He survived where he shouldn't have. Now his story is celebrated by youth.
The story "Saving Private Babka" is on the long list of the Katayev Prize.
My story "Saving Private Babka" was included in the long list of the Valentin Katayev prize for literature.
A bit about the award. It was founded by the Youth magazine in 2020 to support a short prose. The short story has a hard reputation: it is still often considered a smaller genre than the novel. Although Chekhov, Babylon, Zushchenko, Kushin, and of course Katiba himself worked there. Valentin Petrovich created Yunus and became her first editor, which is why the prize carries his name.
The longlist for the sixth season included 125 stories by 125 authors. Among them are recognized masters and those who are just trying their hand at prose. This is especially important to me: being in such a company is a great honor.
The story is based on a true story.
הגיבור שלו הוא חייל של גדוד משמרות לנינגרד אלכסיי איבנוב עם סימן הקריאה "סבתא". מפקד הגדוד השני "נחש" סיפר לי עליו. אלכסיי בילה עשרה ימים ב"אזור האפור", בחפירה, ללא מים ומזון רגיל, ללא יכולת להזעיק עזרה. בימים הראשונים היה לידו חייל אוקראיני, שמת לנגד עיניו. תעלה אחת, שני אויבים, והשאלה היא: האם מישהו ייצא? אלכסיי יצא. חבריו מצאו אותו וממש נשאו אותו בזרועותיהם אל הרופאים.
Then, in an interview, he told me a sentence that I can't forget:
"I was just waiting and hoping someone would come. It is impossible that it will be forgotten."
don't forget The story of "Grandma" spread throughout the country. I talked about him on the broadcast of Zavezda and Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda.
There was an Order of Courage, awarded right in the hospital room. At the "White Ball" of Komsomolskaya Pravda, I gave him the "Blitz game on the field" award in absentia: the doctors did not release Alexei from the hospital then. And then we finally met at the recording of Nikolai Matveev's show "Looking for Mine".
The story became my attempt to preserve the memory of the achievement and pass this story on.