My grandmother Zhenya was born in the North Caucasian district (the Southern Russia), in Kislovodsk city. Kislovodsk (literally “sour waters”) is a small city with beautiful nature and rich history as a fashionable spa centre where many musicians, artists, and members of the Russian aristocracy spent their summers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Due to its location this district is famous for its multicultural population: Russian, Armenians, Jews, Ukrainians, Greeks, Romani people and many other ethnical groups live together. I remember many stories from my Grandmother about her lively street where kids of all nationalities were playing with each other.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War all sanatoriums and holiday houses were turned into hospitals and the main spa resort in the country became one of the main hospital bases. Unfortunately, it did not last long. German, Italian, and Romanian soldiers came to the town in summer, 1942 and stayed there for almost half a year. That was tough time for all citizens and especially for still working hospitals. All children including my Grandmother continued attending schools.
However, the study plan was changed completely. “Every day we had to open our books, take our pens and search for the names of Stalin and Lenin. Once you found these, you should cross them. And then search for the next one” – my Grandmother told us. I have been always amazed how the context changed such a seemingly easy and repetitive act.
One day my Grandmother saw her friend, a Jewish girl with her family, packing their stuff. All Jews in the town were told to leave their houses and take a train to move to another location (so called low population areas) where they could settle down. It was recommended to only take jewelry and money and leave notes with names so the new German authorities could send the rest to their new addresses. The family of my Gran and other neighbours did not believe in that and tried to persuade this Jewish family to stay (now we know that there were no “better” choices in that horrible situation). However, they left anyway.
Later, when the city was liberated, my Gran’s family and many other citizens went to a place where the executions of so many Jews had taken place, hoping to find their friends and neighbors in order to give them a proper burial. They managed to find their lost neighbours. Gran remembered many children helping the adults with the burials.
After liberation children continued to actively help: my Grandmother went to school in the morning and assisted nurses in the hospitals after lunch. She also knitted warm socks for soldiers.
I admire that my grandparents never said a single bad word about Germany after everything they went through. Instead, they always respected Germany’s many traditions and were fascinated by German culture. After my first trip to Germany my grandparents were very enthusiastic to learn more and see what modern Germany looked like putting aside all possible stereotypes. Well, they may have thought that German is not the most melodic language, but they could always separate people from orders and the past events from the present.
Written by Mila Iakovenko from Russia living in the Netherlands
Foto source: Konstantin Malanchev
This article is part of the World by Word campaign. This project originated at YMCA Netherlands and is a multinational cooperation of YMCA Europe Roots for Peace project, and the Dutch former Soviet Cemetery Leusden. World by Word is a prelude to an Erasmus+ funded Youth Exchange “Then, now and later: towards a composite memory”, taking place in the Netherlands in 2022.
