Marva’s brigade
In the summer of 1942, Tamara worked in the children’s brigade in Marva (in the gardens located on the left bank of the Nemunas river to the west of the Nemunas and Neris confluence) and in the greenhouse located in Vydūno Avenue, while her brother Viktoras worked in Sargėnai. Tamara becomes the main provider of food in the family. She accurately records the amounts of vegetables she manages to get and trades her personal belongings for food.
3 July 1942 entry:
Traded away my sports shirt. Got ¼ of pork fat and 1 kg of rye flour. Bought 6 eggs for 8 roubles each from the collective, 3 kg of rye flour for 45 roubles each and received 1 kg of bread as a gift.
An exclusive 8 July 1942 entry, starting with the words “A gift of”:
A gift of 2 kg of bread,
1 kg of sugar, 1 kg of wheat flour,
1 kg of salt,
¼ butter, 10 boxes of matches, 7 kg of potatoes,
1 box of coffee and sour salt with baking powder.
That day, Tamara had gone to a shop not far from her home, where the Lazersonas family would shop for groceries before the war. The owner of the shop recognised Tamara and filled her sack with food products. Tamara Lazersonaitė-Rostovskaya often remembers this good man. She calls him Ambulka, although his true name is unknown. (Based on the Tamara Rostovskaya’s letter dated 1 February 2006.)
