Monuments to children of war, as a rule, become the object of close attention and special respect from both local residents and visiting travelers. Why? What is the reason? The thing is that the concept of childhood and hostilities is, in principle, incompatible. You must admit that babies have no place where shells burst, burn at home, and cry in despair of a woman.
Even in the most modest settlements, monuments to the children-heroes of the war are carefully guarded, flowers are often brought to them, and it is they who occupy an honorable place in the list of attractions of a city, town, village.
This article aims to tell just about such places. The reader will also learn which monuments to children of the war in Russia should be visited first. It is no secret to anyone that everyone, from small to large, took a direct part in the Great Patriotic War.
Section 1. Children during the war. Disappointing statistics
According to statistics known to us, during the Great Patriotic War, approximately 27 million citizens of the USSR died, of which only 10 million were soldiers, and the rest were women, children, old people.
Unfortunately, it is not known exactly how many children died during the war, and how much it crippled children's destinies - all the more so. The children of the war did not know a happy childhood, they, as they could, brought Victory closer and managed to sip their grief with a full bowl ... Many of them were in a foreign land, and how many were killed, as they say, unborn ...
Monuments to children of World War II are in many cities of our country. And this is far from accidental, because thousands of boys and girls went to the military registration and enlistment offices during this terrible time, added a couple of years to themselves and went to the front in order to defend their homeland, which meant they perished for it.
Suffering, hunger, the early death of their peers made the children excessively adults, nurtured in them the strength of mind, courage, incredible ability to exploits and self-sacrifice. Only the names of some of them have reached us. Four children of the war became Heroes of the USSR: M. Kazei, V. Kotik, Z. Portnova, L. Golikov.
Section 2. How Children Helped the Front
In modern children, monuments to the children of war often cause not only curiosity, but also bewilderment. It is actually difficult for the younger generation to understand how their peers could come to the rescue of real soldiers.
Meanwhile, the guys helped the front than they could, for example, collected the rifles, grenades, cartridges, machine guns remaining from the fighting and transferred all this to the partisans. Many schoolchildren played the role of scouts, were in 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, blew up railway cars, locomotives. Especially massive was the “children's front” in Belarus, which is why monuments to the children of war are found here at every step.
Girls no less actively participated in the underground struggle in the occupied territory. For example, German officers working in canteen retraining courses for German officers more than once poisoned the enemy’s food. They also participated in various sabotage, distributed leaflets among the population, conducted intelligence.
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 collecting things. In addition, thousands of children literally worked for days at factories, various factories, and even defense enterprises, replacing absent adults and their own parents. No less active they worked in agriculture, grew vegetables, fruits for hospitals. In school workshops, children sewed linen, knitted warm clothes for army soldiers. They helped the wounded in hospitals, arranged concerts for them to cheer them up.
Section 3. Monument to the children of the war in Krasnoyarsk
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, 05/07/2005, a monument to the children of the war was unveiled in Krasnoyarsk (at the intersection of Mira St. and Paris Commune). This place was not chosen by chance. During the war, a hospital was located behind the current sculpted children's figures. Strange, but this local attraction was far from immediately installed. It 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 was posed by his own children: the 8-year-old daughter Karima and the 5-year-old son Ernest. The girl held a piece of bread, the daily ration of the besieged Leningrad, and the boy posed with a can in which they transferred water from the Neva. Behind the children’s sleigh stood behind them, wartime kids transported the dead to the 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. Money for this sculpture was also collected by the inhabitants of the region, and installed it on the square of the 30th anniversary of the Victory.
The idea of ​​creating this monument did not belong to one person, but to a whole council of veterans. Muscovite M. Galass made a sculptor.
Today it is known that the bronze monument cost the city residents 3 million rubles.
Section 5. Monument to the 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 silhouettes of children's hands.
The history of the opening of this memorial is touching. The participants - many of them were these very children of the war - laid not only flowers, but also children's toys at its foot. Since that time, a peculiar tradition has been established: every year on May 9, students of local educational institutions bring gifts and souvenirs here, many of which are home-made.
Section 6. Monument in Lidice
The crime, which was committed against the children of Lidice, greatly shocked the sculptor - Professor M. Ukhitilova. Therefore, in 1969, she decided to create a bronze sculpture of child victims of the war.
Surprisingly, the monument was built for about 20 years and today has the appearance of a composition consisting of 82 children's statues (40 boys and 42 girls), depicted in size slightly exceeding the actual size. Every year a lot of tourists come here who want to take a photo.
Monuments to children of war are likely to attract attention for many more decades. And this is not surprising. The terrible war, unfortunately, affected many families, which means that it’s definitely not worth forgetting about it.