Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001
Father's Imprisonment
But when, when you saw him again, did you see him again?
Not after uh, fourteen months later.
Oh, okay. So you never heard the story of what happened to him.
We heard the story after he came out of jail.
Okay, so we'll come to that later.
Yes. We didn't know what happened. They just arrested them and took him away. And my mom found out from uh, people that were in the area you know, natives that lived there. You see, we were newcomers, we were strangers, we were uh, what's called the Russians ??? which means we were prisoners, you see. And so, we did not have the right to ask anything or say anything. No my parents--my dad, especially my uncle did--weren't aware of it because no one told us that we are arrested, you know. We were just taken away. So they, they demanded rights. In Russia there was no rights. No right. And so uh, we didn't know what happened, they ju...they were just taken away. But my mom found out that um, they were beaten up and carried out in stretchers and taken away with the boat.
And she found this out from, what, ??? uh...
People that, people that lived there and saw it, you see. Yeah. Uh, the uh, the leaders of the area did not uh, volunteer information.
The Komissars wouldn't tell.
The Komissars wouldn't say anything.
Your mother must have been very upset.
My mom was terribly upset, but suddenly she became well again. As simple as that. Because she had four children to take care of. A baby that was very sick. She couldn't walk very easily, my mom, she was--I don't know why it affected her legs. She was very shaky on her, on her legs. So she went and she asked, could she find her something to do and they gave her a job in the nursery. And this is where she worked. Excuse me.
[interruption in interview]
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