Russia - Peter Hudjakow /Hudjakob / Hudjakov / Pyotr Khudyakov

[wdlocky]

Hi
Trying to trace my grandfather's tree from Russia.  I believe the spelling of his name has probably changed from how it was spelt in Russian, he was a displaced person after the war.

He came from a town near the White Sea and the finish border called Archangels (arkangelsk), his father was a hunter for furs and he was one of five brothers, his grandparents also lived in the village.  He was drafted at 18 and then captured and taken prisoner.  His mother was pregnant when he was drafted.  he was born 30th December 1922.

I have never been able to find anything on him or his family, he never contacted his family after the war for fear of reprisal by the army for him not returning to Russia.

I would love to find some more about his family.

Any help appreciated.

Deb

[Svet_Star]

Hi Deb,
It's unfortunate that you don't seem to know Peter's patronymic (that's your father's first name + special ending, an important part of any Russian name). It's also a pity that you don't know the name of the village that his family is from: Arkhangelsk is a big city, and it's in a pretty big region - lot's of towns and villages there, lot's of different names.
The good thing, though, is that you know for sure when he was born and that he was drafted (unless he changed his date of birth and/or last name when starting a new life - not uncommon)/ The documents must be in the Central Military archive of Russia in Podolsk (TSAMO, ЦАМО in Russian). It is, unfortunately, a pretty challenging archive to work with, so I would advise hiring a Russian-speaking professional genealogist who worked with that archive before to get results.
Then there are several very useful sites for finding Soviet citizens who participated in WWII. I tried looking Peter up, but I can't seem to find the right one (though I did just a quick search, definitely try looking him up yourself). Try here https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ or here http://podvignaroda.ru/
Lastly I suggest you joining Russian genealogical FB groups, like this one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/169714816510441  You can write the post in Russian with the help of Google-translate or simply right it in English, Facebook will provide the translation.
The correct spelling of that name in Russian is Пётр Худяков (or Петр Худяков, as it is commonly printed).
Good luck!

[Svenja]

Hi Deb

If you want to find information about a displaced person after WWII, the first step should be to search the Arolsen Archives online.
https://arolsen-archives.org/suchen-erkunden/suche-online-archiv/

There are five entries for Peter Hudjakow (one with the names of his parents), two entries for Peter Hudjakob and a collection of documents for Peter Hudjakov (some in Russian language, the others in English and German), all with date of birth 30th December 1922.

These documents say that he was deported and had to do forced labour, so maybe he was no soldier.
If you need help in deciphering or translating these documents from German to English, I can do it for you.

Regards
Svenja

[Ruskie]

You don’t say which country your grandfather went to after the war. His marriage and/or death certificates might give information about his father/parents. If he was naturalised the certificate might give place of birth.

You might also like to consider thanking a DNA test. Even better if the parent whose father Peter is, took a DNA test.

[Svenja]

Hi Ruskie

As I wrote before, the names of his parents and his place of birth are mentioned in the documents on the Arolsen Archives online, also the countries he intended to go or went to after WWII, there are also two passenger lists. All documents I've found are with date of birth 30th December 1922, so they are all for the same person.

Regards
Svenja