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I was surrounded by young people, mostly 20-year old guys and girls. Those, who were over 30, seemed old to us. When we had spare time we had amateur contests, where we sang, recited verses, told funny stories: youth… We had a very good political officer [18]. At that time he seemed elderly to me, he was 40. He planned amateur performances. Actors, the spouses, came to us. Husband played a musical instrument and wife was singing. They also took part in our concerts. I composed verses, I even sent them to the paper of the first airforce army «Stalinsk pilot». I was sent to the meeting of young poets and prose writes, arranged by the paper «Stalinsk pilot». It happened on some other aerodrome and our commandment gave me aircraft «U-2», to get there. I remember that for the holiday of the 7th of November [19] our political officer told me to write a poem- for the choir to sing it and for people to recite it. I wrote a poem about Stalin and Lenin. Besides, we had political classes. We released battle leaflets. We also had dancing parties. Those who were off duty came over to dance. There was courtship and flirtation and love. Guys considered me to be a pure girl. Once girls started smoking as they were worried expecting a raid. I had never smoked before and decided to try. I asked one of the girls to give me a cigarette. A Ukrainian soldier stood close by. He was older than me, about 30. He told me to drop a cigarette. He also said that I should not smoke as I was so pretty and cigarette was not becoming to me. So, it was the last time I smoked.
Period
Interview
Berta Zelbert