How does war affect the state of mind of a person - this is the question that L. N. Andreev reflects on.

The writer talks about how war changes a person, his spiritual qualities. As an example, he takes a hero who knows by hearsay about the war and, not understanding what is happening around him in harsh wartime, asks the question: “What is it, is it crazy?” The young man honestly admits that he begins to "get used to all the suffering", becomes "less sensitive, less responsive."

such best qualities of people as sensitivity, compassion.

I do not share the writer's point of view: war can change a person, but why in the worst side? I believe that it teaches people to appreciate the world, to be kinder, more merciful. I will prove this with examples from the classics.

Mikhail Sholokhov's story "The Fate of a Man" tells how Andrei Sokolov, having been at the front, in captivity, having lost his family, did not become hardened, did not become "less sensitive, less responsive" to someone else's misfortune. Having met a homeless child Vanyusha in Uryupinsk, he called himself his father and adopted a boy who had lost his parents.

In the story of Vitaly Zakrutkin

“The Mother of Man” depicts a woman who, it would seem, should become hardened, embittered: after all, the Nazis hanged her husband and son Vasyatka before her eyes. But no! In the heart of Mary, along with hatred, compassion lives. Let us recall how she found a wounded German in one of the basements of the village. Her first desire is to kill the enemy! But the word “Mom”, which has flown out of the mouth of the enemy, makes the woman throw away the pitchfork: suffering has not etched mercy from her soul!

Thus, I can conclude that war does not always dull the best qualities of people, it gives many invaluable experience, teaches kindness and sympathy.

Other works on this topic:

1. During the war, personal interests recede into the background. Appearance and beautiful things are of secondary importance. Relationships between people lose their romantic connotation, and death...
2. Continue comparative characteristic Ostap and Andria, noting how the brothers showed themselves in the first battles. What was their behavior in battle? Ostap discovers the "inclinations of the future leader",...
3. In his story “Killed near Moscow”, K. Vorobyov shows us “merciless, terrible truth first months of the war. Its heroes are young men from a company of Kremlin cadets, led by...
4. What influences a person in a situation of moral choice is the problem that N. Tatarintsev discusses. Every day people have to make a choice: what to prefer, how ...
5. Human life is a set of a huge number of events that manifest themselves in different ways. A person who makes a choice is able to show his character. Often, a single decision can change the whole...
6. There are people who are divided into two types, those who think that all the trials of life are destined for them by fate and no matter what they do, it will be as ...
7. Nature is what we are surrounded by - the most beautiful, amazing, multifaceted world. A person is ennobled precisely due to the rapprochement with this complex world nature,...
8. Childhood is the brightest and most joyful, magical and carefree time in the life of every person, during which the knowledge of the world begins. At least it should...

The Great Patriotic War was an integral, decisive part of the Second World War, during which Nazi Germany and militarist Japan suffered a complete defeat. During the war years, the USSR suffered huge losses - a big blow was dealt to the human reserve, according to the latest data, more than 30 million people died in five years. Kumanev G.A. Sources of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War 1941 - 1945 Moscow, Nauka, 1985. On the territory of the country, 1710 cities and towns, more than 70 thousand villages and villages, over 6 million buildings, 32 thousand enterprises, tens of thousands of collective farms and state farms were partially or completely destroyed and burned. There. In total, about 30% of the national wealth was lost. And although the Nerchinsk region was located far from the battlefields, the region's economy also suffered losses.

First of all, the agricultural sector has sharply decreased. Despite the fact that the men who went to war were replaced by women, the level of grain harvest decreased. One of the reasons is the surrender of horses, cows, etc. on war days. The number of cattle has decreased by 2-3 times (on average). In 1945, 17133 hectares were sown in the region, which is 30% of 1941. The newspaper "Bolshevik Banner" No. 42, 43, 44 for 1945 (Appendix No. 10). Accordingly, the harvest (wheat, rye, potatoes) was harvested much less. Moreover, for five years most of the products were sent to the front (milk, grain, meat, eggs, feta cheese, honey). To some extent, this was reflected in life in the city. Food shortages were felt everywhere. Industry, all of its production was directed to the manufacture of products needed in wartime, that is, for the front. And in 1945 the question arose of how to put industry on a peaceful footing. A sewing shop worked in Nerchinsk during the war, and in 1945 it stopped sewing overcoats, mittens, etc. and for some time the work in it freezes. All enterprises in Nerchinsk are also switching to civilian production.

Gradually return home soldiers. But 2,523 Nerchinsk residents never returned, and many came from the front wounded, crippled: it is impossible to count how many of them died prematurely due to wounds and concussions.

An entire generation was lost due to the war. The population of the Nerchinsk region has decreased by about 3,100 people. The majority were women, there were about a thousand children under 5 years old, which was 65.2% compared to 1939. The newspaper "Bolshevik Banner" No. 73 of 07/17/1945.

However, the economy of the Nerchinsk region was about the same as in other regions of the region. Kuznetsov I.I. Eastern Siberia during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Appendix (tables) Irkutsk, 1974. Therefore, we will not dwell on this in detail. And let's consider another, from our point of view, the most pressing issue in given time- the impact of war on the lives and destinies of people. It is relevant because our modern generation perceives the simple, everyday life of a person deeper than the statistics of the war years. Examples, the fate of people influence much more than the formation of a patriotic attitude towards their small homeland. To be like a grandfather, great-grandfather, grandmother is the desire to be closer to the younger generation. At the same time, sympathy, pain for their fate or for the fate of a person who once lived in the same place as you touch subtly and unobtrusively all the fine strings of the good and bright in your soul. Many families felt the bitterness and pain of loss during the war, not waiting for their loved one from the front, but instead receiving a funeral, or even worse, news of a missing person.

An ordinary family lived in the village of Bishigino, Nerchinsk District. Memoirs of Podshivalova Claudia Romanovna, living in Nerchinsk; Putintseva Tatyana Romanovna (village of Znamenka, Nerchinsky district, Novaya st., 261), Usova Galina Romanovna (Nerchinsk, Trudovaya st., 32) Father - Subbotin Roman Alekseevich in 1941 goes to the front. And his wife Anastasia Ivanovna remained a soldier, and with her seven children. Klava, born in 1927, Ivan, born in 1929, Vera, born in 1931, Shura and Katya, born in 1935, Viktor, born in 1937, Tanya, born in 1941 The youngest daughter, Tanya, was only seven months old. And it is not known what would have happened to the family if the chairman of the collective farm had not put Anastasia Ivanovna to bake bread: “Go, Nastya, where is the cake, where will you take the chaff home. What to do? At the expense of the bread crumbs taken home, the family was saved. In the same year, fourteen-year-old Klava goes to work. A young girl becomes a stoker, and her brother starts working on a collective farm on a tractor. Is this possible in peacetime? Hard exhausting work and constant lack of sleep affected the health of the girl. But the war was preparing another "surprise" for Klava, which radically changed her life for forty years. In 1943, Klava's beloved man, Nikolai Podshivalov, went to war, in 1944 a funeral came to him. For a whole year, Klava did not want to hear about anyone or anything, and in 1945, unexpectedly for everyone, Klava marries Nikolai's brother Misha: - I look at him and it seems that Kolya is with me. So they looked alike. So I got attached to him...

In 1948, on a warm summer evening, a soldier was walking to the village. He was not at home for a long time, and his relatives did not even hope for his return ... So Nikolai Podshivalov returned home, the funeral turned out to be a mistake. At home, unpleasant news awaited him, his Klava was married to his brother Misha. It was hard and painful for Nikolai, but he did not destroy the young family. Nikolai got ready and left for the Irkutsk region, in the village of Cheremkhovo. Mikhail, taking his wife, moved to another village (the village of Znamenka, Nerchinsk district), but after the departure of his brother, he returned to his homeland. Life went on. Nikolay got married, children appeared in both families.

Forty-five years have passed. Mikhail died, in the distant Cheremkhovo, the wife of Nikolai died. And in 1986, Nikolai comes to his native village, he comes not just like that, but to marry a woman, whom he always remembered. So, almost fifty years later, lovers met. It's amazing how their eyes shone when already elderly people looked at each other. Klava's light banter over her "young" fiancé, calm smiles in response - from the side it was clear that these people did not just decide to live together, but passed long way fortunately, although they could live their whole lives together.

In 1943, his father was demobilized into the Subbotin family with a severe abdominal wound. And the family got better. Although it was impossible for Roman Alekseevich to lift anything heavy, his hands were golden: soldering, sewing, repairing. And despite the fact that in 1944 the eighth child appeared in the family - daughter Galya, the family nevertheless became a little easier. Death from starvation was no longer at the threshold.

And there were many such families. Families, where the war changed the fate of a person, influenced his character and feelings.

The family of Fomin Ivan Ivanovich (1883 - 1957) and Anastasia Yakovlevna (1900 - 1968) lived in the village of Shivki. Ivan Ivanovich - a participant in two wars: the first imperialist world war in 1914 and the civil war in 1918, was shell-shocked.

Twelve children grew up in their family, one daughter died of pneumonia after living one year. The family was very friendly, all the children were positive.

During the war years, Anastasia Yakovlevna and Ivan Ivanovich accompanied not only their sons to the front, but also one of their daughters, Maria, who never returned from the front to her home.

The eldest of the sons Dmitry, born in 1914, served in Ukurei, after the end of the war he lived in the city of Chernyshevsk.

Grigory, born in 1916, served in Belarus as a border guard. Almost before the very end of the war, he was wounded by the remaining Bandera. Both of his legs were crushed and he spent a long time in the hospital for treatment. He was looked after by a nurse who fell in love with him, and after treatment she took him to her home, and they got married. After the war, he twice came to his homeland in Shivki, he really wanted to move to live in his native village, but the family did not agree to the move. So he lived all his life in Belarus, in the city of Grodno.

Alexander, born in 1918, served in the border troops, with the rank of senior lieutenant, served in the army for seven years. He survived the entire blockade in Leningrad, told what happened there. People walked through the streets and fell from hunger. The hunger was very terrible, they had to eat garbage, ate and rats. The dead were taken to the cemetery on sleds.

Alexander returned home all gray-haired. He was afraid for his mother - what would happen to her when she saw him.

I came home and sat down on the suitcase at the gate. At this time, the mother was milking the cow, he quietly slipped into the house. There he met his father, they hugged. Alexander decided to impersonate his friend. Lie down to rest from the road. Meanwhile, mother came and started baking pancakes. Her father told her that a friend of his son had arrived. So she bakes a pancake and runs to look at him. Then he says:

Get up, comrade.

They sat down at the table, she did not recognize her son.

Well, how is our Sasha? Coming soon?

Soon, he replied.

So whose are you? Where? she asked again.

Mom, it's me, your son Sasha. The mother fainted.

Maria, born in 1922, after graduation high school She took nursing courses and volunteered for the front. Near Moscow, she was wounded in the arm. She served in the landing troops, helped to load shells. Been to many cities. In 1944 she sent her last photo from Bessarabia. She also received a head wound. She was in the hospital for three months in Krasnodar. She died of her wounds in March 1945. She had the rank of junior lieutenant.

Roman, born in 1926, served in the Coast Guard on Far East five years.

Vasily, born in 1931 served in the army after the war, in Mongolia for three years.

All the sons and daughters of the Fomin family honestly fulfilled their military duty. All had awards, medals, insignia.

Anastasia Yakovlevna in 1946 was awarded the Mother Heroine medal.

Now only one youngest daughter remains from the Fomin family - Albina Ivanovna Yaroslavtseva, who told the story of her family.

Another of the negative influences on the fate of a person is the example of Podoinitsyna Vassa Innokentievna. Memoirs of Podoinitsyna Vassa Innokentievna (Nerchinsky district, Znamenka village, Shkolnaya st., 1) Since 1941, a seventeen-year-old girl got on a tractor and drove along with others into the field. They worked from morning to night, sometimes not only to rest, there was no time to eat:

Let's jump out of the tractor, pick a mangir, chew it and work again.

In 1943, they gave Vasya twelve-year-old Nikolai Morozov as an assistant. It was a pity for the boy Vasya and, unable to stand it, she collected grain in a bag, gave it to Kolya so that he could eat at least a little. Because a young tractor driver violated a strict order, In 1942 an order was issued prohibiting taking at least one spikelet from the field. newspaper "Bolshevik banner" No. 16, 1942. she was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Returning home, Vassa Innokentievna began to work again in the fields of the post-war period. But 2 years from her youth, 2 years of her health, she lost, because of the military policy of the USSR, working in the cold at the logging sites.

The war dramatically changed the lives of families whose men did not return from the front. It became difficult for their mothers, wives, and children to live. It was difficult not only in the financial situation, it was much harder to bear the loss loved one. The life of wives without husbands, children without fathers was not complete and happy. And therefore they were glad for the arrival of a loved one, even if the war made him a cripple.

In 1943, on the Kursk Bulge, Sergei Khokhlov was on fire in his tank. Miraculously, he was rescued and taken to the hospital. But neither doctors nor God could return his legs. Both legs of the young fighter were amputated. And in the distant Transbaikalia, in the Nerchinsk region, he had a family: his wife and children. He thought for a long time and decided that he would not return to them anymore, would not become a burden for them at such a terrible time. At home they were waiting for letters. But they weren't. And soon the wife began to search, write letters, make inquiries until she received a letter from the hospital from the soldiers who reported the tragedy that had happened to her husband. Quickly getting ready for the road, she went to the other end of the USSR to her husband. I picked him up from the hospital and brought him home. And for a long time, for years, she looked after him, helped him learn to walk on prostheses. From a strong, healthy man, the war made a cripple, forever destined for him to suffer from pain. About how Sergey fought, his awards and books written in the post-war period by two authors speak.

In the 70s, a guest came to the Khokhlov family. It was the writer S. Ivanov. He came for a reason, but to learn more about the brave tankman, whom he learned about quite by accident. And soon after his departure, the family received a package - Ivanov's new book, The Fate of a Tanker. The second book, which mentions the episode of the death of a tank on the Kursk Bulge, was published earlier and Stepan is mentioned there as a brave, determined person who is able to show courage, steadfastness, initiative and courage in difficult times. Newspaper "Nerchinskaya Star" dated 18.09.1998. Art. "In a duel with death" Viktorov V. In the life of a family in post-war years Another interesting episode happened. Shortly after the Victory, a letter came to the village from an unknown woman. Unfortunately, the letter itself has not been preserved, but according to the words of his wife Tatyana, it was something like this:

He is writing to you... I learned that your name is Stepan Khokhlov. My husband, who went to the front as a tanker, was also called. He fought on the Kursk Bulge. After this battle, he was lost. From different sources I found out about you. Styopa, if it is you who are afraid to come home because of the loss of your legs, because you are afraid of being a burden to us, I ask you to come. I'm waiting for you, I need you any ... "

The Khokhlov family sent a photo of Sergei and answered the letter, destroying all the hopes of the soldier. This letter proves that the wives were waiting, looking for their husbands, who were lost without a trace and were ready to accept them in any way, as long as they were alive.

There were a lot of such destinies that the war changed. It is about them that our children should learn, to learn how cruel war is. People who have gone through it understand the full depth happy life in peacetime, they know how to appreciate all the joys and benefits that she gives them. Watching the lives of veterans, you are surprised at what resilience they possess, what love of life and desire to achieve prosperity in everything. This year we visited many veterans. In each house they received warmth, talked about life with pleasure, gave tea and enjoyed the conversation.

Dmitry Timofeevich Beshentsev, having outlived his wife, married a second time a year ago. Together with his wife, Anna Mikhailovna, they maintain a large house, have a garden, and breed bees. And this despite the age - both are already over eighty. A large estate is also owned by Nikolai Petrovich Bykov. From early morning he rises: to feed the cattle, to bring milk, in the summer to go to the garden, where not only vegetables, but also berries: raspberries, strawberries. These people, despite their age and illness, live in such a way that the younger ones need to learn and learn from them. Nothing broke them: neither pain, nor the loss of friends, nor terrible minutes of fighting. Looking death in the eyes, they learned to appreciate life. They understand how valuable peace and tranquility are in society.

Education

The impact of war on the fate of man. How does war affect the fate and lives of people?

December 23, 2015

The influence of war on the fate of man is a topic that has been the subject of thousands of books. Everyone theoretically knows what war is. Those who felt her monstrous touch on themselves are much less. War is a constant companion of human society. It contradicts all moral laws, but despite this, every year the number of people affected by it is growing.

The fate of a soldier

The image of a soldier has always inspired writers and filmmakers. In books and films, he commands respect and admiration. In life - detached pity. The state needs a soldier as a nameless manpower. His crippled fate can excite only those close to him. The influence of war on the fate of a person is indelible, regardless of what was the reason for participating in it. And there can be many reasons. Starting from the desire to protect the homeland and ending with the desire to earn money. One way or another, it is impossible to win the war. Each of its participants is obviously defeated.

In 1929, a book was published, the author of which, fifteen years before this event, dreamed of getting into a hot spot at all costs. At home, nothing excited his imagination. He wanted to see the war, because he believed that only she could make a real writer out of him. His dream came true: he received many stories, reflected them in his work and became known to the whole world. The book in question is Farewell to Arms. Author - Ernest Hemingway.

About how the war affects the fate of people, how it kills and maims them, the writer knew firsthand. He divided people related to her into two categories. The first included those who fight on the front lines. To the second - those who kindle the war. The American classic judged the latter unequivocally, believing that the instigators should be shot in the first days of hostilities. The influence of war on the fate of man, according to Hemingway, is devastating. After all, it is nothing more than a "brazen, dirty crime."

Illusion of immortality

Many young people begin to fight, subconsciously unaware of the possible ending. The tragic end in their thoughts does not correlate with their own destiny. The bullet will overtake anyone, but not him. Mina he can safely bypass. But the illusion of immortality and excitement dissipate like yesterday's dream during the first hostilities. And with a successful outcome, another person returns home. He does not return alone. With him is a war that becomes his companion until last days life.

Revenge

About the atrocities of Russian soldiers in last years began to speak almost openly. Books by German authors, eyewitnesses of the Red Army march on Berlin, have been translated into Russian. The feeling of patriotism for some time weakened in Russia, which made it possible to write and talk about mass rapes and inhuman atrocities carried out by the victors on German territory in 1945. But what should be the psychological reaction of a person after an enemy appeared on his native land, destroying his family and home? The influence of war on the fate of a person is impartial and does not depend on which camp he belongs to. Everyone becomes a victim. The true perpetrators of such crimes usually go unpunished.

About responsibility

In 1945-1946, a trial was held in Nuremberg to try the leaders Nazi Germany. The convicts were sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment. As a result of the titanic work of investigators and lawyers, sentences were passed that corresponded to the severity of the crime committed.

After 1945 wars continue around the world. But the people unleashing them are sure of their absolute impunity. More than half a million Soviet soldiers died during the Afghan war. Approximately fourteen thousand Russian military personnel account for the losses in Chechen war. But no one was punished for the unleashed madness. None of the perpetrators of these crimes died. The effect of war on a person is all the more terrible because in some, although rare cases, it contributes to material enrichment and strengthening of power.

Is war a noble cause?

Five hundred years ago, the leader of the state personally led his subjects on the attack. He risked the same as ordinary fighters. The picture has changed over the past two hundred years. The influence of war on a person has become deeper, because there is no justice and nobility in it. Military masterminds prefer to sit in the rear, hiding behind the backs of their soldiers.

Ordinary fighters, once on the front line, are guided by a strong desire to escape at any cost. There is a “shoot first” rule for this. The one who shoots second, inevitably dies. And the soldier, pulling the trigger, no longer thinks about the fact that there is a person in front of him. There is a click in the psyche, after which it is hard, almost impossible to live among people who are not versed in the horrors of war.

More than twenty-five million people died in the Great Patriotic War. Each soviet family knew grief. And this grief left a deep painful imprint, which was passed on even to descendants. A female sniper with 309 lives on her account commands respect. But in modern world the former soldier will not find understanding. Tales of his murders are more likely to cause alienation. How does war affect the fate of a person in modern society? Just like the participant in the liberation of the Soviet land from the German occupiers. The only difference is that the defender of his land was a hero, and who fought with opposite side- a criminal. Today, war is devoid of meaning and patriotism. Even the fictitious idea for which it is kindled has not been created.

Lost generation

Hemingway, Remarque and other authors of the 20th century wrote about how war affects the fate of people. It is extremely difficult for an immature person to adapt to civilian life in the post-war years. They had not yet had time to get an education, their moral positions were not strong before they appeared at the recruiting station. The war destroyed in them that which had not yet had time to appear. And after it - alcoholism, suicide, madness.

Nobody needs these people, they are lost to society. There is only one person who will accept the crippled fighter as he has become, will not turn away and refuse him. This person is his mother.

woman at war

A mother who loses her son is not able to come to terms with it. No matter how heroically a soldier dies, the woman who gave birth to him will never be able to come to terms with his death. Patriotism and lofty words lose their meaning and become ridiculous next to her grief. The influence of war on a person's life becomes unbearable when that person is a woman. And we are talking not only about soldiers' mothers, but also about those who, along with men, take up arms. A woman was created for the birth of a new life, but not for its destruction.

Children and war

Why is war not worth it? She's not worth a human life maternal grief. And she is not able to justify a single tear of a child. But those who conceive this bloody crime are not touched even by children's crying. World history full of terrible pages that tell of atrocious crimes against children. Despite the fact that history is a science necessary for a person to avoid the mistakes of the past, people continue to repeat them.

Children not only die in the war, they die after it. But not physically, but mentally. It was after the First World War that the term "children's homelessness" appeared. This social phenomenon has different preconditions for its occurrence. But the most powerful of them is war.

In the 1920s, orphaned children of war filled the cities. They had to learn to survive. They did this by begging and stealing. The first steps in a life in which they are hated turned them into criminals and immoral creatures. How does war affect the fate of a person who is just beginning to live? She deprives him of his future. And only a happy accident and someone's participation can make a child who lost his parents in the war, a full-fledged member of society. The impact of the war on children is so profound that the country that participated in it has to suffer its consequences for decades.

Fighters today are divided into "murderers" and "heroes". They are neither the same nor the other. A soldier is someone who has been unlucky twice. For the first time - when he got to the front. The second time - when he returned from there. Murder oppresses the inner world of a person. Awareness comes sometimes not immediately, but much later. And then hatred and a desire for revenge settle in the soul, which makes not only the former soldier unhappy, but also his loved ones. And it is necessary to judge for this the organizers of the war, those who, according to Leo Tolstoy, being the lowest and vicious people, received power and glory as a result of the implementation of their plans.

What does war take away from civilians? Is it compatible with human life? The problem of the impact of war on people's lives is raised in the text by V.P. Erashov.

Reflecting on this topic, the author describes the first real battle of Katya - the "girl", who, by the will of fate, ended up in the war. Erashov, at the beginning of the text fragment, notes with regret the consequences of this destructive phenomenon on a person: all Katya’s relatives died, “in fact, she had nothing to lose in battle - except own life".

Our experts can check your essay according to the USE criteria

Site experts Kritika24.ru
Teachers of leading schools and current experts of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

The suffering brought by the war took away from her even the expressed desire to live. Moreover, at the end of the text, the author contrasts Katya's previously possible role in the family with her current fate: Katya has become "not a wife, not a mother, not a keeper of the hearth - a tank commander."

The author's position regarding the problem raised is clear and expressed in the last paragraph: Erashov regrets how the war affected the young girl, bringing her a lot of suffering and depriving her of a peaceful family future.

The theme of the influence of war on a person is developed in Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace". A change in attitude towards the murder of a man by a man, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, can be traced throughout the work. If the hero initially perceived the war as an opportunity to earn fame and respect, then over time he completely abandons his beliefs, seeing the imaginary greatness of Napoleon, the ostentatious nature of his actions. Especially successful is the negative attitude towards the war, which brings severe suffering to thousands during units, Prince Bolkonsky is confirmed by his thoughts about the wounded soldiers in the infirmary: their bodies resembled human meat.

The path of Grigory Melekhov, the hero of the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don", also demonstrates the destructive role of war in life common man. Accustomed to rural life, the hero presents the war as something due, and the killing of the enemy as something justified. But the first hostilities begin to destroy the convictions of Gregory, who realizes the futility of this action. He understands that enemy fighters are the same ordinary people, like him, obeying orders from above. The hero cannot justify the suffering he is forced to inflict on others.

Thus, the problem of the influence of war on a person finds development not only in works entirely devoted to this topic: it undoubtedly gives creators food for thought to this day.

Updated: 2017-05-24

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Enter.
Thus, you will provide invaluable benefit to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.

Elena Chernukhina does not yet have complete information on dates, awards, geographical names associated with the military roads of their relatives. She plans to carry out these searches in the summer together with her daughter. Today Elena shares her thoughts on how the war affected the fate of people, through the prism of childhood feelings and memories of relatives.

Real heroes are near

The theme of the Great Patriotic War has lived in me and always lives. To pain in the heart, to a coma in the throat. Brought up by the Soviet school, I clearly know all the stages, all the events and heroes of that time. For a year now, watching the traditional events associated with the anniversary military date, I suddenly realized that I know very little about the participation of my relatives in that war. I am bitter that I did not learn anything about the war from them themselves. Then my heart was occupied by other heroes. Reading books about them, I shed tears: Pavka Korchagin, the Young Guards, Vitaly Bonivur (I named my brother after him).
Now, when none of my relatives, participants in the war, are alive, I understand that real heroes lived next to me, and not book ones. It is amazing that, having serious injuries, their health undermined by the war, they then did not enjoy any benefits, did not have a disability, but worked like hell for the rest of their lives in the fields and farms. But who then considered the heroes of ordinary village peasants? Their profiles were not very suitable for the heroism of that time. Yes, and participation in the war was considered a common thing: after all, everyone who returned from the front was alive. Nobody went into details.
True, once a year, on May 9, front-line soldiers, along with schoolchildren, were invited to a rally at a mass grave with a traditional pyramid on which eight names of buried soldiers were carved. This grave is now abandoned, the monument has almost collapsed, since no one cared for it.
After the rallies, the veterans sat on the grass, celebrated the Victory with a drink and a simple snack, and commemorated the dead. After several toasts, the noise of voices intensified, disputes arose, turning into shouts, thick obscenities, and sometimes into fights. The main reason for these unrest was the fact that former policemen were also present here. In their address from the “warriors” (as the front-line soldiers were called in the village) such things were carried! “I shed blood, and you, bitch, served the Nazis!” Those who were captured were not welcomed either.

Grandpa is a former tanker

My paternal grandfather Ivan Fedorovich Chernukhin at the age of 21 in 1939 went to Finnish war. At this time, his first child, my dad, was only a year old. Grandfather was seriously wounded, and in 1940 he came home for aftercare. And already in 1941, Ivan, having two children, went to the Great Patriotic War with the first call. After the course, he fought as a gunner-driver in tank troops. He held the defense of Leningrad, was wounded more than once, but reached Berlin.
The family at that time lived in the occupied territory. They were in poverty - the policemen took away the cow, the only breadwinner. I often catch myself thinking that the civilian population, especially children, had a difficult life during the war. One winter, the policemen brought Nazis to the house where a grandmother lived with small children. They climbed onto the stove, took off their grandmother's felt boots and tried to try them on, but the boots did not fit - grandmother had a small foot. And then my four-year-old dad shouted: “You don’t need to take our felt boots, go to Grandma Varya (neighbor) - she has a hefty leg!”
Grandfather returned home with the rank of foreman, having military awards. As a relatively literate young front-line soldier, he was harnessed to collective farm work. He visited all positions - from the chairman to the shepherd on the Ordzhonikidze collective farm (they came up with such names: where is Ordzhonikidze, and where is the downtrodden village of Konyshevsky district). This was a common phenomenon in those years: instead of not very literate soldiers, party functionaries came to leadership positions, and the “warrior” was sent to shepherds. Grandpa liked to drink. At these moments, he became miserable, cried, remembered the war and asked me: “Unucha, sing “Three tankers!” Grandfather, a former tanker, adored this song. And I, a little one, sang loudly with my tipsy grandfather: “Three tankmen, three cheerful friends!” Grandfather loved me: the first granddaughter! I regret that I did not ask him about the war years when I was an adult.

The fate of relatives

The fate of Semyon Vasilyevich Lebedev, maternal grandfather, was more tragic. Semyon Vasilyevich was very literate: he graduated with honors from a parochial school, drew well, and played the harmonica from the age of three. But the parents disposed of Semyon's fate in their own way. Instead of studying to become an icon painter, which the son dreamed of, they sent him to relatives in the Donbass, where his grandfather served as a boy in a shop. Before the Great Patriotic War, he had a serious path. In 1914 he was drafted into the tsarist army, went through the First World War. Fighting against the Germans (he said so), he experienced chemical weapons: he was poisoned with gases, and until the end of his life, his grandfather suffered from terrible asthma. Revolutionary propaganda brought him under the banner of the Red Army and put him through the crucible civil war, after which he installed Soviet power engaged in collectivization in his district. At the same time, my grandfather was not officially a member of the party. His brother Peter, who returned from Austrian captivity, had a windmill and fell under dispossession. Until the end of his life, the brother did not forgive that his grandfather did not protect him, but he never joined the collective farm, he died early.
In September 1941, at the age of 46, my grandfather went to the Great Patriotic War. A seriously ill wife remained at home with four children, the youngest of which is my mother. Grandfather began his soldier's way with the defense of Moscow, and in 1944 he was very seriously wounded in the legs, he was treated in a hospital in Kazan. That year he returned from the front. Mom remembers that my grandmother jumped out onto the porch and threw herself on the neck of some uncle. She only shouted out loud: “Senechka has come!” and cried. And my mother thought that this mother was hugging someone else's uncle. She did not recognize her father, terrible, overgrown, dirty, on two crutches. After all, when he went to the front, she was three years old. Grandfather went not only the path of a soldier. In the year of his return from the front, he was put on two crutches as a weigher to weigh grain. And in the year of the Victory, grandfather Semyon became an enemy of the people: hungry fellow countrymen made a dig in the warehouse, and the grains were missing. They did not find out - for six years they were sent to Stalinist camps where he served three years. Ironically, grandfather was sent to where he was treated in the hospital after being wounded. Then there was rehabilitation, but what did it matter when the children suffered from hunger (the household was confiscated), and the wife, overstrained, died early ...
After grandfather Semyon worked in the village council (he secretly issued certificates to how many people breaking out of the village to study or earn money!). He was known throughout the region as an accordionist. He, an absolute teetotaler, was in great demand and catered for everything from christenings to funerals. There was even a queue for him. Grandfather had a special notebook where he wrote down his repertoire: grandfather knew dozens of Poles alone. He knew how to repair harmonicas. And if there were still harmonists in the district, then no one possessed this skill. Sometimes grandfather was given an extra workday for playing at events. The accordion was with her grandfather on all fronts. He did not part with her until the end of his life.
My grandfather's sons, my uncles, used to take wounded soldiers as teenagers. For this, the policemen well retreated with their whips. Grandmother was also crippled - they were kicked and beaten to death with gun butts. Mom still remembers the terrible pool of blood on the porch of the hut. And then the eldest of my mother's brothers, Uncle Semyon, was mobilized for the last military draft. At the age of 17, he began to fight, crossed the Dnieper, participated in bloody battles, liberated countries Western Europe reached Berlin. However, not a single serious injury. Graduated after the war military school, served as an officer until the shell shock, which he received during the exercises. My uncle was smart: without support he rose to the rank of captain, he could make a good career.
The grandfathers' awards were lost (who then kept them in the villages, these pieces of iron and letters - a piece of cloth or a pood of millet were valued more), and some of the uncle's awards were preserved.
In our village in the Konyshevsky district, standing on a high mountain, there are many traces of trenches. Soviet troops held the defense here. My parents used to play hide-and-seek in the trenches after the war when they were little, and then so did we. But every year the traces from the trenches become smaller, overgrown with time, only small depressions remain: the earth heals the wounds. Herbs are now raging in these places, berries and flowers are growing. Here you feel eternity, and nothing reminds of the brutal war years. But how terrible it will be if our memory of that tragic time overgrows.
Author Elena Chernukhina.