Time travel or celebration

New Year during the Great Patriotic War

(Remote lesson)

Purpose: to form in students an idea of ​​​​celebrating the New Year during the war.

We welcome our guests from Slavgorod, who will go on this journey with us!

Slide #1

Guys, in May 2015 we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory over fascism Let's all go on a journey through time, into the history of our Motherland and find out how the New Year was celebrated during the Great Patriotic War.

But first, I want to listen to you, what do you think, how did you celebrate the New Year in 1941-1942 at the front? (children's answers)

Slide number 2.

“During December 31, our troops continued to fight the enemy on all fronts. In a number of sectors, our troops, overcoming the attempts of the German troops to gain a foothold on new lines, continued to move forward, occupied a number of settlements. During the battles, the enemy suffered great damage in equipment and manpower.

Slide #3 New 1942.

It was a very difficult year for a country that lost a huge number of people, weapons and, most importantly, peaceful life. But by that time, the main thing had been done. We managed to defend Moscow, form Siberian divisions, draw the enemy into the winter campaign and, finally, on December 5, defeat him near Moscow!

But there were still a long 3.5 years of the hardest war ahead.

At the forefront of the year passed in battle. There was no time to celebrate the New Year.

Slide #4

The government's New Year's greetings sounded like this: “Dear comrades! Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union! Fighters, commanders and political workers! On behalf of the Soviet government and the Central Committee, I congratulate you on the New Year and wish all the Soviet peoples in the new year 1942 to completely defeat our mortal enemies - the German invaders! Happy New Year, comrades!

Slide №5,6

Guys, what do you think, during the war in the cities the New Year was celebrated widely, richly?

The New Year was not widely celebrated, but the feeling of the holiday was also important for adults, and for children it healed the souls of people crippled by the horrors of war. During the Great Patriotic War, people were united by a common desire - victory over the enemy.

Slide number 7

In the old photograph you see a Christmas tree celebration in a hospital in besieged Leningrad for children affected by the bombings.

Guys, how do you think, how did they decorate the Christmas tree in those days?

Slide #8 Of course, the New Year cannot be imagined without the main symbol of the New Year celebration - the New Year tree. And New Year decorations, which are part of the history of our country, help to create an atmosphere of magic.

Decorating a Christmas tree - this ritual reminded of a peaceful life and gave strength to hope for an early victory. Since they lived very poorly, they decorated it with what was at hand. Most often, these were home-made toys made of paper, cotton, wood. Sometimes small pieces of bread, lump sugar, nuts wrapped in foil were hung on the Christmas tree.

Slide #9

Christmas decorations were made from everything possible. A burnt-out light bulb was cut off from above, painted, painted, soldered a loop on top, turning it into a kind of New Year's "ball". And sometimes just covered with paint.

Slide number 10

During the war years, parachutists became the most popular toys. They stamped and then painted tin figurines of animals.

Slide #11

They twisted wire decorations: bird houses, baskets, five-pointed red stars. Many toys of that time were made from improvised materials. The star-tip for the Christmas tree could be made from a chemical flask.

Slide №12,13

They made cotton and paper soft toys. For such work, they gave out a “working” bread card - more than 100 grams of black bread per day. Also, military Christmas trees were decorated with “pistols”, “orderly dogs”, and on New Year's cards Santa Claus beat the enemy.

Slide #14

Soldiers, sailors, clowns and other toys were sewn from scraps.

Slide #15

They made toys from pressed cotton. The painted figurine was covered with a starch paste with mica, which made them rigid.

Slide #16

Glass jewelry was made by factories. Berry brushes, leaves, fruits, snowflakes, houses, boats, stars were twisted from production waste.

On the fronts, Christmas trees were decorated with figurines made from shoulder straps, bandages, pieces of cotton wool, wire, cardboard, and even spent cartridges.

Slide #17

After the end of the war, due to devastation and harsh times, Christmas decorations were practically not produced, so sheets of paper with painted animals were sold in stores. They could be cut, glued and hung on a Christmas tree.

Slide №18,19

Guys, what do you think, what was Santa Claus like during the war?

During the war, the traditional image of Santa Claus also changed: he appeared at New Year's trees in the form of a partisan with a gun and read poems about the damned Fritz.

He has no toys

In a bag on the back.

Partisan old grandfather

Winter nights.

Grandfather once, believe me

Make toys.

The fascist beast will not pass

On the edge of the forest!

Slide #20

But no matter what Christmas decorations were hung on the Christmas tree, all this was done in order to celebrate the best holiday of the year with a good mood.

And the beautiful shining Christmas tree illuminated everything around with its light, gave hope for the fulfillment of the most cherished desires!

Guys, at our school there were several toys that were made about 50 years ago, I think it will be interesting for you to see them too. (Toy display)

Slide number 21

And this is what the Victory tree looked like in 1945. On it are the New Year's flags of the countries that won this terrible war.

(In the magazine "Filippok" No. 11-12 for 2013, you can read the stories "New Year and War" and "Painted Christmas Tree" about this)

Ends December 2015 announced by the decision of the heads of state and government of the CIS countries Year of the 70th anniversary of the Victory Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, as well as Year of the Veteran . Throughout this year, in the former Soviet republics, and now independent states, passed numerous thematic Events, dedicated to this great date, and May 9th took place Victory parade in Moscow on Red Square, which was also attended by Moldovan veterans Great Patriotic War.

Just a few days separate us today from final anniversary year 2015 New Year's holiday - one of the most beloved holidays in all the former republics of the Soviet Union, including Republic of Moldova (until August 27, 1991 - the Moldavian SSR). On New Year's Eve - 2016 (from December 16, 2015 to January 15, 2016) in Russia the exhibition will run "New Year during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", dedicated 70th anniversary of the Great Victory , which represents collection various items period wartime concerning new year celebrations . These are greeting cards, postal envelopes and letters from the front, Christmas tree decorations of the war years, posters, invitation cards and children's books, household items and other exhibits from museum funds.

In this regard, it should be especially noted that the good old folk tradition solemnly celebrate the New Year was not forgotten Soviet people even in the most difficult years of the Great Patriotic War. Did not stop, for example, the release Christmas decorations , despite the fact that almost all of the country's production capacities were used mainly for the production of weapons, ammunition, military equipment and, in general, everything that was necessary for the front. in cable factories simple Christmas decorations were then made from the remnants of wire and foil; on electric lamps - blown Christmas balls, which are just light bulbs without a base; paper, cardboard and foil adults and children they made planes and tanks on their own, and an ordinary glass flask could be turned into a spire for a Christmas tree, painted burnt out light bulbs, cartridge cases were used as multi-colored balls, medical cotton wool was used instead of artificial snow. On the Christmas trees wartime could see DIY toys in the form of artificial fruits, nuts, vegetables and berries, and on Christmas cards Santa Claus was invariably depicted as a mighty Red Army soldier or partisan, beating to death a hated enemy who treacherously encroached on the peaceful life and creative work of the Soviet people.

New Year card during the Great Patriotic War was a means of propaganda. Subject of these postcards was entirely related to the war. In December 1941 Art publishing house issued postcards, specially destined for sending to the front. They usually have the inscription "New Year's greetings to the heroic defenders of the Motherland!" , and the families of military personnel could receive from their loved ones New Year's greetings from the front! Taking into account the wartime conditions, the artists strove for relatively simple techniques for the execution of these postcards.

most memorable event of the war years for Soviet children became " Tree of Victory ", the decision to conduct which was taken by the Soviet Government, when Front line passed already outside the territory of the Soviet Union and the Red Army drove the fascist hordes to the West. This is an unforgettable celebration in the Hermitage Garden in Moscow during from December 26, 1944 to January 20, 1945 , signified is the coming victorious end of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany and its satellites.

Within a month, this beautiful Christmas tree was visited by about 150 thousand children from the Russian Federation and other union republics, including those from the liberated from the enemy Moldavian SSR , many of which at that time had just returned from evacuation. In memory of this truly historical event, the name "Victory Tree" is now annual New Year's exhibition Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, which invariably evokes keen interest not only in children, but also in their parents and grandparents. The children get an idea of ​​how the New Year was celebrated in our country during the Great Patriotic War, and the older generation recalls their harsh military childhood.

In the harsh time of the Great Patriotic War New Year was the most important for the soldiers of the Red Army at the front and for the workers in the rear symbol former peaceful and happy life, to which the Soviet people dreamed of returning when the war is finally over complete and final victory over a strong and cruel enemy. For all those who celebrated the New Year then in the trenches , or those who were waiting for their return with Victory in the rear , it was still the same warm and kind family holiday , but during a difficult parting with relatives and friends, seeing them off to the front - with tears in their eyes and with anxiety for their fate in their hearts. Just as in peacetime, during the Great Patriotic War, Soviet people sent to each other New Year's cards with congratulations. But the war imposed on them your imprint - the main wish of the soldiers at the front was a speedy victory over the enemy and the return home, safe and sound, to their families and homes.

During the Great Patriotic War New Year firmly held their positions on a par with the fighting. In the trenches, dugouts and dugouts, they celebrated the New Year holiday as best they could, as evidenced by letters and postcards from the front , military newspapers and memoirs of veterans-front-line soldiers. Despite difficult living conditions, people in the rear also tried to adequately celebrate this holiday. Courageously overcoming devastation, lack of food, the Soviet people didn't give in despondency. New Year's festivities for people were then happy outlet in a series of busy working days, a reminder of a happy peaceful time. In many families, even in besieged Leningrad , still tried to get and decorate the Christmas tree, set, albeit meager, but a festive table, celebrate the New Year with the whole family. The table of ordinary people was then rather meager. In Moscow the cards gave out just a little more food than usual, but, of course, it did not differ in any delicacies. At the New Year's table, people raised their glasses for the freedom of their homeland, for their relatives and friends who were on the front lines, hoping to see them home as soon as possible, safe and sound.

New Year is a special holiday , and at the front during the Great Patriotic War, he had special meaning . Today it is difficult for us to even imagine how and in what conditions the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War celebrated the New Year holidays. In combat conditions, when people face death every minute, even such simple things as a festive table and a Christmas tree seemed then to them something completely incredible, some kind of fragment of a past peaceful life.

New - 1942 year - Soviet country that joined June 22, 1941 in the Great Patriotic War with the fascist aggressors who attacked it, met in December 1941 in a situation , when solid Front line stretched from the North Seas to the Black Sea.

It was a very difficult year for all the peoples of the Soviet Union, including the people of the Moldavian SSR, occupied German and Romanian invaders. A huge number of people and weapons were lost in the battles. Peaceful life was destroyed. And, nevertheless, the Soviet people both at the front and in the rear in December 1941 were significant grounds for a happy new year. By this time they were the main thing is done - managed defend Moscow, form and transfer new divisions to the front, draw the Nazi Wehrmacht into the winter campaign, and, finally, 5th December 1941 defeat his shock tank armies near Moscow. At the beginning of December 1941, the first guards connections. In the new 1942 year The Soviet country entered with the proud understanding that crucial moment already entered the war.

Although there were still ahead long 3.5 years the hardest war with a strong and experienced enemy who enslaved all of Europe, the myth of his invincibility was dispelled by soldiers and commanders of the Red Army in the snow-white fields near Moscow, where German troops lost killed, wounded and captured 581.9 thousand soldiers and officers, thousands of vehicles, hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces, aircraft, and many other military equipment. The defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow sounded to the whole world as a harbinger of the coming victory. Deutsch General Westphal wrote then: “The German army, previously considered invincible, was near Moscow on the verge of destruction ...”

On the front lines New Year 1942 soldiers of the Red Army celebrated in between battles. It was a period of constant attacks and counterattacks from both sides. There was no time to celebrate the new year. Although many military units met the New Year in battle, everyone already felt the taste of victory . In the letters of soldiers to relatives, one constantly encounters the belief that 1942 will be victorious for the USSR. Here is what it said in its summary to citizens SovInformBureau in the evening December 31, 1941: “During December 31, our troops continued to fight with the enemy on all fronts . In a number of sectors, our troops, overcoming the attempts of the German troops to gain a foothold on new lines, continued move forward , occupied a number of settlements and among them the city Kaluga and a large railway junction Novye Kirishi. During the battles, the enemy suffered great damage in equipment and manpower.

For civilians in many cities New Year 1942 also became a holiday. Probably the biggest holiday was then in the city Kalinin (now - Tver), which was released December 26 1941. The city quickly began to recover. For 14 days before the New Year, bakeries, a power station and a post office were launched. Citizens received basic communal benefits and, most importantly, communication with their relatives and friends.

In Moscow on new 1942 year New Year's mass events were also envisaged. The Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR addressed the citizens of the Soviet Union at the front and in the rear with New Year's greetings Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin .

In heavy battles, but with a strong faith in Victory, they met in December 1942 Soviet people New - 1943 .

towards the middle September 1942 Nazi troops were stopped by the Red Army near Stalingrad . The course of the war showed that the strategic plan of the German command, which consisted in capture Stalingrad , cut off the central European part of the Soviet Union from the Volga and Ural rear, surround and take Moscow , - was built on the sand, without taking into account its real forces and Soviet reserves. The complete opposite was the strategic plan for the encirclement and defeat of the Nazi troops near Stalingrad, created by the Supreme High Command of the Red Army.

During December 28, 1942 Red Army troops south Stalingrad , continuing to successfully develop the offensive against Kotelnikovsky direction , advanced for 20-25 kilometers and occupied a number of settlements. Total in 4 days battles, our troops moved forward for 60-85 kilometers . During that day, Soviet troops in the area Middle Don continued to develop the offensive and occupied a number of settlements. On the Central Front and southeast of Nalchik, our troops continued to wage offensive battles.

December 30, 1942 The Kotelnikovskaya operation of the troops of the left wing of the Stalingrad Front ended. Was thwarted attempt unblock the enemy surrounded German group near Stalingrad. Connections Army Group "Goth" were pushed back across the Manych River . The distance separating Stalingrad group enemy from the outer front of the encirclement up to 200-250 km .

Soviet troops liberated from above 130 settlements. Srednedonskaya operation troops of the Southwestern and left wing of the Voronezh Front ended December 30th . Soviet troops advanced on 150-200 km and went to the Nikolskaya-Ilyinka front, and part of the forces fought for Skosyrskaya, Morozovsk and Chernyshkovsky. The enemy was forced refuse from further attempts release Stalingrad group. The formations and units that distinguished themselves in battles received the honorary names Don, Kantemirov, Tatsin.

December 31, 1942 , on the Day 558 Great Patriotic War, surrounded near Stalingrad German troops lost the junction of highways and dirt roads, lost the food bases of the Don Army Group, warehouses with ammunition and other military equipment, and Soviet troops Stalingrad Front reached the Verkhne-Rubezhny-Tormosin-Zhukovsky-Komissarovsky-Gluboky line, troops Southwestern Front advanced to a depth of 200 km and reached the line Novaya Kalitva - Vysochinov - Belovodsk - Voloshin - Millerovo - Ilyinka - Skosyrskaya - Chernyshkovsky.

During the six weeks of fighting on the outskirts of Stalingrad our troops freed from the Nazi invaders 1.589 settlements. During the offensive from November 19, 1942, the Red Army successfully carried out the most difficult operation in a short time, surrounded by a dense ring of 22 enemy divisions near Stalingrad . Red Army defeated a total of 36 divisions , of them 6 tank and inflicted heavy casualties 7 divisions enemy. During this period, the Nazi troops lost in killed 175.000 soldiers and officers; our troops captured 137.650 soldiers and officers of the enemy.

New - 1944th year - the soldiers of the Red Army at the front and the workers of the home front met in December 1943 in high spirits, in a situation where none of the Soviet people had any doubts that the Victory over Nazi Germany was already close and inevitable.

Summer 1943 The Red Army managed to disrupt the counteroffensive of the German Wehrmacht on the Kursk Bulge by inflicting irreparable damage in tanks and other military equipment, as well as in personnel. In the battle between Kursk - Belgorod and Orel Soviet fighters and commanders, in fact, finally broke ridge the German military machine, putting Hitler's Third Reich in front of the realization of a complete catastrophe soon to come.

To December 30, 1943 troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through the enemy defenses 300 km along the front and more than per 100 km in depth. losses suffered eight tank, one motorized, fourteen infantry and two enemy guard divisions. to the end December 31, 1943 Soviet troops reached the defensive line prepared in advance by the enemy to the northwest Vitebsk, where they went on the defensive. ended Gorodok operation , which took place from 13 to 31 December 1943 . Troops 1st Baltic Front broke through five defensive lines of the enemy, defeated 6 infantry and 1 armored divisions enemy, occupied the area up to 170 kilometers along the front and 60 kilometers in depth, released 2623 settlements, eliminated The Gorodok ledge created the conditions for an offensive in the Vitebsk direction. During the operation Soviet troops occupied overhanging position in relation to the northern flank of the German group armies "Center "and violated its flank connection with the group armies "North ". The enemy was forced start withdrawal 16th Army of the Army Group "North" from Nevel.

North of Zhytomyr the 13th and 60th armies continued to advance, the mobile units of which blocked Novograd-Volynsky and cut off the escape routes from Zhytomyr to the west. The enemy was forced withdraw one's troops to the southwest. December 31, 1943 Zhytomyr was liberated by the troops of the 1st Guards and 18th armies. The right flank of the 40th Army, advancing in the Uman direction, successfully advanced south. The fighting was going on 50 km south of Belaya Tserkov in the area of ​​settlements Cherepin, Strizhevka. The left-flank units of the 40th Army fought for Belaya Tserkov. They swept the city from three sides, only the roads to the east remained free.

New - 1945th year - the heroic Soviet people met in December 1944 in full confidence that only a few days remained before the final defeat of the Nazi Third Reich, since the soldiers of the Red Army were already fighting on enemy territory, leaving behind the restored border of the USSR .

During December 28, 1944 within the territory of Hungary Northwest of Gyöndish, Soviet troops, having broken the resistance of the enemy, captured the city and the Széchenyi railway station. AT Czechoslovakia , northeast of the city of Shakhi, the troops of the Red Army, operating in difficult conditions of mountainous and wooded terrain, as a result of stubborn battles, cleared the area between the Ipel and Gron rivers from the enemy and reached the eastern bank of the Gron river from the city of Levice to the Danube. Near Budapest Soviet troops continued fighting to destroy the enemy grouping surrounded in the city and at the same time to destroy the encircled enemy units in the mountainous and wooded area in the bend of the Danube north of Budapest. North of the city Szekesfehervar our troops cleared the mountainous and wooded region of the enemy and occupied the city and the railway station of Polgard.

December 29, 1944 the commanders of the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts R. Ya. Malinovsky and F. I. Tolbukhin presented the command of the encircled in Budapest enemy groupings ultimatum . The German command rejected. Parliamentarian of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Captain Miklos Steinmetz was met with fire and killed. Parliamentarian of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Captain I. A. Ostapenko the Germans reported their refusal to capitulate, and when he returned, they shot him in the back. After that, the Soviet troops, continuing the fighting to destroy the enemy grouping surrounded in Budapest, broke in to the western part of the city, where they occupied several blocks.

December 31, 1944, on the 1289th day in yn, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front completed their task by environment the Budapest grouping and the creation of an external front of encirclement at a given line. The outer front of the encirclement passed along the Nesmey line - west of Zamoya - Lake Balaton. On the section Lake Balaton - the Drava River, the front remained unchanged.

Thus began the New Year 1945, which became a joyful year of the Victory of the Soviet people and their valiant Red Army in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany and a bloc of fascist states.

February 4 - 11, 1945 in Yalta the second meeting of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition took place - USSR, USA and Great Britain during the Second World War, dedicated to the establishment post-war world order . Arrangements Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in Yalta they ensured peace for many years to come.

Conference participants agreed on the need to disarm and dissolve all German armed forces , destroy german general staff b, liquidate the war industry, punish all war criminals , liquidate Nazi party and Nazi laws. Issues were discussed about reparations from Germany, about a liberated Europe, about Poland, about Yugoslavia, about the creation of an international peacekeeping organization - UN and a permanent body attached to it - Security Council . A separate agreement provided entry of the USSR into the war against Japan 2 - 3 months after the end of hostilities in Europe. Exactly Yalta decisions laid the foundation for multipolar world . At the Yalta Conference, principles and mechanisms were formulated that allowed states and peoples to live in peace and overcome contradictions, despite very significant differences on many issues.

1945 was the last year of the Great Patriotic War , in the first half of which the troops of the Red Army completed the defeat of the German Wehrmacht and forced the Third Reich to complete and unconditional surrender. January 12 - February 3, 1945 there was an offensive of Soviet troops in Poland and East Prussia ("Vistula-Oder operation"). January 17 Soviet troops, together with the 1st Army of the Polish Army, liberated Warsaw y.

January 23 - February 3, 1945 Soviet troops crossed the Oder river and captured a foothold on its western bank. February 10 - April 4, 1945 - the offensive of the Soviet troops in Pomerania. February 13, 1945 The Budapest operation ended, the main result of which was the withdrawal of Hungary from the war on the side of Nazi Germany. In March 1945 troops of the 1st Belorussian Front basically cleared the coast of the Baltic Sea from the enemy. 4th April 1945 the entire territory of Hungary was liberated.

In April 1945 started first and second Berlin strategic offensive operations of the Soviet troops, which continued until May 8th. Their goal was to defeat the defenders on Berlin direction enemy grouping. April 23, 1945 1st troops of the Ukrainian front broke into to Berlin from the south and out on the river Elbe , where 25th of April met with units approaching from the west 1st US Army.

April 30, 1945 Soviet intelligence officers M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kontaria hoisted Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. The battles for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1, separate groups of Germans capitulated on the night of May 2.

May 1st, 1945 at 3 o'clock in the morning the general of the German troops Krebs informed the Soviet command about the suicide Adolf Hitler April 30. Due to the fact that the fascist leadership rejected the demand for surrender, the Soviet troops began a powerful artillery shelling of Berlin. May 2, 1945 ended debacle Berlin grouping of German troops, Soviet troops completely captured the capital of Nazi Germany, the Berlin garrison capitulated. 8 (9) May 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst 22.43 took place signing Act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a Decree on the announcement 9th May day of national celebrations - Victory Day .

May 8-9, 1945 was released Prague . On May 14, 1945, the entire territory of Yugoslavia was liberated from the invaders. June 5, 1945 the Declaration on the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme power over Germany by the governments of the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and the Provisional Government of the French Republic was announced. June 24, 1945 in Moscow on Red Square took place Victory parade.

- Zinovy ​​​​Roibu (Valery Bezrutchenko)

War time memories

My great-granddaughter Darinka loves vermicelli with grated cheese, sausage, Rastishka yogurt, pancakes with honey and sour cream, Kinder Surprise chocolate, she doesn’t like grapes with seeds ...

Looking at today's abundance of products and envying modern children with sadness, and even with tears in my eyes, I remember my first hungry school years in wartime.

Dinner at the cemetery

Children's memory to the smallest detail retained memories of hunger and cold. From morning to evening for six long years from 1941 to 1947 (when bread coupons were abolished), all children had one unrealizable dream - to eat at least once plenty of bread. In the classroom at school, sometimes students had fainting spells of hunger. Then the teachers urgently looked for a sugar substitute - saccharin, heated tea, took out "cutlets" from potatoes from their bags, saved the students, and escorted the weakened home.

In summer and autumn, my mother cooked soups from nettles, quinoa, and in late autumn dug up other people's plots in search of frozen potatoes. Sometimes I felt dizzy from malnutrition, I didn’t want to play with the guys at breaks. It was cold in the classrooms, the ink was freezing in the non-spilling inkwells. Mother forbade going to the platform of the railway station, where they sold sour cream, milk, lightly salted cucumbers. “There is nothing to uselessly goggle at other people's products - they are exchanged for bread, stew and clothes. And we, Vovka, have none of that. Yes, and you don’t need to catch up with an appetite in vain, ”she said.

The meager rations on the cards were always in short supply. Once in the spring, on my parents' day, my mother hung a gas mask bag over my shoulder, took me outside the outskirts, where crowds of citizens of the city of Svobodny were walking in one direction to the cemetery, and without explaining anything, handed me over to some grandmother, whispering something in her ear . She took my hand and led me to the sunrise. They came to some grave with a lopsided cross. The old woman spread out a clean rag, put down a bowl with potatoes that had not yet cooled down, a large bottle of milk and a saucepan with salted cabbage. There was no bread.

“Eat, my dear, remember the old man, he was a good worker - hard-working and hard-working. It’s bad now for me to live completely without him, ”she said. I didn't need to be persuaded. When I quenched my hunger, she put the rest of the food in my bag, looked around, led me to another grave and ... quietly disappeared.

Strangers treated me, filled the bag with boiled eggs, potatoes, carrots, and even gave me a delicacy - a deficit - two crackers! And one young woman, all in tears, affectionately hugged me by the shoulders, poured a full glass: “Here, son, almost one juice from raspberries and currants, light Easter wine. Remember my daughter, she, like you, was only eight years old. I don't remember how I got home. Mother was horrified, as I could hardly stand on my feet from home-made wine, my tongue was slurred. The bag was incredibly heavy and pulled to the ground. Mother, turning towards the door, as if she could be heard, said: “Well, what kind of people! We fed the child, thank you, low bow to the ground. But why solder him. And if the heart of a hungry boy could not stand it? Get some sleep. I won't let you in there again."

Fierce December 1942

December 1942 was remembered for large snowdrifts, severe frosts, gray foggy days. At the railway station Mikhailo-Chesnokovskaya, where my mother worked as a cleaner, there were often emergency jobs - many wagons with coal, cement, timber, bricks accumulated. It was necessary to wash the tanks from oil and gasoline. And then they mobilized all the women who were led by a disabled front-line soldier without one arm. Mother, poorly dressed, working at unloading work in frosty and windy weather, caught a cold and took to her bed. At home, as if firewood had run out, the stove had cooled down. The windows were covered with a thick crust of ice, and the corners of an old wooden semi-detached house were covered with frost.

photo from site: russlav.ru

There were mountains of coal at the station, but it was guarded by sentries, and even children did not always manage to beg half a bucket of coal from the guards. An unbearable cold settled in the house, hands and feet froze. The water brought from the well was soon covered in a bucket with a thin crust of ice, and the remains of the soup in the pot on the floor had long since turned into a block of ice. The mother put the remains of raw potatoes in the bag on the bench under the pillow so as not to freeze.

In a timid voice, the sick mother asked to go to the oil depot to the disabled watchman Ivan Yegorovich about firewood and for food on the hillock in the two-story wooden barracks where the families of the servicemen lived. I quickly ran to the oil depot, and the watchman promised to bring the waste of broken wooden barrels on a sled by the evening. But I refused to go to the military camp for alms for a long time, I did not want to be teased as a beggar.

Behind the wall in the second apartment lived an old Tatar man Fayzutdinov with his daughter Nyurka. I was in first grade and she was in eighth grade. Looking like a neighbor to visit us and seeing a sick mother in the heat, she took me into circulation: “How are you, Vovka, not ashamed! Why don't you want to help your mother? They don't send you to steal. Go to the military town, knock on the door and say: I don’t have a folder, my uncle is at the front, my mother works - she tries for the front, she was almost killed by a log at the station when she was unloading a wagon with timber. And now she is very ill. And there is nothing to eat at home. And say - give, good people, for the sake of Christ something to eat, bow to their feet. If they don’t give it, don’t be offended, God bless them. And they will serve - thank you very much. You don't want your mother to starve to death, do you?"

Reluctantly, I took the hated gas mask bag and reluctantly wandered through the snow-covered vegetable gardens straight to the hillock. Snow had accumulated in old felt boots with holes in the heels, and a large soldier's hat (gifted by someone) was always slipping down in front of my eyes. I didn’t have mittens - they were replaced by long sleeves of a quilted jacket, which I pulled inward with stiff hands. Taking a deep breath, I timidly knocked on the door of the first apartment.

There are no beggars in the Soviet Union

The door was opened by the hostess, who was holding a large pile of school notebooks. Having learned the reason for the visit and after listening to my confused speech, she sighed heavily and said: “We, boy, have nothing to eat on our own. What is rich, so I will treat you. She brought out three large boiled potatoes and slowly closed the door behind me. Somewhere no one answered the knock.

Someone gave one onion and two large carrots. Having walked around a dozen apartments with an almost empty bag, I wandered into a neighboring barrack. Knocking on one of the apartments, I heard behind the door a quick clatter of someone's feet and an angry female voice: “Who else did the devil bring on my head on my birthday?” The door swung open. “Aunty, give me ...” - I didn’t have time to stammer, as a portly, very plump woman in a bright satin robe grabbed me by the collar and said: “But there are no beggars in the Soviet Union and cannot be! Understood?" She flung me sharply down the stairs.

photo from the site: nnm.ru

I flew head over heels down a flight of stairs, hit my head on the railing and bled my left eyebrow above my eye. (A small scar left its mark for life). The left eye slowly began to close with a tumor, there was nothing to wipe the blood with, and I smeared it all over my face. Coming out of the entrance, I sat down on an overturned bucket and cried. Some young officer with cubes in his buttonholes showed me attention, gave me a handkerchief, took a penknife out of his pocket, unfolded a newspaper and ... cut off a small piece of still warm bread for me from a loaf.

The desire to walk around other people's apartments completely disappeared, but an empty bag and thoughts of a sick mother did not give me rest. I remember how I wandered into another entrance, how long I did not dare to call someone on the first floor, and with fear slowly wandered to the second floor. Behind one of the doors, I heard a pleasant male voice: "Barbara, set the table, Slavik will soon go to the draft board." And I knocked timidly. A female voice answered: “Fedya, it seems like someone is knocking, or it seemed to me. Go, open the door, otherwise my hands are busy.

A piece of refined sugar from a volunteer soldier

I heard slow shuffling footsteps. The hook rang, and a tall old man in glasses and a red sweater appeared in the doorway. I probably looked miserable, for before I had time to say two words, the old man held out his hand to me: “Well, hello, sparrow. Come in, don't be shy, and make yourself at home. My name is grandfather Fedor, and how are you? Varya, go and see what a falcon flew to us on New Year's Eve! Yes, you're all dead. Get dressed, we'll have lunch. What's wrong with your eye?"

An elderly woman came out into the hallway with a plate in her hands and a kitchen towel. “This is my wife, and for you, Baba Varya, a pensioner, a teacher. And do you go to school? First class?" Baba Varya threw up her hands when she saw my swollen eye, ran for iodine, groaned, saying: “And this is happening in a house where only the intelligentsia lives! The child was almost killed!” She treated the wound and asked what the door of the apartment looked like, where did I meet like that? And in a whisper in my grandfather’s ear (so that I don’t hear) ”“ The colonel’s door is covered with red oilcloth-dermantine, and his wife has no children, and she erased it like that ...”.

After listening to my story about life, they undressed me and took off my shoes, took me to the kitchen to wash my hands and face. There was liquid soap in a jar of American minced meat that looked like grease. The clock on the wall hissed, and the cuckoo cuckooed another hour. Grandfather Fyodor took me to get acquainted with the apartment. In the next room, a tearful young woman was packing things, provisions and cutlery into her son's backpack. The young guy hurriedly sorted through the photo album and put several photos with documents in the pocket of his corduroy jacket. On the wall hung a framed portrait of a military man in a tank helmet with a black ribbon obliquely.

Slavik was the first to break the painful silence: “Here, Volodya, I’m going to volunteer for the front, I’ll avenge my father. He burned alive along with a tank near Moscow.” The face of Slavik - yesterday's tenth grader - was serious beyond his years, even harsh. With his right hand, he often straightened the unruly swirl of thick dark hair. Under his nose, a light fluff of probably never shaved male mustache made its way. In a conversation with his parents, as I now understand, some kind of reliability and prudence emanated from him. Grandfather Fyodor, apparently in order not to upset his daughter with heavy talk about the war, turned the conversation to another topic.

Come on, Volodya, show me what they taught you at school, read the name of this newspaper? I hurriedly skimmed through the headline and confidently loudly said: “Quiet Ocean Star!”, which caused a smile even from Aunt Nadia, who was gathering her son for the front. There was a gramophone record on the gramophone and I happily read: “Izabella Yuryeva. Romance "He's Gone" My uncle Boris, who is fighting in Brest, has the same record in Blagoveshchensk.”

Then we sat down at the table. I still remember delicious crispy cabbage with sunflower oil, crumbly potatoes and tea with saccharin. While I was eating in the cozy warm kitchen, grandfather Fyodor cut out neat insoles for me from old felt boots and put them in my boots, and hemmed the holes in the boots with felt heels. Aunt Nadya gave me two pairs of warm homemade knitted socks that didn't fit Slavik's height. Then she brought me an old sweater with deer and fir-trees on the chest and a little too big warm mittens. Baba Varya filled my bag with potatoes, put in a piece of salted lard and a jar of honey, handed down from relatives from the village. She also gave my mother some cold pills.

photo from the site: blokadaleningrada.ru

When I had already put on my shoes and dressed and the whole friendly family had almost said goodbye to me, Slavik unexpectedly said: “But in three days the New Year of 1943 is coming. It is supposed to give gifts to friends and relatives. And what will we give Vovka Grigoriev? Well, think about it all!” He returned to his room, brought several clean school notebooks - a whole wealth (during the war we wrote on newspapers with home-made ink from some kind of medicine), a new faceted thick pencil - red on one end and blue on the other, Mine Reed's book " Headless horseman".

Then Slavik untied the packed backpack and took out a large piece of refined sugar with a smooth conical semicircle on one side. “This is for you, Vovka, a gift for the New Year holiday. Kept this leftover piece from pre-war times until a special occasion. I think that such a case has come today.”

From the eyes of his parents, I realized that this was the only piece of sugar in his backpack. Everyone was silent and looked at each other.

Why are you looking at me! At the front, they will certainly feed us every day and give us sugar, but who will give this Vovka in the rear? And the war is still unknown when it will end.

Everyone nodded their heads in unison, and a huge, weighty piece of refined sugar, with crystals sparkling like snow, wrapped in a newspaper, migrated to the pocket of my padded jacket, as the bag was full of food. Everyone kissed me in turn, Baba Varya made the sign of the cross, and I went back. In the yard, I looked back at the windows of the second floor and in one of them I saw four figures. They waved goodbye to me.

Joyful meeting at home

I ran home on wings. Three people met me at home. The caretaker of the oil depot Ivan Yegorovich brought over several trips on a sled a mountain of boards from an old fence, boxes and riveting from barrels with traces of grease, and left a full bag of excellent Cheremkhovo coal - anthracite in the hallway. Mink had kindled the stove an hour ago, and the burning grease flew into the chimney with an incredible frightening rumble and crackle, with black smoke. The kettle boiled. The watchman lit a kerosene lamp. Everyone looked and gasped happily at the sight of my gifts. Nyurka put a copper nickel on the eyebrow of her black eye, but the huge bruise hurt and did not think to disappear.

At night, the mother drank pills, drank tea with honey. The house became warm. The next day she felt better. On December 31, the mother set the table - boiled potatoes, prepared a vinaigrette, soaked the presented bread croutons. My mother chopped a piece of refined sugar for a long time with a knife and a hammer, laid out the pieces on a shelf in the closet, figuring out how many days I would have to go to school. She put a few pieces on a saucer in the center of the table. “Look, Volodya, what a rich table we had in the New Year 1943. That's the holiday!" - said mother Nina Matveevna.

Dear memories

Years have passed. Working in economic and party work for many years as a leader, I had to accompany groups of tourists abroad and throughout the Union during vacations. On one of the trips, memories of my military childhood came flooding back to me with unprecedented sharpness. And it was like that. In October 1987, while traveling with a group of tourists through the hero cities, fate brought me to Kyiv.

It was a warm and quiet golden autumn. Walking along Khreshchatyk, I noticed a small shop with a beautiful sign in Ukrainian. Getting in. In the corner, a large open bag of refined sugar caught my attention. Catching my eye, the seller asked: “What, lad, will you be kupuvat, chi no? Ivas, call Oksana. Come on out pidyoe, she'll pick up some sugar."

“Well, I can choose. I need a special big piece."

- “That at least see the bear take it!”

I chose a piece of refined sugar of approximately the same size and the same shape as the memorable one, 45 years ago, from the wartime of the end of 1942, donated by the volunteer Slavik, who was leaving for the front. The seller weighed a piece - 495 grams. 50 kopecks from you.

A lump suddenly formed in my throat, unbidden tears welled up in my eyes. The seller, the cleaner, and the porter stared at me in bewilderment, stopped chewing the ice cream, shrugged their shoulders and asked:

- “That scho to be with you?”

And I briefly told the story of the war hard times. The seller returned the money to me with the words: “I will also give you sugar” and thrust a heavy piece of refined sugar into my plastic bag.

I do not know, of course, the names of that family from the town of Svobodny. I don’t know how the fate of the soldier Slavik turned out - whether he died on the battlefields or returned with glory to his native Amur region. It is unlikely that his mother Nadezhda Fedorovna is still alive, did they wait for their son after the war? Dear Russian, Soviet people! Eternal memory to you and my human recognition.

In 1975, while working in the Regional Committee of the CPSU in the Party Commission, I went on business on a business trip to the city of Svobodny. chose the time and went, as many years ago, on foot to his place of residence. It was hard to recognize familiar places. But instead of a tank farm there was a mobile mechanized column, our house was demolished. The barracks of the military camp disappeared on the hillock. Instead, they are surrounded by modern brick houses. Other houses, other children in the yards. Everything is gone. There were sad, heavy, distant and bright memories of 70 years ago, not counting the scar above the left eyebrow.

The name of the Belgian city of Ypres became a household name during the First World War. It was here that chemical weapons were first used in 1915, and terrible positional battles were in full swing here, when the Germans and the British fought off trenches from each other several times a day, losing thousands of soldiers in order to advance several hundred meters. But this place went down in history not only because of the bloody battles, but also thanks to a real Christmas miracle.

On the evening of December 24, 1914, the riflemen of the British Army began to notice that something strange was happening along the entire front line at Ypres. Along the parapet of the German trenches, an innumerable number of lights appeared, which gave small German candles. German soldiers suddenly began to sing Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht - Silent Night, a German Christmas carol written in 1818 priest Josef Mohr and schoolteacher Franz Gruber. The English soldiers quietly listened to the song. When it ended, they sang back. The Germans greeted the song with friendly applause.

In other sectors of the front, fraternization began between the soldiers. The Germans and the British came out of the trenches, exchanged souvenirs, cigarettes, Christmas treats, sang Christmas psalms and buried the fallen. True, the Christmas truce was basically only on those sectors of the front where the British units were against the Germans. The French were irreconcilable towards the Germans, largely because the war was a personal matter for them - the fighting took place on French soil, where numerous cities and villages turned into ruins.

The reaction of the authorities to the Christmas fraternization was different. The English press massively reprinted the letters of the soldiers to their relatives home, which told about the amazing truce. The two largest British newspapers, the Daily Mirror and Daily Sketch, came out with photographs of German and British soldiers fraternizing with each other. The reaction of the press was mostly positive. In Germany, the newspapers hushed up what had happened, letters from the front were subjected to the most severe censorship, forbidding them to write to relatives about the truce. In France, they mainly wrote that fraternization took place on the British-German sectors of the front and did not affect the German units.

German and British soldiers during the Christmas truce in World War I. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Wine and cigarettes were exchanged for ham and cookies

However, the French did not resist the charms of Christmas. In 1915, near Bernarstein, one of the peaks of the Vosges (a mountain range in northeastern France), German and French units stood. During the year, there were fierce battles, because of which the line of "no man's land", according to the memoirs of the German officer Richard Schirman turned into "devastation with scattered trees, land plowed by artillery fire, wastelands, tree roots and tattered uniforms."

However, on Christmas night the bloodshed stopped. “When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges in the rear, something fantastically anti-war happened to the German and French troops,” Shirman recalled. The soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting and set up impromptu "hostels" - they went to each other through abandoned trench tunnels, and also exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, cookies and ham. “It made them so happy that they remained good friends even after Christmas was over,” the officer recalled.

The incident prompted Shirman after the war to the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating "hostels" - inexpensive hotels for young people, where people from different countries could stay for the night and communicate with each other.

New Year at the forefront: chocolate, tobacco and even champagne

World War II surpassed the First in terms of severity. Fights on holidays were commonplace. German bombers often flew on combat missions on the night of December 31 to January 1, in the hope of a festive illumination that could be used as a tip.

However, this did not prevent the Soviet troops from celebrating the New Year if possible. According to numerous recollections of veterans, it was a long-awaited event at the front, as it reminded people of the quiet joys of peaceful life. The soldiers did everything to add a bit of home comfort to the holiday. If there was an opportunity, they tried to install a Christmas tree in the unit, decorated it with wooden and paper crafts. Parcels with gifts came from the rear to the front, which were distributed among the parts - a little chocolate, tobacco. Additional portions of tobacco, as well as festive 100 grams of alcohol, were also allocated to units for the holiday by the military authorities. It was especially chic if in the holiday rations instead of boring Soviet canned food they were given foreign - captured German and Italian or allied American ones.

Chefs - workers of Kazakhstan brought New Year's gifts to the 8th Guards named after I.V. Panfilov rifle division. January 1, 1942 Photo: RIA Novosti / Viktor Kinelovsky

It happened, however, that on the instructions of the command, Soviet troops fought on New Year's Eve. “About about five minutes before the new year, we hear the command: “Battery for battle, calculations in places.” And at 24 o’clock an order was received: “At the Nazis, in honor of the new, 1944, the battery fired in one gulp!” We pulled the cords and, four volleys, and these are sixteen shells, flew at the enemy, ”recalled Vasily Pavlov, sergeant of the Kuban Cossack Corps. Such "salutes" at the enemy were a common practice for the New Year.

With luck, it was possible to embellish the festive table with trophy gifts. During the battles near Stalingrad, the tank corps was very lucky Major General Vasily Badanov. On the instructions of the command on December 24, the corps captured the German rear airfield near the village of Tatsinskaya, which the Germans used for air supply to the units surrounded near Stalingrad. Apart from a large number equipment, Christmas gifts for German soldiers fell into the hands of Soviet tankers. For the most part, they were not much different from the Soviet holiday rations - canned food, chocolate, schnapps, cigarettes. With one exception, the Luftwaffe, thanks to its superiors, traditionally had the best supply in the German army. One could find champagne, the best tobacco, and fruits on the officer's festive table of the German pilots. Tankers sent these gifts to the headquarters of the South-Western Front as a gift General Nikolai Vatutin for his successes in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Research material on the topic: New Year during the Second World War

This research material will be of interest to teachers and students of senior (10-11) grades. Discussing it in history lessons, summing up the section "The Great Patriotic War"

During the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Tula region there were fierce battles with the Nazi troops. Even despite the hardships of wartime, the cultural and spiritual life of the Tula people did not freeze at all: there were not only weekdays, people also remembered the holidays. This paper will highlight the features of the celebration by Tula during the war years of the main official celebrations: New Year, February 23 - Red Army Day, March 8 - International Women's Day, Labor Day and the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
Holidays in wartime were of great importance. In the face of the possibility of sudden death, they were a symbol of a peaceful life, to which the front-line soldiers and home front workers dreamed of returning as soon as possible. Of particular relevance, in connection with such promising areas of history as regional history and the study of everyday life, is the study of the festive culture in the Tula region, in particular, the analysis of changes in trends in the celebration of holidays and a comparison of peacetime and wartime.
The theme of the holidays during the years of the Great Patriotic War is little developed: there are many memories of diplomats and generals about what happened on the fronts of the war, during the battles, and very little information has been preserved about how life went on in the rear.
Object of study: Soviet holidays during the Great Patriotic War in Tula.
Subject of study: festive culture of Tula people during the war years.
Chronological framework: years of the Great Patriotic War.
Purpose of the study: study of the conduct of the main Soviet official holidays by Tula people during the Great Patriotic War.

New Year during the Great Patriotic War.

The history of this holiday in the USSR is quite complicated and has gone through several stages: from a complete ban on celebrating the New Year to unprecedented hearty and magnificent celebrations in the years of total shortage.
In 1926, the Bolsheviks officially condemned the establishment of so-called Christmas trees in Soviet institutions and in the homes of individual citizens. The custom was ordered to be considered an old regime and anti-Soviet legacy of the "cursed past." On September 24, 1929, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree abolishing all holidays except November 7 and May 1. Christmas and New Year, which suffered for the company with a religious holiday, became ordinary working days. In the early 30s, from December 24, specially appointed responsible comrades from state institutions went to the apartments of employees and checked if any of them had Christmas trees.
This continued until 1935, when the Pravda newspaper published an article by the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, the first secretary of the Kyiv regional party committee Pavel Postyshev “Let's organize a good Christmas tree for the children for the New Year!”. In 1935, the government decided to resume the celebration of the New Year in the USSR. Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments are back on sale. The first New Year tree in the USSR was held in 1935 in the Kharkov Palace of Pioneers.
In the 1940s, the celebration of Christmas in the USSR remained banned, and articles on anti-religious topics periodically appeared in the Tula press. On January 4, 1941, the Kommunist newspaper published an article from the Anti-Religious Conversations series entitled “Where did the tale of “Christmas” come from?” in a sarcastic tone characteristic of that time and with the spelling of the name of one of the main religious holidays with a capital letter. The author of the article N. Rumyantsev writes: "Christmas" is a religious holiday dedicated to the cult of the fabulous "savior" - Jesus Christ. Science has proven that in fact Christ never existed, and therefore he was not born”; "Christmas", like other religious holidays, usually causes absenteeism, hinders the timely implementation of production plans. Thus, as a result of persecution and persecution of the Orthodox, the celebration of the New Year completely replaced Christmas, so it became dangerous to celebrate a religious holiday.
In the New Year's editions of newspapers of that time, an appeal and congratulations from the editors were usually placed on the front page. The successes and achievements of the past year in all spheres of life were listed, plans were made for the next year. As an example, let's analyze the content of the Kolkhoznoye Znamya newspaper, which was the main print organ of the Teplo-Ogarevsky Republican Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the District Council of Workers of the Tula Region, on the front page there is a note “Hello, New Year!” The authors of the publication call the year 1940 "the year of major successes in the construction of socialism." Particular attention is paid to the successes of the Soviet armed forces in the Soviet-Finnish War. As a result, the borders of the Soviet state were expanded and three republics were annexed - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (16 republics), industry and agriculture grew. The following is a detailed overview of the plans for 1941, which is the fourth year of Stalin's Third Five-Year Plan. According to the author of the publication, "this year will be marked by a great event - the opening of the XVIII Party Conference." Here it is also proposed "to commemorate this event with even greater, production victories - our honorable task." The note ends with a personal congratulation to I. Stalin and the entire Soviet people: “Happy New Year, our dear friend and teacher great Stalin! Happy New Year, friends, with new happiness! However, in another regional newspaper, Stalinskoe Znamya, the tasks of the people in the new year are substantially concretized. The authors write that the Soviet people are entering "into 1941 with an ardent desire to carry out the Bolshevik task - over the next 10-15 years to catch up and overtake the main capitalist countries in economic terms" . As we can see, the priority political and economic directions of the activity of the Soviet state were considered differently in different printed publications of that time.
For the successful implementation of the tasks set, it was necessary to take care of preserving the physical health of the nation, so Soviet doctors advised New Year holidays to be spent with health benefits. In the Soviet newspapers of that time we read: “True rest is active rest, when a person is in motion, is in the fresh air, and is engaged in physical labor. Skis and skates are very useful here, because a person sets his muscles in motion and breathes frosty air, in which there is no dust. Leaders of the country and great figures of science and culture were set as an example to follow for small Tula people: “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, after hard mental work, went for a walk or hunted. The great Russian scientist Academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, already a very old man, continued to work in the garden in his free hours.
The Great Patriotic War with the Nazis made its own severe adjustments to the celebration of the New Year. In the Kommunar newspaper for January 1942 we read: “New, 1942, the valiant Red Army, the Navy and all the working people of the Soviet countries are celebrating with new, glorious victories at the front. The fortress of Kerch, the cities of Feodosia, Kaluga, Kozelsk, the Ugodsky plant and hundreds of towns, villages and villages have been cleared of Nazi invaders. New Year greetings, honor and glory to the valiant soldiers of the Red Army and Navy! For the motherland, for the Bolshevik Party, for the great Stalin - forward to new decisive victories over our mortal enemy, the German invaders. In "Kommunar" messages are placed "From the Soviet Information Bureau": in each issue, reports of battles are now unchanged: victories and taken heights and settlements, or about losses and the surrender of their positions by the army. A separate note is “Awarding Orders and Medals of the USSR to the Commanding and Enlisted Personnel of the Red Army”: the number of those awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner is given, all are listed by name. We see that during a purely civil holiday, the victories of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War were celebrated, the heroes-liberators who were awarded government awards were honored.
A similar situation was observed at that time in other countries that sent congratulatory addresses to commemorate the victories of the Soviet people against the fascist invaders. So, for example, a holiday greeting from the American writer Theodore Dreiser: the United States entered the war with Nazi Germany after the attack on Pearl Harbor Bay, and from the end of 1941 an anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape, including with their participation. He writes in a congratulatory telegram to the Soviet people: "I only want my New Year's greetings to be worthy of the attention of such a great, such a courageous and humane people."
It should be noted that even in wartime newspapers, humor and satire occupied an important place. Such notes made it easier to endure the difficult front-line everyday life. In Kommunar for January 1942, one can read the following humorous poem:
The blizzard howls like a gray wolf,
Hitler crouched under the tree -
This New Year's Eve
And the live-eater languished.
-Where is Rostov and where is Kaluga! -
You will burst here white...
There is no thought about Moscow,
Muten, terrible white light.
And one consolation
He sees in the confusion of the night:
What a terrible dream
I saw Napoleon.

Comparing wartime publications, we found that as we approached victory, the celebration of the New Year became more and more joyful. The year 1943 was marked by the fateful events that took place on the southern front: the successful counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad. Therefore, in the newspaper "Stalin's Banner" the entire front page is devoted to a large summary of the Sovinformburo "Results of the 6-week offensive of our troops on the outskirts of Stalingrad".
The turning point at the front significantly affected the situation in the Tula region: people gradually returned to the liberated territories, ordinary peaceful life was revived, real New Year trees began to be arranged for children, the celebration of which resembled pre-war times. The return of the Soviet people to peaceful life was immediately noted in the newspapers. So, in the newspaper "Stalin's Banner" it is indicated: "New Year's trees were arranged for the children of miners at the mines of the Molotovugol trust on New Year's Eve and January 1. The new year was festively celebrated by the children of the miners of mine No. 2. More than 400 children of miners were served here with the New Year tree. At mines No. 1, 3 and 4, 600 children participated in the Christmas tree. The same number of children were on the Christmas tree in the Molotovugol trust.
Since 1944, the restoration of the national economy in the USSR after the military devastation began. The mines in the Moscow Region coal basin are also reviving: the mood of the miners is improving, and the rates of coal production are growing. In the newspaper Krasnoe Znamya, the main printed organ of the Laptev region, in congratulations on the coming 1944, there is hope for an end to the war with the Nazis: “The war continues, victory does not come by itself, it must be organized. The coming 1944 will be the year of the final victory over the Nazi scoundrels. What is required of us, the collective farmers, workers and intelligentsia, in order to organize help for this victory? It is necessary in 1944 to intensify efforts in labor even more. In the schools of the district, children began real winter holidays, similar to those that were in the pre-war period: “In schools, kindergartens, in the orphanage, New Year trees will be lit today, around which dances, dances, singing of Russian folk and new Soviet songs will be held . The children prepared one-act dramatizations with appropriate costumes that they prepared themselves. There will be choir circles and circles of artistic reading - storytelling. This year's winter holidays will be the beginning of an interesting ski trip for pioneers, schoolchildren and Komsomol members. Skating rinks are being cleared at two secondary schools, Laptevskaya and Khotushskaya, skiing competitions and competitions in PVCO are organized. A section of folk dances will work at the Laptev secondary school.
1945, the winning year. Victory over the Nazis was already considered a matter of time. This year was met with a special feeling by the Soviet people and Tula people. In the newspaper "Stalin's banner", for example, on the front page the heading "Great Stalin leads us to victory" and I. Stalin's appeal to the people is placed: "From now on and forever our land is free from Hitler's evil spirits. Now the Red Army is left with its last final mission: to complete, together with the armies of our allies, the task of defeating the German fascist army, to finish off the fascist beast in its own lair and hoist the banner of victory over Berlin.
New Year holidays in schools and kindergartens are becoming wider and richer: all children received gifts, sweets, cookies, chocolate. And during the winter holidays, health-improving grounds are organized in schools for the children of front-line soldiers, and they are provided with three meals a day.
So, in general, for the period from 1941 to 1945, we can say that the New Year holiday was never forgotten by the people, and even in the most difficult days of the war there was a place for congratulations. This celebration occupies a special place: since ancient times, all peoples have attached great importance to the change of years. But the Soviet tradition had its own peculiarities: the measurement of time by "five-year plans", the constant planning of the economy and activities.