Narma Mergenova, about exile and life in Siberia

Narma was 9 when Kalmyks were sent into exiled to Siberia. Narma reminisces that on the day of deportation her father quickly slaughtered a sheep but did not have time to cut the carcass into pieces which he did once inside the carriage on their way to Siberia. The carriage was for fit animals and was very cold inside and without sanitation. At stations people relieved themselves in front of the carriages. In Siberia, Narma’s family was sent to a poor collective where they starved. Warned that the Kalmyks were cannibals, the local people did not open their doors to them. Rarely, some people would toss a potato to begging Kalmyks. In the spring, the local people, seeing that the Kalmyks were not cannibals at all, began to socialize. While her parents toiled on the collective farm, Narma looked after her younger siblings. The first Kalmyk deportees were mainly women, the elderly and children. Kalmyk men who were fighting in the war joined their families later. Narma’s father who returned from the front earned a living by doing odd jobs as a blacksmith or carpenter. When Narma reached adulthood she was married off to a man whom she had never met before. At the end of the interview, Narma sings a song about exile.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi