An Unchildlike Route

Volunteers from the Social Services Center for Families, Children, and Youth in Kyiv’s Holosiyivka community and leaders of various civic organizations have embarked on a field trip to the sites of Kyiv’s first defense line in 1941. Their outing is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the victory in World War Two and the 64th anniversary of the beginning of the defense of Kyiv. Over a period of eight days they will cover a 130- kilometer route, visiting the remains of fortifications and graves of identified and unknown soldiers. They will tidy the graves, visit famous historical sites, and try to discover new facts. In addition, they will practice radio communication in field conditions using army-issue radios. During the past year these children have attended amateur radio communication classes at the Social Center, taught by retired major Volodymyr Shpak.

On July 14, participants between 12 and 19 years of age set off from Koncha-Zaspa. The Day’s correspondents met with them on the second day of their field trip near the famous blockhouse, No. 210, poetically named “Rose.” The retreating defenders of Kyiv blew up the blockhouse and its ruins now resemble a petrified flower. The Holosiyivka Social Center arranged for war veterans to meet at the site with the field trip participants. The solemn meeting ended with a moment of silence and salvos fired from combat weapons. This was followed by a traditional meal of porridge cooked in a field kitchen. Veterans showed the young enthusiasts their wartime photographs from the time when many of them were the same age as the visiting children are now. During an informal exchange the children listened to reminiscences of the war and shared stories of their own grandparents’ military feats.

The idea to add patriotic content to what seems like a regular outing was conceived by Natalia Zadorozhniak, leader of a tourism circle at the Art House of Kyiv’s Holosiyivka community and director of the children’s civic organization Irbis, Latin for “ounce.” She says that the children were specially trained for the field trip. They explored the history of the defense of Kyiv in WWII, studied relevant materials at the museum of the Veterans’ Council, visited the Holosiyivka Heights memorial complex, and took an active part in planning the itinerary. Dmytro Hrynko and Mykola Peretiatko, the fathers of two field trip participants, volunteered their assistance. Both work in Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences and enjoy communicating with children. They volunteered because they want today’s young people to have a common understanding with older generations, so that their children will grow up in a healthy environment. “We cannot allow the upbringing of our children to occur spontaneously. We have to give them interesting ideas and teach them to improve themselves,” says Dmytro Hrynko.

According to the International Tourism Center, similar field trips to glorious battle sites, together with the collection of information and photographs, were last conducted in Ukraine in 1983. The photos and other materials from this expedition will thus document the current state of the Kyiv defense line and will later be submitted to the International Tourism Center and all war museums at the schools attended by the field trip participants.

“A nature outing is a big event for city children. Every year they discover countless things: crossing a water barrier, learning about terrain and travel techniques, building a fire to cook meals, etc. The toughest challenge on the first day of the trip was the mosquitoes. The most impressive experience was going through an underground tunnel that is part of Kyiv’s old fortification system, and where no one had entered for a very long time,” says Oksana Danylenko, who works at the Holosiyivka center.

Nazar Rashchenko, 18, a student at an economics college, shared his first impressions of the field trip: “Now we have a rough idea of how difficult it was for our grandparents during the war. After all, on marches they were carrying more things with them than we have today: weapons, ammunition, etc. We embarked on our trip in peacetime; there are no bullets whistling over our heads, and our lives are not threatened. Our loads are much lighter, but it is still very hard. At the end of the day we were falling off our feet from exhaustion, but we are very eager to overcome our weaknesses and be worthy of the memory of those who brought us victory and defended peace for us. Now I would like to learn more about the history of the Second World War both from documents and accounts of surviving witnesses of those events. I can tell that some facts that we are learning from school textbooks contradict what veterans are telling us.” Serhiy, 19, a student at a teachers’ college, joined the field trip because his two grandfathers fought in the war. “They told me how frightening it was, especially for the youngest, who were basically children. One of my grandfathers fought in the Soviet army and the other one was an insurgent. They fought in many places, including these parts where our route is taking us. Now there is a lot of talk of reconciliation between Ukrainian Soviet army veterans and the fighters of the OUN and the UPA, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. I think that much time has passed, and the two sides should understand and forgive each other. It was a complex situation, and people found it difficult to make sense of it. But today we need peace; we live in the 21st century and must evaluate the past from the standpoint of the present. During this field trip I am putting my strength to the test to find out what I am capable of. So far I’ve passed all the tests.”

After a brief rest stop the boys set off for the village of Yuryivka to explore a series of machinegun nests. Next in line is the village of Moshchun, the site of a plane crash in the summer of 1941. Then they will visit Liutezh, where the defenders of blockhouse No. 4 were gassed to death. The next stop on their route is the village of Novo-Petrivtsi, from where General Vatutin commanded the liberation of Kyiv in the fall of 1943. Now it is home to a museum that tells the story of those times.