BioGraphy
Alma VALINTELIENE
Alma Valintėlienė was born near Vilnius in 1936. Her father, from a family considered as "kulaks", was arrested on 15 June 1941 as a "traitor to the nation". Alma and her mother were separated from him, and taken to Novosibirsk, then took boats on the Ob and Parbig rivers to the village of Krylovka and finally to the village of Sobolinka, where they arrived on 15 July 1941.
In 1942, Alma's mother gave birth to a son, and the family moved to Krylovka. She received a letter from an acquaintance of her husband's, informing her that he had died. In 1947, Alma and her brother returned to Lithuania. They lived with their grandparents, and helped them farm the land. Alma started school.
After just over five years in Lithuania, Alma's mother wrote from Siberia, advising her to return as soon as possible to avoid being arrested in Lithuania, deported again, and potentially imprisoned. Alma, 17, returned to Krylovka in 1953, shortly after Stalin's death. There she was reunited with her mother, who had since remarried. Alma finished school and obtained permission to train as a teacher in Kolpashevo.
After graduating, Alma Valintėlienė returned to Lithuania, where she taught Russian for 45 years. Her mother joined her there in 1967, along with her husband and children. In the 1990s, after the opening of the archives concerning "traitors to the nation", Alma Valintėlienė tried to retrace the last months of her father's life. According to official sources, he died of pneumonia on 30 November 1941.
At the time of the interview, Alma Valintėlienė was still living in Lithuania, north of Vilnius.
The interview with Alma Valinteliene was conducted in 2010 by Marta Craveri.