The role of women during the Great Patriotic War. Russian women in the Great Patriotic War

What did the Nazis do with the captured women? Truth and myths regarding the atrocities committed by German soldiers against the Red Army, partisans, snipers and other females. During the Second World War, many female volunteers were sent to the front, almost a million especially females were sent to the front, and almost all of them signed up as volunteers. It was already much more difficult for women at the front than for men, but when they fell into the clutches of the Germans, real hell began.

Also, women who remained under occupation in Belarus or Ukraine suffered a lot. Sometimes they managed to relatively safely survive the German regime (memoirs, books by Bykov, Nilin), but they could not do without humiliation. Even more often - they were waiting for a concentration camp, rape, torture.

Execution by firing squad or hanging

With captured women who fought in positions in the Soviet army, they acted quite simply - they were shot. But scouts or partisans, most often, were expected to be hanged. Usually - after a long bullying.

Most of all, the Germans liked to undress the captured Red Army women, keep them in the cold or drive them down the street. It went back to the Jewish pogroms. In those days, girlish shame was a very strong psychological tool, the Germans were surprised how many virgins were among the captives, so they actively used such a measure to finally crush, break, and humiliate.

Public flogging, beatings, carousel interrogations are also one of the favorite methods of the Nazis.

Rape by the whole platoon was often practiced. However, this mostly happened in small units. The officers did not welcome this, they were forbidden to do this, therefore, more often this was done by escorts, assault groups during arrests, or during closed interrogations.

On the bodies of the killed partisans (for example, the famous Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya), traces of torture and abuse were found. Their breasts were cut off, stars were cut out, and so on.

Did the Germans impale?

Today, when some idiots try to justify the crimes of the Nazis, others try to catch up with more fear. For example, they write that the captured women were impaled by the Germans. There is no documentary or photographic evidence of this, and it’s just that the Nazis hardly wanted to spend time on this. They considered themselves "cultural", so the actions of intimidation were carried out mainly through mass executions, hangings, or general burning in huts.

Of the exotic types of executions, only the “gas wagon” can be mentioned. This is a special van where people were killed with the help of exhaust gases. Naturally, they were also used to eliminate women. True, such machines did not serve Nazi Germany for long, since the Nazis, after the execution, were forced to launder them for a long time.

death camps

In the concentration camp, Soviet women prisoners of war fell on an equal footing with men, but, of course, they reached such a prison much less than the initial number. Partisans and intelligence officers were usually hanged immediately, but nurses, doctors, representatives of the civilian population, who were Jewish by nationality or were related to party work, could be stolen.

The Nazis did not really favor women, since they worked worse than men. It is known that the Nazis conducted medical experiments on people, women were cut out the ovaries. The famous Nazi doctor-sadist Josef Mengele sterilized women with X-rays, tested on them the capabilities of the human body to withstand high voltage.

Famous women's concentration camps are Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Salaspils. In total, the Nazis opened more than 40 thousand camps and ghettos, executions were put on stream. Worst of all had to women with children who had their blood taken. Stories about how the mother begged the nurse to inject the child with poison so that he would not be tormented by experiments are still horrifying. But for the Nazis, the dissection of a living baby, the introduction of bacteria and chemicals into the child was in the order of things.

Verdict

About 5 million Soviet citizens died in captivity and concentration camps. More than half of them were women, however, there would hardly have been even more than 100 thousand prisoners of war. Basically, the fair sex in overcoats was dealt with on the spot.

Of course, the Nazis answered for their crimes, both with their complete defeat and with executions during the Nuremberg trials. But the worst thing was that many, after the concentration camps of the Nazis, were already sent to the Stalinist camps. So, for example, they often dealt with residents of the occupied regions, intelligence workers, signalmen, etc.

Not so long ago, the Russian media wrote animatedly that the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School began to accept applications from girls. Dozens of those wishing to sit at the helm of a combat aircraft immediately poured into the selection committee.

In peacetime, girls who master military specialties seem to us something exotic. But when the threat of war looms over the country, the fair sex often shows amazing courage and resilience, in no way inferior to men. So it was during the Great Patriotic War, when women fought at the front on an equal footing with men. They mastered a variety of military professions and carried out military service as nurses, pilots, sappers, scouts and even snipers.

In difficult military conditions, young girls, many of whom were yesterday's schoolgirls, performed feats and died for the Fatherland. At the same time, even in the trenches, they continued to preserve femininity, showing it in everyday life and reverent care for their comrades.

Few of our contemporaries are able to imagine what Soviet women had to go through during the war years. There are already few of them themselves - those who survived and managed to convey precious memories to their descendants.

One of the keepers of these memories is our colleague, the chief specialist of the scientific department of the RVIO, candidate of historical sciences Victoria Petrakova. She devoted her scientific work to the topic of women in the war, the topic of her research is Soviet female snipers.

She told History.RF about the hardships that befell these heroines (Victoria was lucky enough to communicate with some of them personally).

"The parachutes were laid out to carry the bombs"

Victoria, I understand that the topic of women at the front is very extensive, so let's take a closer look at the Great Patriotic War.

The mass participation of Soviet women in the Great Patriotic War is an unprecedented phenomenon in world history. Neither in Nazi Germany nor in the allied countries did such a number of women participate in the war, and, moreover, women did not master military specialties abroad. With us, they were pilots, snipers, tankers, sappers, miners ...

- Did Russian women start fighting only in 1941? Why were they recruited into the army?

This happened with the emergence of new military registration specialties, the development of technology, and the involvement of a large number of human resources in combat operations. Women were called in to free the men for more difficult warfare. Our women were on the battlefields during the Crimean War, the First World War, and the Civil War.

- Is it known how many women in the Soviet Union fought during the Great Patriotic War?

- Historians have not yet established the exact figure. In various works, the number is from 800 thousand to 1 million. During the war years, these women mastered more than 20 military professions.

- Were there many female pilots among them?

- As for the pilots, we had three women's aviation regiments. The decree on their creation was issued on October 8, 1941. This happened thanks to the famous pilot Marina Mikhailovna Raskova, who at that time was already a Hero of the Soviet Union and turned directly to Stalin with such a proposal. The girls actively went into aviation, because then there were many different flying clubs. Moreover, in September 1938, Polina Osipenko, Valentina Grizodubova and Marina Raskova made a direct flight from Moscow to the Far East lasting more than 26 hours. For this flight they were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". They became the first women - Heroes of the Soviet Union before the war, and during the war, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya became the first. Thus, the history of women in aviation during the war years acquired a completely new sound. As I said, we had three aviation regiments: 586th, 587th and 588th. The 588th was subsequently (in February 1943) renamed the 46th Taman Guards Regiment. The Germans called the pilots of this regiment the "Night Witches".

- Which of the military pilots of that time could you highlight?

- Among the women who piloted fighters, one of the most famous is Lydia (Lilia) Litvyak, who was called the "White Lily of Stalingrad." She went down in history as the most productive female fighter: she had 16 victories on her account - 12 personal and 4 group. Lydia began her combat career in the sky over Saratov, then defended the sky of Stalingrad in the most difficult September days of 1942. She died on August 1, 1943 - she did not return from a combat mission. Moreover, it is interesting: she had a fighting friend who told me that Lydia said that the worst thing for her would be to go missing, because then her memory would be erased. Actually, that's what happened. And only in the early 1970s in the Donetsk region, search teams found a mass grave, in which they found the girl. After examining the remains and comparing the documents, it was established that this was Lydia Litvyak. In 1990 she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the already mentioned 46th Women's Aviation Regiment, there were a lot of those who were awarded this title posthumously. Pilots, when they left for a combat mission at night, sometimes laid out parachutes. And the planes on which they flew were practically plywood. That is, if shells hit them, the planes instantly ignited, and the pilots could no longer eject.

- Why didn't they take parachutes with them?

- To carry more bombs. Despite the fact that the plane could easily catch fire, its advantage was that it was slow. This made it possible to quietly fly up to enemy positions, which increased the accuracy of bombing. But if the projectile did hit the plane, many were burned alive in bombers diving to the ground.

“Men cried when they saw girls die”

- Is it known what percentage of Soviet women could survive until the end of the war?

This is very difficult to ascertain if one takes into account the leadership's not well-ordered mobilization policy towards women during the war years. Statistics on losses among women do not exist at all! In the book of G. F. Krivosheev (Grigory Fedotovich Krivosheev - Soviet and Russian military historian, author of several works on the military losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR - Note. ed.), which is the best-known study to date, which contains the most accurate data on losses, it is said that women were included in the total number of losses - there was no distinction by gender. Therefore, the number of women who died during the Great Patriotic War is still unknown.

How did women cope with domestic difficulties in the war? After all, here they were required not only moral, but also physical endurance.

- Women's health at the front was practically atrophied, the body was constantly in a state of mobilization - both mentally and physiologically. It is clear that after the war people "thawed" and came to their senses, but in the war it simply could not be otherwise. A person needed to survive, it was necessary to carry out a combat mission. The conditions were very extreme. In addition, women fell into mixed units. Imagine: the infantry marches tens of kilometers - it was difficult to solve some everyday moments when there were only men around. In addition, not all women were subject to mobilization. Those who had small children, elderly dependent parents were not taken to the war. Because the military leadership understood that all the experiences associated with this could subsequently affect the psychological state at the front.

- What was required to pass this selection?

It was necessary to have a minimum education and be in very good physical condition. Only those who had excellent eyesight could become snipers. By the way, many Siberians were taken to the front - they were very strong girls. In particular, they were attentive to the psychological state of a person. We cannot but recall Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who in the most difficult days of the Moscow battle became a scout-saboteur. Unfortunately, various negative statements are currently appearing that offend the memory of this girl and devalue her feat. For some reason, people do not try to realize that she entered the reconnaissance and sabotage unit, where, of course, they did not take those with mental disabilities. To serve there, it was necessary to pass a medical examination, obtain various certificates, and so on. This part was commanded by a major, a hero of the Spanish war, the legendary Arthur Sprogis. He obviously would have seen some deviations. Therefore, the mere fact that she was enrolled in this unit and she became a scout-saboteur indicates that the person was mentally stable.

- How did men treat women in the military? Were they perceived as equal comrades-in-arms?

It all turned out to be very interesting. For example, when female snipers came to the front, men treated them with irony and distrust: “They brought the girls!” And when the first control firing started and these girls knocked out all the targets, respect for them, of course, increased. Naturally, they were taken care of, snipers were even called "glasses". They were treated like a father. A very touching story was told to me by sniper Klavdia Efremovna Kalugina. She had three sniper pairs, and everyone was called Masha. All three died. Her first sniper pair, Masha Chigvintseva, died in the summer of 1944. Then there was the operation "Bagration" - they liberated Belarus. Masha moved, and, apparently, the optics glared in the sun. The German sniper fired and hit her just below the right eye, right through. Masha dropped dead. Claudia Efremovna said that at that moment she screamed at the entire line of defense. Soldiers ran out of the dugout to her crying, tried to calm her down: “Don’t cry, the Germans will hear, they will open mortar fire!” But nothing worked. This is understandable: after all, you share shelter, food, secrets with a sniper pair, this is your closest person. She was buried in the summer in a field where there were many wild flowers: the grave was decorated with daisies and bells. Everyone came to bury Masha, up to the unit commanders. But it was already 1944, and the men had seen a lot of death and blood. But still, everyone cried at Masha's funeral. When she was lowered into the ground, the commander said: "Sleep well, dear Marusya." And all the men wept when they saw the young girls dying.

“When they came back, all sorts of unpleasant things sounded”

- And in which troops was it most dangerous for women to serve?

- In 1943, a study was conducted on the Leningrad Front on injuries among women of various military professions. It was highest, naturally, in the military medical service - nurses pulled the wounded from the battlefield under bullets and shrapnel. Signalmen and miners were often injured. If we talk about snipers, then the injury rate of this military profession, for all its danger and complexity, was relatively low.

- Were there many women among the snipers? How were they trained?

- In the Soviet Union, the only women's sniper school operated not only in our country, but throughout the world. In November 1942, women's sniper courses were created at the Central School of Sniper Instructors (male). Then, in May 1943, the Central Women's Sniper Training School appeared; it existed until May 1945. This school has released about two thousand female cadets. Of these, 185 people were lost, that is, 10 percent of the total. Snipers, firstly, were protected, they were not allowed to attack: they were supposed to fight only on the defensive. Snipers mostly died during the execution of a combat mission. This could happen due to accidental negligence: during sniper duels (when the optical sight glared in the sun, the German sniper fired, and, accordingly, the sniper from the opposite side died) or under mortar fire.

- What happened to these heroines after the end of the war?

Their fates were different. In general, the topic of post-war rehabilitation of female soldiers is very complex. The memory of the women's feat during the war years was forgotten for a very long time. Even the grandmothers-veterans themselves told how embarrassed they were to say that they fought. This was shaped by negative attitudes in society, which relied on various stories about "field wives". For some reason, this cast a shadow on all the women who fought. When they returned, unfortunately, all sorts of unpleasant things could be said to them. But I talked with them and I know what front-line everyday life and combat work cost them. After all, many returned with health problems, could not then have children. Take the same snipers: they lay in the snow for two days, received maxillofacial wounds ... These women endured a lot.

- Really there were no war novels with a happy ending?

There were happy cases when love was born in the conditions of war, then people got married. There were sad stories when one of the lovers died. But all the same, as a rule, the stories of the same “field wives” are, first of all, crippled female destinies. And we have no moral right to judge, much less to condemn. Although already today someone, apparently not having respect for memory, pulls out only individual plots from the multifaceted history of the war, turning them into “fried” facts. And this is very sad. When a woman returned from the war, the process of getting used to civilian life took a long time. It was necessary to master peaceful professions. They worked in completely different areas: in museums, at factories, someone was an accountant, there were also those who went to teach theory at higher military schools. People returned psychologically broken, it was very difficult to build a personal life.

"Not everyone could fire the first shot"

Still, women are gentle and sensitive creatures, it is rather difficult to associate them with war, murders ... Those girls who went to the front, what were they like?

One of my articles tells the story of Lidia Yakovlevna Anderman. She was a sniper, holder of the Order of Glory; unfortunately, she is no longer alive. She said that after the war she dreamed for a very long time of the first killed German. At the school, future snipers were taught to shoot exclusively at targets, and at the front they had to deal with living people. Due to the fact that the distance could be small and the optical sight brought the target closer by 3.5 times, it was often possible to make out the enemy's uniform, the outlines of his face. Lidia Yakovlevna later recalled: “I saw through the scope that he had a red beard, some kind of red hair.” She dreamed of him for a long time even after the war. But not everyone could immediately make a shot: natural pity and qualities inherent in female nature made themselves felt when performing a combat mission. Of course, the women understood that the enemy was in front of them, but still it was a living person.

- How did they overpower themselves?

The death of comrades-in-arms, the realization that the enemy is doing in their native land, the tragic news from home - all this inevitably had an impact on the female psyche. And in such a situation, the question of whether it was necessary to go and carry out their combat mission did not arise: “... I must take up arms and take revenge myself. I already knew that I didn’t have any of my relatives left. My mother is gone…” one of the snipers recalled. Everywhere on the fronts, female snipers began to appear in 1943. At that time, the blockade of Leningrad had lasted for more than a year, the villages and villages of Belarus were burned, many relatives and comrades were killed. It was clear to everyone what the enemy had brought us. Sometimes people ask: “What did you need to have to be a sniper? Maybe it was some kind of predisposition of character, innate cruelty? Of course not. When you ask such questions, you need to try to “immerse yourself” in the psychology of a person who lived in wartime. Because they were the same ordinary girls! Like everyone else, they dreamed of marriage, arranged a modest military life, and took care of themselves. It's just that the war was a very mobilizing factor for the psyche.

- You said that the memory of a woman's feat was forgotten for many years. What has changed over time?

The first research papers on the participation of women in the Great Patriotic War began to appear only in the 1960s. Now, thank God, dissertations and monographs are being written about this. Women's feat is now, of course, established in the public mind. But, unfortunately, it's a bit late, because so many of them don't see it anymore. And many, perhaps, died forgotten, never knowing that someone wrote about them. In general, sources of personal origin are simply invaluable for studying the psychology of a person in war: memoirs, memoirs, interviews with veterans. After all, they talk about things that cannot be found in any archival document. It is clear that the war cannot be idealized, it was not only feats - it was both dirty and scary. But when we write or talk about it, we must always be as correct as possible, careful about the memory of those people. In no case should labels be attached, because we do not know even a thousandth of what really happened there. Many destinies were broken, distorted. And many veterans, in spite of everything that they had to endure, retained a clear look, sense of humor, optimism until the end of their days. We ourselves have a lot to learn from them. And most importantly - always remember them with great respect and gratitude.

The female part of our multinational people, together with men, children and the elderly, bore all the hardships of the Great War on their shoulders. Women wrote many glorious pages in the annals of the war.

Women were on the front line: doctors, pilots, snipers, in air defense units, signalmen, scouts, drivers, topographers, reporters, even tankers, artillerymen and served in the infantry. Women actively participated in the underground, in the partisan movement.

Women took on many “purely male” specialties in the rear, as the men went to war, and someone had to stand at the machine, drive a tractor, become a railroad lineman, master the profession of a metallurgist, etc.

Figures and facts

Military service in the USSR is an honorable duty not only for men, but also for women. This right is written in Art. 13th Law on universal conscription, adopted by the IV session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 1, 1939. It says that the People's Commissariats of Defense and the Navy are given the right to take into the army and navy women who have medical, veterinary and special -technical training, as well as to involve them in training camps. In wartime, women with this training may be drafted into the army and navy for auxiliary and special service. The feeling of pride and gratitude of Soviet women to the party and government regarding the decision of the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was expressed by the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR E.M. Kozhushina from the Vinnitsa region: “All of us, young patriots,” she said, “are ready to defend our beautiful Motherland. We women are proud that we have been given the right to protect her on an equal footing with men. And if our party, our government calls, then we will all defend our wonderful country and give the enemy a crushing rebuff.”

Already the first news of Germany's perfidious attack on the USSR aroused boundless anger and burning hatred for the enemies in women. At meetings and rallies held throughout the country, they declared their readiness to stand up for their homeland. Women and girls went to the party and Komsomol organizations, to the military commissariats, and there they persistently sought to be sent to the front. Among the volunteers who applied to be sent to the active army, up to 50% of the applications were from women.

During the first week of the war, applications for sending to the front were received from 20,000 Muscovites, and three months later, 8,360 women and girls of Moscow achieved admission to the ranks of the defenders of the Motherland. Among the Leningrad Komsomol members who filed applications in the first days of the war with a request to be sent to the army, 27 thousand applications were from girls. More than 5,000 girls from the Moskovsky district of Leningrad were sent to the front. 2 thousand of them became fighters of the Leningrad Front and selflessly fought on the outskirts of their native city.

Created on June 30, 1941, the State Defense Committee (GKO) adopted a number of resolutions on the mobilization of women to serve in the air defense forces, communications, internal security, on military highways ... Several Komsomol mobilizations were carried out, in particular, the mobilization of Komsomol women in the Military Navy, Air Force and signal troops.

In July 1941, over 4,000 women of the Krasnodar Territory asked to be sent to the active army. In the first days of the war, 4,000 women from the Ivanovo region volunteered. About 4,000 girls from the Chita region, more than 10,000 from Karaganda, became Red Army soldiers on Komsomol vouchers.

From 600 thousand to 1 million women fought at the front in different periods, 80 thousand of them were Soviet officers.

The Central Women's School of Sniper Training provided the front with 1,061 snipers and 407 sniper instructors. School graduates destroyed over 11,280 enemy soldiers and officers during the war.

At the end of 1942, the Ryazan Infantry School was ordered to train about 1,500 officers from female volunteers. By January 1943, over 2,000 women had arrived at the school.

For the first time in the years of the Patriotic War, women's combat formations appeared in the Armed Forces of our country. Of the female volunteers, 3 aviation regiments were formed: the 46th Guards Night Bomber, 125th Guards Bomber, 586th Air Defense Fighter Regiment; Separate Women's Volunteer Rifle Brigade, Separate Women's Reserve Rifle Regiment, Central Women's Sniper School, Separate Women's Company of Sailors.

Being near Moscow, the 1st Separate Women's Reserve Regiment also trained cadres of motorists and snipers, machine gunners and junior commanders of combat units. There were 2899 women in the personnel.

20,000 women served in the Special Moscow Air Defense Army.

Some women were also commanders. You can name the Hero of the Soviet Union Valentina Grizodubova, who throughout the war commanded the 101st long-range aviation regiment, where men served. She herself made about two hundred sorties, delivering explosives, food to the partisans, and taking out the wounded.

Colonel-engineer Antonina Pristavko was the head of the ammunition department of the artillery department of the army of the Polish Army. She ended the war near Berlin. Among her awards are the orders: "Rebirth of Poland" IV class, "Grunwald Cross" III class, "Golden Cross of Merit" and others.

In the first war year of 1941, 19 million women were employed in agricultural work, mainly on collective farms. This means that almost all the burdens of providing food for the army and the country fell on their shoulders, on their laboring hands.

5 million women were employed in industry, and many of them were also entrusted with command posts - directors, heads of workshops, foremen.

Culture, education, health care have become a matter of concern, mainly for women.

Ninety-five women in our country have the high title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them are our astronauts.

The largest representation of participants in the Great Patriotic War among other specialties were female doctors.

Of the total number of doctors, of whom there were about 700 thousand in the active army, 42% were women, and among surgeons - 43.4%.

More than 2 million people served as middle and junior medical workers at the fronts. Women (medical assistants, sisters, medical instructors) made up the majority - over 80 percent.

During the war years, a coherent system of medical and sanitary services for the fighting army was created. There was the so-called doctrine of military field medicine. At all stages of the evacuation of the wounded - from the company (battalion) to the hospitals of the deep rear - female doctors selflessly carried out the noble mission of mercy.

Glorious patriots served in all branches of the military - in aviation and marines, on warships of the Black Sea Fleet, the Northern Fleet, the Caspian and Dnieper flotillas, in floating naval hospitals and hospital trains. Together with the horsemen, they went into deep raids behind enemy lines, were in partisan detachments. With the infantry they reached Berlin. And everywhere the doctors provided specialized assistance to those injured in the battles.

It is estimated that the female medical instructors of rifle companies, medical battalions, and artillery batteries helped seventy percent of the wounded soldiers return to duty.

For special courage and heroism, 15 female doctors were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The sculptural monument in Kaluga reminds of the feat of women - military doctors. In the park on Kirov Street, on a high pedestal, a front-line nurse in a raincoat, with a sanitary bag over her shoulder, rises to her full height. The city of Kaluga during the war years was the focus of numerous hospitals, which cured and returned to service tens of thousands of soldiers and commanders. That is why they built a monument in a holy place, which always has flowers.

History has not yet known such a massive participation of women in the armed struggle for the Motherland, which was shown by Soviet women during the Great Patriotic War. Having achieved enrollment in the ranks of the soldiers of the Red Army, women and girls mastered almost all military specialties and, together with their husbands, fathers and brothers, served in all military branches of the Soviet Armed Forces.

Unknown Soviet female soldiers from an anti-tank artillery unit.

11:20 , 14.07.2017

Rape during armed conflicts has always had a military-psychological significance as a means of intimidating and demoralizing the enemy.

At the same time, violence against women acted as a manifestation of sexist (that is, purely masculine) and racist syndromes, which gain particular strength in large-scale stressful situations.

War rapes are different from rapes committed in peacetime. Sexual violence in times of war or armed conflict can have a double meaning if carried out on a large scale. It serves not only to humiliate the individual who experiences it, but also to demonstrate to the people of the enemy state that its political leaders and army are not capable of protecting it. Therefore, such acts of violence, unlike those carried out in everyday life, do not take place secretly, but publicly, often even with the forced presence of other people.

In general, there are three features that distinguish military sexual violence from peacetime rape. The first is a public act. The enemy needs to see what is happening to his "property", which is why rapists often rape women in front of their own home. This is an act against the husband (symbolically the father of the nation or the leader of the enemy), not an act against the woman. The second is gang rape. Fighting comrades make it in one team: everyone should be like the others. This reflects the ongoing group need to strengthen and reproduce solidarity. In other words, drink together, walk together, rape together. The third is the murder of a woman after sexual assault.

Documents available to researchers testify to the mass rape of women by Wehrmacht soldiers in the occupied territories. However, it is difficult to determine the real scale of sexual crime during the war caused by the invaders on the territory of the USSR: primarily due to the lack of generalizing sources. In addition, in Soviet times, this problem was not focused on and no records of such victims were kept. Certain statistical data could give women's appeals to doctors, but they did not turn to doctors for help, fearing the condemnation of society.

Back in January 1942, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Molotov noted: “There are no limits to the people's anger and indignation, which cause countless facts of vile violence, vile mockery of women's honor and massacres of Soviet citizens and women in the entire Soviet population and in the Red Army, which are committed by fascist German officers and soldiers ... Everywhere brutalized German bandits break into houses, rape women and girls in front of their relatives and their children, mock the raped ... ".

On the Eastern Front, group sexual violence against women was quite common among Wehrmacht soldiers. But not only German soldiers did this during the years of occupation, their allies did not disdain such behavior. Especially in this, according to the witnesses of the occupation, the Hungarian military “distinguished themselves”. The Soviet partisans did not remain aloof from such crimes.

In Lvov in 1941, 32 garment factory workers were subjected to violence and then killed by German stormtroopers. Drunken soldiers dragged Lviv girls and young women into the park. Kosciuszko was raped. Jewish women had to endure terrible scenes of sexual humiliation during the pogrom on July 1, 1941 in Lvov.

The angry crowd did not stop at nothing, women and girls were undressed, driven in their underwear through the streets of the city, which, of course, humiliated their dignity and caused, in addition to physical, also psychological trauma. For example, eyewitnesses told the following story: participants in the pogroms stripped a twenty-year-old Jewish girl, stuck a baton in her vagina and forced her to march past the post office to the prison on Lontskoy, where "prison work" was being carried out at that time.

The mass rape of women and girls in the villages of Galicia is mentioned in the report of the Ukrainian rebels in October 1943:

“July 21, 1943. began in the Valley of the Pacific. The pacification should be translated by Zondereinsatz SD in the strength of 100 people, insults including from the Uzbeks themselves under the wire of the practitioner of the Security Police in the Valley of the Pole Yarosh. The Uzbeks arrived at the age of 16. In the evening, before the village of Pohorilets, she made a terrible shooter and wanted to catch people. People started ticking wherever I can. All the men flowed into the forest. The Uzbeks rushed through the states and began to shoot and catch chickens and geese, and in the huts they searched for butter, syrup, eggs, meat, and in the middle of the black for moonshine, so by force they stirred up women to cook and adjust zhu їm. Having eaten well and sprinkled with hot moonshine, they climbed over the girls and young people. They raped de ill there. There were a few dozen experiences in the presence of relatives, who sterilized them in kutkas, and on the daughters of the most refined ones, their animal instincts were calmed down. About the number of vipadkіv znasiluvannya years to be reluctant to confess. Similar to the pacification was translated until now near the villages: Ilemnya, Grabiv and Lopyanka.

The rebels cited the small number of people who wanted to go to Germany from these villages and the actions of partisans in the region as the reason for such actions.

No less scenes of sexual violence were committed in Western Ukraine by Soviet partisans. This is evidenced by many reports of UPA detachments, however, to illustrate the rape of women by red partisans, it is still worth citing Soviet sources - they are more reliable and, most importantly, objective, because the reports of the UPA and the memories of witnesses to a certain extent could "go too far" in this aspect. The documents of the "Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement" testify to the sexual violence against the civilian population by the "people's avengers".

An interesting point: in the reports of partisan formations stationed in the Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kiev regions, there are few references to the rape of women; they begin to appear with rare frequency during raids in Western Ukraine. This is explained by the attitude of the Soviet partisans towards this politically "unreliable" region and the unfriendly perception of the councils by the local population.

The vast majority of Galicians considered them enemies and supported the Ukrainian rebels. It should not be discarded that the partisans during the raid were not too worried about their reputation, they understood that, apparently, they would not soon return to the places of their crimes. Being in the same territory, it is worth thinking about establishing normal relations with the population in order to be able to receive food or clothing from it. During the raid, it was possible to take all this by force.

The sexual violence is described quite thoroughly in the memorandum of the former partisans of the formation named after him. Budyonny V. Buslaev and N. Sidorenko in the name of the head of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR S. Savchenko.

The document says, in part:

“In the village of Dubovka, near Tarnopol, a woman aged 40-45 was raped by partisans Gardonovim, Panasyuk, Mezentsev, the detachment commander Bubnov and others. The name of the victim is unknown. In the village of Verkhobuzh, near Brody, foreman Mezentsev tried to rape a girl and her mother of 65 years old, took her out into the street at night and, under pain of a weapon, demanded consent. He put it against the wall and fired from a machine gun over their heads, after which he raped ...

In one village, I don’t remember the name, near Snyatin, foreman Mezentsev, having drunk drunk, took out a pistol and tried to rape a girl who ran away, then he raped her grandmother, who was 60-65 years old ... The platoon commander Bublik Pavel personally and on this incited the fighters, was engaged in the sale of vodka horses, which he took back before leaving ...

He systematically drank, made illegal searches on his own and demanded vodka from the population. He always did it with weapons in his hands, shot at apartments, intimidated the population. In the village of Biskov (in the Carpathian Mountains) in the apartment of the headquarters of the formation, the cook of the headquarters fired at the windows, kitchen utensils and the ceiling for wanting to rape the hostess, but she ran away. After which he relieved his need on the table...

Robberies were usually carried out during searches under the pretext of whether there were “spies” or “Bandera” members, and, as a rule, places where there could be watches and other valuable things were searched. Things like watches, razors, rings, expensive suits were simply taken without appeal. The population usually knew about the approach of the Soviet partisan unit 30-40 km away. And in recent days it was possible to meet villages left with only grandfathers, or even empty houses.

Of course, the leadership of the NKVD demanded an explanation from the command of the Budyonnovsky formation. In the report, the commander of the “For Kyiv” detachment, Captain Makarov, explained everything simply. He denied all the facts, and accused the partisans who wrote the note of treason (the complainants left the detachment and went to the rear of the Red Army) and ties with Bandera. By the way, this is a fairly common type of replies from the commanders of partisan detachments in case they are accused of looting, drunkenness or sexual violence. (It turned out to be a paradox - it turned out that Makarov did not suspect that there were two Banderaites in his detachment, but he "saw the light" only when they wrote a memorandum about violations in the unit). The case was probably hushed up. At least it was not possible to trace its further course due to the lack of documents indicating the punishments imposed on the defendants.

As you can see, during the war years, women often became victims of rape by soldiers of the warring parties. In the post-war period, it was very difficult for them to return to a full life. Indeed, in the USSR they did not receive proper medical care, in cases of pregnancy they could not get rid of the fetus - in the Soviet Union, abortions were prohibited by law. Many, unable to bear this, laid hands on themselves, someone moved to another place of residence, thus trying to protect themselves from gossip or sympathy of people and try to forget what they had experienced.

NOTES

Kjopp G. Why was I born a girl?: sexual "exploits" of the Soviet liberators. - M. 2011. - p.138-139.

Meshcherkina E. Mass rape as part of the military ethos // Gender studies of the military ethos. - 2001. - No. 6. - With. 258.

– You mentioned that a conversation in transport prompted you to study the topic of women in the war. What was it about?

“This was not an isolated conversation. Once on the bus, two imposing middle-aged women were talking about women in the war before the next military date. And one of them spoke unflatteringly about women as about PZh - a field marching wife. Inadvertently, I said that they were wrong, offered to read documents and literature. They looked at me so askance, they say that you are interfering. And no one on that bus supported me.

The next was the taxi driver, who, with all the masculine frankness, said that all the awards were received by women through the bed. Moreover, he was younger than me, the war did not affect either him or his mother, but he “knew everything”. Moreover, some historians raised this topic in scientific research - I do not want to name them. And later, by the way, they abandoned this interpretation.

I wondered why, after so many years after the war, this topic remains so unhealthy in the minds of the townsfolk. And she started doing it.

“And you don’t think it happened at all?”

- You know, my mother's sister spent the whole war as a paramedic. My stepmother, my father's second wife, was a front-line driver. And I know what kind of women they are. And I'm not of that breed to hear insults addressed to them and silently endure it. But to prove the truth must be historical facts.

So what do the facts say? Wasn't there such a thing?

- Well, as it was not. Was there no love? Was. Everyone was young, and you can’t command your heart. Families formed during and after the war. But there was no such thing that all the awards were received through bed! It's insulting.

I studied how mobilization went, voluntarily or forcibly, what types of troops women went to, how they showed themselves there and what attitude they had at the front. And for the first time I publish documents from the archive in my collection “Women of the Great Patriotic War”.

There are memories that were sent by women who became mothers, grandmothers. They talk about how the soldiers took care of them. Telephonists, nurses, cooks. We are used to heroines. Pilots, snipers. We did not write about the everyday life of front-line life. It wasn't until the 90s that they started doing it.

Immediately after the war, women were ashamed to wear orders and medals. Especially in small towns. They did not want to return to the place of conscription and asked to be sent somewhere else, but this was not always possible. Women were not attracted to radio appearances.

- The rehabilitation of women did not happen immediately, did it? It took at least two decades for their military merits to be recognized?

- It has not yet occurred in the minds! I found a document dated 1945. Captain Baranov, while in Leningrad, became an eyewitness to how women were insulted. Civilians at the bus stop were waiting for transport. A company of women in tunics and polished boots walked past in orderly rows.

And suddenly the captain hears a cry from the crowd at the bus stop: “You, PPJ, took our husbands away, and you are hiding behind medals! You got them through the bed!” The combat officer was so dumbfounded that he wrote a letter to the Central Committee of the Komsomol with a request for explanatory work among the population. To tell about the women who fought.

Of course, the women who remained in the rear were worried. Not only did they have responsibilities for themselves and for the guy who fought, they also lost their husbands. And not only combat losses were. Husbands got carried away, cheated, did not return home.

- Yes, it's one thing when he died, and quite another when he is alive, but he did not return to you.

– But Simonov also has reverse situations. She escorted her husband to the front, maybe he won’t return, but then some suitable frame. I don't blame anyone. But she arranges life, and her husband comes on a visit and what does he see? That he is out of work and no longer a husband. Families broke up as the fault of one or the other side. So this is a difficult question.

In general, the final rehabilitation took place in 1965, when Leonid Brezhnev spoke. They were preparing to solemnly celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Victory, and he made a solemn report. In it, he said that if we put the feat of men in the war on one side of the scale, and the work of women at the front and in the rear on the other, then these bowls would balance. It was a high rating. All the media were inspired, began to look for forgotten heroines, invite them to perform, that year was a turning point. But not everything was done.

I would like our compatriots to know the following:

On May 8, 1965, in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Great Victory, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, International Women's Day on March 8 became a public holiday " in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women ... in defending the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, their heroism and dedication at the front and in the rear ... "

Nina Petrova. Photo: Efim Erichman

With a cry: “We will pass here!” she ran through the minefield

- Can we say exactly how many women went through the war?

- There is no exact number. There were up to a million women in the army. They were beaten out, wounded, replenishment came. 550,000 women were mobilized by Komsomol appeals alone. A third of the air defense consisted of women. On the battle lines only our Soviet girls. Not everyone notices this feature. The USSR was the only country during the Second World War where women were directly involved in hostilities.

In 1939, Article 13 of the Constitution stipulated that in case of emergency, women could be mobilized. Not in the active army, but in auxiliary services. And as soon as the war began, a stream of female representatives went to the military registration and enlistment offices. According to official figures, they were more than 50% of the total number of volunteers.

- What motives, besides the desire to defend the Motherland, did women have?

Many were separated from their relatives, 23 territories had already been captured, the unknown pushed them to fight. In addition, everyone thought that everything would be over quickly by the fall.

In 1941, girls were sent primarily to medicine, communications, and domestic services. Called from 18 to 25 years. After heavy losses, in March of the 42nd, three mobilizations took place at once. They took away girls without children, healthy and with completed secondary education. They rushed to the front and even tried to circle the doctors, hiding their state of health.

Girls of the Taman division

- Were there women who did not want to go to war?

- There were, 5 percent of the total. But no one was forced to go anywhere. The women went by themselves. I was surprised that even a women's naval platoon existed. What were they doing there? For example, Galina Petrova from the marines became a Hero of the USSR. When in 1942 it was necessary to occupy a bridgehead at night, the marines, having learned that there was a minefield ahead, suspended the offensive for a fraction of the time. And this fragile girl got up with a cry: “What are you talking about! What are you afraid of! We'll get through here!" And ran across this field. The men had no choice but to climb after her.

I read a letter from a girl who wrote to her mother: “I so wanted to go to the Navy, and I achieved it!”

Women shot, passed norms like everyone else, served in all fleets, and died in the same way. Among the total losses, it is difficult to single out how many women we have lost. Many died while laying telephone lines, as well as nurses who carried out the fighters. True, the men were then offended and said that they carried them out of the battlefield, and the women were in hospitals.

- But there are confirmed facts that women endured fighters? The same Zina Tusnolobova carried more than a hundred people on herself.

- It depends on what kind of fighter. Maybe not everyone could be pulled out, but they were dragged, undermining their health. Tusnolobova, carrying out the wounded, was injured in her arms, legs, frostbite, her limbs were amputated. And she ended up in the hospital, she wanted to commit suicide. It is impossible to imagine what the young girl experienced.

She wrote a letter to her fiance, with whom she did not have time to sign, that she did not want to be a burden. And he turned out to be a very decent person and replied that they would always be together. He returned from the war, they got married, she got prosthetics, there was a long recovery process. In 1957 she received the title of Hero of the USSR.

Zina Tusnolobova

She gave birth to a child - unfortunately, the first-born died, and then two more children. She became an honorary citizen of Polotsk. This is the sample from which to take an example. And she's not the only one. It's just that not everyone got information, not everyone was noticed in time by journalists and society.

Soviet pilots sewed underwear from fascist parachutes

- This is how it was with Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya? A journalist wrote about her feat in time, and the story of a girl from her own detachment remained unknown for a long time.

- We just need to thank fate that the feat of Kosmodemyanskaya has not disappeared. It was a difficult year in 1941, the local population did not like sabotage detachments, they were afraid of the Nazis and they did not always provide assistance. It probably happened with Zoya, she was not helped. She was executed, a young girl, a Muscovite, and then a journalist came to the village and wrote a brilliant essay about the feat.

But another girl from the same detachment was not noticed. She went on a mission at the same time as Zoya. Vera Voloshin. (By the way, before the war, a sculpture was made of her in Gorky Park - a girl with an oar.) Having completed the task, she fell behind the group, she was caught and executed on the same day as Kosmodemyanskaya. Thanks to another journalist, her name was restored. And only in the days of Boris Yeltsin did she receive a Hero. While Kosmodemyanskaya became the first woman - Hero of the USSR almost immediately, in the winter of 42.

Vera Voloshina

- As I understand it, several decades could pass before the award, as they say, found a hero. Or rather, a heroine. What other reasons did this happen?

- Here is Lydia Litvyak, the most productive woman in fighter aviation. The decree on conferring the title of Hero on her was signed only by Gorbachev in 1990, although she died in 1943. This fragile woman shot down 11 planes. But the fact is that she fell behind the front line and was considered missing.

They went on the mission in pairs, and the one who survived had to confirm that the partner's plane was shot down. The one who flew with her said that he saw Litvyak shot down, but he is not sure because she dived into the clouds. And then they were afraid of everything. The plane disappeared in the occupied territory. You never know why.

Lydia Letvyak

And then the locals, when they were freed from the Nazis, said that yes, the plane crashed, but we thought that this was not a Soviet citizen. And why? Underwear is not the same as that of Soviet women. And the pilots sewed linen for themselves from fascist parachutes, at the beginning of the war there were no women's accessories in the army. So she was quietly and peacefully buried in a mass grave and remembered only a few decades later.

I heard that they turned to Sobyanin, and he promised that a monument to the Muscovite Litvyak would be erected.

Nina Petrova. Photo: Efim Erichman

- It turns out that most women received titles posthumously?

- Of the 90 women - Heroes of the USSR, more than half received this high title posthumously. At the same time, we have girls who have gone into immortality, having done heroic deeds and not having received the title of Hero. For example, Serafima Amosova made more than 500 sorties, such a beautiful woman.

She was awarded, introduced herself to the Hero several times, but did not receive the title. The presentation comes from below, first the regiment writes an attestation, then the command of the unit, and further along the military hierarchy. And somewhere there for no reason the process gets up. Inexplicably. Although much has been written about her, there is even a book.

Serafima Amosova

- Who else can you remember?

- Inna Konstantinova. A large partisan detachment operated in the Kalinin region, and her father was the commissar. She was a very efficient scout. She was caught and executed. The petition for conferring the title of Hero on her got stuck somewhere, until the mid-50s the question went around, but they didn’t give it. Why - do not explain, I did not find the reasons.

When I started working on this topic - women in war, my main task was to tell and restore the memory of those whom we do not know or have forgotten.

Nina Petrova. Photo: Efim Erichman

- Were there women who repeated the male feat, but remained in the shadows?

- Here we are saying, let's instill a sense of patriotism in the younger generation. To do this, people must know what feats have been accomplished. So why are we talking about Matrosov, and Rimma Shershneva performed the same feat in the partisan movement. She covered the machine gun with her chest, she was pierced by 9 bullets, but she allowed the military task to be carried out, she saved the commander. Rimma even survived, but then medicine could not save her. And there was another female doctor who repeated this on the Leningrad front.

When you read about the atrocities of the Nazis without interruption, this is a terrible force.

– The participation of a woman in any sector of the war was a feat. She refused warmth, comfort and home. She knew she was taking risks. Read Drunina's poems, you can't say better than her what the war gave and what the war took away.

Women did not think that they would receive orders, awards. We didn't know when it would all end.

I bow to those who voluntarily went to serve the Motherland. In 1965, Komsomolskaya Pravda issued a cry: write what you remember. And people wrote twenty thousand letters. I realized that several collections can be made from them. One of them was dedicated to women: "Women of the Great Patriotic War." People wrote with their heart and blood.

But this book, published in 2014 and now reprinted, does not close the problem. I think society needs to know more about women in the war, about what they were like.

– Is that why you spend every day in the archive?

“I have been doing this for the last ten years, yes. This is necessary and important material, but psychologically very difficult. I go to the archive as a job, I am a widow and after the death of my husband I cannot be at home alone.

I often can't sleep afterwards. Maybe it depends on the character. Maybe because she herself experienced the war and was evacuated twice. In front of my eyes, the Germans bombed the ferry with relatives while crossing the Donets. On this ferry, my mother and I were not allowed by the head of the crossing due to the fact that it was crowded. So we could not talk to you now.

I lost my mother in the evacuation, I survived everything. I had an inflammatory process in my lungs, I was on the verge of life and death, my grandmother went to church and lit a candle for me, God had mercy on me, for some reason they kept me alive.

Therefore, I have a desire that the grandchildren and children of grandchildren know how hard the war was. So that there is no desire to settle scores with weapons. You can't lose people. You have to be respectful and mindful.

- Does it happen that you cry over documents?

I read letters in alphabetical order. I don't know what will come up. And when I read what horrors he, or she, or the child suffered, it is impossible to describe. There are people who write very brightly. Simple everyday language. One officer described the liberation of a city in Ukraine. His detachment entered the city and met a distraught woman with a dead baby. They tried to take him away, and she said: “Wait, he sucks at the breast.” Then the officer was told that the whole family had died before her eyes.

Or you take out a document: there were 287 houses, 254 were burned, the rest of the people were expelled. Or when the punitive squad asks if anyone has living children. Mothers come forward, their children are separated from their parents, or shot, or thrown into freezing water. Or they gather children, cover them with straw, sort of like warming them, and immediately throw Molotov cocktails. Can you read it in peace? No. When you read about the atrocities of the Nazis without interruption, this is a terrible force.

What story do you return to again and again?

– For example, Nadia Bogdanova from Belarus. She was a partisan in the famous detachment of Uncle Vanya. She lived in an orphanage and, together with other children, was traveling in a train to the East, to be evacuated. During the bombing, they escaped with the boys and came to Vitebsk. And the first thing she did was put up a red flag.

And then she began to look for how to contact the partisans, and went to Uncle Vanya's detachment. She was used as a scout. The Nazis caught her, beat her, tried to find out who sent and what task. Together with Vanya Zvontsov, they were sentenced to death.

They stood at the moat, took hold of the handles, and at the command “shout!” she lost consciousness. That moment saved her life. The boy was killed. She lay down, crawled into the detachment. The second time she was seized in 1943, a star was cut out on her back, and she was poured over in the cold. The partisans tried to recapture it, attacked the Germans, as a result of the attack commander Slesarenko was wounded. And this girl found the strength in herself and pulled him out.

She got into the detachment already almost blind, her legs were paralyzed. Everyone decided that she was not a tenant. left in the village. The squad left. Slesarenko thought she was dead. After the war, 15 years later, he spoke on the radio and talked about her, and she, silent all this time, announced that she was alive. She took place as a woman, gave birth to a son. And she took up seven more children in memory of those who fled with her from that echelon.

Nadezhda Bogdanova gives an interview to Sergei Smirnov. 1965

During the war years, the medal "Partisan of the Great Patriotic War" was established. So, another girl, 13-year-old Asmolova, received it. It turns out that she managed to capture a German officer and deliver him to a partisan detachment. And in the "Young Guard" almost everyone received this medal.

“Fighting Girlfriend” and “Baby”

- Women in the war drove tanks, planes, were snipers. That is, they did not take on women's work. How did they feel about it?

- Of course, to see the enemy in the sight at such an approximation and shoot at him is not a woman's business. And any participation in the war - is it women's work? I read the notes of Shurochka Shlyakhova. This is the sister of a very good friend of mine. The girl had a great desire to join the army.

Alexandra Shlyakhova

Shlyakhova graduated from a sniper school in the Moscow region, this institution produced over 1000 snipers who participated until the end of the war on all fronts. The selection was thorough.

On the mission, it was necessary to go to the position, lie down and wait, they went in twos. Shlyakhova writes that she sees a German sitting by a pine tree, how he chews and relaxes.

But it was not enough to catch on the fly, it was still necessary to hit. Shoot with bated breath. It's a very difficult thing to shoot a man, no matter how much you hate him.

And even if you hit, the enemy is also in a pair, someone can answer for him.

And so it happened. Shlyakhova returned from vacation, and she had to go with a girl whose partner had died the day before at the same turn. And many said, don't go with her, wait for the next one. But she is an active member of the Komsomol, did not believe the predictions, and duty is duty. She caught the sniper, but she was also caught, she didn't come back.

Most of all it is written about snipers, about female pilots. Only we had women's divisions. Night aviation, bombers, fighter aircraft, long-range, which was headed by Grizodubova, this school of snipers, the rifle brigade was.

What about women tankers?

- There was an opinion that we did not have women in the tank troops. Then they found four. I found the number 19. Women mechanics, signalmen, tank commanders. Maria Oktyabrskaya's husband died at the front. She asked to be assigned to the brigade where he served. She was seriously wounded in the 44th year, and she died. Her tank was named, “Fighting friend” was called. Maria was very respected by the tankers, she showed herself superbly during the Battle of Kursk.

"Combat Girlfriend"

There is also such an interesting woman Katya Petlyuk. She was small, 151 cm tall. And her tank was called "Baby". A very interesting story - children from all over the Union raised money for the tank after a letter to the newspaper from little Ada Zanegina. They asked to call him "Baby". Thirty years later, Petlyuk and Zanegina met.

- A woman and a tank. It is hard to imagine. Despite DOSAAF and TRP combined.

– I have no idea how a woman can drive a tank. Either medium or light. Such a colossus of iron. We had Rashchupkin, Barkhatov, Logunov. Sotnikova Olga drove a heavy tank. She reached Berlin and wrote there: “I am from Leningrad!”

Boyko's husband and wife were there. They contributed 50 thousand for the construction of the tank and then fought in the same crew. But this marriage broke up after the war, each went his own way. You see, the war brought some together, while others separated.

And you can also remember Evgenia Kostrikova, the daughter of Sergei Kirov from his first marriage. She went to the front with an incomplete medical education, but she did not want to sit in the hospital and went to the Kazan Tank School. Got it to be sent.

Evgeniya Kostrikova

She developed a personal relationship with one lieutenant colonel or colonel, such a front-line family. And he, using the fact that she is the daughter of Kirov, moved through the service. When the war ended, he said: I'm sorry, I have my family in the rear. Kostrikova never married, and when she died, she was buried by a front-line friend. Sad story.

For me and for Tanya

– At the same time, in the war, women not only drove tanks and planes. There were those who washed and cooked. Did you notice their feat?

“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any literature on the work of household detachments that washed our soldiers. Apparently, the topic is not very fertile. But this is life, where to go. The topic of labor feat, how did they write about it? Selectively.

In place of the youth who went to the front, women of different ages came. Light industry, heavy industry - 80-90 percent were women. In agriculture, almost completely replaced men.

The woman performed work that was not prescribed for her by any statutes, by any life. Let's say a lumberjack. This must be imagined. These are not birch trees near Moscow, but colossus in the Urals. And it is necessary to cut them down and take them out, and not every man is capable of this. This is how we lost childbearing women.

logging

“They also worked in the mines.

– Yes, I was shocked by how many women we had working in the mines of Kuzbass and Donbass. In the slaughter, wages were higher, and women had to feed their children and families. Even after the war, despite orders to bring females out of the ground, they resisted and did not want to come out.

During the war, they added husbands, loved ones who fought, to the lists of their brigades, and fulfilled the norms for them. It was a form of expression of love, friendship, faith that he would return, since he was in the brigade.

And their husbands, when they reached Berlin, wrote: “For me and for Tanya”.

150 thousand women received government awards. Only for the war. And they were also rewarded for their work. If for the war they were awarded during the war, then they began to reward for work later, during the five-year plan. But little is said about these heroines of labor.

Nina Petrova. Photo: Efim Erichman

- Well, if the women who fought at first hid orders, what can I say.

- In 1945, Kalinin, at a meeting with demobilized pilots, said: what they did at the front is priceless. Moreover, the men were taken away all in a row, and the women were carefully selected. In his opinion, women in the army were head and shoulders above men in physical and moral virtues. Here is a confession. And the pilot Kravtsova asked Kalinin at this meeting why so little is said about women at the front? That is, even the famous awarded pilots noted that they were not even noticed. What to say about the rest?

What does it mean to be a sapper or signalman and drag a reel? And the tanks? You sit in a box and you know that if they beat you, then that's it. A tank driven by a woman was hit on the Kursk Bulge. So she jumped out, the Germans tried to surround the colossus. The crew entered into a firefight, and they were beaten off, saved. And what is it - to keep a balloon in air defense, such a colossus? Many after the war were not able to have a family and children.

M.I. Kalinin presents the government award to A.I. Maslovskaya

“Many of these children have been lost. All together.

- Yes, you can remember the story of Epistinia Stepanova, who had 9 sons, and they all died. Only one returned, and did not live long.

Women should not be mixed with dirt, but simply given their due. Because the women who went through the front could not have children - from hypothermia, from lifting weights, having lost loved ones, they could not start a family.

We must be respectful. No matter how courageous they are, they are still representatives of the weaker sex. Women deserve a grateful and tender attitude.

I'm not in favor of escalating horrors, especially on holidays. I think that May 9 is a great day, and we must, paying tribute and memory to the fallen, say that life goes on.

I always cite a letter from one officer as an example. What shocked him when he liberated one of the villages of Belarus. Silence, the population is not visible, people are afraid to go out. In this ringing silence, a hen walks along a wide rural street, followed by chickens. And all the soldiers stop and give way to this living being.

And this is written by a man who had only 15-20 minutes, he did not know whether he would survive or if a sniper would shoot him. I always bow before the courage and intelligence of those who fought. They knew how to hate, and forgive, and love.

Nina Petrova. Photo: Efim Erichman