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One week later, on Sunday 22nd June 1941 Hitler’s Germany, having violated the Non-Aggression Treaty crossed the border of the USSR without declaring war. The Great Patriotic War [16] began.
Shortly afterward the evacuation began. In Tyrve we were the only Jewish family. We couldn’t make up our minds about whether we should stay or go. My husband was in an inner conflict, because his relatives in Tartu couldn’t make up their minds about whether they should go or stay either. My husband’s parents, two brothers and their families and his sister lived in Tartu. He telephoned them every day, and every day they expressed a different opinion. My mother insisted that we depart as soon as possible. What she had read about the Crystal Night [17] in Germany and the extermination of Jews in Poland had a morbid effect on her, and she never expected anything good from the Germans. Finally my husband and I went to my husband’s relatives in Tartu to have a final discussion with them. We found that their front door was locked. My husband had a key. He opened the door and saw that they must have packed their belongings in haste. He realized his relatives had evacuated. He finally made up his mind about us. We left the following day. My brother and younger sisters refused to join us, however hard I tried to convince them to go with us. They perished during the occupation. There were no survivors in the three families. My brother and his family were killed in Aluksne, and my sisters and their families perished in the Riga ghetto [18]. However, we didn’t know about that before we returned to Estonia from evacuation.
Our trip was long. The train was bombed on the way, but fortunately, it wasn’t destroyed. There were wounded people, and we were scared. We didn’t know where the train was going. All we knew was that it was headed towards Russia. At last we arrived at Ust-Kanash station. We didn’t stay there long. We were sent to the town of Kamyshlov [3,500 km north-east of Moscow] in Tomsk region [today Russia]. We were accommodated in a small room in a local house. There was one good thing about the room. One wall adjoined to the stove in the kitchen. A few days later my husband went to the military office for registration. He was allowed one day to pack and go back to the military office. From there he was sent to the regiment formation site near Moscow [today Russia]. My husband was assigned to a front-line hospital. Later, in 1942, he was assigned to the Estonian Rifle Corps [19] front-line hospital where he served throughout the war.
There was just my mother and I in this little room, with my mother’s bed by one wall, a narrow plank bed where I slept, and a little table in the corner. There was no extra space in the room, and if somebody came into the room, my mother had to lie down on her bed, because there was no space otherwise. There was no extra space for a chair. I went to work at the rear hospital in Kamyshlov. I worked as a medical nurse for some time before I could continue my work there as a dentist. I had an employee card [see Card system] [20] with which I got 400 grams of bread per day, and my mother had a dependant’s card for 200 grams of bread. This bread was made with bolting and dried grass. It was sticky and heavy. Our 600 grams of bread were around four to five slices. I wanted to eat less and give my mother more. I had a bowl of hot water with some cabbage or cereal grains in it at the hospital in the morning and afternoon, while my mother had no other place to eat. I never had sufficient food, but this water suppressed the feeling of hunger for some time. My salary was enough to buy some potatoes. When I brought potatoes home, my mother and I counted the potatoes to know how many a day we could have to last till my next salary. We lived on bread and potatoes.
Shortly afterward the evacuation began. In Tyrve we were the only Jewish family. We couldn’t make up our minds about whether we should stay or go. My husband was in an inner conflict, because his relatives in Tartu couldn’t make up their minds about whether they should go or stay either. My husband’s parents, two brothers and their families and his sister lived in Tartu. He telephoned them every day, and every day they expressed a different opinion. My mother insisted that we depart as soon as possible. What she had read about the Crystal Night [17] in Germany and the extermination of Jews in Poland had a morbid effect on her, and she never expected anything good from the Germans. Finally my husband and I went to my husband’s relatives in Tartu to have a final discussion with them. We found that their front door was locked. My husband had a key. He opened the door and saw that they must have packed their belongings in haste. He realized his relatives had evacuated. He finally made up his mind about us. We left the following day. My brother and younger sisters refused to join us, however hard I tried to convince them to go with us. They perished during the occupation. There were no survivors in the three families. My brother and his family were killed in Aluksne, and my sisters and their families perished in the Riga ghetto [18]. However, we didn’t know about that before we returned to Estonia from evacuation.
Our trip was long. The train was bombed on the way, but fortunately, it wasn’t destroyed. There were wounded people, and we were scared. We didn’t know where the train was going. All we knew was that it was headed towards Russia. At last we arrived at Ust-Kanash station. We didn’t stay there long. We were sent to the town of Kamyshlov [3,500 km north-east of Moscow] in Tomsk region [today Russia]. We were accommodated in a small room in a local house. There was one good thing about the room. One wall adjoined to the stove in the kitchen. A few days later my husband went to the military office for registration. He was allowed one day to pack and go back to the military office. From there he was sent to the regiment formation site near Moscow [today Russia]. My husband was assigned to a front-line hospital. Later, in 1942, he was assigned to the Estonian Rifle Corps [19] front-line hospital where he served throughout the war.
There was just my mother and I in this little room, with my mother’s bed by one wall, a narrow plank bed where I slept, and a little table in the corner. There was no extra space in the room, and if somebody came into the room, my mother had to lie down on her bed, because there was no space otherwise. There was no extra space for a chair. I went to work at the rear hospital in Kamyshlov. I worked as a medical nurse for some time before I could continue my work there as a dentist. I had an employee card [see Card system] [20] with which I got 400 grams of bread per day, and my mother had a dependant’s card for 200 grams of bread. This bread was made with bolting and dried grass. It was sticky and heavy. Our 600 grams of bread were around four to five slices. I wanted to eat less and give my mother more. I had a bowl of hot water with some cabbage or cereal grains in it at the hospital in the morning and afternoon, while my mother had no other place to eat. I never had sufficient food, but this water suppressed the feeling of hunger for some time. My salary was enough to buy some potatoes. When I brought potatoes home, my mother and I counted the potatoes to know how many a day we could have to last till my next salary. We lived on bread and potatoes.
Period
Location
Estonia
Interview
Maria Sorkina