When Amalia Altergot entered Siberian territory for the first time, she was just a little girl aged four. The original home of the Altergots is the village of Leninskoe, Engels District, Saratov Region, RSFSR. In 1941, shortly after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the Volga Germans were evacuated from Russia’s Center by special action. They were deported to Kazakhstan, Siberia, ……
Thus, the village of Novonikolsk became Amalia Genrichovna (Heinrichovna) Suchkova’s (born Altergot) second home. The family of her parents was deported to this place and then forced to settle in, to assimilate.
In the seventies and eighties of the 20th century the name of the woman, who I am going to talk about, was well-known all over the district. Her name and black-and-white shot were to be seen on practically all rolls of honour and all stands exposing the winners of socialist competition. The people admired her photo as a symbol of devotional labour meeting her and her fellow countrymen with a high degree of respect.
We reached Nizhnoe-Suchkovo Street, as the villagers call it, some time after lunch. We had neglected to arrange a meeting with Amalia Genrichovna in advance. However, as it will always happen with good and friendly people, she received us cordially. She immediately knew, why we, the correspondents, intended to visit her. In former times she was used to visits of this kind. The district paper “Red Star” often published articles about the famous milkmaid who was working for the “Simonovskiy” sovkhoz.
I had thought about a number of questions which I would have liked to ask her, but after she had pronounced the first sentence, I refrained from doing so. Her husband Mikhail Ivanovich, with whom she had lived for forty-seven years like bosom buddies, had been taken to one of the hospitals in Novosibirsk the night before, and the doctors had made a serious diagnosis. She was talking about him, him, him all the time – from the very beginning of our conversation until we finally said goodbye…
- Well, how did you get to know Mikhail Ivanovich, dear Amalia Genrichovna?
- I met him first in the occasion of my friend’s wedding! She got married and I belonged to her circle of friends, while the bridegroom was a good friend of Mikhail Ivanovich. We looked at eachother, and that was it … Love at first sight! Once and forever.
- It means, that live at first sight actually is a realistic phenomenon?
Of course, my dear! True love must be exactly that way. Unfortunately, we lived under exceedingly difficult conditions during the first time. Mikhail Ivanovich’s parents dd not like me at all. The would even twit me for just having taken a tiny piece of bread. For I was a daughter of the German people for them. An enemy. My father-in-law, in particular, was not able to abide me. He returned from the front – without legs. And he haled me responsible for it.
Misha and I began to build this house. And now we have been living here for almost half a century. We have very good children. Two sons and two daughters. They all live in towns: the daughters in Krasnoyarsk, the sons in Kemerovo and Novosibirsk. Our elder son managed to find a place for him in hospital. He paid a lot of money for it. Our children are very diligent and hard-working and they behave with great respect towards us. They love us.
- And when did you have to begin your working life?
- At the age of fourteen I was already milking cows in Novonikolskoe. It was a
fulltime job! Later, at the time when I and Mikhail already lived in Suchkovo, I
had to herd calves -, but I did brigade labour, too. In other words: I was just
a helper. And then I happened to get on the farm, where they allowed me to work
independently with my own herd of cows. For more than twenty-two years I have
been milking my “grey-browns”. During the first time nobody was aware of the
meaning of holidays. Later, when they renamed the kolkhoz farm into a sovkhoz,
they would allow us to go on holiday. The herd was made up by 30-33 dairy cows.
As long as the farm did not dispse of a milking machine, we ha dto to this job
by hand; later it became much easier. When the milk began to flow by electricity
… that was half the battle! verything seemed to be much easier and less
complicated. But to work as a milkmaid – that’s not bed of roses. Particularly,
when you have to get up and go to milk the cows early in the morning – day by
day: milk in the morning, milk in the evening, household, children, cows,
piglets, sheep, chickens – we had all these animals on our farm …. Alas! It was
hard work we had to do! We had a tough time.But we enjoyed life, as well. Our
children were growing up, and love between me and Mikhail got more and more
tightened.
The eldes daughter met a hard fate. Still being a sucking baby, she was left alone in her tiny cradle, while her mother was running off to milk the cows, then back to the house to do all the housework, and then, towards evening, once again to the farm. Mikhail Ivanovich was working as a driver, but in the autumn and all through the spring they would usually assign him work on the combine harvester. My husband was also one of the much respected workers.
- So far we have been talking about everyday matters only. Weren’t there any public holidays, any days off from work, Amalia Genrichovna?
- You bet! But I preferred traditional life, although the young people had to work very hard on kolkhoz farms and sovkhozes. And what is happening now? Drug addiction and alcoholism all over the country. That is terrible. Terrible for everybody. I have no idea what we are yet in for!
You cannot imagine how I enjoyed my first trip to Moscow. It was like a festive day for me. I had been appointed the best worker in the range of cattle-breeding. I liked Moscow. We were accomodated at the “Golden Spike” Hotel. And they took as around on various excursions – we went to see the Exibition of National Economic Achievement, the mausoleum, the armory and many other places yet. All the week we spent in Moscow was like a long festive day for me. I saved some of the money. And when I returned home, I immediately purchased a refrigerator of the “Biryussa” brand on credit. That was in 1978, and the frige is still working. For my children I brought along from Moscow chocolöate candy: “Belochka” (“Little Squirrel”; translator’s note) and “Mishka na severe” (“Little Bear in the North”; translator’s note). They fairly shared everything with eachother, and father and I also received five pieces each; Lena was the smallest child – she was not yet able to eat sweets. And for the eldest daughter I additionally brought along a nice dress from the capital.
We We visited Moscow in the spring. And there is one thing that annoyed me: my boots got all spoiled by salt. It was a shame: they were new and I had been able to get them under great difficulties only; I had to work hard, put kopek by kopek aside, until I could finally purchase them. Oh, my goodness! What a shame having ruined those boots …
- Amalia Genrichovna, if you had the opportunity to talk to Russia’s president, what would you say to him?
- That I am very worried about the young people. They are supposed to work. This is what we did in our youth, and we did not take drugs or walked about drunk. This is what I would tell him. I have four children, and they are all working. I would also tell him my opinion and touch on the subkect of “pensions”. Mikhail and I have been working, have been working hard all our lives, and now we merely receive about three-thousand rubels altogether. This averages one-thousand five-hundred for each of us – do you think this is enough? Admittedly, being recognized a victim of political repressions I additionally receive 100 rubels. Hundred “German” …..
We would like to officially register our house as our property, but we can’t. How much does all the paperwork cost? It’s expensive – very, very expensive for retired persons like us. Maybe, I missed the point, but how can it be that we are supposed to buy the house, which we built ourselves at the cost of great privations and under hard conditions, from the State? Who masterminded something like this?
- Have ypu never been offended by the Russians? Did you ever feel hurt that in those times, caused by the arbitrariness of the power your original home was taken away from you, that you lost everything?
- What do you think? I grew up with Russians. They were all around me, and I cannot but speak well of them We were on good terms. Others I do not know, and I do not intend to meet them, either. I also got acclimated to Siberia. And there is hardly anything I am able to recall about my former home village. I was only four years at that time! No, I am not angry with anybody; and I do not know German, either, although I am able to understand snatches of a conversation. My elder sister still speaks German, but I don’t.
- Amalia Genrichovna, if – during your youth – you had been offered the choice to either live in a town and take another job or …..
- Well, at that time the kolkhoz farm would not issue any passports. Where could I have gone without any personal papers? Oh well! … If I imagine …. No, I had not decided to make a different choice, because this would have involved an entirely different path of life; I would have become a completely different person.
N. Stefanenko
“News”, N° 41 (1759), 08.10.2005