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At the end of the NEP in 1928-1929 all my relatives were out. Some were evicted, some were bereaved of their property. Their property was taken away like this: all of a sudden the financial inspector, the tax service inspector, sent a subpoena ordering to come for tax charging. And the amount of tax exceeded the cost of the house, all household and income ten years in advance. Even if one had sold oneself to slavery, it still wouldn’t have been possible to pay the tax. So people left everything and fled, in order to avoid prison because of failure to pay.
Mother was dispossessed at the beginning of 1929. The financial inspector sent her a paper, which said that she had to pay a tax amounting to 5,700,000 rubles. It wasn’t possible to earn such an amount of money in a lifetime. The paper was just written at random. If one didn’t pay the tax, one was prosecuted. So smart people left their houses and escaped. Those who didn’t manage to escape, were prosecuted, exiled to Solovki or Kazakhstan [6]. Mother was warned by friends that in the evening she would be taken away and arrested. My mother was a very smart woman. As soon as she heard it, she didn’t wait for any miracle to happen, she fled. She got onto a passing cart and went to the railroad station. She went to the neighboring station, not the closest one, in order not to be tracked down. She took a train from there to Leningrad where our relatives, who had left before, lived. Mother couldn’t take me with her. If we had been caught, we would have both been exiled.
Mother was dispossessed at the beginning of 1929. The financial inspector sent her a paper, which said that she had to pay a tax amounting to 5,700,000 rubles. It wasn’t possible to earn such an amount of money in a lifetime. The paper was just written at random. If one didn’t pay the tax, one was prosecuted. So smart people left their houses and escaped. Those who didn’t manage to escape, were prosecuted, exiled to Solovki or Kazakhstan [6]. Mother was warned by friends that in the evening she would be taken away and arrested. My mother was a very smart woman. As soon as she heard it, she didn’t wait for any miracle to happen, she fled. She got onto a passing cart and went to the railroad station. She went to the neighboring station, not the closest one, in order not to be tracked down. She took a train from there to Leningrad where our relatives, who had left before, lived. Mother couldn’t take me with her. If we had been caught, we would have both been exiled.
Period
Year
1929
Location
Chashniki
Belarus
Interview
Mikhail Plotkin