TRANSIT STATION

Lviv region

We were there for a long time, from March to December. There were huge rooms. Everyone was sleeping on the ground. There were such high wooden fences at the edges, and at the corners they had watch-towers with guards. And there was a small gate with a window. Well, those gates were not opened for us, and only if someone came and brought us a parcel, they opened a window for us, gave us a paper saying who came and what they brought. And so we received the parcels. Basically [at the transit station] there was red fish and some slops, don’t know which, and a piece of bread. And that was twice a day. If someone came and brought something there, it was such a joy.

The Resolution of October 4, 1948, issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, set to carry out mass deportations from Western Ukraine and specified the grounds for them: ‘in response to the acts of sabotage and terrorism committed by the bandits.’ In each case, it was supposed to take place only upon the decision of the Special Meeting of the USSR State Security Committee. Previously, this order was ignored on the grounds. After that, there was a problem of organizing transit stations that would allow to implement the resolution. People had to be kept somewhere for a long time waiting for the verdict. They started transporting people to the first six transit stations on the territory of Western Ukraine on December 8, 1948. In January, 1949, the number of such stations increased to nine: two in Lviv, and one each in Boryslav, Kolomyia, Broshniv, Kopychyntsi, Berezhany, Klevan, and Kovel. They could hold 10,550 people at a time. The duration of stay in such places was not supposed to exceed 25 days, although people were often kept there for months.

A smiling girl in a light summer dress stands barefoot, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were cold. Her mother lacks buttons on her dress, and one of her brothers has slippers on his feet. We do not know who took this photo and why but it is notable for the fact that it mixes the signs of a normal life from which this family was recently brutally snatched, and the difficult future that a repressive machine is preparing for them. We also see that the men’s haircuts are still kept, apparently made by a hairdresser before the arrest, and the women’s hair is braided into beautiful hairstyles, so, apparently, this photo was taken shortly after the family arrived at the transit station.

What happened to Martha’s shoes? Is her sincere smile an automatic response to the camera or a child’s facial expression of someone who has never experienced anything bad in their life?