http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
xvi, 264 pages : illustration, map ; 22 cm.
A collection of personal narratives told by those who were children during World War II and survived harrowing experiences. So many children were separated from their loved ones in the midst of the terror and chaos. As a result, some grew up in orphanages or were raised by grandparents or extended family. Others were taken in and cared for by strangers who risked punishment for such acts. Still others lived on their own or became underage soldiers. These oral histories of survival reveal the heart-rending details of life during wartime while reminding us that resilience is possible, no matter the circumstances.
He was afraid to look back ... -- My first and last cigarette ... -- Grandma prayed ...She asked that my soul come back ... -- They lay pink on the cinders ... -- I still want my mama ... -- Such pretty German toys ... -- And I kissed all the portraits in my schoolbook ... -- I gathered them with my hands...They were very white ... -- I want to live! I want to live! ... -- Through a buttonhole ... -- All I heard was mama's cry ... -- We played, and the soldiers wept ... -- In the cemetery the dead lay above ground ...as if they'd been killed again ... -- I realized -- this was my father ...My knees trembled ... -- My little brother cries, because he wasn't there when papa was there ... -- That girl was the first to come ... -- We ask: can we lick it? ... -- ... an extra half-spoon of sugar -- Dear house, don't burn! Dear house, don't burn! ... -- Auntie, take me on your knees ... -- ... and began to rock her like a doll -- They had already bought me a primer ... -- He wiped his tears with his sleeve ... -- You'll be my children now ... -- We kissed their hands ... -- I looked at them with a little girl's eyes ... -- Our mama didn't smile ... -- I couldn't get used to my name ... -- As if she had saved his own daughter ... -- And why am I so small? ... -- They were drawn by the human scent ... -- Why did they shoot her in the face? My mama was so beautiful ... -- And I didn't even have a scarf on ... -- No one to play outside with ... -- I'll open the window at night ...And give the pages to the wind ... -- Dig here ... -- Grandpa was buried under the window ... -- I'll buy myself a dress with a little bow ... -- How did he die, if there was no shooting today? ... -- Because we're girls, and he's a boy ... -- You're no brother of mine if you play with German boys ... -- We even forgot that word ... -- You should go to the front, but you fall in love with my mama ... -- These two boys became light as sparrows ... -- I was embarrassed to be wearing girl's shoes ... -- We all joined hands ... -- We didn't even know how to bury ... But now we somehow recalled it ... -- I heard his heart stop ... -- The wide world is wondrous ... -- I was afraid of that dream ... -- I wanted to be mama's only child ... so she could pamper me ... -- But, like rubber balls, they didn't sink ... -- I remember the blue, blue sky ... and our planes in that sky ... -- We ate ... the park ... -- King of clubs ...king of diamonds ... -- He gave me an Astrakhan hat with a red ribbon ... -- Were we really children? We were men and women ... -- Don't give some stranger papa's suit ... -- At night I cried: where is my cheerful mama? ... -- He won't let me fly away ... -- Everybody wanted to kiss the word 'Victory' ... -- Wearing a shirt made from my father's army shirt ... -- I decorated it with red carnations ... -- I waited a long time for my father...All my life ... -- At that limit ... that brink ...
Svetlana Alexievich ; translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.