A Person Whom I Admire

I remember a lot of stories that told me about her life my grandmother Oleksandra in my childhood. I often visited her in her apartment on the first floor, with tasty cookies, hot cozy tea and big windows, full of plants. Usually, she set in her chair, knitted and spoke to me, my sister and three cousins. Grandma’s stories described a hard life, but I wasn’t afraid, because they always had a good ending. She said: “ The storm is not forever. Your life can be hard, but not always. You all will have happy times.” Despite the fact that my grandma had a terrible life, she always believed in better future, enjoyed and loved life.

My grandmother spent her childhood in the Soviet Union and this fact can tell a lot for those, who know Ukrainian history. Oleksandra was born in 1927 in the middle part of the Ukrainian SSR in a wealthy Polish-Ukrainian family. She was the youngest daughter and had two older brothers and one older sister. During collectivization 1928-1932 in the USSR she became an orphan, because my great-grandmother was killed by Soviet secret services and my great-grandfather died because of a heart attack. Moreover, most of the family property was forcibly taken to the collective farm. Oleksandra and her sister remained dependent on one of her older brothers. Thanks to him and his family girls survived during Holodomor – a Great Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933, caused by the policies of the Stalin regime. According to various estimates, from 4 to 10.5 million Ukrainians died during 1928-1933 in Ukrainian SSR, so the story of my granny’s childhood was only the one from a lot of others, but it still breaks my heart.

At the age of 14, my granny Oleksandra learned what war is: nazi army came to the USSR. She, like many other young people from Ukraine, was literally kidnapped to Germany for working in labor camp. World War II was very hard time for Oleksandra. Job in camp began in 5 a.m. and lasted until late night. Many teenagers that worked there suffered from hunger, cruelty and difficult working conditions. But even in this circumstances my granny met friends, which gave her emotional support, and she also was warm and friendly to them. Finally, they decided to escape together. One German family helped Oleksandra and another four young woman, when they went from one labor camp to another with another prisoners. Five friends, including my grandma, came to Ukraine on feet in 1945. The war left a deep wound in my grandmother’s soul and made her grow up quickly.

My grandmother Oleksandra devoted adulthood and the end of her life to family. In spite of difficult situations in the USSR after the war, my granny was lucky, because help came to her. She came in the one family as a nanny for a little boy, but found new friends to the end of her life. In a little time she met my grandfather Grygorii, fell in love and got married. They spent together in love more then 20 years and gave birth for three children, including my mother. Unfortunately, Oleksandra became a widow in about 40 years old and didn’t get marry one more time. She always said that the happiest time of her life was when she was married. Until the end of her life she took care of her kids and grandchildren. My grandmother thought that family is the most important of her achievements.

To my mind, my grandmother is my hero. The experience of her life inspires me to overcome obstacles in my life. She taught me by her own example to be strong, joyful, believe in happiness and never give up, because “the storm is not forever”.