THE PROBLEM OF ADAPTATION OF GERMAN DEPORTEES TO THE ENVIROMENT OF TOMSK REGION IN THE DEPORTATION PERIOD (1941-1956).

The majority of German deportees came to West Siberia in the period from September 1941 to January 1942. They came from regions with milder climate and different type of labor activity. These were dwellers of the former ASSR of Germans in the Volga region, in the Saratov, Stalingrad, Rostov and Krasnodar regions. The deportees had to adapt to unusual natural and climatic conditions. Winters were severely cold, with temperature down to -48 eC. Mean January temperatures ranged from -20 to -23eC. Snow cover held for 172-229 days. No one was ready for a new type of life. The main problem that a lot of Siberians were confronted was the absence of normal dwelling. The deportees did not have proper clothing and shoes that would protect them from severe Narim frosts. The frosts were followed by famine, which often resulted in dystrophy, dropsy, dysentery and inevitable death. One can single out several factors which complicated the physiological adaptation process of German deportees: radical difference of the climatic conditions of the Volga Region and West Siberia (temperature regime, precipitation level, flora and fauna; forced change of the labor activity type - a shift from farming to hunting and fishing; forced change of the dwelling type and construction of dwelling in adverse conditions; forced change of the labor type: farmers had to work at fish-factories and lumbering.Thus, the adaptation process of German deportees to the environment of the Tomsk region in the middle of the XXth century was exacerbated by the severe climatic conditions. The adaptation process was protracted. Overcoming significant barriers the German deportees had to take every effort to physically survive in order to substantially save their cultural identity.

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