Life of people in WWII. Life of the population during the Great Patriotic War. How people lived after the Great Patriotic War

As you know, during the war, all men who reached military age were drafted into the army, and only women and children remained on the farm, who were forced to work hard to provide for their family. Women and children had to do men's hard work every day. Very often the owner of the house was replaced by boys over ten years of age. The girls also worked very hard and helped their mothers and grandmothers with all the household chores.

Almost all the housework fell on the shoulders of children, regardless of age and gender, when mothers and grandmothers worked in factories and collective farms from early morning until late at night. In addition, it is worth noting that in addition to hard work, families often went hungry and had a serious need for clothing. Mostly in one family there was one padded jacket for two or three children. Therefore, all family members were forced to take turns wearing clothes. In addition, the critical situation in the family influenced the level of education of children. Due to lack of clothing, children could not go to school, and this significantly affected their developmental delays. Very often, in the average family, children completed no more than four years of high school.

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Often our grandparents lived in old houses. Often the roof and walls leaked and during the cold season all the inhabitants of the house often froze and became seriously ill. This affected the mortality rate, especially among children, who often could not withstand the harsh, long winters.

IN summer time years, children often looked for food in forests and meadows. During this period, wild berries and mushrooms could be found. During the winter, most families went hungry and ate what they grew in their cities. Also, more daring craftsmen went hunting for wild animals, for example, wolves, roe deer and wild boars. It was especially necessary to beware of wolves, who often attacked people, so they were hunted. In addition, children were forced to go to school through forests and meadows, where they were in danger in the form of wild animals. Therefore, most children simply dropped out of school and took care of housework.

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The war left an irreparable mark on every modern family. Some people lost their loved ones during the fighting, while others simply died of hunger in a cold and empty house. This allows every person to remember and not forget the terrible consequences of violence between people.

N Did you bow to a German soldier on the street? At the commandant's office you will be flogged with canes. Didn't pay taxes on windows, doors and beard? Fine or arrest. Late for work? Execution.

About how they survived during the Great Patriotic War simple soviet people in territories occupied by the enemy, “MK” in St. Petersburg,” said the doctor of historical sciences, author of the book “ Everyday life population of Russia during the Nazi occupation" Boris Kovalev.

Instead of Russia - Muscovy

— What were the Nazis’ plans for the territory of the Soviet Union?
- Hitler did not have much respect for the USSR, he called it a colossus with feet of clay. In many ways, this dismissive position was associated with the events of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, when small Finland very successfully resisted for several months Soviet Union. And Hitler wanted the very concept of “Russia” to disappear. He has repeatedly stated that the words “Russia” and “Russian” must be destroyed forever, replacing them with the terms “Muscovy” and “Moscow”.

It was all about the little things. For example, there is a song “Volga-Volga, dear mother, Volga is a Russian river.” In it, in the songbook published for the population of the occupied areas, the word “Russian” was replaced with “powerful”. “Muscovy,” according to the Nazis, was supposed to occupy a relatively small territory and consist of only seven general commissariats: in Moscow, Tula, Gorky, Kazan, Ufa, Sverdlovsk and Kirov. The Nazis were going to annex a number of regions to the Baltic states (Novgorod and Smolensk), to Ukraine (Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Stavropol and Astrakhan). There were many contenders for our North-West. For example, Finnish rulers talked about a great Finland before the Urals. By the way, they viewed Hitler’s plans to destroy Leningrad negatively. Why not turn it into a small Finnish town? The plans of Latvian nationalists were to create a great Latvia, which would include the territory of the Leningrad region, Novgorod region, and Pskov region.

— How did the Germans treat local residents in the occupied territory?
— Jews were killed from the very first days of the occupation. Remembering Hitler’s words that “the Jews are a pack of hungry rats,” in some places they were exterminated under the guise of “disinfection.” So, in September 1941, in the Nevel ghetto (Pskov region - Ed.), German doctors discovered an outbreak of scabies. To avoid further infection, the Nazis shot 640 Jews and burned their houses. Children whose only one parent was Jewish were also mercilessly destroyed. It was explained to the local population that the mixing of Slavic and Jewish blood produces “the most poisonous and dangerous seedlings.” The Gypsies were subject to the same mass extermination. The Sonderkommandos were advised to destroy them immediately, “without clogging up the prison.” But the Germans treated Estonians, Finns and Latvians as an allied population.

At the entrance to their villages there were even signs: “All requisitions are prohibited.” And the partisans called Estonian and Finnish villages mass partisan graves. Why? Let me give you an example. Alexander Dobrov, one of the participants in the battles in North-West Russia, recalls that when the Germans were approaching Volkhov, the headquarters of a Red Army regiment was located in one of the Finnish villages. And suddenly everything local population Together they started doing laundry and hung white sheets everywhere. After that, all the Finns quietly left the village. Our people realized that something was wrong. And ten minutes after the headquarters left the village, the German bombing began. As for the Russians, the Nazis considered them to be at the lowest level of human civilization and fit only to satisfy the needs of the victors.

Sick children in the “service” of the Nazis

— Were there schools in the occupied territory? Or did the Nazis think that Russians had no need for education?
— There were schools. But the Germans believed that the main task of the Russian school should not be to educate schoolchildren, but exclusively to instill obedience and discipline. Portraits of Adolf Hitler were always displayed in all schools, and classes began with a “word of thanks to the Fuhrer of Great Germany.” Books were translated into Russian about how kind and good Hitler is, how much he does for children. If in years Soviet power a girl of about five climbed onto a stool and read soulfully: “I am a little girl, I play and sing. I haven’t seen Stalin, but I love him,” then in 1942 the children recited in front of the German generals: “Glory to you, German eagles, glory to the wise leader! I bow my peasant head very low.” After reading the biography of Hitler, students in grades 6-7 studied books like “At the Origins of the Great Hatred (Essays on the Jewish Question)” by Melsky, and then had to prepare a report, for example, on the topic “Jewish dominance in the modern world.”

— Did the Germans introduce new subjects in schools?
- Naturally. Classes on the Law of God became mandatory. But history in high school was cancelled. From foreign languages Only German was taught. What surprised me was that in the first years of the war, schoolchildren still studied using Soviet textbooks. True, any mention of the party and works of Jewish authors were “erased out” from there. During the lesson, the schoolchildren themselves, on command, covered all the party leaders with paper.

How ordinary Soviet people survived in the occupied territories

— Corporal punishment in educational institutions did you practice?
“In some schools this issue was discussed at teachers’ meetings. But the matter, as a rule, did not go further than discussions. But corporal punishment for adults was practiced. For example, in Smolensk in April 1942, five workers were flogged at a brewery for drinking a glass of beer without permission. And in Pavlovsk they flogged us for disrespectful attitude towards the Germans, for failure to follow orders. Lidia Osipova in her book “Diary of a Collaborator” describes the following case: a girl was whipped for not bowing to a German soldier. After the punishment, she ran to complain to her boyfriends - Spanish soldiers. By the way, they were still Don Juans: they never raped, but they persuaded. Without further ado, the girl lifted her dress and showed the Spaniards her striped buttocks. After this, the enraged Spanish soldiers ran through the streets of Pavlovsk and began to beat the faces of all the Germans they came across for doing this to the girls.

— Did the Nazi intelligence services use our children in intelligence or as saboteurs?
- Of course, yes. The recruitment scheme was very simple. A suitable child - unhappy and hungry - was selected by a “kind” German uncle. He could say two or three kind words to the teenager, feed him or give him something. For example, boots. After this, the child was offered to throw a piece of tol disguised as coal somewhere at a railway station. Some children were also used against their will. For example, in 1941, the Nazis near Pskov seized an orphanage for children with delayed mental development.

Together with German agents they were sent to Leningrad and there they were able to convince them that their mothers would soon come for them by plane. But to do this, they need to give a signal: shoot from a beautiful rocket launcher. Sick children were placed near particularly important objects, in particular the Badaevsky warehouses. During a German air raid, they began to fire rockets upward and wait for their mothers... Of course, special intelligence schools for children and teenagers were also created in the occupied territory. As a rule, children from orphanages aged 13 to 17 were recruited there. Then they were thrown into the rear of the Red Army under the guise of beggars. The guys had to find out the location and number of our troops. It is clear that sooner or later the child will be arrested by our special services. But the Nazis were not afraid of this. What can the baby tell? And the most important thing is that you don’t feel sorry for him.

Prayer to Hitler

— It’s no secret that the Bolsheviks closed churches. How did the Nazis feel about religious life in the occupied territory?
— Indeed, by 1941 we had practically no churches left. In Smolensk, for example, one part of the temple was given to believers, and in the other they set up an anti-religious museum. Imagine, the service begins, and at the same time the Komsomol members put on some kind of masks and begin to dance something. Such an anti-religious coven was organized within the walls of the temple. And this despite the fact that by 1941 the Russian population, especially those living in rural areas, remained mostly religious. The Nazis decided to use this situation to their advantage. In the first years of the war they opened churches. The church pulpit was an ideal place for propaganda. For example, priests were strongly encouraged to express loyal feelings towards Hitler and the Third Reich in their sermons.

The Nazis even distributed the following prayer leaflets: “Adolf Hitler, you are our leader, your name inspires fear in your enemies, may your third empire come. And may your will be done on earth..." True attitude The leaders of the Third Reich were ambivalent towards the Christian religion. On the one hand, on the buckles of German soldiers it was embossed: “God is with us,” but on the other hand, Hitler said more than once in table conversations that he liked Islam much more than Christianity with its softness, love for one’s neighbor and suspiciousness. excuse me, the national origin of Jesus Christ. And Hitler, by the way, objected to a unified Orthodox Church in Russia. He once stated: “If all sorts of witchcraft and satanic cults begin to arise there (in Russian villages - Ed.), like among the blacks or the Indians, then this will deserve all kinds of support. The more moments that tear the USSR apart, the better.”

— Did the Germans consider the church and clergy as their potential allies?
- Yes. For example, priests in the occupied regions of the North-West received a secret circular in August 1942, according to which they were obliged to identify partisans and those parishioners who were opposed to the Germans. But most priests did not follow these instructions. Thus, Georgy Sviridov, a priest in the village of Rozhdestveno, Pushkin district of the Leningrad region, actively helped Soviet prisoners of war: he organized the collection of things and food for prisoners of a concentration camp in the village of Rozhdestveno. For me, the real heroes of that time were simple village priests who were spat on, insulted, and maybe even spent time in camps.

At the request of fellow villagers, they, not remembering the grievances, returned to the church in 1941 and prayed for the people in the Red Army and helped the partisans. The Nazis killed such priests. For example, in the Pskov region, the Nazis locked a priest in a church and burned him alive. And in the Leningrad region, Father Fyodor Puzanov was not only a clergyman, but also a partisan intelligence officer. Already in the 60s, a woman who cohabited with the Germans during the war confessed to him. And Father Fedor became so nervous that he had a heart attack. A cross was placed on his grave. At night, his partisan friends came, replaced the cross with a bedside table with a red five-pointed star and wrote: “To the partisan hero, our brother Fedor.” In the morning, the believers put up the cross again. And at night the partisans threw him out again. This was the fate of Fyodor’s father.

— How did the local residents feel about those priests who carried out the instructions of the Nazis?
— For example, one priest from the Pskov region praised the German invaders in his sermons. And the majority of the population treated him with contempt. Few people attended this church. There were also false priests. Thus, the dean of the Gatchina district, Ivan Amozov, a former security officer and communist, was able to pass himself off as a priest who suffered from the Bolsheviks. He presented the Germans with a certificate of release from Kolyma. However, he ended up there for bigamy, debauchery and drunkenness. Amozov behaved very disgustingly towards ordinary priests who served in village churches. War, unfortunately, brings out not only the best in people, but also the most vile.

Taxes on beards, windows and doors

— How did ordinary people, who were not traitors or collaborators, live under the occupation?
— As one woman told me, during the occupation they existed according to the principle “we lived one day - and thank God.” Russians were used on the most difficult physical work: building bridges, clearing roads. For example, residents of the Oredezhsky and Tosnensky districts of the Leningrad region worked on road repairs, peat mining and logging from six o'clock in the morning until dark and received for this only 200 grams of bread a day. Those who worked slowly were sometimes shot. For the edification of others - publicly. At some enterprises, for example, in Bryansk, Orel or Smolensk, each worker was assigned a number. There was no mention of last name or first name. The occupiers explained this to the population by their reluctance to “pronounce Russian names and surnames incorrectly.”

— Did the residents pay taxes?
— In 1941, it was announced that taxes would be no less than Soviet ones. Then new fees were added to them, often offensive to the population: for example, for beards, for dogs. Some areas even levied special taxes on windows, doors, and “excess” furniture. For the best taxpayers, there were forms of incentives: “leaders” received a bottle of vodka and five packs of shag. The headman of a model district was given a bicycle or a gramophone after the end of the tax collection campaign. And the head of the district, in which there are no partisans and everyone is working, could be presented with a cow or sent on a tourist trip to Germany. By the way, the most active teachers were also encouraged.

In Central state archive A photo album of historical and political documents of St. Petersburg is stored. On its first page, in neat letters in Russian and German, is written: “To Russian teachers as a souvenir of the trip to Germany from the propaganda department of the city of Pskov.” And below is an inscription that someone later made in pencil: “Photos of Russian bastards who are still waiting for the partisan hand ».

Maria Zlobina (right) with her friend, 1946

“When the Great Patriotic War began, I was 15 years old. The war found me at home in my native village Nepryadva in the Tula region, Volovsky district A. Together with her peers, she dug trenches and worked on the collective farm until the fall of 1941.

There was no bread or cereal in the village. We ate mostly potatoes and made pancakes or pancakes from them. They cooked cabbage soup from the top leaves of cabbage and from beet tops. From the sheaves of rye remaining in the fields, they stole the ears of corn at night, threshed them with improvised means and cooked something like a stew. And the best dessert of that time was boiled sugar beets.

Then there was the occupation. The Germans walked around the village and collected chickens from every yard. My mother once gave them four chickens and they never came to us again. The cow was hidden in sheaves of hay in the barn; she was our wet nurse. They gave her a lot of water and hay so that she would not moo and give herself away.

At the beginning of 1942 our village was liberated. When the Germans retreated, it was cold and frosty. Their horses slid on the ice of the river and they did not spare them, they shot them. My family sent me to fetch water. And only the Germans left, literally following them - ours marched in a wide line. I remember it so well: it was as if a whole army was marching in battle formation, exactly half a kilometer wide. The villagers greeted the Red Army with some boiled potatoes in their jackets and some with moonshine. And I - with buckets of water.

On May 6, 1942, an employee of the railway school took me and two other girls and one boy from our village to the railway school No. 8 in the city of Uzlovaya, where I began to study as a steam locomotive mechanic. I studied and at the same time did an internship - I was a fabricator in a workshop in the city of Kashira: I drilled, sharpened, and made washers and nuts. She was a dexterous and skillful worker. It was cold in the workshop, nothing was heated, my hands were freezing without mittens, and I went to the forge to warm up. I worked in Kashira until 1948 and after that I was awarded a medal for valiant work.

When I was studying, I lived in a dormitory, and once a month I could go home to my mother, but this did not always work out - it was more important to work for the front and victory. We were fed well at school, three times a day. There was always soup and porridge, they gave out 650 g of bread per day: for breakfast - 200 g, for lunch - 250 g, for dinner - 200 g. I sold lunch bread, with the money I bought my mother a glass of salt and matches, and a comb for myself. , mirror or hairpins.

I dreamed of the simple home-cooked food that I ate before the war. We never had pickles or delicacies in our village, but bread, a piece of boiled meat with potatoes, or porridge were always on the table. I wanted regular food. On Uzlovaya in May 1945 I met Victory.”

Maria Zlobina, early 50s

Boundless love, kindness and work - this is also about Maria Pavlovna. At 92 years old, she does not sit still. She is always busy with something useful and necessary: ​​watering flowers, washing dishes, sewing, hemming, knitting, and if she doesn’t like it, she undoes it and knits it again. She skillfully and deftly prepares homemade noodles and is a champion in cutlets, as her granddaughter Ekaterina assures her. Together they sometimes throw a feast: they fry lard and eat cracklings with black bread, and “to the point of shaking” they love fried, and then stewed - until separated into fibers - pork flank.

Rita Usherovna Ostrovskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of Russia, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Psychopharmacology, Research Institute of Pharmacology named after. V.V. Zakusova RAMS, Moscow

Ritochka Ostrovskaya with her parents and brother Osya

“The war found me in Anapa at a children’s camp. I was 10 years old. At the beginning of July 1941, she returned to Moscow through Rostov, and then evacuated with her mother and older brother to the city of Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk region. The locals didn’t like us, firstly, the Muscovites, and secondly, they considered us ardent communists. We were wildly hungry then. And I dreamed that the owners of the house where we lived would throw away the beet tops so that we could pick them up and cook something from them.

One day a terrible thing happened to me. My brother, a student at the Sverdlovsk Institute, got coffee beans. It was part of his rations. And we had no idea what coffee was: before the war we only drank chicory. And I ate these grains, half a kilogram. And she ended up in the hospital with severe poisoning and almost died. Later, when we had settled down a little during the evacuation, people took pity on my mother, took me to work in the dairy kitchen, and this saved me. She began to bring some leftovers from there, and that’s how they survived.

When we returned to Moscow, things got a little better here. You could sign up for a “soufflé” - it was a thick and sweet liquid that was sold in cans, like kvass now. The norm per person is 1 liter. It was something! There was another culinary masterpiece of the war years. If you managed to buy yeast and find cottonseed oil, you fried this yeast with onions - the aroma was like liver pate. Already in 1944, at a Moscow school they sometimes gave us a pie, for some reason with apples.

Before the war, dad bought French buns for 7 kopecks and made sandwiches with thinly sliced ​​sausage. I dreamed that dad would return from the war and I also dreamed about these rolls. My dreams came true: dad returned and bought me baked goods again, but not for long - he died soon after the victory. But my friend dreamed of a “cheese mass” with raisins; this cheese in a birch bark basket was sold in pre-war times.

I studied well, often went to the Lenin Library and graduated from school with a gold medal in the post-war years. I also met victory in my hometown. People went out into the street and hugged each other. It was the way they show it in the movies - in “The Cranes Are Flying.” It was an unforgettable night!

When I remember wartime, I see cauldrons in which they served something like noodles with pieces of potato. I remember one day I was walking, fell and spilled this soup. I still have a scar on my leg and a scar on my soul: I was so worried that I left everyone without food.
I still haven't gotten around to throwing away the food. I always try to freeze the leftovers or process them in some other way, or finish them. Respect for food remains from the war years.

Rita Ostrovskaya, (second from right) 1949, 2nd Moscow State Medical Institute, group 16, Faculty of Medicine, 2nd year

Rita Usherovna is the head of a large family. She has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Extremely active, sweet, smart and insightful, she also has enough time and energy for work. She is still a doctor - a psychopharmacologist, studying nootropic drugs. Doesn't lag behind time, freezes on the computer in general, and on Facebook in particular.

Irina Georgievna Bulina, author of the book “The Siege Winter of My Childhood”

Irochka Bulina, photo from the 40s

“I met the beginning of the war near Leningrad, in my native Kolpino - a small town that stands on the Izhora River, a tributary of the Neva. I was 8 years old. Children of my generation always played war. Brought up on the books of Arkady Gaidar, having watched the films “Chapaev” and “Fighters” many times, we envied those wonderful people who accomplished real feats and secretly dreamed: “If only there really was a war! We would, of course, very quickly defeat all the enemies!” Unfortunately, the war soon began in earnest.

On June 22, 1941, we took a boat to Yam on Izhora, where there was good swimming. And we had an amazing day there. And when they returned home, everyone was already talking about the war. True, many perceived this as some kind of misunderstanding and were sure that it would only last for a couple of weeks.

The war was approaching us gradually and at the beginning of September my parents decided to move to Leningrad. We didn’t have an apartment there and at first we lived with our dad at the Metallurgical Plant. On September 4, the blockade ring was closed, but difficulties with food were still minimal: white bread disappeared and milk became more expensive, but it could be obtained for 5 rubles per liter. It wasn't cheap, but dad was a highly paid specialist and we could afford it. There were even restaurants; my mother and I had lunch there for 15 rubles. In mid-September, difficulties with food had already appeared, but hunger was not yet felt. No one thought that a time would soon come when it would be impossible to buy anything with money.

I remember a terrible fire at the Badayevsky food warehouses in the second ten days of September. It seemed that the entire sky over the city was covered with black smoke. The air smelled bitterly of burnt sugar. The sugar burned, melted and flowed down the street like lava, absorbing street debris, and then solidified into brown caramel. People picked out and collected these drips. It was already clear that famine would strike. Food standards dropped sharply after this fire.

The winter that year was incredibly frosty. But in the evenings it was not the cold that kept me from falling asleep for a long time, but the unbearable feeling of hunger. After a meager meal, it did not go away at all, but was only slightly muffled. And over time it dulled and became simply a part of existence. We were lucky, we were able to drink tea and coffee little by little for a long time from my grandmother’s collection, which fortunately was taken from Kolpin to Leningrad - she was a passionate tea drinker. We extended it until the end of December. The used tea leaves and coffee grounds were not thrown away - they were then fried into flat cakes, small as cookies, in drying oil or castor oil, which we accidentally found in the medicine cabinet. There is no food waste, in our current understanding of the word, at all. For example, we grated potato peelings and baked some kind of flat cakes from them.

In mid-December 1941, there was no distribution of food (fat, cereals, sweets) for several days. They only gave “bread,” but what was called bread was God knows what, with a little flour added. And the standards for this “bread” were meager. Since November, a dependent was entitled to 125 g per day, and an employee - 250 g! Even many months after the evacuation, dad could not get rid of the habit of raking bread crumbs into his palm after eating and putting them in his mouth. This happened against my will.

I remember how madly I wanted sweets. One day I found a wrapper from the pre-war candy “Chio-chio-san” and sucked on this wrapper for two days. Then she sucked the amber beads from her grandmother’s jewelry like caramel. Once, my mother’s brother and I started a masochistic word game: we remembered what delicious things we ate before the war. And it’s understandable why grandma grumbled at us. Everyone was looking for ways to somehow take their mind off food, so I didn’t play with dolls much either. After all, they had to visit each other, and guests needed to be treated. It was simply impossible to play this.

I still don't like sorting through grains. One day in January 1942, my mother traded some of her things at the market for 1 kg of peeled oats and a piece of cake (compound feed). I was given the task of sorting and peeling the grain with my hands until I had my portion - a coffee cup. I cleaned and thought: “If I polish a full cup in an hour and a half, my mother will return alive after going for food and water.”. I really wanted to gnaw even raw and unpeeled oats, but I was stopped by the need to fulfill my vow.

On March 31, 1942, we were evacuated from Leningrad. On April 15 we found ourselves in Tyumen. In Tyumen they sold food, but we had nothing to change - our suitcase was stolen at the sanitary inspection station in the city. A bag of potatoes cost 1,200 rubles - my father’s entire salary as an engineer at a plywood factory. Mom got a job as an accountant in a factory canteen - a “grain” place, but she couldn’t bear anything. True, she sometimes managed to carry half a bagel for me in her bra.

At school I was accepted into "front-line Timurov brigade", which consisted of evacuated Leningrad children from different schools. At 7 o'clock in the morning we came to the factory and knocked together wooden boxes that served as housings for non-magnetic mines - they could not be detected by a metal detector. We also went to the hospital and performed in front of the wounded: we sang and read poetry. They rejoiced at our arrival and treated us to white bread. It was a great treat - only black was available in rationed stores. There were no loaves then, only tin loaves. It had such a wonderful brown crust on top, and there was nothing to say about the delicious “pink crust”.

How everyone waited for Victory Day - and they did! And I remember such a feeling of unity of the people only on April 12, 1961, when Gagarin flew into space.”

Friends of Irochka Bulina (first on the left), Kolpino, on the eve of June 22, 1941

This year Irina Georgievna will turn 85 years old. One can only envy her activity! It is not easy to find Irina Georgievna at home - either she is at the Veterans Council, or at the next event dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Irina Georgievna considers it her mission to tell today’s schoolchildren the truth about the war and preserve an important part of the history of our country, which is why she is a frequent guest open lessons in Moscow schools. Moreover, he helps his granddaughter and her great-grandchildren - two restless children, five and three years old.

To this day, the soldiers who defended our Motherland from enemies are remembered. Those caught up in these cruel times were children born in 1927 to 1941 and in the subsequent years of the war. These are the children of war. They survived everything: hunger, death of loved ones, backbreaking work, devastation, children did not know what scented soap, sugar, comfortable new clothes, shoes were. All of them are old people for a long time and teach the younger generation to value everything they have. But often they are not given due attention, and for them it is so important to pass on their experience to others.

Training during the war

Despite the war, many children studied, went to school, whatever they needed.“Schools were open, but few people studied, everyone worked, education was up to 4th grade. There were textbooks, but no notebooks; the children wrote on newspapers, old receipts, on any piece of paper they found. The ink was soot from the furnace. It was diluted with water and poured into a jar - it was ink. We dressed for school in what we had; neither boys nor girls had a specific uniform. The school day was short because I had to go to work. Brother Petya was taken by my father’s sister to Zhigalovo; he was the only one in the family who finished 8th grade” (Fartunatova Kapitolina Andreevna).

“We had an incomplete secondary school (7 grades), I already graduated in 1941. I remember that there were few textbooks. If five people lived nearby, then they were given one textbook, and they all gathered together at one person’s place and read, cooked homework. They were given one notebook per person to do their homework. We had a strict teacher in Russian and literature, he called us to the blackboard and asked us to recite a poem by heart. If you don’t tell, then they will definitely ask you at the next lesson. That's why I still know the poems of A.S. Pushkina, M.Yu. Lermontov and many others" (Vorotkova Tamara Aleksandrovna).

“I went to school very late, I had nothing to wear. There was poverty and a shortage of textbooks even after the war” (Alexandra Egorovna Kadnikova)

“In 1941, I graduated from the 7th grade at the Konovalovskaya school with an award - a piece of calico. They gave me a ticket to Artek. Mom asked me to show me on the map where that Artek was and refused the ticket, saying: “It’s too far away. What if there’s a war?” And I was not mistaken. In 1944 I went to study at Malyshevskaya high school. We got to Balagansk by walks, and then by ferry to Malyshevka. There were no relatives in the village, but there was an acquaintance of my father’s – Sobigrai Stanislav, whom I saw once. I found a house from memory and asked for an apartment for the duration of my studies. I cleaned the house, did laundry, thereby earning money for the shelter. Before the New Year, food items included a bag of potatoes and a bottle of vegetable oil. This had to be stretched out until the holidays. I studied diligently, well, so I wanted to become a teacher. At school, much attention was paid to the ideological and patriotic education of children. In the first lesson, the teacher spent the first 5 minutes talking about events at the front. Every day a line was held where the results of academic performance in grades 6-7 were summed up. The elders reported. That class received the red challenge banner; there were more good and excellent students. Teachers and students lived as one family, respecting each other.” (Fonareva Ekaterina Adamovna)

Nutrition, daily life

Most people during the war faced an acute problem of food shortages. They ate poorly, mostly from the garden, from the taiga. We caught fish from nearby bodies of water.

“We were mainly fed by the taiga. We collected berries and mushrooms and stored them for the winter. The most delicious and joyful thing was when my mother baked pies with cabbage, bird cherry, and potatoes. Mom planted a vegetable garden where the whole family worked. There wasn't a single weed. And they carried water for irrigation from the river and climbed high up the mountain. They kept livestock; if they had cows, then 10 kg of butter per year was given to the front. They dug up frozen potatoes and collected the remaining spikelets on the field. When dad was taken away, Vanya replaced him for us. He, like his father, was a hunter and fisherman. The Ilga River flowed in our village, and there was good fish in it: grayling, hare, burbot. Vanya will wake us up early in the morning, and we will go pick different berries: currants, boyarka, rosehip, lingonberries, bird cherry, blueberry. We will collect, dry and sell them for money and for storage to the defense fund. They collected until the dew disappeared. As soon as it’s okay, run home - we need to go to the collective farm hayfield to rake hay. They gave out very little food, small pieces just to make sure there was enough for everyone. Brother Vanya sewed “Chirki” shoes for the whole family. Dad was a hunter, he caught a lot of fur and sold it. Therefore, when he left, there was a large amount of stock left. They grew wild hemp and made pants from it. The older sister was a needlewoman; she knitted socks, stockings and mittens” (Fartunatova Kapitalina Andreevna).

“Baikal fed us. We lived in the village of Barguzin, we had a cannery. There were teams of fishermen, they caught various fish both from Baikal and from the Barguzin River. Sturgeon, whitefish, and omul were caught from Baikal. There were fish in the river such as perch, sorog, crucian carp, and burbot. The canned goods were sent to Tyumen and then to the front. The frail old people, those who did not go to the front, had their own foreman. The foreman was a fisherman all his life, had his own boat and seine. They called all the residents and asked: “Who needs fish?” Everyone needed fish, since only 400 g were given out per year, and 800 g per worker. Everyone who needed fish pulled a net on the shore, the old people swam into the river on a boat, set the net, then brought the other end to the shore. A rope was evenly selected from both sides and the seine was pulled to the shore. It was important not to let go of the joint. Then the foreman divided the fish among everyone. That's how they fed themselves. At the factory, after the canned food was made, they sold fish heads; 1 kilogram cost 5 kopecks. We didn’t have potatoes, and we didn’t have any vegetable gardens either. Because there was only forest around. Parents went to a neighboring village and exchanged fish for potatoes. We didn’t feel severe hunger” (Vorotkova Tomara Aleksandrovna).

“There was nothing to eat, we walked around the field collecting spikelets and frozen potatoes. They kept livestock and planted vegetable gardens” (Alexandra Egorovna Kadnikova).

“All spring, summer and autumn I walked barefoot - from snow to snow. It was especially bad when we were working in the field. The stubble made my legs bleed. The clothes were the same as everyone else’s - a canvas skirt, a jacket from someone else’s shoulder. Food - cabbage leaves, beet leaves, nettles, oatmeal mash and even the bones of horses who died of starvation. The bones steamed and then drank salted water. Potatoes and carrots were dried and sent to the front in parcels” (Ekaterina Adamovna Fonareva)

In the archive I studied the Book of Orders for the Balagansky District Health Department. (Fund No. 23 inventory No. 1 sheet No. 6 - Appendix 2) I discovered that there were no epidemics of infectious diseases among children during the war years, although by order of the District Health Department of September 27, 1941, rural medical obstetric centers were closed. (Fund No. 23, inventory No. 1, sheet No. 29-Appendix 3) Only in 1943, in the village of Molka, an epidemic was mentioned (the disease was not specified). Health questions Sanitary doctor Volkova, local doctor Bobyleva, paramedic Yakovleva were sent to the site of the outbreak for 7 days . I conclude that preventing the spread of infection was a very important matter.

The report at the 2nd district party conference on the work of the district party committee on March 31, 1945 sums up the work of the Balagansky district during the war years. It is clear from the report that the years 1941,1942,1943 were very difficult for the region. Productivity declined catastrophically. Potato yield in 1941 – 50, in 1942 – 32, in 1943 – 18 c. (Appendix 4)

Gross grain harvest – 161627, 112717, 29077 c; grain received per workday: 1.3; 0.82; 0.276 kg. From these figures we can conclude that people really lived from hand to mouth. (Appendix 5)

Hard work

Everyone worked, young and old, the work was different, but difficult in its own way. We worked day after day from morning until late at night.

“Everyone worked. Both adults and children from 5 years old. The boys hauled hay and drove horses. No one left until the hay was removed from the field. Women took young cattle and raised them, and children helped them. They took the cattle to water and provided food. In the fall, during school, the children still continue to work, being at school in the morning, and at the first call they went to work. Basically, the children worked in the fields: digging potatoes, collecting ears of rye, etc. Most people worked on the collective farm. They worked in the calf barn, raised livestock, and worked in collective farm gardens. We tried to remove the bread quickly, without sparing ourselves. As soon as the grain is harvested and the snow falls, they are sent to logging. The saws were ordinary with two handles. They felled huge trees in the forest, cut off branches, sawed them into logs and split firewood. A lineman came and measured the cubic capacity. It was necessary to prepare at least five cubes. I remember how my brothers and sisters and I were carrying firewood home from the forest. They were carried on a bull. He was big and had a temper. They began to slide down the hill, and he carried away and made a fool of himself. The cart rolled and firewood fell out onto the side of the road. The bull broke the harness and ran away to the stable. The herdsmen realized that this was our family and sent my grandfather on horseback to help. So they brought the firewood home already after dark. And in winter, the wolves came close to the village and howled. They often killed livestock, but did not harm people.

The calculation was carried out at the end of the year by workdays, some were praised, and some remained in debt, since the families were large, there were few workers and it was necessary to feed the family throughout the year. They borrowed flour and cereals. After the war, I went to work on a collective farm as a milkmaid, they gave me 15 cows, but in general they give 20, I asked that they give it like everyone else. They added cows, and I exceeded the plan and produced a lot of milk. For this they gave me 3 m of blue satin. This was my bonus. They made a dress from satin, which was very dear to me. On the collective farm there were both hard workers and lazy people. Our collective farm has always exceeded its plan. We collected parcels for the front. Knitted socks and mittens.

There weren't enough matches or salt. Instead of matches, at the beginning of the village, the old people set fire to a large log, it slowly burned, smoking. They took coal from her, brought it home and fanned the fire in the stove.” (Fartunatova Kapitolina Andreevna).

“The children worked mainly in collecting firewood. Pupils of 6-7 grades worked. All the adults fished and worked at the factory. We worked seven days a week.” (Vorotkova Tamara Aleksandrovna).

“The war began, the brothers went to the front, Stepan died. I worked on a collective farm for three years. First as a nanny in a nursery, then at an inn, where she cleaned the yard with her younger brother, carried and sawed wood. She worked as an accountant in a tractor brigade, then in a field crew, and in general, she went where she was sent. She made hay, harvested crops, cleared fields of weeds, planted vegetables in the collective farm garden.” (Fonareva Ekaterina Adamovna)

Valentin Rasputin's story “Live and Remember” describes similar work during the war. Same conditions (Ust-Uda and Balagansk are located nearby, stories about the common military past seem to be copied from the same source:

“And we got it,” Lisa picked up. - That's right, women, you got it? It's sickening to remember. On a collective farm, work is okay, it’s yours. As soon as we remove the bread, there will be snow and logging. To the end of my life I will remember these logging operations. There are no roads, the horses are torn, they can’t pull. But we cannot refuse: the labor front, help for our men. They left the little guys in the first years... But those without kids or those who were older, they didn’t leave them, they went and went. Nasten, however, did not miss more than one winter. I went there twice and left my kids here with my dad. You will pile up these forests, these cubic meters, and carry them with you in the sleigh. Not a step without a banner. Either it will carry you into a snowdrift, or something else - turn it out, little ladies, push. Where you will turn it out and where you won’t. He won’t let the wall be torn down: the winter before last, a praying little mare rolled downhill and at the turn couldn’t handle it - the sleigh landed on one side, almost knocking the little mare over. I fought and fought, but I can’t. I'm exhausted. I sat down on the road and cried. The wall approached from behind - I began to roar like a stream. — Tears welled up in Lisa’s eyes. - She helped me. She helped me, we went together, but I just couldn’t calm down, I howled and howled. — Succumbing even more to the memories, Lisa sobbed. - I roar and roar, I can’t help myself. I can not.

I worked in the archive and looked through the Book of Accounting of Workdays of Collective Farmers of the “In Memory of Lenin” Collective Farm for 1943. It recorded the collective farmers and the work they did. In the book, entries are kept by family. The teenagers were recorded only by last name and first name - Nyuta Medvetskaya, Shura Lozovaya, Natasha Filistovich, Volodya Strashinsky, in total I counted 24 teenagers. The following types of work were listed: logging, grain harvesting, hay harvesting, Men at work, horse care and others. The main working months for children are August, September, October and November. I associate this time of work with making hay, harvesting and threshing grain. At this time, it was necessary to carry out cleaning before the snow, so everyone was involved. The number of full workdays for Shura is 347, for Natasha – 185, for Nyuta – 190, for Volodya – 247. Unfortunately, there is no more information about the children in the archive. [Foundation No. 19, inventory No. 1-l, sheets No. 1-3, 7,8, 10,22,23,35,50, 64,65]

The decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated September 5, 1941 “On the beginning of collecting warm clothes and linen for the Red Army” indicated a list of things to be collected. Schools in the Balagansky district also collected things. According to the list by the head of the school (last name and school not established), the parcel included: cigarettes, soap, handkerchiefs, cologne, gloves, hat, pillowcases, towels, shaving brushes, soap dish, underpants.

Celebrations

Despite the hunger and cold, as well as such a hard life, people in different villages tried to celebrate the holidays.

“There were holidays, for example: when all the grain was harvested and the threshing was finished, the “Threshing” holiday was held. During the holidays they sang songs, danced, played various games, for example: towns, jumped on a board, prepared a kochulya (swing) and rolled balls, made a ball from dried manure. They took a round stone and dried the manure in layers to the required size. That's what they played with. The older sister sewed and knitted beautiful outfits and dressed us up for the holiday. Everyone had fun at the festival, both children and old people. There were no drunks, everyone was sober. Most often on holidays they were invited home. We went from house to house, since no one had much food.” (Fartunatova Kapitalina Andreevna).

« Celebrated New Year, Constitution Day and May 1st. Since we were surrounded by forest, we chose the most beautiful Christmas tree and placed it in the club. The residents of our village brought whatever toys they could to the Christmas tree, most were homemade, but there were also rich families who could already bring beautiful toys. Everyone took turns going to this Christmas tree. First, first-graders and 4th-graders, then 4-5th graders, and then two graduating classes. After all the schoolchildren, workers from the factory, shops, post office and other organizations came there in the evening. During the holidays they danced: waltz, krakowiak. They gave gifts to each other. After the festive concert, the women held gatherings with alcohol and various conversations. On May 1, demonstrations take place, all organizations gather for it” (Tamara Aleksandrovna Vorotkova).

The beginning and end of the war

Childhood is the best period in life, from which the best and brightest memories remain. What are the memories of the children who survived these four terrible, cruel and harsh years?

Early morning June 21, 1941. The people of our country sleep quietly and peacefully in their beds, and no one knows what awaits them ahead. What torment will they have to overcome and what will they have to come to terms with?

“As a collective farm, we removed stones from the arable land. An employee of the Village Council rode as a messenger on horseback and shouted “The War has begun.” They immediately began to gather all the men and boys. Those who worked directly from the fields were collected and taken to the front. They took all the horses. Dad was a foreman and he had a horse, Komsomolets, and he was also taken away. In 1942, dad’s funeral came.

On May 9, 1945, we were working in the field and again a Village Council worker was riding along with a flag in his hands and announced that the war was over. Some cried, some rejoiced!” (Fartunatova Kapitolina Andreevna).

“I worked as a postman and then they called me and announced that the war had begun. Everyone was crying in each other's arms. We lived at the mouth of the Barguzin River, there were many more villages further downstream from us. The Angara ship came to us from Irkutsk; it could accommodate 200 people, and when the war began, it collected all the future military personnel. It was deep-sea and therefore stopped 10 meters from the shore, the men sailed there on fishing boats. Many tears were shed!!! In 1941, everyone was drafted into the army at the front, the main thing was that their legs and arms were intact, and they had a head on their shoulders.”

“May 9, 1945. They called me and told me to sit and wait until everyone got in touch. They call “Everyone, Everyone, Everyone,” when everyone got in touch, I congratulated everyone, “Guys, the war is over.” Everyone was happy, hugging, some were crying!” (Vorotkova Tamara Aleksandrovna)