Matryona Isaevna Volskaya

Biography

Matryona Volskaya was born on November 6, 1919 in the Dukhovshchinsky district of the Smolensk province. From the age of 18, she began teaching at the Basin Primary School. In 1941, Matryona graduated from the Dorogobuzh Pedagogical College. Shortly before the start of the war, Matryona Isaevna married the teacher Mikhail Volsky and got pregnant. When it became dangerous to stay in the village, Matryona and her husband left for the «Batya» partisan unit.

Operation "Children"

In April 1942, an order appeared in the fascist headquarters, ordering to send all the population fit for work to Germany. In addition, Operation «Yellow Elephant» was being prepared to destroy the partisan unit. In contrast to this, the partisans started the Operation «Children».

Matryona had to lead 1,500 teenagers 200 kilometers along secret paths to the front-line railway station Toropets, and then take them beyond the Urals. She was only 23 years old, and she was expecting a child.

This transition lasted from July 23 to August 14, 1942. As they were walking along the “corridor”, more children joined them. Eventually, there were 3240 children. On the way, Matryona realized that she would not be able to take the children to the Urals, so, she asked Gorky to take them. She brought 3225 children there. Afterwards, she was sent to Gorodetsky district. She worked for a year at the Artyukhinsky school, and from September 1, 1943 until the end of 1976, she was a primary school teacher in Smolki.

Monuments

On September 1, 2020, a monument to Matryona Isaevna Volskaya was inaugurated in Gorodets. The grand opening of the monument took place on Proletarskaya Square, next to the Memorial Book of Memory. The sculpture “M.I. Volskaya with Children” was made in full size and cast from bronze. The monument was created according to the project of the Nizhny Novgorod sculptor, member of the Council of Artists of Russia, chairman of the section of sculptors of the Nizhny Novgorod organization "Union of Artists of Russia", twice laureate of the "Nizhny Novgorod" prize Sergei Molkov.

Memorable sign with a map of the route of Operation Children in the village of Ozernoye, Dukhovshchinsky District, near the border with the Tver Region. Photo: From personal archive / Sergey Prokopyev

References

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