 Valeriya Krivaltsevich:
-My great-grandfather Pavel Ivanovich Krivaltsevich was 23 when the war began. He left his wife and children and joined partisans. He was not far from his village but visited his family only several times because the struggle against the fascists was very hard at that time. Those families who helped partisans could be shot. The partisan detachment where my great-grandfather struggled defended the settlements of Skovshin, Ossovo, Zabrodye, Pissarevichi.
In 1942 twelve partisans, including my great-grandfather, were captured. They were brought to the fascists’ chief commandant’s office in Starobin. After being in prison for several days, they decided to run away. Only two of them managed to do it. When the policemen heard some noise, they began shooting. My great-grandfather was shot at his back and died…
During the difficult after-war years my great-grandmother had to survive with her 3 children. She worked hard on the farm. But despite all the difficulties she brought up her children. She died when I was a baby.
My grandfather told me this story. By the way, my father was named after my great-grandfather…
Yevgeniy Krivaltsevich:
- My great-grandfather Pyotr Zakharovich Golubuvich served in the army as a radio operator in the rank of a captain. Some day he and his brothers-in-arms attacked a military entrenchment of the enemy and captured two fascist soldiers who knew all the necessary information about their unit: the number of soldiers, their location, armament, aims. This information helped to fortify the Soviet Army defensive line.
After a while, having successfully accomplished several tasks, my great-grandfather was promoted to a rank of a major and was appointed to serve in the headquarters. But before going there he went to the forest and found those two Germans, He didn’t kill them but shared his bread with them and showed them the way to their detachment. When he returned to his place, he didn’t find his unit because by that time the fascists had suddenly attacked the Soviet front line and reoccupied it.
Now it was my great-grandfather who was captured. He didn’t try to run away because he was sure that he would be shot either by Russians or Germans. He got prepared to be killed. On the place of execution the two Germans he hadn’t killed before saw him, put a uniform of a German officer on him and let him free...
In 1943 my great-grandfather joined the Soviet army again. He was lowered in rank but fortunately he wasn’t arrested. He got closely acquainted with a colonel who commanded the military formation and after the war they visited each other. But soon my great-grandfather had to leave his place, got married and began to live in another place.
This story was told by my great-grandfather himself who is more than 90 years old now and lives in the village of Voronino in Kopyl district. He’s got a lot of medals for bravery. Once I took my cousin and we went to visit the colonel. But unfortunately he had already died and there were no relatives left in his place. We could find only a basket of rusty cartridges and three pistols under potatoes in the cellar…
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