Chapter IV. The oral testimonies about the forced labour and the deportations
When we wrote the method paper of the project, we thought about a questionnaire. In our vision, it had to contain the following questions: a) How did You remember the end of the war? What was the atmosphere in that period, what hopes and fears did You have? b) When had the collectivization in Your village began? How did You report to that? c) What was important for You in that period? The family? The faith? etc. d) What did You remember from the period immediately before the deportation? e) How this happened? f) What did You take with You in this forced travel? Were there people from your family or neighbours also? g) What was the place to which You were deported? In what conditions did You live there? Which was the attitude of the authorities towards You? h) What did You remember from Siberia? i) When did You return home from Siberia? j) How did You perceive Your village when You returned? What was different for You? In the Vth chapter, we will stop on how we succeeded with these questions, which new questions appeared and which were the mainlines of the narrations.
IV.1 The Chernivtsy region From the testimonies of the people with whom we spoke, there can be noted three main phenomena which were traumatic for the inhabitants. 55