My Search. Josef Ben-Eliezer

and cooking. By the time he added a table and a primitive bench, the arrangement was reasonably comfortable.

      Our next concern was to gather food and fuel for the winter. Mother took us two younger ones into the forest to pick cranberries. They were plentiful, and we harvested hundreds of liters. Father made a box in a shed outside to dry and store the berries for winter. We also worked very hard to build up a supply of firewood to keep ourselves warm through the long, harsh Siberian winter. Because of Father’s foresight and resourcefulness, we managed better than many families. Others later starved or froze when the harsh Siberian winter set in.

      Dense forest surrounded the settlement, and the men’s main work was cutting firewood. They cut, split, and stacked the wood. Officials would come around, measuring the stacks and calculating wages. Corruption was rampant. Sometimes an official would say, “Give me a bottle of vodka, and I’ll let you just move this same pile to another spot. I’ll write down that you did double.”