They unloaded us from the wagons

“They took us to Irkutsk and unloaded us from the wagons. It was in April. From there they sent us out to villages all over the region. And that is how we got to Zhigalovo.

They allocated us to empty houses with no doors or windows. We first used paper to fill the openings. Then, when winter arrived, we tried to fix things better. And then… we got used to that life.

First of all they forced us to dig the fields. You know, there weren’t many tractors after the war. Anyway, we had to meet our daily labour quota.”