“On this day, everyone had a thought:“ Well, that's it! Further there will be a common worldwide happiness! ””

On January 5, 1946, eight German military personnel were publicly hung on Kalinin Square in Leningrad by decision of the court.

Petersburzhenka Alina Tarabarinova for five years shot portraits of Leningraders who survived the war of 1941-1945, blockade, evacuation, and recorded their stories on the video. So the documentary project “Voices of the War” appeared.

The latest shooting took place in 2015. Most of their participants were already in 90 years. Now many of them are not alive. But several hours of video mounted on thematic blocks were preserved: memories of war and Leningrad, words about love and happiness , stories about life and death , discussions about literature, about God, and wishes to the young .

"Paper" publishes one of the video - about the last day of the war - and the decoding of several memories.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Litvyakov

1938 born

- The salute made a tremendous impression on me, because everything rumbled! And the missiles flew. It was a salute with real missiles. The missiles flew through the Neva and fell right on our heads. Just to such an extent, so long burned. The people were darkness. From these explosions ... it was something unforgettable. And joy, glee, a feeling of universal joy! It is even difficult to convey, because everyone was like relatives. Like one large Soviet family. I will never forget this salute, because the glass poured from the explosions! No one has already paid attention to this - let them pour out. It was a salute of victory.

I just went to school on Victory Day. And in our school of the 147th, German children studied the whole floor on the top floor-maybe some specialists. And I felt sorry for them in some way. The boys there are some [shows that they beat], but I felt sorry for them.

Boris Vladimirovich Pavlov

Born in 1932

- On this day, everyone had a thought: “Well, that's it! Then there will be a common worldwide happiness! There will be nothing wrong with. ” Therefore, when you watch TV now and listen to the radio - Lord, 70 years have passed. After all, everyone thought that only everything would be good further. But it turned out that further after the war it was also difficult to live. It was very bad for a long time and was hungry. Well, then - we live as we have been living for 70 years.

Nina Filippovna Nikitina

Born in 1936

- I do not remember the very last [day of the war]. I remember when the Germans were hung in the square . This means the war is over. When everyone ran to the square - there was [there] the Giant cinema, Kalinin district - they hung them there and all ran to watch. Because small, but still grew up, it was already 8 years old, 9. Imagine, it was significant-so that they saw everything they have done, so they received everything for it.

More video can be viewed at the link . Also on the project page, portraits of more than 50 participants were published.

What else to read:

• "I will hug the mother-rodin, as if I were talking to my parents." The stories of Petersburgers who came to the Piskarevsky cemetery on the 80th anniversary of the breakthrough of the blockade.
• "In a terrible dream, I did not dream that we would fight with Ukraine." Interview with the blockade - about the experienced in Leningrad and the events of 2022.