Figure 1.-- Yuri Uliani was born May 27, 1926 in Moscow. It was a family of hereditary nobleman. He is pictured here at age 15 years. He was a cadet at an artillery school. The boys were hastily mobilized to defend Moscow (November 1941).

There is a substantial body of literature published in the Soviet Union about World War II, including individul accounts. This is similar to other European countries. These include both fictional and non-fiction accounts. The Soviet literature is different from similar accounts published in Western Europe. Publishing houses in the Soviet Union were owned an operated by the Communist controlled Societ Government. The Government controlled who published these accounts as well as the text that was published. The Government would not have allowed anything to be published that was critical of the Soviet Union or the Soviet war effort. This does not mean that these accounts are not interesting descriptions of the War or that tgey describe real peoole. It does mean that they have to be used with some caution if used as valid historical documents. Most of these books have not been translated into English and other foreign languages. Thus this literature is generally unknown in the West. Hopefully our Russian readers will provide some details about these individual accounts. We are especially interested in accounts describing childhood experiences. And we notice Soviet reports of child heros like Young Defender of Moscow Yuri Ulianin and Senior Medical Attendant Yekaterina Rumyantseva. One of our Russian readers tells us that Maria Prilezhayeva's book Masha Strogova's Youth about the fate of a young school teacher during World War II. Here she talks with one of the boys from her class (6th form), he's 12 years old. Boys in his class teased him going to school in short pants and called him "a second former".

Masha Strogova

One of our Russian readers tells us that Maria Prilezhayeva's book Masha Strogova's Youth about the fate of a young school teacher during World War II. Here she talks with one of the boys from her class (6th form), he's 12 years old. Boys in his class teased him going to school in short pants and called him "a second former".

Yekaterina Rumyantseva

Ekaterina/Yekaterina Rumyantseva during the war years from the age of 16 worked at the hospital 4034 in Moscow. Unfortunately we have not been able to find any additional informatiin about her..

Yuri Ulianin

Yuri Uliani was born May 27, 1926 in Moscow. It was a family of hereditary nobleman. He is pictured here at age 15 years (figure 1). He was a cadet at an artillery school. The boys were hastily mobilized to defend Moscow (November 1941). He died in 2010. After the war he was a Academician of the Russian State National Academy, doctor of historical sciences, professor, Grand Ph.D

Created: 7:38 PM 9/6/2019
Last updated: 7:38 PM 9/6/2019