On the eve of May 9, we spoke to Nadezhda Mochalova, who survived and remembers the Great Patriotic War. And no matter how sad it sounds, she remembers Victory Day as one of the most joyous events of her childhood.
- How old were you when the Great Patriotic War started?
I was born in 1937. When the war started, I was only 4 years old. We were living in station barracks near Moscow, where the railway staff lived. My father worked at the station, and my mother brought up me and my elder sister.
- How did you survive the war, tell us your story?
My memories of the war are terrible. For 10-15 years after the end of the war, I could not hear the sounds of planes without shuddering. If a plane flew by, my heart was in my heels - I was afraid of being bombed again. The house we lived in was half demolished. And I remember, I was walking on the street with a boy of my age, Borka. My elder sister was on her way home from school. She dragged me home because I didn't want to go to lunch. We were just inside and a plane flew over. It dropped a bomb on our house, right in the sandpit where we were sitting. His mother jumped out on the porch at the sound of the plane. That's when the bomb landed. Then we collected their bodies in pieces. We had only bruises, wounds, my head was broken. And as the plane flew, we had dug dugouts in the woods, and we were hiding there. Even now I shudder sometimes. For many years I could not recover from this horror. I feel sorry for the children of Donbass who have experienced this horror again. Because the fear of war remains for life.
- What joyful event did you experience during the war?
The most joyful thing I remember is winning the war. No matter how trivial it sounds. It was very scary and difficult. My mother, sister and I were without a livelihood. Fortunately, my mother could sew boots and shirts, and that is how we earned money. It was hard for women to live alone, we had to build and repair everything ourselves, and we survived on wild foods.
- What does May 9 mean to you?
This is a big holiday for me, we used to get together, celebrate, now almost all my peers have died. Memories are dying out. But I remember this war, I remember this day. I always put a ribbon of Saint George on my chest - closer to my heart.
- What would you like to wish to the younger generation?
To love their homeland, their people, to help each other. I would like to wish that we all, as one, defend our homeland, unite, so that peace on earth could be as soon as possible. Lie less, so that there will be more justice.
Interviewed by Maria Gorshkova