The Endless Steppe - A story of hope and endurance in the wilds of Siberia

Resurrecting the oldies write off.

The incredible suffering of European Jews in World War II has been well documented. However, there are some accounts of suffering that are not as well known as others. In The Endless Steppe the reader learns about the exile of Polish Jews to the vast wastelands of Siberia. What is unique about this book is that it is a compilation of memories from a woman who was a young Jewish girl at the time of the exile.

The book is written in the first-person perspective of Esther Rudomin, now Esther Hautzig. Esther and her family were living a comfortable life in Vilna, Poland in the early days of World War II. The author initially reminisces about her idyllic life in Poland where she and her close-knit family led prosperous lives. But this part of Poland had fallen under a Soviet sphere of influence. With war between Nazi Germany and the USSR on the horizon, Esther and most of her family members were arrested and abruptly deported. Their crime was: “being capitalists – enemies of the people”.

In roughly chronological order, the author recounts their harrowing existence during the exile. It begins with a deplorable journey by cattle cars across Russia. They eventually arrived at their destination deep within Siberia’s vast treeless plains – the steppes. Here, Esther and her family were virtual slaves and had to endure hard manual labor. Surprisingly, they were soon given the option of moving to the nearby town of Rubtsovsk to find different work.

Most of the stories in The Endless Steppe take place in and around Rubtsovsk. The author’s written account of her life on the steppes is very easy to read. Each little story is written with an account of the sights, thoughts, emotions, and physical feelings that she and her family experienced. Here’s a brief quote form the book:

“As the autumn wind blew colder and colder, the woodpile appeared to shrink before our eyes. Where would we get rubles for wood? How would we cut it up? In order to stretch the supply of wood, we also burned dry manure, which did not smell as awful as one might imagine” [p. 147]

It was interesting to see how Esther and her family scrapped together an existence while many people around them succumbed to the elements. The fierce winter weather often drove them to the brink of starvation. At times they were forced to gleam the fields for overlooked bits of food, lest they starve. As the war between the USSR and Germany intensified, almost everything was in short supply.

I could not relate directly to any of the characters in the book. Mostly because the reader gets only glimpses of Esther, her parents, her extended family members, and the other people that she interacted with while in exile. But I read the book mostly because of an interest in the historical accounts of the World War II era. I know very little about how the war affected the people of the Soviet Union.

The book’s audience is most likely a young teenager – perhaps one that would also read The Diary of Anne Frank. But I found the book to be interesting and even riveting at times. While reading, I often wondered if I could have endured the cold, the hunger, and the harsh living conditions in Siberia as well as 10 year old Esther did!

At times it was difficult for me to get a good visual picture of the area where Esther lived in this book. The details about her experiences often left out physical descriptions of the town as a whole and how it was laid-out. For instance, I’m not really sure how big of a town Rubtsovsk was.

What is astonishing is that Esther eventually came to see some beauty in the stark, barren world around her. The arduous walks to school and into town for errands gave her plenty of time to think without outside distraction. Perhaps the author preferred to allow each reader to visualize the steppes in his or her own way?

Overall, the book’s outlook is one of optimism and endurance. Each time the lives of Esther’s loved ones bordered on despair, a small glimmer of hope would appear. For example, Esther explains how she was very lonely but was allowed to attend school. In school, she developed a deep interest in Russian literature and eventually made a few friends. She was a very determined and smart young girl.

I think most readers will find something to like in The Endless Steppe. It is a story of determination, despair, hope, and ultimately survival. Hopefully her story will not be forgotten, but will give optimism to others in difficult circumstances.

The Endless Steppe was originally published in 1968.

© trailhound. 2004.

This review is part of the “Second Annual Resurrecting the Oldies” Write Off by msmorvay.