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Well, only very few of the photographs showing the dark side of Uprava and Sokskiy realiy at that time survived - because when departing the German families were told by Beriya's men on the spot that they would not be allowed to take photographs with them back to Germany. And indeed, the belongings of some families were searched for incriminating documents and photos upon departure from Krasnaya Glinka railway station (# 0139) in 1953.(Sorry, it burned down.) However, photos 007 to 009 and 058 show the Gulag Lager (part of BezimyanLag) for women (formerly the Lager for German voennoplennih) working at the ploti and the wood factory at the foot of the Zdavnitsa as well as at the Gipsum Karer between the Zdravnitsa and todays Yuzhniy.

Of course, one had to keep up optimism and a semblance of normal life, - and good work, otherwise there would be no return back to Germany. So, only two days after their arrival via Krasnaya Glinka in that terribly cold November 46, most of the Germans were at work, preparing the start of developing what later became to be known as NK-engines (=N. Kuznetsov). My family, for some starting months, lived at the Zdravnitsa, until our houses in Uprava had been finished by prisoners of war.

Whatever our parents's worries, for us tha surroundings of Uprava and the Volga with the Island was pure paradise! :)

As I said, most of us enjoy visiting, passing some vacation in or near Uprava and Glinka and the Samarskaya Luka, and entertain a certain friendly nostalgia by holding every second year a "vetaran meeting" of the still surviving former German Uprava children (which some Russian TV station - and not me - named Trofeyniye deti.

Gunter Spohr