By Mariam Levina

YEREVAN. – Nina Hakobyan was born Kerch, a city in Crimea, and lived there until she was 13. Together with her family she was deported to Germany. The story of Nina Hakobyan is a story of tragic war experience with a happy end.

“The Germans deported us in September 1942. There were four of us: my mom, dad, brother and me. The eldest brother was at the front. All the families in the entire street were deported, with the exception of Jewish families.

We were put on a ship and were given a white flag for the Soviet pilots to think that it was a civilian vessel. At the bottom they actually carried ammunition. We sailed to Odessa where we were put on a train through Romania and then got to Germany. We were sent to a camp, but not a concentration camp, it was not that strict.

German farmers came and chose workers for them. My parents and brother were left in the camp to work at a factory. I was chosen by a German family. I was lucky, it was a good family. They had a dining room for their workers. I had to lift the wood and coal from the basement for the hostess to light a stove and cook dinner. Then, I had to wash dishes, clean the kitchen. I had to fill water jugs with water and then empty the pots,” Mrs. Nina said.

Nina Hakobyan and her family were freed from German captivity by American troops.

“Surprisingly, the German troops were not fighting against the Americans, they were retreating quietly. When everything calmed down and the war ended, the Soviet Union began to demand their nationals who were in territories occupied by the Americans. Our family decided to go back. We returned to Leipzig where we stayed in a camp for a few months. After a thorough investigation, we were allowed to return. But we could not come back to Kerch and decided to settle in Novorossiysk [port in Russia’s south]. We traveled in a freight car. At the same time, the Armenian division was returning home. At one of the stations my mom, hearing the Armenian speech, asked for a permission to meet with the commander to try to learn something about the elder brother who used to study at the Veterinary Institute in Yerevan before joining the army. The commander had no information about my brother but allowed us join them on their way to Armenia. So, we came to Armenia and the life improved,” she said.

This is an amazing story of a family reunion, since the elder brother arrived in Yerevan after leaving the army in 1951. However, Nina Hakobyan has no feeling of hatred towards Germans.

“I remember the German family, where I lived. Two daughters Gertrude, Elza and their mom Marta. Her husband Carl was killed during the war. For a year she wore mourning and two wedding rings as a widow. Gertrude was a kind woman. She helped me to find out what happened with my parents. They tried to persuade us not to go back, saying that we would be sent to Siberia. Fortunately, this did not happen.”

Before they were sent to captivity, the Hakobyan family were hiding in the shelter during the bombings.When the Germans entered the city, at first they separated the Jews and made them wear their white six-pointed star for the soldiers to see that they are Jews.

“One day, they ordered all the Jews gather in the square. We thought they would be deported. The Jews went to the square with their things and children on sleds. We did not know where they were taken. And when the snow melted, we found the bodies in anti-tank trenches out of the city. The Jews were shot dead.”

Mrs. Nina periodically meets with other former juvenile prisoners, both in Armenia and other CIS countries. She says the government is not providing assistance to former prisoners sufficiently.