This year Russia celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic war (the part of the World War II that involved the Soviet Union). The conflict began because Germany wanted to take revenge for its defeat in the First World War. But in the whole of history there has never been a war like the World War II. Everyone could imagine that this war was going to be hard-fought, but no one thought it would be the most destructive and internecine war ever. The Great Patriotic War lasted for 900 days, from June 1941 to May 1945. The war began on June 22, 1941 at 4 a.m. The only sign of its beginning was the offensive of the German troops along the western frontier of USSR from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. The announcement of the beginning of the war was said on the Russian radio. The cost of victory was colossal. In the USSR the end of the war was considered to be May 9, 1945, when the German surrender took effect. The war left so much pain and the memory that people honor. One of the most tragic and impressive war stories is the story of a young girl from Leningrad, Tanya Savicheva. She is known as a Russian child diarist who endured the Siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. Tanya was 12 years old when she started recording the tragic news: ‘[Sister] Jenya died on 28th Dec. at 12.00 p.m. 1941’
‘Grandma died on 25th Jan., 3 p.m. 1942’
‘[Brother] Leka died on 17th March at 5 a.m. 1942’
‘Uncle Vasya died on 13th Apr. at 2 o’clock after midnight 1942’
‘Uncle Lesha on 10th May at 4 p.m. 1942’
‘Mom on 13th May at 7.30 a.m. 1942’
‘Savichevs died. Everyone died. Only Tanya is left.’
The diary Tanya kept is now on display in the Museum of the history of Leningrad. People think that we should remember not only about the heroes, the soldiers who fell defending their motherland, but also about victims, like Tanya Savicheva.