Relay of truth and memory

Tatiana Zabello from Vitebsk was only eight years old when the Great Patriotic War broke out

May 9th is a sacred day for Belarusians. On the anniversary of the Great Victory, we will once again all remember the price that our ancestors paid for our happy and free lives. Eighty years have passed since May 9th, 1945. Time has levelled the trenches, crops are now being grown on the fields of former battles, destroyed towns and villages have been rebuilt anew. The passage of time is inexorable, and every year there are fewer living witnesses to those events — veterans and children of war, whose contemporaries bow their heads before their courage, fortitude and willpower, are leaving. Yet, there are more and more attempts to rewrite history and take away our Great Victory. Therefore, the most important mission for each of us, the descendants of the winners, is to do everything to preserve historical memory. Belarus not only carefully cherishes history and fights for the preservation of historical truth, but also supports veterans in every possible way — those who can tell the truth about the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War and the heroism of the Soviet people. The memory of the terrible war and the Great Victory cannot fade away: it is forever inscribed in the history of the Fatherland and every Belarusian family. Belarus, while remaining faithful to memory and truth, once again reminds the world that the Great Victory is not a cause for controversy, but the foundation of our unity, honour and historical responsibility.

Tenth-graders of secondary school No. 14 named after Z. A. Kosmodemyanskaya visiting 92-year-old Tatiana Zabello from Vitebsk. They have a responsible mission — to listen to and memorise the words of the eyewitness to the Great Patriotic War, 
so that when the time comes, they can pass the relay of truth and memory on to others.           Anton Stepanishchev

A hair’s breadth from death 

The war caught eight-year-old Tanya and her family in Vitebsk. After the bombings, only ruins remained of their house for several families, sighed Tatiana Zabello, “After the liberation of the city, we met not all of our neighbours from the communal flat. Out of five friendly families, close to each other, four survived. German fascists destroyed an elderly Jewish couple, their daughter with her husband, and their five-year-old granddaughter... I remember well how we once played carefree with that girl in the shared kitchen. Damn the war!”  
In that same communal kitchen back in June 1941, the neighbours gathered around the radio. Shocked, they could not believe the terrible news for a long time, shared Tatiana Zabello, “Without waiting for a call-up, my stepfather Foma Gutorov, whom I consider my father, went to the military registration and enlistment office. Before being sent to the front, he gave my mother Olga a strict instruction to save herself by going to his parents’ village of Ploskoye in Smolensk Region.”

Loading the most necessary things onto a cart, Tanya — along with her mother and two other families — set off on their way. Having reached the village of Leshno, they spent the night in a threshing barn. At dawn, they had only just harnessed the horses and started to move on when they heard a terrible roar. A ground-attack aircraft dropped a bomb on the threshing barn — they miraculously escaped death.

Their relatives’ large, sturdy house in the village of Ploskoye was also hit by a fascist shell. Only the shed survived, where tools and millstones were stored in peacetime. Until autumn, this place served as a refuge for the family. Later, it was replaced by a temporary hut made of wattle and clay, insulated with turf. “My father came to Ploskoye later,” continued Tatiana Zabello. “During the heavy fighting near Dukhovshchina, dad was lucky enough to escape from the enemy encirclement. He did not return to the front and decided to join the partisans.”

  

Under cover

The village of Ploskoye lay between the highway and the railway. A German detachment, headed by a commandant, arrived to guard the railway tracks. In the area, the partisan detachment Death to Fascism began to operate, and Tatiana’s father and grandfather wanted to join its ranks. Yet, another option was chosen, she recounted, 

“Our large family of seven people was offered to become liaisons. Posing as refugees, we moved from one settlement to another. We discreetly found out information about the deployment of the enemy and their equipment, about the movement of the fascists and their accomplices. Whenever possible, we passed on collected weapons and ammunition, medical supplies, and food to the detachment.”

Ten-year-old Tanya was assigned a special role. The girl served as the best cover for her mother, who was gathering intelligence, “The fascists were less suspicious of a woman with a child. We took a huge risk, because there were traitors too. I can still see it now: a young guy in a neat suit lying in the forest on a path, with a dark round spot on his forehead. This ‘suit’ was working for the Germans.”
The family experienced its darkest moments when father Foma Gutorov was arrested after a major act of sabotage in Rudnya. The village elder, who was not a local resident, was very eager to curry favour with the Nazi authorities. Liaison Gutorov was summoned for interrogation three times a day, beaten with sticks to force him to give out the location of the partisans.
His wife saved him. On the advice of a German translator, she wrote a statement to the commandant of the Rudnya prison saying that her husband was the breadwinner of a large family that did not violate the established German order… “Dad came home the evening of the next day,” said the woman from Vitebsk. “He was black and blue from the beatings, but the main thing was he was alive. The village elder was planning revenge, so any delay would have been fatal. Before leaving to join the partisan detachment, we came up with a story: if anyone asks about us, say: ‘They’ve gone to Vitebsk’.”

  

Scarlet strawberries

In the detachment, Tanya’s father and grandfather went on combat missions, and her mother, who had completed nursing courses before the war, helped the wounded and worked as a cook. Tanya and her grandmother also did everything they could to make life easier for the detachment. Tatiana Zabello recounted, “Quick as I was, I could sometimes be a thorn in the flesh. (laughing) Once, I saw a large crater in the forest, left by a German shell. It was filled to the brim with water, and nearby, strawberries carpeted the ground — like drops of blood. And blood would have been surely spilt, taking dozens of lives, had the detachment commander not reacted in time. Acting on a tip-off from two spies who were gathering berries there, the punitive troops entered the forest. Luckily, the detachment managed to relocate — we were saved by the vigilance of the paratroopers who were stationed nearby.”

In the paintings — only peace 

Tatiana Zabello recalled that one day, Red Army soldiers arrived at the partisans’ camp along with liaison officers. They brought the long-awaited news of the liberation of Smolensk Region, “The joy was indescribable! But it was not without bitter losses. My grandfather died in the village of Shapury near Vitebsk, and my father was seriously wounded at the front and subsequently discharged from military service. The war affected our whole family. Some went missing; some went through the hell of a German camp…”
After the war, Tatiana Zabello completed her eight-year schooling, a college of art and graphic design, and an institute. She worked as a teacher of painting and technical drawing throughout her life. She gladly painted pictures in oil. Notably, she never dedicated a single sketch to the war. The memories burned more painfully than red-hot iron. Meeting her 80th victorious spring, Tatiana Aleksandrovna wishes everyone the most important thing, “Be hardworking, conscientious, love your Motherland, live in friendship, happily and peacefully!”

belta

VALUABLE AWARD

Tatiana Zabello’s photo album features a special photo: President Aleksandr Lukashenko presents the Vitebsk resident with the Order of Honour in the year of the 70th anniversary of Great Victory 
Tatiana Zabello was awarded the Order of Honour for her great patriotic and educational work. For a long time, she headed the veterans’ organisation of housing maintenance department No. 17 of Pervomaisky District in Vitebsk. Tatiana Zabello shared, “The award from the Head of State is the most valuable to me. I really want to do something useful, to communicate with young people, to tell them as much as possible about the war — for the sake of the peaceful life of future generations.” 

By Anna Naumova