I find your Pen-Pals and pensioners very interesting and a great concept to help the elderly. I am looking for my family in Russia [mainly Kursk] and thought maybe of my family may be on your list. I would also like to be a pen-Pal. My mothers story: Valentina Veryutina [left] daughter Astrid [right] 1950 in Vienna [do you know us] Valentina Veryutina was born in Kursk on 30 June 1927 to Vassili and Anne Verjutina. She was the youngest daughter of eight daughters [names unknown, who may have been doctors/nurses]. Vassili Veryutina died when [Valentina] was only nine months old. At birth, she was given to Tatyana Himel, [Anne’s sister, because Tatyana could not have children of her own] in the years before the war, they lived on a dairy farm with a big orchard, on the outskirts of Kursk. In 1942 at the age of 14, Valentina was taken by the Germans to Austria to work in their factories. It is not known what happened to her sisters or why she was the only girl taken. On arrival in Austria, they took her with 25 other girls to a big shed where they stripped them naked, gave them a medical, then. transported them to an old coffee house were all the windows were painted [in Vienna/Innsbruck]. At 7 am, they trucked the girls to a factory, where they peeled potatoes for 12 hours. The girls were then transported back to the coffee house. They fed them bread with jam and coffee. However, on the train from Kursk, Valentina hurt her leg , at the time did not notice due to her fear. After a month working at the camp, she could not walk and constantly fell over. They plastered her leg and told her she could go home, because she was no use to them. She was so excited, but it did not happen. Instead, they took her to another camp - a very bad camp place-sick people everywhere - and fed the inmates with black bread and white turnip. The plaster stayed on for the rest of her interment. She could not eat the white turnip even to save her own life. She got weaker and weaker. After six months in this camp [name unknown] Valentine’s aunty Tatyana [who, at the time Valentina thought was her mother] ask permission to take her home. Tatyana was married to a German, and permission granted. Tatayna took Valentina to a hospital where they treated her for malnutrition and a gangrene foot. Eventually Tatyana took her home where they both worked in a factory. It is unknown if home was Vienna or Innsbruck. In 1945, Valentina fell pregnant -she was seventeen years of age at the time [she said rape, Peter Petrovich LY9L5 Seefeld Innsbruck] with me [Astrid Werjutina] to an American GI [father unknown on my birth certificate]. My mother told me he was an American born Jew, but unsure of the truth. After the war ended, Valentina moved back to Vienna worked in childcare and as a bank clerk for the Americans for that period. I was born in Vienna 19th February 1946. In July 1950, my mother immigrated with to Australia. I have spent many years pondering my identity and wondering about my Russian family. I also need to know why my mother would not tell me what happened to her or why she had abandoned her family. My life is another story [not pleasant], but from the small pieces of information my mother did give me over the years, I have been able to paste together some of her life in Russia. I am hopeful in find my family [aunts, uncles and cousins], but I need community help. I have always felt like half a person. I will not feel complete until I achieve my quest. In Australia, we are a large family and we would all like to know our genetic roots and the history surrounding my mother’s era. Unfortunately, we have no Russian Photos.