In the early 70s a friend of mine, Tolya Lukin, and I got into the habit of fishing together. On Friday evenings, after work, we would go by boat to the Volga river, drop anchor near a fairway, sink a basket with a lure and start to catch breams. We would fish all night long. It's not a hard job, as bites were rare, so we were talking. For us it was even more interesting than fish.
Tolya's origin is Siberia, and I told him my impression of it, as I lived there in time of war, in 1941-1946. We were evacuated there because our own town, Kiev, was occupied by Germans. The village, to which we were sent, Novonikolaevka, was so-so, no better, no worse than the others in Novosibirsk region. Most of the natives were quite well off. Every household had 2 or 3 cows, about 20 to 30 sheep, pigs, chickens and other animals, and a big vegetable garden. To share their wealth with newcomers they considered stupid and wrong. So they didn't share. We weren't trained to live their way and weren't prepared for such a drastic change for the worse, so we got by as we could. Some of us just died from malnutrition. The worst came when people arrived from Leningrad, after being freed from the German's blockage. These people were different even from us. Not only were they emaciated, but they were exhausted mentally. They behaved in an inadequate manner – hiding food under the pillow, speaking oddly. They were highly educated people and their language was a standard of Russian from tzar's time, when St. Petersburg, now Leningrad, was a capital of Russia. Every move they made amused locals and was discussed in a mocking way in the presence of the victims. Such hostility could be partially explained by the way they came themselves to Siberia.
Most of the local people came to this place not voluntarily. When Stalin started the collectivization campaign, he persecuted severely any opposition. Many people were shot, put in jail, or exiled to the North, Siberia and the like. It was very hard for them to start a new life, they lost a lot on the way to success. And they took offense against outsiders, whoever they were. My older sister, Rachel, was in grade 6 at the school, and she told us that one of the boys in her class came close to the map, put his finger on Novosibirsk (the Siberian capital) and said: "I don't mind if Germans come up to here." It was like he was repeating what he heard at home.
When I finished my story, Tolya said: "Actually I was born near that place. In any case, I recognize our morals and tempers."Then he told me his story. "At that time all the villagers paid regular taxes but had to pay a so-called “Supply of Red Army Fund”. As they never had any money, (it was just subsistence farming), they could pay by products – grain, meat, butter, eggs, wool, etc.
Once their village refused to pay. All demands and threats they just ignored. Then one day in beginning of November, before a national holiday, an officer came to the village, empowered by the NKVD (from which later branched out KGB) and with a platoon armed with rifles. All adults from the village were gathered and arranged so that they were facing the river and behind them were the soldiers. The officer gave a short speech about everybody's patriotic debt in war time and concluded: Those who are going to pay – step out. The rest – take two steps ahead. It was November, the river was already full of sludge ice. Some of the people got out and were treated by tax collectors. The rest were told to walk into the river, up to their ankles. After one minute the officer repeated his order. Again some left, the rest had to walk deeper into the icy water, up to their knees. Similar orders were pronounced a few times more. The most courageous gave up only when they were up to their necks in the water."
Here, I'd like to explain what it means to spend a few minutes in icy water. Once I read that astronauts had to pass a test – to keep feet up to the knees in icy water for four minutes. It appeared to me too easy, as I, myself, was twice in the icy water (not willingly), but I don't remember anything to compare to the heroic deed required for astronauts. I decided to make another try. I filled up the bathtub with cold water, measured the temperature, it was 4 degrees. Not a zero, but enough to get an idea. I sat on the edge, feet in the water. After only one minute I decided to stop the experiment. No-no, don't take me wrong. If it would be a test for joining the astronaut's group I would stand it to the end. But I didn't have so great a stimulus. It wasn't just too cold. It was painful. It was so much pain that I was afraid of the consequences. But those people from the village, they were in the icy water up to the neck, and more than for four minutes!
A couple years ago I found on the Web a forum of the near town in Siberia. I wrote to them, told my story, that I spent five years of my childhood in grim time in our country. I told them that I didn't want to chew again and again on those circumstances, I just want to know how they live now, what changes were made in the area. I wanted to become their friend. Nobody answered me. They didn't become even a bit more associative.
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