Inna Iosifovna Bashchinskaya (Lyulevich)

Date of birth: 8 June1926

Interviewer: Inna Romanovna (Russia), Sigrid Rischer (Austria)

9 August 2010

Can you tell us a bit about your family?

I was born in Konstantinovka. We lived on Tbilisi Street. My father deserted us and I lived with my mother and my brother, who is 3 years younger than me. They stayed living under the Germans, but [the Germans] took me away. We had a good family; Mama had five sisters, they helped us. Mama worked, went around the village and exchanged things for food, but she was illiterate. My brother (12 years old) worked for the Germans, and when a horse died they gave us the meat. They were difficult times. And then they took me away; that separation was very difficult for all of us, and when I returned in June 1945, Mama said that there was not one day when she did not cry.

When the Germans entered the town, where were you at that time? What do you remember?

Everybody tried to support each other without distinction, no matter what nationality the people were. When the Germans came into the town I was at home. We lived on a hill, so I did not see anything. Of course, it was terrible, they dropped bombs, and I was still a girl. I was 15 years old. We loved Stalin and still remember him today. He did not desert us, he was in Moscow all that time, did not run away somewhere, he supported us and the soldiers fought battles for him.

Did you leave for Germany on your own initiative, or did they force you?

Tell us about your arrival in Germany.

On 11 April they told us we are going to Dnepropetrovsk to work on the Kolkhos (collective farm) for two weeks, but it turned out that we were going to Germany. We went on the train for nine days, slept on straw on the floor, and they gave us nothing to eat. If someone wanted to escape, they were shot. At arrival in Germany we were put up in a line like sheep, so that the factory owners could choose us. Around 350 people worked at the factory. When they chose me I begged them to also choose my friend. First, I worked in the ‘Sack’ [in German] factory, where they produced sacks, for two years. The working day lasted 12 hours; I cannot remember if we had days off. The owner was good, nobody insulted us. The conditions were not bad apart from the food. They gave us turnips to eat. Once, they gave us a soup with tadpoles in it; the French ate it, but we could not. We started to protest and it did not happen again. When we arrived we had nothing. Only blue overalls, trousers and blankets. In winter, we covered ourselves with blankets – we looked like scarecrows. On our feet we had wooden clogs, and when we went out onto the street they made a terrible noise.

When the Americans bombed Bielefeld, when the factories were blown up, we collected parts of the bodies [Inna Iosifovna is crying when she talks about this].

I got to know a German woman there; she also worked in the factory, she was very good and wanted me to stay with her in Germany. She did not have any children and treated me like a daughter. She took me to her house every Saturday on the bike; she arranged it with the police man and it was apparent that she paid him. She said, ‘Stay. It will be the three of us.’

Then they moved us to a machine factory called ‘Homsel’ [or Gomsel]. The conditions were far worse than in the previous factory. The owner was a real fascist. On the recommendation of Lida Gorbunova, my friend and I escaped and went to the town of Lemsa [Lemgo?], and then on to Fosheit [Fosgeit?] to an aquaintance of the German, Else. My friend Milechka was also from Konstantinovka. I met her here also after the war. We stayed in different families. I told everyone Mama’s name, so that those who escaped and were searching [could tell I had been there].

The owner, Walter Fulyabe, and his family turned out to be good people. They gave us clothes because I was clean and tidy. They trusted me. They had a daughter and once at 12 o’clock at midnight she came running to me and said that they were playing the Russsian song ‘Wide is my home country’ [Shiroka strana moya rodnaya] on the radio. Even now when I tell that, it sends shivers down my spine.

Did you think about staying in Germany after liberation?

No. I missed my mother and brother terribly; we had a good family. My mistress tried to stop me; she wanted to marry me to her son. But I was very devoted to my home country.

How did you return home?

When we returned, someone wanted to set up a train crash; we only stayed alive thanks to the engine driver.

What had changed in Konstantinovka after the war? Was your house destroyed?

Did you find your relatives, your friends?

Everything was destroyed including our house, but Papa built a small hut with one room and a kitchen, where Mama and my brother lived. My father had died. Mama worked in the glass factory where I also got to work after technical school. My brother finished navy college and received third level education in Mariupole.

I married in 1945. My first husband, Fedya, was well educated. He worked 32 years as the chairperson of the factory committee. He died in 1999 and I married again according to his wish. He loved me very much, he worshipped me. My golden one [Inna Iosifovna is crying]. All my life I worked hard and they held me in high esteem everywhere.

What advice can you give the future generations so that such a thing will not be repeated?

Love and help each other. Without that, we are all like wild animals and children.