Exile/Camp Report given by Frieda Adamovna Gilderman (maiden name Klauser)

Approximately in March 1932 the German farmer's family KLAUSER was deported by the Soviets from STRASBURG in the canton of Pallasovka, Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans, to the SVERDLOVSK region:

• Adam Adamovich KLAUSER (1906-?),
• Natalja Gottfriedovna (1904-1990), his wife,
• Frieda (born 1929), their daughter,
• Reinhold (born 1926), their son,
• Arthur (1928-1933), their son.

In the Ural they were forced to work in the timber supply section. They lived in barracks. The father immediately escaped from exile and went home. As became known later, he never arrived in Strasburg: they caught him in PALLASOVKA and nothing is known about his fate.

The mother, too, tried to escape with the children. They managed to get to SVERDLOVSK, where they unexpectedly ran into a patrol. They were caught and taken back to the timber supply section. Shortly after, the younger son starved to death. Only in 1938 the mother was able to get out of the Ural, accompanied by the children. She went to her husband's parents in the OMSK region, to Moskalenki station, west of Omsk. Her mother's sister then asked her to come to Strasburg, and in 1940 she decided to go back to her home town.

Beginning of September 1941 Natalja was deported by the Communists together with her daughter and son in accordance with the decree of the 28.08.41. At the same time they also deported the families of her two sisters, who also lived in STRASBURG (see below). The train went from PALLASOVKA to Kasachstan, with a stopover in ALMA-ATA, and from there farther to Siberia.

On 16.09.41 they disembarked in Krasnoyarsk. N. KLAUSER and the children were taken to ATAMANOVO by barge, and from there to the village of IRKUTSKAYA, in the district of SUKHOBUZIMSK, by open-frame wooden carts. About 15 German families came to this village. They were all from STRASBURG. Later the KLAUSER family lived in other villages of the SUKHOBUZIMSK district. After the war the commandant's office was lead by Stepan Leontyevich BARKALOV. The commandant's headquarters were abolished beginning of 1956.

Today Reinhold lives in Krasnoyarsk.

The families of Natalya's sisters were sent into exile to the village of ATAMANOVO in the district of SUKHOBUZIMSK, on the left bank of the Yenissey:

• Alexander GUENTER (born around 1900, lost his life in the "Trud-Army"),
• Amalia Gottfriedovna (1902-1982), his wife,
• Frieda Alexandrovna (born 1926), their daughter
• Irma Alexandrovna (born around 1936, died when giving birth to a child),
• Viktor Alexandrovich (born around 1921), their son,
• Arthur Alexandrovich (born 1928), their son,
• Pavel Alexandrovich (born 1930);
• Reinhold Heinrichovich GEINZ (born around 1900-1970),
• Jekaterina Gottfriedovna (born around 1900-1982), his wife,
• Frieda Reinholdovna (1925-1983), their daughter,
• Erna Reinholdovna (born 1921), their daughter, lives in Krasnoyarsk,
• Tamara Reinholdovna (born 1927), their daughter, lives in Krasnoyarsk,
• Arthur Reinholdovich (born 1929), their son.

July 13, 1990, recorded by V.S. Birger, Krasnoyarsk, "Memorial" Society

Home