Interview of my friend's father-Ana Bolshakoff

At age sixty-eight, Ana Bolshakoff lives in a convalescent hospital in Glendale, California. She passes her time by talking with her friends and making jokes. As I get ready to interview her about her father, Bergerman Bentley, she patiently waited for me in the living room. She was waiting for me to ask her question about her father and what did he do in Russia when he was young. Bergerman was born in Russia in a town that was close to Moscow, in a family that believed in the rules of the Tsars. He was young when he realized the hardships hat communism brought to people’s lives and also did his parents. He had to flee for his life and to learn how to survived communism. He passed away at the age of sixty-six, but his daughter remembers what he had to go threw and the memories that her father shared with her when he was still alive to avoid communism.

I lived in Russia for eight years, when I was young I was sent to a pioneer camp to educated me. The pioneer camp was supposes to make me resemble the scouts of America or the youth troops of Germany. The camp was supposed to instruct the fundamentals of the communist. They made us believe that our parents were bad people if they believed in god, if they were part of the Tsars, or if they were worshipers or believer of the tsars; we were ask to tell on our parents. We had to tell on our parents in they ever talked about religion or politics.  When we told of what our parents conversation was about our parents were usually arrested, put in camps, and many were executed.

When the Tsars died, all the people that believe in the Tsars were prosecuted and killed. My parents where executed because they were in the Tsar’s military alit. My father was a pilot for the Tsar because he enjoyed being on the air, and fighting for his country. 

After my parents were killed by communism I had to find some were safe, right. I wasn’t going to let communist find me and kill me. That’s why I went to an orphanage to seek help. When it wasn’t safe for me to stay in the orphanage the nurses of charity came for me and took me to china. I was happy that I left Russia People started to flee Russia, every one went where they could. Their where people that went to Australia, Iraq, Iran, they went to china, Japan, Korea, there were Russians every where. People where fleeing communism. The nurses tried to stay in Mongolia but there wasn’t any life for people that looked like me.

In Mongolia their where: shortage of food, lack of warm clothing, shortage of jobs, food was the main thing. Some people thanks to communist and their harsh punishment, many people suffered form pneumonia. Communist wanted people to be communist and the people that didn’t believe in communist suffered a lot.

After I got out of Mongolia I went to China, because obviously I couldn’t stay in there. In China I went to school. I finished College and when t to china and I study to become a pilot and an electrical engineer. In school I learned to speak six different dialects. Years later when World War II broke out I worked with the American government as a civilian in the military. I was a lookout in the war .I was what do you call surveillance; I full surveillance air planes during the war in China. I was the copilot when my airplane crash. Me and the pilot survived the crash during one of our missions. In the war everything was leveled. I had to leave China because I was afraid that communism was going to happen to China just like it happen to Russia. They where fleeing communism and when this countries became rebellious, and stared having problems, they again pick up their suit cases and went elsewhere.

When China started to look like Russian’s communism, that’s when I decide to pick my suit case and got out of China with my wife and my four children. I went to Argentina in South America. I arrived in South America thanks to the help of proper channels and embassies. In America I was shot by hoodlums during a police chase. I got shot in my leg, but the good thing was that I didn’t bleed to death. The police caught the people that shot me, and they went to jail.

Interviewed by Jaime Saavedra

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