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The forced .... of Eugenia
Zhenya, you're now in the middle of the steppe.
Alone for some time.
The lack of food begins to distort your perceptions.
You're here alone because you've become a well-known doctor
and because a child who is dear to you and to the whole village
is seriously ill.
You haven't been able to cure him for some weeks now.
He's lying between life and death.
And you're aware of the weight of a child's life in the world's balance.
Some days ago you had a dream, a vision
in which you were told to withdraw to the steppe.
There you'd probably receive the answer to cure the child,
the answer from a being, an animal or a spirit.
You didn't inform anybody about your disappearance.
Days have passed, nights have passed...
Your perceptions are now fully distorted but your spirit is firm.
You are probably walking, looking around you.
And you're waiting patiently.
On the 28th of December, 1943, major Filimonov entered the house
and announced our deportation.
He suggested that we'd take the essentials and that we'd dress a little warmer.
The village and the house were deserted. One could only hear
the barking of the dogs and the mooing of unmilked cows.
At the station we were locked up in a cattle train.
Locked, our trip to the unknow began.
Zhenya, do you see anything or anybody approach?
If you do, tell us what you see.
A hare.
You can open your eyes, Zhenya.
Can you, please, introduce yourself in Kalmyk?
Hello, my name is Zhenya. I was born in Elista, Kalmykia.
I study medicine in Rost..
.. Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Finally, Zhenya, what's the Kalmyk for "face"?