Sigh.
Another sad story. I set out to determine what happened to everyone in our family. My grandparents escaped from Russia in the 1920's. Thinking they would be able to keep in touch with their parents and siblings.
They were wrong.
After 1933 there was silence.
My grandfather's oldest sister, born in 1896, would marry Michael Kisser on October 23, 1912.
This picture of them both, with 2 of their children (Beata and Isabella), was taken in 1917.
Anna will die in the USSR in 1983.
I always wondered what happened to Michael. Now word from family in Germany confirms what we did not know.
A relative writes:
"Anna's first man (Michael Kisser) was arrested during the Soviet famine of the 1930s. In order to feed his family, he fetched grains of wheat from the field. The wheat grains were fried and eaten to survive. Once the police caught him. He was sentenced to 10 years for stealing Soviet property. Michael had a very soft heart. Prison, imprisonment and being separated from his family have taken a toll on him. Anna Gerk regularly visited him in prison. But the prison officials told her that Michael will not survive his imprisonment. Prison has broken him and his psyche badly. One day he died. He spent in prison no more than 1 or 1.5 years."
That was around 1933-1934.
Some more photographs from family:
Anna will marry again, Konrad Arnold, a widower. They will have 2 children, Josef and Anna. Konrad will suffer the same fate and will be arrested in 1938.
The great-grandson of Anna writes:
"In fact, we don't know much about Konrad Arnold. My grandmother was 1 year old when her father (Konrad Arnold) disappeared. One day people from the state security came and took him from his family and home away. Apparently, he was sent to Siberia. After that, his wife, Anna (Gerk) Arnold received only one letter from him. Nothing was ever heard from him again. Anna (Gerk) Arnold said to my grandmother (Anna Arnold) that Konrad was a shoemaker by trade. While working, he sang Christian songs that were normally sung in church. And apparently this was not allowed. The Communist Party and Stalin in particular had opposed religion."
I want to say that my grandparents would have been heartbroken to know what was happening to their family. But I know their hearts were already broken from not knowing.I write these stories, as sad as they are, so our family never forgets...and to honour those who have gone before us.
