And so, here is the first part of that amazing account. This was what life was like with our family in our little village in the USSR. (Thanks to Rick Rye for his kind translation)
"Before the revolution, the parents had their own farm 12 km from the village of Josefstal. They had a wooden house on the farm, and all necessary farm buildings. They were farmers and raised livestock. There was a lot of working livestock on the farm: horses, bullocks, camels, cows, young calves, sheep. There were a lot of implements, plows, carts, sledges, harrows, mowers. Of course there was the plot of land. After the revolution, the land was taken away according to the rules of the Soviet Regional Committee of the USSR. After that they had to sell one of the two houses, so one was liquidated. After they moved to a home in the village of Josefstal. The house in the village was mostly of wood, but had all the necessary structures and workers, but then World War I came. All the horses were taken for the Army, almost all the livestock died of disease, and the farm became poor. There remained only 2 colts and 4 working bullocks on the farm, and two cows.
In 1921, there was no harvest and people in the village died from starvation. Oldest brother Mikhail and his wife Margaretha in the summer of 1921 took one horse from father, took one cart and a saddle, and the brother and Margaretha left for Germany. Brother Jacob separated from our family. He received one horse. In 1922 brother Paul also went to Germany. At the beginning of 1922, sister Katya married, and in 1923 sister Maria married. Only four bullocks remained at our family. In 1924 brother Georg left the family, he received one working bull and a cow. Only four of us remained in the family with brother Gottfried and our parents. On February 10, 1925, father died, so it was just me, my brother Gottfried, and Mama alone at the farm. We had two bulls and one horse. In 1926 he married, so Gottfried stayed on the farm until 1929, the year I married. Only two horses remained, and we divided them between us, one horse each. At the end of 1929 – beginning of 1930, the collective farm was founded, and in 1930 we entered the collective. Brother Georg didn’t enter the collective, but left for the neighbouring village where he became the elder and built a house. Then our village authorities came and took his horse and cow and he had nothing. He and his son went to Stalingrad to work in a tractor factory. Then the rest of the family went to Stalingrad. From there he moved to the Kuban, and got set up at a collective farm. He lived there until he was exiled to Kazakhstan. Then in 1942 with his older son, he was taken into the worker’s army and both of them didn’t return.
Brother Jacob entered the collective farm and joined the communist party. In 1933 he was kicked out of the party and fined. He was sent to a tractor brigade as a student, and at the end of 1933 he was sent to the tractor course, where he worked as a tractor driver until 1937, when he was arrested and sent to prison. He never came back.
Brother Gottfried, after these events, was sent by the collective to study as a veterinary assistant, which he completed, and worked as a veterinarian at the veterinary station, first in the village of Josefstal, then in the village of Marienfeld, where he lived until the deportation. He then went to work after the deportation in the collective farms in the Omsk region until he retired.
A little information about those brothers and sisters who
remained alive:
1. Sister Anna had a son and a daughter
2. Brother Georg had two sons and a daughter
3. Brother Jacob had one son and a daughter
4. Brother Paul had two sons and a daughter
5. Sister Katy had two daughters
6. Sister Maria had two sons and five daughters
7. Brother Gottfried had four daughters
8. From me, Ivan, there is one son, Volodya."
Next Up: The period of 1929 to the deportation of September of 1941.
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