Nikolai Polonsky historian biography

As a child, he was stolen with his family from Zaporozhye to a camp on the territory of Poland, then within 36 years he proved that he was a “child of war”. After the release of the mother of Nicholas, the authorities forced to abandon the German husband, but she did not betray her beloved. For such a bold act, the Herbersgagen family was sent to Kazakhstan in January.

But neither I nor my brother and sister never refused the surname Herbersgagen. I have a certificate of ending the seventh grade for a German surname. In March, when our family arrived in Kazakhstan, everything happened. The drunken commandant, who registered us, could not write a last dad’s last name, he began to scream at his mother so that she called her girlish name.

So the whole family, except for the grandmother, was recorded by the Polonsky. In general, at that time in Kazakhstan we tried to intimidate us in every possible way, and after all, we, Soviet Germans, were injured. But in the first years we were exposed as traitors, launched after the stones. Then, when they moved to the village and people of other nationalities - Koreans, Chechens, Tatars - they saw that everyone suffers innocently, ”Nikolai Frantsevich began his gloomy story about life.

Parents family Herbersgagen. His father was born in the Zaporizhzhya region in the year in the family of Austrian citizen Franz Herbersgagen and German Olga, and mother Ekaterina Mikhailovna in a large Ukrainian family of Polonsky in the year. Parents eventually decided to “get rid of one extra mouth” and sent a daughter to his uncle, who worked as the director of the Starinasovo state farm in the Zaporizhzhya region.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna lived in a hostel, worked at the oil factory with a foreman. She said that everyone lived richly at the state farm, there was enough food, people worked heartily, earned well. Father was an activist, a Komsomol member, played on any wind instruments. He was very beautiful and young, he immediately fell in love with his mother, but she was worried because they had a big age difference.

Mom was seven years older than his father, but eventually looked closely, and they got married in the year, ”says Polonsky. In the year, the first -born, Nikolai, was born in the Herbersgagen family, two years later, another son, and ten days before the start of the war on June 11 - the daughter of Claudius. Then the mass evacuation began. But the state farm of Starinasovo did not manage to evacuate, people were captured at the station and sent everyone back to their homes.

Under the German occupation, Father Franz. So under the German occupation we lived for two years. Parents worked all daylight, but there were no starvation, executions and bullying. All representatives of German nationality and members of their families were first voluntarily offered to move to Germany. But over time, voluntary agitation turned into a violent eviction. In August, we all, Soviet Germans living at the state farm, plunged us on trucks, and for several months we rode under the escort to Poland.

I was only six years old, but I well remember this time. It was a short, but happy time in my life, when my father and I have always been together: for us children, it was an exciting journey, but for adults the road began to slavery. I want to clarify: no one rode myself, we were forcibly sent. But then the representatives of our government attributed to us that we allegedly left, said: "You yourself voluntarily left with the German troops." And where we were to go, we would just have been shot.

In Poland, we were determined to the fascist camp, the landowners every day in the morning took their parents to work to their estate, and brought them late in the evening. Father worked as a locksmith, establishing an agricultural gun, and mom - in the garden, lay the beds, watered and harvested. The landowners were wealthy Germans, their son fought. Mom recalled that every day when they went to lunch in the line, breathing in the back of each other, the landowner sat on a chair in front of the dining room and waited for her, a “benefactor”, would thank her and kiss her hand.

If suddenly someone did not want to do this, he was beaten by half to death at the stable. Everyone was in the position of slaves, but there were no deaths, ”Nikolai Polonsky recalls with tears in his eyes. While adults worked, the children were with grandmother Olga Herbersgagen in the camp. Franz Frantsevich was with his family from until the end of the year, but two weeks before the liberation of the campers by the Red Army, all men were built in columns and took somewhere under the escort.

But where, relatives still do not know. Many years later, when it was already possible to freely engage in the search, both the mother, the wife, and the children tried to find his tracks, but all to no avail. The Poles, however, once said that they did not send men to the war, but were determined somewhere for underground work. The deportation “After liberation from Poland in Brest, filtration underwent.

Mom was ordered to abandon the nine. You will go to Kazakhstan. " Mom replied: "After all, people live there, we will survive, but I won’t betray my husband." My German grandmother Olga Herbersgagen also did not abandon her son, she was sent with us.So, instead of after so many years of bullying, returning to their home in Zaporozhye, we were deported, ”Nikolai Polonsky shares.

In mid -March, on one of the many echelons with the same Soviet Germans, the Herbersgagen family was taken to Kazakhstan. After a difficult road, when the family almost lost her grandmother who had been ill with a typhoid, everyone was settled at the Sverdlov state farm in the sheds, where they finished cows. In a small room, next door to animals, where 50 people would hardly fit, by some miracle, Nikolai was deported to Kazakhstan at the age of 10 years.

There was terrible unsanitary conditions, illness began, someone died every day, the unfortunate was carried out and buried, even the signs were not installed on the grave. So they lived until the summer, then they were freed by the square, cows were stolen to summer pastures, and the immigrants were allowed to build stoves, install partitions and live separately with their families, Nikolai Frantsevich shares his memories.

We did not go from for a year. They fell asleep, but we only dreamed of food and nothing more, even then, when everything became available, they could not eat plenty. We were waiting for spring - wild garlic, grass. The scurvy was strong, everyone had his teeth, it was impossible to touch, they immediately fell out. Everyone suffered. Then it became a little better. Half -starving, dousing, but our parents went to work with songs.

I also remembered my mother’s words: “Although the dad is not with us now, he is not a traitor, he is not to blame, like millions of people.” The commandant’s office Ekaterina Polonskaya was noted for 11 years in the commandant’s office. At first she worked at the poultry farm in the central department of the state farm, and then a cook on a pig farm. Over time, she began to earn good money, providing a decent life for three children.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna no longer married, died at 50. Olga Herbersgagen lived with demolition and grandchildren, worked at the school with a technician. For many years she was looking for her only son, but she did not find it until the end of her days. Nikolai himself was registered with the commandant’s office at the age of 14. He graduated from the seven -year -old, entered the shoe factory, wanted to go further, but they did not take anywhere repressed.

If the locals received for the material “”, then sent “3”. Then the Khrushchev thaw came and we were allowed to go where you want. I went to the Tambov region and learned to the agronomist, then returned to the state farm. He worked in Zelentrest, an agronomist in a greenhouse for eight years, and in years he retired in disability. To the sounds of beloved button accordion Nikolai Frantsevich with his wife.

Nikolai Frantsevich lived with his wife Antonina Fedorova in the soul of 38 years and 45 days. They raised a niece. My wife and I could not get enough. A few years ago - the wife died of cancer. I am now alone, there are enough pensions, knocked out the benefits for myself, in the German society “Wiedergeburt” they provide me with material and product assistance. Not enough communication.

I’m sitting at home in the evenings, laying out old albums and remembering my life to the sounds of my beloved button accordion, ”the summer pensioner shared. Now, as well as many years earlier, the Karagandan is happy to visit German society - after all, there, on holidays, various events, in the circles he finds such a missing communication. They share their joys and adversity with friends, recall how it was ...

Olga Tida.