From a distant land to my native Ukraine
Ukraine in 1943 and forced to work as a laborer in Germany until1945. Through writing letters, she tried to maintain a connection to her home and family.
Ukraine is a country in eastern Europe inhabited by about 42 million people. Kiev is the capital and also the greatest city of Ukraine. The country has been independent since 1991. The Dnieper River is the longest river in Ukraine.
Übersetzer:innen: Claudia Dathe, Susanne Macht and Nelia Vakhovska
Dear Mum, we went to the police today and were photographed. We were given papers dating until 1944. I look sad in the photo. [...]
You wrote that you cried when you saw my braids. Nothing is left of my hair; it has fallen out. My head has not been washed in clear water for seven months. Why do I have to have grey hair so young?
Kam'ânecʹ-Podìlʹsʹk Oblast was an administrative unit in the western part of Ukraine. It was carved out of parts of the Vìnnicâ and Žitomir oblasts in 1937. In 1941, the administrative seat of the oblast was moved from Kam'ânecʹ-Podìlʹsʹk (today Kam'ânecʹ-Podìlʹsʹkij) to Hmelʹnicʹkij, which had become the most populous city in the oblast. As a result, the oblast was also renamed Hmelʹnicʹkij in 1954.
Cikova (population 2021: 673) is a village in the Hmelʹnicʹkij oblast in western Ukraine, near Kam'ânecʹ-Podìlʹsʹkij. The village was founded on the Cikivka River before 1460.
Hmelʹnicʹkij rayon was located in the center of the same-named oblast in western Ukraine. It comprised the area surrounding the administrative center of the Hmelʹnicʹkij oblast. The old Hmelʹnicʹkij district was replaced by a larger district of the identical name in July 2020.
Übersetzer:innen: Claudia Dathe, Susanne Macht and Nelia Vakhovska
I can't even wash [my clothes] because I don't have any soap and you can't buy it. For six months, we were given a pair of underpants and an undershirt, and when I picked them up, I sang with joy. If I were at home, I wouldn't be able to decide which skirt to wear [because I would have so many], and here I feel so happy [with so little].
Übersetzer.innen: Claudia Dathe, Susanne Macht and Nelia Vakhovska
Dear Mum, we celebrated Christmas yesterday. A Christmas Eve was organised for us Ukrainians; we celebrated the birth of Christ. Our masters, our superiors, did not avoid us; they were as kind to us as they could and helped us as much as they could. They told us that when the war was over, we would go home, but now we cannot because the war is continuing. They understand how difficult the situation is for us. Dear Mum and dear Olya, on Christmas Eve, we had no reason to be angry; they gave us good food, lots of white bread, coffee, soup, sausages and a bottle of wine. So that was my Christmas Eve, Mum.
Übersetzer:innen: Claudia Dathe, Susanne Macht and Nelia Vakhovska
Dear Mummy, dear Olya, I can hardly describe my young and happy life to you. I tweet to you about where I am going and what I am doing. I let the birds sing about me; the wild winds tell you about me. Why didn't you let me go away like Sjanka Julka? Then I would know that I am near my Mummy.
[...]
I cover my head with a white cloth and let the grey falcon tell my family my fate.
[...]
I pick a rose flower and throw it into the water: Swim, you, rose flower, to my family. The rose flower swam far and stopped on the bank. The mother came to fetch water and recognized the flower. Have you, Hanna, been ill for a year or two, that your flower has wilted in the water? Dear mother, I have not lain ill for a year, nor been ill for two years, I fell into evil hands and perished...