The Endless Steppe: Growing Up In Siberia

By: Esther Hautzig


Summary: Esther lived in Poland until she was 10 years old.  Her life changed forever one day during World War 2 when soldiers came to her house and took her parents, grandmother, and arrested them for deportation to Siberia.  To get there, her family spent weeks crammed into a cattle car on a train with other families, with little to eat or drink and no bathroom.  When they finally arrived in Siberia, they were put to work in a gypsum mine.  The work was difficult and they still had little to eat.  After a while, amnesty was declared for all Polish deportees in Russia.    They had to stay in Siberia, but they could get jobs and move into town, Esther could even go to school.  Life was still very hard, though.  The weather was unforgiving and there was rarely enough food to eat, and to make matters worse, Esther's family soon found that they were not really free.  They could not practice their religion openly, and the Polish Jews were asked to spy on one another.  For five years, Esther's family had to remain in Siberia, struggling to survive and always hoping for the best.

Interest Level: 4th-8th Grades

Hautzig, E. (1968).  The endless steppe: Growing up in Siberia.  New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.