We neither know which authorities decided about all this, nor are there any papers proving that the whole procedure was legal, but one thing is certain: the instructions about which districts they would have to resettle in had already been dropped a long time before. My great-grandparents were assigned the Sukhobusimo district. They were taken to Zaton (town district of Krasnoyarsk (boat-yard); translator's note) early in the morning. From time to time they were using passenger steamers to transport the deporteed further, but such a "comfort" was not a daily occurrence. This time hundreds of people, among them lots of children in early infancy, were loaded on board the towboat "Krasnoyarskiy rabochiy" ("Krasnoyarsk Worker"; translator's note), where they had to find themselves a place between winches, barrels filled with petrol residues and boxes in which the ropes were kept.

Finally they reached Atamanovo. At the grain receiving point a string of carts arrived: it was loaded with grain from Kovrigino. The driver allowed the family of my grandfather Robert Frank and some other families to join the trek. After twenty days full of strains nobody was surprised when the carter announced that Kovrigino was situated at a distance of forty verst (1 verst = 1,06 km). For almost one hour they had to walk uphill. Everybody, except the little children, was walking on foot. Having passed two less steep slopes, the adults decided to find themselves one of the seats available to both sides of the rack waggons, but soon after there was another rise. They reached Kovrigino only at dusk and were assigned accomodation with a single, ill woman. They stayed there till the spring. Grandmother Maria's (Gof / Hof) family got to Shila, grandmother Barta's (Sokolovskaya) to Krasnye Gorki.

In the month of March 1942 the adult men and somewhat elder boys were called up to the labour army. The same thing happened to my great-grandfathers Veniamin Solkolovskiy, Fyodor Frank and Georgiy Gof (Hof); they were forced to work as lumberjacks. They had to work very hard, but only received little and very bad food. Many did not return to their families. My great-grandfathers, too, never came home again. The women were left behind with their children; life had to go on, however, and so all children, except for the little ones, went to work. In the winter they prepared firewood for the Sukhobusimsk thermal power-station, during the summer they made unburnt clay bricks filled with straw or other fibrous materials - all by hand.

In these disastrous, baneful years the aboriginal Siberian population also had a hard life. In 1941 they called my other great-grandfather, Leonid Vasilyevich Bykov, who was born in the village of Nakhvalka, up to the army. He became a sergeant of the guards and commanded a unit. He was killed in action in February 1945. They buried him in the village of Prerstitten (as the place was then called) in the Kaliningrad region (Poland). This is what we learned from the "Book of Memory". They sent my great-grandmother a telegram informing her that he was missing. In fact, he was not heard of again. Great-grandmother Lisa was also left behind as a widow, with two little children holding the hands of their mother. One of them was my grandfather Nikolay Leontyevich Bykov. He managed to finish the primary school. It was impossible for him to attend school any longer, since there were seven children in the family, but only one provider - the mother. He had to help the family and so he went to work. They were working all day and night, for many, many hours - just to get a small piece of bread. He became an adult and got married to Berta Sokolovskaya. Although he could not read and write very well, he became a first-class driver and later a leading tractorist. For his reliable work he was not only once awarded certificates and medals of honour and received cash prizes. He worked throughout his whole lifetime. No sooner had he retired, he started repairing the motors of several tractors of the K-700 type, since none other than my grandfather was able to execute this kind of work in the "Tayoszhniy" sovkhoz. He is now living in Bolshye Prudy; his poor health, however, does not allow him to do any kind of work anymore.

My grandmother, Berta Bykova (Sokolovskaya), finished the seven-class school somewhere in the Pavlovesk region; one could only attend and complete the 8th grade at the school in Sukhobusimo. And then grandma Berta and her mum moved to the third branch of the "Tayozhniy" sovkhoz, and every morning grendma Berta went to school to Sukhobusimo on foot, together with some other children, and back home in the evening. Grandma Berta particularly liked to go to school in winter - on skis. Within half an hour they were on the spot. She finished school and started going to work. She did a good job - at first as a simple worker in a crop brigade, later she was appointed as field-team leader. She was responsible for the whole brigade; she never tired herself out with working, but drudged day and night. Grandmother was awarded certificates of honour and received numerous valuable gifts. Moreover she was handed over three medals for her participation in the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibitions in 1955, 1957 and 1958. In recognition of her extraordinarily good work she was sent to Rybinsk to study at the technical secondary school of agriculture. She finished her studies and happened to get to the second branch, where she was employed as a live-stock expert. Grandmother was a very attentive, responsible and reliable woman. When the

When the bookkeeper was to be replaced, she agreed that she would take over the office from him, but nevertheless she did not beglect her main tasks. It was pleasant and easy to work with her in the office. She was sent to attend accountancy courses. Grandma Berta mastered these tasks, as well as any others, outstandingly well. She began to work as an economist and rate-setter. She was a cheerful, understanding person, prepared to help other people at any time. Shee has been kept in fond remembrance till nowadays. I have never seen my grandmother, because she passed away before I was born.

Four children were born to Nikolay and Berta Bykov: Vladimir (1962), Viktor (1965), Valentina (1966) and Alexander (1976).