Letters from the frontline: Markel Sitnikov's Victory Day letter, 9.V.1945

“Germans wanted to destroy Moscow and London, what they got is Berlin turned into a pile of stones. I saw houses-residences of Hitler, Goebbels, also destroyed and burned down.

The civilians now meet us without the fear they had in the first days when we entered Germany, but still distrustfully. Prisoners of war and civilians brought here from other countries and now liberated by the Red Army, on the other hand, treat us with great joy.”

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Letters from the frontline: Markel Sitnikov’s Victory Day letter, 9.V.1945

“Germans wanted to destroy Moscow and London, what they got is Berlin turned into a pile of stones. I saw houses-residences of Hitler, Goebbels, also destroyed and burned down.

The civilians now meet us without the fear they had in the first days when we entered Germany, but still distrustfully. Prisoners of war and civilians brought here from other countries and now liberated by the Red Army, on the other hand, treat us with great joy.”

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Letters from the frontline: Lieutenant Tarasenko's testament letter to his son. December 1943

My dear son!

When you will be reading this letter, many years will pass, the war will come to an end, and joyous and happy life, just like the one that was before the war, will blossom in the liberated land. When you were very-very little, when you were lying in your cradle and smiled in your sleep, your mom and I thought that you are happy, that you won’t have to live through what I lived through in my childhood years.

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Letters from the frontline: Lieutenant Tarasenko’s testament letter to his son. December 1943

My dear son!

When you will be reading this letter, many years will pass, the war will come to an end, and joyous and happy life, just like the one that was before the war, will blossom in the liberated land. When you were very-very little, when you were lying in your cradle and smiled in your sleep, your mom and I thought that you are happy, that you won’t have to live through what I lived through in my childhood years.

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Letters from the frontline: Last issue of 13-year old Valery Volkov's handwritten newspaper "Trench Truth", June 1942

Valery Volkov was a member of the partisan movement in Sevastopol, Crimea. After fascists killed his father, he became the “son of the regiment” of the 7th marine brigade. Being only 13 years old, he participated in combat together with adults. He was the editor of the “Trench Truth” newspaper. The only issue to survive is 11th. On July 1, 1942, Valery heroically died repelling a Nazi attack by throwing a cluster of grenades under an enemy’s tank. It is hard to believe that the person who wrote this newspaper was only 13 years old.

“Our ten is a mighty fist, which is a whole division for the enemy and, as major Zhidelev said, we will fight like a division. There isn’t a force in the world which will defeat us, the Soviet state, because we are masters ourselves, we are led by the Communist party.”

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Letters from the frontline: Last issue of 13-year old Valery Volkov’s handwritten newspaper “Trench Truth”, June 1942

Valery Volkov was a member of the partisan movement in Sevastopol, Crimea. After fascists killed his father, he became the “son of the regiment” of the 7th marine brigade. Being only 13 years old, he participated in combat together with adults. He was the editor of the “Trench Truth” newspaper. The only issue to survive is 11th. On July 1, 1942, Valery heroically died repelling a Nazi attack by throwing a cluster of grenades under an enemy’s tank. It is hard to believe that the person who wrote this newspaper was only 13 years old.

“Our ten is a mighty fist, which is a whole division for the enemy and, as major Zhidelev said, we will fight like a division. There isn’t a force in the world which will defeat us, the Soviet state, because we are masters ourselves, we are led by the Communist party.”

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Letters from the frontline: Note and letter partizan Vera Porshneva wrote to her mother. 29-30.XI.1941

Editor’s note: Before the war Vera Porshneva was a librarian and wrote for the local newspaper. When fascists occupied many towns and villages of Kalininskaya oblast (currently – Tverskaya oblast) she completed machine gun training and was one of the first to join the local partizan squad. She was one of the best and bravest fighters of her unit. When Vera was assigned a task to infiltrate a German commandant’s office, she successfully completed her mission. During one of the missions behind enemy lines, in Borisovka village, Vera was surrendered to the Germans by a traitor. She was interrogated and tortured by Gestapo for twelve days. Having told the Germans nothing, she was released and taken prisoner once again two days later. The letter she wrote in captivity before her death is preserved by the local history museum of Tversakaya oblast.

“I will die tomorrow, mom. You lived 50 years, I only lived 24. I want to live. There’s so little I did!”

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Letters from the frontline: Hero tank crew member A. Golikov writes to his wife. June 28, 1941

EDITOR’S NOTE: If there’s one thing Hitler was dreaming about when he was about to shoot himself on April 30, 1945, that would be for black to turn white, and white to turn black. And seventy years later his dream is starting to come to life. The whole world is drifting into fascism, both politically, due to the migrant crisis, and ideologically, due to supporting the fascist Kiev junta. They are whitewashing fascists and thus black is turning into white. We also see more and more slander aimed at making people think that the Soviet warriors-liberators were actually rapists, murderers and occupants. Thus white is being turned into black and Hitler’s dream is coming true.

As Victory Day over Nazi Germany approaches, we wish to remind and remember what the Soviet soldiers-liberators, not only men, but also women, of over a hundred of nationalities that lived peacefully together in the Soviet Union were really like, and for this purpose we will be publishing translations of actual letters written by Soviet warriors during the war, one every day until May 9. Those who want us to believe that black is white and white is black can shove their dreams somewhere deep, because we remember. As Russian poet Aleksandr Blok wrote, “Learn what light is, and you will understand what is darkness”.

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