Korobkina, Maria Sergeevna
Korobkina, Maria Sergeevna
The summer of 1941 was a difficult time for those people who lived in the village Lutovca which is situated in the Rostov region not far from the city Millerovo. The German troops came to the village to make the connection, so they settled down in villagers’ cosy houses and drove them out of them. The poor people could do nothing but live in trenches which were in their gardens. Maria Sergeevna remembered all her life how they had to sleep in straw and the Germans made them wash the linen, tide everything up, and that late at night she ran in her own garden unnoticed to bring something eatable for her brothers, mother, grandmother and herself. The Germans forbade the villagers to gather the harvest from their gardens. Nowadays it’s very difficult to imagine the children and women who were working for the Germans and, being very hungry, watched the enemies eating fruit from their gardens, drank milk of their cows, ate their meat. The merciless invaders didn’t pay attention how the old people, women and children were suffering. Maria Sergeevna wouldn’t forget one night on her usual way to the garden when she heard somebody’s voice. Though she got scared stiff she came closer. A stranger asked her for help. A man was lying in the ditch. The Germans had beaten and thrown him away as they thought he would die. This courageous woman called her brother and together they helped him to rise and get to the trench. He turned out to be a Russian soldier who was caught by the Germans during the reconnaissance. The mother and grandmother secretly cured him with the help of complimentary medicine. Such things happened very often and the villagers tried to help everybody in spite of the great danger that was evident. In autumn Maria Sergeevna began to attend primary school. There they also had to obey the Germans’ rules. When the children passed a German soldier they had to say “Hi Hitler” but they didn’t want to. And soon the school was closed. In spring the Germans left Lutovca, so the villagers could occupy their houses again. But still life was very difficult because of starvation, cold and constant fear. Only the hope for victory helped people to exist. Now Maria Sergeevna is 72 and it’s difficult to imagine that she was a little girl that time. Now she is an elderly person who lived hard but at the same time very happy life. She moved to Perm in the end of the 70-s and still lives there.
The russion version Коробкина Мария Сергеевна