The next anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War will be celebrated soon. The events of those terrible days in the history of the country are further and further from us, but descendants remember the immortal feat of millions of Soviet people.
Employees of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve made the disc “Voices of Winners” three years ago. It contains audio recording of recollections of the participants of the Great Patriotic War and homefront workers – natives and residents of the Kirillov district in the Vologda region. Later these recordings were placed in a special section of the museum website: http://www.kirmuseum.ru/pobeditely.
The disc included recollections of 65 people: 37 participants of the war (among them – 8 women) and 28 homefront workers and children born in the wartime. A separate page tells about every person. It contains not only audio recordings, but also biographical background and photos of different years. Materials were prepared by museum employees during eight years.
The disc and the section got this name not by chance. It contains recollections of not only participants of the war and homefront workers, but also children born in the wartime. All of them deserve being called winners, because they went through not only June 22, 1941, but also May 9, 1945.
The stories of eye-witnesses give invaluable material. The front didn’t reach Kirillov during the Great Patriotic War, but over 17 thousand Kirillov’s residents fought at all fronts and in all combat arms. Usual soldiers tell about “their” war: a field engineer, a machine gunner, an artilleryman, a signalman, an infantryman, an anti-aircraft gunner, a nurse, a radio operator... Many of them were awarded orders and medals. There are remembrances of several Kirillov’s residents who went through the horrors of fascist captivity.
You can listen to the recollections of A.V. Andreev (1921-2009), Hero of the Soviet Union, native of the Kirillov district. The secondary school in the Ferapontovo village is named after him. V.A. Novozhilov (1922-2007), native of the Charozero rural council, tells about his participation in the Victory Parade in Red Square on June 24, 1945. The recollections of L.A. Mukhina, daughter of Hero of the Soviet Union A.M. Lelekov (1902-1951), evidence that women and children who worked in the rear made an important contribution to the victory.
The detailed description from the first person gives a chance to better understand what the words “immortal feat” mean. The project “Voices of Winners” is available on the museum website during the whole year and at any time.
