Russia was 50 to a hundred years behind the leading countries and would have to make up the difference in ten years or Mother Russia, which had become the socialist fatherland, would go under again, the leaders believed. This logic was the force behind the Great Purges and the forced pace of industrialization with its extreme waste and high loss of lives.
Mareika’s older sister Vera had moved to St. Petersburg, found a low-paying job working in a plant, and then married a militiaman. Soon after, Mareika’s mom, Shurra, and Ivan moved in with them. Lena still could not find a job but she helped with Vera’s newborn daughter Galena and cared for her own two children who were too young to work. Ivan was growing up just fine. Shurra was developing into an intelligent and responsible young girl.
Their lives were normalizing, even though money was always scarce and their living space was crowded.
23. The Nurse
It is a mystery as to how they found each other in about 1935, their first meeting in four years, but somehow they did! Mareika and Lena’s reunion was a joyous occasion for both mother and daughter.
One of the many topics they discussed was Mareika’s problem with a heavy outbreak of teenage acne on her face. Mareika knew about her mother’s charmed finger and wasn’t surprised when Lena told her that she had a solution. She could move the numerous, offending zits, one at a time, to her derrière where they wouldn’t be seen. The drawback was that they would be painful and would remain for possibly five years. Then they would fall off like the shed skin of a snake or old bark on a tree. There would be small white scars there that would never go away. It was an easy but painful decision for Mareika. Lena performed the ritual one evening and the next morning, it was a done deed. The rest of her life, Mareika’s face remained clear and as white as alabaster. People complimented her on her complexion and asked how she obtained it. Mareika would just smile and change the subject. The first five years caused some embarrassment for Mareika every time she visited a public banya to use the sweat rooms and showers. All the girls and women would be completely naked, but Mareika always wore panties to hide the zits on her rear. She came up with the standard answer that she did not want to sit naked on the bench inside the banya.
She finally revealed this well-kept secret to me, her daughter, in her last years on earth and showed me the fist-size patch of small white scars on her left buttocks. Until then she had told no one, not even her husband.
Mareika’s life experiences made her feel much older than her actual age. In the mid-1930s several important things happened to her. First, she had been a street girl with no documents but with Olga’s help she obtained a forged birth certificate with the last name of Kondratyeva to avoid future problems with linkage to an aristocrat’s name. Mareika may have gotten this name from her mother who had to have an identity document herself. She could not use the aristocratic name of Chernei either. Shurra, living with her mom, would not need papers but Vera who lived alone would. When she married she took her husband’s last name.
There were various other reasons for citizens wanting to change their surnames after the revolution. A common motivating force was that many peasant families had been bestowed with degrading surnames such as Krasnoshtunov which translates as “red pants.”
Mareika left her safe haven after three years. It had served her well from the age of about 12 to 14. She was always very grateful to Olga and the professor. Mareika had picked up many good habits and manners. Indeed, the kind woman transformed her into a fashionable young girl. It had brought back memories of better times with her birth mother Lena and reinforced lessons taught to children of aristocrats. Olga knew of Mareika’s obsession to keep her hands clean and beautiful and gave her a small leather case with the finest of manicure implements as a departing gift. Of course, the ravages of time claimed most of this beautiful set, but there remains a quite small and intricately designed pair of nail scissors which mother used to the end of her days. I prize it as a memento of my mother’s youth. It is over 70 years old.
Mareika went back out into the world again. The professor at first wanted her to stay with them but his wife felt that Mareika needed the change. The old-fashioned elderly couple agreed that Mareika was too timid and lacked the self-confidence she needed to live up to her potential. Mareika was a loner and the old couple worried that she did not want to make friends. So it was best for Mareika go out, face the world, overcome her fears, and make her future. It was a long road for Mareika to travel.
Olga found housing, employment, and potential friends for Mareika in a factory that made china. The young girl discovered that she had a natural ability for painting flowers on dishes. Every Saturday evening Mareika would return to Olga and her husband for 24 hours to regain her strength to face the world for another week. Olga kept Mareika fashionably dressed, well fed, and emotionally stable.
Mareika understood that only with strong willpower could she help herself. The teenager was very ambitious. The communist government recognized that much of the population was illiterate and they modified the education system to meet this challenge. The normal ten years to complete the equivalent of high school could now be completed in as little as three or four years, depending upon the individual and her circumstances. A student was allowed to challenge an individual class, take a final exam, and if he passed he could get credit for that class. It was difficult, but it allowed superior students to move up faster. Although Mareika had never attended any school, she completed her pre-college schooling and received a diploma in just four years. This accomplishment opened the door to nursing school for her, which was her dream come true.
Even as Mareika worked toward her goal, world events would profoundly affect her life and many others. The successes of the Nazis in Germany and the creation of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo on Russia’s eastern border posed serious threats to the Soviet Union.
International Communism was controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union via the organization labeled Communist International (originally called Comintern, then Cominform). The original stated aim of the Comintern was to bring about a worldwide worker revolution. A new policy was developed for the Comintern in 1935 to work toward a united front for all left-leaning parties and Stalin turned to the European democracies as a counterweight to Germany. In September of 1934, the USSR joined the League of Nations. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War against insurgents led by General Francisco Franco occurred in July of 1936. The Soviets provided a few hundred tanks and aircraft and a few thousand military specialists as well as 42,000 volunteers of the International Brigades. When Stalin’s supporters took over the Spanish government, the Russian people, including Mareika and her fellow student nurses, followed the events in Spain with great interest. Russians withdrew this military support as it became clear that General Franco and his German allies would win. This civil war was a great test of the commitment of Europe to contain fascism, and the Western Powers lost. Perhaps a communist Spain worried them more than a fascist one. Other events further confirmed the Soviet’s suspicions that Britain and France were not alarmed about Nazi eastward expansion. Russia’s foreign policy then shifted from collective security with the west to an accommodation with Hitler.
Agricultural and industrialization goals of the Soviet Union were set by a series of five-year plans, although the goals frequently were unattainable. Agriculture always had a low priority even though problems with agricultural production were serious and led to famines. Although industrialization was also beset with problems, it was more successful and there was a goodly output. Industrialization was built upon the bones of agriculture.
The Great Purges had badly shaken the middle management of state and industry, so new laws were passed to restore their authority. There were longer working days and harsh punishment for tardiness and absenteeism, which brought strict labor discipline. There were rewards for innovation in production. A massive buildup of the armed forces and defense industries was accompanied by cons
iderable patriotic propaganda, preparing citizens for war. By 1941 the industrial and military gap between Russia and other leading countries had closed. It was an amazing achievement by the Red Power and a huge price was paid by peasants and workers.
Mareika finished nursing school and received the precious diploma, clasping it to her bosom. She had attained a very large goal. It was the end of May 1939 and Mareika was 17 years and two months old.
The papers and radio screamed the news that the Japanese had launched a massive attack on Russian positions in eastern Mongolia on the 11th day of May. Named the Battle of Khalkin-Gol, it was going to be a long and hard fight. It was not unexpected, as Russians had generally acknowledged that Japan would eventually invade Eastern Russia. The Japanese had seized Manchuria in 1931, occupied Inner Mongolia in 1933, and by 1938 had conquered large areas of China.
The government ordered all the graduating nurses older than 18 years of age to join the Red Army and to proceed to Mongolia to work in military hospitals. The new nurses were pleased with this destination. They felt grown up and important and were ready to serve their country. A large advantage of being in the military is, of course, the free food, lodging, and transportation, which are no small matters during a Great Depression. There was also an esprit de corps that had been instilled in the graduating nurses. The individual was not that important. It was the country, Mother Russia, which was important. A popular patriotic song at that time started:
My Mother country is wide and big
There are a lot of forests, fields, and rivers
And I do not know of any other country
where a man can breath this freely!
Although only 17 and thus lacking orders and membership in the military, Mareika instinctively got onto the military train going to Mongolia with her friends. She was the only graduate in this large class under the age limit.
Why did Mareika illegally get on that train? Staying with her friends was a definite attraction. They had bonded during the time they spend in the difficult school and many were friends for life. Was it possibly the lure of the unknown? Russia had not been especially kind to her and a different country had the appeal of potential rewards and fulfillments. She wanted to leave the school and seek her destiny. Maybe it was a quest for her knight in shining armor. Maybe it was just time to move on and this was the most attractive option. Even years later, Mareika could not explain precisely why she boarded that train.
Concurrent with Mareika’s adventures there were serious world events underway. France and England had finally come to understand that the only effective policy against German expansion was a strong alliance. The USSR had the choice of a pact with the Allies that might or might not deter Hitler and that could lead into an uncertain war, or a pact with Hitler whose counter offer was to greatly increase Soviet territory and, at least for the present, to provide peace and buy time for Russia to become stronger.
Officials signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in Moscow on August 23, 1939. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, and the Soviet troops entered the eastern part of that country on September 17. Under the secret protocols of the Pact, the Soviet Union also received western Ukraine, together with the Romanian province of Bessarabia plus the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These latter three had heavy pressure put on them and they accepted Soviet garrisons under treaties signed in September and October. The treaties guaranteed that there would be no interference in their internal politics.
Finland received a similar ultimatum but the talks broke down after Finland refused to grant the Soviets a naval base and other considerations. On November 30, 1939, the USSR attacked with about a million men on several fronts. The heavily outnumber Finns put up a skilful and effective defense that winter and the Soviets made little progress. However, in February of 1940, the Soviets used a massive artillery bombardment to breach the Finnish defensive Mannerheim Line that stretched across the Karelian Isthmus, and Russian troops moved into Finland. Unable to obtain help from Britain and France, the exhausted Finns made peace on Soviet terms on March 12, 1940 and the USSR gained border changes in the north and built a Soviet naval base on the Gulf of Finland.
Russia officially tried to keep this so-called “Winter War” quiet. However, as knowledge of it spread, it was very unpopular with Russians. They felt that they actually lost the Winter War. In a sense they did, as Finland subsequently sided with Germany in World War II. The war was also a reality check for the military hierarchy and Stalin finally understood that they were not yet ready to fight Germans.
24. The Train Station
The train had a low priority and it took over a month to reach the Mongolian border. Russia has 16 different time zones and most of these zones are included in this railroad line-the world’s longest.
The nurses enjoyed the trip but the huge unknown that was waiting at the end of the line tempered any pleasure. A completely new life in a war zone obviously would not be a bed of roses. Mareika carried the additional load of being illegal and disobeying orders of an army not noted for compassion and gentleness. Survival in the military world had a different set of rules from survival in the civilian world. She would shake with fear every time the military men walked through the train car. She felt sure the military police would discover her and take her off the train. She was afraid to breathe. The anxiety affected her health and appetite as day-by-day she traveled closer to the border with Mongolia.
Everyone felt more apprehensive as they came closer to the war zone. The long trip did allow an adjustment period from peace to war, which can be good or bad, depending upon one’s perspective. Traveling for weeks to reach the war zone is a completely different experience from flying into it within hours.
Mareika wondered what would happen to her. She prayed for help to get though the trip but God did not help her this time. This time He had evidently decided to try something different. The nurses left the train at Borzya and were trucked south to the Mongolian border. Additional clearances were required for the nurses to enter Mongolia. No problem, as everyone was happy to halt the long and uncomfortable trip, at least temporarily. When the nurses resumed their journey, Mareika’s birthday still had not arrived and so she remained without official orders. The rigid customs control effectively ended her journey.
These strange events left Mareika stranded in a settlement called Solov’evsk on the Russian side of its border with northeastern Mongolia. The old settlement was too small for a town. A makeshift depot was the departure point for the Red Army truck convoy, which set out due south across the forbidding wasteland carrying away her friends and last hopes.
She thought, No! It cannot be! I am alone. What can I do here? I do not want to go back but how will I live here in this strange place? How can I find a job? How can I support myself? The newly commissioned nurse stood with tears rolling down her face. A cold autumn wind tousled her hair. She wanted to scream and stamp her feet and wave her arms, but she felt strangely weak and hopeless. She lifted a shaking hand to keep the sun out of her eyes as she watched the dust clouds from the departing truck convoy. A wave of exhaustion and nausea swept over her and she fainted.
Mareika was a patient in a small local medical clinic for many weeks. She was troubled by dreams about traveling on the train without orders, of her friends hiding her under benches during the frequent officer inspections and providing her with food from their own plates. She was still afraid that the military would find her out and send her back to St. Petersburg.
When she became healthy, she worked as a civilian nurse at the very health clinic in which she had been a patient. They were very pleased to have her nursing skills. The food was excellent and included unlimited amounts of local caviar, which she loved. The environment was good for her. After awhile she started to sleep deeply and peacefully. She ate with a strong appetite. She worked hard. It was her first professional job and her employers loved her and urged her to stay at the hospital. The patients adored “
Nurse Nightingale.” Many things were right and the girl gained back her strength both physically and emotionally.
Mareika eventually even gained weight and her slender figure filled out to a full-bodied voluptuous female. Confidence helped bring out her beauty. She was blooming like a tempting desert flower after a long hard drought. Her budding lips were waiting for love like an unopened rose on a misty spring morning. Her face reflected a sense of surprise as if she was amazed at her own beauty. She did not really understand all these changes, but her body did not hesitate because of that.
Her first purchase with her salary was an elegant dark blue silk dress. The dress, handmade in China, was her only decent one and she wore it frequently. Mareika found costume jewelry of broaches, pins, and necklaces. She bought accessories such as cloth belts and white lacy collars. These made the dress appear different each time she wore it, which was mostly at dances celebrating national holidays. On November 7, it was The Great Socialist Revolution Day. On December 5, it was Soviet Constitution Day. At that time, Christmas was not a holiday or even recognized. Other holidays were New Years Eve; February 23, the anniversary of the Soviet Army and Navy; and March 8, the International Woman’s Day, which always was and still is a big event in Russia.
[A side note: I pressed my mom to give me this silk dress when I was about ten or 12 years of age. She finally relented and altered it to fit me. It lasted some two years until I wore it out and outgrew it. When I was 15, I was sorry that my mom did not wait until I was older to make me a dress from this beautiful material. Now, of course, I am very sorry that my mom cut up that dress at all. It would have been a wonderful keepsake of her.]
My Russian Family Page 16