Elvira Konstantinovna Kuznecova, who was born in 1955, cannot recall the occurrences linked to the deportation of the Volga Germans, but her parents told her various things – mainly about the relatives of her mother: Samariana Ivanovna Damer (born in 1937), her grandmother Maria Yakovlevna Damer (born about 1905) and grandfather Ivan Petrovich Damer (who was of approximately the same age as the grandmother). To be more precise –her father did not like to confide his memories about that time to other people, but we are at least aware of the fact that he was Gistwein (Gieswein?). His elder brother Alexander Augustovich Gieswein, who nowadays lives in Matveevka, is already known to us from this expedition. The grandfather had two brothers – Andrei und Petr. They never talke about whether the grandmother had any brothers and sisters, but the mother definitely had three sisters: Amalia, Klara und Irma.
Elvira Konstantinovna let us know that they lived in the hamlet of Kelch, Saratov Region before the deportation.
The grandfather worked as a tractor driver, he was a brigade leader. Moreover, he had a job with the butchery producing sausages.
They owned a sound farmstead, a two storied house made of bricks, and the children were always well-dressed. As far as traditions of those times are concerned, they mainly preserved specifics of the German cuisine (Galuschki (noodles), sausage, pancakes and cookies). The grandmother was a very religious person. She attended the Lutheran Church in the village.
My respondent knows only little about how the inhabitants of the hamlet of Kelch absorbed the news about the forthcoming deportation. All she knows is that at that time the whole village was filled with hauling, for the people had only been given 24 hours to pack just the mostly needed belongings. When this period had expired, they were forced to board a freight-car as if they were prisoners and transported to Siberia. The windows of the wagons were equipped with bars. The death rate was high and they were not ceremonious with dead bodies – they were simply thrown from the platforms during the ride. They finally reached the River Yenisei, where they left the train and boarded on a ferry, which took them all the way up to Galanino for further allocation.
Before final allocation, however, the Damer family got to the village of Myngaly. They were immediately assigned an old little house, but it was not intended for all family members. Peter Petrovich Damer and his four children, for example, had to settle down in a dug-out.
The locals behaved towards the re-settlers in quite different ways, but the newcomers worked with equal rights (they fell trees) and were even given the chance to achieve the position of a brigade leader – like the respondent’s grandfather. None of the deportees every refused to go to work.
Sometime a few relatives were mobilized to the trud army in the Ural Mountains. They did not want to talk about this phase of life (like for example Iwan Petrovich), but his brother Peter recalled that they had to fulfill increasing norms, although they were very badly fed.
Elvira Konstantinova does not know much about how the surveillance system was working. Nonetheless, she is aware that they regularly had to go the commandant’s office to get registered, but, as she said, the preservation of German traditions or the lack Russian language skills were not dispraised; people showed comprehension concerning this matter. At the beginning many family members did not know a single word of Russian; later, the learned to speak and using it, although there was no denying that they spoke with a strong German accent. Maybe, this caused certain problems with the locals. Some residents did not accept the re-settlers at once, but gradually they got used to each other and got on.
As far as clothes are concerned, they used to wear „Tatyankas“ (wide skirts with
a nested wristband; translator’s note) and jackets. They sewed everything
themselves, even by the aid of sewing machines. If required by locals, they
would help them. Make-up was practically not used at all. In order to curl their
hair the used little pins. They heated them on the stove plate and then roll the
strands of hair.
At that time, Samariana Ivanovna Damer attended school finally completing three
terms. And by the time my respondent was a school girl, nothing much had changed.
It happened that they had to attend classes one after the other, when there was
a lack of teaching materials or when some of them did not dispose of adequate
clothing. Moreover, they had big problems to attend school in winter, as they
had no warm clothes available. Elementary classes had to get along with just one
teacher for the whole village, and lessons were held for different terms
concurrently. When Elvira Konstantinovna recalls her former schoolmistress, she
mentions that she was adored by the children. She was a very polite person, and
the children idolized her and learned a lesson from her.
The children spent their leisure by playing and singing songs. At school my respondent was called „the German“.
They were not officially informed, when compulsory registration was abolished. When the family received their rehabilitation, they filed a lawsuit, with the objective of receiving some financial compensation; the court ruling turned out to be fruitful. They did not return to their home village, for they had listened to reports of some acquaintances confirming that a new village had been built there and all houses were already occupied. Nothing had remained from the former German Republic.
Elvira Konstantinovna Kuznecowa considers herself a German. She is proud of this fact and is not afraid of mentioning her nationality, although she admits that she does not know the German language anymore. She names punctuality and the sense of duty „typically German“ properties.
In the course of time some relatives removed to Germany, however, she is not in contact with them and has no idea about the reasons for the decision to leave the country.
E.K. Kuznecowa with her grand-daughters
(AB – remarks by Aleksei Babiy, Krasnoyarsk „Memorial“Organization ) Ninth expedition of the Krasnoyarsk "Memorial“ Organization and the Pedagogic College in Yeniseysk, Vorokovka-Kasachinskoe-Rozhdestvenskoe 2014 .