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The Russians came later and, supposedly, took us to Siberia for one year. They bought us, like human traffickers. They told us they were taking us to Siberia, to some town there, that it would be light work, that the machines would do all the work, that the pay would be good. And they took us there in cargo trains. 400 people went there. It took us, I think, 32 days to get there. The first days there we would go to the bathhouse, because we all had lice. Then they taught us safety and work hygiene for several days. They gave us advances for buying food. Some took them and ran away. Mostly those were Jews from Warsaw, Lodz and communists. They stole some blankets, took their advances and ran away. I think 300 people ran away and 100 of us, dumb as we were, stayed. They gave us a place to sleep in buildings called ‘obshcheye zhizn’– common, shared life.
Then work began. Some stayed on the surface, they didn’t make much money, but I was in the 10th ‘oddzielenie’ [department], where the gases were. There were the most accidents there, but you could earn good money. Because this was a gas mine, 1,437 meters, in the district Novosibirskaya Oblast, city of Andzero-Suldzenks, Kirov mine 5-7. [Editor’s note: no city under this name exists, but it is impossible to find out, where Mr. Bromberg had been]. Those were two twin cities. I worked in Suldzenks and some worked in Andzersk, that’s why Andzero-Suldzensk. Then they moved me to a coal mine. I worked there from 9th February 1940 until 12th April 1941. First I was the head miner’s helper, the foreman’s. I shoveled coal. Then they issued me a certificate and I became the miner’s helper. I worked in this position for a long time, but at the end, they moved me to supplying shores, so there’d be no risk of everything collapsing. I worked, but not full time – it was supposed to be six hours, but you had to work for twelve. Later we went on strike, because they didn’t want to dismiss us.
They promised us we would work for about eleven months and then each one could start working in his profession. They told us that they had greeted us with music and that they’d also part with us with music [colloquial for a warm welcome]. And when the time came, they told us ‘not yet.’ They still didn’t have miners. They scared us that there’d be a war, that we should stay and work one month longer. So we agreed to stay for a month. But when the situation repeated itself, we didn’t go out to work. Persecutions began. After these strikes they sent some off to see polar bears [idiomatic expression for deporting someone to Siberia], they locked some up in jail, they had cases in court, some were arrested at once, without a hearing, others were sent home. Several others and I were conscripted into the army.
Then work began. Some stayed on the surface, they didn’t make much money, but I was in the 10th ‘oddzielenie’ [department], where the gases were. There were the most accidents there, but you could earn good money. Because this was a gas mine, 1,437 meters, in the district Novosibirskaya Oblast, city of Andzero-Suldzenks, Kirov mine 5-7. [Editor’s note: no city under this name exists, but it is impossible to find out, where Mr. Bromberg had been]. Those were two twin cities. I worked in Suldzenks and some worked in Andzersk, that’s why Andzero-Suldzensk. Then they moved me to a coal mine. I worked there from 9th February 1940 until 12th April 1941. First I was the head miner’s helper, the foreman’s. I shoveled coal. Then they issued me a certificate and I became the miner’s helper. I worked in this position for a long time, but at the end, they moved me to supplying shores, so there’d be no risk of everything collapsing. I worked, but not full time – it was supposed to be six hours, but you had to work for twelve. Later we went on strike, because they didn’t want to dismiss us.
They promised us we would work for about eleven months and then each one could start working in his profession. They told us that they had greeted us with music and that they’d also part with us with music [colloquial for a warm welcome]. And when the time came, they told us ‘not yet.’ They still didn’t have miners. They scared us that there’d be a war, that we should stay and work one month longer. So we agreed to stay for a month. But when the situation repeated itself, we didn’t go out to work. Persecutions began. After these strikes they sent some off to see polar bears [idiomatic expression for deporting someone to Siberia], they locked some up in jail, they had cases in court, some were arrested at once, without a hearing, others were sent home. Several others and I were conscripted into the army.
Period
Interview
Jakub Bromberg
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