Tag #124676 - Interview #78409 (Irina Voinova)

I lived at Aunt Anya’s until the winter of 1942, when I was  evacuated to Barnaul. They evacuated the people who were the sickest and weakest and said that as soon as we were well, we would be taken back to Leningrad. They transported us in cattle cars  – these were goods wagons with plank beds. We probably traveled for two months, if not more. Once a day we were let out of the wagon as if we were a herd of cattle; they fed us with any old stuff they had (pea soup and something else) – and then were led back into the wagon.
There were only three girls in the group I was with – me, my friend Rosa Mutovkina and another girl – Sara. Some boys didn’t like us because of our nationality [i.e. we were Jewish] and often were rude to us.