(Comments by the interviewers: he is hearing bad; unclear articulation – for
that reason correctness of names and facts should be verified).
Born in Grimm, Saratov Region, in 1937.
Deportted with his parents in 1941. 12000 families were transported away during just one night (AB – from which district, region? From the entire ASSR of the Volga-Germans?). The continued the trip from Krasnoyarsk to Yeniseysk on open barges in October.
From there they came to Cherkassy (Yeniseysk District, Krasnoyarsk Territory), where they lived from 1941 till 1946; afterwards they went to Rychkovo; and in 1959 they removed to Novokargino upon their own free decision.
When they were transferred from the ASSR of the Volga-Germans, they were handed out a receipt giving evidence of all confiscated objects; later, on presentation of this receipt, they received nothing but a cow in return.
The mother worked as a herdswoman: 309 sheep, calves. She slaved away from four
o’clock in the morning till 11 in the evening, having to even drag along
drinking water for the animals. The head of the kolkhoz farm appreciated the way
she did her job and rewarded her. Later, when he had to go to the front, he was
replaced by a woman, who distinguished herself by a very neglecting attitude
towards labour (they were cultivating potatoes and she would allow pigs to run
there free).
As from his thirteen’s year of life, Avladimir Andreevich was working for a sleeper factory; he drew a wage, but did not receive any food rations.
When Stalin died everybody cried (even now, when recalling this fact, he has to cry – interviewer’s note).
His father died in the 1960s, his mother in 1983.
Interviewed by Svetlana Chernousova and Yevdokia Kurushina.
(AB – comments by Aleksei Babiy, Krasnoyarsk “Memorial”)
Forth expedition of history and human rights, Novokargino 2008