oral history

UNDER JAKOB'S LADDER took place during the early days of the Soviet Union and the reign of Stalin. Here are some real life stories on what happened to real families during these years of hardship... Memories of a Forced Famine In 1932-33, all the harvests were confiscated in order to break the will of the people, to get them to work on Stalin's commune farms. November 22, 2008 marks the 75th Anniversary of this time of starvation. Below are memories of the famine... >> Add your story Exchanging Gold for Barley I was 6 years old at the time of the famine. It was near the end of winter. What little food my family had in the house had run out. My grandmother told my mom that it was time to sell our gold. So, we gathered all our jewelry, including the wedding rings. It was cold, but my mom took the gold and walked all the way to Dnepropetrovsk [the closest city]. She sold all the gold for a small sack of barley. We got almost nothing for what was sold; but gold doesn't really matter when you are hungry. It was a blizzard when my mom came back with the barley. That barley helped us to survive until the American food came. -- Marta, survivor of the famine (St. Catharines, Ontario) No Food in the House "[10-year-old Ivan] had to look after his younger siblings while his mother was sent out to work in the bush. 'Nobody attended to us,' he said, 'Nobody looked after us. We just waited.' And hungered. With no food in the house, the children had to wait for their mother to bring food rationed to her, so she could work. 'She saved it for us,' he said." -- From newspaper article: "Survivor recalls living through man-made famine" (Niagara This Week, November 7, 2008) Want to add your family story? Email us with your story about the famine (up to 200 words -- we may edit for length). Include your name and the city where you're from.  >> Add your story here
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