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We boarded open platforms and took on our way without clothes, food or diapers for Leonid. The train stopped in Gorky on 6 November 1941 when Germans were bombing Moscow. Stalin was speaking on the radio “Germans made a mistake…”, when few German bombers were bombing Gorky. I was listening to Stalin’s speech when people around me were running to a shelter. I couldn’t move when listening to Stalin. You can imagine how strong the propaganda was. I didn’t associate arrests in 1936 - 1937 with Stalin. I was sure that Stalin was unaware of the injustice in the country. He was sacred for me. Our train stopped at a station and there was another train with freight railcars. Clara went to that train, but there was no place for us. Clara was in evacuation in Gorky region and we moved on. We were heading the Ural. Our trip lasted two weeks. We were given food twice on our way: once we got ground radish in Slaviansk and then we got rabbit meat in Ufa. When we were eating radish in Slaviansk somebody said that the train was leaving. People ran to the train and I stayed. I couldn’t tear myself from this radish that tasted so delicious. I was pulled on the platform when the train started – I was so weak that I couldn’t get there myself. I was dragged onto the platform when the train had started moving. There was no water on the train. When it stopped my mother got off to bring some water from a puddle. The train stopped few times a day. Such stops lasted few hours while letting trains heading the front pass. Sometimes we moved without any stops for days in a row and got very cold, especially at night. The train was overcrowded – there were people of various nationalities that had to leave their homes. We arrived in Cheliabinsk in 2500 km from Kiev. We got some hot tea at the railway station that revived us. We got accommodation in a small house of a poor family. Thee were 3 families – 12 people – in one room. They were all from Starokonstantinov. The family gave us some hay, we put it on the floor and slept on it. But we didn’t stay in Cheliabinsk long.
When my father took cattle to Kharkov he was wounded with a splinter. He was taken to a hospital in Gorky. The wound wasn’t severe, but my father had been starving and the wound didn’t heal. Besides, my father had ulcer. The son of my father’s brother Yukl, Joseph, his wife and two children lived in Gorky. Joseph was a professional military and was at the front, but his wife took my father to her home and called us to come to Gorky, in 1000 km from Cheliabinsk. Father sent us official invitation that helped us to move without delay. We came to her apartment. My sister went to the Medical institute in Gorky and I went to school. There were about 50 pupils in our class, most of them children that were in evacuation. I went to school for about two weeks, but then I had to stay at home. My father was ill and my mother took a job, selling kerosene. I had to do all housework. I fetched water from a pump where I had to stand in long lines. I went to fetch water with Abram, Joseph’s son. He was 10 and I was 14 years old. Then we went to stand in line to get bread. People wrote their number in line on their palms, because there were 5-6 thousand people. We spent there all day long.
When my father took cattle to Kharkov he was wounded with a splinter. He was taken to a hospital in Gorky. The wound wasn’t severe, but my father had been starving and the wound didn’t heal. Besides, my father had ulcer. The son of my father’s brother Yukl, Joseph, his wife and two children lived in Gorky. Joseph was a professional military and was at the front, but his wife took my father to her home and called us to come to Gorky, in 1000 km from Cheliabinsk. Father sent us official invitation that helped us to move without delay. We came to her apartment. My sister went to the Medical institute in Gorky and I went to school. There were about 50 pupils in our class, most of them children that were in evacuation. I went to school for about two weeks, but then I had to stay at home. My father was ill and my mother took a job, selling kerosene. I had to do all housework. I fetched water from a pump where I had to stand in long lines. I went to fetch water with Abram, Joseph’s son. He was 10 and I was 14 years old. Then we went to stand in line to get bread. People wrote their number in line on their palms, because there were 5-6 thousand people. We spent there all day long.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Faina Volper Biography