Seit-Veli Seitmemetov

– I am Seit-Veli Seitmemetov I was born in 1932, the city of Saky. In 1941, in November, after the beginning of the war, the Germans came to the city of Saky. There were eight of us in the family back then: 6 children, father and mother. When the Germans came to town, my father was an old man. He said we wouldn’t survive the war in the city, we should move to the village. And we went to the village of Ashagy Dzhamin. It was 12 kilometers from Saky. Now it’s a village of Geroyskoye, Saky Raion. These three years of war we lived in the village.

On May 18, 1944 at 3 a.m. two soldiers with guns broke into our house. And a week before that, my father and brother were taken away. At that time, it seems that there was an instruction to remove the male population, so that there would be no possible conflict during the eviction. There were 5 children and my mother, 6 people. At 3:00 a.m. soldiers with machine guns broke in: “Get up, get out of here.” They didn’t read anything, they said: “We’re evicting you.” But they didn’t say where. That’s it. We were given 5 minutes, because our village was Russian, and 4 Crimean Tatar families lived in the village. And in five minutes, they evicted everyone. There were other soldiers in those houses, other soldiers in our house. And within five minutes, they loaded us on a car and took us to Saky.

– And they didn’t tell you where, for how long?

– No. They didn’t say anything. They just said: “You’re like traitors to our homeland, traitors. We’re evicting you from Crimea.

– How much time did they give you to pack?

– Five minutes. Well, there were four families there. Brigades of soldiers were distributed to all the families and we were immediately taken to Saky. To the train station. Freight cars were already there. And there were already people who were loaded. Apparently, the nearest villages were brought earlier and loaded into the wagons.

– And how much were you allowed to take?

– They said: “As much as you can take, take it.” And as we later realized, in other villages where were a lot of Crimean Tatars, they couldn’t gather all the people in 5 minutes. It’s been an hour and a half, people were told. And then, the soldiers were different. There were angry soldiers. They were told: “You must evict them. They’re traitors.” And there were soldiers who were good-natured, sympathetic. In other Crimean Tatar villages soldiers explained to people: “Come on, gather what you can take with you, because the road will be long.” Some soldiers explained to people, but they didn’t tell us anything like that.

– Were you or any members of your family subjected to any kind of violence?

– No violence. They just pushed with the buttstock. They shouted: “Get out,” that’s all. We couldn’t even get dressed properly.

– Where did you say you were gathered together?

– We were gathered in Saky at the train station.

– How long did they keep you there?

– Until the train was full.

– How were you treated at the station?

– At the station, they were just pushing us into the wagon, that’s all. Pushed with buttstocks, and that’s it.

– On what kind of transport were you taken to the train station?

– We were taken by car. From the village to Saky.

– With an escort?

– Yes. The soldiers, they were in the car, too.

– How many people were evicted from your house? How many people were in your family?

– My dad and brother weren’t hоme, so six people were evicted: Four sisters, my mother and I.

– Did the whole family get in the same wagon?

– The whole family’s in the same wagon, yes. And six people were evicted from our house.

– How many people were in the wagon?

– There were a lot of people in the wagon. It was too crowded.

-The wagon was full, the freight car.

– Crowded?

– The wagon was completely full. There was nowhere to step.

– What kind of sanitary conditions were there?

– A shelf was made there so you could lie on that shelf. The wagon was full, and there were people on the shelf in that freight car.

– There were no sanitary conditions, right?

– There were no sanitary conditions. There was some kind of container. It was a toilet. When the train stopped at the station, this container was taken out, poured out and put back again.

– Did they feed you?

– Some people took food… I think they were carrying buckets of something. Some people ate something. Some people managed to take food.

– So, did some people have food?

– Just those who managed to take something. I’m telling you, it wasn’t just our family in that wagon. There were three families from our village. There were a few families from the villages. And the people from Crimean Tatars villages, they were allowed to take something. “Take something. It will be a long way. “Take!” that’s what they were told. And they did. And so they had food there. They had some flour and potatoes. And when the train stopped, people got out. They were allowed to go out. They were just making some kind of fire to cook something, scones. And if the train honked, everybody was running to the wagons and everything was left on the street.

– How often did the train stop?

– Well, It stopped… It was a long way, and then it stopped at the stations.

– Well, how often did it stop?

– When people were dying, it stopped. There were a lot of sick people. There were people who died in the echelon. When the train stopped, the dead were taken out and left behind.

– Just on the street?

– Yes, on the street. It was impossible to bury them.

– You weren’t allowed, were you?

– We weren’t allowed to.

– So they just took the dead bodies out and threw them away?

– They threw them out on the street, and that’s it, yes.

– Did anybody from your family die?

– My family survived. They were all alive. We were driven for a long time. For 18-20 days, perhaps. Through Russia, through the Kazakh steppes we were brought to Uzbekistan. Crimea is an European part. And we were brought to Uzbekistan to Central Asia. It was already hot in the middle of June. Fifty degrees of heat. And can you imagine: a man who came from Europe with such a climate, and got into such a heat. It was impossible to breathe. And the water was in the hauzes. Hauz is a big ditch. And there’s stagnant water. We were drinking this water. And we became ill with dysentery. In winter people became sick. In winter, people had already started dying, because everyone was hungry, cold and sick. People were just dying.

– When you got here, how were you met? How did people meet you?

– Then in Uzbekistan in 1944, the Uzbeks were ignorant. The Uzbeks were ignorant and uneducated. They had been prepared, of course: “Here they come. People. They’re traitors. They’re traitors to their homeland. They will settle with you.” People were told so. They didn’t know anything, they didn’t understand anything. And when they brought us to this village, it was called Bayaut…

– How did you get from the station to Bayout? On what?

– First we were brought 150 kilometers from Tashkent, that station was called Merdachun, the train station.

– We were brought there, and then we were taken to different villages. .

– Did your train get there? To Merdachun?

– It arrived in Merdachun, yes. And from there they started to take people to the villages. And we got to a village called Bayaut state farm. A downtrodden village, a cotton village, a hungry steppe, in short. And so we got there. The barracks were ready. We settled in these barracks. There was nothing but straw. Barack was with the cement floor. And that’s how the six of us… Then my brother found us. And seven people lived in this barrack. Dad wasn’t there.

– How did the local authorities treat you? And how did the locals treat you?

– Well, the Uzbeks, of course, are Muslims, too. They were wary of us at first, they didn’t trust us. And then, when they realized that we are the same people as they are, only Europeans, Muslims, a few months later their attitude changed.

– And before that, how were you treated?

– And before that, they were wary of us. Because they were told that dangerous people were coming.

– Well, didn’t they do anything wrong to you?

– No, they didn’t do anything wrong. We couldn’t do anything. But when summer came and there was nothing to eat, people were looking for something to eat. In the cornfields, we picked corns.

– Was it when you get there?

– When we were brought to Uzbekistan to this Bayaut. And the Uzbeks, they were very tough people. Women and girls were killed and raped for an ear of corn. For one ear of corn. That’s how it was at first. Then by summer, by winter, the diseases started.. People were dying from dysentery and malaria. And in winter, in February, my father arrived. He had been in the city of Tula, in the mine, he had been working in the mine.

He came and found us in Bayaut. He saw us, how sick we were.. We were starving, it was freezing. And he got sick, too. And by the summer of 1945, 4 people from our family died of hunger and disease. Dysentery. My father died and four of my sisters died. I survived. I was walking with a knapsack and begged. And the others… There’s a brother and a sister left. And we begged. And I was saved from starvation by a Russian family. I could have died, too, but I was saved from starvation by a Russian family. I went begging. And Mom was in a condition that she couldn’t walk, too. Just bones, like a mummy. I brought bread and we survived. Four people in the family died. My sister Selime and brother, my mum and I survived. Four people left: mother, brother, Selime and I. And four sisters and my father died. There were eight of us in the family: four died, four survived.

– We had to bury them. But how?

– As I said, the whole families were dying. 4 people died in our family. And to bury… People didn’t have the strength. And in 1945 the soldiers returned from the front, in 1945 the war ended, the soldiers returned from the front. Officers, Crimean Tatar soldiers. And the commandant was ripping their shoulder straps off. And they’re all in uniform, with orders, with medals. He ripped off their shoulder straps and made them look like special migrants in the commandant’s office.

– Even though they fought at the front?

– Even though they fought at the front. And these people were even more or less healthy in 1945 in the summer. But they got exhausted in a few months. They were digging. 2-3-4 bayonets were dug up and the dead were buried there. In morning we came there. We heard the howling, the jackals screaming. We heard jackals screaming in the villages. And in the morning, the dead were pulled out by jackals, torn apart. That’s how it was.

– When did you return to Crimea and where?

– Then I moved to Chirchik. In 1957, I was strong enough to move to Chirchik. Tashkent region, Chirchik city. I had a Russian comrade there. He told me how the Crimean Tatars were brought to Chirchik station. And people were told that the traitors were coming. He told me, this guy. He was my age. He was 13 years old at the time of deportation. He told me that when they were brought in, he came to the station, and people were ready with fittings, with pipes. All those people who were waiting at the station. They said: “They’re bringing traitors. People like that, dangerous people. And when the train stopped, they heard the crying and the moans. When they opened the wagon, people began to fall out. And he… This guy told me: “I was ashamed. I started to hide this rebar. We began to hide fittings, pipes. And went from there. We realized that women and children were brought here”. That’s what happened in Chirchik. He told me, this guy. Well, I came to Chirchik in 1957, got a job at the factory. And in 1958, I was already such a strong guy. I was in my 20s. In 1958, I was 26 years old. I met a girl, her name was Sayde. And so we got married in 1958.

– When did you get back to Crimea? Where?

– I returned to Crimea… my family remained in Chirchik. I returned to Crimea in 1969, because in 1956 there was the 20th Congress. Khrushchev rehabilitated some of the nation, that were also deported. Chechens, Ingushes, Karachays, Kalmyks. They were returned to their homeland, but the Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans were allowed to live only within Russia.

– Within the Union?

– Yes, the Union. They had no right to return to Crimea. This was the decree in 1968.

Well, I came here on my own in 1969. I came here and lived for a whole year without a residence permit.

– Where exactly did you come back to?

– I went back to Saky raion. Since I was evicted from Saky, Saksky raion, I went back to Saksky raion. When I was a kid, I was 12 years old, my mother and I used to walk to Saky sometimes. My mother sang very well. She used to tell me: “Son, sing a song.” And I started singing. On the road my mom and I were singing. I started singing Crimean Tatar songs. I had such a clear voice. And when we were brought to Uzbekistan. In 1953, I graduated from 8th grade school. I had a voice, and I wanted to sing, and I went to Samarkand, went to the music school for the vocal department. I studied there very well for a year. I studied there very well. I got… At the time, there was a Stalin prize, and the students were given Stalin prize. I was a straight-A student, and that’s why I was given Stalin prize. I lived in a dorm, studied at a music school in the vocal Department. I studied for a year. I was prophesied to have a great future as a singer. I decided to go to Moscow, to enter the Conservatory. And you had to take the train to Moscow. No ticket, I’m in the vestibules. And it was impossible to go. It was impossible to go, there was a curfew, it was impossible to go to Moscow. That’s how I got to Moscow, travelling in the vestibules. I came to Moscow. And if you remember, there was a movie about a girl, a movie called “Prihodite zavtra” (“Come back tomorrow.”) There was such a girl, Frosya, she came from Siberia to go to Moscow too. But it was much later. I went to Moscow in 1953-1954, after finishing my first year. I also tried to get the Professor to listen to me. I was sitting there in the lobby, when the professor was coming, I ran after him: “Could you listen to me, please. Just listen.» And so, as in this movie, only it was much earlier than this girl entered the conservatory.

Well, he listened to me. Just the same. He called the accompanist into the auditorium. I came on stage. He asked: “What will you sing?” I said: “This is what I’m going to sing.” I sang. He told me: “Okay. We’ll take you.” I told him then: “Please, let me go to Uzbekistan to register. I’m a Crimean Tatar, I’m in a special relocation. He said: “Then go and get your papers, your permission, and then you’ll come to us. ” And that’s how I got back to Uzbekistan. When I returned to Uzbekistan, this commandant, his name was Maslov he called my mother, beat her up in the commandant’s office: “Why did your son go to Moscow without permission?” So when I got back, I was told: “Your mother was beaten by the commandant and he is waiting for you too.” I came to his office. He was sitting at the desk like this, and there was an inkwell on his desk. And then there were inkwells … to dip in ink… and they were made of glass. I went to him,took this inkwell and throw it straight to his forehead. I was a big guy then. To the forehead. And he grabbed it like this: “That’s it. You’re…” And it was a rule. The Crimean Tatars were not allowed to move from one village to another. The curfew was such a strict regime. And I went to Moscow.That’s what he said: “25 years of imprisonment. You broke the law. And besides, you hit me. It is 25 years”. Well, he put me in jail. People in the village in Bayaut heard that the commandant put me in jail. All the old men gathered, women, men, and begged him: “Forgive him. He’s a young guy. Forgive him.” Well, he took pity on me and said so: “I forgive you, but you’re not going anywhere from the state farm, from Bayout.

You’ll work on the field. It’s the only way I’ll forgive you, otherwise 25 years.”

And so it happened. I stayed in Bayout, in the village. I started going to work in the field, picking cotton. That’s how I started smoking. And that’s how my musical, vocal career was over.