In World War II, people fought at the forefront, worked in the rear, set records in industrial production and agriculture. All forces were directed only to victory. Mothers sent their husbands and sons to the front, hoping for a speedy return and victory. Years of waiting dragged on languishingly. This is a real feat of mothers. Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna is known to many, it is about her that can be read in this article. She is a special woman who gave birth to her sons, soldiers.
Epistinia and Mikhail Stepanov
Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna was born in 1882 in Ukraine. Photos of women can be found in museums. Since childhood, she lived with her family in the Kuban. From an early age, the girl began to work in laborers: she went for cattle, herded birds, and cleaned bread.
With her husband, Mikhail Nikolayevich Stepanov (1878 - 1933) met only during the matchmaking. He worked on the collective farm as a foreman. Subsequently, the Stepanov family lived on May 1 farm (Olkhovsky farm). They had 15 children, but due to childhood illnesses and high child mortality, tragic accidents, only 9 sons and one daughter remained alive. They lived together, respected and helped each other. Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna is a heroine mother, not every woman in her whole life will be able to give birth to fifteen children and raise ten of them worthy people.
The fate of the sons of Stepanov
The woman shed many tears, escorting her own children to the front. But, despite this, Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna was very strong, whose biography has been published repeatedly by many Russian museums. The fate of the nine sons was different:
- Alexander (1901 - 1918). He was killed by whites for helping the soldiers of the Red Army.
- Nicholas (1903 - 1963). He went to the front as a volunteer in August 1941. Places of battle: North Caucasus, Ukraine. In October 1944 he received a severe shrapnel wound to his right leg. Not all the fragments were removed, some remained. He returned from the war, Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna met him. Died of the effects of injuries.
- Basil (1908 - 1943). Shot by the Germans in December 1943. He was buried in the village of Sursko-Mikhailovka.
- Philip (1910 - 1945). He died on February 10 in a fascist prison camp.
- Fedor (1912 - 1939). He died during the battle near the Khalkhin Gol River. He was awarded the medal "For Courage" (posthumous).
- Ivan (1915 - 1943). In the fall of 1942 he was captured and was shot by the Germans. He was buried in the village of Drachkovo.
- Ilya (1917 - 1943). He died in July 1943 during the Battle of Kursk. He was buried in the village of Afanasov.
- Pavel (1919 - 1941). He went missing, defending the Brest Fortress in the first hours of the war.
- Alexander (1923 - 1943). Heroically died in 1943 near Stalingrad. Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumous).
Waiting time
Epistinia Fedorovna gathered her sons to the front, packing their bags with love and hoping for a speedy return. One by one she watched from the outskirts. The road first went along a flat field, then climbed a little up the slope. The departing person was visible for a long time, to the smallest detail. Heavy forebodings and longing with each son leaving the road became more and more. They stayed together with their daughter Valia to wait for their sons.
With trepidation, she was expecting news from the front by Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna. The daughter supported the mother in every way and helped with the housework.
Scary letters
All the war years she was waiting for news from her sons. At first, the sons wrote often, promised to return soon. And then there were no letters. Mother languished in anticipation, worried about the fate of her sons. The occupation lasted six months. In the spring of 1943, the Krasnodar Territory was liberated. First came the delayed news from the sons. And then funerals began to come one after another.
Mother did not put on a black shawl for a long time, she was waiting for news from her sons, she believed that they were alive. Each time at the sight of the postman hurrying to the house, the mother's heart was trembling anxiously. What is there - good news or grief? And each time, receiving another notification of death, the mother's heart received a deep bleeding wound. Until recently, Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna remained strong. Family for a woman was of particular importance, so burying sons was terribly and insanely painful.
Ordinary soviet woman
The Stepanov family became known only after the war. Epistinia Fedorovna was one of the first Soviet women to receive the Order of Mother Heroine. A biographical book was written about her and her sons, a thematic museum was opened. The collected things of all nine sons cannot be called the dry word "exhibits for the exhibition." After all, every thing brought, every stored item is the memory of a soldier’s mother. They are all saturated with love and reciprocal tenderness, respect of sons.
The museum contains everything saved and preserved by his mother, despite the time of occupation: a thin notebook of verses by Ivan, Vasily’s favorite violin, a small handful of earth from Alexander’s grave. The response letters of the sons sent from the front line from hospitals and the front line help to feel an atmosphere of goodwill and respect. Reading the lines of letters, you imagine the image of a son writing a letter and sending greetings and wishes.
Cinema about mother
A short film was shot about Epistinia Fedorovna, which is shown every day on a small screen in a thematic museum. The film is not fiction, but documentary, no frills. But, despite the absence of special effects and newsreels of military operations, the film makes its way to the most hidden corners of the soul with its emotional component. The main character is a middle-aged woman. It is dressed simply, the head is covered with a white scarf. Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna simply and leisurely talks about her life. This film is a monologue, there is no place for excess.
The story begins about that wonderful time when sons and daughters grew nearby. Simple words spoken by a woman penetrate the soul. Involuntarily you begin to empathize. A quiet monologue is addressed to each viewer. Happiness fills her eyes, all wrinkles are smoothed out, as if she glows from the inside. Hands and look for the head of the little son with soft and fluffy hair to stroke, acquire. Seamlessly, the story passes at a time when she saw her sons off. Involuntarily you feel the same heaviness on the heart with which the mother parted with her sons. How happy she was in every news, as if returning for that few minutes at that happy time. And she didn’t want to believe that her sons were dead.
A lump in the throat and tears in the eyes of the audience appear from the silence in the hall when the mother begins the story of how she was told about the end of the war, and she ran to meet the warriors. In an intermittent trembling voice, bringing the ends of the scarf to her eyes, she leads a leisurely story. What pain the last phrase said: "All the sons are coming, but mine are not and are not." Everyone who watches the film, hears a quiet story of his mother, believes in the good. This short film was able to convey all the feelings of the mother: happiness, the pain of separation, the bitterness of expectation and the great pain of loss.
Museum portrait
When you look at a black and white photograph in a thematic museum, you see a simple woman with an amazing look that radiates calm and wisdom. The only picture was taken already in old age, but it is he who conveys all the nuances of the state of mind of the mother. A calm and quiet life, filled with the expectation of sons, lived Stepanova Epistinia Fedorovna. Anxiety, anxiety and cruelty did not break her, did not harden a loving heart.
Mother of all soldiers
After the war, she received a large amount of correspondence, many people sent letters to her. And each person found for Epistinia Fedorovna precisely those words that resonated with the feelings of his mother. A letter from a soldier, Vladimir Lebedenko, in which he asked for permission to consider Epistinia Fedorovna his mother, helped to find new strength and feel his demand. She carried faith in goodness and hope for the best through her whole life.
Last years
Epistinia Fedorovna in recent years lived with the family of her only daughter Vali in Rostov-on-Don. But I missed my home, where happy times had passed. According to the farm in which the whole difficult life of a soldier’s mother passed. She died on February 7, 1969. With military honors was buried in the village of Dnieper. The memorial erected at the burial site unites the entire Stepanov family.
In 1977 she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (posthumously) for her services to the Fatherland. The Stepanov family continues, in addition to direct descendants - about 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
It is difficult to feel all the emotions and feelings of a mother who survived almost all of her children. This is a real feat of the mother heroine, who blessed her sons for the military feats, who did not lose faith and hope. It becomes proud when you realize that there are mothers like Stepanova Epistinia. Sons, whose photos are kept in museums, undoubtedly loved her and respected her.