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I liked Rostov a lot, but I had a feeling that we couldn't stay there. I still can't explain this feeling, but I kept sobbing and saying, 'We need to go, we need to go!' My parents knew that I wasn't inclined to crying, but here I was hysterical. They tried to ignore it at first, but then my father said to Mama, 'There must be something to it. Let's go.' And we left. Two days later the bridge across the River Don was destroyed by bombing and nobody could leave Rostov; shortly afterward the Germans occupied Rostov. I actually rescued the family.
We took a train to Stalingrad and from there we went to Povolzhiye across the Republic of Germans [Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Germans of Povolzhiye, belonging to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, (1918-1941)]. The train stopped at a station in a German settlement. Its residents were ordered to move urgently. The people were alarmed, hurrying to buy their belongings and food products. We bought a cheap hen from a German woman.
Our destination was Alma-Ata [the largest city in Kazakhstan, 4125 km from Odessa]. My father got a job in the Kazakh University. He became head of the Animal Physiology Department. My mother was appointed head of the town health department of Alma-Ata. She was at work day and night. Nevertheless, my mother managed to write a doctor's dissertation and defended it in the Kazakh Medical College during the war.
At first we rented a room in the suburbs and then my father received a room in the Kazakh University hostel. There was a shared kitchen where my grandmother did the cooking. Compared to others, our situation was more or less satisfactory. Scientific employees received food packages and could buy some food at the market. We didn't have plenty of everything, but nor did we starve.
We took a train to Stalingrad and from there we went to Povolzhiye across the Republic of Germans [Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Germans of Povolzhiye, belonging to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, (1918-1941)]. The train stopped at a station in a German settlement. Its residents were ordered to move urgently. The people were alarmed, hurrying to buy their belongings and food products. We bought a cheap hen from a German woman.
Our destination was Alma-Ata [the largest city in Kazakhstan, 4125 km from Odessa]. My father got a job in the Kazakh University. He became head of the Animal Physiology Department. My mother was appointed head of the town health department of Alma-Ata. She was at work day and night. Nevertheless, my mother managed to write a doctor's dissertation and defended it in the Kazakh Medical College during the war.
At first we rented a room in the suburbs and then my father received a room in the Kazakh University hostel. There was a shared kitchen where my grandmother did the cooking. Compared to others, our situation was more or less satisfactory. Scientific employees received food packages and could buy some food at the market. We didn't have plenty of everything, but nor did we starve.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
rimma rozenberg