Born in 1939 – town of Saratov.
Father: Konrad Konradovich Welsch, historian by profession, finished the Institute of Pedagogics in Saratov. He became a young scholar designed for teaching at a university, but did not manage to obtain his doctor’s diploma in time before the outbreak of the war.
Mother: Lidia Karlovna, teacher of firstgraders.
The Welsch family lived in Saratov. There were two daughters: Nina, born in 1933, and Tamara, born in 1939.
As soon as the war had broken out, Konrad Konradovich was mobilized. Two days later, however, having found out that he was German, he and his family were deported to the village of Brazhnoe, Kansk District (AB – K.K. was obviously mobilized in August).
Tamara Konradovna is convinced that her family was not transported away to Dudinka or Igarka simply and solely for the fact that she was just 1 year and 3 months old at that time (AB – not likely). According to T.K’s words, steamships with destination to Dudinka were full of German deportees. Most of them died on the way, and their corpses were thrown into the Yenisey (AB – inaccuracy and exaggeration: maybe, many – but not most; the dead bodies were buried on the riverbanks; for that reason the barges moored at the landing stages.
At first they took the Welsch family to a hamlet called Braszhnoe in the Kansk District. But since Lidia Karlovna was unable to find herself a job, she was resettled to Georgievka two months later.
The vast majority of the local population was made up by dispossessed White Russisan prosperous farmers, who behavedfriendly towards the Welsch family, although some parents would not allow their children to make friends with germans.
Upon their arrival in Georgievka the family practiclly was without means. They had taken nothing along but the clothes they had on their backs. The local residents helped them with what they could. Every now and then there was humanitarian aid from the USA. In the parcels the resettlers found many useful and absolutely necessary things: children’s wear, shoes, mending and repair kits. In one of the parcels, however, there was the house frock of a female cook – all dirty and torn.
Until 1953 members of the Welcsch family lived separated from eachother. Konrad Konradovich was in reshoty (AB – probably in the labour army / Kraslag?), while Lidia and her daughters Nina and Tamara lived in Georgievka. After Stalin’s dead Konrad Konradovich was released; he immediately set off for Georgievka. Unfortunately, he was not permitted to practice a profession according to his qualification, for he was German; but they allowed him to work as a German teacher.
During this time Lidia Karlovna worked as a teacher of firstgraders. Due to her reliable way of fulfilling her tasks it was announced on one of the conferences that she would be subject to receiving a medal of honour soon. Due to illness she was not able to attend the conference. When she got back to work a few days later, intending to accept the medal, she was told that she would not get it, as she was German.
A little later they sent a young female pioneers’ leader assigning her to take over Lidia Karlovna’s job as teacher of firstgraders. Lidia Karlovna then became a foreign language teacher.
In the meantime, the eldest daughter, Nina, had finished school (in 1952). All her previous life she had been dreaming of becoming a teacher one day; for that reason she wrote an application to the Institute of Pedagogics in Krasnoyarsk. They replied that she was German and , for that reason, could not become a pedagogue. However, they informed her that the Institute of forest conomics and technics might be prepared to accept her as a student. Thus, she decided to join the forestry sovkhoz. When it was time to get prepared for the final examinations, the UVD refused to admit her. But a man who was working for the UVD helped her. He said: “I could make arrangements that they take you to the Institute under convoy”. Thus, Nina Welsch went to Krasnoyarsk accompanied by guards. This very day she passed her final exams.
At the time when she was in the third half year, Stalin died, and soonafter she was permitted to change over to the Institute of Pedagogics in Yeniseysk – to the faculty of physics and mathematics. Having finished the Institute of Pedagogics Nina tried hard to find a job as a teacher. Although she did not succeed to work as a teacher of physicy and mathematics, she was at least engaged as a foreign language teacher. Tamara Konradovna recalls that, when Stalin died, Mama said: “ Girls, Stalinis dead. What is going to happen now … For Stalin does not know the entire story. And if he knew, the things which happened to us would never have happened at all”.
Interviewed by Olga Yakutina, Lyubov Shangaraeva and Yelena Mishutina.
(AB – comments by Aleksei Babiy, Krasnoyarsk “Memorial”)
Forth expedition of history and human rights, Ust-Kem 2007