Collection of Maria Chaplinska-Zauer

Collection contains documents from Maria Chaplinska-Zauer’s personal archive and her oral histories. Maria Czaplinska-Sauer, She was the daughter of German immigrants, was exiled to Kazakhstan with her mother and sisters. In this interview, she describes the route they took from Tbilisi to Kazakhstan. First, they traveled to Baku by train, and then they arrived in Turkmenistan by cargo ship on the Caspian Sea. Maria recounts how they endured thirst due to the intense heat and lack of water during their journey. A goods train from Krasnovotsk, Turkmenistan, traversed the desert for 17 days. She talks about their experiences in exile, highlighting that they never ate bread, and her mother used to cook turtles.