I. Introduction
More than 73 years have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. But we must remember the young, beardless boys who went to defend their homeland with delight in their eyes, the middle-aged men who left their home, wives and children with heavy hearts. And old men who, having shouldered a rifle, left, knowing that they would not return, young girls who gave up their youth and beauty in the rear at the machines, and also on the front line, rescuing the wounded from hellfire, fear and pain.
This was a real generation of heroes. They lived, studied and worked, gave birth and raised their children, but in a bitter hour they all stood up as one, shoulder to shoulder, to save their homeland. We, the generation of another century, must not only remember and honor them, but also be grateful. This bright and clear sky overhead was obtained at the cost of grief, pain, humiliation, and often at the cost of life. I think that we should remember these people forever, and not only us, but also our children and grandchildren.
A lot has already been written about the Great Patriotic War in the media, fiction, textbooks. We also learn about it from the stories of veterans of the Great Patriotic War. There are fewer and fewer of them left: in our village there is only one participant in that war left.
But there are documents that are living memory and history of individual families. These are letters from the front. In some families, these letters or old photographs became the only memory of the deceased father. Children of war keep them all their lives. Our chosen topic relevant Today. Firstly, because people should remember the war. This must not happen again. Secondly, the theme of high, pure love always excites people of different generations. IN modern society there is a decline in morals. Modern youth should be introduced to examples of true love.
Understanding the past makes it possible to better understand the present and experience real prospects for the future. Today, when life forces us to set new goals and revise guidelines, this is especially important.
Research problem: Already yellowed and sometimes half-decayed letters contain a whole layer of priceless historical chronicles, captured by direct participants in those truly terrible hard times. From them we can study the historical events that took place on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, we learn what their direct participants experienced, what moral and physical suffering befell them. Let's find out how students of our school and their parents honor the memory of the winners.
Object of study:
The object of research in this work are letters from the front, funerals, photographs, notices, etc.
Subject of research:
1. Based on the contents of the letters, study the mental state of the writers, their fighting spirit, learn about the exploits performed by the soldiers, describe appearance letters, viewing them by Military Censorship, letters as a family heirloom.
2. Documents, archival materials, Internet resources
Purpose of the study:
1.Transfer from generation to generation of material and spiritual values, knowledge and skills. Studying new pages of the history of the Great Patriotic War, showing the greatness of the people's victory over fascism.
2.Development of search and research skills, the ability to analyze historical documents.
3. Fostering patriotism, respect and admiration for exploits Soviet people at the front and in the rear.
4. Reflection of the great contribution of our fellow countrymen to the victory over fascism.
Research objectives:
1.
Summarizing information obtained from sources;
2. Promoting the preservation of continuity and connection between generations;
3. To convey to those living today the atmosphere of military life, so that we, the younger generation, remember our origins, the inextricable connection of time, so that we learn and follow the example of our elders, remember and do not forget what price our predecessors paid for our right to live freely.
4. Study materials about letters from the front available in the literature and on the Internet
5. Compare and draw conclusions based on the material studied.
Hypothesis: Letters from the front contain a lot of historical material. For us, these news from the distant past have become a priceless family heirloom that we value.
Research methods:
1. Collection and processing of materials on the stated topic;
2. Analysis, generalization, synthesis and comparison
Last letters from the front
White flocks of letters
They flew to Rus'.
They were read with excitement,
They knew them by heart.
These letters are still
They don’t lose, they don’t burn,
Like a big shrine
They take care of their sons.
Letters from the front, as historical documents, have a number of features.
1. The fighter sending the message home did not even think that, decades later, his message would be read and studied by strangers. Therefore, he wrote simply, frankly, and sometimes unpretentiously, conveying numerous greetings to his family and friends. The soldier was interested in the smallest everyday details of the rear life, which he missed so much.
2. Many letters are very short and discreet. They were written in the intervals between battles, on the eve of the battle. Several lines of such a letter end with the phrase: “I’m leaving for battle.”
3. Being in the terrible hell of war, the soldier sought in his letter to reassure and encourage his relatives. Therefore, the letters are full of optimism, hope of return, faith in Victory.
4. Front-line soldiers constantly looked death in the eye: friends and fellow soldiers were dying around them, each of them was “on the brink” of death. Therefore, courage and heroism have become everyday, everyday life. They wrote about their exploits modestly, as a matter of course.
5. It is no secret that the letters were reviewed by military censorship. Lines containing important information, military data were crossed out and painted over with black ink. The front triangle was stamped “Viewed by military censorship.”
6. The material for writing was often whatever came to hand: tissue paper, notebook paper, a piece of poster, stationery form. Letters from the hospital were written in ink and a fountain pen. In the field, it was replaced by a pencil.
7. Letters from the front arrived without envelopes; it was impossible to buy them in the field. A piece of paper was folded into a triangle and an address was written on it. The stamp did not stick to the triangle.
8. It was impossible to determine the whereabouts of the soldier; the return address indicated the Active Army, the number of the field post office and unit.
9. In every line of front-line letters one can see love for one’s family, close people, for one’s native village, for the city in which one grew up, for one’s Motherland, which is in danger and awaits victory over the enemy.
Letters as a historical source
They say that it is indecent to read other people's letters. But to the letters from the front
this does not apply! Firstly, because they are not just part of the personal lives of individuals, they are part of the history of the country. Secondly, most of the letters were voluntarily donated by front-line soldiers or their relatives to museums across the country. This means that the soldiers wanted others to read them, so that future generations would understand what they had to endure. Many letters are now published in various collections.
The authors of the letters were different people. These are veterans of revolutionary battles, and career commanders, and ordinary Red Army soldiers. These are yesterday's workers, peasants, representatives of the intelligentsia, who took up rifles in their hands at a terrible hour for the Motherland. These are also beardless young men who have just graduated from school. These are women who joined the army, and sons of regiments who, early, beyond their years, put on military uniforms.
The lines of letters from the front convey the atmosphere of their time - the bitter forty-first and joyful forty-fifth. Their authors did not consider their appeals to family and friends to be their last. They believed in victory and that they would live to see it. Front-line soldiers sat down to write letters in short moments of calm, on the eve of deadly battles. The patriots captured by the fascists sent their last “sorry” before execution, hoping that these were lines of “pure casting” characterizing the state of a person’s soul in moments of the highest trials.
What did the front-line soldiers write about? They honestly spoke truthfully about heavy losses and retreats, especially in 1941. This is evidenced, in particular, by a letter from Red Army soldier Yegor Mitrofanovich Zlobin, sent to his relatives on July 20, 1941. Let us refer to a short excerpt from it:
“...Dad and Mom, you know that the Germans attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and I have already been in battle since June 22: from 5 o’clock at night. The German crossed the border, and we were no more than 20 kilometers from him in the camps, and from these days, dad and mom, I saw fear. We were surrounded. The enemy beat us up. About 50 people remained from the regiment, otherwise they were beaten or taken prisoner. Well, I forcibly jumped out of his greedy clutches and ran away... And the German was met by new units of the Red Army. When they started hitting him, only the feathers were flying..."
Hatred of the Nazi invaders, confidence in our victory, readiness to give all our strength for it, and, if necessary, our lives, are heard in almost every letter from both a soldier and a general.
To this day, letters from the front, burnt, torn, half-decayed, touch us to the depths of our souls.
In the first year of the war, front-line soldiers mainly talked about the difficult everyday life of war: long marches, digging trenches, shelling, shortages of food and tobacco. The success of the Soviet troops near Moscow gave the fighters hope for a quick end to the war (apparently, by analogy with the Patriotic War of 1812). However, from the end of 1942, descriptions of Nazi atrocities took the place of unfulfilled hopes in letters. The only and natural desire of the Soviet soldiers, after everything they had seen, was to give “heat to a cultured nation”, to beat “mercilessly, harshly, without sparing.” In 1944 - 1945 the content of letters from the front has changed: they contain more and more nostalgia and fewer stories about military operations. . The soldiers were mainly interested in the health of their relatives, their successes in school and work, declared their love, and yearned for a peaceful life. . In mail sent to the front until February 6, 1943, the number of the teaching staff, the actual number and name of the unit were indicated: 1431 teaching staff, 1269 sp. , which has always been the “bread” of any intelligence service. And after: “Military unit field post” with the addition of a non-repeating five-digit number. Old paper stubbornly curls along the folds, pressed down more than seventy years ago. The ink has faded and the printing ink on postcards has faded. Letters from the front are still carefully kept in many families. Each triangle has its own story: happy or sad. It also happened that sometimes news from the front that a loved one was alive and well came after a terrible government envelope. But the mothers and wives believed: the funeral came by mistake. And they waited - for years, decades.
Front-line letters - they were written in the heat and cold by the tired hands of soldiers who did not let go of their weapons. These documents retain the hot breath of battle and are not subject to time. They are a thread connecting our generation with those distant years of the war 1941-1945.
During the Great Patriotic War, 2 billion 794 million letters, 9.9 million parcels, and 35.5 million transfers were sent from the front to the rear. To understand what miraculous power lies in every person, you need to turn to personal correspondence. These letters are different and very similar. They reflect the destinies of people, their feelings and thoughts. Many of these messages did not reach their recipients, were lost on front-line roads and were confiscated by military censorship. “Yellowed by time,” they are written in different inks, and more often with a simple pencil, on paper, letterhead and even on newspaper editorials. They are varied in color and size, written in handwriting - careless or neat, depending on how much time was allowed between battles for their author. Frayed at the edges, torn at the folds, glued together from pieces, folded into a triangle, a rectangle, or placed in envelopes (often unsealed), with stamps from field mail and military censorship... It is in personal letters that one can find the secret that connected people with each other and helped them survive in difficult conditions. Home and family became moral support and support for them. After all, letters were often the only memory families had of those killed and missing on the war fronts. (A triangle envelope is usually a notebook sheet of paper, first folded from right to left, then from left to right. The remaining strip of paper (since the notebook is not square, but rectangular in shape) was inserted, like a flap, inside the triangle. The letter, ready to be sent, was not sealed - that’s all - censorship had to read it anyway; a postage stamp was not needed, the address was written on the outside of the sheet).
I so want to hold them in my hands, to come into contact with that time, to listen to what these letters say, to pass them through my heart. After all, behind each of these leaves is a human destiny and a short life, cut short by an enemy bullet. This brutal war took 27 million lives. More than six thousand people went to the front from our region. They were still alive then. They also wrote letters home, which were read so deeply that the erased lines written in pencil became invisible. They were read to all relatives and friends, kept behind the shrine, blessed every day, and more than four thousand of them did not return home. The infamous Duminichi, where blood flowed like a river. Orsha residents Egor Petrovich Vladimirov, Danil Ivanovich Zykov, Ilya Mikhailovich Ovechkin, who died on July 9, 1942, are buried there in one grave. Their mass grave is near the village of Shirokovka. 325 people from the Luzhbelyak settlement went to war, 123 of them did not return home. Time passes and our soldiers grow old; today only 1 front-line soldier Vasily Stepanovich Ignatiev remains alive in the Luzhbelyak rural administration. We, the young, must know and remember what happened in that distant, alarming time when the fate of the whole country and the peoples inhabiting it was being decided. Should we be free or slaves?
On the square in the village of Luzhbelyak there is a monument to the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. It was created as a token of gratitude to those who went to the front, died on the battlefields, died from wounds in hospitals, went missing and returned home with Victory. The location for the monument was not chosen by chance. It was from here that our fellow countrymen went to war 74 years ago. Here they said goodbye to their loved ones: wives, children, parents, fellow countrymen: “We are leaving to defend our Motherland. We may not come back.”
It is in personal letters that one can find the hidden things that connected people with each other and helped them survive in difficult conditions. Home and family became moral support and support for them.
The pain experienced by our country has become the pain of our memory. And it’s even more terrible to remember that the war suddenly forced former schoolchildren to grow up.
Who was included in the concept of “Missing”? And the fighters who fought to the last bullet, who died without leaving their positions, and those who left their positions by running over to the enemy. Who never made it to the front in the train that came under bombing, and who escaped from this train home. Who died with his entire unit in battle and had no one to notify his relatives. Whose documents were destroyed during the bombing and hundreds of thousands, and maybe more, of those who, out of superstition, did not fill out their medallion. I can’t even list everything here that is included in the concept “Missing in action” After so many years, we can say with greater confidence “Killed without a trace” and not “Missing in action”. A SOLDIER, loyal to his oath and the Motherland, dies, but doesn't disappear.
Our conversation with the doctor historical sciences, professor, leading researcher at the Institute Russian history RAS Elena Senyavskaya.
How frank were the soldiers in their letters? Can they be trusted?
Elena Senyavskaya: When Soviet soldiers wrote letters, they, of course, took into account the inevitability of their passage through military censorship, which means they usually resorted to self-censorship (which can conventionally be called “political”). That is, they tried to avoid information in their messages that could cause trouble for themselves and their recipients, usually close people. There was also such a phenomenon as psychological self-censorship, when soldiers deliberately kept silent about the dangers and hardships of front-line life, so as not to worry the people dear to them. Therefore, with all the reservations, letters from the front are perhaps the most unique and sincere mass evidence of that time.
What did our people write about most often?
Elena Senyavskaya: As a rule, people on the front lines were worried about the same everyday issues. In all the letters of participants in the Great Patriotic War, descriptions of the details of military life prevailed: the arrangement of living quarters, daily routine, diet, allowance, condition of shoes, leisure, simple soldier entertainment. Then followed the characteristics of comrades and commanders, the relationships between them. There were often memories of home, family and friends, of pre-war life, dreams of a peaceful future, of returning from the war. Descriptions were given of weather conditions, the terrain where they had to fight, and the actual fighting. There were discussions about patriotism, military duty, attitude towards service and position, but this “ideological motive” was clearly secondary, arose there and then when “there is no news” and “there is nothing more to write about.” There were also statements addressed to the enemy, usually ironic or abusive. The heroic aspect of the war was clearly inferior in importance to the everyday one.
Elena Senyavskaya: The censorship worked at maximum strength, the flow of letters was enormous. We might have missed something, but overall the range of sentiments was analyzed adequately. Still, there was a small percentage of letters that were assessed by military censorship as “negative”, and these included both “provocative”, containing “anti-Soviet statements”, “decadent and religious” sentiments, and complaints about poor nutrition, lice, and reports of death comrades, etc. At the same time, there were much fewer “harmful political assessments” in the letters than expressions of dissatisfaction with living conditions. For example, those rare letters that said that the Germans had good aviation or artillery were regarded as “praise of the enemy.” Some authors of “negative” letters were “registered” and “developed” by the NKVD.
What did the Germans write home about?
Elena Senyavskaya: The dominant mood of the German soldiers, in contrast to what was instilled by Hitler’s propaganda, was by no means the desire for exploits in the name of the Reich’s acquisition of new spaces in the East, but the desire to go home, to their family, longing for the past, for a peaceful, well-functioning life, a cozy family hearth. There are few descriptions of military operations in these letters, how rarely do soldiers express delight about their military experiences, how frankly little pride they have in their military victories, orders and promotions... The dominant feature of the letters can be defined as “complaining whining” about the lost everyday life prosperity in peacetime, despite the fact that military censorship was actively working in the German army, the existence of which the authors of the letters could not ignore.
So, for example, Chief Corporal Herman Wigrebe wrote to his brother on September 29, 1942: “... In general, you cannot imagine what is happening here and sometimes you have to go through... At night I suffer from the cold and in general my nerves are very tense. You wouldn’t recognize me, I’ve changed so much...” However, every line is filled with complaints. The trophy letters that have reached us, stored in Moscow, “... reflect deep despair, homesickness and those conditions when a person has nothing left but the most basic needs."
Is there any remorse or reflection on the war unleashed by Hitler in the letters?
Elena Senyavskaya: The complete inadequacy of the German military’s ideas about their role in this war is striking. Thus, there are frequent abusive statements addressed to “this damned Russia” and “wild Russians,” but there are practically no thoughts that no one invited them, the Germans, here to Russia, that they came as occupiers and received deserved retribution. There are no feelings of guilt either, there is only pity for oneself, for loved ones, who for some reason (from their point of view, undeservedly and unfairly) find themselves in such an unsightly situation.
Did repentance come later?
Elena Senyavskaya: After the start of major defeats, certain shifts in the world of sensations of German soldiers nevertheless began. This is how Corporal A. Otten describes the impact of the defeat at Stalingrad on the mood of German soldiers: “You often ask yourself the question: why all this suffering, has humanity gone crazy? But you shouldn’t think about it, otherwise strange thoughts come to mind that should not have appeared among the Germans. But I fear that 90% of the soldiers fighting in Russia are thinking about such things. This difficult time will leave its mark on many, and they will return home with different views than those they held when they left. ".
Patriotic letters from the front
From a letter from Georgy Sorokin
February 18, 1943 ...I can’t, mother, you understand, I can’t remain just an observer of this war! I must be a participant in the defeat of Nazi Germany, or I will consider myself a selfish man and a coward... How will I look you, and my father, and all people in the eyes, if they ask me the question after the war: “where have you been?”
July 27, 1943 “...It’s not scary to die at the front, and most importantly, it’s not offensive. But, to hide it, I still really want to live in this very near and so far unattainable future - without war and people’s suffering..
And here is a letter that very modestly describes the events that led to Georgy Sorokin being awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.
August 5, 1944 Yesterday was a day of such tension and bitterness that several times I thought: “Well, that’s it, it’s over!” But no, we beat up the Krauts quite a bit, and we ourselves are alive and well. Yesterday I changed two vehicles, but I also gave them life: I shot down three Panthers and about 12-15 armored transporters. I don’t know how many Krauts there are; it’s inconvenient to count them from a machine. It also hurt me a little - it scratched me on the forehead and side. But this is nonsense, I can walk and write too. I kiss you deeply. Your Zhorka.”
Fortunately, documents have been preserved from which it is possible to reconstruct the whole picture of the feat accomplished by Georgy Sorokin. An enemy motorized column rushed towards the flank of the tank brigade, threatening to cut it off from the main units and destroy it. The brigade received an order to retreat to the Minsk-Mazowiecki area. Sorokin’s tank platoon was assigned to cover the retreat; all the brigade’s available ammunition was given to three tanks. Everyone understood that Sorokin and his comrades remained “suicide bombers.” But Georgy won this battle, destroying two Panthers and ten armored personnel carriers. His tank was set on fire and he himself was wounded. On a burning tank, the crew, led by Sorokin, crashed into an enemy tank column, continuously smashing the enemy with fire from guns and the tracks of their tank. Right hand Zhora hung like a whip, a fragment hit the chest, penetrated into the lungs, and another into the head. And yet, he moved to another tank, continued the battle and knocked out two more German tanks and more than a hundred enemy soldiers and officers, forcing the enemy to retreat. At that moment, Zhora was probably thinking about burning revenge on the enemies, through whose fault his friends and the friends of many who fought at that time laid down their lives.
August 25, 1944 “...I began to remember my dead friends... I will gnaw the throat of every enemy with my teeth for my fighting friends, for unfulfilled dreams, for my Soviet country. These are not just words, my dears! Have you read in the newspapers about the death camp near Lublin? And I saw him...” In Majdanek, according to the Nuremberg trials, about one and a half million people of various nationalities were exterminated.
What feelings and thoughts did our soldiers have during the battle?
“Hello my mom! ...When you fight, everything seems significant, worth attention, the eyes remember every little detail, but the battle is over - and it seems that nothing happened. Well, we shot and that’s it... I’ll try to describe my feelings and thoughts during the battle. There are no people who, going on the attack, would be calm. This is a lie. Of course, you worry more the first time, then less, but you worry all the same. Calm comes during battle. "Forward!" - and everything, all thoughts, feelings are concentrated at one point: “Find the enemy and destroy him.” There is no greater joy and happiness than that which you experience at the sight of an enemy vehicle bursting into flames. No, mommy, you can’t describe what you feel then! You get incredibly tired after a fight, and I personally always want to take a swim after everything terrible... Well, that’s all for now. There’s no point in being careful, I still can’t trail behind.”
IN Behold, my good mommy, I still want to talk tender words, dance, sing, study, I am also firmly convinced that we have great work ahead, and now I am excited about the romance of our post-war future. Oh, what life will be like - even if you live three centuries, it still won’t be enough!
“...War, it seems to me, is the greatest test of all moral and physical strength, it is a school where you pass the most difficult exam. I want to talk to some fascist, ask him - well, is he happy with his “walk” to the East? What did they achieve together with their crazy Fuhrer by invading our peaceful country and destroying everything that could be destroyed along the way? Now war is raging on their territory. And there is nothing to be offended by.
Dmitry Smirnov. Then one of the scouts shouted: “Brothers, this is the Reichstag!” I pointed the gun at the Reichstag and began to hit it. Shell after shell. Then all of our people were killed, and I was wounded. The machine gunners bandaged me, put me on a carriage, and said: “We will roll the gun, and you shoot.” All night I hit the Reichstag. He beat me and said: “This is for you for the lieutenant... (Lukainets died before my eyes). This is what you get for Maxim... For Vanya Monastyrev... For each of our people who did not reach Berlin, I sent one shell through the Reichstag. I was only afraid that there wouldn’t be enough shells. We lost many on the roads to Berlin."
You pick up the letter and read it. Hands are shaking. It's breathtaking. Lord, how young he was, just a boy. Looking from the photograph are young men who did not live to see the Victory, who did not love girls, who did not live their lives. This means that we must live both for ourselves and for them! Bear responsibility for our Motherland, the freedom of which these guys defended, at the cost of their lives.
Front-line letters are a whole world of thoughts, feelings, passions of people who have experienced first-hand what war is. This is evidence of the immortal exploits of our fellow countrymen, who went through the bloodiest war that humanity has ever known.
Front-line letters tell us a lot and teach us a lot. They teach you how to live and fight for your happiness, how to work, how to take care of your good name. And although the letters are addressed to family and friends, a narrow circle of people, they express the general mood of the people who defended the honor and freedom of our Motherland with arms in their hands, and in essence, they are addressed to each of us, to our hearts, to our thoughts and feelings. That’s why these priceless documents, smelling of gunpowder, are dear to us.
The sacred duty of the living is to preserve the memory of those who gave their lives for their Motherland, to preserve and pass it on to our children and grandchildren, because, as the famous poem says: “It is not the dead who need this! This is necessary - alive"
Conclusion. The goal of the work has been achieved, scientific problems resolved. Front-line letters are a whole world of thoughts, feelings, passions of people who have experienced first-hand what war is. This is evidence of the immortal exploits of our fellow countrymen, who went through the bloodiest war that humanity has ever known.
Letters from the front not only made it possible to create a temporary background for understanding the war, but were also seen as one of a person’s attempts to escape, to escape from an extreme space to a normal life. They helped to reveal the inner world of a soldier, to find out what they were like there, in the big war, to imagine the private life of a person, demonstrating at the same time a number of typical situations. The analyzed letters often reveal similarities in thoughts, experiences, assessments, and feelings.
The dead bequeathed to us to protect the world. We draw strength from the heroic past of our Motherland to fight for peace. Our example is the feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who at one time did everything they could to protect and prosper Russia. And in conclusion, we would like to cite a letter from Grigory Sorokin dated January 6, 1945, which was written 4 months before the Victory:
“...What grief and happiness are can only be fully understood here, having spent some period of time on the front line. And happiness, simple human happiness - to live, to love, to laugh - our generation is destined to take, having gone through blood, death, destroyed cities and villages, through everything that is called war. After all, my dear, I’m 20 years old and right now, in the evening, it would be more pleasant for me to go on a date with a girl than to go on combat reconnaissance. But in order for me to be able to come to this meeting later, after the war, I must now finish off the fascist beast... Bless me, dear, on this long, final journey and don’t talk about caution. I am a communist and have never been and will never be the last. And the best way to save your life in battle is to hit the enemy harder yourself..."
Main results scientific research:
Front-line letters are a unique document of the war era;
- letters from the front are sources of information from which (albeit not always), it is possible to determine the fate of a soldier and find his place of death.
The practical significance of this work lies in the fact that this topic is inexhaustible and the materials can be used in research work for further study of the historical, psychological and social aspects of the history of the Great Patriotic War. The materials can be the basis of museum exhibitions and used in the process of preparing and holding military-patriotic events.
The letters remained as a connecting thread between the generation of the war years and us, already living in another millennium. And we study history not only from textbooks, but also from documentary sources, which are letters.
Letters from the front told me a lot, taught me a lot: how to live and fight for your happiness, how to work, how to take care of your good name. And although the letters are addressed not to me, but to family and friends, but having lived with them short life, it seems they are written to the future, that is, to me and my friends. They are addressed to my generation, to each of us with a call: Take care of your Motherland, you have one and forever! Letters from our soldiers are a page of our history, a page of that history when the Motherland experienced great suffering along with its defenders. But they survived.
We bow our heads to the blessed memory of those who stood to the death in battle and won! We are all indebted to them.
Take care of letters from the front!
Read and study them!
The old paper stubbornly curls along the folds that were pressed more than sixty years ago. The ink has faded and the printing ink on postcards has faded. Letters from the front are still carefully kept in many families. Each triangle has its own story: happy or sad. It also happened that sometimes news from the front that a loved one was alive and well came after a terrible government envelope. But the mothers and wives believed: the funeral came by mistake. And they waited - for years, decades.
Letters from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War are documents of enormous power. In the lines that smell of gunpowder - the breath of war, the roughness of harsh everyday life in the trenches, the tenderness of a soldier’s heart, faith in Victory...
During the war years, great importance was attached to the artistic design of postal correspondence connecting the front and rear - envelopes, postcards, paper.
This is a kind of artistic chronicle of the hard times of war, an appeal to the heroic past of our ancestors, a call for a merciless fight against the invaders.
16-year-old Sonya Stepina did not immediately decide to write former teacher mathematicians Mikhail Eskin a letter to the front and confess his love to him. And only after several letters that the school staff received from him, Sonya sent Mikhail a message. In it, the girl wrote: “I often remember your lessons, Mikhail Petrovich. I remember how I trembled and trembled at every sound of your voice..."
And soon platoon commander Mikhail Eskin answered Sonya: “I read your letter with great joy. You can’t imagine how happy people are here, reading letters from friends and relatives.” The correspondence became constant. When Mikhail told Sonya that he was “a little scratched and is now resting in the medical battalion,” the girl answered passionately: “I would fly if I had wings...” The young people fell in love with each other.
This correspondence lasted almost three years. In 1944, Mikhail and Sonya got married.
With the outbreak of hostilities, millions of people found themselves in the active army. There was a mass evacuation from the front line. Many people changed their addresses and places of residence. The war separated thousands of families. All hope was in the mail, which helped find loved ones - in the rear and at the front. Thousands of letters, postcards, newspapers and magazines went to the front every day. No less letters were sent from the front - to different cities, towns and villages, to where relatives were left.
Many letters from fighters are written in simple language, mainly about what worried them. It’s just difficult to read these lines - a lump gets stuck in your throat, and tears well up in your eyes. Vasily Ivanovich Volkov, a resident of Altai, where his family remained, addresses his wife in a letter: “Dear Manya! I send greetings to the children - Zoya, Kolya and Valya. I'm alive and well. Manechka, take care of the children. Pay attention to Zoe's health. She's weak for us. She needs to drink milk."
The war spared no one. She treated this family cruelly too. Vasily Volkov had two brothers killed during the war. His sister Maria lived in Leningrad, where she was in charge of a kindergarten. While crossing the “Road of Life”, a car with children went under the ice from shelling before her eyes. Shocked by what she saw, Maria became seriously ill and died in 1947. The brothers of Vasily Volkov’s wife also died in battle. Senior Lieutenant Vasily Volkov himself died a heroic death in 1943. It was difficult for Mana Volkova. At this time, Zoya had just turned 10 years old, her sister Valya was 7, and her brother Kolya was 3 years old.
Today it is almost impossible to find a museum or archive that does not contain letters from front-line soldiers, which sometimes researchers “can’t get around to.” But the history of the Second World War through the eyes of its participants is an important historical source. And experts believe that the work of collecting letters from the front must continue, because the keepers of soldiers’ letters are passing away.
For almost 60 years, Muscovite and retired major Yuli Solomonovich Lurie has been collecting letters from front-line soldiers. The first letter in this large collection was a letter from his father from the front, which Yuli's family received in 1941. Julius himself was a teenager at that time. In a large collection of letters from Lurie, there are front-line messages from soldiers - from soldier to marshal. Thus, private Vitaly Yaroshevsky, turning to his mother, wrote: “If I die, then I will die for our homeland and for you.” Pyotr Sorokin, who went missing in 1941, managed to write only a few letters to his family. Here are the lines from one of the latter.
“Hello, mommy! Don't worry about me... I've already been through my baptism of fire. We’ll be in Kronstadt, I’ll be sure to send you silk for your dress.” But I didn’t have time.
Alexey Rogov, a squadron commander of an air regiment who flew more than 60 flights, sent his news to his wife and little son in his hometown. In each of his addresses to his wife, one can feel genuine love and concern for his loved ones. “My girl,” Alexey wrote to his wife from Novocherkassk, “prepare yourself for separation. Ahead is 1942. Live, like me, in the hope of meeting.” He sent the following letter home from the Moscow region: “Hello, Verusinka, and son Edinka! Verushechka, don't be sad. Get ready for winter. Buy felt boots for your son and sew him a fur coat. I love you. Alexey." The last letter is dated early October 1941. Alexey wrote it a few days before his death. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
Nikolai Dronov, who died near Kerch in 1942, dreamed of living to see victory. “...There is little free time. You have to learn a lot on the go. But don't be discouraged. We will win. Mom, dad and grandma, don't worry about me. Don't cry. Everything is fine. Your son Kolya."
There was not a person at the front who did not miss his home. It is no coincidence that almost all letters begin with an address to family and friends: “dear mother”, “my relatives”, “my dear children”, “beloved Masha”, etc. As a rule, in the letters of soldiers there are short narratives about the war. They sent poems, photographs, newspaper clippings and leaflets to their relatives. Since letters were written directly from the battlefield, “from the front line,” as the war progressed, front-line soldiers increasingly indicated the places where the battle was taking place. Usually just one line: “I’m writing from Prussia,” “we defended the Oder,” “greetings from Belarus.”
Guard sergeant major Natalya Chernyak fought until the victory. In her letter to her mother, she wrote: “Dear mother! Yesterday we had a big holiday in our unit. Our corps was awarded the Guards Banner. Mommy, they gave me new boots. My size is 36. Can you imagine how pleased I am? It's 3 am now. I'm sitting on duty and writing to you. I read Mayakovsky in my free time. Yes, I almost forgot, mommy, send me the sheet music: Strauss’s waltzes “Voices of Spring”, “On the Blue Danube”, Ukrainian and Russian songs. This is necessary for our orchestra.”
Letters from Fadey Fadeevich Zenko from the front were kept in the Zenko family of Muscovites for a long time, until his relatives handed them over to the museum. Fadey Zenko died shortly after the victory. His letters are addressed to his wife Anna and children. Together with employees of the Institute of Railway Transport Engineers, she was evacuated to the Urals. Anna Ivanovna and her two children settled in the village, where she was elected deputy chairman of the collective farm.
It was difficult, difficult. But letters from her husband helped her survive. He was worried about how his wife and children would survive the Ural frosts: “It’s great that you bought felt boots. We need to sew hats with ear flaps so that our kids don’t freeze. Anya, don’t forget to think about yourself.” One can feel the husband’s great desire to somehow protect his wife and children from adversity. The children of Fadey Zenko recalled that their mother, reading letters from the front, either cried or laughed. They charged her with their optimism.
The collective farm did not have enough people, there was not enough equipment, and there were difficulties with seeds. For Anna Zenko, yesterday an engineer at one of the leading Moscow institutes, it was not at all easy for her to adapt to rural life. The fact that she worked tirelessly was stated in her husband’s next message: “Anya, I learned in your letter that the reviews of the district leaders about you are good. I am very happy and proud. Your successes are our successes."
Many war postcards were accompanied not only by pictures, but also by an official quote from Stalin: “We can and must cleanse our land of Hitler’s evil spirits.” People wrote in letters and postcards, bringing victory closer: “I will beat the enemy to the last strength ...”, “... I will avenge the destroyed village”, “I believe that we will get even with the Krauts”, “Mom, he’s running away from us, we broke their teeth "...
There weren't enough envelopes. Triangle letters arrived from the front. They sent them for free. The triangle is an ordinary sheet from a notebook, which was first folded to the right, then from left to right. The remaining strip of paper was inserted inside the triangle.
The correspondence of loved ones of that time has long ceased to be a private matter. This is already history. The historical museum of the city of Roslavl contains a large collection of letters from the front. Nikolai Ievlev wrote his letter home 3 weeks before the start of the war: “Mom, don’t worry about me. Everything is fine. It's a pity that there is no one to take care of our garden. We have wonderful apple trees. In the place where ours is located military school, very beautiful forests. You can see moose in the morning.”
Leonid Golovlev could not find his family for almost two years. Only in 1943 did his relatives receive a letter from him: “I didn’t know anything about your fate, I was worried. I can’t imagine how you survived the occupation. Let's hope everything will be fine now. What can I say about myself? I'm fighting. Alive and healthy." Leonid went missing in 1944. Nikolai Feskin's letters are full of fatherly love. In the rear he left behind his wife Evdokia and three children. Here are a few phrases from the front-line soldier’s letter: “...I kiss you many times. I really want to see it. Children - Valya, Vitya and little Mirochka - I dream about.”
In 1995, Nikolai Feskin’s daughter Mira Kolobneva donated her father’s letters to the museum.
A person always remains a person, even in the most difficult conditions. During the war years, young people often corresponded by correspondence. So, an officer in the active army sent Ekaterina Kataeva, a stranger to him, a letter from the front. Ekaterina Karpovna said, remembering this time: “Our suitors were killed in the war. My boyfriend died at Stalingrad. And then a letter arrived from Semyon Alekimov. At first I didn’t want to answer. And I thought about how our soldiers are fighting there and waiting for letters, and I decided to answer.”
Life was not easy for Katya. My mother had five of them. My father died in 1936. The more the young people corresponded, the stronger their feelings became. Senior Lieutenant Alekimov was on the verge of death more than once. He remembers how he miraculously survived the bombing, when their platoon was crossing the Berezina River, and how they were under fire from German planes. After the war, Semyon Alekimov will say: “In one day in war you live ten lives and ten deaths. But I always dreamed of my Katyusha.” Katya and Semyon managed to survive all the hardships, fate united them.
In almost every soldier's letter you can read lines about comrades who died in battle, and the desire to avenge them. The words about the death of loyal friends in a letter from Private Alexei Petrov sound briefly but dramatically: “Our tank corps left the battle, and many people died.” And here is what son Ivan wrote to his father in the village: “Dad, what heavy battles are going on... If only you knew how my comrades are fighting.”
Soldier Vladimir Trofimenko told his loved ones in the Sumy region: “We dealt a heavy blow to the Germans near Bobruisk. I wish it was 1944 last year war. Now the Germans are raising their hands in front of us, young soldiers in dusty tunics. I can already see the future peaceful time, I hear the singing of girls, the laughter of children...” This letter, like other news from Vladimir, ended up in the local museum. Over the years, the paper has become completely transparent. But the author’s words are clearly visible. There are also crossed out lines in the letter. This censorship tried. There are marks everywhere: “checked by military censorship.”
Back in August 1941, the Pravda newspaper wrote in an editorial that it was very important that letters find their addressee at the front. And further: “Every letter, parcel…. they pour strength into fighters and inspire them to new feats.” It is no secret that the Germans destroyed communication centers and destroyed telephone lines. A military field postal system was created in the country under the supervision of the Central Field Communications Directorate.
Only in the first year of war, the State Defense Committee made several decisions that related to the promotion of correspondence between the front and the rear. In particular, it was prohibited to use postal transport for business work. Mail cars were connected to all trains, even to military trains.
The service of military postmen was not easy. In the staffing table, the postman's position was referred to as a forwarder. The postman Alexander Glukhov reached Berlin. Every day he walked around all the units of his regiment, collected letters written by the soldiers, and delivered them to the field post office. I had to be in battle more than once. In his huge bag there was always room for postcards, paper and pencils for those who did not have time to stock up on these necessary supplies.
Alexander Glukhov recalled years later that he knew the names of many fighters. However, after almost every battle there were losses of personnel. Already at the regimental headquarters, he marked “left the unit” on letters that did not reach the recipients. The front-line soldiers themselves called such letters “unhanded.”
It was no easier to work as a postman in the rear. Valentina Merkulova was assigned to be a postman when she was in the 4th grade. Before lunch she studied at school, and after classes she was busy delivering letters. From the village of Bulgakovsky, in Oryol region, where she lived with her sick mother, this little girl went with letters to nearby villages every day, in any weather. Later Valentina, remembering wartime, shared her impressions with readers of the local newspaper: “I didn’t have warm clothes, but my mother got a sweatshirt and rubber galoshes from one of the neighbors. That’s how I went.”
Even then, young Valentina had to face both grief and joy. Some letters were read by people to the whole village or village. Everyone was interested in news from the front. But there were also many funerals. The misfortune did not spare their family either. Valentina's mother lost two brothers in the war. Valin's father died later, when he returned from the front.
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War,
fallen on the battlefields,
dedicated...
The nerves have become thinner...
She only walked two blocks...
Girly 14 years old
Tired of carrying
with a funeral envelope.
There is no worse, no more terrible news;
And this cry is unbearable to listen to:
“Why did God give me children?! -
Mom will cry. - Petenka! Petrusha!
There is no worse, no more terrible news,
The burden seems unbearable to her:
“Well, how can I raise three children?! -
the wife will cry. - My Alyoshenka! Alyosha!!!"
When Raisa handed over the triangles,
The whole street sang and danced!
And, having received greetings from the front line,
Mother wipes away a tear:
“My son! Alive!
…
The luminous flux from the sleeve is
Where is the cotton wool in the kerosene?
Eternally smoky wick
Throws shadows at the ceiling
The headquarters dugout in three rolls.
While it's quiet and bye
A drop of light shines in the darkness
Don't sleep, soldier, by the light,
And tell me from afar
Words of love, words of hello...
Let it be in a notebook without borders
Confession slides obliquely
Into the depths of dear dear fields
Under the sails of poplars,
Not expecting a bow from you.
Say hello with a pen
Screwed to a splinter with a thread,
WITH home over the hill,
With rows of apple trees outside the yard,
With a welcoming gate.
While it's quiet and bye
The wick is breathing slightly,
Born after line line:
You are alive! About that for sure
No one else will write.
The world was created for good and light:
That's why we're talking about it
While it is within our power -
Live
save for the living!
White flocks of letters
They flew to Rus'.
They were read with excitement,
They knew them by heart.
These letters are still
They don’t lose, they don’t burn,
Like a big shrine
They take care of their sons.
On the eve of Victory Day, people waited for letters with special feeling.
Armenian Eduard Simonyan fought in a tank brigade, which was part of the Stalingrad Corps. In 1944, only 7 people remained in their brigade. He was wounded more than once and was hospitalized. At the end of the war, his mother received notice of the death of her son. And suddenly, unexpectedly for her, a letter arrived, a treasured triangle, in which Edward wrote: “Dear mother, I was wounded in Latvia. I'm in the hospital. The wound on my left leg is slowly healing. Soon we will win a little, then we will live cheerfully and happily.”
And these are the lines from a letter from Mikhail Martov on May 9, 1945, addressed to his wife: “Dear Tamara! I didn't sleep all night. They fired from all types of weapons. Here it is, victory! What we have been dreaming about all these years has come true... We are now in East Prussia. It’s beautiful here, it’s spring.”
Artilleryman Nikolai Evseev told his relatives in the village of Novocherkasskoye: “On May 9, I was returning from Vienna with my colleagues, but my car broke down on the way. Everyone got out of it. We hear shots being fired somewhere up. A line appeared across the sky, then a second one... Then it became clear to everyone - this is the end of the war!”
Today, almost every family has a box where they keep letters from the front, photographs and military awards. Every family has its own story. But everyone has one thing in common - a common involvement in the tragic events of World War II. To this day, letters from the front, burnt, torn, half-decayed, touch us to the depths of our souls.
Over the years, the lessons of that war are not forgotten - bitter and victorious. And every time on May 9, the words sound somehow solemnly: “The feat of the people is immortal.”
There are special exhibits in the history museum of Volgograd State Technical University. They are stored under glass, and not everyone can hold them in their hands. Behind each of them lies the fate of a person, a protector, a warrior. What did yesterday's students think about, what did they dream about, what did they feel?.. All experiences and hopes are in small front-line triangles addressed to their relatives. Here are some of the letters from Sergei Smirnov, a student at the Stalingrad Mechanical Institute, as Volga State Technical University was then called.
The time is 6 pm. Hello dear parents, brother Sasha, sisters Tamara, Vera, Valya, Claudia and everyone else. We arrived at Oblivskaya station. There were no incidents along the way. Everyone is alive and well. We feel good. Along the way there are very beautiful places (spruce and pine forests, etc.). The weather is good and warm. Goodbye for now. I kiss you all deeply. Goodbye.
November 1941
The village of Solodchi, Stalingrad region. Hello dear parents, Tom, Sasha, Vera, Valentina, Claudia, Nikolai, Kolya, Lyusenka, Lyuba, Yura. Hello to all my other friends and acquaintances.
I am in the village of Solodchi. I was in Ilovlya, or rather, I got to Ilovlya. I was driving near Stalingrad, past it... It was in vain that I didn’t take a warm hat from home, because it became cold, snow fell everywhere. You have to freeze a little, but that’s okay. We'll have warm clothes soon. I gave you a telegram from Ilovlya. If possible, I will talk to you by phone from some city.
Goodbye for now. Say hello to everyone. I'll tell you everything in detail when I get home. I kiss everyone deeply... Don't worry about me. I'll return as a hero...
3.12. 41 The village of Alexandrovka.
Hello mom, dad, Tom, Sasha, Vera and everyone else, hello to everyone I know.
I must tell you that I am now in the village of Aleksandrovka. The village is located 7 km from Solodcha, where we arrived first, which I wrote to you about in a previous letter. We live at school. Very cramped. They promise to build bunks.
The village is located 40 km from Ilovlya and 30 km from Lipki. It became cold (-22). It’s very bad that the boots are very small, but I’m thinking of replacing them somehow...
Now I can receive letters from you too... So write letters to the address: p. Aleksandrovka, Solodchinsky district, Stalingrad region. General post delivery. Smirnov Sergei Ivanovich. ...In your letter, please tell me if you have met Viktor Penkin’s mother. In general, tell us everything in a letter. Say hello to everyone. Tell the address to Sashka and someone else so that they can write letters to me. Goodbye for now. I kiss everyone warmly. Write a reply soon.
April 1942
Hello dear parents. Hello brother and sisters. I congratulate you (albeit late) on the approaching May 1st. I wish you the best success in your life. I am writing this letter to you from a dense forest. We have a real spring here now with all its delights, instilling in everyone’s consciousness the rapid defeat of the German hordes. I inform you that I am alive and well, just as you saw me off... It’s been almost a month since I have received a single letter from my home... A year is approaching since Germany’s treacherous attack on our land, like Hitler’s army is bleeding on the Russian front... and the day will come when everything they have begun... (ed. hereinafter the text has not been preserved). Life will come again, millions of people will return to their families and loved ones... I will return home, and definitely with Victor, we will remember the old days: harsh winter, hot summer, cool spring, difficult moments, difficult experiences and, finally, we will remember the final victory. ..
Victor sends greetings to you all and congratulates you on May 1st. Yes, I almost forgot. Three people left us for Stalingrad at the school where I had previously studied, one of whom Tamara probably knows: Mikhail Zolotarev, a former student at the pedagogical institute. If you are interested, you can learn something from him... Goodbye for now. I kiss you all deeply.
In response to your request regarding my brother Sergei Ivanovich Smirnov, I inform you that he was indeed in our unit and since June 23, 1942, he has been listed as missing in action in the Leningrad region.
With respect to you, Deputy. the commander of unit 51853 "y" for the political part, Major Romanov.
Hello, dears!
I am writing to a quick fix.
You know, of course, about the military actions taking place now.
Our unit also set out for the border on the very first day.
And now we’re hitting hard, and there’s already dust coming up. We drove them abroad and are not allowing them onto our Earth. I and one junior lieutenant command a fire battery.
In general, I receive a baptism of fire and a wealth of practice.
Don't worry about me. War is war, and I am not alone.
The mood is global. True, I have not yet seen a single break.
I can’t even believe that I’m at the front, it’s as if we’re at live firing at a school.
Excellent provision. We are 13 km from the enemy. I only saw planes and heard the bombing of Chernivtsi. That's all for now. More peace of mind. Rest assured that we will drive the German as necessary. Hi all.
I don’t know my address yet. I'll find out and write.
Greetings, Boris. June 25, 1941
Write to the address:
Chernivtsi PO Box 20/9
Lt Kobets
Hello, dears!
I try to write to you whenever possible at all stops.
But it doesn’t matter with the mail, I’m no longer responsible for that.
I'm alive, healthy, and I don't wish for anything better. I feel great.
How do you live? I know how worried you are about me, but I can’t improve the situation in any way, you understand that too.
We are now approaching our destination, where we will be in reserve.
I’m writing on the road, now let’s go to the city of Tulchin, maybe I’ll drop this letter there.
I don't have my address yet. As soon as they give it, I will write to you.
I could write a lot, tell even more, but you know you can’t write much on the go, and you can see it from your handwriting.
Well, bye, all the best. I have already written four letters to you. I don't know if you receive them.
I think at least one will come through.
Greetings to everyone! Kiss!
Boris July 20, 1941
Hello, Nyura!
I hasten to inform you that I received your letter and when answering it, I’m thinking about how to find a word to express from the bottom of my heart my deep gratitude to you for it.
My life goes on as usual with the desire to take revenge on the Germans for my beloved brother and for the people.
Just the other day I accidentally met with Zaripov, who lived and worked all the time with us in Bondyuga, knows all my brothers well and also the people in Bondyuga. Oh, what a joy it was for me, because I had been looking for a long time where I could see at least one fellow countryman. He told me that Samosvatova also serves with him, I forgot her name - a girl whose personality I don’t know, but her last name is very familiar to me. And when I saw him, I felt that I was at home, talking with my fellow countryman.
Soon it will be three years since I have been away from Bondyuga, and during these three years a lot of water has flowed under the bridge of our beloved Kama River. And what changes have occurred - very, very big changes, and there are a lot of them. Yes, and due to changes in the country, we have changed in many ways. Now we can say - we have learned to live in any environment, you cannot imagine what kind of environment and conditions you sometimes find yourself in, and nothing - as if this is how it should be. You never feel tired at the moment.
Nyura, please write more often, it will be a great happiness for me.
That's it, Nyura. Greetings, Misha.
August 5, 1943.
January 2, 1946.
Letter from the city of Kyshtym.
Hello dear parents, mother, sister Zina and daughter-in-law Nina and my godson Gena. Mom, I wish you a Happy New Year. Mom, I inform you that I have already received three letters, I received two letters at once, when they were written on December 15 and December 25. Mom, I was very happy because I had not received any for 7 months.
Mom, I found out what is being done at home and what Nina Vasishna is doing. Mom, you're asking. that there is no name Gena. Mom, I advise you, if Nina thinks about you and doesn’t take Gena, then don’t leave him, somehow feed him with Zina. Now I'll come home for good. I'll feed it myself. Yes, we are so unhappy: my brother died and my father died. Since we are so unhappy, we will have to take this Gena. Mom, I’m telling you about my life, well, mom is still alive and well, and I wish the same for you. Mom, I'm in a platoon of commandants. Mom, I’m okay so far, but what will happen next...
Mom, I asked...(further unintelligible) and I didn’t feel like writing to you and so I forgot. And so mom, it’s okay, send me some money, I really need the money.
Mom, congratulations to sister Zina for good job on the farm. Mom say hello to Ivan G., Nikolai Korekov, Uncle Sanya... (further unintelligible). Mom... (further unintelligible) write where Zina goes. Mom, somehow get Misha Konev’s address... (further unintelligible).
Well, bye, bye. Your son Vitya. Mom, I wish you all the best in your life. I'm waiting for an answer.
Red Army soldier Victor.
3.I.1946
For the children of Kindergarten No. 1,
Kazan station, Kazan railway.
24/8/41
From the commander of a mortar company, who is being treated in a forest hospital in Kazan, V.I. Kurnosov.
Hello, guys and your teachers from kindergarten No. 1! I convey my military commander’s greetings to you all and wish you the best best wishes in a blooming life, like the bright sun.
I am writing the text of my letter with a break, a response to your letter.
The clear sun rises
And the march trumpet blows,
Our army is coming out
Forward with the red banner.
Guys, I received your letter on August 24, 1941 through your teachers, for which I thank you. I wish you the happiest successes. Grow up, frolic, do physical exercise, listen to what your elders tell you, and when you grow up big, then you and I will sing together:
Together, comrades, in step,
Let's sharpen the bayonets,
We will all go to the rescue
The red ones will move the shelves.
Guys, I took part in battles against the brutal fascist many times. We fought for our Motherland, for the working people, for mothers, children and for all our brothers, for our beloved father Comrade Stalin.
Beat the fascists with crocodiles -"
"By God and the grace" of gentlemen!
Stalin, Voroshilov are with us,
All honest people are with us.
The days of struggle were not sweet,
There is no need to hide.
And my story, guys.
I will continue to do so.
Now living is one joy,
Everything is left behind...
And for this here is the reward -
Red order on the chest.
I honestly deserve it
Without boasting, I am proud of him,
And what next is unknown,
Maybe I'll be useful again.
Why should we run without looking back?
This cannot be said.
That's all, my guys,
What I wanted to tell you.
Guys, if I write everything to you in my letter, of course, you won’t be able to describe it, since there is a lot of everything. And when I recover, I will take all measures, come to you and tell you everything I know, how we beat the fascists.
Now my health is good, I feel good. Soon I will return to my command service and will again beat the fascists with renewed vigor.
Well, guys, I wish you happy success in your childhood fun life. Be calm, grow big, the enemy will be defeated, and victory will be ours.
Commander of the Red Army Lt. V.I. Kurnosoe
Hello my dear Mom, Sveta and Oksana.
I received your letters and postcards too, thank you very much. My health is good. The service is going well. Now I am currently standing at a combat post, there is nothing to do, and I decided to write you a letter. But our platoon is currently renovating houses. Today I covered all the holes and cracks in the house, one of these days we will whitewash the walls, and as soon as the company commander gets the lime, we will immediately whitewash it. Here you can become a builder, a plasterer, a repairman, almost all professions. Today we sent the sergeants home. A TU-154 plane just flew by - they were probably flying home. Now the IL bomber has flown by. I am sending you our money, with which we buy everything and receive a salary of 9 rubles. 20k. And they are called here not money, as we do, but checks. I ask you to save these 5 checks, I will come home and remember Afghanistan.
This is where I end my letter, write what’s new and how the guys are doing. Say hello to everyone, kisses Sasha.
05/16/84
Probably, few schoolchildren in the USSR did not write an essay based on Alexander Laktionov’s painting “Letter from the Front.” But if you didn’t write it, then everyone saw this work. However, few people know that such a bright, sunny canvas had a very difficult history. This is what we will talk about.
Unconventional view of Alexander Laktionov
But first, a few words about the author. Alexander Ivanovich Laktionov, the son of a blacksmith and a washerwoman, was born in 1910 in the city of Rostov-on-Don. From early childhood, the boy was distinguished by his phenomenal concentration and hard work. The father noticed his son's talent for drawing, and in the hope that Sasha would escape the difficult fate of workers and peasants, he began to encourage him in every possible way.
Laktionov brilliantly graduated from the Rostov art school and entered the art academy in Leningrad. They took him just by looking at his work. Since he was one of the best students here too, Laktionov became one of Isaac Brodsky’s favorite students. And he, as you know, was the main artist of the country at that time, the author of the “Lininiana” and the famous work “Lenin in Smolny”. The students (Vladimir Serov, Yuri Neprintsev, Alexey Gritsai, etc.) adopted the realistic style of the teacher. But Laktionov distinguished himself most of all in this regard. He was so precise and careful in detail that over time he was criticized for his formalism. They said that Laktionov’s paintings have no soul, the characters are flat, without character. Yes, there is a play of light and shadow. But where is the psychologism? Where is the human story?
There were even rumors that oculists, luminaries of Russian medicine, had found out that Laktionov had a special eye structure. He sees the world not the way we do, but stereoscopically - that is, he very clearly determines the shape, size and features of an object. And such a vision is given only to a select few. Hence the phenomenal accuracy of the objects depicted by Laktionov.
The birth of a plot
Let's move on to the master's most famous work - "Letter from the Front." At the beginning of 1944, after the evacuation, Laktionov and his family moved to the town of Zagorsk near Moscow. Soon he concluded an agreement to paint a picture that refers us to the plot of life in the rear during the Great Patriotic War. I even came up with a story - people from the front are waiting for a letter, receive it, rejoice, read it. Several times he began to write this plot, but everything did not work out. And the master was unhappy.
And then one day, going out into the street, he saw a soldier who, hobbling, leaning on a stick, was walking along Zagorsk Street. It was clear from everything that the area was unfamiliar to him and that he had come here on some errand. The soldier, seeing Laktionov, stopped, took out a piece of paper with the address, and asked how to find such and such a house.
The artist offered to conduct it. While they were walking, a conversation began - about life at the front, about the approaching Victory and that the soldier was bringing a good letter to his friend’s family.
Laktionov brought the stranger to the gate and saw how he entered the house, how his friend’s relatives came running, how they took out the letter, read it, afraid to miss even a word.
The same picture was finally born in the artist’s head. However, now it had to be written. Since Alexander Ivanovich was a thorough person, it took two years to work on the canvas. He did not write from memory, but found people who acted as models. The soldier who delivered the letter appeared to have the face of the artist Vladimir Nifontov, a friend of Laktionov. He also went through the war, was a paratrooper, and when he put on his uniform, he had such a brave appearance that it would be a sin not to draw him. True, the bandaged hand and the stick on which the hero of “Letters from the Front” leans is already a work of fiction.
The woman holding the envelope is Laktionov’s own aunt, Evdokia Nikiforovna. There are also the artist’s children in the picture. Son Seryozha - he became a boy who reads a letter (then he was seven years old), and daughter Sveta - a girl who stands holding the door and listens attentively to her brother. The sunniest character in the picture is a girl with a red bandage - the Laktionovs' neighbor. She posed with pleasure and this joy of hers is transmitted to the viewer.
However, there is more than enough happiness in the picture. There is a lot of sun, a lot of warmth, and looking at this work, you understand that even in the most difficult times, sometimes unforgettable moments happen.
Contrary to expectations, the fate of the film can hardly be called easy. In 1948, Laktionov’s work was brought to the Tretyakov Gallery. Since a lot of works were brought, and the best ones were supposed to be included in the exhibition, the paintings went through a strict selection. Everything was taken into account: from the artist’s skill to the ideological component. There were disputes about “Letters from the Front” - the very extraordinary Laktionov found an approach to the topic, but nevertheless, the canvas was missed.
However, a few hours before the opening of the halls, a commission of government representatives came to the Tretyakov Gallery. They had to once again evaluate the political and ideological component. We looked at work after work, missed it, but stopped at “Letters from the Front.” And questions flew: “What kind of disgrace is this? Why does the Soviet family look so unsightly? What are those peeling walls? What are those cracks in the floor? Why are people so poorly dressed? Foreigners go to the Tretyakov Gallery! What will they think about the life of Soviet people?”
Questions poured in as if from a cornucopia. The museum staff did not look at “Letter from the Front” from this angle, so they had nothing to answer. But the work was still masterfully completed, and the Tretyakov Gallery’s leaders barely persuaded the officials to hang the canvas in the farthest corner, so that it would not be particularly conspicuous.
And they hanged him. In a tiny room, in the most unfavorable place - between the door and the window. And soon they noticed that visitors to the exhibition began to gather on the island near “Letters from the Front” - sometimes there were so many people that it was impossible to get through. They looked at the picture, examined the details, and sometimes cried. The war ended just three years ago. Many had fresh memories, many never received their letter from the front, so they were sad about personal things and happy for the heroes of the picture. Since there was such active interest in the work, the guides had to get involved - tell something about both the work and Laktionov.
The popular vote defeated the bureaucratic ban. The artist himself, seeing what place was given to his hard-won canvas, was very offended. But being a strong person, and appreciating the interest of visitors, he decided to fight for the fate of the painting. I asked the museum staff for a guest book. And there is most of the gratitude addressed to “Letters from the Front”. Then he decided to send copies of these reviews to the very top, to all the offices that were possible, so that at least somewhere they could respond.
Even in the most desperate situations, the soldiers found the strength to write touching letters to their loved ones...
Many of these letters outlived their authors for many years. These news from the front were carefully kept in families, transferred to museums and published in newspapers. And now, decades after the victory over Nazi Germany, lines from front-line letters still penetrate to the very heart. 
Drawing from the front for my daughter
FROM THE LAST LETTER OF LIEUTENANT PETER GLUKHOV, 1943
“Your eyes... When I looked into them, I experienced an inexplicable feeling of delight and some kind of quiet joy. I remember your glances, sideways, with a slight slyness. Only now I realized that in these moments, in these glances, your love was best and most expressed. The future for me is you. However, why am I talking about the future? After all, when you receive this letter, I will be gone. Goodbye. Be happy without me. You will be able to find yourself a friend, and he will be no less happy with you than I am. Be cheerful. In the days of the glorious victories of our people, rejoice and celebrate together with everyone. I just want that on such days, on days of fun and happiness, the hidden, tender sadness for me does not leave you, so that your eyes would suddenly for a minute become the way they look at me now from the portrait. Sorry for such a desire. I hug you tightly and warmly. Greetings. Peter".
A MAN IS AGING, AND THE SKY IS FOREVER YOUNG, LIKE YOUR EYES, WHICH YOU CAN ONLY LOOK INTO AND ADMIRE
COMMANDER OF THE PARTISAAN FORCE ALEXANDER GERMAN, 1942
“Fainushka, no matter what trials lie ahead of you, always be a strong, persistent Soviet woman. Now help with everything you can to beat the enemy, in word and deed, the people will thank you later. Raise Aliuska this way too. Well, bye. I hold you and Aliuska tightly to my heart. Your Shura."
FROM A LETTER OF MAJOR DMITRY PETRAKOV TO A DAUGHTER, 1942
“My black-eyed Mila! I am sending you a cornflower... Imagine: there is a battle going on, enemy shells are exploding all around, there are craters all around, and a flower is growing right here... And suddenly another explosion... The cornflower is torn off. I picked it up and put it in my tunic pocket. The flower grew and reached towards the sun, but it was torn off by the blast wave, and if I had not picked it up, it would have been trampled. Papa Dima will fight the fascists until the last drop of blood, until the last breath, so that the fascists do not treat you like they did this flower.”
FROM MOSES MARTYNOV’S LETTERS TO HIS WIFE, 1945
“Dear Tomochka! All the time I was in conditions where I could not write to you. Came back yesterday. I didn’t sleep the whole night, as they fired from all types of weapons, and I also fired more than one clip from my pistol. Here it is, the victory that we all dreamed of so much during these long, difficult years... I can’t even believe that I’ll see you again. I will kiss your lips, neck, hold your hand in mine. Will this ever happen?
I BELIEVE IN OUR FUTURE. IT IS LIGHT, YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL
TANKER IVAN KOLOSOV, 1941
“I would never have lived my life like this if it weren’t for you, Varya. Thank you, dear! A person gets old, but the sky is forever young, like your eyes, which you can only look into and admire. They will never grow old or fade. Time will pass, people will heal wounds, people will build new cities, grow new gardens. Another life will come, other songs will be sung. You will have beautiful children, you will still love. And I'm happy that I'm leaving you with great love to you. Yours, Ivan Kolosov."
Letter from the front
Letter from the front for mom
FROM THE LAST LETTER OF VASILY ERMEYCHUK, 1943
“Dear Olga! Today marks exactly two years since I didn’t receive warm, sincere words, which warm on cold autumn nights, which caress the soul. If you only knew how much I miss you. If you knew how much I want to tell you... I have learned a lot in these two years. The war has made me bitter. When I remember the past, it seems to me that I was a boy, and now I am an adult who has only one task - to take revenge on the Germans for everything that they did.” 
MILITARY JOURNALIST GRIGORY TERTYSHNIK, 1942
“Ksenya! Many said that war gradually erodes human tenderness from a soldier’s soul. It turns out that such statements are pure nonsense. On the contrary, my feelings became stronger, deepened, and turned into something sacred, inseparable from the inner world of my soul. I believe in our future. Ours is bright, young and beautiful... And in this future you personify the purity and charm of life, making it charming, forever young, ringing like a cheerful stream.” 
Many of these letters outlived their authors for many years. These news from the front were carefully kept in families, transferred to museums and published in newspapers. And now, decades after the victory over Nazi Germany, lines from front-line letters still penetrate to the very heart.
Drawing from the front for my daughterFrom the last letter of Lieutenant Pyotr Glukhov, 1943
“Your eyes... When I looked into them, I experienced an inexplicable feeling of delight and some kind of quiet joy. I remember your glances, sideways, with a slight slyness. Only now I realized that in these moments, in these glances, your love was best and most expressed. The future for me is you. However, why am I talking about the future? After all, when you receive this letter, I will be gone. Goodbye. Be happy without me. You will be able to find yourself a friend, and he will be no less happy with you than I am. Be cheerful. In the days of the glorious victories of our people, rejoice and celebrate together with everyone. I just want that on such days, on days of fun and happiness, the hidden, tender sadness for me does not leave you, so that your eyes would suddenly for a minute become the way they look at me now from the portrait. Sorry for such a desire. I hug you tightly and warmly. Greetings. Peter".
A person gets old, but the sky is forever young, like your eyes, which you can only look into and admire.
commander of the partisan detachment Alexander German, 1942
“Fainushka, no matter what trials lie ahead of you, always be a strong, persistent Soviet woman. Now help with everything you can to beat the enemy, in word and deed, the people will thank you later. Raise Aliuska this way too. Well, bye. I hold you and Aliuska tightly to my heart. Your Shura."
From a letter from Major Dmitry Petrakov to his daughter, 1942
“My black-eyed Mila! I am sending you a cornflower... Imagine: there is a battle going on, enemy shells are exploding all around, there are craters all around, and a flower is growing right here... And suddenly another explosion... The cornflower is torn off. I picked it up and put it in my tunic pocket. The flower grew and reached towards the sun, but it was torn off by the blast wave, and if I had not picked it up, it would have been trampled. Papa Dima will fight the fascists until the last drop of blood, until the last breath, so that the fascists do not treat you like they did this flower.”
From letters of Moses Martynov to his wife, 1945
“Dear Tomochka! All the time I was in conditions where I could not write to you. Came back yesterday. I didn’t sleep the whole night, as they fired from all types of weapons, and I also fired more than one clip from my pistol. Here it is, the victory that we all dreamed of so much during these long, difficult years... I can’t even believe that I’ll see you again. I will kiss your lips, neck, hold your hand in mine. Will this ever happen?
I believe in our future. It is bright, young and beautiful
Tank driver Ivan Kolosov, 1941
“I would never have lived my life like this if it weren’t for you, Varya. Thank you, dear! A person gets old, but the sky is forever young, like your eyes, which you can only look into and admire. They will never grow old or fade. Time will pass, people will heal their wounds, people will build new cities, grow new gardens. Another life will come, other songs will be sung. You will have beautiful children, you will still love. And I am happy that I am leaving you with great love for you. Yours, Ivan Kolosov."
From the last letter of Vasily Ermeychuk, 1943
“Dear Olga! Today marks exactly two years since I have not received warm, sincere words from you that warm you on cold autumn nights and caress your soul. If you only knew how much I miss you. If you knew how much I want to tell you... I've learned a lot in these two years. The war has made me bitter. When I remember the past, it seems to me that I was a boy, and now I am an adult who has only one task - to take revenge on the Germans for everything that they did.”