'Carried in cattle cars, dying families': how in May 1944 deported Crimean Tatars

18 May marks exactly 75 years since the deportation of the Crimean Tatars began. The operation to evict the indigenous people of Crimea began at 4 in the morning and took two days. The deportees were given from a few minutes to half an hour for charges, after which they were taken by truck to the railway stations, from there the trains under escort were sent to the places of exile to Central Asia. The road took several weeks and not everyone experienced it.

Фото: Depositphotos

Officially, the deportation was substantiated by the facts of the allegedly massive participation of the Crimean Tatars in the collaborationist formations that were on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II and cooperation with the occupation authorities. The NKVD telegram addressed to Stalin indicated that more than 180 thousands of people were evicted, writes Present Tense.

According to the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars, more than 420 thousands of people were sent from the Crimea.

A Current Time correspondent spoke with those who were born during deportation and whose children are now on the annexed peninsula, the Russian authorities accuse them of terrorism, suspecting them of collaborating with the religious organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as terrorist in Russia. Currently, 58 people have been arrested or already convicted in this case. For the Crimean Tatars, this is a new wave of repression.

On the subject: UN court recognized Russia’s discrimination against the Crimean Tatars, but did not see its connection with terrorists

Monument to the victims of deportation at the railway station Evpatoria. Photo: Depositphotos

Zarema Mamutova:

- I was born in Uzbekistan already in deportation, somewhere years through 11 after our parents were deported. Mom often recalled how her father was shot by the Germans, he was the chairman of a collective farm. In 1944, the grandmother and mother and sister were deported. The cattle cars were loaded, stacked. During the trip, the grandmother died in the car.

Zarema Mamutova. Photo: video frame Present Tense

And in the year 2016 came to us in the morning 6, also broke into the house, broke the door. With a cry, the masks came. And I immediately imagined what my mom, my grandmother and aunt experienced.

On the subject: How Crimea was annexed: March of 2014 in the eyes of Moscow, Kiev and Sevastopol

Lilya Zekiryayeva:

- My mom is now 92 of the year. [She was deported] in 1937, she was 11 years old. Her mom and her brother were dispossessed in 1937. They were sent to the city of Nadezhdinsk, Sverdlovsk region. Mom told me that she was an orphan, then she would visit some of them, then to others — they would take her to sleep. Her house was taken away, her grandfather’s gardens were all taken away from them.

Lilya Zekiryaeva. Photo: video frame Present Tense

She then lived with her uncle. She went to school well. In 1944, her uncle’s family, just like all Crimean Tatars, was brought to Central Asia in cattle cars. For a whole month they went there. A lot of people died on the road, many were buried.

They brought me to Uzbekistan, threw me in some field, there was no one in this field, only dogs howled. And every day people died, these people were gathered and buried in one large hole. This is what she said.

Zodie Salieva:

“Mom often told me how they, the Studebakers, arrived at 4 o’clock in the morning, woke me up, and took me away. And they put him in school. They spent one night at school. At gunpoint - they were guarded, they could not go into the house and take anything: they were hungry, cold. They thought they would be shot. The older aunt, she was more nimble, was able to enter the house. I went into the house, and there was already one soldier there - a Soviet soldier - walking around and breaking everything, looking for something.

Zodie Salieva. Photo: video frame Present Tense

My father was hijacked by the Nazis in Austria, he was not there. And she and her three children were sent to Uzbekistan, in the Samarkand region. There was such a village, which almost 90% consisted of the Crimean Tatars.

There was a massive mortality: malaria, typhus mowed down people. Families died. First, there was no shelter, cold and hunger. They made them take root there, gave plots, gave everything, if only they did not demand a return.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How to find out about their repressed and deported relatives

"We knew what was waiting for us there": 80 years ago, Jews tried to escape from Nazism, but the US refused to accept them

“What should we hold on to?”: How Crimea lives through 5 years after the referendum

How Crimea was annexed: March of 2014 in the eyes of Moscow, Kiev and Sevastopol

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.