Children's memory turned out to be tenacious and the first. Age-related features of the development of children's memory

Your child forgot the poem about the sun and only found out during his performance at the matinee. And he also doesn’t remember where he puts his pants, scoops and toys... The reason is simple: children’s memory is structured a little differently than ours!

journalist

When we expect a child to behave “good,” we completely overlook the fact that children are organized in unexpected ways. We demand awareness common sense and excerpts. We make some arguments, persist, and get a dubious result: the guy is still tapping his grandmother’s set on the radiator. Knowing the peculiarities of the processes occurring inside the incomprehensible creature that runs around the apartment in your shoes is what will help you maintain your health and even a good mood at the ill-fated matinee.

Of course, we need memory not only to clearly know where exactly we touched the keys. Memory helps us accumulate experience, recognize the most different situations, connect individual signs into an understandable picture and anticipate events based on initial signals. Let's say, guess by the sound of a traffic police officer's voice that he is not bringing peace, but a fine for illegal parking.

There are two types of memory: short-term (you quickly reproduced a one-time five-digit PIN code, but five minutes later nothing could make you remember this set of numbers) and long-term (it includes a bunch of important information starting with the unconscious about motor skills and ending with the lines from Tatiana’s letter to Onegin, which you learned at school and can still recite if you have to). That is, to form short-term memory you need to glance once at an article in a magazine, for long-term memory you will have to torment your loved ones many times with a free interpretation of Pushkin or playing “The Dog Waltz.”

When it comes to mental abilities, which also includes memory, one cannot miss the fact that the human brain grows greatly even after birth. If a chimpanzee's brain size increases 1.6 times after birth, then a person's gray matter grows 4 times! We were given a long childhood and three years on maternity leave for a reason. Probably, it is the rapid growth that can explain the strange work of the beloved curly head.

Features of children's memory:

1. Children under three years old form “emotional memories.”

No one remembers what happened to them at the age of 6 months. It is quite difficult to reproduce the words of the nanny who fed you semolina porridge in the nursery when you were 2 years old. And in general, we know the events before the three-year mark only from photographs and the words of your mother, who for some reason, in front of guests, begins to tell how you once peed on the bus. However, this does not give us the opportunity to leave the upbringing of children to fate. It turns out that their unconscious emotions are imprinted in the brain and even influence the rest of their lives.

Until the age of three, we don’t remember that stupid story on the bus, because until then the hippocampus (this is the part of the brain that is involved in the formation of long-term memory) has not yet matured. Scientists believe that emotional memories may be stored in the amygdala, which is already fully functional in newborns. “The genes of well-fed baby rats work differently than the genes of their poorly cared for identical twins, so the brains of well-fed baby rats undergo changes that lead to a decrease in anxiety. The results of a study of brain cells of adult suicide victims who were victims of abuse as children, lead to the assumption that similar phenomena are characteristic of people, writes science journalist Rita Carter in her book How the Brain Works.

How we communicate with the baby during the first years of our acquaintance determines no less than his well-being as an adult. Let it not stick in a person’s head how he once took offense at a rattle, but what he will probably remember is your sensitive treatment of him, your friendly intonation and the general pleasant impression of the world around him.

2. The child’s memory is connected with his physicality.

If an adult can hover for a long time in some abstractions and not pay attention to a damp sock, then children, on the contrary, are terribly physical creatures. They comprehend the world by crawling, with their bellies under the table, they taste all sorts of rubbish on their tongues (honey, spit out the shoe polish quickly!), grab frogs and other puddle ingredients with their hands, pinch and bite their friends in the sandbox, climb onto your neck and cling to your hair. The main breakthrough in understanding your body occurs at the age of 3-5 years. It is then that the main motor skills characteristic of a person are formed, including somersaults, which will later be useful for lower breakdancing.

What is not obvious to the parent is that the mental abilities of children are strongly interconnected with their physicality, sensations in space, physics and sensory. Sensory Integration Specialists address developmental challenges with bean baths, weighted blankets, cocoon chairs, and swings—and it really works. There are studies that show a strong relationship between mastering one's body and the development of a child's memory. So if it is important for you that your baby remembers valuable information, link it to his motor skills, coordination or sense of rhythm. Children learn what they experience with their bodies.

3. In children, information is erased from memory faster.

“Do you really not remember how you solved this problem at your grandfather’s dacha last summer?” - yes, he really forgot. It is more difficult for children to retain in their memory events that were not colored by vivid emotional experiences, and, surprisingly, the problem is not one of those things that he will remember with nostalgia for many years.

So that you once again were not surprised by the child's forgetfulness, a Japanese-Canadian group of neuroscientists published the results of their study. True, the experiments were carried out on mice, and not on children, but scientists were able to prove that the active growth of neurons stimulates forgetting. Neurons, of course, grow faster in young individuals, no matter whether this individual has a tail or sandals. Growth comes at the cost of memory loss.

The experiments compared very young mice with adult rodents. Both of them developed a fear reaction (it’s better not to even find out how), and then scientists were left to watch how it was erased. Adult mice remembered the danger for the entire next month, while young mice completely forgot about it after two weeks.

This knowledge will help the parent to reassure himself at every opportunity: “Aha, the child forgot his shift again! Well, that means his neurons are actively growing!” Also, keep in mind that after strong shocks, both mice and people do not forget whatever happens to their neurons. In order for the child to assimilate the information, help him connect it with the emotional side of life: let the fact bring joy or excitement.

4. Children's memory works with a delay.

If we have just left a performance, we remember well what happened there, but after a week, the details will disappear from memory. The child’s picture is upside down: he will better remember today’s event only a few days later. Scientists from Ohio State University talk about this. Researchers played a game with 4-5 year old children where they had to understand how different objects were connected to each other. Psychologists were able to observe a remarkable effect: information that children did not remember well when repeated on the first day miraculously resurrected in their heads a few days later.

So if you are disappointed to discover that your child has left the theater and no longer knows who sang Chanterelle’s aria, then there are two options: either he will remember this in a couple of days and you will be happy to discuss the performance, or you took him to a modern production for adult theatergoers, and he slept well there.

Vladimir OMELYANOVICH, journalist

1. What remains in memory

In my unlucky life, it turned out that my memory turned out to be tenacious. This helped me a lot. And, oddly enough, it does harm in many ways. From memory, it’s as if I continue to live in the dark past. And I can’t tear myself away from him. It’s as if I’m trying not to notice the gray present, to avoid it. Although it doesn't work out well. But I’m afraid of a bright future. This fear lies in the memory of the past. And it can quietly become the future.

So here it is. I pull out two bright, somewhat similar pictures from my childhood memory. First. I'm six or seven years old. An occupation. Poverty. No salt, matches, soap. The father is no longer there. We carry everything we can carry. There are potatoes and corn. We are not dying out. The grandmother earned money through her hired labor little pig. To create a holiday at least once a year. What a pig meant to her can be judged by the fact that when it was necessary to turn it into food, she cried and was taken aside, saying that this was preventing the pig from dying.

And then one day the occupier showed up. Neighbors sent him to us. He demanded a pig. Grandmother fell at his feet and began hugging his boots, watering them with her tears. It hurt me then to see my grandmother cry. Today my memory hurts. Or what is called the soul. As a result, the occupier could not stand the sobs, kicked him with his boot and... retreated.

Picture two. Hungry
1946 I am 10 years old. Grandma is no longer there. She just froze outside. From hunger and cold. The situation is the same as during the occupation. Only there are no more potatoes or corn. But you need to pay tax, donate eggs, milk, meat. Old people remember this. But there is nothing. Absolutely.

Deadline for tax payment and delivery
the tax in kind expired a long time ago. The village council secretary arrives. For some reason, in our village, mostly Russians were appointed to lead. Or maybe not for some reason. This one had the nickname Imati, because he was constantly swearing.

Entering our hut, he began to rummage about what could be described as a tax bill. Nothing was found. Now the mother was already crying. And then for the first time I heard the phrase: “Moscow does not believe in tears.” That is, long before the director's film Menshova. Although I’m not proud of this as a priority.

The actions of the mentioned Imat aroused in me then a persistent desire for revenge. I hatched the idea of ​​setting fire to a large stack of straw in a collective farm field. It would turn out to be such an enchanting vatra. But over time, my rebellious soul calmed down, although to this day I don’t understand who inflicted this on me. O The greater spiritual wound is the Western occupier or the Eastern brother.

These two bright and at the same time dark pictures of childhood, like a dream of the mind, give birth to a monstrous picture of today. If the biblical Ham saw his naked father Noah and brought his brothers to laugh, then the current Ham threw his naked mother at the feet of his brothers to be mocked. After all, if Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities, then Ukraine is the mother of all Russians. And now Ham, in his ugliness, enjoys how his mother is raped en masse by his brothers, in a Horde rush, with an orgasmic cry of “Russia, Russia!!!” and placing St. George ribbons on their bloody chests as a symbol of the great victory. Victory over mother.

Realizing that the allegory is rather scary, I apologize to the children. Although even without this picture they will bear the sin of their unreasonable parents.

And in conclusion I will express my own feeling. Our country, or our territory, as anyone pleases, has never experienced greater shame, collective, public shame. I deliberately separate the territories and people living on them from the country. Because they, we deserve this shame.

(To be continued)

It's decided! You are going to the theater! At first glance, everything is quite simple. The choice of children's performances is tempting and varied, and now your smart preschooler is proudly sitting in the front row of the stalls... Take your time. Theater for a child is not just another “object” in a series of various cultural entertainments, and buying a ticket to even the most “fashionable” children’s performance does not always mark the birth of a new avid theatergoer. RAMT teacher A.E. talks about how to make the first meeting with the theater meaningful and memorable. Lisitsina.

What age of a child is favorable for systematic communication with the theater? The “age of theater” comes when the need for transformation and imitation manifests itself, when the child’s ability to perceive theatrical conventions has already been trained in the process. Simply put, as soon as your child starts playing “princesses” or “princes” and mother’s hats, scarves, and “heels” are used, you should think about visiting the theater.

In front of you is a theater poster. What to choose for your first trip? Of course, it is better if it is a children's performance of a traditional, academic theater. In Moscow, for example, there are few such theaters, but they still exist. Opt for the Russian Academic Youth Theater (RAMT), which has been staging performances for children for more than 80 years. Today's playbill includes two performances for young preschoolers - "Dunno the Traveler" (N. Nosov) and "A Dream with a Continuation" (S. Mikhalkov) based on the fairy tale about the Nutcracker.

If you're lucky, you might be able to attend the Spectator Induction Festival, which takes place 3 times a year during the school holidays. As a rule, there are two such holidays during the autumn and spring holidays, and three or four such holidays during the winter holidays. Then a special exhibition is set up for children - “Wizards Creating a Fairy Tale”. On it, little guides (children from the audience) talk about the creators of the play, show the scenery, lighting installations, costumes, makeup, and props. And in the auditorium, just before the start of the performance, the leading actors of the theater perform the interlude “Dedication to the Spectator.” Such holidays leave vivid impressions on children for many years and provide an opportunity to touch the mystery of creating a performance.

If you were unable to attend the festival, there is another opportunity to make your visit to the theater unforgettable. The theater operates spectator clubs for children and teenagers. The youngest spectators come to the "Family Club". At the end of the performance, children and their parents have the opportunity to take pictures (and then receive photographs by mail) on stage with the actors in the scenery, and after a short rest and tea, the theater teacher will unobtrusively, in a playful way, help you and the children understand their impressions and pay attention to the main thing in the performance. Children will be happy to draw the most vivid and memorable images of the performance for the artists. This first visit to the theater will not be forgotten!

But perhaps you were unable to get to either the holiday or the Family Club. How to interest your computerized, television child in the theater? What questions to ask to awaken interest and imagination?

The most common parental question is: “Did you like the performance?” As a rule, children answer unequivocally: “Yes-ah!” And this answer no longer requires discussion. But you can find a topic for conversation after any performance.

The very first question that a director asks himself when starting work is: “What will I stage this play about? About friendship, love, loneliness, justice?” Ask your child this question, and immediately there will be a reason for conversation. I will allow myself to give you a small list of universal questions suitable for any performance, hoping that you yourself will choose the right direction for the conversation.

• What is the name of the performance? What is the name of the main character of the play? What are the names of the main character's friends and does he have any enemies? Who would you like to be friends with?
• What action of the main character did you like (dislike)? Who did you feel sorry for?
• What would you do in a similar situation?
• What was the hero (anti-hero) like at the beginning of the play and what did he become by the end? Did the clothes of the characters in the play change?(This can be associated with the characters’ characters and their changes.)
• Who, besides the actors, is involved in the play?(Look into the program, select, for example, an artist.)
• What colors in the costumes and scenery of the performance do you remember, and why are they that way?
• Did colors influence your mood? What about the music? How did they influence?
• Do you think the play is named correctly, or could it be called something else? How? Which of your friends would you recommend to watch it?

We can talk about all this on the way home. During this time, the performance will “ripen” in the child’s soul. And at home, all your impressions can be translated into drawings with paints, pencils, and crayons. Invite your child to draw a character he likes and at the same time remember what clothes he was wearing and what color. Or maybe you can try to come up with a poster for this performance together? Or would you like to make a gift for your favorite character with your own hands? And what? It can be transferred to the theater. And how proud your baby will be!

Many parents have another question: do they need to prepare their child to watch a performance? Do they need to read or re-read the fairy tale they are going to see? If it is for ballet, then yes, it is necessary, there is a special “language” here - the language of dance. And a dramatic performance, for example, in our theater can be watched without any preparation. In conclusion, I want to remind you that a child is a tireless researcher not only in life, but also in the theater. And if he asks you a thousand questions “why” and “how”, it means he wants to comprehend in the theater theater.

Memory - main factor development of the child’s cognitive sphere. Therefore, its development should be given Special attention. As a child grows up, he remembers his grandmother's face, words and colors, the names of his friends in kindergarten, poems that his parents read to him, and much more.

When a child memorizes the alphabet, it is the first step toward learning to read. As he gets older, he memorizes the multiplication table, new foreign words, the names of the capitals of countries around the world, and poems. He keeps in mind the activities planned for the day, messages that come to him during the day, the football training schedule and much more. And all this time he remembers the events that have already happened to him, both pleasant and unpleasant.

If you add together everything that a person remembers (information, practical skills and life events), it becomes clear what important role Memory plays a role in our life. It is thanks to memory that we are who we are.

The older a child gets, the more he can remember. Memory is an extremely useful thing, and it would be great if we could make it work more efficiently. But, according to psychologists, this is impossible, and all games and exercises for developing memory in children do not give a noticeable effect. Memory is not like a muscle; it cannot be developed through training. On the other hand, if you understand the mechanisms of memory development (what, when and why children remember), you can follow them and develop the child's memory in accordance with his abilities.

Young children

Most of us do not remember events that happened before we were two years old. Psychologists call this period “childhood amnesia.” They argue that we access and store memories through speech. Since children under two years old have not developed speech, and they cannot record their impressions, hugs and kisses from parents, smells and tastes - everything that happened to a child under two years old. All this is not remembered, although it has an impact on later life child.

Scientists have proven that the ability to remember events appears quite early in a child. Research has shown that six-month-old babies can be taught to make sounds using a rattle attached to a stroller, and they will remember it after a few days.

Preschool-aged children remember best what interests, frightens or delights them, and these memories last for about 10 months. Children do not remember the details of their last visit to the doctor, but they can remember their impressions of that visit: “The doctor told me something I didn’t like.”

Children tend to generalize even isolated events from the past: both good and bad. They think that if an event happens once, it will happen again and again. Scenarios that are remembered by the baby can be pleasant (“If you go to visit grandma, you can eat sweets”), unpleasant (“If the nanny comes, it means mom will leave soon”) or cause stress (“When we go to visit our parents , they leave me alone with these terrible children").

Provide your child with activities that promote memory. Play games with your child before bed. Play along with your child as he puts his favorite teddy bear to bed. Children's poems captivate children so much that they suggest individual sounds and syllables, even if they do not yet know how to pronounce the words. Accompany the poems with movements - and the child will repeat them after you.

Practical advice

• The child should perform as many activities independently as possible. In this case, these actions are more likely to be remembered.
• Remind your child of images in the form of pictures. For example, if he hasn’t seen his grandmother for a long time, show him a photo of her.

From 2 to 7 years

At this age, memory development is influenced not only by the ability to speak, but also by the ability to tell stories. Children remember events that have a certain plot better.

Preschoolers remember the most vivid details. For example, a child is more likely to say: “I remember my parents buying me a mask and snorkel for scuba diving. I went to the beach with them and met my cousin there" than "I remember going to the beach." Children remember events by creating stories from them.

IN preschool age children are already able to remember abstract concepts - colors, numbers from one to ten, the alphabet and others. This information is stored in short-term memory, and the child makes an effort to remember it when necessary. Over time, this process becomes automatic, and there is no longer any need to make efforts to remember. The child no longer remembers the names of flowers, he just knows them.

When a child frequently recalls abstract concepts, they become knowledge. For example, a child knows how to ride a bicycle. First he remembers what needs to be done, and this takes all his attention. After some time, the information is reproduced automatically by the child, and he masters the skill of riding a bicycle.

A preschooler remembers what interests him (for example, he remembers his sister’s doll, which he is not allowed to touch). In remembering more complex concepts the best method is repetition. When a child asks to read the same fairy tale to him over and over again, he unconsciously remembers it. And if the text is easy to remember (it is rhymed, rhythmic or illustrated), the child will easily be able to remember it completely.

What helps in memory development

Repetition, although it helps you remember information, does not develop memory skills. Scientists say that parents who teach children how to tell stories correctly help them develop memory.

To help your child develop memory, tell him stories. Encourage him to tell himself interesting stories. Let him start with small events: a walk in an amusement park or a day spent in kindergarten. Ask your child questions such as, “Did you have cookies for breakfast today?”

Practical advice

• Remember the details of events. If a child says at breakfast that he has lost his favorite toy, help him remember when and where he last time I was playing with it when I discovered that the toy was lost. Check to see if the toy has fallen behind the sofa.
• Come up with melodies and rhymes. Help your child remember their home phone number by making up a song about it. In the same way, you can teach your child to remember names, titles and much more.
• A child can be taught safety rules in the same way as the alphabet or color names. Incorporate the concepts you want to teach your baby into his daily activities. Recognize familiar letters on signs or food packaging at the supermarket. Remind your child to repeat the phone number out loud at home.

From 5 years and older

At this age, children learn to read and do simple arithmetic calculations. This creates a large memory load. At the same time, children usually perform simple chores around the house. When faced with the need to cope with new tasks, memory develops. Changes in the brain make it easier for the baby to remember information.

All children remember different information in different ways. Like adults, they remember better what interests them; what they understand; and also something they know a lot about. Psychologists say that six-year-old children demonstrate an amazing ability to remember information from their hobbies. They can accurately recite the match results of their favorite football teams, player details and other data.

Having the ability to remember information from one area of ​​knowledge, a child may not demonstrate it in other areas. An experiment was conducted in which children and adults took part. During the experiment, it was necessary to remember the positions of chess pieces on the board. Children coped with this task better than adults. But when the same participants were asked to memorize a series of numbers, adults showed more high result. The children's abilities manifested themselves only in the field of chess.

But how do children remember information that is not part of their interests? When they forget something they need to remember, they make an effort to recall the necessary information. Children over 5 years old begin to understand that remembering information requires effort.

What helps develop memory

Although children aged 6-7 years show good memory abilities in a certain area, they cannot apply them to other areas. And kids who understand and can explain how they remember something are able to apply this method in different areas. Therefore, if you help your child understand how he remembers information, you will help realize his ability to remember in different areas.

• Prepare in advance. For example, teach your child to pack his school bag in the evening so that he doesn’t forget anything in the morning.
• Place things in the designated place. Explain to your child that if he collects toys after playing with them, not a single toy will get lost. You should also put keys and other things in their place.
• Visualize. If a child wants to receive several gifts for New Year, invite him to draw them so that he doesn’t forget anything.
• Give me a hint. Leave the child's shoes near the dog's bowl - this way the child will not forget to feed the dog before he goes for a walk.

Practical advice

• Encourage your child to make lists of important things to do and mark upcoming events on the calendar.
• Create the appropriate environment. The child remembers better what is interesting to him and what he is already familiar with. Therefore, if you want your child to remember something from the field of music, create an appropriate environment at home: play the musical instruments, go to concerts with your child, read books about great composers to him.
• Break tasks into parts. It will be easier for your child to learn a poem if you break it into several passages and start learning from the most difficult one. This strategy works well for many tasks, from memorizing the causes of World War II in history class to packing for a trip.

At the age of 12, children already remember information in the same way as adults. Their memorization abilities develop as their knowledge and experience increase. Of course, parents will have to work hard before their child develops this skill.

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I was 1.5 years old when the war began, and 5 years old when Victory came. Children's memory turned out to be tenacious for some events and - especially - for the state in which civilians were when they met the enemy.

My roots are in Kuban, in the Abinsk region Krasnodar region. My grandparents and parents lived there. I was also born there, in the village of Mingrelskaya (as recorded in the documents). More precisely, the maternity hospital was in the village of Abinskaya (now the city of Abinsk), and my grandmother lived in Mingrelskaya, to whom my mother came from Leningrad before giving birth.

I was born on January 10, 1940 in Krasnodar region, and soon my mother went with me to Krasnogvardeysk (now Gatchina) near Leningrad, where my father Alexey Grigorievich Kravets served there since 1938. Mom, Kravets Efrosinya Mikhailovna, came there in 1939, rented a room, got a job as a teacher in kindergarten No. 4 and entered the evening department of Leningradsky pedagogical institute. She went to my mother to give birth to me and now she has returned. She found a nanny for me – a 14-year-old girl. Mom worked, studied, raised me. Dad served in the Red Army and became the commander of the 2nd division of the 94th IPTAP ( anti-tank fighter artillery regiment). I grew up as a healthy, strong child.

But in May-June I fell ill with a disease that was then difficult to cure - dyspepsia (now called dysbacteriosis). She was in the hospital for a long time. And suddenly this terrible war began. I, like other similar children, was discharged as hopeless. Imagine my mother’s despair! Dad, at her insistence, turns to a military doctor and he decides on a bold and risky method: a complete direct blood transfusion from donors, if any are found. Dad turned to his colleagues: volunteers are needed. Many responded. The doctor selected four and performed this operation in a military hospital. Everything worked out, my blood was replaced with donor blood, and I began to recover. This is how death passed me by for the first time.

The Germans rapidly advanced and within a month they were on the outskirts of Leningrad. A hasty evacuation of state valuables began from museums, as well as factories and industrial equipment. Residents were not evacuated because... there were not enough trains. Many people left and left as best they could. Mom, taking a certificate that she was the wife of an officer, with incredible persistence made her way through the cordoned-off platform to the already overcrowded train, holding me, one and a half years old and weak, in one arm, and in the other a bundle of clothes and crackers. She managed to hand me and the bundle to the people through the carriage window, and then break through those besieging the door and squeeze into the vestibule and carriage, finding me. The train was already heading towards the Volga, to the east. We were lucky we didn't get bombed like my mother did. younger brother Zhora and was mortally wounded. My mother and I “ran away” from hostilities, but not from the war.

Then new difficulties began. Everyone in mandatory They were taking us beyond the Urals, and my mother decided to get to her home, to the village of Mingrelskaya. We left the train before the Volga. Along the river, on passing boats, barges, etc., bypassing control posts in every possible way - only military cargo and soldiers were allowed through to the west - we finally reached Stalingrad. Then, also hitchhiking, we finally got to my grandmother’s house a month later. We ate as needed, with help from soldiers and other people we met. But crackers and water saved me - I couldn’t eat anything else. The disease passed and did not return. This overcoming – the road home – was my mother’s victory in the war, her feat. She saved us both.

We lived in the village of Mingrelskaya with our grandmother Polina Ivanovna, treated ourselves with home remedies, gained strength and did not yet know what awaited us ahead.

We hoped that the war would end soon and were looking forward to meeting dad. We didn’t know anything about him, because... he defended the city of Leningrad, which was under siege. The mail didn't arrive. Anxiety for him, for my mother’s brothers who fought: Sergei, Gabriel, Nikolai, Zhora was constantly with us. But the war did not subside, the Germans approached Stalingrad and captured the North Caucasus.

In the autumn of 1942, we also fell under occupation. Life immediately turned upside down: my mother had no job, no money, the necessary products could only be exchanged for other products or things. Adults tried to make supplies from the garden and garden, and carried the harvest to the market in the village. Sometimes my mother made it to the bazaar in Krasnodar. There, one day my mother got involved in an “action” - intimidation of the population for sabotage by partisans. It was a raid - people surrounded at the bazaar were driven with dogs to standing “gas chamber” cars. People already knew that everyone who got into them was suffocated by gas. Then they were taken straight to the pits, where they dumped everyone; the people were already dead.

Mom miraculously escaped this fate, falling in this run. German soldiers and the dogs ran past. She was often exposed to such mortal risk.

We lived under occupation for a whole year. Probably my earliest memories date back to the autumn of 1943, when I was about 4 years old. I remember two episodes related to my intense fear. We were all always afraid of the Germans. After all, in our family there were six men, including our partisan grandfather, who fought in the Red Army. Such families, especially those of officers, if the Germans found out, could have been arrested, taken away and even killed. Here was a case. Grandmother went to the market, and locked my mother and me in the hut, hanging a large padlock so that it was clear that there was no one in the house. Suddenly we hear voices breaking down the door. Mom hid in the bedroom with me. We climbed into bed. I was under the blanket, and my mother put a wet towel on her forehead: she pretended to be sick. The Germans entered the kitchen and began looking for food in the stove. They pulled out the cast iron with boiled corn and cabbage soup. They ate everything and went into the bedroom. We were taken aback; we didn’t expect to see anyone. Mom explained with signs that she was sick, at her own peril and risk. The Germans were very afraid of getting infected and, if they suspected cholera or plague, they burned houses along with people. But God protected us. Mom and I survived again. The Germans simply left.

There was another case. Hearing the barking of the neighbor’s dogs, I hung on the boards of the gate, curious about who was walking along the street, usually deserted. I see men walking: young, cheerful. They are approaching. Suddenly, the thought flashes through my mind: “These are the Germans!” I fly head over heels from the gate and run for cover, under a lilac bush. She froze. We passed by. But fear settled in my head, and for many years later I dreamed at night that the Germans were coming, and I had to run and hide. War is scary!

During the war, my toys were multi-colored pieces of glass from bottles and jars, some boxes, and wooden blocks. I hid all this “wealth” of mine under a lilac bush. That was my “home”. I had a rag doll, sewn by my mother, with a celluloid head, and a pre-war bear, covered with blue fabric. I learned about sweets and white rolls much later, after the war, in 1946.

When in the fall of 1943 our army won in Stalingrad, encircling German army Paulus, the Germans fled. They rolled away from North Caucasus for Don, fearing encirclement. And somehow the Germans suddenly disappeared from our village. None of local residents Then I didn’t know what was happening, everyone sat quietly and waited for a day or two. Suddenly other Germans appeared - in black uniforms. They fussed, looked for something and quickly, finding nothing, left. Much later it became clear that this was a punitive SS unit, and they were looking for prepared lists of people to be shot. But it turned out that they were carried away by the retreating units. These lists were found later by village residents. Apparently, the Germans abandoned them and other documents along the road when they fled. Our family, as it turned out, was also on these lists. So, once again death passed me and my mother by.

When the war ended, the soldiers began to return to their families. And we waited for dad. But when he finally arrived, this is what happened. I see that my military uncle has come. Everyone is happy to welcome him, treat him. But not me. I watch from afar, I’m surprised, I hide. This uncle tells me: “I am your dad!” I didn’t know him, so I didn’t believe him. I said: “You are not my dad, I have a different dad,” and ran away. Everyone is at a loss. And I took the only photograph of my dad from the chest of drawers, a small one, with a beard. I carry it and show it: “Here is my dad.” Everyone laughed, but I was offended and cried.

Dad brought me a gift, some white object. He gives it, and I hide and ask: “What is this?” “Bun, eat!” This is how I first saw and tried white bread.

It was 1946, and dad, a military man, came only to take us to his place of service - to the city of Omsk, in Siberia. We got there by train, and everything was extraordinary.

At first we were accommodated in a woodshed, in a fenced-off room. Then we moved to another room - in the basement. We also lived in a real dugout. One day there was a heavy downpour and we were flooded. It was scary and interesting at the same time. Later we were given a tiny room on the third floor of a 3-story building in a military town. I slept on chairs pushed together, and when sister Lyudmila appeared, she was sleeping in a trough. In the summer, dad took us “to camps.” This military unit went on training exercises.

In the winter of 1947, in Omsk, I went to the 1st grade of an elementary school in a military town. After 2nd grade we moved to Far East, to a military town near the city of Iman. There in 1950 my brother Zhenya appeared. I graduated from the town primary school, and in 5th grade, in high school, I went to the city of Iman. We were taken there every day in a large military vehicle with a canvas top. And a year later - another school again.

In 1952, dad was transferred to serve in the GDR. Families were not accepted, and my mother went with us, 3 children, to her homeland, to Krasnodar. She rented a room in a private house and enrolled me in a girls' school, in the 6th grade. Soon we had to change rooms and schools. After 7th grade - moving again. In the GDR, military personnel were allowed to bring their families. I studied 8th and 9th grades in Stendal. Despite frequent moves, I always studied well. I attended a photo club, a dance club, played sports, read a lot... My parents decided that I should finish 10th grade in Russia in order to then go to college. That's why Last year I studied in Krasnodar. She graduated from school with a gold medal.

In 1957 she entered the Moscow Energy Institute. She graduated from it in 1963. While studying, she married a student at the same institute, Ivan Ivanovich Tatarenkov, and in 1962 gave birth to a son, Alexei.

My husband graduated from the institute with honors, and he himself chose the place of assignment - the city of Serpukhov. He worked as the head of the boiler room at the MUZ plant (assembly units and workpieces). Later the plant became known as KSK (Building Structures Combine). I came here to my husband in 1963, after graduating from college. In 1964, our daughter Tatyana was born. Now our children live in Moscow with their families.

From 1963 to 1998 I worked at the Metalist plant. She worked for 22 years as a design engineer, then as a group leader, bureau chief, and site manager.

I have always been involved in social work: trade union organization, wall newspaper, participation in tourist rallies. For the last 15 years at the plant, she was the head of the culture section of the party office. I went to seminars on cultural issues in Moscow. Conducted classes with political informants of workshops and departments on all types of culture: art (literature, music, fine arts, cinema), family and raising children, relations in society, in the workforce. She was a lecturer at the Knowledge Society. She gave lectures on art in workshops and departments, in dispensaries, at propaganda sites, and in courtyards. For 10 years she sang in the choir of the Teacher's House under the direction of Inna Evgenievna Pikalova.

After finishing work at the plant at the end of 1998, social work continued at the Veterans House, in the Mashinostroitel club. From 2000 to 2007, I was a member of the Veterans Council of the Metalist plant, and since 2007 I have been the chairman of the Friendship club.

Material provided by Tamara Alekseevna Tatarenkova.

The material was processed by Olga Anatolyevna Bautina.