Born on the 17.09.1923.
Father: Adolf Konrad (she does not recall his father’s name)
Mother: Amalia Filippovna Gebel (Göbel?), born 1899
Brother Aleksander, born on the 28.10.1928
Sister Amalia, born on the 04.05.1921
Children:
Aleksander (born 15.05.1946), Fedor (born 17.04.1949), Viktor (born 24.12.1953),
Lidia (born 24.12.1953)
Husband: Fedor Fedorovich (Friedrich Friedrichovich) Kihl (Kiel?
Before the deportation they lived in Warenburg, Kukkus District, Saratov Region. They had their own farmstead: 2 cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, geese. On the 18 September 1941 radio speakers announced the planned resettlement of the Germans to Siberia. Within 24 hours the entire family was deported, with the exception of sister Amalia, who was married and live with her husband apaprt.
On the day of their deportation Maria Kondratevna completed the 18th yearof her life.
They hardly managed to take some of the mostly needed things along – all they were able to rescue were the clothes they had on their backs. Their food consisted of dried bread: rusk. Some who reacted quickly succeeded to slaughter some cattle literally in the very last minute. Those who did not manage to do that were forced to leave all animals behind.
At first they were taken to Warenburg, from their to Engels by barge.
They continued the trip to Abakan in freight cars, from there to Karatus by horse. They reached Karatus District, the village of Staraya Kop, on the 20 October. Foodstuffs were available, therefore they did not suffer from hunger; moreover, they were distributed hot water for tea.
From Staraya Kop they were sent on to Smolnoe (near Yartsevo – AB). They lived there in dug-outs, right on the banks of the Yenisey, for about three years; afterwards, they founf accomodation within the premisses of the clubhouse. Up to eight families eked out a scanty living in each dug-out at that time.
In May 1942 they came to mobilize Maria Kondratevna (labour army). After her demobilization in August 1942 she was sent to Yartsevo; however, she was assigned to work in Nazimovo for about one and a half months. In Yartsevo she worked for the fishing factory, were fish was salted and smoked and then sent to rasnoyarsk. She stayed in Yartsevo from October 1942 till August 1996. She had a job with the felling area, where she sawed and chopped wood; for this hard labour she did not even receive 2 rubels a day. Once a month she had to go to the commandant’s office to get registered. Without official permit she was not allowed to leave the limits of Yartsevo District. She first drew a wage in 1947.
In 1956 people were in lack of any kind of a stimulos to go to work. Then they were released from special resettlement and life got slightly easier. In February they made plans to undertake a trip to the Volga but they were not permitted to, and what was even worse – the were ordered to renounce any claims with regard to their confiscated property – everything they were forced to leave behind at the time of the deportation was declared to be definitely lost. The village council had reached them out a piece of paper containing a list of all confiscated objects, and madepromisses that they would get the loss paid upon their arrival in Siberia. They received nothing.
In 1994 the government passed the ukase about the deportee’s right to receive a recovery of damages. However, in order to proceed with the claim, it was imperative to present a great number of certificates and documents and – in any case – name and present witnesses. This turned out to be extremely difficult. Lidia Fedorovna’s daughter went to Krasnoyarsk for this purposes, but she was unable to cause any thing to happen.
In 1996 the removed to Ust-Kem. Maria Kondratevna’s brother made a trip to the Volga, just to have a look at what had happened to his former house; but he could not find any houses at all, just heaps of garbage. Afterwards, nobody else was strongly inclined to visit his home grounds.
Interviewed by Kristina Polysalova, Tatyana Korotkikh and veronika Gimranova.
(AB – comments by Aleksei Babiy, Krasnoyarsk “Memorial”)
Forth expedition of history and human rights, Ust-Kem 2007