Vanda Vasilevskaya: biography and photos

Today, it's not everyone who can remember Vanda Vasilevskaya, although she was once a living classic of Soviet literature. But after the death of her main reader - Joseph Stalin - the fame of Vasilevskaya quickly faded.

Childhood of Vanda Vasilevskaya

Vasilevskaya Vanda Lvovna was born in January 1905 in the family of a famous Polish ethnographer and nationalist Leon Vasilevsky.

Being still the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland under the Pilsudski government, her father was famous for his socialist views. It was he who influenced the formation of the character of his purposeful daughter.

Life in Poland before the Second World War

The future writer had a great education. In 1927 she received a diploma of the Faculty of Philology of the Jagiellonian University. After studying, Vasilevskaya lived in Krakow and taught at a secondary school. This woman could easily make a career, but instead she joins the revolutionary movement of the leftist forces in Poland.

In 1938 the writer organized a large-scale strike of teachers, for which she was fired from the service. In the same year she made an ethnographic expedition to Volyn. Based on the collected materials, Vanda Vasilevskaya later wrote the book "The Flame in the Marshes".

After the expedition Vasilevskaya moved to live in Warsaw, where she got a job in the editorial offices of children's magazines. In her free time, she continued to conduct her revolutionary activities, which caused resentment on the part of the Polish authorities, and she was going to be put in jail.

Emigration to the USSR and the Great Patriotic War

When Nazi Germany attacked Poland, Vanda Vasilevskaya wanted to leave the country, but the authorities refused to grant her a visa, since two trials were being held against her. Then the writer walked several hundred kilometers on foot and reached Lviv, which became a Soviet city.

Here Vanda Lvovna immediately accepted the citizenship of the USSR. Many are surprised how Vasilevskaya was able to pass all the instances and delays associated with moving from the occupied territories, and not only instantly received citizenship, but also became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It was said that Joseph Stalin himself helped in this.

Living in Lviv, Vanda Vasilevskaya wrote a denunciation of the future major Vikhrya - Eugene Bereznyak. In it Vasilevskaya condemned him for the Ukrainization of Lviv schools, believing that this was contrary to the policy of the party. It is for this act that many Ukrainians dislike the writer today.

Vasilievskaya Wanda continued her literary career in Lviv. Books writer from her famous trilogy "Song over the waters" began to be created exactly in this city.

With the advent of war on the territory of the USSR, the writer received the military rank of colonel and began to go to the front as part of the propaganda team. Contemporaries noted that the coarse, ugly Vanda Vasilevskaya, who smoked like a steam locomotive and always walked in the men's riding breeches, was a wonderfully wonderful speaker.

In parallel with the campaign work, Vasilevskaya worked as an editor in various periodicals.

In 1942, Stalin instructed Vande Lvovna to write an agitational story for the front. Time for the writer was only a month. However, she coped - so there was a story "Rainbow" Vanda Vasilevskaya. The following year, this work was filmed, and the writer was awarded for it her first Stalin Prize. Received money, the woman donated to the construction of a military aircraft "Warsaw".

From 1943 until the end of the war, Vasilevskaya held the post of editor-in-chief of the newspaper Sovetskaya Polska.

After the war, the writer moved to live in Kiev, where she received a separate apartment with all amenities.

The last years of the writer

After the war, Vasilevskaya was twice awarded the Stalin Prize. Her "Rainbow" and other works were included in the compulsory school curriculum. As a proven ideological communist, Wanda Wasilewska was often sent on foreign business trips. After them, the woman published essays in which it was colorfully described how badly capitalist Europe lives and how happy Soviet citizens are. Thus appeared "In Paris and outside Paris" and "Letters from Rome". For the sake of justice it is worth noting that if you throw away all the sweeter propaganda, the writer quite accurately noted many of the problems of post-war Europe, in particular France.

The full happy life of Vasilevskaya ended with the death of Stalin. Without his powerful support, the writer's fame faded. She died in 1964, was buried in Kiev.

Personal life of Vanda Vasilevskaya

The writer was twice married. Her first husband was the revolutionary revolutionary Marian Bogatko. In this marriage, the only daughter of the writer Eva was born, who after the death of her father (1940) was taken by Wanda to the USSR. Eva became an interpreter, and also a children's writer.

The second Soviet husband Vasilevskaya became the Ukrainian Soviet writer Alexander Korneychuk. There were rumors that this marriage was of a purely political nature and there was no special love between the spouses.

Vanda Vasilevskaya, "Rainbow": a summary

For a month now, as the Ukrainian village of three hundred families was in the hands of the fascists. During this time the villagers had a lot to suffer. The best houses were taken from the owners, who were thrown out onto the street, while in other good houses German soldiers were stationed. Cows, sheep, chickens and other domestic animals have long since been taken away, since the German units were ordered to procure food in the occupied settlements. The first worker and beauty of the village Malasha Vyshneva was raped by three soldiers and was expecting a child from one of them.

All power in the village is now in the hands of the German captain Kurt Werner. He lodges near the local widow of Fedosia Kravchuk along with his mistress Pusey (brought from a neighboring city, promising to marry, although he himself has a wife Louise and a child in Germany).

The headman is Gaplik, who was freed from prison by the Germans. Its task is to force the villagers to give out to the invaders caches, where the wheat is hidden. It is he who learns about the return to the village of the forty-year-old widow Olena Kostiuk.

As it was known, her husband left his pregnant wife and went to the front, and Elena, with the arrival of the Germans, left for the partisan detachment, consisting of sixteen young guys, and took care of them until it was time to give birth. Then the woman returned to her hut, hoping that the Germans did not know about her, but she was mistaken.

Kurt persuaded her to hand over the partisans, but the woman did not agree. Then her night bare soldiers were chased in the snow and beat, but she did not betray her. A hungry, frozen, wounded woman was locked in a cold shed.

A neighbor's boy named Mishka made his way to this shed and wanted to give the woman bread, but he was noticed by the sentry and shot. Mother of the boy Galina Malyuchikha secretly stole her son's body and buried her in the passage.

The next morning a meeting was held in which the elder was taken hostage by six peasants, promising to execute them in three days, if the peasants did not give wheat and did not tell whose son he was trying to bring bread to the captive partisan. However, none of the villagers fulfilled the requirements of the invaders.

Meanwhile, Olena's son was born to a captive. Despite the wounds, cold, hunger and terrible conditions, the child was born healthy. After giving birth, the woman was returned to her clothes and given a nap. And then Kurt summoned her for interrogation and, threatening with the murder of the child, demanded that the partisans be released. The woman disagreed, and the captain shot her newborn baby, and then his mother was ordered to be executed.

Meanwhile, Fedosia Kravchuk learns that the Red Army plans to soon release their village, and tells the soldiers what and where the occupants are. That night, some of the local captives the elder and captured him, throwing the body into a parched well. In the morning the Germans decide that the headman escaped.

The next day, through the village, a column of captured soldiers is held, this sight terrifies the inhabitants. However, at night the Red Army liberates the village. In the struggle for freedom, Malasha kills Kurt with her own hands. And the peasants are buried in the common grave of soldiers and their fellow villagers. And above the village there is a rare winter rainbow.

Advantages and disadvantages of "Rainbow"

Immediately after publication, this book became popular. Moreover, American newspapers have responded positively about it. A self-titled film, based on the story, was even nominated for an Oscar.

"Rainbow" was written according to all the rules of the propaganda work: vivid descriptions of all kinds of atrocities of the fascists, die-hard heroic people and valiant soldiers-liberators. Despite its simple language, the work is full of literary cliches. Most of the heroes are of the same type and are predictable. The Germans are all like one cruel, deceitful scoundrels, the elder is a cowardly villain, a German mistress is stupid and lazy. The deceived girl heroically perishes, having washed away her disgrace with blood. Women are uncompromising and sacrifice children for the common good and with the same ease they give birth, and an hour after giving birth they already drink diluted alcohol. Death in battle is extolled as the highest good against the backdrop of shameful captivity by the enemy.

There are also a lot of inconsistencies in the story. For example, the Germans have been in the village for a month, but they could not count all the residents. In the village next to which the guerrillas are operated, which the Germans fear as a fire, the captain is guarded by one negligent sentry, and even that easily traces an elderly widow around his finger. Obescheshchennaya Malasha is unknown from where already on the tenth day absolutely knows that she is pregnant. Yes, and with the pregnancy Olena is also not all smooth. The author describes the plight of peasant families who are on the verge of starvation, but at the same time they constantly have bread to give it to the military.

However, despite the many shortcomings, it is worth remembering that for the story written in just a month, "Rainbow" is very good. Moreover, it was written as a propaganda work to maintain the spirit in wartime and fulfilled its role perfectly, becoming a ray of light and hope for many people.

Vanda Vasilevskaya, "Just love"

In 1944 Vasilevskaya wrote another famous story called "Just Love." In it, she tried to reveal the emotional experiences of wives expecting their spouses from the war. In comparison with the "Rainbow" this work reveals much more deeply the psychology of women in the war.

In the center of the plot is a young and well-educated woman, Maria, who works as a nurse. She, like thousands of her compatriots, expects her husband Grigory from the front. Suddenly the news of his death comes. Maria is very worried about this, but over time she accepts it. Soon the news of Grisha's death turns out to be wrong, and he himself returns home. However, the beloved husband is so disfigured outside that Mary begins to seem that she has stopped loving him. But a few months later, at work, a woman encounters a widow whose husband recently died in a hospital. Another's grief affects Mary so much that she realizes how much she really likes Grisha.

Today, many of the works written by Vanda Vasilevskaya look antiquated. Biography of this woman knew both ups and downs, but today the epoch and the realities that she described in her works have long ago passed away. But do not forget that at one time the stories of Vanda Vasilevskaya played an important role in the victory over fascism.