These memories are preserved in the diary of Ivan Alexandrovich Narcissov, reserve captain, holder of the Order of the Great Patriotic War, photographer and journalist, who walked many front-line roads and reached Berlin. His book, War in the Lens, was recently published in an abridged version. But the diary remained handwritten, it is kept in the State Archives of the Lipetsk region.
Among the memories of the war years, a special place in Narcissov's diary is occupied by entries telling about the spring days of 1945 and the behavior of the fascists who realized their defeat. Ivan Alexandrovich called these recordings "Is it easy to kill your family?"
“… The days when, breaking fierce resistance, our separate tank corps entered the den of the fascist beast - Hitlerite Germany - are forever engraved in my memory.
Somehow, hiding from the bullets with which the Nazi pilots poured the road from the machine gun, I ran into the entrance of the stone house and from the entrance-shelter began to observe the planes with black crosses. And then the apartment door quietly opened, an old man came out - a gray-haired German with a small broom in his hand. Very zealously he began to shake off the adhering snow from me and said something animatedly. I understood the meaning of his words only by his face and gestures: the old man explained that he and his family were not fighting the Russians. I raised my hand to stop the old man, I was uncomfortable that he was sweeping the snow off me. And he suddenly threw down his broom and covered his face with his hands - he was afraid that I would hit him now!..
… In one of the German cities I became an involuntary witness of a terrible scene. Going with my comrades into the apartment of a one-story building, I saw the floor soaked in blood, and in the cribs - five dead children. A young woman, about thirty, was also lying dead in her bed.
A gray-haired woman stood in the corner of the room. The misfortune turned out to be connected with the arrival of Hitler's activists in the house the day before. Setting up the Germans to actively resist the Soviet Army, the Nazis intimidated German women: "If the Russians enter the city, they will torture you, torture you …" The old woman believed the scoundrels and killed her family with her own hands at night. There was no longer enough strength to take his own life. And when we entered the city and did not commit atrocities, contrary to her expectations, the old woman realized what she had done. But it was too late …
… I saw many times how German women forced their children to approach Russian soldiers and beg. At first I understood this incorrectly: I thought that they themselves were afraid to approach us and believed that a Russian soldier would not raise a hand to a child, and to a woman - it is not yet known. But I soon noticed that all these women were very well dressed and looked well fed. The riddle was solved simply. In some cities, the Germans, realizing that defeat was near, dropped leaflets in which they urged women to use their children as living weapons against the Russians. “Vanka love to eat,” they wrote. - And they never beat other people's children. Let the children take food away from them. Dress your daughters and sons very badly, get them dirty. Let them silently approach the Russian soldiers and show that they are hungry. Roly's will feed your children for free. Thus, you will help to undermine their own strength, and we will quickly free you …
It was clear to me and my comrades: the fascists, these "exemplary family men", losing the war, did not spare their wives and children. They intimidated them in every way that was at their disposal at the time. The civilian population of Germany expected unthinkable atrocities from the Russian soldiers. Once in Berlin, in the ruins of a house, I found a little boy. Completely exhausted, he sat hiding behind bricks and planks. I tried to get him out of there, but it was useless, the child seemed to have turned to stone and at the same time terribly clicked his teeth, showing that he would defend himself to the end.
Then I took a piece of bread out of my bag and put it in front of the boy. He froze, not taking his eyes off the treat, but remained motionless. I put the bread on the boy's shoulder. He shook him off. I broke off a piece and tried to put it in the child's mouth. He shook his head desperately - he thought the bread was poisoned! This thought pierced me. And then I took a bite off the bread myself. Only when the boy fully understood that I was offering him good, then he grabbed the bread and ate it with terrible greed”…
