The following quotation is from Raisa Mikhailovna, a representative from a mine in Kyrgyzstan sent to a train station to collect Meskhetian Turk deportees as laborers. Her impression of the arriving special settlers as they exited the deportation trains is quoted in D. Sh. Kyzaeva, T.D. Dotsenko and S.I. Begaliev, eds., Arkhivnye dokumenty svidetelt'stvuiut: Deportirovannye narody v Krygyzstane (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Firma "Aibek", 1995), p. 22. The translation from Russian to English is my own.
When the doors of the wagons opened - the impression was one of horror: on the ground was strewn a huge pile of filth - excrement, etc. From the wagons came people: emaciated and exhausted. Out walked the sick and dying. Among the arriving people were those in military uniform: enlisted, officers and those with combat medals.
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