Surviving in Stalin’s Russia During WWII (Białystok and Saratov period)

Surviving in Stalin’s Russia ironically proved to be for Polish Jews the single best choice to escape the catastrophe that engulfed them in Nazi occupied Europe.

On the background of history, stories told by real people tell us how they survived daily life.

Roma Eibuszyc noted the following in her journal.

“My daughter has convinced me to write about my life. Painful though it will be, I have decided to do this; not so much to preserve my story, but so that my brothers and sisters—and my entire lost generation—will not have perished with their stories untold.

I risk feeling again my stomach gnawing by constant hunger, the clutch of terror in my chest at seeing German planes over Warsaw, hearing the explosions of bombs, and the tormented sleep in an open field with one thin blanket between me and the sky. How can I describe the despair and loss of an entire family, the nonstop guilt, the haunting nightmares, and the chill that seeped into my bones and never quite left?

Still, I know that I have an obligation to bear witness. It was “bashert” (meant to be) that I survived to write what I remember.”

My mother’s family already living in Russia helped her survive WWII in Saratov. Her mother’s older sister with husband and seven children went to live in Russia after WWI. My mother was a small child when they left. The two families stayed in close contact by letters until the outbreak of WWII. Before fleeing Warsaw in November of 1939, my mother’s brother, Adek, made her take the address of their uncle and seven cousins. The aunt was no longer alive but the rest of the family thrived. Yet, they all disappeared from the face of the earth after Hitler attacked Moscow.

My mother wrote to them from Białystok and got a reply. Inside the envelope, her cousins sent money. It was the end of December; it was snowing. She used the money to purchase a pair of boots for her sister. Pola’s possessions were stolen on the way to Białystok. She needed winter shoes. She left her belongings in the field when she ran to hide from the Russian soldiers. Her backpack was picked up by a Russian family who demanded money for its return. They had no money to pay the ransom and Pola’s backpack was not returned. She was left with only the clothes and shoes she was wearing.

Before the end of 1939, thousands of Polish Jews were arriving in Białystok. The Jews of Białystok gave up their synagogue so that the arriving Jews had a roof over their heads. The synagogue was packed, it was like being inside an ant farm. Men fled Poland in greater numbers. Young husbands left their wives and children to escape deportation to the German labor camps. None of them grasped that the Nazis had the 'final solution' already planned. Many wives fled desperately searching for their husbands. The chaos was overwhelming. Many refugees even changed their mind after making their way to the Soviet-occupied territories and went back to German-occupied Poland. My mother never considered going back.

It was freezing cold in Białystok. A young couple with a baby remained engraved in my mother’s memory. The mother had a few cloth diapers which she attempted to clean in ice-cold water. She didn't have a place to dry them, so she wrapped the cold, damp, partially soiled diapers around her own body, attempting to dry the wet cloth with the heat from her body.  

In Białystok, in January of 1940, Russian officials dismantled the soup kitchens set up for the refugees fleeing Nazi occupied Poland. The Russian government was relocating them deep into the Russian interior for mandatory work. Some refugees were already returning from the Russian interior with stories of misery and despair inside of Russia. My mother felt helpless, with no idea what to do. Helplessness overwhelmed her. She asked repeatedly: "Is this what we fought for in Warsaw before the war?" Socialism and Bund's principles closely shadowed the principles of the Russian Revolution. My mother fought for Bund's principles. Now they were getting a tangible preview of what the Russian system was like. Most Polish Jews in prewar Poland were Bundists, working-class men and women, and now they were seeing the reality on the ground. Scarcity was prevalent, hunger and poverty were the norm. In Poland, Bund was legal; members were not interested in overthrowing the government. Their main goal was to improve economic conditions for all workers while preserving their Jewish heritage and traditions. However, their guiding light, were the principals of Socialism.   

The registration took place day and night.  Thousands of refugees descended on the office. Food shortages worsened and the already high prices increased. As my mother’s situation became increasingly desperate, she had no choice but to register. The refugees in my mother’s group were being taken to a collective community (a Kolkhoz), deep inside Russa. They were going to build a new community near the city of Saratov. They were given money to buy provisions for this journey. The only thing they could buy was canned foods, dried fruits and things that wouldn't spoil. The cars were packed with people, my mother and her group had to sit on filthy, black floor of the freight train cars.

The six-week trip took my mother further away from her home and family in Poland. The railroad cars had small gaps in the walls which became her windows to the outside world. They rode in cold railroad cars as the train moved through endless snow-covered fields. My mother felt physically and emotionally sick from the monotony of the vast, frozen landscape, the constant state of being cold and hungry, which seemed would never end. She could not shake the despair that overtook her. When the train stopped, men jumped down first to help the women get down. The humiliation continued, they had to relieve themselves right next to each other in the field next to the train. On this train was a man from Lodz, named Abram, who helped my mother many times through that nightmare of the trip. Little did she know, what a major part he would play in her life, in due course.

The Kolkhoz they were taken to build was in a God-forsaken village. They were brought to build a new settlement. The construction jobs fit right in with Russia’s expansion to heavy industries. With perseverance, my mother, her sister Pola and her brother Sevek secured jobs in the city of Saratov. As soon as my mother moved to 54 Lenina Street, a house next to the factory, she wrote a letter to her family in Moscow. Cousin Isaac arrived soon after and stayed for a couple of weeks. He brought food, clothing and news about the family. Overnight, my mother was no longer poor. Now, after work, cousin Isaac took my mother, Pola and Sevek out to eat in a restaurant and sometimes to a movie. The job at the textile factory started at seven in the morning and ended at three in the afternoon. My mother operated a large machine that manufactured a type of knit that required close control; the machine had to be watched continually. The fabric had to be kept straight. Standing on the job at all times was mandatory. My mother, her sister and two roommates lived in a house next to the factory. Their room was large, it had four metal beds, a table, a bench and a kerosene lamp. There was no electricity. The outhouse was in the small courtyard, behind the building. There was a pump where they could get water for drinking and washing up. Once a month, they went to the public bathhouse to bathe. Part of her salary went to pay for the room, the rest for food rations. There was nothing left over. At the same time, the stores and shelves were always empty.  

Cousin Isaac and my mother liked each other instantly. Isaac was a famous director of a Moscow Yiddish theater. He said he remembered my mother when she was a toddler. My mother did not remember him at all. Besides Russian, Isaac spoke Polish and Yiddish. He said that his parents insisted on keeping both languages alive at home. He was a little older than my mother, but they had much in common. His passion for the written word made my mother reminisce about the performances she saw on the Warsaw stage. He was infatuated with Russian and Yiddish writers and passionate about music and politics. My mother told him about her involvement with Bund in Warsaw and her belief in a better world for all workers while preserving Jewish heritage in Europe. Isaac came back frequently and also sent money inside letters. On every visit he insisted she meet the rest of the family in Moscow when she was free to travel. He also sent packages of food with actors who traveled from Moscow to perform in Saratov. My mother, Pola and Sevek   would not have survived without Isaac's help. The things that he did not say during his visit, he was saying in his passionate letters to her.

During his two-week visit, my mother learned from Isaac that there were no food shortages in Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Stalin made sure food supplies were high in those large cities for diplomatic reasons. Foreign dignitaries were only allowed to travel to these big cities. They saw only the successful and flourishing side of Russia. The Russian people who wanted to move out of the smaller cities, towns, and villages where bread was rationed, couldn’t; the big cities were closed to them. To travel or move within Russia, people needed permission. Movement was closed to the refugees as well; they could not register to live in any large city. They lived in an internal exile. But at the highest levels of Russia's corruption, everything was possible and obtainable. Surviving in Russia during WWII, my mother experienced firsthand that there is nothing natural or organic about Communism, it is the hierarchy of all the hierarchies.  

Before their mandatory control for traveling was over in January of 1941, my mother was planning to visit her cousins in Moscow. She and her sister went to the train station to look at the train schedule. They walked around the large Saratov station.  During their year in the city, they had never been there. Without any warning they were promptly arrested by the NKVD, the Russian secret police. This was part of the intimidation tactic. By the time they were released, at the end of the day, everyone knew of their arrest. The following month my mother was free to travel. It was her boss at the textile factory who explained to her how to get to Moscow. She had to buy a ticket to a city called Iwanowo, the textile capital of Russia since the 19th century. While changing trains in Moscow, she simply had to get off. 

The textile industry of Iwanowo grew after importing textile machinery and staff from England. This occurred during the reign of the19^th century reformer, the western thinking, Alexander II. Alexander II was moving Russia towards adapting western principles. He was called the reformer/liberator - he liberated some 20 million surfs, on paper.  He was assassinated by the rising Bolsheviks for moving Russia toward western ideas and capitalism. Alexander II was also an Antisemite. The Odessa Pogroms of 1821 are considered by many historians as the first state sponsored Pogroms. In Russian, Pogroms means to destroy. His son, Alexander III, the successor, in order to avenge his father’s murder imposed more tyranny. He did not go after the real foes, the rising Bolsheviks, whose goal was to stop progress toward the western ideas. Instead, he evoked Jewish conspiracies. Bolsheviks were not challenged, it was easier to go after the myth that Jews are hostile to Christians, to the roots that Christ was killed by Jews.

Next in line to Alexander III, was his son, Nicolas II, and a much bloodier wave of pogroms broke out in the early 20th century. Nicolas II was openly Antisemitic. In 1903, he commissioned the fake booklet, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. To take away the attention from his own failures Nicolas II put the blame on the Jews by using the centuries old religious hatred. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was reprinted by Henry Ford in America and later copied by Hitler to make up his book, Mein Kampf. This antisemitic propaganda pamphlet describes an imaginary Jewish religious plan for domination. The Tzars were inciting mobs to harm Jews and the pogroms on Jews continued through the early 20th century.

During the Cossack-Polish War, in the mid-17^th Century, the Cossacks of Ukraine, led by a nobleman and Cossack officer Bohdan Khmelnytsky, sought support and acceptance in Tsarist’s Russia. Also known by his other name, “Hamil of Evil”, he carried out massacres of thousands of Jews. This is still seen as one of the most traumatic events in the history of the Jews in this region. Between 15,000-30,000 Jews were viciously massacred. Some 300 Jewish communities were completely annihilated. Khmelnytsky is regarded as a national hero in Ukraine.

In 1917, the Red Army of workers, peasants and Bolsheviks triumphed. Bolsheviks became the Communists, with Lenin as the leader, and the first Communist state was born.  Lenin wanted a “dictatorship of the proletariat”.  He overthrew the Provisional Government. Mensheviks, a large Democratic Party, were against Lenin’s violence.  Lenin saw violence as the only answer and to gain power he massacred all opposition. The oppressed people became the tyrants, the violent mob. All tyrants, Czars, Communists, Nazis, gained and stayed in power by eliminating the opposition and by creating a police state. Stalin took control after Lenin’s death. He put all the blame on Russia's backwardness, on workers and on peasants - the same people who made Russia a communist state. Stalin is responsible for the deaths of millions, including his own supporters in the name of communist ideology. He embarked on a brutal and ruthless plan known as the '2nd Revolution'.         

The Industrial Revolution resulted in producing wealthy industrialists and their heirs, all living in luxury while workers lived in poverty and squalor. This was not any different under communism, where workers lived in poverty. During the “2nd Revolution”, Stalin’s ruthless laws were met with protests, demonstrations, riots and strikes. Workers in Russia’s oldest and largest textile center resisted his brutal laws that left them living in poverty, illness, hunger and squalor. In 1932, twenty thousand workers of Iwanovo went on strike. This was seen as a criticism of Stalin and Communism, and as a result, Stalin crushed the rebellion with bloodshed and more tyranny. The 350 years of Tsars tyrannical rule, a position held for life and passed through heredity, was followed by Communism. Both systems had to be in total control and problems had to be hushed-up - suppression was the answer. Censorship of media was a must. Transparency was not an option.

My mother bought a third-class ticket to Iwanovo. The wagons were so crowded that she had to sit on the floor. The cars were cold and there was no food service; she ate what she brought with her from home. The trip took the whole night. She arrived in Moscow in the morning and as instructed, she got off. She took a taxi to her cousin's apartment. Isaac was single and lived in a small but beautifully furnished apartment with his father. By now, her uncle was an old man.  Her aunt died around the time when my grandmother got sick and had a stroke when my mother was 10 years old. Isaac and his father were both joyful to see her and took care of her as if she was a beloved child. Since her mother's stroke, my mother had not experienced so much tenderness. Isaac and her uncle hovered over her. They made sure all her discomforts from the long journey vanished.

She was fed a delicious breakfast that her uncle prepared; a table was arranged with breads, butter, jam, different meats, cheeses and eggs. Isaac made her hot tea using an old silver samovar. Her uncle, although old, was mentally alert and wanted to know about her life in Saratov and Warsaw. Isaac was a gentleman, with an apology, he said she would not be staying in his apartment since there was no room and also it was not appropriate. He wanted my mother to be comfortable, and arranged for her to stay with one of the cousins. He left for the theater as he was in the middle of a production. He said he would take her there in the afternoon and promised he would spend time with her at the end of each day.

In the afternoon, Isaac and my mother, took a taxi to the cousin’s apartment. She was married and had an eight-year-old son. Most of the cousins worked. Her husband was a professor and she stayed home and took care of her son. In the evening, all of the cousins came to her apartment to meet my mother and to rejoice in this amazing reunion. My mother never dreamt that she would be standing there being hugged and kissed by all seven cousins. She remembered how her brother Adek insisted she takes their addresses when she was escaping Poland for what she thought would be only a few weeks.

At that time, Stalin was still an ally of Nazi Germany. All her cousins were in the dark as to what was going on outside of their country. They wanted to know what had happened in Warsaw. My mother told them how she survived the month-long bombing of Warsaw, the devastation and the fire that consumed her city. She described the Nazi invasion, how Warsaw looked and the treatment of Jews by the time she ran East. She told them about her sister Anja, her husband’s last words and his fear that the Nazis had an evil secret plan for Jews. There was a total silence in the room.  She explained that Jewish men and women could no longer work, how they were dehumanized, their rights were being taken away. What Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kampf was becoming a reality. Her family looked as though they didn't believe her. My mother remembered her thoughts back then, that it was just as well. For now, her cousins' lives, for the most part, were worry-free and just maybe, in Russia, things would stay this way. Maybe they will get to keep their innocence.

As promised, Isaac took my mother out every night. They went to the theater, movies and coffee houses. It seemed that Isaac knew everyone. Everywhere they went, they ran into his friends, so they were never alone. Isaac transported her to a time that had nothing to do with war and poverty. They ate food she could never have afford in Warsaw, food that was not available in Saratov. The stores were large, with signs in both Russian and French. Chicken, veal, beef, everything was available on the menu. Vegetable stores were stocked with all kinds of fresh produce. Groceries, bakeries, meat stores were full. Ice cream was sold everywhere, even in February.

My mother’s cousin took her to Kremlin, where Lenin was laid to rest in the mausoleum. There were mirrors on each side of his open casket. He was wearing a splendid green uniform. Lenin looked very much alive. People were not allowed to hold packages as they passed the casket. Stopping was also not allowed, so they walked slowly, in a single file, passing guards who stood rigidly in attention.

My mother had never seen another subway that even came close to the Moscow’s metro. Opened to the public in 1935, it was the pride of Stalin's Communist Party. The stations were astounding architectural projects, with marble walls, high ceilings, and extravagant chandeliers. It was like stepping into a museum. The underground stations were large, bright, and clean—and although it was still winter, it was warm inside. The trains were fast and quiet. It was here that she rode an escalator for the first time. In Moscow, pedestrians had to wait for a light to cross the wide streets. The lights didn't change often, and many people would gather at a light. When they finally had the right to cross, it looked like a small demonstration was taking place.

All of my mother’s cousins had good jobs. They tried to convince her to stay. Though it was impossible to register to live in Moscow, her cousins promised they would arrange for her to stay in the city legally. But my mother was also hiding a secret, she just got involved with Abram, a young man from the city of Łódź. Abram only talked about returning to Poland; they shared that dream of going back home. Like my mother, he missed his family terribly.

Isaac and my mother never had an opportunity to be alone together, which my mother considered it at the time to be a blessing. Their relationship never had a chance to blossom and grow. But she often wondered what would have happened if it had been Isaac instead of Abram who had spent all his free time by her side. Would she have made a decision to stay in Russia?

My mother’s vacation ended. She had to go back to Saratov and work. Isaac bought her a first-class train ticket. There were only four passengers to a compartment. At night the conductor brought out spotless, soft, white bedding (mattresses, sheets, pillows, and blankets). She was able to order whatever food her heart desired. She had never experienced such luxury and service before. Her head was spinning with so many thoughts. She laid down on her bench and closed her eyes. She wished the train ride would never end. She thought about Moscow; soon her thoughts drifted and she pictured her family in Warsaw, hungry and afraid. She could not leave her sister Pola. Then there was Sevek in Siberia. She had to keep him alive, she was sending him packages. She didn’t live just for herself; her conscience would not allow it. She thought about Abram who was waiting for her in Saratov. She refused to consider the reality that she would be more helpful to those she loved if she married Isaac.

Soon after my mother’s visit to Moscow, Isaac was back in Saratov. He brought food and clothes and again, tried to convince her to come to Moscow. When it was time for him leave, he made my mother promise that she would maintain contact no matter what. He held her tight, and begged her, one last time, to come to Moscow with him. He said she could bring Pola; that she could get on the train and that he could not understand her hesitation. My mother did not have the courage to tell him how she lived for the moment when she could go home to Warsaw. She loved Isaac and telling him the truth would break his heart - she could not bring herself to do this. My mother lived for the day of going back home. So, she managed to say she needed more time. When the train pulled away from the platform, she wanted desperately to run after it. She was so tired of the relentless hardships. She was ready for an easier life. But it was as if her legs were glued to the pavement. 

On June 22, 1941, under Operation Barbarossa, Germany bombed Ukraine and Byelorussia. Survivors were evacuated from those territories, some of them ended up in Saratov. At the train station my mother saw a horrifying picture, women holding children in their arms—and nothing else. Germany attacked without a warning, and Russia was not prepared. While Russia was still mobilizing, the German army took over the whole of Ukraine and Byelorussian territories. All day long, my mother heard nothing but a voice on the radio broadcasting "The enemy is strong and the Russian country is in grave danger." As the war moved closer and calamity hanged over their heads, my mother’s room was robbed. In the middle of the afternoon, everything they possessed was stolen, and they were left with only the clothing each wore to work that morning.

Six months after my mother’s visit to Moscow, Hitler’s army attacked the city.  By October 1941, my mother lost all contact with her Russian family. She was never again able to find any of them, even after the war. She was fluent in Russian and searched for her Russian family for many years after the war. My mother did not know, but dire conditions existed inside Moscow. The Battle of Moscow (Oct. 1941, to Jan. 1942) lasted four months and close to 1 million Russians died defending their city. This is more causalities than that of the US and Britain during all of WW II. Those were ordinary men and women who took up arms defending Moscow.  There was also famine, starvation and disease. The conditions were horrific, and people turned against each other. When my mother lost all contact with Isaac and family, she rationalized for a long time that the men were drafted and the families evacuated.

As the war moved closer to Saratov, my mother and Abram (who became my father) joined the Polish army, the Anders Army, forming on Russian soil. It was forced on Stalin by England, America and the Polish government in exile, in exchange for helping Russia to fight Hitler. Russia was not prepared and was caught off guard.  Stalin never believed that Hitler would attack Russia. My mother and father rode the freight trains with the soldiers from February 18 until April 6 1942. The training destination was Central Asia, a remote village of Guzar in Uzbekistan. Their lives again became hopeless; subsisting on army rations evaporated. My father was a recruit, but in the end, he did not pass the medical evaluation.

The loss of Isaac was one more source of sadness for my mother. After the war she talked about him often, with tears in her eyes. She would have given anything to know if he survived. When I was older, she revealed to me that she almost married Isaac. She also imagined that she would have most likely perished in the war. My mother came to believe that none of her seven cousins and their families survived, she looked for them in vain. No one ever replied from Russia.

My book, Memory is Our Home, was published in English in 2015 and one year later in 2016 in Polish in Poland. The second edition was published in November 2020. Available on www.amazon.com

http://memoryisourhome.com/