Erna Jakovlevna is from the colony of Veselyi, Vsevolodsk District, Leningrad Region. In the colony lived about 40 families, among them approximately 30 German families, such as the die Schmidts, Schochs, Billers, Getz’ (Götz? Hetz?), Dalingers and Willewalds (in many cases they were – namesakes). Some of the proximate hamlets were even inhabited exclusively by Germans. The colony was situated at the outskirts of the town; some inhabitants went to work somewhere in Leningrad, others had a job with the „Rotfront“ (Red front) kolkhoz farm right in the colony.
Father: Jakob Petrovich Schmidt, born 1893 – kolkhoz worker, a veterinarian
by profession.
Mother: Elisaveta (Elisabeth) Karlovna Schmidt (Schoch), born 1898 – kolkhoz
farmer.
Children: Erna (born 1926), Jakob (born 1925; he worked for the marine after the
war), Peter (born 1923, worked in a down-town factory as a toolmaker).
At the beginning of the war many a German were called up to the front; and yet in the summer (or maybe after August 28?), the remaining men were deported to a small woodland not far from the colony (not more than 10-15 kms away); they did not come back home for a certain time (maybe they were accompanied by guards). Many inhabitants of the colony had been evacuated from Kolpino; they were accomodated by families.
On the 18 March 1942, right in the middle of the night, a groupf of men unexpectedly arrived in the colony. They began to proceed with the deportation of the inhabitants without delay and at the point of their pistols. They did not even give them time to pack their belongings, so that they could only take along a few things mostly needed; and nobody knew where they would be taken to. They loaded just a few things on the carriages; the people themselves walked alongside on foot – all the way up to Lake Ladoga. On the lakefront they were told to wait for open trucks to arrive. The ice covering the lake was weak and flawy, for it was already springtime.
The column driving in front got into ice-holes, some of the trucks broke in. The column made up by deportees from Veselyi were lucky enough to scrape through, but the column which followed them also sank.
The convoy of vehicles went to Vologda, where it stopped at the train station. The exiles were forced to get on freight-cars equipped with two-tier plank beds, and then the train departed towards the east. The waggon which the Schmidt family had been forced to get on was penned up with about 60-70 people, there was not enough space on the plank beds for all of them. Those who did not find themselves a place had to sit and sleep on the floor. The waggon was heated by a portable stove; it was very cold, anyway. The people were not allowed to get off the train, until they had finally reached Novosibirsk; later their trip went on for another month. Once a day they were dished out some watery soup and a piece of bred.
The exiles stayed in Novosibirsk for two months – without being accompanied by guards now. The Schmidt family was accomodated in the clubhouse not far from the train station, on the other side of the tracks; it had been built on a hill, right beside the market. In this place they had accomodated all exiles, who had travelled in the same waggon as the Schmidts. They were permitted to move freely within the city limits, but they were not in a position to buy anything: they did not dispose of any money. In July, the deportees were sent to Kansk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Some „medical checkup“ was carried out as a result of which some people were compulsorily transferred to the high north, , for example to Ust-Port (on the river Yenisey, further downstream from Dudinka), others were assigned to near-by districts within the Krasnoyarsk Territory or they were just permitted to stay in Kansk, as it happened in case of the Schmidts.
In the beginning they were accomodated in the clubhouse just beside the Kraslag administration; the room was crowded; later, the families were assigned apartments „at random“, whenever the corresponding occupant agreed.
For a period of two months the exiles were distributed free-of-charge food; this was done in front of a restaurant situated just beside the typographic institute; strange to say that their „food“ consisted of the same watery soup they had received before. The only difference was that the cook had added some wild garlic.
The father found himself a job with a cooperative called „New Way“. However,
in August 1942 they came to fetch all men from home, and since then they have
not received any letter, any news from him. The father and the eldest brother
were among those who were mobilized.
As far as we know, they took them to the Kraslag. Apparently, someone must have
returned home, for, after the war, there were rumours that they had been taken
to the pits of the Kuznetsk Bassin – possibly to Prokopievsk. The families were
left behind in Kansk; they were forced to get registered with the commandant’s
office every ten days; later they had to go there just once a month. Apart from
this they were obliged to „check“ the other exiles; the authorities even used to
impose fines, which, judging from what the people told eachother, disappeared in
the pockets of the commandant and his staff members. Thus, just to give an
example, the authorities punished all those who made from their place of
residence for more than 5 kms by a fine, although they were very well aware of
the fact that these people were engaged with the potatoe harvest – and the field
was situated 8 kms from town.
The rest of the family (mother and daughter) lived in Kansk till 1956; the commandant’s registry office was liquidated late in 1955.
16.12.1989
Recorded by V.S. Birger, Krasnoyarsk „Memorial“ Organization