{"id":1025804,"date":"2026-10-12T11:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/?p=1025804"},"modified":"2026-10-12T11:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:35:05","slug":"the-zonal-state-archive-in-rechitsa-presents-a-document-a-letter-from-a-great-patriotic-war-veteran-to-his-parents-in-the-bragin-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/news\/1025804","title":{"rendered":"The Zonal State Archive in Rechitsa presents a document: a letter from a Great Patriotic War veteran to his parents in the Bragin District"},"content":{"rendered":"

The records of the Department of Labor, Employment, and Social Protection of the Bragin District Executive Committee<\/strong> contain a letter dated April 23, 1944, from Great Patriotic War veteran Ulyan Andreyevich Kondratenko<\/strong> to his family in the village of Kovaka, Bragin District (F.186 Op.3 D.94 L.543\u2013543v). The letter reads as follows:<\/p>\n

\u00abGreetings, dear parents\u2014Dad, Mom, and little sister Vaska!!!<\/p>\n

My dears! The joyous and solemn holiday of Easter (April 16 \u2013 Author\u2019s Note)\u2014which I had hoped to spend with you\u2014has already passed. But an unexpected turn of events prevented my dream from coming true. I had applied for a ten-day leave, which I had been promised, and the paperwork for the trip to visit you was already prepared. However, an unexpected order made it impossible for me to leave. <\u2026><\/p>\n

Dad! Regarding the collective farm that is being organized there: I advise you to do as your fellow villagers are doing\u2014that is, join the collective farm and help restore it to the best of your ability. Sooner or later, this will have to be done. All in all, I think that in your next letter, you will write to tell me that you have become members of the ‘Zavety Lenina’ [Lenin\u2019s Behests] collective farm.<\/p>\n

I am enclosing a photograph with this letter. I still haven’t received any photos of you.<\/p>\n

I received three letters and a photograph from Mishka; he has changed a great deal. After four and a half years, he is hard to recognize.<\/p>\n

Mom! Please write and let me know how your health is. Have you done anything about your teeth, or are things still the same?\u00bb Write about everything, too.<\/p>\n

Bye for now. Waiting for your reply. Your son, Yulik\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u00abMemory of the People\u00bb website (pamyat-naroda.ru)<\/strong> indicates that Ulyan Kondratenko was born on June 15, 1916, in the village of Kovaka. He served in the Red Army starting in December 1940, specifically in the 8th Rifle Division. He was awarded the medals \u00abFor the Defense of Moscow\u00bb and \u00abFor the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941\u20131945\u00bb.<\/p>\n

According to data from the household register for the village of Kovaka for the years 1944\u20131946 (F.473 Op.3 D.1 L.91v\u201392), Ulyan Kondratenko\u2019s year of birth was 1920. Residents of Kovaka included his father, Andrey Arkhipovich (who died on April 15, 1944), his mother, Anna Fyodorovna, and his brother, Mikhail, who served in the Red Army from 1943.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Participant in the Great Patriotic War, Lieutenant Ulyan Andreyevich Kondratenko<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2\u20133. ZGARech F.186 Op.3 D.94 L.543\u2013543v<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The records of the Department of Labor, Employment, and Social Protection of the Bragin District Executive Committee contain a letter dated April 23, 1944, from Great Patriotic War veteran Ulyan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1025805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sitenews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1025806,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025804\/revisions\/1025806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}