Remzi Ametov

– From the village of Duvankoy, Bakhchysarai district.

– What did you do before you were deported?

– I was studying before deportation. At school.

– How did you know about the deportation on May 18th?

– On May 18, we were told we would be evicted from Crimea.

– How did this happen? Who came to you?

– On the day of the deportation they came to our house at 5 a. m. There were four of them. They told us that we would be evicted from Crimea. But they didn’t tell where. In 20 minutes we were kicked out of our house.

– Did they read you anything? Why are you being evicted from here?

– No, they didn’t. They were very rude, they were yelling at us. “You’re being evicted from here.”

– How long did they give you to pack?

– 15-20 minutes. We were not allowed to take some things with us. For example, the suitcases. The boxes were also forbidden to take. They said, that we could take a bag of clothes and food for three days.

– Did the soldiers beat you up? How did this happen?

– No, they didn’t. The soldiers didn’t beat us. How can I put this… They were evicting us with such rudeness and anger.

– Did you take the food with you? What did you get?

– I don’t remember. My late mother put something in a bag of food.

– Where was it?

– On the outskirts of the village.

– How many people were there?

– All the villagers were there…

– How long were you kept there?

– We were standing there for 1 or 2 hours while people were gathering, and then we were loaded into cars.

– Which station did they take you to and which cars?

– We were taken to the station on trucks.

– What city?

– In Duvankoy.

– Were you immediately loaded into the wagons, or were you waiting at the station?

– No, we were waiting a long time for people to get together.

– Were there soldiers near you?

– Yeas, there were soldiers everywhere.

– How many people were deported from your family?

– From our family? Three, two, five. No, 4 people. My father was taken to the army, the labor army.

– Were people dying on the road?

– On the road people… On the road, people starved to death. There were those who stayed on the road. When the train stopped, they were just left there.

– What were the conditions in the wagons? What kind of wagon was it?

– It was a cattle wagon. They were swept out, we slept on the floor.

– How many people were in a wagon?

– I don’t remember, nobody counted.

– Was there any water? Toilet?

– No. Do cattle wagons have toilets?

– How did you go to the bathroom then?

– There was a bucket.

– Was there fresh air in the wagon?

– There were little windows, they let in some air.

– What did you have to eat?

– Eat… I don’t remember. They didn’t give us anything. We ate what we took with us.

– How long did the stops last?

– Yes, we were waiting at the stations for a long time.

– The doors were closed. So the other trains can pass by, and then we moved again.

– What did they do with the dead?

– What did they do… they threw them in the steppe.

– Was the way long?

– Yes, it was.

– On May 18th you were deported. Where were you taken?

– We stayed at the Tashkent station. We were dropped off near the first Hydroelectric Power Station in Tashkent.

– Did you lose someone in your family?

– No, I didn’t.

– How did people met you in exile?

– How could they meet us? Go on, please… We were all gathered… What was that? It was a club. We were brought and left there. We stayed at this club for five or six days. Then we found some houses. Makeshift houses. We were placed there.

– What was life like in the first months of exile?

– Life was complicated at the time. And ours were even harder because of the hunger. We were given food rations. They were grinding different seeds and grains and gave them to us instead of flour.

– How did the local authorities and residents meet the Crimean Tatars?

– They didn’t do any harm to us. They’re the ones who met us. They found out we’re Crimean Tatars, Muslims, so there were no unkindness. They gave us jobs, food. Well, anyway, they treated us well. It was okay. Uzbekistan was a hospitable place after all.

– When did you return to Crimea?

– Talking about the returning to Crimea, my eldest son came back in 1991. He was the first. And in 1992, my youngest son came with his family. We arrived in 1996. Just the two of us. Me and my wife.

– Where? – Right here. In Oktyabrskoye. We arrived to Amurskoye. Krasnogvardeisky district, Amurskoye village.

– What did you dream of before deportation?

– What did I dream of before deportation? I wanted to be a mathematician. I wish things were different. When I finished school, we were already living on the outskirts of town. We weren’t allowed to go to the town. Commandant said to me: “Go to the institute”. And I went there without permission. We did it together with my friend, and he offered to go to medical school.

– What did you want to be?

– I wanted to be a mathematician.

– A teacher?

– No, I wanted to do science.

– What was Crimea to you?

– My homeland.

– Crimea is our homeland. We do not have another homeland. Crimea.