Born in 1918
in Marienthal, Odessa Region
Father: Wendelin Mikhailovich Zelenskiy, born in 1893
Mother: Karolina Mikhailovna Zelenskaya, born in 1895
Farmers; worked for the kolkhoz farm.
Brothers and sisters:
Mikhail, born in 1924
Nikolai, born in 1931
Emma, born in 1928
Children:
Anton, born in 1940
Josef, born in 1942
Maria, born in 1944, died at the age of 9 months
Wendelin, born in 1942, died at the age of 6 months
1939 – marriage. 1944 – deportation and death of her husband; he was buried in Poland.
Being “Volksdeutsche” (ethnic Germans), the Zelenskiys were to join the German troops when those began to withdraw towards the west. Every 50 kms the train was brought to a standstill, so that they could cook their meals. They passed through Bessarabia and Romania. From there they went to Serbia on barges. Upon their arrival, they were taken away all their horses and cows. From Serbia the trip continued to Poland by train. They had left Marienthal in July,but only arrived in Poland on the 24 March of the following year. They stayed in Poland till 1945. When the Soviet trrops marched in, all men were fetched away; they were to leave their women and children behind. They worked in the woods sawing firewood (the were taken to the working areas under convoy). They asked for the permission to return to their home country; the reply, hopwever, was: “You are not going to go home, they are going to send you to Siberia”. They were taken to some camp, where they were kept for about three months. The Zelenskiys came to the Altai Region. They were taken there in October-November 1945. They lived there for 9 years. They worked in the forest sawing firewood. Later, the family reunited. They found eachother by accident, after having succeeded to enter into correspondance with brother Mikhail, who lived in Ust-Kem; in 1954 they removed there. Soonafter, they received a piece of land to cultivate in order to cover their own needs. They found themselves jobs in a sleeper factory.
The sister lives in Germany, they have regular contact by phone.
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