Exile/Camp Report given by Alexander Alexandrovich Hoerlitz

A. HOERLITZ's family lived in the village of GMELINKA (cantonal town) in the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. The father, Alexander Andreyevich HOERLITZ (1911-1944) worked as a driver in the MTS (= repair workshop for machines and tractors), the mother, Jekaterina Andreyevna (1916-1980), stayed at home with the children: Alexander (born in 1937) and Lilia (1941-1944).

In September 1941 the Communists sent all Germans to the GMELINKA railroad station, where they were loaded on wagons and taken to Siberia. Their train was unloaded in Krasnoyarsk, and from there they had to go to the village of BARTAT in the district of BOL'SHE-MURTINSK. Apart from the HOERLITZs' there were about 30 German families going with them; among others:

• Maria GERMAN (born around 1913) with her son Viktor (born 1937) from GMELINKA,
• Ivan Ivanovich BRENNING (born 1935), his sister Lidia Ivanovna BRENNING (born around 1939) and their mother, from the canton of GMELINSK,
• Rudolf GERONIMUS (born 1930), his brother Arnold GERONIMUS (born 1936), the sister Irma GERONIMUS (born 1933), another brother and sister, which are not alive anymore, and their parents (also from the canton of GMELINSK),
• Maria SCHOENBERG (born around 1904) with children, also from the canton of GMELINSK (her husband was arrested in 1939).

They all stayed in BARTAT, until they were released from exile. M. GERMAN, M. SCHOENBERG, R. GERONIMUS still live there today.

A. HOERLITZ (the father) worked in BARTAT in the MTS (see above) as driver. In January 1942 he was forced to go into the "Trud-Army" in RESHOTY (KRASLag). Once the commandant's office allowed his wife to visit him in the camp. They gave her the permission for a reunion.

In March 1944 she received a notification from the KRASLag that her husband had died. Earlier, their younger daughter had passed away.

In 1948 about 10 Lithuanian families were sent into exile to BARTAT. Many Lithuanians happened to live in the village of YELOWKA.

Former political prisoners, too were sent into exile to BARTAT. One of them, with the surname STARIJ (approx. 1897-1956), had spent 10 years in NORILSK, until he was sent into exile.

Alexander finished the 7-class school in BARTAT, then completed the 8th to 10th grades in Bol. Murta. During these years he had himself registered at the commandant's office. In spring 1956, when he had just finished the 10th grade, a militiaman suddenly rushed into the class-room, just during the lesson, and took him away to the commandant's office to have the registration cancelled.

July 22, 1992, recorded by V.S. Birger, Krasnoyarsk, "Memorial" Society 

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