WEBVTT 00:00:06.13 --> 00:00:11.11 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I was overjoyed to hear the Germans had been defeated near Moscow. 00:00:12.10 --> 00:00:14.22 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] It means the war will soon be over. 00:00:16.20 --> 00:00:20.16 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] Darling, we'll fight the enemy till our last drop of blood. 00:00:21.01 --> 00:00:24.06 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I'm in hospital now, but it's not serious. 00:00:26.16 --> 00:00:29.11 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] The Nazis paid a high price to wound me. 00:00:29.12 --> 00:00:31.17 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I killed six Germans 00:00:31.18 --> 00:00:34.22 and captured the same number. 00:00:37.01 --> 00:00:41.16 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I'll soon rejoin my comrades and take revenge on our hated enemy, 00:00:41.17 --> 00:00:43.05 for our homeland, 00:00:43.09 --> 00:00:44.22 for our families, 00:00:44.24 --> 00:00:46.03 for you. 00:00:46.23 --> 00:00:48.21 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I hope to see you soon. 00:00:49.14 --> 00:00:51.12 [ Evgeny Mishechkin ] I'll always love you... 00:00:10.00 --> 00:00:16.00 Extract from a Red Army’s soldier’s letter to his beloved Read by actor Evgeny Mishechkin 00:00:54.00 --> 00:00:57.00 Died in hospital in December 1941 00:00:01.08 --> 00:00:01.11 [ VO ] Letters from the front. Half-decomposed and in almost illegible 00:00:01.12 --> 00:00:01.16 handwriting, but quite invaluable. [ VO ] They offer the most truthful 00:00:01.16 --> 00:00:01.29 records of World War II. [ VO ] Thanks to letters like this, 00:00:01.30 --> 00:00:01.35 relatives can still find each other. [ VO ] Here are just some of their stories. 00:01:56.06 --> 00:01:59.02 [ LIFE ] [ VO ] Ivan Pavlovich, whose letter is this? 00:01:59.03 --> 00:02:01.12 [ Ivan Pavlovich ] - It's to me. [ VO ] - Right! 00:02:02.07 --> 00:02:03.11 [ VO ] It's your... 00:02:03.12 --> 00:02:06.08 [ Ivan Pavlovich ] - From my mistress. [ VO ] - What? 00:02:06.14 --> 00:02:07.20 [ Ivan Pavlovich ] My sweetheart! 00:02:07.21 --> 00:02:10.03 [ VO ] Oh, your lover wrote this! 00:02:10.04 --> 00:02:11.13 [ VO ] From Romania? 00:02:11.14 --> 00:02:13.17 [ VO ] Near the end of the war? 00:02:16.00 --> 00:02:19.00 [ VO ] Ivan Lotyshev is 96 and lived through the whole war. 00:02:20.00 --> 00:02:23.00 [ VO ] His personal archive consists mostly of letters from young ladies. 00:02:25.19 --> 00:02:28.10 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] There is a letter and picture. 00:02:29.19 --> 00:02:35.03 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] She writes, 'I want to correspond with you... 00:02:35.04 --> 00:02:39.15 to learn about your acts of bravery.' 00:02:40.15 --> 00:02:42.22 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] The picture is beautiful. 00:02:43.16 --> 00:02:46.22 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] She also served in Novorossiysk. 00:02:46.23 --> 00:02:49.12 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] We served in the same city, 00:02:50.11 --> 00:02:54.06 but I never actually met her. 00:02:55.13 --> 00:02:57.00 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] Then later... 00:02:57.07 --> 00:03:00.11 at university I got to meet... 00:03:01.00 --> 00:03:02.19 other girls. 00:03:04.23 --> 00:03:06.15 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] It was wrong of me, 00:03:07.08 --> 00:03:10.13 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] I shouldn’t have stopped writing to her. 00:03:11.03 --> 00:03:13.15 [ VO ] She writes you offended her. 00:03:13.16 --> 00:03:17.16 [ VO ] There was another letter from her, full of tenderness. 00:03:17.17 --> 00:03:22.16 [ VO ] Here it’s, 'Vanusha, I write this letter to say you amaze me. I never… 00:03:23.07 --> 00:03:24.23 [ VO ] It caused such pain…' 00:03:24.24 --> 00:03:28.22 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] A girl, a pretty woman... 00:03:28.23 --> 00:03:30.12 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] What can I say? 00:03:30.24 --> 00:03:34.03 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] She just revived my spirits. 00:03:37.03 --> 00:03:39.16 [ Lotyshev Ivan ] I wrote to lots of women! 00:03:40.21 --> 00:03:43.05 [ VO ] I heard the command, 'all clear' 00:03:43.06 --> 00:03:44.14 and, get moving. 00:03:44.15 --> 00:03:46.16 [ VO ] It was such a happy moment 00:03:46.18 --> 00:03:48.21 to get such a letter from you. 00:03:48.24 --> 00:03:51.03 [ VO ] I don’t know when I can reply. Krasnodar 00:03:54.00 --> 00:03:58.00 [ VO ] Tatyana Vasilevskaya is a publisher. [ VO ] A few years ago, she had an idea - 00:03:59.00 --> 00:04:02.00 to collect all soldiers’ letters from the front into one book. 00:04:06.24 --> 00:04:12.04 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya publisher ] When we began searching, it was easy to find letters in libraries. 00:04:12.14 --> 00:04:16.24 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] Local historians said they knew families who has such letters 00:04:17.00 --> 00:04:21.15 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] People knew about them, read them, and spoke proudly of them. 00:04:21.16 --> 00:04:25.20 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] Neighbours and friends all knew about the letters, 00:04:25.21 --> 00:04:27.23 that knowledge helped us. 00:04:29.00 --> 00:04:34.00 [ VO ] Now the book has grown to two huge volumes of letters, memoires and diaries. 00:04:34:00 00:04:38:00 [ VO ] Its geographical coverage is extensive: Tatyana’s publishing house receives 00:04:38.00 --> 00:04:41.00 war stories from many different countries. 00:04:42.15 --> 00:04:45.21 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] The letters reveal deep truths about war. 00:04:46.00 --> 00:04:50.06 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] They touch everybody’s soul, strengthen our faith. 00:04:50.16 --> 00:04:53.24 [ Tatyana Vasilevskaya ] This is love too. Love for the Motherland. 00:04:56.00 --> 00:05:01.00 Haapsalu, Estonia 00:05:01.00 --> 00:05:07.00 [ VO ] Khristina Kosach was a prisoner in for 2 years. [ VO ]She shared her memories of that time with her granddaughter, 00:05:07.00 --> 00:05:11.00 [ VO ]Larissa, who wrote the stories down to preserve them. 00:05:17.00 --> 00:05:25.00 An Auschwitz prisoner memories Read by actress Tatyana Redko 00:05:14.16 --> 00:05:17.21 [ Tatyana Redko ] In Auschwitz they kept us in cattle sheds. 00:05:18.02 --> 00:05:20.19 [ Tatyana Redko ] There were plank-beds piled up 00:05:20.20 --> 00:05:25.14 three on top of each other, with dirty straw mattresses. 00:05:26.07 --> 00:05:30.02 [ Tatyana Redko ] Each mattress accommodated three or four women. 00:05:30.14 --> 00:05:34.21 [ Tatyana Redko ] In the worn-out matresses the straw had turned to dust. 00:05:34.22 --> 00:05:40.11 [ Tatyana Redko ] The women lay on rough planks with knots of wood sticking into their bodies. 00:05:42.05 --> 00:05:45.17 [ Tatyana Redko ] It was the humiliation that was the worst. 00:05:46.01 --> 00:05:51.01 [ Tatyana Redko ] Once the SS made a group of people work naked in the hard frost. 00:05:52.02 --> 00:05:55.03 [ Tatyana Redko ] In two hours they were frostbitten. 00:05:55.06 --> 00:05:56.14 [ Tatyana Redko ] Work stopped. 00:05:57.07 --> 00:05:59.09 [ Tatyana Redko ] The SS beat the prisoners. 00:05:59.14 --> 00:06:03.06 [ Tatyana Redko ] Any who couldn’t take it and fell to the ground... 00:06:03.22 --> 00:06:06.09 were sent to the gas chamber. 00:06:07.20 --> 00:06:12.19 [ Tatyana Redko ] While alive, my mother understood the same fate awaited her. 00:06:13.12 --> 00:06:17.06 [ Tatyana Redko ] She tried to calm me and said she'd lived her days. 00:06:17.18 --> 00:06:19.09 [ Tatyana Redko ] She was sorry for me, 00:06:19.18 --> 00:06:22.13 for how much I was going to go through. 00:06:23.19 --> 00:06:26.02 [ Tatyana Redko ] The next evening... 00:06:27.00 --> 00:06:31.00 [ Tatyana Redko ] I saw flames and smoke coming from the crematorium. 00:06:31.11 --> 00:06:34.18 [ Tatyana Redko ] Many innocent people were burned there. 00:06:35.00 --> 00:06:36.09 [ Tatyana Redko ] Among them... 00:06:37.05 --> 00:06:38.12 was also my... 00:06:40.01 --> 00:06:41.20 mother. 00:07:08.06 --> 00:07:13.14 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] I asked my gran about the war. [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She said: 'What to say? War is terrible.' 00:07:13.15 --> 00:07:16.20 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She showed me a tattooed number on her hand. 00:07:16.21 --> 00:07:21.07 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Look, she said, all I have left from the concentration camp. 00:07:21.16 --> 00:07:27.09 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Gran’s sister and mother-in-law were sent to the concentration camp. 00:07:30.22 --> 00:07:32.16 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] It was sheer horror. 00:07:32.17 --> 00:07:36.16 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Everybody lined up in front of the crematorium. 00:07:37.04 --> 00:07:41.16 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] They counted along the line: burn 5, leave the 6th alive... 00:07:41.18 --> 00:07:44.11 ... burn 5, leave the 6th alive. 00:07:44.14 --> 00:07:50.08 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Mother-in-law was first in line, her sister was second, they were both burned. 00:07:50.09 --> 00:07:53.08 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] It all happened right before her eyes. 00:07:53.09 --> 00:07:56.17 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] It was such psychological... pressure, 00:07:56.18 --> 00:07:59.16 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Grandma said she could hardly bear it. 00:07:59.17 --> 00:08:03.11 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Each time she stood in front of the crematorium... 00:08:03.14 --> 00:08:08.06 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She thought, that was it, she'd never see her kids again, 00:08:08.14 --> 00:08:11.14 better that they'd burned her at once. 00:08:28.00 --> 00:08:29.18 [ LIFE ] Hello, my dearest… 00:08:39.07 --> 00:08:41.18 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Granny was very kind hearted. 00:08:43.24 --> 00:08:49.16 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She brought us all up. She brought up my children, my sister's kids. 00:08:49.20 --> 00:08:53.12 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] We could always leave children with her, 00:08:53.13 --> 00:08:56.21 knowing they'd be fed and cared for. 00:08:59.13 --> 00:09:03.19 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She could not accept it when we shouted at our children. 00:09:03.20 --> 00:09:08.00 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] She always told us: 'My God, I survived such horror 00:09:08.02 --> 00:09:12.08 and never shouted at my kids, why are you shouting at yours?' 00:09:12.09 --> 00:09:16.08 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] It was always something unacceptable to her. 00:09:23.23 --> 00:09:27.13 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] One evening I was on the web and wrote this story. 00:09:27.23 --> 00:09:31.04 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Tanya contacted me the very next day. 00:09:31.07 --> 00:09:35.04 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] I was amazed and pleasantly surprised. 00:09:36.10 --> 00:09:38.13 [ LIFE ] Just to say in a few words... 00:09:38.14 --> 00:09:42.16 [ LIFE ] I can relate to the horrors your grandmother suffered. 00:09:49.09 --> 00:09:51.16 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] She wrote an amazing... 00:09:52.09 --> 00:09:54.17 story of her grandmother. 00:09:56.22 --> 00:10:01.15 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] A woman, whose family died before her eyes, in a crematorium. 00:10:02.05 --> 00:10:06.02 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] Honestly, I just cried when I read that story. 00:10:07.24 --> 00:10:11.14 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] I began to read about Auschwitz. 00:10:11.18 --> 00:10:17.04 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] It was a catastrophe for everybody. [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] I wouldn’t want to experience it. 00:10:18.02 --> 00:10:22.00 [ Энгельс Александр, директор музея истории еврейского наследия и холокоста. ] Auschwitz was the most terrible of all the death camps. 00:10:22.01 --> 00:10:26.13 [ Aleksandr Engels ] Of course, people suffered the most inhuman tragedies. 00:10:27.09 --> 00:10:29.04 [ Aleksandr Engels ] Besides hard work 00:10:29.05 --> 00:10:34.01 they were subjected to tests, trials, torture... 00:10:34.02 --> 00:10:36.08 [ Aleksandr Engels ] You can't win wars that way. 00:10:36.09 --> 00:10:40.06 [ Aleksandr Engels ] It was just brutality on an unprecedented scale. 00:10:40.07 --> 00:10:43.24 [ Aleksandr Engels ] The most terrible aspect of human beings. 00:10:44.00 --> 00:10:48.10 [ Aleksandr Engels ] Both fascism and war evoke these bad qualities in people. 00:10:51.16 --> 00:10:54.17 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] This story cut me to the heart. 00:10:55.01 --> 00:10:57.16 [ Boltayevskaya Тatyana ] I decided to take part... 00:10:58.07 --> 00:11:02.10 in the Immortal Regiment with her grandmother’s photo. 00:11:03.00 --> 00:11:08.00 Moscow 00:11:05.00 --> 00:11:08.00 [ VO ] The Immortal Regiment event has now taken place in Russia for a few years. 00:11:10.00 --> 00:11:16.00 [ VO ]On the 9th of May, people take to the streets in cities and villages carrying portraits of relatives who fought in the war. 00:11:18.00 --> 00:11:20.00 [ VO ]There are processions like this in more than 50 countries. 00:11:26.00 --> 00:11:29.00 [ VO ]Larissa lives in Estonia. [ VO ]She wanted her grandmother’s portrait 00:11:29.00 --> 00:11:34.00 to be carried through the streets of Moscow. [ VO ] Tatyana responded to her request. 00:11:36.24 --> 00:11:42.19 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] Such a river of portraits of people, of relatives... 00:11:42.21 --> 00:11:47.01 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] All of them so happy to honour their relatives. 00:11:47.03 --> 00:11:50.02 [ Larissa Valjajeva ] I hope no one and nothing is forgotten 00:11:50.08 --> 00:11:53.15 and that future generations never forget. 00:12:06.00 --> 00:12:12.00 [ VO ] Olga Barmina’s father died in the war. [ VO ] She has treasured his letters from the front for more than 70 years. 00:12:13.00 --> 00:12:20.00 [ VO ] She learnt from the letters that her father had sisters and brothers, who had all been separated by war. 00:12:20.00 --> 00:12:26.00 [ VO ] But a few years ago, a niece found her, t hat was Tatyana Boltayevskaya herself. 00:12:26.08 --> 00:12:28.00 [ Tatyana and Olga, life ] It’s a good letter. 00:12:28.01 --> 00:12:34.17 [ Tatyana and Olga, life ] You were talking about a letter, in which he writes of reaching Kerch. 00:12:34.18 --> 00:12:38.02 [ Tatyana and Olga, life ] Yes, he wrote a letter to mother saying, 00:12:38.10 --> 00:12:43.03 [ Tatyana and Olga, life ] 'My dear Nina, if I manage to survive... 00:12:43.22 --> 00:12:45.18 we will definitely... 00:12:46.05 --> 00:12:48.04 move to the Crimea.' 00:12:52.00 --> 00:12:57.00 Excerpt from a a Staff Sergeant’s letter to his wife and daughter Read by actor Roman Kurtsyn 00:12:50.03 --> 00:12:52.23 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] Hello Nina, my love, and baby Olga. 00:12:54.02 --> 00:12:57.05 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] Nothing in this war is harder to bear, 00:12:57.10 --> 00:13:01.12 than being separated from you, my dear and our daughter. 00:13:02.15 --> 00:13:05.13 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] I regret not seeing our daughter grow, 00:13:05.14 --> 00:13:08.09 missing her first steps and words. 00:13:09.24 --> 00:13:11.24 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] I'm in the Crimea. 00:13:14.10 --> 00:13:16.03 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] This land is blessed. 00:13:16.19 --> 00:13:19.23 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] Poppies cover it like a red carpet. 00:13:21.21 --> 00:13:24.12 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] I can't believe the enemy is here, 00:13:24.13 --> 00:13:26.21 killing every living thing. 00:13:27.04 --> 00:13:29.06 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] When we defeat the Nazis, 00:13:30.00 --> 00:13:34.18 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] I'll bring you and little Olga here to live happily ever after. 00:13:35.12 --> 00:13:38.02 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] We'll walk in the poppy fields... 00:13:39.23 --> 00:13:42.04 and listen to the silence. 00:13:43.02 --> 00:13:45.04 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] Lots of kisses, my love. 00:13:45.18 --> 00:13:48.10 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] Take care of yourself and our baby. 00:13:49.04 --> 00:13:50.20 [ Roman Kurtsyn ] I'll be back soon. 00:13:54.06 --> 00:13:57.12 [ LIFE ] Attention, this is Moscow calling! 00:13:58.10 --> 00:14:01.22 [ LIFE ] German armed forces 00:14:02.06 --> 00:14:04.02 have attacked 00:14:04.15 --> 00:14:08.02 the borders of the Soviet Union. 00:14:09.01 --> 00:14:11.20 [ Olga Barmina ] When the start of war was announced, 00:14:11.21 --> 00:14:14.01 [ Olga Barmina ] Dad immediately enlisted. 00:14:14.13 --> 00:14:17.20 [ Olga Barmina ] He was a platoon commander, a staff sergeant. 00:14:18.17 --> 00:14:24.03 [ Olga Barmina ] He was killed right away by shrapnel. 00:14:25.03 --> 00:14:30.08 [ Olga Barmina ] Friends wrote to Mum that he died immediately, without suffering. 00:14:30.09 --> 00:14:34.05 [ Olga Barmina ] We've looked hard but don't know where he's buried. 00:14:40.00 --> 00:14:43.00 [ VO ] Because of failing health, [ VO ] Olga Barmina can’t visit her father’s grave. 00:14:44.00 --> 00:14:46.00 [ VO ] She asked Tatyana to find out where he was buried. 00:14:55.04 --> 00:14:58.20 [ Tatyana Boltayevskaya ] I managed to find information on the internet: 00:14:58.21 --> 00:15:03.05 he was killed near a village called Baksy and buried there. 00:15:11.18 --> 00:15:17.00 [ LIFE ] The thing is, all these surnames aren’t listed in alphabetic order. 00:15:17.01 --> 00:15:19.07 [ LIFE ] They’re all mixed up. 00:15:20.22 --> 00:15:22.03 [ LIFE ] I've found it. 00:15:22.10 --> 00:15:23.14 [ LIFE ] Here it is! 00:15:24.06 --> 00:15:25.10 [ LIFE ] Mishenin, 00:15:26.00 --> 00:15:29.01 [ LIFE ] Vasily Vasiliyevich - Staff Sergeant. 00:15:30.02 --> 00:15:31.19 [ LIFE ] There’s his surname. 00:15:38.05 --> 00:15:42.14 [ LIFE ] Wonderful! Tatyana, well done. [ LIFE ] You did a great job. 00:15:43.13 --> 00:15:45.08 [ LIFE ] Really great! 00:15:48.13 --> 00:15:52.06 [ Olga ] He wrote to Nina when he was on the Taman peninsula, 00:15:52.08 --> 00:15:55.19 saying what a beautiful place it is. 00:15:55.20 --> 00:16:00.05 [ Olga ] If I survive, you and little Olga will live in the Crimea. 00:16:01.10 --> 00:16:05.20 [ Olga ] So I came to the Crimea on March 5, 1971, 00:16:05.21 --> 00:16:08.17 and Mum arrived in 1985. 00:16:08.23 --> 00:16:14.05 [ Olga ] And Mum was buried here. [ Olga ] So they both lie in the same Crimean soil. 00:16:20.00 --> 00:16:25.00 Polyarnye Zori 00:16:25.00 --> 00:16:30.00 [ VO ] Ekaterina Ignasheva was born and raised in the Arctic circle where it’s winter almost all year round. 00:16:31.00 --> 00:16:35.00 [ VO ]Ekaterina’s father came here from Leningrad to work. [ VO ]He reluctantly talked to his daughter about his childhood. 00:16:36.00 --> 00:16:43.00 [ VO ]When he was seven, he and his mother were under siege in Leningrad. [ VO ]Growing up, he found it easier to write letters about that time. 00:16:48.00 --> 00:16:55.00 From the memoires of a 7-year-old in besieged Leningrad Read by actor Dmitry Bagin 00:16:48.02 --> 00:16:49.11 [ Dmitry Bagin ] All I remember 00:16:49.24 --> 00:16:52.04 is the constant hunger. 00:16:53.04 --> 00:16:55.21 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I could think of nothing else. 00:16:56.21 --> 00:16:59.00 [ Dmitry Bagin ] It was cold in winter, too. 00:17:00.09 --> 00:17:04.12 [ Dmitry Bagin ] We burned all the floorboards, ate all the wallpaper. 00:17:06.03 --> 00:17:09.03 [ Dmitry Bagin ] My mother and sister starved to death, 00:17:09.04 --> 00:17:12.00 my father died in an air raid. 00:17:13.05 --> 00:17:14.11 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I am alone. 00:17:15.15 --> 00:17:17.08 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I am just seven, 00:17:18.05 --> 00:17:20.00 with nothing to eat. 00:17:23.19 --> 00:17:28.11 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I lay on the bed, covered myself in an old blanket... 00:17:28.17 --> 00:17:30.24 and waited to die. 00:17:33.16 --> 00:17:39.02 [ Dmitry Bagin ] In my delirium, I dreamt of a juicy, red apple. 00:17:39.17 --> 00:17:41.21 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I could even smell it. 00:17:42.21 --> 00:17:45.21 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I held out my hand towards the apple... 00:17:47.07 --> 00:17:49.04 but couldn't reach it. 00:17:50.21 --> 00:17:52.18 [ Dmitry Bagin ] It was right there! 00:17:52.19 --> 00:17:55.24 [ Dmitry Bagin ] So close, I could almost taste it. 00:18:00.17 --> 00:18:03.03 [ Dmitry Bagin ] The neighbours' cries woke me. 00:18:03.04 --> 00:18:05.20 [ Dmitry Bagin ] Uncle Ivan's daughter had died. 00:18:08.08 --> 00:18:10.18 [ Dmitry Bagin ] We went to school together. 00:18:13.17 --> 00:18:16.02 [ Dmitry Bagin ] If only it would happen to me... 00:18:16.11 --> 00:18:17.16 [ Dmitry Bagin ] If I died... 00:18:18.12 --> 00:18:20.07 the hunger would go. 00:18:21.22 --> 00:18:24.11 [ Dmitry Bagin ] I wouldn't want anything anymore. 00:18:44.10 --> 00:18:47.20 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva, Polyarnye Zori’s Immortal Regiment movement coordinator ] I don’t remember much but when I was a child 00:18:47.21 --> 00:18:51.20 father often talked a lot about the war. 00:18:51.21 --> 00:18:56.23 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] About the siege of Leningrad. [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] I know it was hard for him to recall it. 00:18:57.01 --> 00:19:03.08 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] During the hardest winter of the siege he wasn’t evacuated with his family. 00:19:03.09 --> 00:19:07.05 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] My father, the only child, his parents and granny. 00:19:07.06 --> 00:19:10.24 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] Maybe they thought it wouldn’t last long. 00:19:17.02 --> 00:19:20.01 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] It was very hard for my father. 00:19:21.21 --> 00:19:25.13 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] He had to sleep with his dead mother for 3 days, 00:19:25.14 --> 00:19:28.04 in a bed in a frozen apartment, 00:19:29.09 --> 00:19:32.13 wrapped in a blanket, cold and weak, 00:19:32.14 --> 00:19:34.20 he couldn’t even stand. 00:19:40.07 --> 00:19:42.14 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] A caretaker lady saved him. 00:19:42.16 --> 00:19:47.10 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] He didn’t find an orphanage in Leningrad. 00:19:47.16 --> 00:19:51.21 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] So he went to his aunt in the Voronezh region. 00:19:52.19 --> 00:19:56.04 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] And they took him in as if one of their own. 00:19:57.08 --> 00:20:02.04 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] My father understood everything and felt like a parasite. 00:20:02.17 --> 00:20:05.11 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] He said he used to collect berries 00:20:05.23 --> 00:20:09.00 and take them to the trains. 00:20:09.20 --> 00:20:12.06 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] He sold them in little bags 00:20:13.12 --> 00:20:15.23 to give his aunt a little money, 00:20:15.24 --> 00:20:17.06 to repay her. 00:20:29.00 --> 00:20:36.00 [ VO ] Polyarnye Zori town is on the Kola peninsula, within the Polar circle. [ VO ] Ekaterina wanted the townsfolk 00:20:36.00 --> 00:20:40.00 to be able to carry their own relatives’ portraits along the Main Street on the 9th of May. 00:20:41.00 --> 00:20:46.00 [ VO ] That’s why she became Polyarnye Zori’s Immortal Regiment movement coordinator. 00:20:49.07 --> 00:20:54.17 [ LIFE ] We won't drastically change or remove the St George’s ribbon, right? 00:20:54.18 --> 00:20:59.20 [ LIFE ] We’d better leave it as it divides the image and looks alright. 00:21:01.22 --> 00:21:06.05 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva, Immortal Regiment movement coordinator in Polyarnye Zori town ] I learned about the Immortal Regiment by chance. 00:21:06.08 --> 00:21:07.24 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] I was so happy. 00:21:08.00 --> 00:21:10.23 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] And I immediately wanted 00:21:11.23 --> 00:21:13.23 to become a coordinator. 00:21:13.24 --> 00:21:17.07 [ LIFE ] Liza, this is the Immortal Regiment. 00:21:17.13 --> 00:21:20.24 [ LIFE ] What are you waving about? [ LIFE ] Don’t do that! 00:21:27.00 --> 00:21:29.16 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] We must commemorate this war. 00:21:29.17 --> 00:21:32.17 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] We must remember our relatives, 00:21:32.18 --> 00:21:39.15 who achieved victory in the harshest of conditions. 00:21:39.16 --> 00:21:43.21 [ Ekaterina Ignasheva ] It’s an examination of conscience, something like that. 00:21:52.12 --> 00:21:57.15 [ Vadim Minin ] It was mostly Ekaterina who inspired us to do it. 00:21:58.12 --> 00:22:02.07 [ Vadim Minin ] She established the entire movement 00:22:02.15 --> 00:22:03.22 in the town. 00:22:04.03 --> 00:22:07.05 [ Vadim Minin ] She suggested I participate, too. 00:22:08.06 --> 00:22:12.04 [ Vadim Minin ] We agreed, found the photos and had the signs made. 00:22:15.00 --> 00:22:20.00 [ VO ] Vadim Minin’s grandfather Pavel died in the war. [ VO ] The family has only one photograph of him remaining. 00:22:22.05 --> 00:22:24.06 [ Vadim Minin ] It was almost May 9. 00:22:24.07 --> 00:22:29.02 [ Vadim Minin ] My sister called, saying she'd found the Immortal Regiment webpage 00:22:29.03 --> 00:22:31.00 and our photo was there. 00:22:31.01 --> 00:22:34.24 [ Vadim Minin ] The small one of granddad, but there it was enlarged. 00:22:35.00 --> 00:22:39.01 [ Vadim Minin ] That was the Immortal Regiment's webpage in Kaluga. 00:22:39.03 --> 00:22:43.01 [ Vadim Minin ] It was signed Tatyana Semyonova, his granddaughter. 00:22:43.02 --> 00:22:49.04 [ Vadim Minin ] So we thought maybe before the war he had a family there we didn’t know about. 00:22:51.00 --> 00:22:56.00 {The city of} Kaluga 00:22:56.00 --> 00:22:59.00 [ VO ] Vadim and his sister started looking for Tatyana Semyonova. 00:23:01.06 --> 00:23:04.06 [ LIFE ] Who else do you know? [ LIFE ] Who else is there? 00:23:04.07 --> 00:23:06.13 [ LIFE ] Tatyana? Right? 00:23:07.20 --> 00:23:12.08 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] Someone rang me, saying it was the Immortal Regiment. 00:23:12.09 --> 00:23:16.13 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] They told me Pavel Ryabtsev had a son, and they’d found him. 00:23:16.14 --> 00:23:20.17 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] I asked them to stop and repeat what they'd said. 00:23:20.18 --> 00:23:25.05 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] So I had his phone number. [ Tatyana Semyonova ] As I was dialing I had doubts. 00:23:25.07 --> 00:23:27.17 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] What was I going to say? And how? 00:23:27.18 --> 00:23:29.23 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] So I just dialed and said, 00:23:30.05 --> 00:23:32.10 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] Hi, I'm Tatyana from Kaluga, 00:23:32.11 --> 00:23:33.21 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] I'm your sister. 00:23:33.22 --> 00:23:38.12 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] That’s it. I think we just cried for the first five minutes. 00:23:39.00 --> 00:23:43.00 [ VO ] Vadim’s grandfather Pavel and Tatyana’s grandfather Kirill are brothers. 00:23:45.00 --> 00:23:48.00 [ VO ] They both went to war but Pavel died and Kirill came home. 00:23:49.00 --> 00:23:53.00 [ VO ] Vadim told Tatyana the stories of his grandfather’s love and death. 00:24:00.07 --> 00:24:04.12 [ Vadim Minin ] Grandfather met grandmother in Polyarnoe, Rybachy. 00:24:05.09 --> 00:24:09.03 [ Vadim Minin ] He put to sea, and died serving on a destroyer. 00:24:09.21 --> 00:24:12.17 [ Vadim Minin ] We didn’t even know the name of the ship. 00:24:12.18 --> 00:24:15.14 [ Vadim Minin ] Later I read that only one destroyer, 00:24:15.15 --> 00:24:19.08 was sunk in the Northern Fleet, the 'Deyatelny' 00:24:24.23 --> 00:24:28.23 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] When we had tea together, [ Tatyana Semyonova ] I said it all worked out, right? 00:24:29.01 --> 00:24:34.08 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] They must be looking down now, saying, [ Tatyana Semyonova ] 'Well done, they found each other.' 00:24:34.09 --> 00:24:36.19 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] Maybe it even calmed them down. 00:24:36.22 --> 00:24:42.18 [ Tatyana Semyonova ] Our granddads are saying, 'Finally they’re all together, just as we wanted.' 00:24:44.17 --> 00:24:47.10 [ LIFE ] The weather worsened by the hour. 00:24:48.00 --> 00:24:52.10 [ LIFE ] Snow flurries came, bringing zero visibility. 00:24:55.00 --> 00:25:07.00 From a letter of a captain to his wife Actor Maksim Demchenko reading 00:24:54.06 --> 00:24:56.24 [ Maksim Demchenko ] It's our second day out of harbour. 00:24:57.00 --> 00:25:00.07 [ Maksim Demchenko ] Yesterday, we sank yet another submarine. 00:25:00.08 --> 00:25:03.17 [ Maksim Demchenko ] These waters are teeming with German subs. 00:25:04.14 --> 00:25:06.00 [ Maksim Demchenko ] The weather... 00:25:06.14 --> 00:25:08.09 deteriorated badly. 00:25:09.22 --> 00:25:11.18 [ Maksim Demchenko ] There was a storm. 00:25:14.00 --> 00:25:16.15 [ Maksim Demchenko ] I yearn for you with all my heart. 00:25:17.06 --> 00:25:20.05 [ Maksim Demchenko ] I miss you most when it’s snowing. 00:25:21.07 --> 00:25:22.20 [ Maksim Demchenko ] It’s like... 00:25:23.02 --> 00:25:27.00 [ Maksim Demchenko ] It's like a white fence separating us. 00:25:29.00 --> 00:25:31.16 [ Maksim Demchenko ] In a week, we’ll dock in our city. 00:25:32.04 --> 00:25:34.11 [ Maksim Demchenko ] I’ll get three days leave. 00:25:36.04 --> 00:25:38.06 [ Maksim Demchenko ] A whole three days for us. 00:25:39.15 --> 00:25:42.18 [ Maksim Demchenko ] It’ll be our first New Year together. 00:25:42.19 --> 00:25:47.02 [ Maksim Demchenko ] After the war, we’ll have many more celebrations together. 00:25:47.05 --> 00:25:50.03 [ Maksim Demchenko ] I know that next year will be special. 00:25:52.17 --> 00:25:55.21 [ Maksim Demchenko ] But for now there’s a white wall of snow. 00:25:56.17 --> 00:25:58.12 [ Maksim Demchenko ] Don’t be sad, my love. 00:25:59.03 --> 00:26:00.20 [ Maksim Demchenko ] I’ll return. 00:26:00.22 --> 00:26:02.04 [ Maksim Demchenko ] And the snow... 00:26:02.15 --> 00:26:04.13 will soon be gone.