Born in 1939.
Born in the Saratov Region, Krasnoarmeysk District. Lived at first (in Siberia; translator’s note) in Vorogovo, later removed to Strelka. Very incompletely recalls the years of her childhood. The family was very big – there were seven children. I.F. had four sisters and two brothers. Both parents were born in 1900.
The father was a felt miller by profession, he made felt boots, as far as she remembers. The mother was a good-natured and peaceable woman. She accomplished all work with painstaking care. She was able to sew very well and, in fact, she owned the family’s living out of sewing. When leaving their home at the Volga they did not hesitate to take along their Singer sewing machine and a waffle iron which, unfortunately, got lost in Sorotino soonafter.
The local residents of Vorogovo soon became fond of the newcomers, who had a big, solid house with a beautiful garden. The loft was all stuffed with shoe trees and felt boots – hence it appeared that her father used to work a lot. There I.F. finished seven terms of the 10-class school. Her father would not allow her to go to school any longer, for the mother had just died at that time and the family was in lack of hands to do all the housework and gardening.; this happened in 1953.
The village disposed of a big school; the building had huge windows and inside there were long corridors. She did not feel any disdain towards her, but it sometimes happened that she heard children abusing them by words such as “damned fascists”. The teachers gave her their full support. The two teachers she liked best were Tatyana and Liudmila. I.F. does not recall which subjects they were teaching. She often went to visit them, brought along some milk and was entertained with sausage in return.
In the village their was a mill, where the young people would often gather.
Stalin dies in March 1953. At school they announced that there would be a meeting and that someone would hold an obituary speech. The teachers clutched their brows, were seized with panic, everybody cried.
I.F. remembers what happened when they were all sitting around the table to take their meal and one of the children showed bad manners. Good Lord! Father began to scold immediately; the wrongdoer had to leave the table and keep standing behind the stove – without any food at all. It was not customary to speak in their mother tongue among family members.
When I.F. was 17 years old, she and her sister ran away to Sotino, which was situated 15 kms away from home – “with boots made of crude pig skin and a guitar in my hands”. She got married immediately afterwards and later gave birth to two children – Sergei and Tatyana.
After her marriage, she worked in the woodlands first. Later she had a job with a storehouse, managed a stand and even held a position as a cashier with the Sperbank, where she executed some financial transactions and counted money. For some reason or other she was shifted to the storehouse again.
Her entire family lived in Vorogovo. Her last brother died not long ago; now she lives there with just her children and grandchildren.
Interviewed by D.V. Krasnopeyev and Maria Pichuyeva.
(AB – comments by Aleksei Babiy, Krasnoyarsk “Memorial”)
Fifth expedition of history and human rights, Novokargino 2008