Pieces

Stefania

“After the liberation we were going to leave Germany by foot. Our German landlady told my mom, ‘Christa, Christa! Stay! Who will help me?’ My mother replied, ‘Sorry, no. Your pigs have nearly eaten my child’. And we left.”

Dmytro and Mykola

Pavlo

“I came to war at the age of 16 near Kharkiv. We went towards Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, there we met the Americans. Well, I served in the infantry, second light machine gun. There we went on foot as infantry, and after the war was over we went back on foot as well. We were feeling the victory was coming any day now. We were listening to the reports of the 1st Belorussian Front, which was moving towards Berlin. It was led by Zhukov. Where was Zhukov there was always victory.”

Olexandra and Victor

Olexandra: “When the war began I was taking exams in psychology. We were evacuated to Stalingrad. When the Germans came to the city many people went back to their relatives. I was 18, it took a month to get to Poltava on foot. It was getting dark, I saw my grandmother, she was going to milk the cow. I asked: ‘Could I stay at your house for a night?’ And she replied: ‘Oh, there are Germans everywhere, it’s terrifying. Where are you from?’ I said: ‘From Stalingrad.’ ‘I have a granddaughter there. Oh, dear, Shura, it’s you!’ Then my stepfather took me here. I found out about a village, where a partisan squad stood. And I joined them.”

Victor: “The war was over on May 2nd, not 8th. On May 8th the German Instrument of Surrender was concluded. It was signed by the Americans, but Zhukov told, ‘Hell no, give it here!’ And signed it in Berlin. I was in military hospital, I heard noise, shouting. The commander of the hospital came to our room with a gun in his hand, ‘Guys, war finish! War finish, guys!’ (I served in the Armenian division). He ran to the balcony and started to shoot in the air. Military service isn’t very interesting. There’s nothing good at the battle-front. In those trenches after Germans or after us... After us it was even worse. War is a dirty and disgusting thing. There’s nothing to talk about it.”

Liudmyla

“I went to Moscow for the May 9th, many times. This year I didn’t manage to go there. We, the winners, we were standing aside. Have you heard the general Polissadnyi singing? What a beautiful voice. He sang such a beautiful fight song. All these Benderas were marching in the center, and we were behind. Why do they pick on the hammer and sickle?”

Olexander and Oleksiy

Olexander: “I started my military service in Germany after my graduation from the military school. We were not asked where and what, there and that’s all. After three years I came to Sevastopol. I stayed there for eleven years, in one place. After that I was told: ‘Come on, you have to grow.’ Then I was in Africa, Cairo. I took part in combat operations there, when Israel worked, so it goes.”

Oleksiy: “I’m a child of war. I was born during the Holodomor. Sasha was born 1935, he took part in combat operations somewhere in Africa. And I was in Budapest, we were quelling there 1956.”

Olha

Participant of the “immortal regiment.”

Vasylii

“Before 1941 I’ve already finished five classes at school. I was a guy more or less, less or more. So I started working in kolkhoz, then Germans came. I lived on the occupied territory. The whole Ukraine was occupied by the Germans. My eldest sister was sent to Germany. I continued working in kolkhoz, then we were liberated in 1943. I came back home only in 1945, came back to work. The director told me: ‘Vasia, go and take the fifth class once more. Finish it with all the A’s. Then finish two more classes and you can enter any college’. You don’t say so! Teacher! I don’t need teaching! I like tightening the screws, I like working, I like… No! Mama says: ‘Go and become a teacher. Teachers have never lived in need. They’ve been always paid.’”

Olesia and Inna

Lidia

“The veterans are capricious. The thread is wrong, it should be black, not white, but he cannot mend his pocket. I feel sorry for them, do you understand? What should I do? I have to. So I go. I helped them earlier, so do I further. There are not so many persons like us left who still work. As for me I do it, because it’s boring to stay at home.”

Halyna

“Could you print two pictures for me? It's for my death.”

Volodymyr

“My grandfather's name was Dima.”