A small selection of front-line letters that touch to the core. They are saturated with love and longing for loved ones who were far from each other and who understood that this dear news could be the last.

“Hello, dear son Tolya! June 22 is a year since I have not seen you. I miss you very much, I often remember you. You are already five years old, that's how big you are. Grow up, son, be smart, love your brother, teach him. I'll be back soon. Here we will drive away all the fascists, and I will be back. I kiss you hard. Your dad".
From a letter from an unknown soldier

“My girl, prepare yourself for parting. 1942 is ahead. Live, like me, with the hope of meeting. "
“Hello, Verusinka and little son Edinka! Verushechka, don't be sad. Get ready for winter. Buy your son boots and sew him a fur coat. Love you. Alexei".
From the letters of Alexei Rogov, squadron commander of the air regiment. Received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously

“I wounded in the right leg. They performed an operation, pulled out a splinter. The wound is minor - I am already going to the dressing myself. I hope that he will soon heal and again I will beat the German reptile. For our exhausted Soviet people, for you, my relatives. "
Sergeant of the Guard Andrey Gadenov. November 10, 1942

Soldier Boris Ruchyov

“There is a camp not far from where we are standing. Extermination camp. You probably read about the Maidansk camp in the newspapers. So this camp is several times superior to the Maidan camp. Six million people were killed there. Chambers in which people were suffocated with gas; furnaces for incineration of corpses; the ditches into which the corpses were dumped, or rather, were laid with German accuracy - one row of heads in one direction, the other in the other. Moats filled to the brim with blood. And in everything and everywhere this devilish German orderliness.
Perhaps not everyone in the rear believes the descriptions of these countless horrors. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that people similar in appearance to us could come to such inhuman cruelty. But when you see all this, you ask yourself the question: who are they, these creatures who wanted to exterminate humanity? Are these people? Of course, these are not people! Soon the end will come to these horrors, there will be reckoning. "
Boris Ruchyov. March 7, 1945

“... Little free time. A lot has to learn on the go. But don't be discouraged. We will win. Mom, Dad and Grandma, don't worry about me. Do not Cry. Things are good. Your son Kolya. "
Nikolay Dronov. Died near Kerch in 1942

Heroes of the Soviet Union Senior Sergeant Zakir Asfandiyarov and Sergeant Veniamin Permyakov read a letter from home

“In the days when you, dear Alexander Konstantinovich, not sparing your life, are defending every meter of Soviet territory, we vow to study at the“ good ”and“ excellent ”, to be disciplined, to help the front. Only you, dear defenders of the Motherland, smash the enemy hated by the entire Soviet people. "
Schoolchildren's letter to their teacher Alexander Benevolensky to the front

“Hello, my dear and forever beloved guys! An hour ago, in the dugout, I remembered the results of the battle, my family and friends. The door opened and the postman entered the dugout along with the cold air. He hands me a letter written in childish handwriting, and I open the envelope with excitement. My comrades asked me to read your letter aloud, which I did. We are all happy that our little comrades remember us and send us their pioneer greetings.
Your kind words, your wishes are very dear to us. They keep us warm. For four months now, I and my comrades have been on this sector of the front. We arrived here on the days when the enemy, mustering all his forces, tried to take over the city. Hundreds of planes flew over us, they dropped hundreds of bombs every day. The city was engulfed in the smoke of conflagrations, houses, factories, wood piles, gas tanks were burning, what was created by the many years of labor of the people of our Motherland was burning.
The enemy did not spare anything. But we managed to fulfill Stalin's order and the Motherland's command: “Not a step back!” We held out, although at times it was very difficult, especially on days when thick ice was going down the Volga and people had to deliver food and ammunition to us on boats under artillery and mortar fire ...
The fact that Stalingrad was defended was the merit of not only the soldiers, but of the entire Soviet people, it is the merit of the rear, which they continuously forged weapons for us, sent equipment and ammunition. Remember, guys, there will be a holiday on our street ...
Gain knowledge, study firmly the Russian language and literature, geography and history, military affairs and the German language. We promise you to fulfill our tasks, and you will cope with your tasks excellently. If we accomplish this, we will defeat the enemy. With greetings from the front, A. Benevolensky. "
The answer of the teacher A. Benevolensky

Sometimes letters were delayed for several weeks or even months and came after the funeral. Then the whole family waited and hoped that the funeral came by mistake, that their son, brother, husband and father were alive and he would definitely return home.
Thanks to letters from the front, relatives and friends not only could convey the news to the front, some decided to take a bold step.

“I often remember your lessons, Mikhail Petrovich. I remember how I trembled and trembled at every sound of your voice ... "
From a letter from 16-year-old Sonya Stepina to a former mathematics teacher Mikhail Eskin

The correspondence of young people has become constant. They fell in love with each other. In 1944, Mikhail and Sonya got married.

The family of a Soviet soldier writing a letter to the front, 1942

Old paper stubbornly wrapped around the folds pressed more than sixty years ago. Ink has faded, ink on postcards has faded. Letters from the front are still cherished in many families. Each triangle has its own story: happy or sad. It also happened that sometimes news from the front that a loved one was alive and well came after a terrible government envelope. And mothers and wives believed: the funeral came by mistake. And they waited - for years, decades.
Letters from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War are documents of enormous power. In the lines smelling of gunpowder - the breath of war, the rudeness of the harsh trench everyday life, the tenderness of a soldier's heart, faith in Victory ...
During the war years, great importance was attached to the decoration of postal correspondence connecting the front and rear - envelopes, postcards, and paper.
This is a kind of artistic chronicle of the war years, an appeal to the heroic past of our ancestors, a call for a merciless struggle against the invaders.
16-year-old Sonia Stepina did not immediately dare to write a letter to the front line to the former mathematics teacher Mikhail Eskin and confess her love to him. And only after several letters that the school staff received from him, Sonya sent a message to Mikhail. In it, the girl wrote: “I often remember your lessons, Mikhail Petrovich. I remember how I trembled and trembled at every sound of your voice ... "
And soon platoon commander Mikhail Yeskin answered Sonya: “I read your letter with great joy. You have no idea how happy people are here, reading letters from friends and family. " The correspondence has become permanent. When Mikhail told Sonya that he was “a little scratched and now he is lying in the medical battalion,” the girl answered with fervor: “I would have come if I had wings…” Young people fell in love with each other.
This correspondence lasted almost three years. In 1944, Mikhail and Sonya got married.

With the outbreak of hostilities, millions of people ended up in the active army. There was a mass evacuation from the front line. Many people have changed addresses and places of residence. The war has torn thousands of families apart. All hope was in the post office, which helped to find loved ones - in the rear and at the front. Thousands of letters, postcards, newspapers and magazines went to the front every day. There were no less letters from the front - to different cities, towns and villages, to where relatives were left.

Many letters from the fighters are written in artless language, mainly about what worried them. Only now it is difficult to read these lines - a lump gets stuck in the throat, and tears well up in my eyes. Vasily Ivanovich Volkov, a resident of Altai, where his family remained, in a letter addresses his wife: “Dear Manya! I send greetings to the children - Zoya, Kolya and Valya. I'm alive and well. Manechka, take care of the children. Pay attention to Zoe's health. She is weak with us. She needs to drink milk. "
The war did not spare anyone. She also treated this family cruelly. Vasily Volkov's two brothers died during the war. His sister Maria lived in Leningrad, where she was in charge of a kindergarten. During the crossing on the Road of Life, the car with the children went under the ice from the shelling before her eyes. Shocked by what she saw, Maria fell seriously ill, and died in 1947. The brothers of Vasily Volkov's wife were also killed in the battles. Senior Lieutenant Vasily Volkov himself died a heroic death in 1943. Mana Volkova had a hard time. Zoya at this time just turned 10 years old, her sister Valya - 7, brother Kolya - 3 years old.

Today it is almost impossible to find a museum or archive, where the letters of the front-line soldiers are not kept, which sometimes the researchers "do not get their hands on." But the history of the Second World War through the eyes of its participants is an important historical source. And experts believe that the work of collecting letters from the front should be continued, for the keepers of soldiers' letters are passing away.
For more than 60 years, Muscovite, retired major Yuliy Solomonovich Lurie has been collecting letters from front-line soldiers. The first letter in this large collection was a letter from his father from the front, which Yulia's family received in 1941. Julius himself was a teenager at that time. In a large collection of letters to Lurie, front-line news of soldiers - from a soldier to a marshal. Thus, private Vitaly Yaroshevsky, addressing his mother, wrote: "If I die, I will die for our homeland and for you." Pyotr Sorokin, who went missing in 1941, managed to write only a few letters to his relatives. Here are the lines of one of the latter.
“Hello Mommy! Do not worry about me ... I have already passed the baptism of fire. We will be in Kronstadt, I will definitely send you silk for your dress. " But he didn't have time.

Alexey Rogov, the squadron commander of the air regiment, who made more than 60 sorties, sent his news to his hometown to his wife and little son. In each of his addresses to his wife, one can feel genuine love and anxiety for those close to him. “My little girl,” Alexei wrote to his wife from Novocherkassk, “prepare yourself for parting. 1942 is ahead. Live, like me, with the hope of meeting. " The next letter he sent home from the Moscow region: “Hello, Verusinka, and little son Edinka! Verushechka, don't be sad. Get ready for winter. Buy your son boots and sew him a fur coat. Love you. Alexei". The last letter is dated early October 1941. Alexey wrote it a few days before his death. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
Nikolai Dronov, who died near Kerch in 1942, dreamed of living to see victory. “… There is little free time. A lot has to learn on the go. But don't be discouraged. We will win. Mom, Dad and Grandma, don't worry about me. Do not Cry. Things are good. Your son Kolya. "

There was no person at the front who did not miss his home. It is no coincidence that almost all letters begin with an appeal to relatives and friends: "dear mother", "my relatives", "my dear children", "beloved Masha", etc. As a rule, in the letters of the fighters there are short stories about the war. They sent their relatives poems, photographs, clippings from newspaper leaflets. Since the letters were written directly from the battlefield, "from the front line," the front-line soldiers, as the war went on, more and more often pointed out the places where the battle was going. Usually in just one line: “I am writing from Prussia”, “we defended the Oder”, “hello from Belarus”.
Until the very victory, the guard foreman Natalya Chernyak fought. In her letter to her mother, she wrote: “Sweetheart, mother! Yesterday we had a big holiday in the unit. Our corps was presented with the Guards Banner. Mom, they gave me new boots. My size 36. Imagine how pleased I am. It is now 3 o'clock in the morning. I sit on duty and write to you. I read Mayakovsky in my free time. Yes, I almost forgot, mommy, send me notes: Strauss waltzes "Spring Voices", "On the Blue Danube", Ukrainian and Russian songs. This is necessary for our orchestra. "
For a long time the letters from the front of Fadey Fadeevich Zenko were kept in the Zenko family of Muscovites, until his relatives transferred them to the museum. Fadey Zenko died shortly after the victory. His letters are addressed to his wife Anna and children. Together with the staff of the Institute of Railway Engineers, she was evacuated to the Urals. Anna Ivanovna with two children settled in the village, where she was elected deputy chairman of the collective farm.

It was hard, hard. But letters from her husband helped her survive. He worried about how his wife and children would endure the Ural frosts: “It's great that you bought felt boots. We need to sew hats with earflaps so that our kids do not freeze. Anya, don't forget to think about yourself. " One can feel the great desire of the husband to somehow save his wife and children from hardships. The children of Fadey Zenko recalled that their mother, reading letters from the front, either cried or laughed. They charged her with their optimism.
The collective farm did not have enough people, there was not enough equipment, there were difficulties with seeds. Anna Zenko, yesterday's engineer at one of the leading Moscow institutes, was not at all easy to adapt to rural life. The fact that she worked tirelessly was said in her husband's next newsletter: “I found out, Anya, in your letter that the responses of the district leaders about you are good. I am very glad and proud. Your successes are our successes. "
Many military postcards were accompanied not only by pictures, but also by the official quote of Stalin: "We can and must cleanse our land of Hitler's scum." People wrote in letters and postcards, bringing the victory closer: “I will beat the enemy to my last strength ...”, “… I will avenge the destroyed village”, “I believe that we will get even with the Fritzes”, “Mom, a nemchura is fleeing from us, we broke their teeth "...

There were not enough envelopes. Letters-triangles came from the front. They sent them for free. A triangle is an ordinary sheet from a notebook, which is first folded from the right, then from left to right. The remaining strip of paper was inserted inside the triangle.
For a long time, the correspondence of close people of that time has ceased to be a personal matter. This is already history. The Historical Museum of the city of Roslavl has a large collection of letters from the front. Nikolai Ievlev wrote his letter home 3 weeks before the start of the war: “Mom, don't worry about me. Things are good. It is a pity that there is no one to take care of our garden. We have wonderful apple trees. In the place where our military school is located, there are very beautiful forests. In the morning you can see moose. "
Leonid Golovlev could not find his family for almost two years. Only in 1943 did his relatives receive a letter from him: “I knew nothing about your fate, I was worried. I can't imagine how you survived the occupation. Let's hope that everything will be okay now. What to say about yourself? I am at war. Alive and well". Leonid went missing in 1944. The letters of Nikolai Feskin are full of paternal love. In the rear, he was left with his wife Evdokia and three children. Here are some phrases from a letter from a front-line soldier: “... I kiss you many times. I really want to see. Children - Valya, Vitya and little Mirochka - I dream about ”.

In 1995, the daughter of Nikolai Feskin, Mira Kolobneva, handed over her father's letters to the museum.
A person always remains a person, even in the most difficult conditions. During the war years, young people often corresponded in absentia. So, an officer of the active army sent a letter to Ekaterina Kataeva, unfamiliar to him, from the front. Ekaterina Karpovna said, recalling this time: “Our suitors were killed in the war. My boyfriend died at Stalingrad. And then a letter came from Semyon Alekimov. At first she didn't want to answer. And I thought about how our soldiers are fighting there and waiting for letters, I decided to answer. "
Life was not easy for Katya. Mother had five of them. Father died in 1936. The more young people corresponded, the stronger their feelings became. Senior Lieutenant Alekimov was on the verge of death more than once. He remembers how he miraculously survived the bombing, when their platoon was crossing the Berezina River, as they were under fire from German planes. After the war, Semyon Alekimov will say: “In one day in the war you live ten lives and ten deaths. But I always dreamed of my Katyusha. " Katya and Semyon managed to survive all the hardships, fate united them.

In almost every soldier's letter, you can read lines about comrades in arms who died in battles, the desire to avenge them. Briefly, but dramatically, the words about the death of loyal friends sound in the letter of Private Alexei Petrov: "Our tank corps pulled out of the battle, and many people died." And here is what the son Ivan wrote to his father in the village: "Dad, what heavy battles are going on ... you only knew how my comrades are fighting."
Soldier Volodymyr Trofimenko told his relatives in the Sumy region: “We inflicted a heavy blow on the Germans near Bobruisk. I would like 1944 to be the last year of the war. Now the Germans are raising their hands in front of us, young soldiers in dusty tunics. I can already see the future time of peace, I can hear the singing of girls, the laughter of children ... ”This letter, like other news from Vladimir, ended up in the local museum. Over the years, the paper has become completely transparent. But the words of the author are clearly visible. There are also crossed out lines in the letter. This censorship did its best. Everywhere there are notes: "checked by military censorship."

Back in August 1941, in the Pravda newspaper, in the editorial, it was written that it was very important that the letters find their addressee at the front. And further: “Every letter, parcel…. they pour strength into the fighters, inspire them to new deeds ”. It is no secret that the Germans destroyed communication centers, destroyed telephone lines. A system of military field mail was created in the country under the supervision of the Central Directorate of Field Communications.
Only in the first year of the war, the State Defense Committee adopted several decisions that concerned the promotion of correspondence between the front and rear. In particular, it was forbidden to use postal transport for household work. Mail carriages "hooked" to all trains, even to military echelons.
The service of the military postmen was not easy. In the staffing table, the postman was referred to as a freight forwarder. The postman Alexander Glukhov reached Berlin. He daily bypassed all the units of his regiment, collected letters written by the soldiers, delivered them to the field mail. I had to be in battle more than once. In his huge bag there was always a place for postcards, paper and pencils for those who did not have time to stock up on these necessary supplies.

Years later, Alexander Glukhov recalled that he knew the names of many fighters. However, after almost every battle there were losses of personnel. Already at the headquarters of the regiment, on letters that did not reach the addressees, he put a note "dropped out of the unit." The front-line soldiers themselves called such letters "nevruchenka".
It was no easier to work as a postman in the rear. Valentina Merkulova was "assigned" to the postman when she was in the 4th grade. Before lunch, she went to school, and after class she was busy posting letters. From the village of Bulgakovsky, in the Oryol region, where she lived with her sick mother, this little girl went with letters to nearby villages every day, in any weather. Later, recalling the wartime, Valentina shared her impressions with the readers of the local newspaper: “I didn't have warm clothes, but my mother got a sweatshirt and rubber galoshes from one of the neighbors. That's how I walked. "
Even then, young Valentina had to face both grief and joy. People read some letters to the whole village or village. Everyone was interested in news from the front. But there were also many funerals. Their family was not spared either. Valentina's mother lost two brothers in the war. Valin's father died later, when he came from the front.

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War,
fallen on the battlefield,
dedicated to ...

Nerves have become thinner ...
She walked only two blocks ...
14 year old girl
Carry tired
with a funeral envelope.
No bitter, no worse news;
And this cry is unbearable to listen to:
“Why did God give me children ?! -
mom will cry. - Petenka! Petrusha! "
No bitter, no worse news
It seems to her an unbearable burden:
“Well, how can I raise three children ?! -
the wife will cry. - My Alyoshenka! Alyosha !!! "

When Raisa handed triangles,
The whole street sang and danced!
And, having received hello from the front line,
Mother will sweep away a tear:
“My son! Alive!"
…
Luminous flux from the sleeve,
Where there are cotton wool twists in kerosene.
Eldritch Smoky Wick
Throws shadows at the ceiling
Headquarters dugout in three rolls.
Bye and bye
A drop of light glistens in the darkness
Do not sleep, soldier, by the fire,
Tell me from afar
Words of love, words of hello ...
Let it be in a borderless notebook
Confession slides downward
Into the depths of sweet dear fields
Under the sails of poplars
Not expecting a bow from you.
Say hello with a feather
Screwed to a splinter with a thread
With the home behind the hill,
With rows of apple trees outside the yard,
With a hospitable gate.
Bye and bye
The wick breathes a little on incense,
Be born behind the line the line:

On the eve of Victory Day, people were expecting letters with a special feeling.
Armenian Eduard Simonyan fought in a tank brigade, which was part of the Stalingrad corps. In 1944, only 7 people remained in their brigade. Was wounded more than once, was in hospitals. At the end of the war, his mother received a notification about the death of her son. And suddenly, unexpectedly for her, a letter arrived, the cherished triangle, in which Eduard wrote: “Dear mother, I was wounded in Latvia. I am in the hospital. My wound on my left leg is slowly closing up. Soon we will defeat the nemchura, then we will live happily and happily. "

And these are lines from a letter from Mikhail Martov on May 9, 1945, addressed to his wife: “Dear Tamara! I didn’t sleep all night. They fired from all types of weapons. Here it is, victory! What has been dreamed of all these years has come true ... We are now in East Prussia. It's beautiful here, it's spring. "
Artilleryman Nikolai Yevseev told his relatives in the village of Novocherkasskoye: “On May 9, I was returning from Vienna with my colleagues, but a car broke down on the way. Everyone got out of it. We hear, somewhere upward they shoot. The track went across the sky, then the second one ... Then it became clear to everyone - this is the end of the war! "

Today, almost every family has a box where war letters, photographs and military awards are kept. Each family has its own story. But they all have one thing in common - their common involvement in the tragic events of World War II. Until now, letters from the front, scorched, torn, half-rotted, touch us to the depths of our souls.
Over the years, the lessons of that war are not forgotten - bitter and victorious. And every time on May 9, the words sound in a special solemn way: "The feat of the people is immortal."

A huge number of letters sent by soldiers from the front line during the Great Patriotic War have survived. Some of them are on diletant.media.

***

Misha, Stura, Valya!

Live together, do not quarrel, do not offend each other, obey your mother. In the summer, remember to read and write and draw. Before playing, first do what you were instructed to do, and then you can play. Whatever you want to do, always ask your mom for permission.

Your dad, V. Belonosov

***

Beloved daughter, I received your handkerchief and admire your handicraft.

What a clever you are, my mother is very pleased with you.

Always be an obedient and hardworking girl and love your daddy dearly.

Darling, you didn't write something to me, how much you liked my handkerchiefs, they are only for your snub nose.

My dear girl, my mother invites me to come to you on vacation. This cannot be done now, soon we will finish with the Germans and dad will come home with a victory.

Katuska, well and obey your mom in everything. And no more pain.

Who are your friends and do they visit you?
Do you have a sleigh?
Are your legs warm?
I kiss you, baby.

Your daddy

Mikhail Novikov, 1943

***

Dear front-line comrades, my dear friend Nina. If I die in this battle, then after death inform my mother that I, her daughter, honestly fulfilled my duty to the Motherland. Yes, I, of course, regret that my life ended so early, but others will avenge me. Nina, I was a nurse. After all, this is the most beautiful thing - to save the life of a person who fights for us, protects our Motherland from an insidious enemy, fights for our future.

That's all I ask to convey to my mom. Valya Kolesnikova.

***

Hello Mom!

I send you warm, heartfelt greetings and wish you all the best in your single life. I inform you that I was discharged from the hospital. He lay in the city of Smolensk. From there I went and visited here and there. As, for example, in Moscow. I was now, now, I am in Kaluga and I am writing to you even at the post office. From here, of course, not today, then tomorrow I will go to the front again. I was close to you, but I didn't have to be at home. Again war, but nothing.

Mom, did you receive my letters from the hospital - I wrote from there. Bye see you. I kiss you hard.

***

Hello dear sister Frosya!

Greetings from the front, your brother Mikhail. Hello Olya, Tole, Vale.

Frosya, I decided to still try to write a letter to you, but I have no hope of getting an answer from you, since for all the time of my life at the front, I have not received an answer from you.

To all my written letters, I inform you about my life:
I still live. We are ruthlessly crushing the German fascists. For all the time I have been and at the present time I remain unharmed.

Frosya, it bothers me that I haven't received any letters from you. Frosya, if you can get my address, then at least write a letter addressed to the commander of unit 24539.

As long as I remain alive, healthy.

Svarovsky Mikhail G.

***

Hello, unfamiliar mother of Alexander Petrovich Balandov.

Kozlenko Fedor Nikiforovich, a friend of your son, and I want to inform you that if you do not know this message, it will be a great misfortune for you - your son Alexander Petrovich Balandov died for the Motherland on September 11, 1944.

Buried in the city of Radzymin, Poland. In this letter I am sending you to inform that your son, we buried him well and swore over the grave to avenge the enemy for his death. This is what I can tell you about your son, with whom I served for a long time and knew well.

Mom, I will be waiting for a letter from you, and now goodbye, I bow to you.

Kozlenko Fedor Nikiforovich

***

Hello, my Varya!

No, we will not meet with you. Yesterday at noon we smashed another Hitler column. The fascist shell pierced the side armor and exploded inside. While I was driving the car into the forest, Vasily died. My wound is cruel. I buried Vasily Orlov in a birch grove. It was light in it. Vasily died, not having time to say a single word to me, did not convey anything to his beautiful Zoya and white-haired Mashenka, who looked like a dandelion in fluff.

This is how one of the three tankers was left. In the dark, I drove into the forest. The night passed in agony, a lot of blood was lost. Now, for some reason, the pain that burns through my entire chest has subsided and my soul is quiet. It’s a shame that we didn’t do everything. But we did our best. Our comrades will chase the enemy, who should not walk through our fields and forests.

I would never have lived my life like that if it weren't for you, Varya. You have always helped me: on Khalkhin Gol and here. Probably, after all, whoever loves is kinder to people. Thank you, dear! A person is getting old, and the sky is forever young, like your eyes, into which you can only look and admire. They will never grow old, never fade.

Time will pass, people will heal their wounds, people will build new cities, grow new gardens. Another life will come, other songs will be sung. But never forget the song about us, about the three tankers. You will have beautiful children, you will still love.

And I am happy that I am leaving you with great love for you.

Your Ivan Kolosov

***

Hello Tasenka!

I received your letters. There is no time to write widely, you know.

Alive, healthy.

They say the war is over. Today we met with the troops of our allies on the river. Elba. We are all the time on the road in Germany, lately we have not fought at all.

Yes, now is the most interesting, not very clear, political situation on a global scale.

The letter I wrote to Vanya at the hospital has returned.

Hello to all.

Loving you

Timofey Shugaliy

Old paper is folded stubbornly over the folds that were pressed over sixty years ago. Ink has faded, ink on postcards has faded. Letters from the front are still cherished in many families. Each triangle has its own story: happy or sad. It also happened that sometimes news from the front that a loved one was alive and well came after a terrible government envelope. And mothers and wives believed: the funeral came by mistake. And they waited - for years, decades.

Letters from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War are documents of enormous power. In the lines smelling of gunpowder - the breath of war, the rudeness of the harsh trench everyday life, the tenderness of a soldier's heart, faith in Victory ...

During the war years, great importance was attached to the decoration of postal correspondence connecting the front and rear - envelopes, postcards, and paper.

This is a kind of artistic chronicle of the war years, an appeal to the heroic past of our ancestors, a call for a merciless struggle against the invaders.

16-year-old Sonia Stepina did not immediately dare to write a letter to the front line to the former mathematics teacher Mikhail Eskin and confess her love to him. And only after several letters that the school staff received from him, Sonya sent a message to Mikhail. In it, the girl wrote: “I often remember your lessons, Mikhail Petrovich. I remember how I trembled and trembled at every sound of your voice ... "

And soon platoon commander Mikhail Yeskin answered Sonya: “I read your letter with great joy. You have no idea how happy people are here, reading letters from friends and family. " The correspondence has become permanent. When Mikhail told Sonya that he was “a little scratched and now he is lying in the medical battalion,” the girl answered with fervor: “I would have come if I had wings…” Young people fell in love with each other.

This correspondence lasted almost three years. In 1944, Mikhail and Sonya got married.

With the outbreak of hostilities, millions of people ended up in the active army. There was a mass evacuation from the front line. Many people have changed addresses and places of residence. The war has torn thousands of families apart. All hope was in the post office, which helped to find loved ones - in the rear and at the front. Thousands of letters, postcards, newspapers and magazines went to the front every day. There were no less letters from the front - to different cities, towns and villages, to where relatives were left.

Many letters from the fighters are written in artless language, mainly about what worried them. Only now it is difficult to read these lines - a lump gets stuck in the throat, and tears well up in my eyes. Vasily Ivanovich Volkov, a resident of Altai, where his family remained, in a letter addresses his wife: “Dear Manya! I send greetings to the children - Zoya, Kolya and Valya. I'm alive and well. Manechka, take care of the children. Pay attention to Zoe's health. She is weak with us. She needs to drink milk. "

The war did not spare anyone. She also treated this family cruelly. Vasily Volkov's two brothers died during the war. His sister Maria lived in Leningrad, where she was in charge of a kindergarten. During the crossing on the Road of Life, the car with the children went under the ice from the shelling before her eyes. Shocked by what she saw, Maria fell seriously ill, and died in 1947. The brothers of Vasily Volkov's wife were also killed in the battles. Senior Lieutenant Vasily Volkov himself died a heroic death in 1943. Mana Volkova had a hard time. Zoya at this time just turned 10 years old, her sister Valya - 7, brother Kolya - 3 years old.

Today it is almost impossible to find a museum or archive, where the letters of the front-line soldiers are not kept, which sometimes the researchers "do not get their hands on." But the history of the Second World War through the eyes of its participants is an important historical source. And experts believe that the work of collecting letters from the front should be continued, for the keepers of soldiers' letters are passing away.

For more than 60 years, Muscovite, retired major Yuliy Solomonovich Lurie has been collecting letters from front-line soldiers. The first letter in this large collection was a letter from his father from the front, which Yulia's family received in 1941. Julius himself was a teenager at that time. In a large collection of letters to Lurie, front-line news of soldiers - from a soldier to a marshal. Thus, private Vitaly Yaroshevsky, addressing his mother, wrote: "If I die, I will die for our homeland and for you." Pyotr Sorokin, who went missing in 1941, managed to write only a few letters to his relatives. Here are the lines of one of the latter.

“Hello Mommy! Do not worry about me ... I have already passed the baptism of fire. We will be in Kronstadt, I will definitely send you silk for your dress. " But he didn't have time.

Alexey Rogov, the squadron commander of the air regiment, who made more than 60 sorties, sent his news to his hometown to his wife and little son. In each of his addresses to his wife, one can feel genuine love and anxiety for those close to him. “My little girl,” Alexei wrote to his wife from Novocherkassk, “prepare yourself for parting. 1942 is ahead. Live, like me, with the hope of meeting. " The next letter he sent home from the Moscow region: “Hello, Verusinka, and little son Edinka! Verushechka, don't be sad. Get ready for winter. Buy your son boots and sew him a fur coat. Love you. Alexei". The last letter is dated early October 1941. Alexey wrote it a few days before his death. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Nikolai Dronov, who died near Kerch in 1942, dreamed of living to see victory. “… There is little free time. A lot has to learn on the go. But don't be discouraged. We will win. Mom, Dad and Grandma, don't worry about me. Do not Cry. Things are good. Your son Kolya. "

There was no person at the front who did not miss his home. It is no coincidence that almost all letters begin with an appeal to relatives and friends: "dear mother", "my relatives", "my dear children", "beloved Masha", etc. As a rule, in the letters of the fighters there are short stories about the war. They sent their relatives poems, photographs, clippings from newspaper leaflets. Since the letters were written directly from the battlefield, "from the front line," the front-line soldiers, as the war went on, more and more often pointed out the places where the battle was going. Usually in just one line: “I am writing from Prussia”, “we defended the Oder”, “hello from Belarus”.

Until the very victory, the guard foreman Natalya Chernyak fought. In her letter to her mother, she wrote: “Sweetheart, mother! Yesterday we had a big holiday in the unit. Our corps was presented with the Guards Banner. Mom, they gave me new boots. My size 36. Imagine how pleased I am. It is now 3 o'clock in the morning. I sit on duty and write to you. I read Mayakovsky in my free time. Yes, I almost forgot, mommy, send me notes: Strauss waltzes "Spring Voices", "On the Blue Danube", Ukrainian and Russian songs. This is necessary for our orchestra. "

For a long time the letters from the front of Fadey Fadeevich Zenko were kept in the Zenko family of Muscovites, until his relatives transferred them to the museum. Fadey Zenko died shortly after the victory. His letters are addressed to his wife Anna and children. Together with the staff of the Institute of Railway Engineers, she was evacuated to the Urals. Anna Ivanovna with two children settled in the village, where she was elected deputy chairman of the collective farm.

It was hard, hard. But letters from her husband helped her survive. He worried about how his wife and children would endure the Ural frosts: “It's great that you bought felt boots. We need to sew hats with earflaps so that our kids do not freeze. Anya, don't forget to think about yourself. " One can feel the great desire of the husband to somehow save his wife and children from hardships. The children of Fadey Zenko recalled that their mother, reading letters from the front, either cried or laughed. They charged her with their optimism.

The collective farm did not have enough people, there was not enough equipment, there were difficulties with seeds. Anna Zenko, yesterday's engineer at one of the leading Moscow institutes, was not at all easy to adapt to rural life. The fact that she worked tirelessly was said in her husband's next newsletter: “I found out, Anya, in your letter that the responses of the district leaders about you are good. I am very glad and proud. Your successes are our successes. "

Many military postcards were accompanied not only by pictures, but also by the official quote of Stalin: "We can and must cleanse our land of Hitler's scum." People wrote in letters and postcards, bringing the victory closer: “I will beat the enemy to my last strength ...”, “… I will avenge the destroyed village”, “I believe that we will get even with the Fritzes”, “Mom, a nemchura is fleeing from us, we broke their teeth "...

There were not enough envelopes. Letters-triangles came from the front. They sent them for free. A triangle is an ordinary sheet from a notebook, which is first folded from the right, then from left to right. The remaining strip of paper was inserted inside the triangle.

For a long time, the correspondence of close people of that time has ceased to be a personal matter. This is already history. The Historical Museum of the city of Roslavl has a large collection of letters from the front. Nikolai Ievlev wrote his letter home 3 weeks before the start of the war: “Mom, don't worry about me. Things are good. It is a pity that there is no one to take care of our garden. We have wonderful apple trees. In the place where our military school is located, there are very beautiful forests. In the morning you can see moose. "

Leonid Golovlev could not find his family for almost two years. Only in 1943 did his relatives receive a letter from him: “I knew nothing about your fate, I was worried. I can't imagine how you survived the occupation. Let's hope that everything will be okay now. What to say about yourself? I am at war. Alive and well". Leonid went missing in 1944. The letters of Nikolai Feskin are full of paternal love. In the rear, he was left with his wife Evdokia and three children. Here are some phrases from a letter from a front-line soldier: “... I kiss you many times. I really want to see. Children - Valya, Vitya and little Mirochka - I dream about ”.

In 1995, the daughter of Nikolai Feskin, Mira Kolobneva, handed over her father's letters to the museum.

A person always remains a person, even in the most difficult conditions. During the war years, young people often corresponded in absentia. So, an officer of the active army sent a letter to Ekaterina Kataeva, unfamiliar to him, from the front. Ekaterina Karpovna said, recalling this time: “Our suitors were killed in the war. My boyfriend died at Stalingrad. And then a letter came from Semyon Alekimov. At first she didn't want to answer. And I thought about how our soldiers are fighting there and waiting for letters, I decided to answer. "

Life was not easy for Katya. Mother had five of them. Father died in 1936. The more young people corresponded, the stronger their feelings became. Senior Lieutenant Alekimov was on the verge of death more than once. He remembers how he miraculously survived the bombing, when their platoon was crossing the Berezina River, as they were under fire from German planes. After the war, Semyon Alekimov will say: “In one day in the war you live ten lives and ten deaths. But I always dreamed of my Katyusha. " Katya and Semyon managed to survive all the hardships, fate united them.

In almost every soldier's letter, you can read lines about comrades in arms who died in battles, the desire to avenge them. Briefly, but dramatically, the words about the death of loyal friends sound in the letter of Private Alexei Petrov: "Our tank corps pulled out of the battle, and many people died." And here is what the son Ivan wrote to his father in the village: "Dad, what heavy battles are going on ... you only knew how my comrades are fighting."

Soldier Volodymyr Trofimenko told his relatives in the Sumy region: “We inflicted a heavy blow on the Germans near Bobruisk. I would like 1944 to be the last year of the war. Now the Germans are raising their hands in front of us, young soldiers in dusty tunics. I can already see the future time of peace, I can hear the singing of girls, the laughter of children ... ”This letter, like other news from Vladimir, ended up in the local museum. Over the years, the paper has become completely transparent. But the words of the author are clearly visible. There are also crossed out lines in the letter. This censorship did its best. Everywhere there are notes: "checked by military censorship."

Back in August 1941, in the Pravda newspaper, in the editorial, it was written that it was very important that the letters find their addressee at the front. And further: “Every letter, parcel…. they pour strength into the fighters, inspire them to new deeds ”. It is no secret that the Germans destroyed communication centers, destroyed telephone lines. A system of military field mail was created in the country under the supervision of the Central Directorate of Field Communications.

Only in the first year of the war, the State Defense Committee adopted several decisions that concerned the promotion of correspondence between the front and rear. In particular, it was forbidden to use postal transport for household work. Mail carriages "hooked" to all trains, even to military echelons.

The service of the military postmen was not easy. In the staffing table, the postman was referred to as a freight forwarder. The postman Alexander Glukhov reached Berlin. He daily bypassed all the units of his regiment, collected letters written by the soldiers, delivered them to the field mail. I had to be in battle more than once. In his huge bag there was always a place for postcards, paper and pencils for those who did not have time to stock up on these necessary supplies.

Years later, Alexander Glukhov recalled that he knew the names of many fighters. However, after almost every battle there were losses of personnel. Already at the headquarters of the regiment, on letters that did not reach the addressees, he put a note "dropped out of the unit." The front-line soldiers themselves called such letters "nevruchenka".

It was no easier to work as a postman in the rear. Valentina Merkulova was "assigned" to the postman when she was in the 4th grade. Before lunch, she went to school, and after class she was busy posting letters. From the village of Bulgakovsky, in the Oryol region, where she lived with her sick mother, this little girl went with letters to nearby villages every day, in any weather. Later, recalling the wartime, Valentina shared her impressions with the readers of the local newspaper: “I didn't have warm clothes, but my mother got a sweatshirt and rubber galoshes from one of the neighbors. That's how I walked. "
Even then, young Valentina had to face both grief and joy. People read some letters to the whole village or village. Everyone was interested in news from the front. But there were also many funerals. Their family was not spared either. Valentina's mother lost two brothers in the war. Valin's father died later, when he came from the front.

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War,
fallen on the battlefield,
dedicated to ...

Nerves have become thinner ...
She walked only two blocks ...
14 year old girl
Carry tired
with a funeral envelope.
No bitter, no worse news;
And this cry is unbearable to listen to:
“Why did God give me children ?! -
mom will cry. - Petenka! Petrusha! "
No bitter, no worse news
It seems to her an unbearable burden:
“Well, how can I raise three children ?! -
the wife will cry. - My Alyoshenka! Alyosha !!! "

When Raisa handed triangles,
The whole street sang and danced!
And, having received hello from the front line,
Mother will sweep away a tear:
“My son! Alive!"
…
Luminous flux from the sleeve,
Where there are cotton wool twists in kerosene.
Eldritch Smoky Wick
Throws shadows at the ceiling
Headquarters dugout in three rolls.
Bye and bye
A drop of light glistens in the darkness
Do not sleep, soldier, by the fire,
Tell me from afar
Words of love, words of hello ...
Let it be in a borderless notebook
Confession slides downward
Into the depths of sweet dear fields
Under the sails of poplars
Not expecting a bow from you.
Say hello with a feather
Screwed to a splinter with a thread
With the home behind the hill,
With rows of apple trees outside the yard,
With a hospitable gate.
Bye and bye
The wick breathes a little on incense,
Be born behind the line the line:
You are alive! About that for sure
Nobody else will write.
The world was created for goodness and light:
That's why that's what we're talking about,
While in our power it is -
Live
save for the living!

White flock letters
We flew to Russia.
They read them with excitement,
We knew them by heart.
These letters are still
Do not lose, do not burn,
Like a great shrine
Sons are cherished.

On the eve of Victory Day, people were expecting letters with a special feeling.

Armenian Eduard Simonyan fought in a tank brigade, which was part of the Stalingrad corps. In 1944, only 7 people remained in their brigade. Was wounded more than once, was in hospitals. At the end of the war, his mother received a notification about the death of her son. And suddenly, unexpectedly for her, a letter arrived, the cherished triangle, in which Eduard wrote: “Dear mother, I was wounded in Latvia. I am in the hospital. My wound on my left leg is slowly closing up. Soon we will defeat the nemchura, then we will live happily and happily. "

And these are lines from a letter from Mikhail Martov on May 9, 1945, addressed to his wife: “Dear Tamara! I didn’t sleep all night. They fired from all types of weapons. Here it is, victory! What has been dreamed of all these years has come true ... We are now in East Prussia. It's beautiful here, it's spring. "

Artilleryman Nikolai Yevseev told his relatives in the village of Novocherkasskoye: “On May 9, I was returning from Vienna with my colleagues, but a car broke down on the way. Everyone got out of it. We hear, somewhere upward they shoot. The track went across the sky, then the second one ... Then it became clear to everyone - this is the end of the war! "

Today, almost every family has a box where war letters, photographs and military awards are kept. Each family has its own story. But they all have one thing in common - their common involvement in the tragic events of World War II. Until now, letters from the front, scorched, torn, half-rotted, touch us to the depths of our souls.

Over the years, the lessons of that war are not forgotten - bitter and victorious. And every time on May 9, the words: "The feat of the people is immortal" sound somehow in a special way.

There are special exhibits in the history museum of VolgSTU. They are stored under glass, and not everyone is able to hold them in their hands. Behind each of them is the fate of a person, a defender, a warrior. What did yesterday's students think, what did they dream about, what did they feel? .. All experiences and hopes are in small front-line triangles addressed to relatives. Here are some of the letters of Sergei Smirnov, a student at the Stalingrad Mechanical Institute, as VolgSTU was called at that time.

Time 6 pm. Hello dear parents, brother Sasha, sisters Tamara, Vera, Valya, Klavdia and everyone else. We arrived at the Oblivskaya station. No accidents happened along the way. Everyone is safe and sound. We feel good. On the way there are very beautiful places (spruce and pine forests, etc.). The weather is good and warm. Bye see you. I kiss you all hard. Goodbye.

November 1941

The village of Solodchi, Stalingrad region. Hello dear parents, Tom, Sasha, Vera, Valentina, Klavdia, Nikolay, Kolya, Lyusenka, Lyuba, Yura. Hello to all other friends and acquaintances.

I am in the village of Solodchi. I was in Ilovlya, or rather I reached Ilovlya. I drove around Stalingrad, past it ... I shouldn't have taken a warm hat from the house, because it became cold, snow fell everywhere. You have to freeze a little, well, nothing. We'll get warm clothes soon. From Ilovli I gave you a telegram. If possible, I will speak to you by phone from some city.

Bye see you. Say hi to everyone. I will tell you about everything in detail when I return home. Kisses to everyone ... Don't worry about me. I'll be back as a hero ...

3.12. 41, the village of Alexandrovka.

Hello mom, dad, Toma, Sasha, Vera and everyone else, hello to everyone you know.

I must inform you that I am now in the village of Aleksandrovka. The village is located 7 km from Solodcha, where we arrived first, about which I wrote to you in a previous letter. We live in a school. Very crowded. They promise to build a bunk.

The village is located 40 km from Ilovlya and 30 km from Lipok. It got cold (-22). It’s very bad that very small boots, but I’m thinking of replacing them somehow ...

Now I can receive letters from you ... So write letters to the address: s. Alexandrovka, Solodchinsky district, Stalingrad region. General post delivery. Smirnov Sergey Ivanovich. ... In the letter, tell me if you have seen Victor Penkin's mother. In general, let us know about everything in your letter. Say hi to everyone. Tell the address to Sasha and someone else so that they write me letters. Bye see you. Kisses to everyone. Write the answer soon.

April 1942

Hello dear parents. Hello brother and sisters. Congratulations (albeit late) on the upcoming May 1st. I wish you the very best in your life. I am writing this letter to you from a dense forest. We have here now a real spring with all its charms, which inspire in the minds of everyone the rapid defeat of the German hordes. I inform you that I am alive and well, just the way you saw me off ... For almost a month now, I have not received a single letter from my home ... A year is approaching since Germany's perfidious attack on our land, like the Hitlerite army bleeds to death on the Russian front ... and the day will come, as all of their begun ... (ed. hereinafter, the text has not been preserved). Life will come again, millions of people will return to their relatives and loved ones ... I will return home too, and definitely with Victor, remember the old days: a harsh winter, a sultry summer, cool spring, difficult moments, difficult experiences and, finally, remember the final victory. ..

Victor sends his greetings to all of you and congratulates you on the 1st of May. Yes, I almost forgot. From us to Stalingrad at the school where I had studied before, 3 people left, one of whom Tamara probably knows: Mikhail Zolotarev, a former student of the pedagogical institute. If you are interested, you can learn something from him too ... Goodbye for now. I kiss you all hard.

In response to your inquiry regarding my brother, Sergei Ivanovich Smirnov, I would like to inform you that he was indeed in our unit and since June 23, 1942 he has been listed among the missing in the hostilities in the Leningrad Region.

Best regards to you, deputy. Major Romanov, commander of unit 51853 "y" for political affairs.

Hello dear!
I am writing on hastily.
You know, of course, about the ongoing hostilities.
Our unit also went to the border on the very first day.
And now we are hitting a little bit, as much dust is coming. We knocked them out of the border and are not allowed to enter our Earth. I am in command of a fire battery with one junior lieutenant.
In general, I receive a baptism of fire and a wealth of practice.
Don't worry about me. War is war, and I am not alone.
World mood. True, I have not yet seen a single gap.
It’s hard to believe that I’m at the front, as if we’re on live shooting at the school.
Provided excellently. We are located 13 km from the enemy. I just saw the planes and heard the bombing of Chernivtsi. That's all for now. More peace of mind. Be sure that we will drive the German in the right way. Hello to all.

I don’t know my address yet. I will find out, I will write.
Greetings, Boris. 06/25/1941
Write to the address:
Chernivtsi, PO Box 20/9
L-t Kobets

Hello dear!
I try to write to you whenever possible at all halts.
But it doesn't matter with the mail, for that I am no longer responsible.
I am alive, well, I do not wish the best for myself. I feel great.
How do you live? I know how worried you are for me, but I can’t improve the situation, you understand that too.
We are now approaching our destination, where we will stand in reserve.
I am writing on the road, now we will go to Tulchin, perhaps I will throw this letter there.
I don’t have my address yet. As soon as they give it, I will write to you.
I could write a lot, tell even more, but you know you can't write much on the go, and you can see it by handwriting.

Well, goodbye, goodbye. I've already written four letters to you. Don't know if you get them.
I think at least one will come.
Greetings to all! Kiss!
Boris 07/20/1941

Hello Nyura!

I hasten to inform you that I received your letter, and when answering it, I think about what word to find in order to express my deepest gratitude to you for it.
My life goes on as usual with the desire to avenge the Germans for my beloved brother and for the people.
Just the other day I accidentally met with Zaripov, who lived and worked all the time with us in Bondyuga, knows well all my brothers and also people in Bondyuga. Oh, what a joy it was for me, because I have been looking for a long time, where to see at least one countryman. He told me that Samosvatova was still serving with him, he had forgotten her name - a girl whom I don’t know personally, but the surname is very familiar to me. And when I saw him, I felt that I was at home, talking with my fellow countryman.
Soon it will be three years since I am not in Bondyuga, and during these three years a lot of water has flowed under the bridge in our beloved river Kama. And what changes have taken place - very, very big changes, and there are a lot of them. And we have changed a lot in connection with the changes in the country. Now we can say that we have learned to live in any environment, you cannot imagine what kind of environment and conditions you sometimes find yourself in, and nothing - as if this is how it should be. You never feel tired at the moment.
Nyura, please write more often, for me it will be a great happiness.
That's all, Nyura. Greetings, Misha.
August 5, 1943.

January 2, 1946.
Letter from the city of Kyshtym.
Hello dear parents, mother, sister Zina and daughter-in-law Nina and my Kresnik Gena. I wish mom a Happy New Year. Mom, I report that I have already received three letters, I received two letters at once, when they were written on December 15 and December 25. Mom, I was very happy because I had not received it for 7 months.
Mom, I learned what is being done at home and what Nina Vasishna is doing. Mom, you ask. what to call there is no Gena. Mom, I advise you, if Nina thinks about you and does not take Gena, then do not leave him, somehow feed him with Zina. Here I will come home for good. I'll feed myself. Yes, we are so unhappy: brother died and father died. Since we're so unhappy, we'll have to take this Gene. Mom, I tell you about my life, well, mom is still alive and well and I wish you that. Mom, I'm in the commandant's platoon. Mom, while I live nothing, but what will happen next ...
Mom, I asked ... (further unintelligible) and you were reluctant to write, and so I forgot. And so mama that nothing, send money somehow, money is very necessary.
Mom, I congratulate my sister Zina for a good job on the farm. Mom say hello to Ivan G., Nikolai Korekov, Uncle Sana ... (further unintelligible). Mom ... (further unintelligible) write down where Zina goes. Mom, somehow get the address of Konev Misha ... (further unintelligible).
Bye bye. Your son Vitya. Mom, I wish you all the best in your life. I'm waiting for an answer.
Red Army Victor.
3.I.1946

Children of Kindergarten N 1,
Kazan station, Kazan railway.
24.8.41 years
From the commander of a mortar company, who is undergoing treatment in a forest hospital in Kazan, V.I.
Hello, guys and your teachers for d / s N 1! I convey to you all the military commander's greetings and wish you the best wishes in a blooming life like a bright sun.
I am writing my own text of the letter with a break, the answer to your letter.
The clear sun rises
And the trumpet blows the campaign,
Our army is leaving
With the red banner ahead.
Guys, I received your letter on August 24, 41, through your teachers, for which I am grateful to you. I wish you the very best in success. Grow up, play, exercise, listen to what your elders tell you, and when you grow up big, then we will sing together:
Amicably comrades in the leg,
Sharpen our bayonets
We will all go to the rescue
Let's move the red shelves.
Guys, I took part many times in battles against a brutal fascist. We fought for our Motherland, for the working people, for mothers, children and for all our brothers, for Comrade Stalin's beloved father.
Beat fascists crocodiles - "
"By God and by the grace" of the masters!
With us Stalin, Voroshilov,
All honest people are with us.
The days of struggle were not sweet
There is no need to hide.
And I have my own story, guys.
I will continue to continue.
Now there is one joy to live,
Everything is left behind ...
And for this here is the reward-
Red order on the chest.
I honestly deserve it,
I am proud of him without bragging
And what's next is unknown
Maybe I'll come in handy again.
What to run to us without looking back,
This cannot be said.
That's all, my guys,
What I wanted to tell you.
Guys, if you write everything to you in your letter, of course, you cannot describe, since there is a lot of everything. And when I recover, I will take all measures, come to you and tell you everything that I know, how we beat the fascists.
Now my health is good, I feel good. Soon I will go to my commanding service and will again beat the Nazis with renewed vigor.
Well, guys, I wish you happy success in your childish fun life. Be calm, grow big, the enemy will be defeated, and victory will be ours.
Commander of the Red Army Lt. Kurnosoe V.I.

Hello my dear Mom, Sveta and Oksana.
I have received your letters and thank you very much for your postcards. My health is good. The service is going well. Now I am at the moment at a combat post, there is nothing to do, and I decided to write you a letter. But our platoon is currently renovating houses. Today I covered up all the holes and cracks in the house, one of these days we will whitewash the walls, so as soon as the company commander gets the lime, we will whitewash it right away. Here, whoever you can become, and a builder, and a plasterer, and a repairman, has reworked almost all professions. Today we had the sergeants sent home. A TU-154 plane has just flown - they probably flew home. The IL bomb carrier has just flown by. I am sending you our money, with which we buy everything and receive a salary - 9 rubles. 20k. And they are called here not money, as we do, but checks. Please keep these 5 checks, I will come home and remember Afghanistan.
This concludes my letter, write what's new and how are the guys there. Say hello to everyone, kiss Sasha.
05/16/84 g.

Probably, few of the schoolchildren in the USSR did not write an essay based on Alexander Laktionov's painting "A Letter from the Front". But if all the same he did not write, then everyone saw this work. However, few people know that such a bright, sunny canvas had a very difficult history. This is what will be discussed.

Unconventional look of Alexander Laktionov

But first, a few words about the author. Alexander Ivanovich Laktionov, the son of a blacksmith and a laundress, was born in 1910 in the city of Rostov-on-Don. From early childhood, the boy was distinguished by phenomenal composure and hard work. The father noticed his son's talent for drawing, and in the hope that Sasha would leave the difficult fate of workers and peasants, he began to encourage him in every possible way.

Laktionov brilliantly graduated from the Rostov art school and entered the art academy in Leningrad. They took him just by looking at the work. Since he was one of the best students here, Laktionov became one of Isaac Brodsky's favorite students. And he, as you know, was the main artist of the country at that time, the author of "Lininiana" and the most famous work "Lenin in Smolny". Pupils (Vladimir Serov, Yuri Neprintsev, Alexey Gritsai and others) adopted the realistic style of the teacher. But most of all in this regard, Laktionov distinguished himself. He was so precise and accurate in details that over time he was criticized for his formalism. They said that in Laktionov's paintings there is no soul, the characters are flat, without character. Yes, there is a play of light and shadow. But where is psychologism? Where is the human story?

There were even rumors that ophthalmologists, the luminaries of domestic medicine, found out that Laktionov had a special eye structure. He sees the world not like we do, but stereoscopically - that is, he very clearly defines the shape, size and features of the object. And such a vision is given only to a select few. Hence the phenomenal accuracy of the objects depicted by Laktionov.

The birth of the plot

Let's move on to the most famous work of the master - "Letter from the Front". In early 1944, after the evacuation, Laktionov and his family moved to the town of Zagorsk near Moscow. Soon he signed a contract to write a picture that refers us to the plot of life in the rear during the Great Patriotic War. I even came up with a story - people from the front are waiting for a letter, receive, rejoice, read. Several times he began to write this story, but everything did not work out. And the master was displeased.

And then one day, going out into the street, he saw a soldier who, hobbling, leaning on a stick, walked along Zagorsk Street. It was evident from everything that the area was not familiar to him and that he had come here on some errand. The soldier, seeing Laktionov, stopped, took out a piece of paper with the address, and asked how to find such and such a house.

The artist offered to conduct it. While they were walking, a conversation began - about life at the front, about the approaching Victory and that a soldier was carrying a good letter to his friend's family.

Laktionov led the stranger to the gate and saw how he entered the house, how his friend's relatives came running, how they took out a letter, read it, were afraid to miss even a word.

The very picture was finally born in the artist's head. However, now it had to be written. Since Alexander Ivanovich was a solid person, it took two years to work on the canvas. He wrote not from memory, but found people who acted as models. The soldier who delivered the letter had the face of the artist Vladimir Nifontov, Laktionov's friend. He, too, went through the war, was a paratrooper, and when he put on his uniform, he looked so brave that it was a sin not to draw him. True, the bandaged hand and the stick on which the hero of "Letters from the Front" rests is already an artistic fiction.

The woman holding the envelope is Laktionov's own aunt, Evdokia Nikiforovna. There are also the artist's children in the picture. Son Seryozha - he became a boy who reads a letter (then he was seven years old), and the daughter of Sveta is a girl who stands holding the door and listens attentively to her brother. The sunniest character in the picture is a girl with a red bandage - the Laktionovs' neighbor. She posed with pleasure and this joy of hers is transmitted to the viewer.

However, there is more than enough happiness in the picture. There is a lot of sun, a lot of warmth, and looking at this work, you understand that even in the most difficult times unforgettable moments sometimes happen.

Contrary to expectations, the fate of the picture can hardly be called easy. In 1948, Laktionov's work was brought to Tretyakov gallery... Since a lot of works were brought in, and the best were supposed to get to the exhibition, the paintings passed a strict selection. Everything was taken into account: from the artist's skill to the ideological component. There were controversies about "Letters from the Front" - the very extraordinary Laktionov found an approach to the topic, but nevertheless, the canvas was missed.

However, a few hours before the opening of the halls, a commission from representatives of the authorities arrived at the Tretyakov Gallery. They had to re-evaluate the political and ideological component. We watched work after work, let us pass, but stopped at the "Letters from the Front". And questions flew: "What is this disgrace? Why does the Soviet family look so unattractive? What are the peeling walls? What are the cracks in the floor? Why are people so badly dressed? Foreigners go to the Tretyakov Gallery! What will they think about the life of Soviet people?"

Questions poured in as if from a cornucopia. The museum staff did not look at the "Letter from the Front" from that angle, so they had nothing to answer. But the work was nevertheless masterfully done, and the leaders of the Tretyakov Gallery barely persuaded the officials to hang the canvas in the farthest corner, so that it would not be particularly striking.

And they hanged him. In a tiny room, in the most disadvantageous place - between the door and the window. And soon they noticed that the visitors of the exhibition began to gather on the island near Letters from the Front - sometimes there were so many people that it was impossible to get through. They looked at the picture, looked at the details, sometimes cried. The war ended just three years ago. Many had fresh memories, many did not wait for their letter from the front, so they were sad about the personal and were happy for the heroes of the picture. Since such an active interest arose in the work, the guides had to get involved - to tell something about the work and about Laktionov.

The popular vote won the bureaucratic ban. The artist himself, seeing what place was given to his hard-won canvas, was very offended. But being a strong nature, and appreciating the interest of visitors, he decided to fight for the fate of the picture. I asked the museum staff for a book of reviews. And there - most of the thanks to the "Letters from the Front". Then he decided to send copies of these reviews to the very top, to all the offices that are possible, so that at least somewhere they can respond.