"The main thing is not to die in men's underwear»: how women survived and coped with everyday life during the war

All stories about the war - with a taste of bitterness. Broken destinies, ruined health, broken dreams. And yet life went on-largely thanks to the women, who in this difficult time, left without the support of men, did everything possible for their home and children… And sometimes the impossible.

Below is how Belarusians survived during the war and arranged their life.

Dandelion salad and forks from the fallen plane

The prisoners of the camps remember their poor diet like this: 150 grams of bread, rutabaga, kohlrabi, shtilmus and spinach… But it was not easy for those who remained in the wild. Everything that could be grown on their own in the rear, had to be given to the Germans, soldiers, partisans. The women did their best to prepare food: they chopped the tops of plants, made a salad of dandelions and sorrel, cooked solyanka only on cabbage and potatoes,steamed dried roach.Stocks of potatoes were buried in pits far away in the field. They were afraid that if the village was set on fire, the last food would be lost.

Kitchen utensils were made from improvised things, and in the Gomel region they remember how they made spoons, plates and forks from a fallen plane. They lay in the kitchen cupboard for a long time, crooked and twisted, and I couldn't throw them away.

The worst shame is to die in men's underwear

In the memoirs of veterans, you can find stories that even in the war, women remained women: they cooked soap from plants (chamomile, wormwood, ivan-tea, St. John's wort, plantain, mother-and-stepmother) and the bones of dead animals; they blushed their cheeks with clay from the walls of the hut, and if they managed to heat the bath, they boiled linen, which was always lacking.

It was considered a terrible shame to wear long, wide men's underwear made of satin. Worried that it was ugly: "When you die for your country, you're wearing men's underwear." And there was no greater happiness when, after four years of fighting, women's underwear began to be issued.

Women also had to get rid of lice. They were everywhere: in her hair, in her clothes, in her bedclothes. The lucky one was the one whose hair was not cut, but treated with a burning mixture. The hair was getting half as long, but it was still there. Instead of gaskets, you can take newspapers.The main thing is not to use the first page with a portrait of the leader

Due to constant stress and hunger, many women stopped their menstrual cycle. Monthly periods could be absent not only for months, but also for years. It was perceived only as a plus, because survival required focusing on completely different things.

At that time, not only were there no pads, but even ordinary rags from old bed linen were in short supply. Women remembered that time with burning shame. Especially those who fought, experienced terrible discomfort:

They also used newspapers on critical days. It was only important not to take the first pages with portraits of the leader or carefully hide the waste from everyone. If there were no newspapers, they used burdock leaves.

Realizing that there was nothing to lose, she sprayed breast milk in the officer's face

Despite the difficult time, women became pregnant and gave birth. The number of rapes was off the scale, and both strangers and their own were raped. The issue of contraception was more than relevant.

As a contraceptive, small pieces of tissue soaked in lard were used, which were inserted deep into the vagina. It was an improvised prototype of a vaginal diaphragm. Of course, the level of protection was low…

During the war, women were often unable to bear a child, and miscarriages occurred in the early stages. The maternal and child mortality rates were huge. Pregnancy and childbirth of concentration camp prisoners is a particularly difficult topic. In some concentration camps, inhuman sterilization experiments were carried out on young and pregnant women using a variety of methods.

But at the same time, in the memories of wartime, you can find many incredible stories about childbirth with a happy ending: and after all, they gave birth in the field or in a sleigh on the way to the midwife, and there was only a basin of hot water from the instrument. 

It was difficult to raise and marry a child in wartime conditions, but the women tried their best. From the memoirs of a resident of Mogilev:

The women worked from morning to night, and sometimes there was no one to leave the children with. Therefore, the kids grew up quickly:

And the young girls themselves have matured beyond their years, missed their girlhood and the time of dreams. And yet sometimes you could see a fighter, at the ready with a machine gun, go into the shop and ask to sell her candy. Or, with a clink of medals, he jumps up on the table when he sees a small mouse. 

In the soul of each of these women lived a little vulnerable girl who simply could not cry until the war was over.