Monuments to children of war in Russia

Monuments to children of war, as a rule, become the object of close attention and special respect on the part of both local residents and visiting travelers. Why? What is the reason? The whole point is that the notion of childhood and military actions is incompatible in principle. Agree, the kids do not have a place where shells are torn, houses burn and women cry desperately.

Even in the most modest settlements, monuments to children-heroes of war are carefully protected, flowers are often brought to them, and they occupy an honorable place in the list of sights of this or that city, village or village.

This article is aimed at telling just about such places. The reader will also find out which monuments to the children of war in Russia should be visited first. After all, it's no secret that in the Great Patriotic War everyone from small to large took part.

Section 1. Children during the war. Disappointing statistics

According to statistics, about 27 million Soviet citizens died during the Great Patriotic War, of which only 10 million were soldiers, and the rest were women, children, the elderly.

Unfortunately, it is not known how many children died during the war, and how much it has crippled children's destinies - especially. The children of the war did not know the joyful childhood, they brought the Victory nearer as they could, and had time to take the sip of the cup ... Many of them were in a foreign land, and how many were killed, as they say, not born ...

Monuments to children of the Great Patriotic War are in many cities of our country. And this is by no means an accident, after all, thousands of boys and girls went to military commissariats during this terrible time, added themselves a couple of years and went to the front to defend the Motherland, and so they perished for it.

Suffering, hunger, early death of their peers made the children not too modest adults, brought up in them strength of mind, courage, incredible ability to exploit and self-sacrifice. Only the names of some of them have reached us. Four children of the war became Heroes of the USSR: M. Kazey, V. Kotik, Z. Portnova, L. Golikov.

Section 2. How children helped the front

Modern children's monuments to children of war often cause not only curiosity, but also bewilderment. The younger generation is really difficult to understand how their peers could come to the rescue of real soldiers.

Meanwhile, the guys helped the front than they could, for example, they collected rifles, grenades, cartridges, machine guns from rifles and handed them over to the partisans. Many schoolchildren played the role of scouts, were partisan detachments, rescued wounded soldiers and even fearlessly helped organize the escape of our prisoners of war from concentration camps. Children set fire to German warehouses, exploded rail cars, locomotives. The "children's front" was especially popular in Byelorussia, that is why monuments to the children of war are found here at every step.

The girls were equally active in the underground struggle in the occupied territory. For example, working in the canteens retraining courses of German officers more than once poisoned the enemy food. They also participated in various diversions, distributed leaflets among the population, conducted reconnaissance.

From the first days of the war, the children of our country had a great desire to somehow help the front. In the rear, they built defensive fortifications, were on duty on the roofs of houses, collected scrap metal, important medicinal plants, and actively participated in the collection of things. In addition, thousands of children literally worked for days at factories, various factories and even at defense enterprises, replacing the absent adults and their own parents. No less active they worked in agriculture, growing vegetables, fruits for hospitals. In school workshops children sewed linen, knitted warm clothes for army soldiers. They helped the wounded in hospitals, they arranged concerts to encourage them.

Section 3. Monument to children of war in Krasnoyarsk

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War on May 7, 2005, a monument to children of the war in Krasnoyarsk (at the intersection of Mira Street and the Paris Commune) was opened . This place was not chosen by chance. During the war, the present sculptural children's figures housed a hospital. Strangely, this local landmark was not immediately established. This took the public a long 9 years.

The monument was created by sculptor K. Zinich and architect A. Kasatkin. It is noteworthy that the very creator posed his own children: 8-year-old daughter Karima and 5-year-old son Ernest. The girl held a slice of bread, a daily ration of blockade Leningrad, and the boy posed with a can, in which they carried water from the Neva. Behind the children stood sledges, on them the wartime kids transported the dead to common graves.

Section 4. Monument in Ulyanovsk

Almost all the monuments to the children of the war have their own history, and the Russian city of Ulyanovsk is no exception. The money for this sculpture was also collected by the inhabitants of the region, and it was installed on the square of the 30th anniversary of the Victory.

The idea of creating this monument belonged not to one person, but to a whole council of veterans. The sculptor was the Moscow Muscovite M. Galass.

To date, it is known that the bronze monument cost the residents of the city 3 million rubles.

Section 5. Monument to children of the war in Vladimir

In Vladimir, the monument "Children of War" is made in the form of a map of the USSR with the silhouettes of children's hands.

The history of the opening of this memorial is also touching. Participants - many of them were these same children of the war - laid not only flowers on it, but also children's toys. Since that time a unique tradition has been established: every year on May 9, students of local educational institutions bring gifts and souvenirs here, many of which are self-made.

Section 6. Monument in Lidice

The crime that was committed against the children of Lidice greatly shocked the sculptor - Professor M. Ukhitilov. Therefore, in 1969, she decided to create a bronze sculpture of child victims of the war.

Surprisingly, the monument was created for about 20 years and today it has the form of a composition consisting of 82 children's statues (40 boys and 42 girls) depicted in a size slightly larger than the natural size. Every year a lot of tourists come here who are trying to make a photo.

Monuments to children of war, most likely, will attract attention for many decades. And this is not surprising. A terrible war, unfortunately, has affected many families, and therefore, and forget about it definitely not worth it.