|
2022-12-19 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
|
|
Descendants of the Volga Germans shared their memories of the victims of Stalinist repressions
|
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Some of the Volga Germans who suffered from deportation during Stalin's time, after returning to Russia, found their homes occupied and settled in other territories, members of the German community in the village of Verkhniy Eruslan, Volgograd Region, said. Now the descendants of the deportees are working to study those events and restore historical memory.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2021, the descendants of the repressed said that even 80 years after the deportation of the Volga Germans from Volgograd, the question of the validity of the actions of the Soviet authorities remains open.
The Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans was liquidated in the second month after the invasion of the German troops in the USSR. On August 28, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on the resettlement of Germans living in the Volga region. Under this decree, about a million people were deported to Kazakhstan, Siberia and Central Asia, others were mobilized into labor armies. The deported and mobilized Germans died en masse from exhaustion, disease, and unbearable working and living conditions.
On December 13, 1955, a decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the removal of legal restrictions from Soviet Germans who had been in a special settlement since 1941. This date is celebrated by Russian Germans as the moment of the end of the repressions and the beginning of their return to their homeland. There are four German communities and three Evangelical Lutheran centers with two branches in the Volgograd region. According to the 2010 census, more than 17,000 Volga Germans live in the region. One of the German communities is located in the village of Verkhniy Yeruslan, Staropoltavsky District, where on December 17 a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" visited.
Anatoly Zyakin, chairman of the church council of the Lutheran community in the village of Verkhniy Yeruslan, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the anniversary of the decree on lifting restrictions on Soviet Germans was "not celebrated in any special way ." the date is August 28, 1941 [beginning of deportation],” he said.
According to Zyakin, the village began to be called Upper Yeruslan after the Germans were evicted from these places, in 1942, and before that it was called Gnadentau (translated from German - “Blessed Dew”). It also had other names - Dewy and Dog Kolonok. The last option was connected just with the eviction of the Germans.
"When the Germans left the village, the inhabitants of Staraya Poltavka, which is located four kilometers away, for a long time heard the howl of abandoned dogs coming from Gnadentau. If other animals left, then the dogs remained," Anatoly Zyakin said.
Anatoly Zyakin told the history of the village in the museum of the community, which is located not far from the church in the pre-revolutionary pastor's house. The Gnadentau colony was founded by German colonists in 1860, who arrived on the banks of the Yeruslan River from the "mother" colonies they had previously founded on the right bank of the Volga - in the modern Zhirnovsky and Kamyshinsky districts of the Volgograd region. Before the revolution, more than 2,300 people lived in Gnadentau.
In the museum of the community, Anatoly Zyakin showed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent the household items of the colonists, the reconstruction of their home decoration. In 1898, at the expense of parishioners gathered over 16 years, a cathedral church was built in Gnadentau for a thousand places in the neo-Gothic architectural style. Its parishioners were colonists from six colonies: Wesemiller, Friedenberg, Kahn, Morgenthau, Blumenfeld and Gnadentau. Before the revolution, the number of parishioners of the church reached 13 thousand people.
During the anti-religious campaign in the USSR, the church stopped its work: in 1929 the bells were removed, five years later pastor Johann Schileng was arrested. And since 1938, a granary was equipped in the church, and the parishioners moved to an illegal position - they secretly prayed in private apartments.
"We are conducting historical research. If possible, we turn to archival documents. Now they are becoming available. The Sarepta community is helping. They gave us a book of Germans from our colonies deported in 1941. There is also information about the deportation of Germans from Gnadentau. Names and the railway station are indicated, where the eviction started. But the information here is incomplete," Anatoly said, showing the book.
The head of the local community showed the correspondent the interiors of the church. Despite the fact that restoration work is still ongoing, services are held here. 21 years ago a Lutheran community was registered in the village, now it has 15 members. On holidays, up to 40 parishioners come to the church from neighboring villages.
"The fact that grain was stored in the church was the reason that it survived: it was constantly repaired, not allowed to collapse. Even elements of the interior decoration were preserved," said Anatoly Zyakin.
According to him, the church is gradually being restored with the help of the community and at the expense of sponsors: the roof is being repaired, doors and windows are being inserted, the lost floors and the crossroads of the altar are being reconstructed, as well as the original staircase leading to the choirs and the belfry. Other renovations are underway here as well.
"The pastor of the community Andrey Pautov made a great contribution to the restoration of the church. The building of the former parochial school, which is located opposite the church, is also being restored. Now services are held there in the winter, a museum has been opened, and a church kitchen is located," said Anatoly Zyakin.
In the courtyard of the church, Anatoly Zyakin showed the correspondent a monument to the victims of the deportation of the Volga Germans in 1941. "This is perhaps the only such monument in the Volgograd region. It was erected last year, on September 26. Assistance was provided by a philanthropist from Germany, Lydia Miller. Her relatives were deported from Gnadentau in 1941. She gave us seven bells, a belfry. A commemorative sign is also mounted on the wall of the pastor's house," he said. During these words, the belfry began to ring, informing the district of the onset of noon Moscow time.
Anatoly's maternal family was deported in September 1941. Grandfather Yegor Yegorovich Kolb and grandmother Erna Fedorovna Mezer before the war lived in the Saratov region, in the village of Chkalovo (colony Laub).
"At the time of the deportation, my grandmother was 18 years old. Her mother died when her daughter was 3 years old. Father Fedor Fedorovich raised three children alone. He was a carpenter.
"We succeeded. We were deported very quickly. It was possible to take with us only the minimum necessary things and documents. This year, according to my grandmother, there was an excellent harvest of vegetables. So the cellars remained full and unclaimed," Anatoly Zyakin said.
According to him, the deported Germans from the Laub colony were brought to the Krasny Kut railway station on lorries. There they waited for the train for several days, and then the repressed were seated in cold wagons, in which cattle had previously been transported. "The whole grandmother's family was scattered in different places. It is not clear why. Brother Vilya ended up in Dzhesgaskan, Sasha - in Krasnoyarsk. Father Fyodor Fedorovich ended up in Siberia. Where [specifically] is unknown, and he died there," Anatoly said.
Anatoly's grandmother ended up in the village of Ladyzhenka, Akmola region of Kazakhstan. According to her, the deported Germans were "very much helped by the local Kazakhs": they sheltered the newcomers, gave them wool, felt mats, and warm clothes.
"There is little information about grandfather. We know that he was also deported to Ladyzhenka, where he and his grandmother got married. Before that, he went through the Labor Army. The Kazakhs respected him because he quickly learned to speak their language. In Kazakhstan, he worked as a shepherd. seven children were born with my grandfather. My mother Emma was the eldest (born in 1944). She always remembered how difficult her childhood was," Anatoly Zyakin said.
In 1958 the family returned to Russia. But they were not allowed into Laub, as their house had been occupied for a long time. They settled in the village of Gnadentau, which after the war became known as Upper Eruslan. Other relatives of Anatoly's family had already settled here earlier.
"As a child, the windows of my room overlooked the church. For me, the church was always a special fairy-tale place. I witnessed prayers that sometimes took place in my grandmother’s apartment. All this left an imprint on my worldview," said Anatoly Zyakin.
In the 1990s, during the mass resettlement of Volga Germans to Germany, Zyakina's grandmother, Erna Fedorovna Kolb, also left with her two sons.
"But after some time she returned to Russia: she wanted to die and be buried here. Two of her sons live in Upper Eruslan with their children and grandchildren," Anatoly Zyakin said.
Lidia Damzen, a member of the Lutheran community in the village of Upper Yeruslan , also told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent the story of her family. Her ancestors - the Miller family - lived in Gnadentau. During the deportation, Lilia's parents were children. By that time, his father's mother had already died, and he lived with his stepmother and seven brothers and sisters.
"They were sent to the Altai Territory in September 1941. Mom (Mina Miller) was also sent with her parents to the Altai Territory. In October, he (Eval Miller) turned 16 years old, and already in February he was taken to the Trudarmia. Arkhangelsk - in March. Nobody saw him (grandfather) anymore. He disappeared without a trace. Dad was in the Labor Army in the mines of Nizhny Tagil. In 1947 he returned to the Altai Territory. And in 1951 he and his mother signed. It was such a strong horror (father) did not tell. In their camp (Trudarmiya) they were not treated cruelly. But it was difficult to endure all this. The main thing is that he returned healthy," said Lydia Damzen.
The woman recounted the memories of her father, according to which the deported residents from Gnadentau were taken on carts to the Gmelinka station, and from there they were sent by rail to Altai. Lydia's mother's father was a foreman and, when the deportation began, he was with the brigade in the field. His daughter Mina followed him on foot into the fields.
"She (mother) recalled what mountains of wheat lay in the fields. It was pure gold. The harvest in the fields was then rich. They left everything - at home, cattle. They were helped. They were told - do not stay here for a long time, you will leave home soon. For some time they lived with the hope of returning. At first they changed things for food. And when they realized that they were there for a long time, they began to settle down, get a job,"- said Lydia Damzen.
The woman noted that her family did not express resentment at the authorities for the deportation and the deprivation and suffering associated with it.
"Everything was by the will of God. Relatives were believers. With the help of God they survived. Little was said about it then. At that time, it was forbidden to think about God, about deportation, about abandoned property. Life was re-arranged - both in Altai and here after returning. Before being sent home, my parents wrote a waiver of property. They came here, they were settled in temporary apartments. They said that for a year, for three. I went to first grade here," said Lydia Damzen.
Recall that the deportations of Balkars, Chechens, Ingush and other Caucasian peoples carried out in Soviet times were justified by myths about mass betrayal and desertion of their representatives.
Under Stalin, mass arrests and executions were carried out on ethnic grounds, entire peoples were declared "hostile", says the "Caucasian Knot" report "10 myths about Stalin's role in the Great Patriotic War."
|
Posted by badanov 2022-12-19 00:00||
||
Front Page|| [6 views ]
Top
|
|
02:45 Grom the reflective
02:44 Grom the reflective
02:42 Grom the reflective
02:41 badanov
01:37 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
00:50 DarthVader
00:01 Skidmark
|
