Usnie Abduraimova

– In 1943, I don’t remember exactly when, my father was taken to the labor army. We stayed with mother. Five children. I was 6, and the oldest sister Asie was 18 years old, and the second sister, Nadjie, was 14. I’ve got elder sister Zekie she was 10, and I was 6, I told you. And the youngest sister was only a year and a half.

-What was her name?

– On May 18, 1944 I remember, that everybody was crying, everybody was fussing terribly. And the youngest sister was sick, so mum couldn’t pull herself together. She didn’t know what to do. They gave us a few minutes, 15 minutes, I guess. She wanted to… It wasn’t like that. The soldier who evicted our family was a kind man. He saw that we’re all small, and my mother… I will say “anashka” instead of “mother”. My anashka was getting lost, he walked up to her and said:

“It is going to be a long way. Take the flour with you.” Anashka was confused, she couldn’t even find the bag. So he went to the barn, found the bag, filled the bag with flour. And my sisters Asie and Nadjie were old enough. They took the sewing machine. They even took a separator. They managed to take a full suitcase. Turkish shawls, clothes, fur coats, warm coats, clothes. Gradually, they packed everything and took turns dragging them to the center of the village. There was a center. Everyone was dragged there. And then I… I remember everybody on the train, knocking wheels. I remember when the train stopped, the train used to brake so suddenly. “Bang!” – that was the knock. I remember there was a two-tier train. Our family was on the second shelf. It was such a small, small window. I remember

I looked out. I remember that.

– How long did it take?

– I don’t remember that, but anashka said we were on our way for about a month. We arrived, probably… Yes, in June. It was hot, very hot. Bayaut was the name of the district, bare steppe. On a map even was before just the bare steppe. They took us to the barracks. One barrack was for 2-3 families. There were no windows or doors. On the dirt floor that was there, we laid everything we could. It was all flat. Then about a month later, my sister, Meva, died.

– Why?

– She was sick all the way long. And when they brought us to this Bayaut, there was no sewerage, no water. It’s just a dug hole, and there’s green water. And mosquitoes. And people didn’t boil this water, they drank it. Everybody got dysentery and malaria. People were just dying. We didn’t have time to bury people. It was terrifying. Our tizeshka, mum’s sister, died. All close relatives died. Our stepsister died.

– Did you have a step-sister?

– Dad’s stepsister. Not ours, Dad’s. My dad’s father married a woman. She had a daughter and a son. This daughter died.

– Was your father with you at the time?

– He was in the labor army, in Saratov.

– When?

– He died in 1945 due to illness. He returned to Bayaut. I guess. But he died, I think, in 1945. I’m not sure. Then we all got dysentery and malaria. My stomach started to swell. They made me a dress out of a parachute. Yes, there was nothing to wear. And my dress was filling up, my stomach was swollen. Then anashka met someone, made a deal… There was a curfew then. Oh, no, hold on…

My older sister, Asie, she went to Chirchik without permission, and at that time you couldn’t even go a mile away. Every month adults went to the commandant’s office – they noted that they were there. Then the commandant’s office found out. If my sister didn’t go to the mark, she’s not there. They put anashka there… is was not a prison. It was a room at commandant’s office. She was locked there all day. They wouldn’t let her go. Trying to find out everything. Where she went. Of course, my mum didn’t say where her daughter was. At night they let her go. Then my anashka made a deal secretly…

– Speak calmly, don’t strain your voice.

– To get out of Bayaut to Chirchik, she paid the matchmaker money. He made the deal with the driver. We were taken to Mirzachul — this is the center of Bayaut. How many kilometers I don’t know. 100 kilometers maybe, 50-100.

– What year was it?

– Then this driver stopped. He said this matchmaker didn’t give him all the money. He tricked anashka, so he kept the money for himself. We sold the sewing machine, separator. Sold everything we had: the fur coats, the coats, all the shawls. We exchanged them to rice when we lived in Bayaut. We lived there for a year. And anashka paid for the road. We were lying in this truck during the day. We were covered with a blanket, because we went secretly. And at night, they put the blankets away. We were on the road for about 24 hours. Anyway, we came to Chirchik. When we got to Chirchik, our relatives were there. They took us in. Then Asie was put in a jail. Before that she had been put in a jail for two months in Chirchik for her leaving without permission. Then they let us go. Asie got a job as a postman in the post office. The manager was very kind. When her husband came from Germany, he was an officer, they were given… they either moved out, or they were given a good apartment.

Anyway, she left us her room and we started living there.

I won’t tell you anymore. I feel dizzy.