LETTERS FROM THE FRONT: PERSONAL DOCUMENTS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE OF WARTIME

Abstract

Private archives and personal correspondence are an important historical source. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, the author revisits documents from her family archive. The author’s family has its own hero — Leonid Vladimirovich Izvolensky, who fought in the war from 1941 to 1945 and finished it with the rank of Guards Senior Lieutenant. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class, and medals for “The Liberation of Warsaw,” “The Capture of Berlin,” “The Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945,” and “For Courage.” He wrote about his exploits in letters to his parents only once, and even then, not until August 1945. In his letters home, the soldier was concerned about his parents’ health and that of his sick sister, their food supply, living conditions, and so on. Life during the war was full of hardships and struggles, both at the front and on the home front. The people’s spirit of mutual support and solidarity gave them the strength to defeat fascism and preserve the relationships they had built. Letters as a historical source open up new topics for researchers of the Great Patriotic War — topics related to wartime daily life not only on the front lines but also on the home front, in every household, in every family