Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Frce (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard I would like to leave in my memory those details and small fragments of memories about my great-grandfather, whom I never knew, about my mother's grandfather, whom she also did not know, about the father of my grandmother and four other daughters, who was taken from them at an early age by the fascist plague that dared to encroach on our lands, and on our huge country then. But about everything in order… Part of my "pedigree" is rooted in the village of Alexandrovka Voznesensky District, Nikolaev Region, in 1920-1930s. Two ordinary people Ivan and Maria met, fell in love and started a family. The family at that time was of average income – Ivan worked for the collective farm, sowing and harvesting on a machine; Maria, due to the alternate birth of five daughters, was engaged in household work and raising children. I will not go into details about the fact that at times it was not easy, that they went to school in the winter in turn because winter boots were one for two, that clean sheets and notebooks were worth their weight in gold ... Yes, there were many things missing, but this world did not converge in a wedge and an obstacle to peace and harmony in the family. Ivan from his youth was reputed to be a Joker and a buffoon, and Masha sometimes had to resort to his "upbringing". But all this family history was disrupted by the outbreak of war. Mobilization was announced. During the first draft, great-grandfather received a reservation until the end of the harvesting campaign. A couple of months after the start of the war. A car with orphaned children from the places where the fighting took place, where there was a front line arrived in the village. The children were brought for the resettlement in local families. My great-grandfather appeared in the evening on the doorstep of his house with three boys 11-13 years old. "Where there is room for five, there will be some for extra three," he said in response to a silent question from his great-grandmother. "Yes, and you will have some helpers, the girls are much smaller. I'm going to the front soon." And this "soon" came very quickly. On the eve of his departure, great-grandfather Ivan came home with a gift in the form of large juicy apples (from the memories of my grandmother Valentina) and distributed them among the children, hugged them tightly, there may have been other gifts, but this is what I remember. And then the train, the car, the war… Painful waiting for rare news, horror at the sight of the postman with death notices… He did not participate in battles for long, did not have time to receive large awards. In December 1942, a terrible letter came from the Uman prison camp, barrack #5. (spelling preserved) a Letter from the city of Uman. Hello dear parents and all relatives brothers and sisters. Father and mother and Masha, Katya, Nadya, Valya, Marusya and the smallest Lenochka. I am Your son and husband and father I am alive and well until some time in a camp of the city of Uman Barrack #5. Dear parents and Masha, if you get a letter, please just come to me now when you can and by train or cart you can see better than me. Take the papers from the office that I was mobilized, what year born and where lived. If there are four people guarantors then I can be allowed to go home. Go to D. Dalgaranga for advice than this will help. Dad I am with Nikita Miroshnik from the village Chubayrevka tell his relatives, let them also come. Masha please bring me to eat more fat and tobacco, because I was sick with typhoid, I'm very thin and feel bad. Masha find a good uncle and come only as soon as possible. I ask you all relatives to help me in any way you can because I have a bad case. Take this case in hand well and immediately not a single day, instantly, and still can send me further then it will be more difficult. With that, goodbye. With me are I. Benzar, Nikita Miroshnikov, Fedor Paley Fyodor let know their families. Hello to all my family and friends I am in the city of Uman captive lager Barrack #5 so goodbye I'm waiting for You as soon as possible and eat and smoke please bring your daughters' cards I really miss them Masha, Katya, Nadya, Valya, Marusya, Lenochka I'm your father Vanya. Who will receive the letter you can read and pass on and on to my family let them know that I am alive Ivan Benzar. 30.11.42. Maria did everything she could, collected things, food, money for ransom, I found a place, came there, searched, wrote notes, tied them to stones, threw them on the territory of the camp, received answers, but not from Ivan, but from another prisoner. Ivan had already been transferred to another place where no one knew. The man with whom the correspondence was conducted tearfully asked for help. "You still came with food and ransom, Ivan is not here, you can't pick him up, take me, help." And she helped, bailed him out. After all, just as someone could ask for help and her husband. Masha and a former prisoner of war left Uman together. All she had to do was wait for word from her husband, but there was no more news. Where and when his life ended is still unknown. In 1943, the last entry in archival Soviet magazines "Recognized as missing". All further searches of daughters (especially zealously engaged in this younger – Elena) did not lead to anything. The rescued man came to visit, remembered, thanked… After the war, he proposed marriage because a woman alone with five daughters could not survive in the post-war period. But she survived and raised her children and released them into the world. My great-grandmother never got married, she didn't get along with anyone – she couldn't imagine how her Vanya would come back, but she didn't wait. I collected bits and pieces of information from former fellow soldiers, from those with whom he was in captivity. It was found out that he was captured wounded. Together with other soldiers, they tried to get out of the encirclement. He was helped to move by his fellow soldiers, but when the Germans began to catch up with them, my great-grandfather asked to leave him in the forest, as he did not want to be a burden and let the others down. So he was captured. In the camp, He hoped to the last that he would be able to free himself. At the beginning of the war this was still practiced, the fascists were not yet completely brutalized. But this dream did not come true. P.S. The boys he brought before his departe lived in the family, but as they grew up in 1944-1945, they all joined the partisan movement. Whether all remained alive is unknown. After the war, a message to my great-grandmother came from one. I am very sorry that I did not know my great-grandfather, I am very sorry that I remember so little about him, but I am very proud that my great-grandfather, Ivan Bensar, became one of the pillars who managed to bring our Victory closer and make it a reality, even if they never found out about it. I greatly admire the resilience, strength and will of my great-grandmother, Maria Benzar. Eternal memory to them!