HOW TO TELL CHILDREN ABOUT THE WAR?
Books help us preserve the memory of the war and its heroes. You can introduce children to such works from a young age. school age. But reading books about war is not entertainment, it is serious work, intellectual and spiritual, in many ways complex and difficult, especially for children. However, we cannot do without this work... Before you start reading books about the war, it is worth talking with your child about history, presenting the main facts in an accessible form, telling them that the soldiers defended their homes and their relatives from cruel invaders, while showing courage and heroism. Books can be read together, or you can leave the child alone with the chosen book and discuss when he is ready for it.
As they say in Svetlana Alexievich’s book “War has no woman's face": "If you don't forget the war, a lot of hatred appears. And if a war is forgotten, a new one begins.”
LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT WAR FOR PRESCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE
* Voronkova L. Girl from the city (The story of an orphan girl who found herself in a foreign village during the war and found new family and house) - link
* Kassil L. Street youngest son(A story dedicated to tragic fate Volodya Dubinin, a young partisan - hero of the Great Patriotic War.) - link
* Kataev V. Son of the Regiment (The story of the orphan boy Vanya Solntsev, who ended up in a military unit with scouts and became the son of the regiment.) - link
* Oseeva V. A. Vasek Trubachev and his comrades (A work about the fate of the boy Vasya Trubachev and his friends, whose peaceful childhood was cut short by the war.) - link
* Simonov K. The Artilleryman’s Son (The Ballad of Major Deev and Lyonka, the son of his friend, based on real events.) - link
* Yakovlev Yu. Girls from Vasilyevsky Island (A poignant story about the girl Tanya Savicheva, who died along with her entire family from hunger in besieged Leningrad, written based on her diary.) - link
* Markusha A. I am a soldier, and you are a soldier
LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT WAR FOR STUDENTS OF 5-7 CLASSES
* Sobolev A. Quiet Fast (The story of the courage and heroism of yesterday’s schoolchildren during the Great Patriotic War.) - link
WITH LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT WAR FOR 8th-9th GRADES STUDENTS
* Adamovich A., Granin D. Siege book (Documentary chronicle, which is based on the testimonies of Leningrad residents who survived the siege.) - link
* Aitmatov Ch. Early cranes (A story about the destinies of teenagers during the Great Patriotic War, their lives in a distant Kyrgyz village, the trials and joys that befell them.) - link
* Baklanov G. Forever - nineteen years old (The story of the young lieutenants of the Great Patriotic War, their tragically short front-line journey.) - link
* Polevoy B. The Tale of a Real Man (The Tale of the Soviet pilot Meresyev, who was shot down in battle and was seriously wounded, but again, in spite of everything, returned to combat formation.) - link
* Tvardovsky A. Vasily Terkin (Deeply truthful and humorous poem in which he created immortal image Soviet fighter.) - link
* Sholokhov M. The Fate of a Man (The Story of a Tragic Fate common man, warped by war, and strength of character, courage and compassion.) - link
Students high school are already quite ready to learn about the most tragic pages of the Great Patriotic War. Reading such books can be combined with watching war films, both Soviet and modern.
LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT WAR FOR STUDENTS OF 10th-11th GRADES
“...as long as the sun shines, people will not forget the national feat in the Great Patriotic War» Yu. O. Zbanatsky, Hero of the Soviet Union
For our generation, parents have a question: “Should we talk to our children about the war?” didn't exist. War was still a part of life; the words “before the war” and “during the war” were the most common in daily family communication. But Victory Day was not pretentious and noisy; it was not always festive either. On this day we went to the cemetery, cried a lot, remembering the dead and that hard life, which lasted 4 years.
Among the books we read, books about war firmly occupied the leading positions. They were educational, and they were the main educators of spiritual qualities. There weren’t very many books; we mostly borrowed them from school libraries, and there was a strict separation of books by age groups there wasn't.
Everyone read what they could handle—understand and process through themselves. The authors of these books were those who saw everything they described with their own eyes. And in those years, the question of trust in what was written in these books could not even occur to anyone.
But years have passed. We learned that literature Soviet years was the subject of severe political censorship. We have read many books written in different years, which lay in writers' desks and immediately became available for reading in the 80s and 90s.
It is known that there are many myths about the war - Soviet ones, which are still used by official propaganda, and “opposition”, anti-Soviet ones. Researchers argue that often both myths are: sometimes equidistant from the truth, sometimes the truth is in the middle, and sometimes even “outside”.
And the reader, especially a child, must be told the truth. And in this sense, it seems that it is the books written by authors who participated in the events and published during the war and the first post-war years(perhaps cleared of censorship corrections in later editions) are the most truthful books.
Nowadays there are such sentiments: either - everything that is written about the war bears the stamp of Soviet doctrine and therefore causes rejection, or - books in which human pain and tragic experiences are concentrated are unnecessarily traumatic.
Here, first the parents, and then the modern growing person himself, must decide whether the topic of the Great Patriotic War is important for his reading. And it’s up to the publishers to offer the current generation the best books about the war in the form of an undistorted author’s text.
For the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, publishing houses selected the best books for reprinting. Publishing house CLEVER releases a series « Best books about the war « , Publishing house Eksmo series "Victory Day". "Classics of military literature" , The scooter named the new “military” series - « How it was « , publishing house Rech – similar title of the series – “ That's how it was" .
I’ll tell you here about several writers who wrote about the war for children, whose books I read in my post-war childhood.
A.P. Gaidar
Arkady Gaidar was already at the front when his fairy tale appeared in the magazine “Murzilka” for 1941 "Hot Stone"
. He wrote it in April of the same year, shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War.
On the second day after the start of the Great Patriotic War, Arkady Gaidar began work on the script "Timur's Oath" . This was an urgent task from the Cinematography Committee. On July 19, 1941, the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda” began publishing “Timur’s Oath.”
A day later, Arkady Gaidar left for the front. At the very beginning of the war, all writers began with journalism; A. Gaidar was in the active army as a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda. He wrote military essays “At the Crossing”, “The Bridge”, “At the Front Line”, “Rockets and Grenades”, “War and Children”. In October 1941, A. Gaidar died.
Norshtein Yu. B. ( famous artist animator) to the question: - Which authors influenced you as a child? - Of course, Gaidar. This is absolutely outstanding personality in literature. Today, hardly anyone can understand the Gaidar phenomenon, which was published in a circulation of one and a half million copies. He had a very subtle feel for the psychology of a child, had an excellent command of words, was easy like Pushkin, and reading his books was a powerful literary school.
Lev Kassil and his children's books about war
First there were stories about the war. Some of them are collected in the book by Kassil Lev Abramovich “Stories about War”. The stories collected in this book were written by Lev Kassil during the Great Patriotic War. Behind each of them there is a real story, they are all written based on facts, they tell about what really happened.
"A Tale of the Absent" . This is one of the very first works of Soviet literature to capture the feat young hero of the Great Patriotic War, who gave his life to save the lives of other people. This story is written based on a real event, which was mentioned in a letter sent to the Radio Committee.
"Link" . The story was written at the beginning of the war and dedicated to the memory of a soldier whose feat was mentioned in one of the front-line reports of that time.
green twig . Written at the beginning of the war based on the writer’s personal impressions at the front. The story is dedicated to Svetlana Leonidovna Sobinova, the writer’s wife.
"Hold on, captain!" During the war, the writer visited hospitals where wounded children lay. The incident described in the story actually happened.
"Flammable cargo" . This story is also based on true story, reported to the author by a Stavropol teacher. But the characters of the characters, the very course of events and details, of course, were thought out by the writer.
"At the blackboard, Marks of Rimma Lebedeva." Written in the first years of the war, they were repeatedly broadcast on the radio. Also in the collection are stories: “ Fedya from the submarine", "Barabasik", "Battery hare" .
Publishing house Clever released a book for the 70th anniversary of the victory "Street of the Youngest Son"
L. Kassil, M. Polyanovsky. This is a book about the hero of the Great Patriotic War, the partisan boy Volodya Dubinin, who fought in a partisan detachment, together with adults, and died heroically... And this particular book stood on my bookshelf and was read almost to the gills - my favorite childhood book.
In 1944, front-line correspondent Max Polyanovsky came from the front from liberated Kerch to the publishing house. In the hands of the unsurpassed master of reportage was a plump folder, filled to the brim with rough notes and clippings from army newspapers.
He came for advice and help. In the torn but unconquered city, he learned and collected the first information about the Kerch boy, pioneer scout, young fighter of the partisan detachment in the Starokarantinsky quarries Volodya Dubinin.
Touching and tragic story. You can’t help but tell your children about it. But Max Leonidovich frankly admitted: “I can’t handle it alone.” I have no experience children's writer. The publishing house employees invited an already famous children's writer: Kassil! Yes, only Kassil.
More three years lasted them collaboration. Collecting materials, accumulating and studying everything that is in one way or another connected with the life of the young hero. Meetings, trips, questions. In a painful search, the plot and composition of the story were born.
“Street of the Youngest Son” was published in 1949 and at the same time received the highest state prize (Stalin’s). They write about this book, for example, on Wikipedia that the authors of the book were forced to remove from the text or replace with other plants all references to cypresses at the request of the Crimean regional party committee, in connection with the campaign carried out at that time to please Stalin to cut down these trees on the peninsula.
It is also worth noting that L. Kassil was a draftsman at heart. Having written a story, a novel, an essay or a story, he saw the “image” of his future book in all its illustrative glory. The first edition of the book “Street of the Youngest Son” was designed according to the writer’s sketches.
« My dear boys « - a book about the life of teenagers in a small Volga town during the Great Patriotic War. This is a story of difficulties, dangers and adventures - imaginary and very real. A story about friendship, courage and perseverance - that you can overcome any difficulties and win in the most difficult circumstances
"The Great Controversy" - a book about friendship and vocation, about courage, inner strength and civic duty.
An ordinary Moscow schoolgirl, completely unexpectedly, finds herself in the world of cinema and turns into an Ustya partisan - a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812. A few years later, the grown-up girl is already fighting for real: the Great Patriotic War began, and the whole country stood up to defend its borders.
“The world of a child in the book is shown very reliably. All the girl’s experiences, dreams, and reasonings are told in such a way that you believe them recklessly. The narration is told in the first person, confidentially, easily, and you forget that this is a made-up story, it is perceived as the diary of a real schoolgirl... This is an honest book about pre-war childhood and youth, very bright, with a certain amount of romance. There is in it the first love, and the first disappointments, there are heroic pages, there are grievances... Everything is there, as in life, but there is no boredom.”
This edition contains illustrations by Vladimir Leonidovich Galdyaev. The artist managed to reflect growing up main character, a sincere, brave and touching girl, to show her unusual and at the same time extremely truthful fate.
And one more event of the war years is associated with the name of L. Kassil: on March 26, 1943, Children’s Book Week was held in Moscow for the first time, which Lev Kassil called "Book Week" . Since 1944, this holiday has become an All-Union holiday. Children's Book Week is still held annually in schools, libraries and clubs across the country.
B. Polevoy and his “Tale of a Real Man”
He began working as a journalist in 1928 and had the patronage of Maxim Gorky. During the Great Patriotic War, B. N. Polevoy was in the active army as a correspondent for Pravda. He was the first to write about the feat of the 83-year-old peasant Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin, who, in the writer’s opinion, repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin.
War impressions formed the basis of B. Polevoy’s books: “From Belgorod to the Carpathians” (1945), “We are Soviet People” (1948), “Gold” (1949-1950), as well as four books of military memoirs “These Four Years” . Less known are materials about his presence at the Nuremberg trials as a correspondent for the newspaper Pravda - “In the End” (1969).
But the main glory of B. Polevoy and the Stalin Prize was brought by the book written in 19 days, dedicated to the feat of the pilot A.P. Maresyev (in Meresyev’s book), which was published in 1946.
Meresyev was shot down in battle during the Great Patriotic War. After being seriously wounded, doctors amputated both of his legs. But he decided that he would fly.
When “The Tale of a Real Man” by Boris Polevoy was published in 1946, many people learned about the legless hero pilot Alexei Maresyev. And after a film with the same name was shown on the country’s screens in mid-October 1948, Maresyev turned into a legend. He himself lived until 2001.
There have never been any claims of “untruth” about this book. Only until 1954, the total circulation of its publications amounted to 2.34 million copies. The story is also based on the opera of the same name by Sergei Prokofiev. 
E. Ilyina and her “Fourth Height”
The real name of the writer is Liya Yakovlevna Preis, née Marshak, she sister S. Ya. Marshak. She graduated from the literary department of the Leningrad Institute of Art History in 1926, and made her debut in print in 1925 with a story in a magazine and her first book.
Later she was published in children's magazines. During the years of Stalinist repression, she was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activities, for many years spent in camps and prisons. Author of several books, but the most famous is the book "Fourth Height" about the young actress Gula Koroleva, published in 1946.
In 1941, Gulya Koroleva was evacuated to Ufa, where she gave birth to a son and, leaving him in the care of her mother, volunteered for the front in a medical battalion. In the spring of 1942, the division went to the front in the Stalingrad area.
On November 23, 1942, during the battle, she carried 50 wounded soldiers from the battlefield, and when the commander was killed, she raised the soldiers to attack, was the first to break into the enemy trench, and killed 15 German soldiers and officers with several grenade throws. She was mortally wounded, but continued to fight until reinforcements arrived.
In the preface to the book “The Fourth Height” Elena Ilyina wrote:
"The history of this short life not made up. I knew the girl about whom this book was written when she was a child, I also knew her as a pioneer schoolgirl and Komsomol member. I had to meet Gulya Koroleva during the Patriotic War. And what I didn’t get to see in her life was filled in by the stories of her parents, teachers, friends, and counselors. Her comrades told me about her life at the front. I was also lucky enough to read her letters, starting with the earliest ones - on the lined pages of a school notebook - and ending with the last ones, hastily written on pieces of notebook paper during breaks between battles. All this helped me to learn how to see with my own eyes Gulina’s entire bright and intense life, to imagine not only what she said and did, but also what she thought and felt.”
L. Voronkova and her “Girl from the City”
Lyubov Fedorovna Voronkova is a well-known journalist, then a writer, the author of many children's books and a series of historical stories for children.
Her first children's book, Shurka, was published in 1940. "Girl from the City" - a story written in the harsh year of 1943. All the best in a person is most clearly manifested in years of difficult trials. This is confirmed by the story of the little refugee Valentinka, who found herself among strangers in an unfamiliar village. Many readers remember that this is a book about “the girl in the blue hood.”
From reviews:
"Very necessary book so that the children would know how hard life was during the war, so that they would appreciate what they have and rejoice peaceful life».
“I think this book is a must-read in childhood. It's not just about war, it's about the other side of war: not about heroism on the battlefield, but about heroism ordinary people, each of whom was touched by the war.”
V. Kataev and his “Son of the Regiment”
By the beginning of the war, Valentin Petrovich Kataev was already an experienced, well-known writer, publishing since the 20s; he had already written the novel “Time, Forward!” (1932), the well-known story “The Lonely Sail Whitens” (1936), “I, the Son of the Working People...” (1937)
A story written by Valentin Kataev in 1944, for which Valentin Kataev was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.
The idea for the story “Son of the Regiment” began to form in Kataev in 1943, when he worked as a front-line correspondent. One day the writer noticed a boy dressed in a soldier’s uniform: the tunic, riding breeches and boots were real, but tailored specifically for the child. From a conversation with the commander, Kataev learned that the scouts found the boy - hungry, angry and wild - in the dugout. The child was taken to a unit where he settled in and became one of his own.
Later, the writer came across similar stories more than once:
“I realized that this is not an isolated case, but a typical situation: soldiers warm up abandoned, street children, orphans who are lost or whose parents have died.”
The orphan boy Vanya Solntsev, by the will of fate, ended up in a military unit with intelligence officers. His stubborn character, pure soul and boyish courage were able to overcome the resistance of harsh military people and helped him stay at the front, becoming the son of the regiment.
The image of Vanya Solntsev is charming because, having become a real soldier, the hero has not lost his childhood. It was Kataev who was the first to Soviet literature I decided to talk about the war through the perception of a child. Books about pioneer heroes and the story “Street of the Youngest Son” by Lev Kassil and Max Polyanovsky appeared later.
V. Oseeva and her trilogy “Vasyok Trubachev and his comrades”
Valentina Aleksandrovna Oseeva-Khmeleva is a children's writer. In 1924-1940 she worked as a teacher and educator in children's communes and reception centers for street children. During the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War, she worked as a teacher in kindergarten. She made her debut with a short story in 1937, and her first book was published in 1940.
V. A. Oseeva’s works from the life of teenagers during the war and post-war era are warmed with special kindness and cordiality, where their amazing spiritual beauty is revealed. This is a twelve-year-old boy in the clothes of a craftsman, who dreams of replacing his older brother ("Andreyka"), who has gone to the front, and the orphan Kocheryzhka, who has found a second family, found by soldier Vasily Voronov on the battlefield ("Kocheryzhka"), and second-grader Tanya, respectfully referred to by others as Tatyana Petrovna (“Tatyana Petrovna”).
In 1943, the writer began work on the book, to which she devoted several years of hard work. The trilogy “Vasyok Trubachev and his comrades” is a novel cycle of three independent books. They were originally published separately, as they were written from 1947 to 1951.
The first book is pre-war 1941.
The second book is a summer trip to Ukraine in June 1941, where the guys are caught up in the war. By fateful coincidence, not all the children were able to be evacuated from the Chervony Zirki collective farm. The pioneers who remained in the occupation actively help the partisans. Then they are evacuated.
In the third book, the guys return to hometown, helping the wounded, rebuilding the school, working in the rear.
The heroes of the book “Vasyok Trubachev and His Comrades” are quite ordinary boys. They have enough problems and shortcomings; they are far from ideal. They learn to be friends. They learn to forgive each other's mistakes. They learn to understand the still alien world of adults - parents and teachers. But first of all, they learn to be good people...
In 1952, the story was awarded the USSR State Prize. The heroes of this book have consistently aroused the interest of each new younger generation for many years.
From reviews:
“...in my opinion, this is one of the best books about the war, and about the participation of children in the war,” “... of course, today you understand that the books are good, but naive. They correspond to the era in which they were written and we lived. Despite all the disadvantages of that time, we believed in a “bright future”, people were kinder...", "...the book about Vaska Trubachev, in my opinion, should be included in school curriculum high school. The story not only teaches children what good and evil are, but also vividly tells about all the hardships that wartime children had to endure. Thanks to books like this, modern children begin to appreciate what they have.” “...how subtly the book is written, how well the characters of the boys are conveyed. How nicely it shows what is good and what is bad. No moralizing, the children’s thoughts are so talentedly shown.”
Several more authors and works for children, telling about the courage and heroism shown in the war by Soviet soldiers, about the heroism in the war and on the home front of adults and children
V. Kaverin(in children's literature he is best known for the novel " Two captains“, written by him in 1938-1944, a large piece there is also dedicated to the war): “From the Diary of a Tanker”, “House on the Hill”, “Three”, “Russian Boy”;
L. Sobolev: « Sea Soul", "Battalion of Four", "Cannon without a Front Sight" ;
K. Simonov "Infantrymen";
L. Panteleev: “On a skiff”, “Marinka” ;
V. Bogomolov “Ivan”;
R. Fraerman "Vanina's Skvoreshnya" ;
K. Paustovsky “Warm Bread”,
S. Zarechnaya "Eaglet"(about Alexander Chekalin) and "Warm Heart" (about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya);
L. Uspensky “Skobar”;
A. Beck "Panfilov's men on the first line" ;
M. Prilezhaeva "Seventh-graders" ;
N. Rakovskaya "The Boy from Leningrad" ;
N. Chukovsky "Submarine chaser" ;
G. Matveev "Green chains" .
For modern readers, war stories are combined into collections by different authors. There is, for example, this one: “From Moscow to Berlin” Children's Literature Publishing House, School Library series
The collection includes more than fifty stories famous writers: L. Kassilya, V. Kaverin, N. Tikhonov, L. Panteleev, A. Mityaev, L. Solovyov, V. Ganichev and other authors - about the Great Patriotic War. Victory was forged at the front and in the rear, by ordinary soldiers and famous commanders, pilots and tank crews, scouts and sailors, partisans and boys who stood at their father’s machines in factories. Introduction by A. N. Tolstoy.
A collection was published in 2015 « In the name of the Great Victory. Poems and stories about the Great Patriotic War" .
The book includes poems and stories by poets and writers, eyewitnesses of the Great Patriotic War. They told us about those terrible and great events, about the heroism of the common man.
Children read books for adults
The military-heroic theme was the main one in the work of all writers in the post-war years. And it was impossible to draw a line between adult and children's literature. So:
“Star” by E. Kazakevich.
A. Tvardovsky.
“The Seagull” by N. Biryukov and many other books that were not intended for schoolchildren, nevertheless, immediately became part of their reading.
So on my shelf there were two more books - not at all for children. But we read it many times, so I don’t remember when the first time was, but definitely back in childhood.
A. Fadeev "Young Guard"
Alexander Fadeev wrote his first serious work, the story “Spill,” in 1922-1923.
In 1925-1926, while working on the novel “Destruction,” he decided to become professional writer. "Destruction" brought to a young writer fame and recognition, but after this work he could no longer pay attention to literature alone, becoming a prominent literary leader and public figure.
His life was not at all smooth, contradictory, and his main book is also associated with many controversial discussions and events.
D. Medvedev “Strong in spirit”
Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev - commander of the partisan reconnaissance and sabotage detachment "Winners", operating in the Rivne and Lvov regions of the occupied Ukrainian SSR, colonel.
From an early age he worked at a factory, as a young man he joined the ranks of the Red Guard, took part in Civil War 1918-20. In 1920-35 he worked in the bodies of the Cheka - OGPU - NKVD of Ukraine. Was on intelligence work abroad. He worked in the NKVD, but was fired from there twice, the second time at the end of 1939 at the age of 41 he retired. In June 1941, L.P. Beria, who at one time fired Medvedev, will issue an order for his reinstatement in the state security agencies.
During the Great Patriotic War, D.N. Medvedev was sent behind enemy lines to participate in the partisan movement. In August 1941, D. N. Medvedev organized in his native place - in the Bryansk forests - the partisan detachment "Mitya", which operated in the Smolensk, Oryol, and Mogilev regions. In the battles, Dmitry Nikolaevich was wounded and shell-shocked twice.
Soon he receives a new responsible assignment: Captain Medvedev forms a group of volunteers to work deep behind enemy lines. This is how the “Winners” partisan detachment was created. Operating from June 1942 to March 1944 on the territory of the Rivne and Lvov regions of Ukraine, D. N. Medvedev’s detachment conducted 120 major battles, in which up to 2 thousand German soldiers and officers were eliminated, including 11 generals and senior government officials officials Hitler's Germany. 81 trains with manpower and equipment were blown up.
During the period of its activity, the “Winners” detachment created 10 new partisan detachments. Dmitry Medvedev had the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The book “Strong in Spirit” (It Was Near Rovno) is a story about the legendary intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov and the heroes of past battles, interestingly documentary historical facts, imbued eternal memory about courageous and strong in spirit people.
“It was near Rivne” , published in 1948, republished in the original in 1970, republished in an expanded and revised edition as "Strong in spirit" in 1951 and since then in the USSR alone it has been published more than 50 times, in 2005 last time published in Russia. Now there are only second-hand books on sale, but there are many of them, and, of course, this book is in libraries.
“The main thing in the book is the truth of life. The truth is in everything: in documentary reliability, in the absence of speculation, in the simplicity and accuracy of the language, without literary “beauties” and those unnecessary detailed descriptions that cause mistrust. The truth lies in the sincerity and interest of the author himself, for Medvedev led the people he writes about and was responsible for them with his life and honor. This interest, felt in every word, in every intonation, introduces the reader to what is happening, creates an internal connection with the author.” A. Tsessarsky (one of the participants in the events).
Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov, fluent in German language, carried out special assignments as an agent since 1938. In the summer of 1942, under the name of Nikolai Grachev, he was sent to the special forces detachment “Winners” under the command of Colonel Dmitry Medvedev, who settled near the occupied city of Rivne. The Reichskommissariat of Ukraine was located in this city.
Since October 1942, Kuznetsov, under the name of the German officer Paul Siebert, with documents of an employee of the German secret police, conducted intelligence activities in Rovno, constantly communicated with officers of the Wehrmacht, special services, senior officials occupation authorities, transmitting information to the partisan detachment.
For me, this was the first book (and then films) about intelligence officers.
To conclude the topic
For many years, one of the most active authors writing about that war for children was Sergei Alekseev. So, in the wake of anniversary reissues of the best books from Soviet childhood, for the anniversary of the Victory, the Children's Literature publishing house published a series of stories by Sergei Alekseev about the Great Patriotic War.
These stories are intended for fairly young children - seven to nine years old - and maybe even 5-6 year olds will be interested. The stories are collected in six books, each of which is dedicated to one of the important events wars:
First - Moscow battle ,
The stories in the book are small, a page or two long, in large print, there are many bright pictures, and there are also maps of military operations placed on the endpapers for young historians advanced in the topic. So it turns out to be a fairly thorough immersion in the history of the war using material accessible to elementary school students.
Sergei Alekseev depicts the war somewhere on the very thin edge of a fairy tale, real story and sagas, and thus easily retains children's attention and interest from book to book. Along the way, readers remember new ones for themselves. geographical names, names of heroes and commanders, types of weapons. And they already have a good idea of the main events of the Great Patriotic War.
And that specific language, which at first can confuse adults with its solemnity and in some places excessive pathos, characteristic of military books of the 50s, as they write in reviews, does not confuse children at all. Moreover, they like it for its sing-song style, long phrases and strange syntax - as if it were actually an epic or a saga.
The series “The best books about war” by CLEVER publishing house begins with the book Victor Dragunsky. Viktor Dragunsky was a representative of the Moscow intelligentsia who was not subject to conscription - he was asthmatic - and joined the militia. I was surrounded. Miraculously he survived. The book “He Fell on the Grass” is autobiographical.
Tell us in the comments what books about the Great Patriotic War you read to children, or they read themselves. What did you like, will children read more about this page in the history of Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR.
Review prepared by Anna
1. The state of children's literature during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years. 2. Poetry from the period of the Great Patriotic War: childhood scorched by the war.
3. Prose about war. Genre diversity. Problems, images. The humanistic pathos of Kataev’s story “Son of the Regiment.” The image of Vanya Solntsev.
4. Development of the theme “war and children” in modern literature for children.
With the onset of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, Children's Literature faced the task of strengthening its citizenship with particular urgency. Children's writers focused on two main themes: the heroism of modern soldiers at the front and the labor heroism of the people (including teenagers) in the rear.
“The Young Guard” (1945, 2nd edition 1951) by A. Fadeev and “The Tale of a Real Man” (1946) by B. Polevoy, written for adults, immediately became the favorite books of teenagers. The story of V. Kataev “Son of the Regiment” (1945) tells about the people’s struggle against the Nazi invaders; L. Kassil and create a documentary story about a young intelligence officer of a partisan detachment “Street of the Youngest Son” (1949). Deeply psychological story by L. “Girl from the City” (1943), about humanism Soviet people, has been translated into many languages. How children replaced their fathers and brothers in labor when they went to the front is told in the stories by L. Kassil “My Dear Boys” (1944), I. “Baby” (1947), V. Oseeva Vasek and his comrades (books 1 -2, 1947-51). Since the war, themes of heroic deeds and labor, the participation of children in the great deeds of their fathers, have occupied a dominant place in children's literature. I. Vasilenko tells about the life of students of the military school in the story “Zvezdochka” (1948), about the new village, about the restoration of the economy - L. in the story “The Village of Gorodishche” (1947), A. Musatov in the story “Stozhary” (1948). Writers with experience in this work spoke about the life of Soviet schoolchildren and the work of teachers: M. Prilezhaeva (“Masha’s Youth”, “With You”), (“My Class”, “The Road to Life”) and many others. Lives of Soviet children, The stories and stories of V. Belyaev, S. Baruzdin, A. L. Yu. Sotnik, Ya. E. N. R. Pogodin, Yu. Yu. Yakovlev and others are devoted to issues of communist morality and morality.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Poetry of the Great Patriotic War
Portrait of a hero in lyrics about the Great Patriotic War (MINERALOVA)
A.F. Losev makes important conclusions for us in his story “Life” of 1941, which, by and large, were dictated by Russian history, Russian philosophy, and Russian literature: “Our philosophy must be the philosophy of the Motherland and Sacrifice “...” There is no comprehension for each individual life, if it is not planted in the bosom of the common, if it is not rooted in this common thing that is dear to it, if it does not love this common, i.e. if she does not sacrifice herself for this common thing, does not renounce herself for the sake of the longed-for and hidden for every prying eyes of the Motherland.”
For what?
Pay tribute to the few who are still alive
Remember those who gave their lives
Bow down to the people's suffering.
Try to understand how you survived Soviet Union and won
It is becoming increasingly difficult for modern youth to understand, because words are disappearing from the lexicon
Equality and brotherhood
Feeling of Motherland
Heroism
The definition of a tragic era instead of a heroic era is increasingly dominant, although it should be clear that one does not cancel the other, but places accents that are closer for some reasons to our time.
How many “funeral” stones seem to have already been thrown and will still be thrown in the face of my Motherland?
There are so many arguments about how it could be defended more elegantly and aesthetically. Probably, today we can argue, for just a quarter of a century it seemed vulgar and sacrilegious: not a single sacrifice is in vain.
Probably, when 1000 years pass and I forget that June 22, 1941 was graduation party from my father, and that of the 7 Georges who studied in their class, he was the only one who returned alive, and at the age of 37 he suffered his first heart attack, therefore the lead of war caught up and is catching up with them today.
BUT there is one more feature: born in the early 50s, we did not feel like a “post-war generation”, another decade opened its arms to us, but the further from Great victory, the closer (paradoxically) we are to war.
So, by right of that memory, I want to talk about the portrait of a hero in the literature of the Second World War
The topic is vast:
1. Lyrics revealed in the song of the Great Patriotic War Isakovsky, Fatyanov, Dolmatovsky
2. In military and post-war prose: gallery, but take a closer look at Yegor Dremov (Russian character Alexei Tolstoy) and Andrei Sokolov (M. Sholokhov The Fate of a Man) or the heroes of the story “Friday” by B. Vasiliev.
3. Poetry of the Second World War: hundreds of names
A living portrait of time and its hero:
Simonov
"Son of an Artilleryman"
Aliger “Zoya”
Tvardovsky “Vasily Terkin”
“A new war will break out when a generation grows up that does not remember it” (Romain Rolland)
“Popular” – Terkin
“Monumental"
“Sketch"
“Sketch"
“Engraving"
“Genre sketch"
During the Great Patriotic War, children's literature was represented by journalistic essays(A. Gaidar “War and Children”, “Bridge”, “Crossing”; S. Marshak “Native Children”; K.I. Chukovsky “War and Children”).
LEV CASSIL ABOUT GAYDAR: (The Miracle of Gaidar)
Helping growing boys and girls see the place that they must take in the indissoluble ranks of the builders of the communist future, among the fighters for a joyful human life, for great, bright tranquility and peace in the whole world - this is the “most important” thing that is so amazingly about , Gaidar knew how to speak to children with convincing simplicity.
Gaidar leads the little reader to an understanding of this “most important” thing with every line. Everything about him - the speech of the heroes, the author’s digressions, and the landscape - is subordinated to thoughts about the greatness of the Soviet country, about its mighty strength, everything calls to protect its happiness, won in a fierce struggle.
Gaidar told the guys more than once about what he considers the most important thing in the world:
“Very close to her, big-eyed cars, heavy trucks, rattling trams, dusty buses rushed through the square, but they did not hurt and seemed to take care of Natka, because she was walking and thinking about the most important things.
Review of Frontline Records
A.P. Gaidar’s first appeal to youth and children during the Great Patriotic War was written in Moscow for radio; it was the writer’s passionate appeal: “Take up arms, Komsomol tribe!” Later, at the end of 1941, this appeal was published in the collection “To Soviet Children”, published by Detgiz.
In July 1941, A.P. Gaidar went to the front, near Kyiv, as a special war correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. Gaidar's front-line records were published on the pages of Komsomolskaya Pravda and Pionerskaya Pravda. His correspondence from the front was marked “From a special correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda” and signed: “Active Army. Arkady Gaidar."
The first correspondence - “At the crossing” - was sent by Gaidar at the very beginning of August and published in the newspaper on August 8, on the third page, under the general heading: “Glory to the heroic Komsomol members of the decorated 306th regiment!”
On August 20, the writer’s second war essay, “The Bridge,” appeared in Komsomolskaya Pravda.
The third essay by A.P. Gaidar - “War and Children” - was published in Komsomolskaya Pravda on August 21. On the same day, the essay “War and Children” was published in “ Pioneer Truth».
On August 30, Gaidar’s letter to pioneers and schoolchildren before the start of a new era was published in Pionerskaya Pravda. academic year- “Bon voyage!” This letter is known somewhat less than other front-line correspondence from A.P. Gaidar.
The essays “At the Front Line” and “Rockets and Grenades” were published in Komsomolskaya Pravda on September 17 and October 4, 1941.
"Rockets and grenades" - last piece created by the writer.
On October 26, 1941, A.P. Gaidar died.
Sources:
Arkady Gaidar. Collected works in four volumes. Volume three. Publisher: Children's Literature. Moscow. 1964
Along with journalism, there was psychological prose. Stories: L. Panteleev “On a Skiff”, A. Platonov “Little Soldier”. M. Prishvin “Stories about Leningrad Children”, M. Zoshchenko “Poor Fedya”.
– During the war, Platonov was a special correspondent for Red Star in the active army. He went to where, in hard military work, the soul and mind of the people who rose to defend the Motherland were fully revealed. In the summer of 1943, he was on the Kursk Bulge, and in the spring of 1944, during the offensive battles of our army, in Ukraine.
A fellow writer, Viktor Poltoratsky, who met Platonov several times at the front, recalls: “He was gentle and easy to use, he knew how to find his word for everyone - be it a soldier, a general, an old peasant woman or a child. He spoke rather muffledly, in a low voice, calmly and evenly. But sometimes he was harsh and prickly, always absolutely intolerant of falsehood and boasting. His tenacious, sharp gaze saw right through his interlocutor. Platonov was especially able to talk emotionally with soldiers - war workers. I remember his conversation with the sappers who were establishing a crossing on the Goryn River. I was struck then by the writer’s deep professional knowledge of the work in which these soldiers were engaged. Yes, probably not only me, but also the soldiers who saw in the war correspondent their own working man").
Plot and compositional features.
– We can distinguish three parts, three main episodes. Part 1 is a farewell scene at the station, which the narrator accidentally witnessed. First acquaintance with the heroes. Part 2 - a story about the fate of Serezha Labkov, heard from the lips of Major Bakhichev. Part 3 - escape, can be titled with the words “God knows where he went.”
the moral and philosophical problem of the incompatibility of war and childhood, the responsibility of adults for the fate of children, the importance of aesthetic and moral education children.
– The child is 9-10 years old, and dressed like a seasoned fighter, a little soldier. A gray overcoat, cap, boots - all this is his usual clothing, carefully sewn to measure by adults. It is immediately clear that the hero fought, saw a lot, and matured early. But on the weathered face of a “person adapted to life,” the author at the same time notices sadness, melancholy, and reluctance to part with an older friend. The child does not let go of one of the majors, pressing his face to the hand of a person dear to him,” and, despite the affection and warm words of the other major, he remains indifferent to him. He has probably already experienced the pain of parting with loved ones and is afraid of a new separation; he looks at Major Savelyev with prayer and hope, as if persuading him not to leave him with a stranger.
Psychological details excite us, readers, and we want to find out the mystery of the child, about his fate, and find an explanation for the boy’s behavior.
At the beginning of the work, the author notes from all the diversity of the station bustle only that which reminds of home, happiness, family: the happiness of rest was imprinted on the tired faces of the Red Army soldiers; people who had not yet slept seemed to whisper persuasive, warm words to each other and even the singing of the boiler on duty The locomotive seems to resemble “a monotonous, soothing voice from a long-abandoned home.” So, already at the beginning of the story, the theme of peaceful life, the theme of home, family begins to sound.
“He was imbued with the worries and anxieties of adults. Once he helped his father, a colonel, preserve an ammunition depot left on land captured by the Germans by cutting an explosive wire. Then he repeatedly made his way behind enemy lines, memorizing the location of the German troops, giving his father-commander “the right notes,” that is, doing the work that experienced intelligence officers usually did.
“The mother, unable to withstand the tension, was worried about her son’s life and decided to send him to the rear, but Sergei could no longer leave the army. “His character was drawn into the war,” writes Platonov, and these words contain great meaning. Seryozha cannot imagine himself in another life, categorically refusing to go to the rear. During the war, my father was seriously wounded, and he soon died. Seryozha’s mother did not live long without her husband. And he remained an orphan. It becomes clear to us why Seryozha does not want to part with Major Savelyev, because he replaced his parents.
It is important for Platonov to convey to us, the readers, a secret thought: no matter what fearless feats Seryozha performed, no matter how he surprised adults with his desperate courage, the child remained a child. We seem to hear the voice of Major Bakhichev, although the author does not introduce the actual direct speech of a military man. His words are simple and artless, stingy with feelings, facts predominate in his speech, there is no intensity of emotions or psychological details as in the first part of the story. In this part there is a lot of colloquial vocabulary, vernacular, sometimes the author specifically conveys speech defects (“into battle,” “fell ill,” “tired,” “showed my father on the map how it is and where it is,” “they say,” “ his mother could not tolerate his uncomfortable position”, etc.)
– From his lips, this story looks more reliable. In addition, a military man most often pays attention to the factual, rather than the emotional side of the matter, and from this it becomes clearer main idea story. It is important for the author to understand the soul, the origins of the child’s behavior: he did what, perhaps, adults were not always able to do, and what is usually called a feat.
5) The third part of the story confirms this idea.
Is the ending unexpected for us?
- No, we had a presentiment that something was going to happen. The entire previous story about the hero prepared us for this. Seryozha remains true to himself - escaping from the good, decent Major Bakhichev is not an accident. Seryozha behaves contrary to adult logic. Yes, with Major Bakhichev he would be fine in terms of everyday life: he would always be fed, shod and well taken care of. But the child’s heart does not want to come to terms with a new loss; it is tired of getting used to and losing. What does Seryozha care about military necessity, about the fact that Major Savelyev needs to take advanced training courses! It is no coincidence that Platonov ends the story on the same piercing note as he began: “... he left, tormented by the feeling of his childish heart for the man who left him - perhaps after him, perhaps back to his father’s regiment, where his father’s graves were and mother.
The main idea of the story: according to Platonov, war is terrible not only because people die, their homes are destroyed, the established way of life collapses, it is also terrible because grief corrodes the soul of a person, especially a child, deforms it, since no one, nothing can fill it loss of parents, family, friend.
And adults, we are all responsible for that. So that the terrible thing does not happen again. It is no coincidence that on the last page of the story the theme of happiness and childhood again sounds. The narrator and Major Bakhichev see a sleeping boy in the dorm room before escaping and do not recognize him: “His face, having now moved away from sorrow and memories, became calm and innocently happy, revealing the image of the holy childhood from which the war took him.”
Stories written during the Great Patriotic War are usually divided into two groups:
1. Works whose plot develops directly in a front-line situation (behind enemy lines, on the front line): V. Kataev “Son of the Regiment”, S. Zarechnaya “Eaglet”, “Warm Heart”.
2. Works whose action is primarily related to the home front: L. Kassil “My Dear Boys”, M. Prilezhaeva “High School Girls”, N. Rakovskaya “The Boy from Leningrad”, A. Kononov “The Days of Sergei Glushkov”, G. Matveev “ Green chains”, etc.
The theme of memory in A. Aleksin’s story “Signalmen and Buglers”, in Yu. Yakovlev’s story “Kingfisher”.
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School in the partisan region.
T. Cat. ,From the book “Children-Heroes”,
Getting stuck in a marshy swamp, falling and getting up again, we went to our own - to the partisans. The Germans were fierce in their native village.
And for a whole month the Germans bombed our camp. “The partisans have been destroyed,” they finally sent a report to their high command. But invisible hands again derailed trains, blew up weapons warehouses, and destroyed German garrisons.
Summer is over, autumn is already trying on its colorful, crimson outfit. It was difficult for us to imagine September without school.
- These are the letters I know! - eight-year-old Natasha Drozd once said and drew a round “O” in the sand with a stick and next to it - an uneven gate “P”. Her friend drew some numbers. The girls were playing school, and neither one nor the other noticed with what sadness and warmth the commander of the partisan detachment Kovalevsky was watching them. In the evening at the council of commanders he said:
“The kids need school...” and added quietly: “We can’t deprive them of their childhood.”
That same night, Komsomol members Fedya Trutko and Sasha Vasilevsky went out on a combat mission, with Pyotr Ilyich Ivanovsky with them. They returned a few days later. Pencils, pens, primers, and problem books were taken out of their pockets and bosoms. There was a sense of peace and home, of great human care, from these books here, among the swamps, where a mortal battle for life was taking place.
“It’s easier to blow up a bridge than to get your books,” Pyotr Ilyich flashed his teeth cheerfully and took out... a pioneer horn.
None of the partisans said a word about the risk they were exposed to. There could have been an ambush in every house, but it never occurred to any of them to abandon the task or return empty-handed. ,
Three classes were organized: first, second and third. School... Pegs driven into the ground, intertwined with wicker, a cleared area, instead of a board and chalk - sand and a stick, instead of desks - stumps, instead of a roof over your head - camouflage from German planes. In cloudy weather we were plagued by mosquitoes, sometimes snakes crawled in, but we didn’t pay attention to anything.
How the children valued their clearing school, how they hung on every word of the teacher! There were one textbook, two per class. There were no books at all on some subjects. We remembered a lot from the words of the teacher, who sometimes came to class straight from a combat mission, with a rifle in his hands, belted with ammunition.
The soldiers brought everything they could get for us from the enemy, but there was not enough paper. We carefully removed birch bark from fallen trees and wrote on it with coals. There has never been a case where someone did not comply homework. Only those guys who were urgently sent to reconnaissance skipped classes.
It turned out that we only had nine pioneers; the remaining twenty-eight guys had to be accepted as pioneers. We sewed a banner from a parachute donated to the partisans and made a pioneer uniform. Partisans were accepted into pioneers, and the detachment commander himself tied ties for new arrivals. The headquarters of the pioneer squad was immediately elected.
Without stopping our studies, we built a new dugout school for the winter. To insulate it, a lot of moss was needed. They pulled it out so hard that their fingers hurt, sometimes they tore off their nails, they cut their hands painfully with grass, but no one complained. No one demanded excellent academic performance from us, but each of us made this demand on ourselves. And when the hard news came that our beloved comrade Sasha Vasilevsky had been killed, all the pioneers of the squad took a solemn oath: to study even better.
At our request, the squad was given the name of a deceased friend. That same night, avenging Sasha, the partisans blew up 14 German vehicles and derailed the train. The Germans sent 75 thousand punitive forces against the partisans. The blockade began again. Everyone who knew how to handle weapons went into battle. Families retreated into the depths of the swamps, and our pioneer squad also retreated. Our clothes were frozen, we ate flour boiled in hot water once a day. But, retreating, we grabbed all our textbooks. Classes continued at the new location. And we kept the oath given to Sasha Vasilevsky. In the spring exams, all the pioneers answered without hesitation. The strict examiners - the detachment commander, the commissar, the teachers - were pleased with us.
As a reward, the best students received the right to participate in shooting competitions. They fired from the detachment commander's pistol. This was the highest honor for the guys.
IN famous book Svetlana Alexievich “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face” has a very important and deep thought: “If you don’t forget the war, a lot of hatred appears. And if a war is forgotten, a new one begins.” This year our country will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This tragedy has claimed millions human lives, destroyed cities and entire countries, broke countless destinies. This is the price that humanity had to pay to get rid of the horrors of fascism. Soviet soldiers defended peace and won freedom for their country, for you and me. This should never be forgotten, no matter how much time passes.
For preschoolers and primary schoolchildren, they will certainly be interesting and memorable. poems about war:
- Barto A. In the days of war
- Berestov V. Man
- Karprov I. Boys
- Mikhalkov S. Children's shoe, Ten-year-old man
- Marshak S. “Not” and “neither” and many others
List of books about war for preschool and primary school age
- Voronkova L. Girl from the city (A story about an orphan girl who found herself in a foreign village during the war and found a new family and home.)
- Kassil L. Street of the Youngest Son (A story dedicated to the tragic fate of Volodya Dubinin, a young partisan - hero of the Great Patriotic War.)
- Kataev V. Son of the Regiment (The story of the orphan boy Vanya Solntsev, who ended up in a military unit with intelligence officers and became the son of the regiment.)
- Oseeva V. A. Vasek Trubachev and his comrades (A work about the fate of the boy Vasya Trubachev and his friends, whose peaceful childhood was cut short by the war.)
- Simonov K. The son of an artilleryman (The ballad about Major Deev and Lenka, the son of his friend, based on real events.)
- Yakovlev Yu. Girls from Vasilievsky Island (A poignant story about the girl Tanya Savicheva, who died along with her entire family from starvation in besieged Leningrad, written based on her diary.)
- Alekseev S. Stories about the Great Patriotic War
- Artyukhova N. Svetlana
- Baruzdin S. A soldier walked down the street
- Voronkova L. Girl from the city
- Gaidar A. Timur's Oath, The Tale of the Military Secret, about Malchish-Kibalchish and his firm word
- Golyavkin V. Drawing on asphalt
- Dragunsky V. Arbuzny Lane
- Kassil L. My dear boys, Flammable cargo, Your defenders
- Markusha A. I am a soldier, and you are a soldier
- Paustovsky K. Adventures of the rhinoceros beetle
- Sokolovsky A. Valery Volkov
- Suvorina E. Vitya Korobkov
- Turichin I. Extreme case
- Yakovlev Yu. How Seryozha went to war
Middle schoolchildren will enjoy learning about children, their peers, during the Great Patriotic War, their lives, deeds and exploits.
List of books about war for students in grades 5-7
- Bogomolov V. Ivan (Tragic and true story about a brave boy scout.)
- Kozlov V. Vitka from Chapaevskaya Street (The book tells about the fate of teenagers during the war.)
- Korolkov Yu. Pioneers-heroes. Lenya Golikov (A story about a young pioneer from the Novgorod region Lena Golikov, his fate and feat, based on real events.)
- Rudny V. Children of Captain Granin (The story of the young defenders of the Gulf of Finland, who were able not only not to let the enemy pass, but also took fire on themselves at the most decisive moment.)
- Sobolev A. Quiet Fast (The story of the courage and heroism of yesterday's schoolchildren during the Great Patriotic War.)
- Alekseev S. Stories about war
- Balter B. Goodbye, boys!
- Bogomolov V. Zosya
- Ilyina E. Fourth height
- Likhanov A. The last cold weather
- Mityaev A. Letter from the front
List of books about war for students in grades 8-9
- Adamovich A., Granin D. Siege book (Documentary chronicle, which is based on the testimonies of Leningraders who survived the siege.)
- Aitmatov Ch. Early Cranes (A story about the destinies of teenagers during the Great Patriotic War, their lives in a distant Kyrgyz village, the trials and joys that befell them.)
- Baklanov G. Forever - nineteen years old (The story of the young lieutenants of the Great Patriotic War, their tragically short front-line journey.)
- Vasiliev B. And the dawns here are quiet... (A story about the tragic destinies of five girls and their commander, performing a feat during the war.)
- Polevoy B. The Tale of a Real Man (The Tale of the Soviet pilot Meresyev, who was shot down in battle and was seriously wounded, but again, in spite of everything, returned to combat formation.)
- Tvardovsky A. Vasily Terkin (A deeply truthful and humorous poem in which the immortal image of a Soviet soldier is created.)
- Sholokhov M. The Fate of a Man (A story about the tragic fate of a common man, distorted by war, and strength of character, courage and compassion.)
High school students are already quite ready to learn about the most tragic pages of the Great Patriotic War. Reading such books can be combined with watching war films, both Soviet and modern.
List of books about war for students in grades 10-11
- Adamovich A. Punishers (The story of the events associated with the destruction of seven peaceful villages in occupied Belarus by the battalion of Hitler’s punisher Dirlewanger.)
- Bogomolov V. Moment of truth: In August forty-four (A fascinating novel about the work of counterintelligence officers during the Great Patriotic War, based on real events.)
- Vorobyov K. Killed near Moscow (The story, which became the first of the “lieutenant’s prose” genre, tells about the brutal battles near Moscow in the winter of 1941 and the fates of their participants.)
- Nekrasov V. In the trenches of Stalingrad (The story tells about the heroic defense of Stalingrad in 1942-1943.)
- Fadeev A. Young Guard (Novel about the Krasnodon underground organization "Young Guard", which operated in the territory occupied by the fascists, many of whose members died heroically in fascist dungeons.)
- Sholokhov M. They Fought for the Motherland (A novel about one of the most tragic moments of the war - the retreat of our troops to the Don in the summer of 1942.)