Day 28 ~ World War Two and Coffe Land Adventures

30. July

Today was fun! School was good and in history we learned about World War Two from the Russian perspective. It was interesting, considering how much attention is paid to this war in school. Let me start by pointing out some important dates..

June 22nd 1941 – Russia enters the War
December 7th 1941 – United States enters the War
May 8th 1945 – Victory Day US and Europe
May 9th 1945 – Victory Day Russia – Last big battle for Prague ends.
September 2nd 1945 – End of Russian campaign

The British and Americans had the most responsibility against Japan, Russia didn’t go after Japan until August of 1945. The impact over the allies victory over Germany and the axis of evil had a very different impact on Russia.

The material effect of the war in Russia was very extensive and grave. Novgorod was demolished, and currently is much smaller than before the war. Before the war Novgorod was not very industrial and had no role in the Soviet Union. A majority of those living in Novgorod left the city before the Germans came. A majority of elders currently in Novgorod were not born in Novgorod but migrated here from all over.
Here are some statistics on how much the Germans destroyed in Russia:
32, 000 factories, 4,000 railroad stations, 38,000 hospitals, 82,000 schools, 400 museums and 43,000 libraries.

Russia lost 1/3 of it’s National treasures, and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Ukraine and other countries became free.

Of course the most valuable loss was lives. There is no correct statistic of Soviet Union deaths. The officially recognized number is 27 million. Of that 11 million was military. To put things in perspective the United States lost 250,000 people in the war.

However no statistics were ever done on how many people were wounded, handicapped, orphaned, in german camps, or returning soldiers. It’s hard to know how many broken families there were, although every family was affected. Also, there was no special psychological help for those who returned. There is so much that is hard to know about the war and it’s impacts.

Of those 27 million that died, most of them were of reproductive age. 18 to 20 years later there was a large population gap for a long time. Presently the gap is still not all filled.

The National memory of the war is that it was not the biggest event of the 20th century. Although, I do not know what is. The war was more of a psychological shock. The Russians understood the intentions of the Germans, to kill everyone. It was known as a patriotic war and the question was over life and death, nothing else.
In the first year of the war no one was happy with the Germans but it wasn’t the worst situation. However, by the end of the war the Russian people understood this was a war for your life. Not a war for Communism, not a war for Stalin, but for your life. The Russians were fighting for their lives. The Germans at the time were the best military machine. In the eyes of the Russian people, the war was a horrible crime.

The second national memory of the war was that of involvement. All families were involved. Stas went onto give some personal stories of the war from his own family.
Stas’ father is Ukrainian and his mother Bela- Russian, from Belarus. His father was also half Jew. During the war Stas’ father was seven years old. Stas grandfather was a officer in the Red Army and worked as a medic. Stas father only survived by chance. The family who offered their hospitality to Stas father taught the children to jump in a hole under the house whenever they saw Germans at their house. They were told not to go outside the confines of the yard. Furthermore, the Germans never spent more than 2 or 3 nights in a village, and that was also to their advantage. In the village the only cruel thing that the Germans did was to kill a boy who had found the binoculars of a German officer. When the officer returned to get them and asked who had taken them he then shot the boy on the spot.

300 Jews were rounded up and killed 6km from the village. Stas grandfather, his father’s father, was a military doctor from 1932 to the end of the war. On paper he was with the motorized division but in actuality he was with the infantry. His group was attacked by the Germans, on the 1st day June 23 all the troops in the grandfathers division disappeared. The grandfather at the time was on holiday because his daughter was supposed to have surgery in St. Petersburg. He received a telegram to come home immediately, so he came home. The telegram was sent because the war had started. When he returned he didn’t find anyone because they had all disappeared by now. He ended up coming across other soldiers in other divisions. He became a commander of M.A.S.H.

Stas grandfather came back from the war without injury. From records that Stas received from him he learned that 60,000 people came through the hospital that his grandfather commanded. 2.5% of those died, but the rest were divided based on injuries and sent further. Stas says that his grandfather never talked about the war, and he wonders that as a historian why he never asked him questions.
The younger brother of Stas grandfather was a chemical engineer who volunteered himself to serve in the war because he wanted to stay with his friends. He was a lieutenant, a duty officer of a staff quarter. He eventually disappeared and no one knows what happened to him. Later people found out that some Finnish commanders attacked the staff quarter where this man was, but that’s only a speculation. This man has a daughter who was born in 1941 who now lives in Boston, she never knew her father.

It is also interesting to keep in mind that 80% of the Germans were destroyed by Russia. Only 20% were destroyed by the United States and the British.

Nowadays the war is part of National Mythology. People age 45 – 90+ have a personal link to the war. War is part of the national mythology. It is a story of suffering, loss, and a glorious victory over the Germans. The Russian people are proud. All Nations are united under this fact.

However, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia all question the role of Russia in the war. Russians are sure that they have paid any debts to these countries through all of the lives that were lost. Disputes of the historical past still influence relations and actions now.

If anyone is wondering why these countries question Russia during the War it is because Russian and Germany has a Non-Aggression pact before Russia entered the war. The war had already been going on before Russia and the United States had even entered the war.

Thanks to Doug, who is a Russian History major, for explaining to me this pact after class! Apparently, Russia and Germany had this pact with each other that neither country would harm or go after each other and in return Germany could go wherever it wanted and Russia wouldn’t do anything. So, when Germany went and took control over Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia Russia stood by and did nothing. Of course the pact was broken when Germany marched into Russia. Doug says that Germany’s biggest mistake was going into Russia, and perhaps they could have won the war if they did not go into Russia.

Overall, these four countries still hold this against Russia. Most if not all of these countries are currently members of the European Union and this spoils relations between Russia and the European Union.

The war is still a huge money and business maker. Stas says that his father still receives a small pension from Germany for any emotional damages the war had on him as a boy. Germany lost a lot of its country and is still paying for the war.
Overall this lecture was very interesting to listen to. Stas went onto mention that in schools children are not taught anything about the events of the war that happened before Russia got involved. Most of them are also not taught about American and British involvement, Normandy or much from the western front. Stas says this is unfortunate and not the correct teaching.

Although, from an American perspective not much attention is paid to the Russian involvement in the war or the amount of people lost. I was thinking a lot that so much information is spent on learning about the Holocaust, and even from such an early age. Now, I am not saying any of this to lessen the memory of those lost, or the horrific-ness of the events, but if you put things in perspective the Holocaust was not as big as compared to the Russian loss. Not to say that it wasn’t horrible and shouldn’t be remembered as it is, but there should be a more balanced focus on the events of the war. Personally I don’t ever remember learning about Russia’s involvement in the war in school.

Also, I really appreciated Stas telling us these personal stories. Stas said however that he believes that history should be taught on the basis of everyday life and through the eyes of the common people. The lives or Princes and Generals are exceptions.

Overall, this was a very good lecture. To top it off, Stas even brought in the metals that his grandfather had from serving in the war to show us. I took pictures!
After school we were all supposed to get a tour of the Archeological sites around Novgorod by the head of Archeology. Well, needless to say we all waited for about 30 minutes in the Kremlin but the guy never showed up! Liza decided to take us all out for some coffee or ice cream. We all ended up at Coffee Land!

Of course it was great fun as always! I ended up getting a coffee that had ice cream and almonds in it with strawberry sauce on top. It was quite amazing as always. On top of that I got a strawberry tar-tar with balsamic sauce and vanilla curds, according to the menu. Well, when it arrived it looked just liked cottage cheese with strawberries, chocolate sauce, a star fruit and a piece of mint. First of all, it was amazing and secondly, I had never heard of Star fruit before and when I first saw it I thought it was just pineapple shaped as a star. Haha, well, it all ended up being really good. Most of the group left after they ate their food but the main Coffee Land crew, Doug, Michelle, Steve and I, along with Adrian stuck around and hung out.

After a relaxing chat we went out separate ways. It was still a bit early so Michelle, Steve, and I decided to go walking around and we ended up at an antique shop down the street and around the corner. Stas’ friend runs the place. We were there for quite a while checking out all of the neat stuff the guy had. I ended up buying some really old Russian coins and a Matroshka doll for 100 rubles. I was pretty excited about that. I really prefer the more traditional looking Matroshka dolls and they are a bit more expensive, so 100 rubles was great! Other things in the antique store included German playing cards from the war. The owner of the store said that these were a real prize to have and Steve was really interested in them.
When I got home I spent the evening hanging out and watching some music show on TV with Olga after dinner and tea. The show seemed like the talent shows we have in the US. It was silly, but something to watch none the less. I had asked Olga a question about the Soviet Union and this led me to looking at a collection of books that Olga has, what looks like an encyclopedia set or something.

Anyways, Olga had a book all about the Soviet Union with lots of dates, pictures, and writings. All of the books in the series had a publication date of 1975. I obviously couldn’t understand it but looking at the pictures and things was really interesting. As I sat and looked, I wondered how much of the book on the Soviet Union was propaganda. Other books in the set included a book about Biology and one about general Anatomy. All together where are 9 books I think.

I had a ball with the Anatomy book and took a lot of the pictures of the figures because I could recognize them from my own Anatomy books. I figure, maybe I can learn some Russian names for human anatomy. How cool! (yes, I know I am a nerd). It was exciting for me.

For dinner we had Borsch again and I was pretty excited about that. After dinner Olga was organizing two big buckets of berries. I figured out later they were gooseberries. Anyways, when I went to bed she had a huge pot on the stove, as big as the stovetop itself it seemed, with berries cooking. Olga is making jam! It was cute, when Olga was cleaning and organizing the berries Shira was stealing some from the bucket and playing with them on the floor. Shira is so smart! Tomorrow is the last day of history classes, and the last Friday of language class! Yay!
Love,
Sasha


Photo Link: Russia ~ Day 28 ~ Coffee Land Adventure