Life in exile Bikov Mis in 1942 [Stories from Siberia continued] Life in Bikov Mis in 1942 [Stories from Siberia continued] Translated from Lithuanian from the memoirs of Irena K Whilst building our “jurtas” [ dug outs] we also had to earn our keep by unloading the goods off the steam ships and barges that sailed along the Lena River and arrived at the dock at Bikov Mis. In teams, we had to manually load, then haul these goods by way of wooden sleds to wherever we were told to go. The officials would just point to someone and yell, “You! Go over there and be quick about it!” My mother Jadze, my sister and Victoria found this extremely hard work. Victoria was a very petite girl of just 5’2’’. However, there was no choice in the matter, we had to work for food. The Russian officials often told us, ”You Lithuanians have been brought out here, so that you will learn the meaning of hard work! You’re going to be here forever, so all of you may as well get used to the idea!” The MVD officials allocated rations of hard, black, bread and frozen fish to people who were physically able to work. Those who could not work got a small ration of bread only. We had to cook the fish thoroughly. We were also fined in terms of food if we came late to work or did not work fast enough. Basically we were slave labour. We had to report weekly to the MVD officials. My sister and I often dreamed about eating potatoes and meat. Again, my mother’s wisdom of sewing our valuables into the hems of our winter coats saved us from malnutrition. She was able to barter some rings for flour from the local inhabitants and mix it with water and cook a basic bread for us to supplement our meagre diet. Many exiles became ill from malnutrition, people’s teeth fell out and whole families died from dysentery and typhoid. My sister Victoria’s diarrhea started up again. Women’s menses stopped, which was a blessing. People shared their food with the 6 year old little girl and the 2 old men in our group who were unable to work. In winter the temperature was often -40C. Two Lithuanian families in our group died that winter. Their bodies had to be buried on the spot. At the time, the MVD officials were asking the women if anyone knew how to make and smoke sausages. Our mother Jadze being 46 years old, knew that we could not last long in this terrible environment, so she put her hand up to say she knew how to make them, as she’d seen her own mother make them in her own Lithuanian village. Here is a photo typical of that time.