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I remember little of this period. I was very ill. I had abscesses all over my body, then I fell ill with measles and then scarlet fever. Esther-Malka kept me in her compartment. It was a risk because she wasn't allowed to keep anybody with an infectious disease on the sanitary train. She confessed to the chief of the train about me and he allowed her to stay with me at Kalinovka station in Kuibyshev region. My grandmother wouldn't have been able to cope with this task alone.
My mother and Nelia went to Stalingrad with the tractor plant. My father came there, too, with his unit and decided to look for them. He knew that the plant employees lived in Beketovka and decided that he should be able to find my mother at the market. He went to the market in Beketovka. As he was short he climbed on a stand and saw my mother and Nelia at the market. My parents didn't have any information about Esther-Malka. They thought they had lost me and my grandmother. My father reproached my mother for the first time in his life for making the mistake of letting us go with Esther. Later they sent a letter to the chief of the hospital and he told them where we were. This was in summer 1942 when the Germans were already attacking Stalingrad. My father moved on with the plant and my mother and Nelia came to Kalinovka. I recognized Nelia at once, but my mother... I said, 'My mother was young and beautiful, but this is an old ugly thin woman'. My mother was crying and I was crying, too. I didn't want to leave Esther- Malka. I called her 'interim mother'. So, our reunion wasn't very happy.
My mother and Nelia went to Stalingrad with the tractor plant. My father came there, too, with his unit and decided to look for them. He knew that the plant employees lived in Beketovka and decided that he should be able to find my mother at the market. He went to the market in Beketovka. As he was short he climbed on a stand and saw my mother and Nelia at the market. My parents didn't have any information about Esther-Malka. They thought they had lost me and my grandmother. My father reproached my mother for the first time in his life for making the mistake of letting us go with Esther. Later they sent a letter to the chief of the hospital and he told them where we were. This was in summer 1942 when the Germans were already attacking Stalingrad. My father moved on with the plant and my mother and Nelia came to Kalinovka. I recognized Nelia at once, but my mother... I said, 'My mother was young and beautiful, but this is an old ugly thin woman'. My mother was crying and I was crying, too. I didn't want to leave Esther- Malka. I called her 'interim mother'. So, our reunion wasn't very happy.
Period
Location
Russia
Interview
Valeria Boguslavskaya