“When I entered the hospital, I realised that things were very bad for me. I said nothing aloud; in my thoughts alone I prayed to God to have mercy on me, to let me remain with my children, so that they would not be left there as strangers, without father or mother, in those wastelands.

“We were well-to-do householders, and that was our crime. Whoever had cows, land, or tools was an enemy,

“Siberia is not merely a place on the map. Siberia is a merciless mother who takes everything you have and gives you nothing back except pain and silence,