War and children in the works of Soviet writers. The theme “war and children” in literature about the Great Patriotic War

War and children in works Soviet writers

The war took a terrible toll on children’s destinies,

It was difficult for everyone, difficult for the country,

But childhood is seriously mutilated:

Children suffered greatly from the war...

A. Bolutenko

In the middle of spring, when the birds sing joyfully, and the earth, washed by melt water, smokes with the greenery of young bread,

a holy day is coming for our homeland, when we remember those who paid an exorbitant price in the name of our Victory, we remember the living and the dead. And first of all – those who are destined by nature to continue to live.

It is known that the war affected everyone; it spared neither women, nor the elderly, nor children. 13 million children died in this war. It took away the lives of some, their parents from others, and their childhood from many.

The war forced boys and girls, just like us, our peers, to grow up early. The theme of war was especially pronounced in Soviet literature, in the works famous masters our literature. During the war and post-war times, lyrics were one of the most popular genres and raised everyone’s morale.

Poems dedicated to children appear. A.T. wrote for and about children. Tvardovsky, K. M. Simonov, S. Ya. Marshak and others.

The main character of the ballad “The Tankman’s Tale” by A. Tvardovsky, on a dusty street of a small provincial town that Soviet troops were trying to recapture from the Nazis, approached the tankmen during the battle to show exactly where the enemy’s firing position was. “The boy is standing - mines, bullets are whistling, and only his shirt is in a bubble,”- this is exactly how the poet describes the hero of his work. The tank soldiers had no choice but to take the young daredevil with them to the armor and, guided by his instructions, go behind enemy lines. As a result, as an eyewitness to those distant events recalls, “We crushed this gun, along with the crew, into the loose, rich black soil”. Such young heroes could be found in every city. And it is the children of the war who defended their Motherland on an equal basis with adults that the work of A.T. Tvardovsky is dedicated to.

Depiction of the Great Patriotic War in the poem by K. M. Simonov “The major brought the boy on a gun carriage...” In the poem “The Major Brought the Boy on a Carriage...”, addressing the reader, Simonov says: You know this grief firsthand, And it broke our hearts. Who ever saw this boy, He won't be able to come home until the end. The boy is ten years old, but during the ten days of the war he experienced enormous grief, which sometimes even an adult cannot withstand: the death of his mother, shelling, evacuation from his hometown, the wounding of his father. The boy seemed to have been “in the next world” because he had already seen death and suffering. The ten days of horror of war experienced by the child will be remembered by subsequent generations as a feat.

The role of prose works in the literature of the war and post-war years is significant.

During the Great Patriotic War, L. Kassil went to the front as a war correspondent. The events of these times prompt him to write about the heroism of people, whose courage and bravery should not be forgotten. Found documentary materials about the feat of partisan intelligence officer Volodya Dubinin formed the basis of the story "Street of the Youngest Son" .

In the city museum of Kerch, in big hall among the portraits of people who glorified this city, you can see an already familiar name on a separate scarlet velvet shield Volodya Dubinina. From the portrait we see the face of a boy with a big forehead, with a cheerful, stubbornly protruding mouth, with huge eyes full of clear light and looking at the world with such inquisitive enthusiasm, with such direct, open courage, as if everything in the world should immediately open wide before them ...

“...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 the hard life that lasted 4 years.

Among the books we read, books about war firmly occupied the leading positions. They were educational, they were also the main educators spiritual qualities. There weren't very many books, we mostly took them from school libraries, and strict separation of books by age groups did not have.

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 read many books written in different years, lying in writers' desks and suddenly becoming 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 « The best books about 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 name 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 army as a correspondent " 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 that captured the feat of the 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.

"Communication line" . 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 a true story told 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.

A 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 as a children's writer. The publishing house employees invited an already famous children's writer: Kassil! Yes, only Kassil.

They lasted for more than three years 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 short 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 the growing up of the 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 war 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 goes to B. Polevoy and Stalin Prize brought by 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, nee Marshak, she is the sister of 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 Stalin's repressions, she was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activities and spent many years 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 story of this short life is 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 sheets of notepad 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:

“A very necessary book so that children would know how hard life was during the war, so that they would appreciate what they have and enjoy a peaceful life.”
“I think this book is a must-read in childhood. It's not just about war, it's about back side war: not about heroism on the battlefield, but about the heroism of 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 nature a pure soul and boyish courage were able to overcome the resistance of harsh military people and helped him stay at the front, to become 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 in Soviet literature to decide 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 lives of teenagers during the war and post-war period, where their amazing personality is revealed, are warmed with special kindness and warmth. spiritual beauty. This is a twelve-year-old boy in the clothes of a craftsman, who dreams of replacing his older brother who has gone to the front (“Andreyka”), and the orphan Kocheryzhka, who has found a second family, found by soldier Vasily Voronov on the battlefield (“Kocheryzhka”), and second-grader Tanya, respectfully called Tatyana Petrovna by those around her. (“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 compiled 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 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 heroism 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. Biryukova 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 “Devastation,” he decided to become a professional writer. “Destruction” brought fame and recognition to the young writer, 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 he 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 and took part in the Civil War of 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 places - in the Bryansk forests - the partisan detachment "Mitya", which operated in the Smolensk, Orel, 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 of 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, interesting with documentary historical facts, imbued with eternal memory about courageous and strong-willed people.

“It was near Rovno” , published in 1948, republished in the original in 1970, republished in an expanded and revised edition as "Strong-willed" 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 overly 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, 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 the documents of an employee of the German secret police, conducted intelligence activities in Rovno, constantly communicated with Wehrmacht officers, intelligence services, and senior officials of the 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 a war somewhere very fine line fairy tales, real story and sagas, and thus easily retains children's attention and interest from book to book. Along the way, readers remember new geographical names, names of heroes and commanders, and 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 manner, 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

IN famous book Svetlana Alexievich “War has no woman's face“There is a very important and deep thought: “If you do not 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 (The story of an orphan girl who found herself in a foreign village during the war and found new family and house.)
Kassil L. Street of the Youngest Son (Tale dedicated to tragic fate 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 artilleryman's son (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. The 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 fate 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.)

Tinchurin Ramil Ildusovich

A project about wonderful works by Russian authors about heroes of the same age who brought Victory Day closer in 1945

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Preview:

Municipal educational institution

secondary school in the village of Kobylkino

Kamensky district

Competition of creative works “Victory far and near”

Nomination "Best Project"

Project “Children of War in Literature”

(based on works of domestic literature)

Introduction… ………………………………………………………………..3-6

Relevance of the chosen topic……………………………………..3-4
Hypothesis…………………………………………………………….4
Problem……………………………………………………………... 4
Project goal……………………………………………………….4
Tasks…………………………………………………………………………………5
Object of study…………………………………………………………...5
Research methods……………………………………………………………….. 5
Novelty of the project……………………………………………………...5
Practical significance……………………………………………………...5-6
Project product……………………………………………………..6

Main part

Chapter 1.

Analysis of works about the feat of young anti-fascist heroes.......... 6

1.1.Children of the siege.

(Based on the story by V. Dubrovin “Boys in the forty-first”).......... 6-7

Young scout.

(Based on the story “Ivan” by V. Bogomolov)……………………….. 7-8

Brave Yolka.

(Based on the story by S. Baruzdin “Her name is Yolka”)………………….. 8-9

Conclusion……………………………………………………………9-10

Chapter 2.

Studying the level of awareness of classmates about exploits

Young war heroes………………………………………………………………....

Survey results………………………………………………………… 10-11
Conclusion……………………………………………………….....11

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..11
Bibliography…………………………………………………...11
Application ……………………………………………………………....13-14

Introduction

Their silhouettes are almost invisible
In marches their voice is not noticeable at all -

Children of the Great and Terrible War.
They may be heroes, but in essence they are children.
In May the birches are fresh and slender,
The sun shines equally for everyone...
A pure sacrifice for a dirty war -
Living children, dead children.

Sergey Afonin

Relevance of the selected topic

The problem of reading is recognized in the modern world as a national and state problem. The trend of declining interest in reading in Russia is an alarming phenomenon for a country in which reading has always been an extremely significant activity.

In order to maintain and improve reading competence

students, our class works together with parents on the project “ Family reading».

All 7th grade students read one work of fiction per week from the recommended list of works for the project.

This year marks 72 years since the Great Victory over the most terrible war of mankind. In anticipation of this date, many events are planned and carried out in our school and in the classroom: watching documentaries, meeting with participants in military battles, poetry reading competitions and reading books about the war. The material about the Great Patriotic War was very interesting to me and my classmates.

We read a lot about the project interesting books about our peers and contemporaries. But it is no less important to know about the fates of those my peers who gave us a happy and bright future. The exploits of children in war deserve no less respect than the exploits of adults.The heroic history of our Fatherland, the biographies of boys and girls in red ties, many of whom gave their lives for the peaceful, happy childhood of their current peers, should be known to each of us today.

Discovering the heroic pages of literature, I became deeply interested in the feat of the brave “children of war.” This prompted me to take part in the creative work competition “Victory Far and Near.”

Hypothesis

The works of writers depict the truth about heroic fate my peers during the Great Patriotic War. Today's schoolchildren read few works about the war and do not know about the exploits of their peers.

Problem

For modern children and teenagers, the Great Patriotic War is distant history. Reading children's literature about the war will help us understand the importance of preserving the memory of current and future generations about the history of the Fatherland, and educate by example heroic deeds“children of war” a sense of patriotism and love for the Motherland.

Objective of the project

Expand your knowledge about the heroic past of young participants in the Great Patriotic War, comprehend the origins of heroism, moral strength, devotion to the Motherland of little heroes by reading works of Russian literature. Find out whether my peers know about the exploits of young anti-fascist heroes.
Tasks:

Study fiction on this topic.
Analyze the character and actions of the heroes, follow their fate.
Find out the similarities or differences in the reasons that prompted the little heroes to come out in defense of their Motherland.
Reveal author's attitude to what is depicted.
Give your assessment of the works.
Find out what modern schoolchildren know about the young heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
Get your classmates interested in reading books about the war.

Object of study -works of fiction about the feats of my peers in the war:

Victor Dubrovin. The story "Boys in '41"
Vladimir Bogomolov. The story "Ivan".
Sergey Baruzdin. The story “Her name is Yolka.”

Research methods:

Analysis of fiction.
Comparative method.
Descriptive method.
Questioning.

Novelty of the project is that, by taking part in the “Family Reading” project and reading books about our peers, we are obliged to learn the names of our peers-liberators, who at the cost of their lives won Victory for the sake of our happy future. Now it is necessary to introduce the younger generation to reading works about the war.

Practical significance of the projectis that the results of my work can be used in lessons to discuss books on the Family Reading project, at a reading conference; an excerpt from O. Gromova’s story “Sugar Baby” was chosen for reading at municipal stage reading competition " Living classics" A list of works about the war will be recommended to my classmates for independent reading.

Project product

"About children-heroes."

II. Main part

Chapter 1. Analysis of works about the feat of young anti-fascist heroes.

Children of the siege.

(Based on the story “Boys in 1941” by Viktor Dubrovin)

This is a story about young Leningraders who remained in a blockaded city during the Great Patriotic War. Carefree and mischievous at the beginning of the story, the heroes go through great trials that forced them, perhaps, to grow up early, but not to lose heart.
The story is told on behalf of the boy Volodya. His sister Galya and dog Pirate were sent to the Urals along with his mother’s old friend. The rest of the family remained in Leningrad. He stayed right there best friend Volodya - Zhenya, who was a great inventor.
An autobiographical story about childhood in besieged Leningrad. Leningrad boys live their lives, make friends, quarrel, make peace, study... And suddenly war bursts into their lives. Of course, they want to beat the Nazis, fight for their city, for their Motherland, they imagine themselves as pilots, glorious heroes. For them, war is an exciting adventure; the boys do not yet suspect that it will bring hunger, cold, pain of loss, and their life will never be the same.

The story tells not only about the children of the blockade, but also about the fact that you always need to remain human, appreciate what you have, make real friends, admit your mistakes, be able to forgive and ask for forgiveness and never lose hope. Such books not only help to learn historical facts, but also cultivate respect for veterans and our history.

Young Scout

(Based on the story “Ivan” by Vladimir Bogomolov)

The main character of the story by V. O. Bogomolov is the boy Ivan. He is originally from Gomel. His father and sister died. Ivan had to go through a lot: he was in the partisans, and in Trostyanets - in the death camp.

And the hero made a decision - to take revenge on the enemy, to become useful to our army.

Ivan is still just a boy: he plays like his peers, collects knives, arms himself with binoculars, like a real commander. He would like to remain a child, but he is forced to look death in the face every day.

Ivan lives for a long time in German-occupied territory, walks through villages and towns and collects information for headquarters about the enemy’s strength and weapons. He sees everything, remembers everything. And the information he obtains is very valuable.

Reading about the boy's stay behind enemy lines, you understand that it is difficult and scary for him: he is alone, dangerous situations arise every day, and there is no one to ask for advice. How courageous you need to be strong-willed person- after all, you had to rely only on yourself. Even the brave Kholin, in a conversation with Galtsev, said: “Are you fighting for the third year?.. And I am the third... And in the eyes of death - like Ivan! - maybe we didn’t even look... There’s a battalion, a regiment, a whole army behind you... And he’s the only one - a Child!”

Kholin, Galtsev, Katasonych are Ivan’s adult friends from the partisan detachment. They treat him like a father, with tenderness, they are ready to do anything for him, because they understand how dangerous the work that the boy does for the army headquarters is.

Brave Yolka.

(Based on the story by Sergei Baruzdin “Her name is Yolka”)

The main character of S. Baruzdin’s story, Yolka, is 13 years old at the beginning of the work. She lives in a village near Moscow with beautiful name Earrings. At Yolka big family, the father was convicted of “attack on public property.” As the chairman of a collective farm, he distributed potatoes to people that had been caught by the frost. Yolka was expelled from the pioneers for this, but in spite of everything she wore a pioneer tie and wanted to join the Komsomol.

Time passed, and Yolka’s father was released from prison. But the war began. Yolka heard a message about the German attack on the country on the radio. All the men, including her father, were taken to the war. In the fall, they dug trenches and built defensive lines. Hundreds of enemy planes were flying towards Moscow, and at night the air shook with the roar of cars. Yolka’s entire native village was destroyed by German shells.

The war changed the girl. Instead of a cheerful, mischievous tomboy, she became “silent, withdrawn, as if she had been replaced. Not a smile. No glibness. And outwardly unrecognizable: a grimy face, a scarf pulled over her forehead, a tattered coat, high rubber boots. Hands are red, chapped, covered in pimples. It's from the water. Is this a Christmas tree? Christmas tree. Herringbone. Christmas tree... Is it her? She".

One day Yolka was called to headquarters. She was assigned a responsible task - to transmit information to the other side of the Nara. Yolka began to walk across the icy river to a foreign, now German, bank, and then returned back. Yolka's father was the commander of the detachment, he was located in the neighboring forest and passed on important information through his daughter. The Nazis were preparing to cross the Nara River. The tree was supposed to convey the father’s words about the mining of the bridge over the Nara. She had to go through the Germans. She bravely walked several kilometers, but then she was grabbed and locked in a cellar. Then Yolka was taken out and forced to walk across the bridge. A column of German armored vehicles moved behind her. The girl bravely walked across the bridge, and when she reached the shore, a strong explosion was heard. She quickly ran to her people, because she needed to convey urgent information, her back and chest were burning. Then a German shell exploded near Yolka... The brave girl died. She was only fifteen years old. Her friend, Lenka, also did not return from the war; he was buried in a mass grave in distant Hungary.

Conclusion

Having read works of fiction about the exploits of my peers during the war, I would like to note that the writers each expressed their artistic view of what was happening in their own way.

After analyzing the images of the main characters, I noticed a lot in common between them. This is not accidental, since the fates of many “children of war” are similar. Before the war these were ordinaryboys and girls. But a harsh hour came - they showed how huge a child’s heart can become when a sacred love for the Motherland and hatred for enemies flares up in it.Little heroes great war everywhere they fought alongside their fathers and older brothers. On the front line, on warships, in the Brest Fortress, in the Kerch catacombs. These are lines from the history of our Motherland and the biographies of its little citizens - ordinary boys and girls.

The young heroes of the stories have an “iron” character, they equally hate the Nazis and take revenge for their relatives;value the title of pioneers,everyone dies the death of the brave, they are posthumously awarded a high award, the streets of our cities are named in their honor, schools and ships are named after them...

Books about war are like a monument to the dead. They solve one of the problems of education - they teach the younger generation love for the Motherland, perseverance in trials, and teach high morality using the example of their fathers and grandfathers. Their importance is increasingly increasing due to the enormous relevance of the topic of war and peace today.

Chapter 2. Studying the level of awareness of classmates about the exploits of young war heroes.

2.1. Survey results.

I decided to find out what my classmates knew about their peers who fought along with adults, what they generally knew about the war, about the children who were direct participants or witnesses of those terrible days. I decided to find out if my peers read literature about the war. Are they interested in this topic? To this end We conducted a survey in class. The guys were asked the following questions:
1. Do you read books about the Great Patriotic War?

Name a book about the war that particularly affected you strong impression.
Do you know war heroes, your peers?
Name the authors of works of fiction who wrote about the war.

After conducting a survey, we found out that my classmates do not know military literature well enough. Only 2 out of 19 people (Alsu Kachaeva and Sultaniya Akzhigitova) read books about the war, 3 students know some of the pioneer war heroes; Only one reader could name a book about the war that caused a strong impression; 3 students named the authors of works of fiction about the war. And then I decided to eliminate these gaps in their knowledge and recommend that the children read books about young heroes. Hold a readers' conference with the aim of attracting attention to the book, forming a collective reader's opinion, instilling in children patriotic qualities, a sense of compassion and respect for people who survived terrible years war.

Conclusion

A study conducted on 7th grade students’ knowledge of works about war and the heroic deeds of children showed that not all of my classmates are interested in war heroes. Unfortunately, the “heroes” of our time are fictional, virtual characters from the computer world. By participating in our family project, my classmates meet new characters.

The reading level of children is increasing.

I will try to satisfy the reading interest of my peers by offering them a list of works of fiction about the war.

III. Conclusion

Each of us learns about the war in different ways: someone heard the story of a veteran, someone watched a film, and someone read a book by a front-line writer...

The works of fiction I read about the feats of brave little heroes expanded my understanding of the war, brought me back to the difficult but heroic events of the war years, helped me see these events through the eyes of my peers, go through harsh trials with them and experience the joy of feat in the name of Victory. Books about the war written “hot on the heels” of events are a kind of bridge connecting generations. These books are important for us, because it is with their help that we can compile full picture war, including historical facts and everyday details. Force artistic word so great that it makes the past come to life, finds oneself in a terrible hell of inhuman suffering, helps one feel what befell the participants in the war. From the content of what I read, I learned the main moral lesson: the stories teach goodness, humanity, and justice.

I will try to “reach the hearts” of my classmates, to interest them in war works, so that stories and stories about the war become their reference books

IV. Bibliography

1. Baruzdin S.A. Her name is Yolka: a story. - M.: Det.lit., 1985.

2. Brinsky A.P. The Girl from Maryina Roshcha: a war story. - M.: Det.lit., 1973.

3. Children of the wartime / Comp. E. Maksimova. - 2nd ed., additional - M.: Politizdat, 1988.

4. There's a war going on folk Poems about the Great Patriotic War/comp. N.I. Gorbachev. – M.: Det.lit., 2002.

5. Forever in people's memory. – M.: Young Guard, 1975.

6. Nadezhdina N.A. Partisan Lara: a story. – M.: Det.lit., 1988.

7. Pecherskaya A.N. Children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War: stories. - M.: Bustard-Plus, 2005.

8. Hour of courage: poems and stories. – M.: Publishing House Onyx, 2008.

Internet resources

1. Big digital library http://www.big-library.info/

V. Appendix

"About children heroes"

for middle aged children

Avramenko A.I. The story "Messengers from Captivity".
Baruzdin S.A. The story “Her name is Yolka.”
Bogomolov V.O. The story "Ivan".
Brinsky A.P. The story “The Girl from Maryina Roshcha.”
Vereiskaya E.N. The story "Three Girls".
Vishnev P.P. The story of "Yoongi".
Voronkova L.F. The story "Girl from the City".
Dubrovin V.B. The story "Boys in '41".
Zharikov A.D. Collection of stories "Young Partisans".
Ilyina E.Ya. The story "The Fourth Height".
Kassil L.A., Polyanovsky M.L. The story "Street of the Youngest Son".
Kataev V.P. The story "Son of the Regiment".
Korolkov Yu.M. Stories “Lenya Golikov”, “Marat Kazei”, “Valya Kotik”, “Zina Portnova”.
Kosmodemyanskaya L.T. The story of Zoya and Shura.
Krapivin V.P. The story "The Shadow of the Caravel".
Likhanov A.A. The stories “My General”, “Steep Mountains”, “Music”, “Wooden Horses”.
Nadezhdina N.A. The story "Partisan Lara".
Naidich M.Ya. The story “Overcoat for Growth.”
Suvorina E.I. The story "Vitya Korobkov".
Yakovlev Yu.Ya. The fairy tale “How Seryozha went to war”, the story “Girls from Vasilyevsky Island”.
Kozlov V. “Vitka from Chapaevskaya Street”
Rudny V. “Children of Captain Granin”
Sobolev A. “Quiet Fast”
Alekseev S. “Stories about war”
Balter B. “Goodbye, boys!”
Bogomolov V. “Zosya”
Mityaev A. “Letter from the front”

MBOU Secondary School No. 39, Smolensk

Teacher Kostyuchenko Lyubov Grigorievna

WAR CHILDHOOD IN THE WORKS OF RUSSIAN WRITERS

Introduction

Every year there are fewer and fewer of those who were directly related to military operations, those who participated in the battles and worked for the benefit of Victory in the rear. But other witnesses of the war are still alive, who during the war years were children, our peers.

Children of war different destinies, but they are all united by a common tragedy, the irreparable loss of the beautiful world of childhood. Little heroes who matured at the wrong time, wise beyond their years and incredibly persistent, resisted the war. Their patriotism during the Great Patriotic War, labor feats and desperate courage will forever remain in the memory of our people.

Today, many war veterans are those guys who survived years of bombing, hunger and fear. With tears in their eyes they remember their military childhood, and, despite the fact that some moments have already been erased from memory, they remembered that period for the rest of their lives and are unlikely to forget. They can tell us about their war as they know and remember it.

While working on this topic, I realized the most important thing is that everything is a thing of the past: the suffering of people, devastation, hunger in the war and post-war years. Our generation has the opportunity to touch the Great Patriotic War, listening to stories not only about combat, but also about labor exploits in the memories of living witnesses of that time. This is what I want to show in my work.

I dedicate my research work to people who have lost their childhood.

Research problem:

The topic of children and war is one of the most underexplored in history. And this is no coincidence: battles, battles and feats of arms have been considered the lot of adult men from time immemorial. Children were meant for something else: to study, play, and also help around the house. War is a terrible evil that has crippled not only the lives of adults, but also deprived the youngest part of the population of our country of childhood.

Purpose of the study: to identify the impact of the events of the Great Patriotic War on the life and everyday life of children.

Research objectives:

Study journalism on this issue.

1. Children and war in classical Russian literature.

The ground was both hard and

blizzard.

There was one problem for all people.

We didn't even have a childhood

separately,

And they were together: childhood and war.

L. P. Shevchenko

67 years ago the last salvos of the Great Patriotic War died down. What a terrible price our people paid for this Victory! From almost every home, from every family, fathers, husbands, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters went to the front and never returned.

This war crippled thousands and thousands of human destinies, sparing no one: neither women, nor the elderly, nor children.

War and children... There is probably nothing more unnatural than the combination of these initially hostile concepts. The war deprived children of their childhood, fell upon them with a heavy burden, a colossal shock, traumatizing their fragile souls. Just beginning to live, they were forced to grow up too early and take all the hardships of wartime on their fragile shoulders.

The generation of military boys turned out to be that generation of teenagers who, on the next day of the war, stepped straight from the world of childhood into the abyss of military life, into the long-suffering rear reality, which required from them far from childish maturity and courage. It was this generation of boys and girls, along with adults, who perished under shells and bombs, died of hunger and cold, and gave all their strength for Victory. It defended and won this cruel war!

They carried the memory of their harsh wartime childhood throughout their lives, leaving documentary stories and memories for the younger generation.

In modern children's literature, heartfelt works of art have also appeared, telling with piercing authenticity about difficult destinies wartime children.

Children had to drink a bitter cup during the Great Patriotic War. The war deprived them of their childhood, crippled their destinies, and orphaned many of them.

Many have dedicated their works to the theme of harsh wartime childhood. Russian writers who went through war, through difficult trials. Their exciting stories are included in this collection.

Six-year-old Vanyusha from Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man,” who lost all his relatives in the war, finds his happiness again, finds a kind and courageous father, who becomes his hope and support.

The hero of Valentin Rasputin's story "French Lessons" is a village boy, living independently in someone else's house, experiencing hunger and need, meets a reliable older friend who helps him in difficult moments life. Having received a lesson in human kindness, participation and understanding, he believes that very soon “a happy time will come for everyone.”

Nikolai Voronov’s story “Pigeon Hunt” introduces us to a gang of Ural boys, avid pigeon keepers. These restless boys decided to give their most valuable asset - pigeons - to the front.

All these works included in the collection “War and Children” are recognized as the best works of children's military prose.

Far, far from the front, in a Siberian village, the events of Viktor Astafiev’s story “War is Thundering Somewhere” take place. No shots are fired here, no soldiers are killed, but the cruel echo of war echoes in distant Siberia.

For a seventeen-year-old boy, Vitka Potylitsyn, the war manifested itself in its own way: in learning a profession necessary for the front; in a ration of bread weighing 250 grams; at the funeral that came to his dear aunt Augusta.

Having received an alarming letter from home, he returns to his native village, where he sees with his own eyes the terrible grief that the war brought to the people. But the power of human kindness, participation, and responsiveness helps people survive in these difficult days. And Vitka Potylitsyn discovers a very simple truth: with people, with family and friends, and grief is half grief, and joy is doubled.

Russian writer William Kozlov belongs to the generation of “boys of the forty-first year,” whose childhood ended on July 22, 1941.

The shocks and experiences suffered during the war years formed the basis of many of the writer’s works.

William Kozlov dedicated his story “Yurka the Goose” to the difficult fate of an eleven-year-old boy who found himself in the terrible circumstances of war.

Yurka Goose for a long time wandered along the roads of war, became homeless, fled from death, shuttled between military echelons, and got into all sorts of troubles. This thin and ragged boy sought to be closer to the war, to unknown dangers.

Fate throws him into a small front-line village, through which military trains endlessly walked to the front. And here, meeting kind and sympathetic people along the way, Yurka goes through a harsh school of growing up, learning to understand and sympathize with other people. The teenager’s bitter soul thaws, “it becomes sunny and joyful all around.”

Petka from Viktor Konetsky’s story “Petka, Jack and the Boys” largely repeated the fate of the writer himself.

This Leningrad boy was evacuated from a terrible cold city to a small Central Asian town. Even here, in the deep rear, the war did not let go of the boy, constantly returning to him with memories of the mine-scarred ice of Lake Ladoga, of the grinding of planes flying overhead, of air raid raids, of incessant hunger and cold.

He, an eleven-year-old boy, did not want to live. “In the mornings, gloomily, with melancholy and even fear, I thought that a second, a third would come after today...” Petka carried this attitude towards life from besieged Leningrad.

The stray dog Jack, who became his faithful friend and protector, helped the boy feel the joy of life again and see the beauty around him.

But the war again cruelly intervened in Petka’s fate. Having learned that the front needs dogs like Jack, who are capable of carrying wounded soldiers out of battle, the boy gives his reliable only friend to the soldiers, “He is more needed there; suddenly he will save the wounded.”

Selfless boys like Petka helped our country survive and win the Great Patriotic War.

Vladislav Krapivin’s story “The Shadow of the Caravel” is the writer’s unforgettable memory of his harsh childhood. Much remains in the writer’s memory: the mercilessness of war winters, when fingers swelled, and cakes made from potato peelings, and the short clang of scissors cutting out small squares of coupons from bread cards, and the tense anticipation of news from his father from the front.

From the same childhood are the boys who grew up during the difficult war years, to whom he dedicated his story. Among them are a seven-year-old boy, Vladik, who resembles the writer himself, and his friend Pavlik, a curly-haired fourth-grader.

It was good for the two of them to sit by the humming stove and dream. In their dreams, the boys were carried away on their white paper boat on an exciting sea voyage, “where pirate brigs roamed and unprecedented monsters surfaced under the starry sky; near the islands, through the sunny water, sunken ships were visible, hiding secrets and treasures.”

Despite the war, despite all the hardships, hunger and cold, the joy of discovering the world and the joy of true boyish friendship will forever remain in the lives of these little heroes.

“People don’t choose their parents, people don’t choose their childhood. Our childhood was during the war, and we were called the children of war,” Albert Likhanov wrote about his generation, on whose fate the war left a deep imprint. The theme of military childhood sounds exciting in the writer’s works, included in the book “Russian Boys”.

Albert Likhanov introduces us to such a “Russian boy” named Kolka in the stories: “Steep Mountains”, “Music”, “Wooden Horses”, combined into a single trilogy.

Kolka and I met on the first day of the war, when he, a six-year-old boy, could not yet comprehend the full tragedy of the events taking place, and we parted after the Victory, at the end of 1946. Before our eyes, the hero grows from a simple-minded kid into a person capable of making independent and difficult decisions.

The brother and his younger sister found themselves in dire circumstances of the war, when, having lost their bread cards and being left without a means of subsistence, they were simply dying of hunger.

The fate of these little heroes was tragic, but Albert Likhanov leaves us with hope for their happy future.

“Yes, wars end sooner or later. But hunger releases slower than the enemy. And the tears don't dry for a long time. And there are canteens with additional meals. And jackals live there. Small, hungry, innocent children. We remember this. Don’t forget, you new people,” the author implores us at the end of his book.

In the city of Leningrad, an ordinary girl lived in an ordinary large family. The girl's name was Tanya Savicheva. She studied at a simple school, loved her family and friends, loved to read and go to the movies.

The Great Patriotic War began. The Nazis surrounded the city. The terrible days of the siege began.

The war mercilessly crossed out the happy carefree childhood Tani. What did this fragile girl go through during the siege?

A small notebook with blue pencil lines has survived to this day, in which Tanya dispassionately wrote down the mournful dates of the losses of her large family. And here is the last entry made by a courageous girl: “The Savichevs have died. Everyone died. Tanya is the only one left." Forty-one lines written by a schoolgirl contained the tragedy of the besieged city.

Ilya Mixon's story “Once upon a time” was written based on personal diary Tanya Savicheva, preserved personal documents, memories of eyewitnesses.

The tragic story of a Leningrad girl and her family still burns the heart of the modern reader.

The war with its cruel lessons and trials became for the heroes of Radiy Pogodin’s story “Where does the goblin live?” the main thing in their little lives.

The oldest of these children was Senka, a boy of seven or eight years old, who, during the years of the German occupation, had become accustomed to feeling like a “breadwinner and protector,” because the Germans had driven all children over ten years old to Germany. This skinny, big-eyed boy has neither childish carelessness nor a childish smile. The war killed his childhood and changed his fate. But Senka, whose “legs grow straight from his back, and his stomach is adorned with purulent scabs” - the memory of the hot potatoes that he stole from the Germans for hungry children straight from a boiling cauldron, evokes our respect and sympathy.

The Great Patriotic War, without reaching the distant Tatar village, covered everyone who lived in it with its black wing. Every house, every family sent its husbands, fathers, sons to the front, and the women, old people and children remaining in the village replaced them.

Among the selfless home front workers was nine-year-old Dasha Pletneva, the heroine of T. Polikarpova’s book “Leaves of Next Summer.”

To this soulfully to a beautiful girl, who perceives the world brightly, imaginatively, “loving everyone in the world,” comes an understanding of adult life, the desire to take on part of the nation’s misfortune.

A heightened perception of life helps Dasha Pletneva not to get lost in this harsh world, to overcome all adversities with dignity, to survive a terrible war, bringing faith and hope to people.

The homeless, distorted world of wartime children appears before us in Anatoly Pristavkin’s story “The Golden Cloud Spent the Night.”

Its main characters, eleven-year-old twin brothers Kuzmenysh, lived in an orphanage near Moscow, where “the whole tense life of the children revolved around frozen potatoes, potato peelings and, as the height of desire and dream, a crust of bread in order to subsist, to survive just one extra day of war.” . Day after day, the Kuzmenys learn the hard science of survival and learn to fight for their existence.

Fate throws them into the Caucasus region, far from their native places, where the brothers tragically face Stalin’s policy of exterminating the Chechen people. It is difficult for the Kuzmenysh to understand what was happening around them and what they witnessed. And in the flames of repression of the “Chechen traitors” their souls, their faith and hope for a happy life perish.

Having gone through the worst thing - the death of his twin brother, Kolka, distraught with grief, suddenly begins to understand the events taking place. Addressing the imaginary Chechen who killed his brother Sashka, he utters very important words: “You killed Sashka and me, and the soldiers came and they will kill you…. And you will start killing soldiers, and that’s it: both they and you will die. But wouldn’t it have been better for you to live, and for them to live, and for Sasha and I to live too”?

In memory of those boys - who fought, suffered and survived - Anatoly Pristavkin wrote this story, piercingly authentic.

Children of Stalingrad... They had to endure a lot of suffering and grief during the Great Patriotic War. They lived next to the front line for almost six months, experiencing unbearable hunger and cold.

Among the several thousand Stalingrad children was seven-year-old Gena Sokolov, the hero of Vladimir Shmerling’s story “The Children of Ivan Sokolov.” He “lived and did not know what grief was, but it came - in broad daylight.” His fate was dramatic: his father went to the front, his mother died, and his younger sister Olya was lost in the turmoil of the war.

“For 160 days we lived in trenches and dugouts, among those who were awarded a medal"For the defense of Stalingrad." We witnessed the Battle of Stalingrad. Unimaginable suffering befell us.

But the Stalingrad soldiers protected us. They warmed us with care and affection, treated us like family, and we will always remember this...

And let these memories of the past help us better appreciate and cherish the present,” Gennady Sokolov, one of those who survived the Stalingrad tragedy, addresses his readers with these words.

2. Analysis of the works of Russian writers

2.1. Lev Kassil

During the war, L. Kassil wrote essays and stories dedicated to children: the collections “Ordinary Guys”, “Flammable Cargo”, a book about Soviet army, addressed to young children and called “Your Defenders.”

L. Kassil's first stories and essays about the war talked about the participation of children and teenagers in the struggle for victory Soviet people. “Fedya from the Submarine”, “Three Fabbugs”, “Flammable Cargo” turned out to be original sketches for a major story written during the war, “My Dear Boys”

Cover of V. Kataev’s book “Son of the Regiment”

A. Rybakov