SHE SURVIVED THE HORRORS OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS

The 9th of May. On this day we remember the killed and the living ones, the warriors and the civilians - all those thanks to whom victory was gained in the 1941-45 Great Patriotic War and all those who survived this war and fell victim to it. It's been more than 60 years now but the events of the wartime have not been forgotten - they are living in the memories of the veterans and victims of that terrible time and are imprinted on the pages of books. The memory about the tragic days passes from generation to generation and we must preserve it.

The 9th May holiday has become sacred for every one of us. There is not one family that was not affected by the grief. Thousands of warriors went to the front, thousands of our compatriots worked in the support area, and many were captured by the fascists. The entire nation stood up in defence of Fatherland and managed to defend their right to peaceful life. What use have we made of this main achievement and have we managed to be worthy of the Great Victory?  Everyone should ask themselves this question. To defend one's motherland and to be patriots - this is the way that the elder generation teaches us to live.

What would our future have been if the outcome of the war had been different? It took incredible efforts and huge sacrifices to defend peace in the fight against the fascist invaders. A fight was waged not against an individual state or nation but against the spread of a destructive misanthropic ideology. Today, unfortunately, you can come across its manifestations: it is sad to see people not learning from history.

Therefore, we should remember about the past and thank the elder generation for the Great Victory. The price that was paid for it were millions of lives and the tears of their close and loved ones. We thank those killed and the living. We thank and a give a bow to all our veterans and workers of the support area. We thank all those who survived this war and brought their memories to us for us TO REMEMBER and not to repeat the mistakes of the past. 

Bitter memories

What are the limits to the powers of the human soul and intellect? How many troubles can one survive and remain human? These thoughts crossed my mind as Fatima Qayibova spoke about the trials and tribulations she has had to endure in her life. Sorrow for a lost childhood and youth, and the loss of loved ones, could be discerned in every note of her voice. The war that ruined so many lives; and a father, mother and brother who are all so far, yet so near. It is difficult to rake over old ashes, especially when there are enough for several lifetimes.

Fatima has repeatedly tried to write a book about her life, but circumstances have always interfered and, besides, she does not have enough time. Sometimes the bitterness of memories caused such insupportable pain that she lost her desire to write for a long time. An incentive was required and our request served as such. Fatima did not turn it down and, although it was quite hard for her, she relived those distant and difficult years.

Distant Baku

Fatima Qayibova belongs to a well-known family which has brought glory to Azerbaijan at various times. Her family is represented by the poet Molla Vali Vidadi (Qayib) (1709-1809); Vakil Aga Qayibov - the first Azerbaijani to receive a medical education in tsarist Russia and who worked as a personal doctor to Ibrahim Xalil Khan, the ruler of Karabakh; Mirza Huseyn Afandi Qayibzada (1830-1917), a prominent religious figure and enlightener who worked as mufti of the South Caucasus for 33 years and who was a friend and companion of Mirza Fatali Axundov, Azerbaijan's first ethnographer, who initiated the opening of an Azerbaijani section at Gori University and who wrote a four-volume collection of well-known Azerbaijani poems. The Qayibov family also includes Abdulkarim Qayibov (1851-1894), a prominent mathematician and author of the two-volume work "The Islamic Calendar"; Nigar Qayibova (1870-1931), the first Azerbaijani nurse and wife and companion to General Aliaga Sixlinski (whose mother was also a Qayibova); Farrux Qayibov (1893-1916), the first Azerbaijani pilot to die a hero's death in an air battle during World War I; Xadica Qayibova (1893-1938), the first Azerbaijani pianist; and many other outstanding figures.

Fatima's father, another member of the Qayibov family, Ilyas Qayibov, finished gymnasium and entered the University of Kharkov, after which he stayed on to work at the university. He went on to become deputy head of the psychology department at the same university. However, Ilyas Qayibov had to take up physiology later, as the teaching of psychology as a science was banned in the Soviet Union for some years. "My memories of my father are quite vague. I only remember that dad always worked in a small room which was always dark, but I didn't know why. Only many years later I found out that he kept psychology books in that room and hadn't destroyed them, although he had been instructed to do so. Perhaps he thought that no-one would bother to look in a dark room to see what those books were about." However, Fatima's father was put in a common prison cell for two months after a neighbour informed on him. The cell was so packed that the prisoners had to take turns to stand, sit and lie. There was almost no air inside. "My father left the prison terribly ill, as his asthma had deteriorated. He died in 1940. I was four years old then."

Fatima's mother, Veronika Valentinovna Gavalova, also hailed from a quite well-known family. Fatima's grandmother (and Veronika's mother) was a highborn noblewoman named Kapitolina Ivanova, maiden name Karusheva. Kapitolina had been brought up in the family of the legendary Russian navy commander, Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov. She was his wife's niece. The Makarovs' maintained close ties with the tsar's family. Kapitolina married Valentin Gavalov and bore him three children - Veronika, Oleg and Igor. They were all well received at the 

Makarovs' home

Veronika Valentinovna's father, Valentin Gavalov, was a railway specialist and was in charge of the tsar's train during World War I. He stayed with the tsar until his arrest. As a good specialist, he was recruited by the Soviet authorities, but Valentin Gavalov feared being recognized and decided to emigrate. It was very difficult to do so in those years. Gavalov decided to ask Lenin personally to let him go. The leader of the proletariat obstinately opposed this, but Gavalov managed to persuade him in the end. Having promised to return to Russia after his leave, Valentin went abroad, leaving behind his family and children, whom he never saw again. "Mum said that while abroad, granddad was employed as a railway specialist and lived well. How could he leave his family? I remember from my mother's stories that he was quite a difficult person and didn't love children, even at their most endearing age. Mum always hid from him in their big house. But she encountered him once when she was 13, and was terribly scared. Granddad spoke to her quietly and only after that, did their relations normalize. Then he departed, leaving his family."

Even without the head of the family, Veronika and her brother Igor received a proper education. As well as being a historian, Veronika had a good command of German and French.

She first married her cousin Kuznetsov, at the insistence of her mother. Fatima's brother Nikita was born in that marriage. But soon the family split up and, some time later, Veronika Valentinovna married Ilyas Qayibov, the son of Suleyman Qayibov, director of a gymnasium in Qazax. "At that time, many Azerbaijani intellectuals lived in Qazax, which was close to Tiflis, a political and cultural centre of the South Caucasus. The brother of Fatima's paternal grandfather, Mirza Huseyn Afandi, also lived there. All his daughters had received wonderful educations and walked around with their heads uncovered, which was quite rare at the time. One of his sons was married to Princess Ziba from the Qacar family. Mum worked in the same university as my dad, as deputy head of the foreign languages department. I was very little, but I remember very well the respectful and warm relationship between my parents. Mum said that the six years she spent with dad were the best and happiest years of her life."

During the first year of the marriage of Fatima's parents, they were visited in Kharkov by her father's sister Nazira and cousin Zulfuqar from Baku. "They brought presents, met my mother and got on well with her. When dad was no longer with us, aunt Nazira and Zulfuqar insisted that we should come to Baku and prepared everything for our arrival, and who knows what our fate would have been like if mum had managed to leave Kharkov. But when everything was ready for our arrival, the Great Patriotic War began and Nikita went down with scarlet fever. There could be no talk of departure - with such an infection we would not have been allowed to get on the train."

Among the Germans

The family was forced to stay in Kharkov. In early October the Germans entered the city. Fatima remembers that the city was surrendered without fighting - "quietly and calmly". The Jews were exterminated en masse. "My brother had a close friend named Shura. He came and said that all Jews had been ordered to gather in some square and they didn't know what to do. Mum didn't risk taking Shura in, but she introduced his family to people who could transport Jews. I don't know what happened to that family, but I hope that they managed to escape. Ukrainian policemen searched our house for that family and even suspected something, but fortunately, they took pity on us and left us alone."

A terrible thing happened later. The Germans drove all the Jews into the building of the mental hospital and burnt them alive. "That was terrible. Several people who lived nearby went mad. They screamed terribly. The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air for several days. This made a terrible impression on everyone because, until then, we weren't afraid of the Germans and didn't realize that the situation was so serious. But after that incident, a single sight of them plunged us into panic-stricken terror." Real famine and cold soon began. People died in the streets. Nikita was so weak that he couldn't even get out of bed. "Mum realized that if she didn't find food for us, Nikita and I would die. She took something from the house and went to a village to exchange it for food. It was quite risky, but she was lucky. She brought food and Nikita gradually came to."

However terrible it sounds, Fatima's family had to eat stray animals in order to survive. "Her knowledge of German helped mum to find a job in the office which cleared the city of stray animals," Fatima said. The staff were allowed to take dead cats and dogs, and the Germans thought they were doing us a great favour. But this food was not enough. Mum decided to exchange things for food and went to the village again. This time she wasn't so lucky. The Germans caught her, confiscated the food and put Veronika in a hole. She didn't dare to try such a trip again. The Germans didn't allow anyone into the city and it was doomed to die. We children picked up chips of wood to heat our homes. The Germans shot on the spot any adults who did this, but didn't touch the children. After the Germans examined our baskets during one of our trips, I and two other boys were so scared that we didn't do it again. Life in Kharkov was a nightmare. Bombings occurred almost every day. Cannibalism was common. When someone is terribly hungry, they are ready to do anything. I am still terribly afraid of starving. I always try to make sure that the fridge is full."

Veronika Valentinovna realized that she wouldn't survive the following winter. With great difficulty, she managed to get permission to leave Kharkov. "This is how we ended up in a small town called Trostinets. Her knowledge of German came in handy again and mum managed to get a job, not for money, but for food. We lived well. It is quite interesting that when the Germans entered Trostinets, the local residents welcomed them as liberators. They had suffered so much under Soviet rule. Only later did it become clear that the Germans were not liberators. I can say for sure now that had it not been for German brutality, they would have won the war. Their brutality killed them."

Life for Fatima's family turned upside down again in the summer of 1943, when Soviet troops entered the town. The next day mass executions began of those who had worked for the Germans. Soviet soldiers and officers brutally tortured those who had worked for them and executed them in the morning. Fatima saw a six-year-old boy who was present at the interrogation 'with prejudice' of his father who had been arrested after a tip-off. The interrogation lasted all night, and the boy's father was executed in the morning. Only later did it turn out that the tip-off had been false. The boy's hair turned grey during that terrible night. At the age of six! Veronika Valentinovna was in danger as well. Several days later, they were visited by an officer who sat down, put his gun on the table and said: "Do you know what awaits you tonight?" Veronika Valentinovna was treated kindly in Trostinets. When it got dark, one of local residents took the family and hid them in his house.

…One day later the Germans returned to the town. Three weeks later the town was taken by Soviet troops again. This time the Germans took many local residents with them as they retreated. Mother didn't know who to hide from - from the Soviet troops who were likely to shoot her because she had worked as an interpreter for the Germans in order to save her children, or from the Germans. "No-one is right during a war. During a war, the eeriest things surface and cruel people have good opportunities." Veronika Valentinovna decided to swim with the tide…

Nachoda, running from Soviet troops

"We retreated in a line of German carts. We travelled for two months and stopped in villages, the women were sent to local houses and the next morning we carried on. Brutality accompanied us all the way. Literally a few days later, I saw a man being beaten up for the first time. The thing was that the fascists were driving a large herd with them, and they needed herders. In one village they encountered a man in the street. Fascists on horseback surrounded the man and began whipping him without explaining anything. They whipped him and then they called my mother, who explained to the man what they wanted. I have remembered the horror on the man's face for the rest of my life.

"Near the border everyone was put into freight cars and sent to Germany through Poland - the city of Breslau, which is now Wroclaw in Poland. In Breslau, there was a big forwarding station where Germans came to pick out workers for themselves. An incident happened there which left its mark on me all my life. I was with Nikita and we were walking through the camp. The camp chief was standing near us. Suddenly, for no reason, he set his sheep dog upon a man passing by. The dog bit him to death in literally a few minutes. I didn't remember that incident. Perhaps, the horror was so great that it blocked my memory. I learnt it from Nikita later. But after that incident, I began to fear animals. They didn't want to take us because there were three of us, and I was too little - one more mouth. But for some reason they didn't split us, probably because my mother spoke German and managed to persuade them… In the end, we were sent to the Ludswigdorf concentration camp. It wasn't a death camp, but an ordinary camp with a harmful chemical factory. All the camp people worked there, including my mother and brother. They worked round-the-clock in three shifts. The camp people were given cooked swede and bread mixed with sawdust. These were terrible years - it was a terrible life in the camp. Violence, brutality and famine. We managed to survive only because my mother spoke German…"

In March 1945, the three of them and several other young girls were transferred to another concentration camp. There was a plan to build something there but, as the war neared its end and the situation turned terribly chaotic, construction work never began. They spent about two months there and didn't actually see their bosses, as they had probably run away, abandoning the camp to its fate, and people started to disperse. Fatima's family left in April. They headed for Czechoslovakia, as they found out that it would be liberated by Western troops - Veronika was afraid of falling into the hands of Soviet soldiers.

They travelled on a cart for three days. It was very hard. Nikita did not have any shoes and walked barefoot. "I don't remember where we stopped overnight," Fatima says. "Mum carried me on her back. And I kept sleeping. Horses, carts and carriages. I remember that mum held onto a cart from time to time. We were terribly afraid. We were afraid that the new troops would restore their own order."

They crossed the Czechoslovakian border in early May. Veronika Valentinovna's family ended up in the outskirts of the town of Nachoda, where Soviet troops had been deployed. There were many refugees here and, among them, a huge number of former prisoners of war who were trying to hide from their own troops. Otherwise they would end up in new, but this time Soviet, captivity and then in Siberia.

To be continued in the next edition