"Dear Comrades,
146 children are alive and well and send greetings to their parents.
Our journey was very hard. We couldn’t find space for all the children
to lie for the night, or even to sit. I’m not speaking of the staff,
who stood, or, if they did sit, it was on the running-board of the wagon,
on the steps. We were three days underway. Despite the large amount
we took, on the second day the water began to run out. There was hardly
any boiled water on the stations, and if there was, only
80 litres for the 2,500 children on the train. There was fighting over
every mug. We had to ration it."
Letter from
Liubov Antonova
"The head of the Schools Lecture Centre,
L.V. Antonova, is to be on detached duty for an extended period from
4 July inst. to accompany the children being evacuated."
Order issued by Academician Orbeli,
the Director of the Hermitage
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