Eternal memory and glory to those who defended the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War: fought for the freedom of the people on the front line and forged the Victory in the rear. In our column “Immortal Memory”, timed to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland, college students of Volga Region University will tell about the feats of their ancestors, who did everything to ensure that we had a peaceful sky above our heads.
Today the first-year student of the direction “Tourism and Hospitality” Alena Muslakhova told about how her great-grandparents Anna and Nikolay Zolotarev worked in factories and made a significant contribution to the Great Victory. Thanks to their selfless labor the soldiers received quality armament for the defense of the Motherland.
My family, like millions of other families in our country, lived through the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War. I want to tell about how my relatives went through all the trials and hardships of that era, and what contribution they made to the Great Victory.
My great-grandmother Zolotareva (Korabeinikova) Anna Lavrentievna was born on July 9, 1922. When the war began, she was 19 years old. During the war time she worked at the Izhevsk gun factory as a storekeeper-instrument maker. My great-grandmother issued tools for processing weapon parts. Her working day lasted 12-16 hours. There was not enough food. In the spring, when there was nothing to eat, she and her friends would go to the forest or to the field, pick nettles, dandelions, frozen potatoes that had been left in the ground since the fall, and make soup out of it.
My great-grandfather Zolotarev Nikolay Andreyevich was born on December 7, 1926. When the war began, he was 14 years old. As there was a shortage of men's hands during the war time, my great-grandfather as a teenager went to help at the Izhevsk motorcycle factory as a lathe operator. To work on the lathe he had to put up “pallets”, as the 14-year-old boy was of small stature. On the lathe my great-grandfather made parts for machine guns. During the Great Patriotic War, the factory produced 82 thousand Maxim machine guns.
After the end of WWII, he continued to work at this factory as a dry grinder, as a result of which he got an occupational disease. For his work on the home front during WWII, he was awarded the honorary title “Veteran of Labor” and was awarded a medal for long years of conscientious work. My grandfather told me that Victory Day was the most important holiday for my great-grandfather.
Contribution to the Victory in the rear was no less important than at the front. Millions of people worked selflessly to provide the army with everything it needed to fight the enemy. Without their hard labor, our victory would not have been possible.
