"CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCE" OF THE MILITARY GENERATION: ORAL STORIES ABOUT MILITARY CHILDHOOD (BASED ON MATERIALS FROM THE SOUTH-WEST OF THE BRYANSK REGION AND EASTERN GOMEL REGION)

The authors propose to turn to the study of one of the aspects of everyday life during the Great Patriotic War – the everyday life of childhood. The study is based on oral histories collected by students of the BSU National Research University, published memoirs of rural and urban residents of the south-west of the Bryansk region and the east of the Gomel region, who in childhood and early adolescence experienced the period of occupation and liberation of the region in 1941-1943. The traumatic experience of war children keeps memories of the enemy, fear of military equipment, enemy accomplices. The children of the studied region faced the occupation regime, various groups of collaborators, and many families were associated with the partisan movement. Children's experience includes a combination of play and work, mutual assistance of family, loved ones, and the local community. The memories of the "children of war" reflect the process of growing up, the formation of identity, connections with family and native places. Memories differ according to the place of residence of children-city or village, age, gender. Often, memories contain recurring and legendary stories: "about the enemy", "about the plane", "about the sweet", "kind man". Oral histories of war children reveal the early adulthood of adolescents, their involvement in hard work, including forced labor during the years of occupation.