The Fate of a Schreiber Family from Norka

The following information was sent to me by my cousin, Alexander Schreiber, through several e-mails in November 2005. Alexander lives in Moscow and is researching Schreiber families from Norka living in Siberia. I compiled the text and images from his messages adding maps to illustrate the location of these families.

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Dear Steve, 

On August 27th, a day prior to the memorable day of deportation on 28.08.1941, and two days prior to the anniversary of my father’s death on 29.08.1993, I received a letter from the Schreiber family living in Altai. (Note: Altai is a region in Siberia – see maps below) 

Some Schreiber families from Norka live in the Zavyalovo area of Altai. Our distant relatives! Zavyalovo is the administrative center of this area (22,400 persons and an area of 2,200 square kilometers). In the village of Zavyalovo there are 7,722 persons. The population is comprised of: Russians, Germans, Ukranians, Belorussians and Kazakhs. Germans are the second largest group of people. In the area there are 20 villages with 6 large villages. The Schreiber families live in two of the larger villages: Gilevka and Gonohovo. There is no railway in Zavyalovo. From Zavyalovo the nearest station is Gilevka - 20 kilometers away. The railway station at Gilevka is on the line from Moscow to Barnaul. 

Altai (Altay) Territory in Siberia 

Altai (Altay) Territory in Siberia showing the location of the Schreiber families (blue pushpins). 

The letter was sent to me by Eugeny Vladimir Schreiber from Gilevka. I have found his family line on the Schreiber chart prepared by Dr. Igor Pleve. 

Eugeny Vladimir Schreiber descends from the Schreiber line as follows: 

The eldest son of Heinrich Schreiber (26.09.1802) was Lorenz Schreiber (8.05.1822). Lorenz had a son named Conrad Schreiber (13.12.1848). Conrad had a son, Wilhelm Schreiber (26.10.1872).

Wilhelm Schreiber with his wife in 1917. Photograph contributed by Elvira Schreiber.

There is information about Wilhelm Schreiber on this web page: 

 

Family of Wilhelm Schreiber. Wilhelm is seated with arms crossed. At left in the photo is his daughter Olga, seated on the right is his son Vladimir, further right stands Alexander (father of Elvira), near to Alexander is daughter, Berta Schreiber, further right in Wilhelm's wife, Ekaterina, holding Johann Schreiber. At the extreme right is Friedrich. Daughter Maria (married name of Weber) sits in the foreground. The youngest son Vasily is not shown in the photograph. Wilhelm died in 1921 at the age of 49 years. He was an avid hunter and caught a severe cold while hunting and died. Photograph contributed by Elvira Schreiber.

Wilhelm Schreiber’s son Alexander Schreiber was born 21.12.1899. Alexander’s siblings were: Friedrich (18.05.1902) and Berta (14.02.1914). 

Eugeny Schreiber is the grandson of Alexander Schreiber. In 1941, the families of Alexander, Friedrich and Berta Schreiber were sent to Zavyalovo. All three were born in Norka. The families of Alexander and Friedrich later moved to Gilevka. The family of Berta Schreiber moved south to Kazakhstan, in the city of Taldy-Kurgan. 

Many families from Norka were sent to the Zavyalovo area along with other people from the Volga German Canton of Balzer (Note: a Canton is similar to a county). 

Eugeny sent me a copy of a registration card that documents the arrival of his grandfather’s (Alexander Schreiber) family in Zavyalovo. On arrival in Siberia, all German families received such cards. I will send a copy of this card to you later. On the copy of the registration card it shows that the family was sent away from the rail station in Saratov on 1.09.1941. The family of Alexander Schreiber arrived in Kulunda on railway echelon 877 (a military train) on 1.10.1941. The train was scheduled to make its last stop in Barnaul on 10.09.1941 (10 days from Saratov) but the journey lasted an entire month. Sometimes they waited for days on a rail siding while military trains passed by. People sat in boxcars and it was impossible to look out outside. Those who died were unloaded at stations on the line and they were not allowed to be buried. The people from Norka were unloaded from the train in Kulunda and were taken to smaller villages like Zavyalovo by mechanical transportation. Germans were not allowed to live in larger cities like Barnaul. 

The 1941 registration card shows the following information for the family of Alexander Schreiber: his wife, Lydia Conrad Schreiber (nee Braun – born in 1900); the son of Lydia Conrad Schreiber from her first husband, Arthur Georg Koch (born 1923); Edward (born 1932); his son Vladimir (or Waldemar, born 1934, the father of Eugeny Vladimir Schreiber); his daughter Elvira (born 1938); a domestic servant, Gelvich Lydia Alexander (born 1904). 

They also sent me a photo of the Alexander Schreiber family taken in Norka in 1935. 

Photograph of the Alexander Wilhelm Schreiber family from Norka in 1935. From left to right: Lydia Schreiber (wife of Alexander), Vladimir Schreiber (son), Alexander Schreiber, Edward Schreiber (son).  This photograph was sent from the Schreiber family living in Altai (November 2005) to Alexander Schreiber in Moscow, Russia. 

Alexander Schreiber worked in Norka as the bookkeeper in a shop. His wife was a teacher in an elementary school.

 

According to Emma Urbach (nee Schreiber) this building was the high school in Norka (photo taken in 2001). There were up to 10 classes that studied in this school. Emma Urbach and my father (1937-38) attended this school. 

Their house in Norka was in a ravine, probably at the Norka River. It is likely that they were neighbors of my grandfather. Vladimir Schreiber told his children that one relative in Norka had a blacksmith shop (probably the smithy of my grandfather).

Left: Photograph of Alexander Wilhelm Schreiber circa 1941. Contributed by Elvira Schreiber.

Right: Photograph of Alexander Wilhelm Schreiber in city of Balashov near Saratov. Contributed by Elvira Schreiber.

After the deportation in 1941, Alexander worked in the forced labor army (Trud Armee) as did his brother Friedrich. They were in a camp at Usollag in the Perm region where Friedrich died in 1943. (Note: conditions in the Gulag camps were extremely harsh. Prisoners received inadequate food rations and insufficient clothing, which made it difficult to endure the severe weather and the long working hours; sometimes the inmates were physically abused by camp guards. As a result, the death rate from exhaustion and disease in the camps was high.)

Photograph of Johann Schreiber in Germany circa 1944. Johann sent this photo to relatives in Zavjalovo in 1946 from his home in Yeniseisk. The following inscription is written in German on the photo: "For memories! From your uncle Ivan (Russian for Johann) after three difficult years of struggle. To our favorite children and favorite mum. Schreiber. Yeniseisk. 11.06.46". This photograph was contributed by Elvira Schreiber.

Johann Schreiber worked as a clerk in Norka (1930s) and later served in the Red army and participated in the war near Finland (1939-1940) and later in Germany (1941). He was wounded and taken prisoner by the Nazi fascists early in the war. After the war, in 1946, Johann was released from German captivity and sent back to the Soviet Union. Johann had no idea that all of the Germans had been deported from the Volga until the end of the war. He married a German woman from Ukraine and settled in the Siberian city of Yeniseisk in the Krasnoyarsk Region with their son. Shortly afterwards, both Johann and his wife were arrested in Yeniseisk having been accused of working as a translator for fascists. According to Elvira Schreiber, this was not possible since he knew very little Russian. Their son was taken to a children’s home. Johann was condemned by a Soviet military court to 25 years of imprisonment. In 1941, Stalin ordered the soldiers in the Red army to fight to the death. They were not allowed to surrender, even if taken captive. As a result, the Soviet authorities considered all captured soldiers as traitors and employees of the fascists. After Stalin’s death in the 1950’s, Johann’s 25 year sentence was reduced to a 10 year term. After his prison sentence was served, Johann settled in Zavjalovo with his wife. He was very sick and died within a short time. Johann (Ivan) is buried in the same cemetery as my aunt, Ida Schreiber. 

Eugeny writes that the friend of my father, Egor Schlidt, was a distant relative. Egor Schlidt lived in Zavyalovo and later moved to Germany. The father of Eugeny Vladimir Schreiber frequently called on him. Schlidt has been dead for a long time. (note: German spelling is Georg Schlitt. His photo taken with my father and mother is on the Norka web site). 

Yesterday I called Eugeny and he was not at home. I talked to Elvira Schreiber, the aunt of Eugeny. She now lives in Germany and is on holiday in Altai. She promised to write and send a photo from Germany. We spoke for a long time. Elvira remembers the time in 1948 when my aunt Ida died in Zavyalovo.

 

Schreiber family in the Altai region of Russia (village of Gilevka) in the summer of 2002. From left to right: Edward (lives in Zavjalovo area), Elvira (she now lives in the city of Chemnitz in Eastern Germany), and Vladimir (died in 2004). Photograph sent by the Schreiber family living in Altai - November 2005. 

In earlier times, there were more families with the Schreiber surname living in the Zavyalovo area. Later some of family left for Germany and others have died. Now, in village of Gilevka, there are three Schreiber families living. The first is the family of Eugeny Schreiber. The other two families are the grandsons of Friedrich Schreiber: Peter Vladimir Schreiber and Victor Vladimir Schreiber. Their father died suddenly two years ago (2003). The father of Eugeny (Vladimir or Waldemar) has also died. In the village of Gonohovo lives Eugeny’s Uncle Eduard (born in 1932). All of Eduard’s children live in Germany). Also living in Gonohovo is Alexander Schreiber, the son of Friedrich. 

Waldemar Schreiber, the father of Eugeny Vladimir Schreiber, was a teacher of geography and a history. He collected materials on the history of the Russian Germans. He created in the school museum an exposition about the Russian Germans. He also wrote a manuscript about the Russian Germans. Eugeny promised to send me a copy of the manuscript of the book. 

In one of the documents that Eugeny sent me, it says that in 1912 there were 14,236 persons living in Norka. This was probably the maximum number of inhabitants for all time in the existence of Norka. 

There are German organizations that exist in the Altai region of Russia today and this is how I found the Schreiber family in Zavyalovo.  In Altai there is a cultural organization named "The Russian-German House of Altay Region". This organization helped me to find the Schreiber families in this area. The web address is: www.ak-rnd.ru. Also in Altai there is an administrative unit called the German National Area of Halbstadt. There are also branches throughout Russia for the organizations of the Russian Germans. Recently in Moscow, a new web page was created: www.eiprd.ru The page refers to: Uniform information about Russian Germans. 

After the deportation in 1941, the following German families from Norka lived in the village of Gilevka: Urbach, Deines, Kuldau (Kilthau), Knippel, Schreiber, Dik (Dick), Triber (Treiber), Leongardt (Leonhardt). In other villages in the Zavjalovo area other natives of Norka lived. Many ethnic Germans from Zavjalovo area have moved to Germany since the early 1990’s. 

I send my best and wait for your letters. 

Alexander Schreiber

Moscow

November 2005