight terms at school. She finished her schooldays in the
Yessentuk, Caucasus (9th and 10th term), where she later matriculated with the
teachers’ institute in order to study physics and mathematics. After the final
degree she left for the Pirovskoe District by means of a Komsomol voucher.
At school her classmates were on friendly terms with her; only every so often they mentioned in their conversations that her father was an enemy of the people.
After Stalin’s death life became slightly easier and the family was hopening for the fateher’s release.
Although she now lives on pension, she is compelled, for shortage of money, to continue working for the evening school as a teacher of physics and mathematics. She has meanwhile been working for 50 years.
Being asked for her attitude towards the Soviet powers and the KPSU she gives a clear answer:
“The Communist society is right, the KPSU is a right and good party. I have never been a Communist myself, but I do support the ideas of the party”.
“Yes! I am, in fact, a victim of the repressions of that time. But the evil
Stalinism is to be blamed for my unhappy childhood, as well as the childhood of
many hundreds of thousands of other people, too. I have no reason to hate the
Soviet power and the Communists, as it is now the tendency with many ungrateful
people in our country, who are virulently anticommunist, although, under the
rule of the Communists, the received education and medical care all free of
charge, as well as a salary in accordance with the work they had done.
This was at a time, when they were sure enough that they and their children
would live to see the next day. I see the mistake of the Communists in the fact
that they admitted too many dishonorable people to the party, who, in hard
times, just abandonned their membership-book and disappeared somewhere…
We, the Russians veered away from socialism and wild communism. In a civilized world there should not be such a serious gap between the poor and the rich, the people should receive an adequate pension and children must have the guarantee for a light tomorrow, a light future. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case in Russia…”.
It was very interesting for us to learn how these people lived in former times, under which circumstances. And after these remarkable people had entrusted their story of life to us, we understood what a hard lot they had to bear. But against all great odds they remained true to themselves. We were well received, although it was hard for them to recall what has been buried in their souls. Some even refused to talk to us. But we were able to comprehend their emotional state.
Concluding our work we can say that all these people met a similar fate. We learned that they are either from the same or from neighbouring villages, that they were all deported at the same time to the same dustrict – Volga-Germans displaced in 1941.
This interview caused quite a number of new impressions and emotions with us. It was a pleasure for us to work with these people, and we are going to continue our interesting project.