World War II passed like
a dark threatening rain cloud in our country. It took millions of people’s
lives and left terrible memories in those who survived. In spite of everything
Russian people got over all the difficulties and won in that cruel war. But
time flies, and we mention the war more seldom. We forget the dreadful events
and the heroes of that war. We remember about them only on May 9, which is
celebrated in Russia as Victory day. And what do we, young generation, know
about that war? We know about it mainly from
history and literature lessons. When I was writing
this essay, I wondered whether all my group mates and friends knew the exact
date when the war began. The result of my small research was not very positive:
some of them answered: "Oh, that was so long ago; I just know the year: 1941”, and the others said:
"I am not interested in history.” I think it is a pity that we, the young, know
so little about the past. We are mainly interested in the present and especially
in the future. But history teaches us that we won’t have the future without the
past. That’s why I took up this essay, in order to investigate the subject more
deeply.
The country did all possible and
impossible things to resist the enemies. On June 24, 1942, all the most
important factories and plants were evacuated from dangerous territories to the
eastern parts of Russia, as the fascist troops were quickly moving to the
centre of the country. While their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons were at
war, women, children and the old helped the country at the home front. They
worked on industrial machines and improved production capacities mastering
their skills from day to day; they sent weapon, ammunition, warm clothes, and
food to the front.
It is our grandparents and
great-grandparents, the present day veterans, who made the history of those
difficult times and forged Victory. Every year, more and more of them leave us,
and soon we will not have alive witnesses of those events. But they played a great
role in the history of our homeland, and their contribution to it was enormous.
We are living in a hectic time now. We
fuss, busy with our life things to do, and we don’t notice small old people
lagging along the streets of the town. Moreover, someone can even push them
saying: "Do not stand on my way!” And it does not occur to us that exactly to
these old people we owe freedom and a peaceful sky above our heads. Everybody
who took part in the war performed an exploit, and their faces, eyes, hands, and
their deeds can say a lot about them and the time when they lived.
For this essay, I took an interview from
my granny, so now I know much more
about her younger years throughout the war. My grandmother’s name is Alexandra
Fyodorovna, she is a worker of the rear, a veteran of labour, a hero-mother,
who bore the full brunt of difficulties of the war. She was born on April 8,
1931, and had a difficult childhood like many children who lived in the war
time. Her family was big and poor, and all the members of her family grew up
kind, hard-working, honest and patient. Grandma had two brothers and three
sisters. The men of her family were skilled artisans. "My father made different
boots for us; many people looked at our soft and beautiful boots and envied us
because our foot didn’t freeze in winter and didn’t get soaked in autumn,”
remembered Grandma. The women worked at home, weaved, sewed, knitted laces,
embroidered beautiful patterns on towels. They played the folk musical
instruments: the bayan, the balalaika, sang songs and danced on young people’s
gathering. My grandmother clarified: "Although my family was poor, but we lived
friendly and always helped each other.”
But on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic
War broke out, and Alexandra’s father and her two brothers went to the war.
Alexandra stayed at home with her mother and two sisters. At that moment, she
was only ten years old, and she remembers the war time only by working. The
children had very difficult time. In the morning they went to school and after
classes hurried to help adults. In winter all children gathered together, sat
down on horses and rode to the forest for hay; they sawed, chopped firewood,
and collected brushwood for home and school. Alexandra remembered: "Sometimes
it was so cold that a temperature fell down to 40 - 50 degrees centigrade
bellow zero. Even birds froze in flight. And we got frostbite in our hands,
faces and feet.” She told me that in the evenings they knitted woolen mittens,
socks and sweaters. Then they collected all the things and sent them to their
relatives to the war. Children also worked in the field: collected hay and
straw, bound sheaves, threshed grains. Grandma alluded: "My arms swelled from
prickly weeds and exhausting work which was often beyond children’s strength.”
Alexandra’s mother worked in the
collective farm, not sparing herself. She and other village women milked the
cows, looked after the calves and horses, fed and gave drink to the cattle,
mowed hay. What was gathered from the fields by workers of the rear was sent to
the front line of the war. "We left the minimum to ourselves”, said Grandma,
"Because people thought of their fathers, brothers and husbands first of all.”
All the strong, healthy and capable of working men were mobilized, and the
women of the village were anxiously waiting for them."I remember how I felt frightened when I saw
my neighbour’s father who returned with one hand after hospital. I looked at
him and my heart seized up when I thought that my dear father and brothers may
also come crippled.”
Men were taken away to the war; many of
them did not come back, a lot of children stayed without their fathers. With
tears in her eyes, Alexandra remembered: "My father had time to write only one
letter from the front line. When we received a telegram with the news that our
father died, all the family cried. We thought that this damned war would never
finish!”
The Great Patriotic War lasted for 1418
days, and all the time people worked hard, not complaining about anything. They
starved, lived in cold houses, but they went on sending to the soldiers on the
front line everything what they could prepare. "The Victory was foremost, and
we tried to bring nearer that great day,” said Grandma. And when that day came
on May 9, 1945, all the villagers went out of their houses, threw their hats
into the sky, embraced and kissed each other. "That was the best day in my
life,” admitted my grandmother. Alexandra Fyodorovna was rewarded for her hard
work by the medal "For Valiant Labour during the World War II,” although she
was only fourteen at that time. She told me that only six people from her
village had got such medals, and I felt a surge of pride for my grandma.
Today, Alexandra Fyodorovna is a seventy–eight-year
old veteran, an old small woman with a wrinkled face and grey hair. Her life is
an example of most Russian veterans’ lives at war time. Children of war didn’t
ask for any orders, bonuses, privileges; they worked honestly and believed in
bright future. They had to restore the country in a short time, because it had
been destroyed by the bloody war. I am grateful to these people, because it is
thanks to them that we can enjoy our life nowadays. We must be proud of our
grandparents and respect them. We mustn’t forget what they had to overcome in
that cruel war. Many of them stayed crippled and deprived. Sometimes I hear
people complain that life is so difficult now. I wonder what they would have said
if they had found themselves at that war time! They would have certainly
understood how difficult life may be… Very soon we are having a great event in our country, the 65th
anniversary of Great Victory. I will congratulate my dear grandmother and I
think we, the young generation, ought to be thankful to the veterans for this
peaceful sky above our heads. History teaches us that people who do not know the
past of their Motherland won’t have good future. For my own part, I can’t state
here that I know a lot about the history of my country, but I want to know it:
I read newspapers, watch news programmes on TV, talk with my grandmother about
her views on some past events… I am interested in history, and I think I will
be a worthy citizen of Russia.
Thank you Anastsiya))) Your essay is so actual and important for youth..I agree that we should remember and respect our history...It is a pride of our fatherland...