156 Chapter 7Resolution 1647–377ss. This was a sore point with the Korean community
that was remembered even in the years 2008–2010. En Ho Lee recalled that
his family received 300 rubles while others collected 150 rubles for their
losses.^29 However, most Koreans indicated that although they filled out an in-
ventory (opis) of their possessions, home, farm equipment, and livestock they
never received any compensation, despite the promise of reimbursement.
Vladimir Li was eight years old when his family was deported in Sep-
tember 1937. They lived in a village near pres ent- day Ternei on the Pacific
coast. “We were happy [about the deportation], we were kids, what did
we know? We played, we went to school, but there were no more lessons or
homework. We were happy to be going on a trip.” He stated that his parents
were extremely frustrated and angry about being deported. They agonized
over what they could do. However, in 1936 the Great Terror had begun, and
Koreans knew, whether through the newspapers or by word of mouth, of
people who had been repressed. Pyotr Pak stated: “Every one who pro-
tested was labeled an ‘ enemy national.’ We were all swept away. There was
not one word you could say.”^30 Viktor had heard through other deportees of
Koreans who resisted deportation. Some ran away to remote areas. Viktor
said that these Koreans were caught and forced to the train stations. If they
continued to protest, they were shot on the spot.^31 To soften the blow of be-
ing deported (as well as to persuade the Koreans to board the trains quickly
and without argument), Soviet authorities and the NKVD told them that
they would be receiving their own autonomous region in Central Asia.^32
Other Koreans were told that their territorial autonomy would be realized
in Kzyl Orda, Kazakhstan.^33
Koreans brought salted meat, salted fish, and vegetables with them to
the train station. Most families gave away their cows, chickens, and pigs to
neighbors. The deportees boarded trains with echelons of more than forty
individual wagons. Each wagon held from three to five Korean families and
had double bunks and a stove in the middle. All trains went to Kazakhstan
first and then on to Uzbekistan or western Kazakhstan or the Aral Sea. The
journey took from thirty to forty- five days. Children and the el derly were
especially vulnerable during the trip and afterwards. One echelon reported
arriving in Novosibirsk, Rus sia, with six children dead and fifty sick.^34
On November 3, 1937, a memo signed by NKVD agent Meer and
Dalkrai NKVD chief Lushkov noted: “On October 30, from the city of
Vladivostok’s station was sent the last assembled echelon 501 ordinal 125/62
with the suspicious Koreans [s koreitsami podozrevaemymi; ita lics mine].”^35
One might ask why it was that every Korean was seen as “suspicious”? This
statement on the part of Lushkov and Meer was chauvinistic. Once the de-