Kateryna Vasylenko from Shupyky village in Kyiv region, who was 10 years old in 1941, remembered for the rest of her life the day when her father went to the front, his last sad look, a farewell wave of his hand. Nykyfor Kurchenko’s relatives received a death notification in 1944, but they were able to find the soldier’s burial place only 40 years after the war – in a mass grave in Maksymivka village of Poltava region. The soldier died for his native land during the first battle of Kyiv.
This was a typical situation for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian families who persistently searched by themselves for a soldier’s burial place after the war. It would seem that the story is over. However, it was continued after more than 70 years.
The researches of the War Museum visited Nykyfor Kurchenko’s family and took his frontline letter written to his wife Anastasia on July 6, 1941. Holding the letter from her father, Kateryna kissed every line crying: “...you will probably have to live hard, Nastia. In a word, the war started for more than one year. I know you want to hear my advice, but I don’t know what to tell you. Do what people will do. I kiss you tenderly, I kiss my son Vania and my daughter Katia...”.
Svitlana Datsenko
Head of the Scientific and Exhibition Department of Socio-Humanitarian Components of War