Going to school as a deportee

“We lived opposite the school, but the problem was that in winter we had nothing to go out in the street in. It was cold and we had no warm clothing. We were not allowed to go out in the street. We could only go out into the yard ten minutes a day. From the yard to the street there was a little hidden alleyway. When anyone went along it, you couldn’t see them, because the snow came above their head, and that is why they were afraid to let us go there, because if we slipped and fell, they couldn’t have found us. So we stayed inside. When my brother and I had to go to school, my mother would wrap us in a blanket and take us across one at a time. To go to school we had to go up the street and when there was a lot of snow it was very difficult. Once my sister, who was 14, tried but didn’t manage it. My mother was very strong and she would take us. After New Year, we were at last able to buy some clothes.”