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My mother, my grandmother and I left. Aunt Sonja and her husband also left their home, but apart from us. Our family arrived at Andijоn [Uzbekistan, 250 km from Tashkent, about 3500 km south-east of Moscow], a small town in Uzbekistan, and Aunt Sonja ended up in Uvel’ka town, Cheliabinsk region, in Siberia. I have very vague memories of our trip. There was a train, a barge, and then a horse-driven wagon. It was very hot, and we were thirsty, there were lots of flies and midges without number. We were accommodated in a local house in Andijon. Our landlady, an older Uzbek woman, was very kind to us. My mother found a job at a storage facility in a typhoid department of the local hospital. This job entailed a lot of risk for my mother, my grandmother and me, since we were at risk of getting the infection, but there was no alternative job for my mother. We were very fortunate to have not got the infection, however weakened we were due to the circumstances. There were numbers of people in the evacuation in Andijon. Perhaps, this number even exceeded the number of local population. We were the only ones from Estonia, though. There were numbers of people from Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine. I picked up some Russian easily, but it was rather a challenge for my mother. However, she managed to converse, though she spoke Russian with some accent. Uzbek was more difficult for us. I also managed to pick some Uzbek playing with our landlady’s children, but Mama could never manage it. I used to go to the market with her to help her to understand the Uzbek vendors.
We were very poor then. We had hardly any luggage with us, when leaving our home. My grandmother or I could not carry much, and all we had was what my mother could carry. She had packed a change of underwear for each of us, some outer garments and food for the road. Therefore, life was even more difficult for us in the evacuation. Other people had some valuables and nicer clothing that they could trade for food. We had no valuables even before the war, and all we could count on was what my mother could earn. Actually, there was only bread that my mother received for her bread cards [7]. In hospital she was provided a bowl of soup once a day. Actually, this was a cup of boiling water with some cereal, carrots and cabbage in it. This was all food my mother had, and as for her ration of bread, she brought it home. My grandmother had a smaller share than I did. My grandmother often took my ration of bread, and my mother was very angry about it. Now I understand that my grandmother was not quite herself at the time. The only feeling that overwhelmed her was her feeling hungry. Sometimes I didn’t eat my ration at once. Then I felt starved at night. This woke me up and I cried helplessly. I put little pieces of bread under my pillow to eat it at night. My grandmother discovered this trick of mine and used to steal my bread from under my pillow. I didn’t tell my mother about this feeling very sorry for my grandmother. We felt very lucky, when my mother managed to get some mill cake fodder. This was compressed sunflower oilcake, oil production wastes. Thinking about it now, I can’t imagine how we could possibly eat it, but then there was no moment of doubt for us. We added this oilcake to some boiling water before we could eat it. It caused a lot of pain in the stomach, but we ignored such details at that time. The oilcake was rather filling, though.
We were very poor then. We had hardly any luggage with us, when leaving our home. My grandmother or I could not carry much, and all we had was what my mother could carry. She had packed a change of underwear for each of us, some outer garments and food for the road. Therefore, life was even more difficult for us in the evacuation. Other people had some valuables and nicer clothing that they could trade for food. We had no valuables even before the war, and all we could count on was what my mother could earn. Actually, there was only bread that my mother received for her bread cards [7]. In hospital she was provided a bowl of soup once a day. Actually, this was a cup of boiling water with some cereal, carrots and cabbage in it. This was all food my mother had, and as for her ration of bread, she brought it home. My grandmother had a smaller share than I did. My grandmother often took my ration of bread, and my mother was very angry about it. Now I understand that my grandmother was not quite herself at the time. The only feeling that overwhelmed her was her feeling hungry. Sometimes I didn’t eat my ration at once. Then I felt starved at night. This woke me up and I cried helplessly. I put little pieces of bread under my pillow to eat it at night. My grandmother discovered this trick of mine and used to steal my bread from under my pillow. I didn’t tell my mother about this feeling very sorry for my grandmother. We felt very lucky, when my mother managed to get some mill cake fodder. This was compressed sunflower oilcake, oil production wastes. Thinking about it now, I can’t imagine how we could possibly eat it, but then there was no moment of doubt for us. We added this oilcake to some boiling water before we could eat it. It caused a lot of pain in the stomach, but we ignored such details at that time. The oilcake was rather filling, though.
Period
Location
Andijоn
Uzbekistan
Interview
Pesse Speranskaya