The following interviews with former forced laborers were taken by the volunteers of the youth exchange "Last Prisoner Story goes on" in 2013.
Panicheva Zoya Vasil'yevna
Panicheva Zoya Vasil'yevna, born in 1926 in Zhytomyr, was taken prisoner at the age of sixteen. In the years of her captivity she worked in a glass factory and a private home. She stresses that she encountered both "very, very, very bad" and "very, very, very good people in Germany". Read Interview
Pugachova Nesterivna Lyubov’
Pugachova Nesterivna Lyubov’ was born in 1921. Orphaned even before the war, she was brought to a lager in Duisburg to work as a loading porter. After three and a half years she was freed and returned to the Soviet Union, but continued to lead a hard life, experiencing many personal losses. Read Interview
Maria Il’inichna Bozhinskaja
Panicheva Zoya Vasil'yevna
Panicheva Zoya Vasil'yevna, born in 1926 in Zhytomyr, was taken prisoner at the age of sixteen. In the years of her captivity she worked in a glass factory and a private home. She stresses that she encountered both "very, very, very bad" and "very, very, very good people in Germany". Read Interview
Pugachova Nesterivna Lyubov’
Pugachova Nesterivna Lyubov’ was born in 1921. Orphaned even before the war, she was brought to a lager in Duisburg to work as a loading porter. After three and a half years she was freed and returned to the Soviet Union, but continued to lead a hard life, experiencing many personal losses. Read Interview
Maria Il’inichna Bozhinskaja
Maria Il’inichna Bozhinskaja was born 6 june 1925, in Vershina, 300 km from Konstantinovka. During the 1930ies her father was repressed as a kulak and the family moved to Konstantinovka. There she experienced the beginning of the war before she was taken as a forced labourer to Germany to work in the fields. Read Interview
Nikolaj Alekseevič Pogasij
Nikolaj Alekseevič Pogasij was born in 1926 in Barvenkovo, a city 100 km away from Konstantinovka. In 1943 he was taken to Austria, were he was forced to work repairing railway lines. He mananegd to escape to Italy, was captured again and finally rescued by Italians, which whom he lived for the remainder of the war. Read Interview
Stanislava Lyudvigovna Karkach
Stanislava Lyudvigovna Karkach was taken to Germany at the age of seventeen. While her work at a factory that produced ceramics wasn't too hard and she has many happy memories, she too experienced the hardships of prisoner transports and lost close relatives during the war. Read Interview
Sofia Cernobriva
Sofia Cernobriva was born on 1st of June 1931 in the little village of Pokutiv, Kamena-Podoliskaia region. When aged 11 she was deported to Germany to serve 3 years as a forced worker. “We had to use worn clothes from Jewish people to produce blankets. We found gold teeth and watches inside of the clothes.” Read Interview
Nikolai Zakablucnii Grigorievici
Nikolai Zakablucnii Grigorievici was born in 1936. He and other members of his family were taken to work in Germany when he still was a small child. There he experienced life in different camps and in houses of German families. Read Interview
Maria Arhypivna Kostyuchenko
The following interviews with former forced laborers were taken by the volunteers of the youth exchange "Last Prisoner Story" in 2010.
Alezarenko Nadezhda
Nadezhda Alezarenko was born in 1929 and forcefully taken to Germany in 1942. There she was kept at a camp and had to work at a weapon factory. She was liberated by the Americans and returned to Ukraine soon after the war. Read interview
Balashova Ekaterina Filippovna
Ekaterina Filippovna was born in 1925 on a kolkhos. At the age of 18, she was deported to Germany, where she had to work in a factory. She remembers hunger and beatings. When she returned to her home village after the war, everything there was destroyed. Read interview
Bashchinskaya Inna Iosifovna
Inna Iosifovna was born in 1926 in Konstantinovka. After her deportation to Germany, she first had to work at a factory for bags, and then at a car factory. There she was treated so badly that she fled, and then lived in different German families. She remembers people who were good to her and says one German woman even treated her like a daughter. After the war she returned to her home where everything was destroyed, but her family rebuilt their lives with hard work. Read interview
Cherkashin Aleksandr Michailovich
Aleksandr Michailovich was born in 1945 in a German labour camp. In the interview, he tells about his mother's experiences there. He says that when this camp was liberated, women with children were killed if they could not prove that the father was not German. He does not know who his father is, but a Jewish man at the camp testified to be his father in order to save his mother's life. After their return to Ukraine, his mother arranged fake documents to prove that he was born in Konstantinovka, but there were rumors. Read interview
Chukchina Maria Nikolaevna
Maria Nikolaevna was born in 1924 in a village near Kharkov. In 1941, she was arrested on the street and deported to Germany in a cargo train. For the first year, she worked for a German family who treated her well, then she was transferred to a car factory. She was liberated by the Red Army, but says she was seen as a traitor and her conditions did not improve. Read interview
Dehtyaryova Raissa Semyonovna
Raissa Semyonva was born in 1924. She tells about life on a sovkhos (collective farm) and the Holodomor. She heard about the outbreak of the war on the radio. When German forces arrived at her sovkhos, they confiscated produce and started to deport villagers to Germany for forced labour. For some time, Raissa Semyonovna hid in the forest with the friend, but later she was arrested and deported to Germany where she had to work on a farm. At the end of the war, the owner of the farm fled and she got to Berlin where she worked at a hospital for some time. In 1946 she returned to Konstantinovka where she again worked on a sovkhos and soon got married. Read interview
Koket Maria Stepanovna
Maria Stepanova was born in 1924. She was deported to Germany in 1943 and had to work on a farm near the Polish border. Read interview
Kuznetsova Kseniya Konstantinovna
Ksenia Konstantinovna was taken to Germany at the age of 16 and had to work in a factory for optical devices. She was liberated by the American army, and went to Denmark first, before she returned to Ukraine. Read interview
Limareva Valentina Stepanovna
Lopata Vera Ivanovna
Lysova Vera Iwanovna
Masliynaya Natalia Karpovna
Navozhonnaya Galina Aleksandrovna
Nikolaev Georgy Stepanovich
Petrova Nadezhna Petrovna
Shkumat Nina Timofeevna
Veselova Evdokia Mikhailovna
Evdokia Mikhailovna was born in 1921 in a family of farmers. She lived through the Holodomor and tells of hunger, cold, and the death of most of her brothers. Later during her childhood her family she had to work as a maid and in a factory. In Germany she had to work in a household as a maid. She says she was treated well, but used to cry every night because she missed her home. After the war, she worked as a cook for a Soviet military unit where she met her future husband. Read Interview
Zamaraikina Anna Prokofjevna
Zubanyuk Nadezhda Pavlovna
Nikolaj Alekseevič Pogasij
Nikolaj Alekseevič Pogasij was born in 1926 in Barvenkovo, a city 100 km away from Konstantinovka. In 1943 he was taken to Austria, were he was forced to work repairing railway lines. He mananegd to escape to Italy, was captured again and finally rescued by Italians, which whom he lived for the remainder of the war. Read Interview
Stanislava Lyudvigovna Karkach
Stanislava Lyudvigovna Karkach was taken to Germany at the age of seventeen. While her work at a factory that produced ceramics wasn't too hard and she has many happy memories, she too experienced the hardships of prisoner transports and lost close relatives during the war. Read Interview
Sofia Cernobriva
Sofia Cernobriva was born on 1st of June 1931 in the little village of Pokutiv, Kamena-Podoliskaia region. When aged 11 she was deported to Germany to serve 3 years as a forced worker. “We had to use worn clothes from Jewish people to produce blankets. We found gold teeth and watches inside of the clothes.” Read Interview
Nikolai Zakablucnii Grigorievici
Nikolai Zakablucnii Grigorievici was born in 1936. He and other members of his family were taken to work in Germany when he still was a small child. There he experienced life in different camps and in houses of German families. Read Interview
Maria Arhypivna Kostyuchenko
Maria
Arhypivna Kostyuchenko was born in 1921. She lived through the
Ukrainian famine and the great terror. During the war, she served as
a nurse in Turkmenistan, but one of her sisters was captured by the
Germans and forced to become an Ostarbeiter. Read Interview
Tatiana Samilovna Griliskaia was born in 1926. During the war she was captured by the Germans and forced to work in several factories, were she endured hard work and many bomb raids before being liberated by American troops and returning to Ukraine. Read Interview
The following interviews with former forced laborers were taken by the volunteers of the youth exchange "Last Prisoner Story" in 2010.
Alezarenko Nadezhda
Nadezhda Alezarenko was born in 1929 and forcefully taken to Germany in 1942. There she was kept at a camp and had to work at a weapon factory. She was liberated by the Americans and returned to Ukraine soon after the war. Read interview
Balashova Ekaterina Filippovna
Ekaterina Filippovna was born in 1925 on a kolkhos. At the age of 18, she was deported to Germany, where she had to work in a factory. She remembers hunger and beatings. When she returned to her home village after the war, everything there was destroyed. Read interview
Bashchinskaya Inna Iosifovna
Inna Iosifovna was born in 1926 in Konstantinovka. After her deportation to Germany, she first had to work at a factory for bags, and then at a car factory. There she was treated so badly that she fled, and then lived in different German families. She remembers people who were good to her and says one German woman even treated her like a daughter. After the war she returned to her home where everything was destroyed, but her family rebuilt their lives with hard work. Read interview
Cherkashin Aleksandr Michailovich
Aleksandr Michailovich was born in 1945 in a German labour camp. In the interview, he tells about his mother's experiences there. He says that when this camp was liberated, women with children were killed if they could not prove that the father was not German. He does not know who his father is, but a Jewish man at the camp testified to be his father in order to save his mother's life. After their return to Ukraine, his mother arranged fake documents to prove that he was born in Konstantinovka, but there were rumors. Read interview
Chukchina Maria Nikolaevna
Maria Nikolaevna was born in 1924 in a village near Kharkov. In 1941, she was arrested on the street and deported to Germany in a cargo train. For the first year, she worked for a German family who treated her well, then she was transferred to a car factory. She was liberated by the Red Army, but says she was seen as a traitor and her conditions did not improve. Read interview
Dehtyaryova Raissa Semyonovna
Raissa Semyonva was born in 1924. She tells about life on a sovkhos (collective farm) and the Holodomor. She heard about the outbreak of the war on the radio. When German forces arrived at her sovkhos, they confiscated produce and started to deport villagers to Germany for forced labour. For some time, Raissa Semyonovna hid in the forest with the friend, but later she was arrested and deported to Germany where she had to work on a farm. At the end of the war, the owner of the farm fled and she got to Berlin where she worked at a hospital for some time. In 1946 she returned to Konstantinovka where she again worked on a sovkhos and soon got married. Read interview
Koket Maria Stepanovna
Maria Stepanova was born in 1924. She was deported to Germany in 1943 and had to work on a farm near the Polish border. Read interview
Kuznetsova Kseniya Konstantinovna
Ksenia Konstantinovna was taken to Germany at the age of 16 and had to work in a factory for optical devices. She was liberated by the American army, and went to Denmark first, before she returned to Ukraine. Read interview
Limareva Valentina Stepanovna
Lopata Vera Ivanovna
Lysova Vera Iwanovna
Masliynaya Natalia Karpovna
Navozhonnaya Galina Aleksandrovna
Nikolaev Georgy Stepanovich
Petrova Nadezhna Petrovna
Shkumat Nina Timofeevna
Veselova Evdokia Mikhailovna
Evdokia Mikhailovna was born in 1921 in a family of farmers. She lived through the Holodomor and tells of hunger, cold, and the death of most of her brothers. Later during her childhood her family she had to work as a maid and in a factory. In Germany she had to work in a household as a maid. She says she was treated well, but used to cry every night because she missed her home. After the war, she worked as a cook for a Soviet military unit where she met her future husband. Read Interview
Zamaraikina Anna Prokofjevna
Zubanyuk Nadezhda Pavlovna
