Rosa Aleksandrovna Krasnoshchekova, the heroine of my story, was born into a farmer’s family in one of the villages of the Saratov region. Eleven people were living in the little log-hut – the grandparents, parents and seven children. And although Rosa was the eldest child, her father had to support this large family all alone. He kept to his opinion that his daughter should study, the more since she was a very good learner. Having finished the seven-year school, she registered at the colleague of pedagogics, which she finished in 1940. She was then assigned to work for the school she had earlier attended herself, but she felt ashamed of her shabby clothes towards her former teachers. When the war broke out, they started to resettleby force all Germans living in the Soviet-Union. Her family was deported to Siberia – to a place called Tolstikhino in the district of Uyar. All through the winter she was working on a kolkhos farm, where she had to stack or go and get firewood. In the spring, when the river Yenisey was navigable again, she was sent to a little village not far from Dudinka to do fishing. There they did not receive any food ration cards, as the authorities were of the opinion that fishermen are able to feed themselves; at times, the did not catch a single fish for five days, and on such days they suffered great hunger. When rafts with dismountable houses arrived, they were to drag along the heavy trunks. But soonafter Rosa met a fortunate circumstance: one of the woman teachers left the village and the girl was employed in her place.
She got married. Her husband worked as a security officer for the condemned, many of which were living on the banks of the Yenisey at that time. She gave birth to four children. For a long time she was trying to get the permission to leave for some other place, until she and her family were finally allowed to move to Uyar, where Rosa’s parents and the little children had removed to a short time before. There were not enough kindergartens in the town and, since her husband was working, she looked after the housework and took care of the farming, for the family was in possession of a couple of cows, piglets and chickens.
Rosa met her fate at a time when she did not expect it at all. In 1964 her husband died leaving her alone with the children. “I then started to work as a teacher for the kindergarten”, she recalls. The collective her husband had been working for as a fitter for many years, had invited her to work there: she did not only draw a better wage, it was also much easier to help the widow and her family in this place. She worked there for a long time and then, finally, went on pension. Later, she took care of her grand-children; Rosa Aleksandrovna has three great-grand-children, as well. You should see her whirling around – not revealing her advanced age at all. And these young, sparkling eyes! When you watch these agile, dextrous movements, this bundle of energy, then you will get entirely amazed.
Apart from this, she is a modest, remarkably ordinary and very hospitable woman. Each guest coming to her house is treated with a friendly attentiveness and surrounded by great considerateness. And how well does she play the balalaika, how hearttrending does she know to sing Ukrainian folksongs! Her children will never forget her. They will always love and revere her. What else does an old woman need?
Y. KURAGINA
“Vpered”, No. 79 (9365)
30.09.2000 (newspaper edited in Uyar)