Table of Contents
From a Conversation with a Historian xi
A Human Being is Greater Than War xiii
"I Don't Want to Remember …" 3
"Grow Up. Girls … You're Still Green …" 19
Of Oaths and Prayers 20
Of the Smell of Fear and a Suitcase of Candy 34
Of Everyday Life and Essential Life 54
"I Alone Came Back to Mama …" 71
"Two Wars Live in Our House …" 91
"Telephones Don't Shoot …" 99
"They Awarded Us Little Medals …" 113
Of Dolls and Rifles 117
Of Death and Astonishment in the Face of Death 122
Of Horses and Birds 126
"It Wasn't Me …" 131
"I Remember Those Eyes Even Now …" 141
"We Didn't Shoot …" 159
Of Nice Little Shoes and a Cursed "Wooden Leg 160
Of the Special "K" Soap and the Guardhouse 168
Of Melted Bearings and Russian Curses 176
"They Needed Soldiers … But We Also Wanted To Be Beautiful …" 185
Of Men's Boots and Women's Hats 186
Of a Girlish Treble and Sailors' Superstitions 197
Of the Silence of Horror and the Beauty of Fiction 207
"Young Ladies! Do You Know: The Commander of a Sapper Platoon Lives Only Two Months …" 211
"To See Him Just Once …" 225
Of a Damned Wench and the Roses of May 226
Of a Strange Silence Facing the Sky and a Lost Ring 239
Of the Loneliness of a Bullet and a Human Being 247
"About Tiny Potatoes …" 251
Of a Mine and a Stuffed Toy in a Basket 253
Of Mommies and Daddies 265
Of Little Life and a Big Idea 271
"Mama. What's a Papa?" 281
Of Bathing Babies and of a Mama Who Looks Like a Papa 281
Of Little Red Fading Hood and the Joy of Meeting a Cat During the War 290
Of the Silence of Those Who Could Now Speak 298
"And She Puts Her Hand to Her Heart …" 303
Of the Last Days of the War, When Killing Was Repugnant 303
Of a Composition with Childish Mistakes and Comic Movies 312
Of the Motherland, Stalin, and Red Cloth 317
"Suddenly We Wanted Desperately To Live …" 323