BioGraphy
Silva LINARTE
Silva Linarte was born in Latgale, a poor region in south-east Latvia, in 1939. Her family was relatively well-off and placed great importance on education and culture.
In June 1941, her father was arrested for having refused to denounce fellow schoolteachers and sentenced to hard labour in the Vyatka camps (Vyatlag), where he died in 1942. Silva, her mother and sisters were deported to the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia. In 1947, Silva and her sisters, as half-orphans, were allowed to return to Latvia. After a long train journey they were placed in an orphanage in Riga and then with foster families. Their mother then managed to escape from the special settlement and joined them secretly in Latvia.
During the second mass deportation in 1950, the mother and her three daughters were sent back to Siberia. Although living conditions were gradually improving, Silva’s mother died of cancer. Silva finally returned to Latvia in 1956, managed to resume her education and became a designer and painter.
She now lives in her childhood home, with her own daughters, among the miraculously preserved memories of the family’s past.
Two interviews were conducted with Silva Linarte : the first in 2009 by Juliette Denis and Alain Blum, the second in 2012 by Marta Craveri and Juliette Denis.
Entire interview with Silva Linarte in english - Part 1
University of Daugapils, 13/01/2009 (Interpretation from Russian into English: Lerra Sheyin)
Entire interview with Silva Linarte, part 2, in original language (Russian)
Nous vous proposons d'écouter ici l'intégrale de l'entretien avec Silva Linarte, réalisé par Juliette Denis et Alain Blum, à l'université de Daugavpils, le 13 janvier 2009.
Entire interview with Silva Linarte in english - Part 2
University of Daugavplis, 13/01/2009 (interpretation from Russian into English: Lerra Sheynin)
Rumours of deportations before June 1941
1. The NKVD found it hard to keep the operation confidential. Silva Linarte’s family heard of the resettlement some days before 14 June 1941 from her father’s sister. But her father refused to believe it.
Rumours of deportations before June 1941 (VE)
1. The NKVD found it hard to keep the operation confidential. Silva Linarte’s family heard of the resettlement some days before 14 June 1941 from her father’s sister. But her father refused to believe it.
Silva Linarte’s mother leaves behind the baby’s things
Expecting to be deported to Siberia and choosing warm coverings when arrested turned out to be an essential factor for survival. Some people took winter clothing. Others, harried by the soldiers, left crucial bundles behind. This happened to Silva Linarte’s mother, who left her youngest child’s things – the baby died on the train.
Silva Linarte’s mother leaves behind the baby’s things (VE)
Expecting to be deported to Siberia and choosing warm coverings when arrested turned out to be an essential factor for survival. Some people took winter clothing. Others, harried by the soldiers, left crucial bundles behind. This happened to Silva Linarte’s mother, who left her youngest child’s things – the baby died on the train.
Nettles, Silva’s mother’s miracle remedy
In the Siberian village where Silva's family was resettled, in the winter of 1941, the resettlers fell seriously ill after eating tainted flour. Where medical care was so poor, nettles appeared to be a saving remedy. Silva remains convinced that they saved her mother.
Nettles, Silva’s mother’s miracle remedy (VE)
In the Siberian village where Silva's family was resettled, in the winter of 1941, the resettlers fell seriously ill after eating tainted flour. Where medical care was so poor, nettles appeared to be a saving remedy. Silva remains convinced that they saved her mother.
Siberia: a place of enchantment and deportation
The ambivalence of Siberia, at the same time a magnificent territory and a site of repression, is expressed by Silva Linarte. As a little girl she watched her mother pulling the plough like a beast of burden. Sitting on a tree stump, she thought about this forest she so loved. Why did this “most beautiful place in the world” stand for the suffering of deported peoples?
Siberia: a place of enchantment and deportation (VE)
The ambivalence of Siberia, at the same time a magnificent territory and a site of repression, is expressed by Silva Linarte. As a little girl she watched her mother pulling the plough like a beast of burden. Sitting on a tree stump, she thought about this forest she so loved. Why did this “most beautiful place in the world” stand for the suffering of deported peoples?
The wolves
Meeting with wolves!
“I remember the school was 18 km away, we had to walk there, not every day, of course, but all the same. We had to walk through the taiga in winter with snowstorms, the cold and the wolves.
And one day, we were not far from the village of Ulyukol [Улюкол]. We children, Lithuanians and Latvians, were walking along. And then we saw some little lights in the distance. They were a long way a way and all round us. We didn’t realise what they were. We saw that the circle was closing in. And when it was near us, we saw that it was wolves. Everyone was very afraid. We started screaming, not to make them go away, but because we were terrified. We screamed with fear and the wolves began to move back. The circle became wider again. They didn’t go away immediately. That was their system: they widened the circle before they went.
Gosh, we were afraid!”
Helped by the people of the village
Silva looks back in gratitude at the generosity of the Russians who lived alongside the deportees.
After their terrifying encounter with the wolves, the children wandered exhausted through the forest. They came across a house, where an old woman took them in and gave them food. She knew that the children had a long, hard way to go each time they went to school and liked to help them.
Helped by the people of the village (VE)
Silva looks back in gratitude at the generosity of the Russians who lived alongside the deportees.
After their terrifying encounter with the wolves, the children wandered exhausted through the forest. They came across a house, where an old woman took them in and gave them food. She knew that the children had a long, hard way to go each time they went to school and liked to help them.
Music and dance
“Imagine, at our age, we had come back from the terrible taiga and we were off dancing. We went dancing and the Lithuanians played the accordion. Youth is something incomprehensible, something that helps people survive. I can tell you that the Lithuanians saved a generation of Latvians with their love for music, they did!”
Often, despite the restrictions and difficulties of daily life, the young deportees managed to set time aside for relaxation and fun.
Music and dance (VE)
“Imagine, at our age, we had come back from the terrible taiga and we were off dancing. We went dancing and the Lithuanians played the accordion. Youth is something incomprehensible, something that helps people survive. I can tell you that the Lithuanians saved a generation of Latvians with their love for music, they did!”
Often, despite the restrictions and difficulties of daily life, the young deportees managed to set time aside for relaxation and fun.
Return to Latvia: the orphanage
In 1946, following an initiative of the Latvian ministry of education, the “orphans and half-orphans” in the special settlements were allowed to return to Latvia. Many children had indeed lost one of their parents during the war years and their surviving mothers realised that despite the pain of separation sending them back to Latvia would increase their chances of survival.
So some 1,300 children, mostly Latvian and some Estonians, returned to the Baltic republics in 1946-1947. Often the escapees could not believe that their return was legal, although it is documented in Soviet archives, and attributed it to a combination of luck and heroic individual initiative. For Silva and her sisters, the orphanage in Riga meant (relative) affluence. After their exhausting journey from Siberia, the children were suspicious of the food they were offered. Only the orphanage doctor understood and said they should be given cooked potatoes, the only food they knew. For these children their early return, compared with other categories of deportee, was a shock that remains in their memories, the rediscovery of their homeland. Austra Zalcmane, her sister Lilia Kaione and Peep Varju received the same exceptional permission.
1. In the first extract, Silva describes her journey by train with her sisters back to Latvia in 1947.
Return to Latvia: the orphanage (VE)
In 1946, following an initiative of the Latvian ministry of education, the “orphans and half-orphans” in the special settlements were allowed to return to Latvia. Many children had indeed lost one of their parents during the war years and their surviving mothers realised that despite the pain of separation sending them back to Latvia would increase their chances of survival.
So some 1,300 children, mostly Latvian and some Estonians, returned to the Baltic republics in 1946-1947. Often the escapees could not believe that their return was legal, although it is documented in Soviet archives, and attributed it to a combination of luck and heroic individual initiative. For Silva and her sisters, the orphanage in Riga meant (relative) affluence. After their exhausting journey from Siberia, the children were suspicious of the food they were offered. Only the orphanage doctor understood and said they should be given cooked potatoes, the only food they knew. For these children their early return, compared with other categories of deportee, was a shock that remains in their memories, the rediscovery of their homeland. Austra Zalcmane, her sister Lilia Kaione and Peep Varju received the same exceptional permission.
1. In the first extract, Silva describes her journey by train with her sisters back to Latvia in 1947.
The first shower
“They took us straight to the orphanage. First the shower, a sort of collective bath, we’d never seen anything like it, we didn’t know what it was, why the water was running down from above.
I remember we were crying, we didn’t know where to stand. Anyway, the staff came and washed us all.
And then they started to give out the clothes. For me as a girl, this was a great moment.
There was a lady sitting there issuing dresses.
So I stood in front of the lady and she said, ‘Look, little girl. Choose the dress you want.’ So I chose a dress with flowers and edging of a different colour, dark red.
Oh my, I remember, I put it on and looked at myself. I was so happy to have that wonderful dress.
You know, in Siberia we had skirts of oilcloth. The oilcloth from the bags the horses were fed from! My mother had cut some out to make me a little skirt that I fastened with a shoelace. That’s what I wore in Siberia.
And suddenly I was given a dress with flowers on it!”
The first shower (VE)
“They took us straight to the orphanage. First the shower, a sort of collective bath, we’d never seen anything like it, we didn’t know what it was, why the water was running down from above.
I remember we were crying, we didn’t know where to stand. Anyway, the staff came and washed us all.
And then they started to give out the clothes. For me as a girl, this was a great moment.
There was a lady sitting there issuing dresses.
So I stood in front of the lady and she said, ‘Look, little girl. Choose the dress you want.’ So I chose a dress with flowers and edging of a different colour, dark red.
Oh my, I remember, I put it on and looked at myself. I was so happy to have that wonderful dress.
You know, in Siberia we had skirts of oilcloth. The oilcloth from the bags the horses were fed from! My mother had cut some out to make me a little skirt that I fastened with a shoelace. That’s what I wore in Siberia.
And suddenly I was given a dress with flowers on it!”
Silva’s childhood photos
Members of Silva’s family who were not deported kept photographs from the 1930s. Silva, now living again in her childhood home, has also found family mementos that have miraculously escaped decades of loss.
Silva and her sisters in Latvia, returning twice
In 1947, Silva and her sisters, as half-orphans, were allowed to return to Latvia. Arriving in Riga, they were placed in an orphanage and then with foster families. Their mother managed to escape and joined them secretly in Latvia. During the second mass deportation in 1950, the mother and her three daughters were sent back to Siberia. Silva did not finally return until 1956, when she was 17.
A radio portrait (1/2)
A portrait of Silva Linarte, in Valérie Nivelon’s “La Marche du Monde” on RFI on 7 April 2012.
Silva Linarte was invited to Paris to tell her story at the University Library for Languages and Civilisations Studies (BULAC) during a research conference on the project “Sound archives of the Gulag”.
A radio portrait (2/2)
A portrait of Silva Linarte, in Valérie Nivelon’s “La Marche du Monde” on RFI on 7 April 2012.
Silva Linarte was invited to Paris to tell her story at the University Library for Languages and Civilisations Studies (BULAC) during a research conference on the project “Sound archives of the Gulag”.