Balashova Ekaterina Filippovna

Tell us about yourself

My name is Balashova Ekaterina Filippovna. I was born in November 7, 1925 in a family of collective farmers in the village Ludskoe, Sosnovsky region, Orlovskaya oblast. My family consisted of six members: mother, father, three brothers and I. One of my brothers died in the Finnish war, another one participated in the Great Patriotic War and died after the Second World War. The third one, the youngest, is living in Orlovskaya oblast now.

Tell us about your prewar life

Before the war I graduated from the 8th grade and lived with my parents. My childhood did not differ from the rest.

Do you remember being forced to Germany?

The first time they came and took me away in Selsoviet, but then they let me go again. The second time they took us away to the region center and later to the city Orel, where they loaded us in freight trains. They were from our region…

In 1943 at the age of 18 we were taken away for the first time, but for whatever reason where set free again and we walked back 18 km. The second time we were taken to the region center, after that to the city Orel, where we were loaded into the freight train, side by side; there was nothing, even straw. From our Selsoviet there were five persons: three nurses and two of us, girls. We studied at school together. At Orel they kept us for a little while; they gathered others from Orlovskaia oblast; loaded us in trains with only wooden boards. We moved to Germany where our masters already were waiting for us. All of us were placed in one camp, there were bunk beds and we lived with Russians; there were small pillows with straw, futons, calico bed sheets and thin blankets. We were in the same clothes in which we left our village, we had no food and received it only the next day. And we went to work…  

Concerning other nationalities, there were Ukrainians and they were treated better than we. When we came, they already had been there. On the next day we went to the work. I worked at the workshop (14-58) together with a girl from my school. We assembled the automatic homing heads, nobody knew what we were doing. I made rivets, the homing heads were heavy and I did it bad and the German saw it and told ”hangman”; he understood that I made it on purpose (the rivets). My classmate and I cleaned the workshop in turns and he beat me, but later Germans were very disgusted by this. We had one small loaf in a day for work, at the morning we had the meal from turnip and at the evening we ate the turnip again. I wonder how did we survive – such nutrition! Once I poured over the water on a German on purpose and he beat me twice.

How many hours did you work?

All day long from the morning until the evening, no weekends. During three years we washed just once.

Were you paid?

Sometimes we were, we got a few Deutschmarks, I don’t remember exactly.  

Were there workers of other nationalities?

There were prisoners of war next door, they were French. But we didn’t know about them and found out when we were left to the mercy of fate without food and water.

How did you hear about the end of the war?

Before that happened two girls had came in our camp and had started to sing Russian songs. Nurses that were with us told us that there was something wrong as Russians had come and started to sing songs. We did not know that the war came to an end and we were left with nothing. We were freed by Americans and then we discovered that there were French people nearby, but the Ukrainians disappeared in a strange way.  

What year did you get to the camp?

At the end of 1942, at the factory in Grindbach.

What were the relations between prisoners? Did you have friends?

What friends? Neither friends nor mates. We even didn’t know that the war ended.

Did you think about staying in Germany?

No, what are you talking about? We walked 5 km, many were scattered on the road, prisoners of war, Ostarbeiters, and we just went where they went. But we don't even know where and then they started to separate us.

Do you remember the way back home?

I returned at Orel. When I came to Russia, to Orel, I walked to my village approximately 20 km. When we came home, people called me “the German Shepard”.

Had there changed anything by the time you came back?

The village was completely burned, the Germans burned it. When I came home by foot, there was no village, just dugouts and I didn’t know where is mine. I went there where our home used to be and opened the door. My mother was at home, grabbed me, she was about to faint. Later my brother returned from the war. My father was told that I came back and when he entered he didn’t recognize me due to my exhausted appearance.