Walentina's mother actively supported the partisan campaign which led to the arrest of mother and daughter in February of 1944. Walentina was tortured during the interrogation and was deported a few days later to work as a forced laborer in Germany, her mother to France.

• Born 1928 in Gorki

• Walentina’s parents had studied and worked since 1930 in the Minsk Botanical Garden

• 1937: Her father is deported by Stalin; 1942, rehabilitation and entry into the Red Army  

• February 1944: Arrest and deportation to Germany

• Works as a kitchen help in Reutlingen

• 1945: Returns to Minsk

• 1951-1986: Works as a food chemist in the academic field

• Divorced, one daughter

Interview Data:

• Interview za073 »

• Audio interview in Russian

• Recorded in Minsk on August 5th and 23rd, 2005 by Alesia Belanowitsch and Imke Hansen

• Interview duration:  5:25 hours

• Transcript, photographs

• Subset: "Belarus – IBB Minsk"