Nina Dorzhinovna Bovayeva ~ Shatta

“In December 1943, two soldiers arrived. Russians. I fed them. And then they told me to gather up my valuables. That we would be going somewhere far away. They did not say where. They helped me carry my things and a large pot filled with clarified butter to the car. They said there was no need to bring the figurines, but they helped me carry a suitcase filled with woolen scarves. I later remembered them fondly. We survived off that butter in the train car. And we helped our neighbors survive. Of course we could not eat the butter secretly, while other people were dying of hunger. Later, in Siberia, I traded my scarves for food, and my things for potatoes.”