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Еротика та війна: спогади про Любомль 1944 року |
VolynPost, 17 June 2018
Tetiana Yatsechko-Blazhenko
During research, it was possible to find some interesting and rather unusual recollections of the Volhynian town of Liuboml during the Second World War.
In 1944 Soviet soldiers were stationed in Liuboml. One of them, Vladimir Gelfand, kept a diary in which, alongside military events, he described everything that happened to him. Although the war was still going on, youth had not been canceled. An extraordinary adventure happened to the young soldier, adding color to the grayness of war and remaining in his memory forever. After the war Vladimir Gelfand published his recollections of the colorful town of Maciejów and of what happened to him there.
Soldier Vladimir Gelfand.
Here are several quotations from the diary:
19 October 1944. District center of Volhynia Region. The town of Maciejów.
“A heavy rain is falling, and I decided to take shelter in the ‘District Consumer Cooperative’—or something like that in Ukrainian.
“The carts of the transport company have gone far ahead, but I do not care because I dream of reaching Liuboml by car.
“The local secretary here is a very beautiful and intelligent girl. She is twenty-seven. But her beauty is unusual. What a pure, white face, what broad eyebrows and what a clear, open gaze!
“At last, Liuboml. Unexpectedly I was lucky here too and met a wonderful girl. She is short, with a good figure. Educated, intelligent, and everything in her boils and breathes with life. She seems to draw one toward her. I restrained myself and at first tried not to reveal my feelings.
“She invited Sultanov and me to her apartment. She was with a friend. And now I am already in the apartment. As soon as I arrived I noticed the deep brown eyes, the high delicate forehead, the rosy cheeks and the soft beautiful figure. The girl became interested in me, in my poems, and seemed not to notice my friend Sultanov at all. She did not like his expressions ‘my girl’ and ‘good girl,’ and made it clear to Sultanov that she was not attracted to him. He became gloomy and scowled, and when our eyes accidentally met he shot me an angry, quick glance and demonstratively buried himself in a book. I did not understand what he was thinking and decided that he was not especially upset by Klava’s rejection. That was her name…
“I took her hand, then her shoulders, and drew her toward me. She herself made no move toward satisfying my wishes, but neither did she reject my tenderness.
“Galya, the other girl, also tried to begin a ‘conversation’ with me and even suggested that I sit beside her, but even when I did sit down I had little desire to become ‘sentimental’ with her, and she understood that it was hopeless.
“The captain went out for a walk with Galya, while I increasingly enjoyed the femininity and warmth of my girl: I stroked her hands, whispered tenderly and pressed my lips to her shoulder.
“At the time I met Klava I was overgrown with stubble and looked anything but fresh. My beard must have scratched badly… And Klava—oh, she is the embodiment of tenderness and bliss! I do not remember how I first embraced her, first kissed her, but I remember that it happened. I was drunk in soul and body.
“But suddenly Nikolai burst in.
“‘Let’s go, Volodya, let’s go, Captain!’ he said.
“The captain went out and spoke with him; then they came back into the room together and began getting ready to leave. I was surprised, but nevertheless hurried to get ready too.
“As we said goodbye, Klava gave me her address…
“Outside, the captain suddenly said that these were very decent girls and far from promiscuous, our own people moreover, from native places, and that one had to be polite with them and not allow oneself liberties.
“I returned to Klava at night. We stayed together until very late. I plunged headlong into a sea of love and almost drowned in it. That day I was intoxicated, as I had been the previous day; I loved Klava as one should love with real love, and I reveled in her tenderness.
“Klava embraced and kissed me too and looked sharply into my eyes with her spirited but affectionate gaze…”
P.S. Perhaps the women who appear in the soldier’s recollections will read them and remember themselves.
Tetiana Yatsechko-Blazhenko
© 2011–2018 VolynPost
© SID Inform Media Technologies Agency
© Volyn24
SID Inform Media Technologies Agency: “War and Love Affairs: A Soldier’s Memories of Liuboml in 1944.”
Volyn24: “He Whispered Tenderly and Pressed His Lips to Her Shoulder: A Soldier’s Memories of a Girl from Liuboml.”
Chronicles of Liubart: “A Soldier’s Love Affairs in Volhynia in 1944.”
The images consist mainly of photographs of Vladimir Gelfand and publication logos. The logos identify VolynPost, Rayon.Liuboml, V24 and Chronicles of Liubart; their publication names are reflected above.