Samovars. Lies about the disabled of that War

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

"Samovars" - this is how the invalids of the Great Patriotic War with amputated limbs were called so cruelly in the post-war period. According to official statistics, 10 million Soviet servicemen returned from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War disabled. Of these: 775 thousand - with wounds to the head, 155 thousand - with one eye, 54 thousand - completely blind, 3 million - one-armed, 1, 1 million - without both arms and more than 20 thousand who lost their arms and legs …

Some - those who returned to their homes - were provided with care and attention by loving wives and children. But it happened that some women could not stand it, went to healthy men and took their children with them. Abandoned cripples, as a rule, ended up in the House of Invalids. Some were more fortunate - they were kept warm by compassionate women who themselves had lost their husbands and sons in the war. Some were beggars and homeless in big cities.

But at some point, war invalids mysteriously disappeared from the streets and squares of large cities. There were rumors that all of them were either hidden in prisons and psychiatric hospitals, or taken to remote boarding schools and monasteries, so that they would not remind the surviving and healthy of the terrible war. And they did not grumble at the government …

To what extent these rumors were true, let's figure it out …

Under the control of military invalids during the Great Patriotic War. Since January 1943, the NKGB of the USSR has systematically sent directives to local authorities demanding to "prevent" disabled people who have returned from the front. The task was very clear: cripples may well conduct anti-Soviet propaganda - this must be prevented. The disabled had objective reasons for dissatisfaction: they were completely incapacitated, they received a paltry pension - 300 rubles (the salary of an unskilled worker was 600 rubles). It was almost impossible to survive on such a pension. At the same time, the country's leadership believed that the maintenance of disabled people should fall on the shoulders of relatives. A special law was even adopted, which categorically prohibited the admission of disabled persons of I and II groups who had parents or relatives to social welfare institutions.

In July 1951, on the initiative of Stalin, decrees of the USSR Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet were adopted - "On the fight against begging and anti-social parasitic elements."

In accordance with these decrees, beggars with disabilities were quietly sorted into various boarding schools. Several public criminal trials were carried out to ostracize. For example, in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Chekists identified the "Union of War Invalids", allegedly organized by former officers of the Red Army. For anti-Soviet propaganda, people received long prison terms.

Valaam notebook

Evgeny Kuznetsov painted pictures of the life of war invalids on the island of Valaam in his famous "Valaam notebook". In the 1960s, the author worked as a tour guide on the island.

According to the author's assurances, in 1950, by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish SSR, the House of War and Labor Invalids was located on Valaam. The official authorities explained their decision by the abundance of residential and utility rooms, clean healthy air, the availability of land for gardens, vegetable gardens and apiaries.

In the then Soviet press, there were notes about how well the disabled would heal on the island, instead of begging in cities, drinking alcohol, sleeping under fences and in basements.

The author mercilessly scourged the staff who did not bring the food to the disabled, stole linen and dishes. He also described rare feasts. They happened when some of the inhabitants had money. At the local grocery stall, they bought vodka, beer and a simple snack, and then a meal began on a quiet lawn with libations, toasts and memories of the pre-war peaceful life.

But on all the archival documents there is not a “house for the invalids of war and labor”, as E. Kuznetsov and many mythologists call it, but simply “an invalid house”. It turns out that he did not specialize in veterans. Among the "provided" (as the patients were officially called) there was a different contingent, including "invalids from prisons, the elderly."

Choir of "samovars"

In the same book, the author describes such a case.

In 1952, Vasily Petrogradsky, who had lost his legs at the front, was sent here, begging for alms from the churches of Leningrad. He drank the proceeds in the company of homeless friends. When compassionate socialites sent Vasily to Goritsy, friends chipped in and presented him with a button accordion (which he masterly owned) and three boxes of his beloved "Triple" cologne. In Goritsy, the former sailor did not twist, but quickly organized a choir of disabled people. To the accompaniment of his button accordion, the owners of baritones, basses and tenors sang their favorite folk songs.

On warm summer days, the nurses carried the "samovars" to the bank of the Sheksna, and they, under the direction of Vasily, arranged a concert, which the tourists listened with pleasure from passing motor ships. The staff of the boarding school in the village of Goritsy idolized Vasily, who found something to do not only for himself, but also for other inhabitants.

Very quickly, the fame of the unusual choir spread throughout the country, and it became a kind and very attractive attraction of these places.

Quite naturally, the situation in each such establishment depended on its management and staff. According to eyewitnesses, the disabled in the village of Goritsy received all the necessary medical care, four meals a day, and did not go hungry. Those who were able to work helped the staff with the housework.

Given the sharp shortage of men in the post-war period, local women who lost their husbands and grooms often married the residents of the boarding school and gave birth to healthy children from them. Currently, only a few of the generation of war invalids survived, the overwhelming majority of them quietly left, without burdening anyone with either worries or troubles …

What the archives of the Valaam Home for the Disabled say

What immediately catches the eye are the addresses of residence of disabled veterans. Basically it is the Karelo-Finnish SSR.

The assertion that parasitic disabled veterans from large cities of the USSR were taken to the "cold island" is a myth that for some reason is still supported. It follows from the documents that very often they were natives of Petrozavodsk, Olonetsky, Pitkyaranta, Pryazhinsky and other regions of Karelia. They were not "caught" on the streets, but brought to Valaam from the "homes for disabled people with low occupancy" that already existed in Karelia - "Ryuttyu", "Lambero", "Svyatoozero", "Tomitsy", "Baraniy Bereg", "Muromskoe", "Monte Saari". Various escorts from these houses have been preserved in the personal files of the disabled.

As the documents show, the main task was to give a disabled person a profession in order to rehabilitate him for a normal life. For example, from Valaam they were sent to courses of accountants and shoemakers - legless disabled people could quite master this. Training for shoemakers was also at Lambero. Veterans of the 3rd group were obliged to work, the 2nd group - depending on the nature of the injuries. While studying, 50% of the pension issued for disability was withheld in favor of the state.

A typical situation, which can be seen from the documents: a soldier returns from the war without legs, no relatives are killed on the way to evacuation, or there are old parents who themselves need help. Yesterday's soldier knocks around, knocks around, and then waves his hand at everything and writes to Petrozavodsk: please send me to a home for the disabled. After that, representatives of local authorities inspect the living conditions and confirm (or not confirm) the friend's request. And only after that the veteran went to Valaam. Here are photocopies of social security vouchers for disabled people that prove this fact:

Here is an example of a certificate - a disabled person is sent to Valaam, because the family cannot support him, and not because he was caught in a large city:

Here is a satisfied statement with a request to release the disabled person to Leningrad to order a prosthesis:

Contrary to legend, in more than 50% of cases those who came to Valaam had relatives whom he knew very well. In personal matters, one comes across letters addressed to the director - they say, what happened, we haven't received letters for a year! The Valaam administration even had a traditional form of response: "We inform you that health is so-and-so as before, he receives your letters, but does not write, because there is no news and there is nothing to write about - everything is the same, but he sends you greetings." …

In 2014, Maxim Ogechin shot a film on this topic, which was called: Samovars.

We offer readers of Kramola to independently assess how historically accurate it is: