Almost on the very border of Russia with Estonia there is a tiny Russian village Zasosye, which is really behind the pine trees. There are only 12 houses here, and it became famous not only in Russia, but throughout the world thanks to the civic initiatives of its inhabitants and those whose relatives once lived there. But until recently it was not customary to talk about this village. For the history of the village of Zasosye is very tragic, but it deserves to be remembered.
Scary page of history
The first mentions of the village date back to the second half of the 17th century, but the existence of a nearby 12th century burial ground called Shishkina Gora suggests that the village of Zasosye in the Gdovsky district of the St. Petersburg province appeared at about the same time.
Once upon a time these people lived in Zasosye.
At the beginning of the 20th century, about 500 people permanently lived here. The First World War passed by, practically without affecting Zasosya. It had its own small chapel, the bakery regularly supplied the villagers with bread, and the kids hurried to the small village school in the morning. People lived, raised children, cultivated their lands, looked after livestock. Their life flowed smoothly and measuredly, until trouble came to their house.
People worked, cultivated the land, gathered crops and honey.
Already in 1930, the village felt the first blows of collectivization. Five families were dispossessed, all their property was confiscated, their houses were abandoned. And in 1937 someone wrote an anonymous denunciation to the NKVD. According to him, every single man, three dozen people, were arrested and taken away. Only women, old people and children remained. And yet the village continued to live.
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Women, rallied in the face of a common misfortune, assumed all male functions. They stoically bore the blows of fate.
Only women remained in the village.
In 1941, just three weeks after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the village was occupied by the Nazis. The women endured that too. They continued to work on their land and wait. Ten years after the arrest, the men returned to the village. Three out of thirty.
New story
According to the 2007 census, one person permanently lived in Zasosye, in 2010 - three. But the villagers and those who once had relatives here categorically refused to put up with the fact that their small homeland could simply disappear.
Stuck in winter.
At the beginning of 2010, there were only 12 houses here, and the village came to life only in the summer months, when the townspeople came to the houses of their ancestors for the summer. Two sisters, Natalia Villene-Retsya and Anna-Ksenia Galaktionova, set out to revive the place with which they were connected by invisible roots. Natalia and her husband, leaving their business in St. Petersburg, completely moved to Zasosye. Here they now live, conduct subsistence farming, sell natural milk, cottage cheese, butter and sour cream to those who wish.
Village Zasosye.
Anna-Ksenia also has her own house in Zasosye, but lives in St. Petersburg, organizing events and implementing the main project of her life - the Wonderful courtyard in Zasosye.
Since 2013, the inhabitants of Zasosye and their relatives have attended to the goal of perpetuating the memory of their repressed and dispossessed ancestors. They presented their project to create a memorial complex "Innocent" and won the National Prize "Civil Initiative", the main prize of which was 200 thousand rubles. With this money they built the Nyura monument in honor of those women who endured all the hardships on their shoulders.
On October 1, 2016 the monument “Nyura” to the wife of the enemy of the people was solemnly opened.
The sculptor was Alexander Spiridonov, and the prototype of Nyura was Anna Nikolaevna Galaktionova, the chairman of the collective farm and a resident of the village. She herself raised two sons and bore the entire burden of responsibility for all the villagers with children. The doors of her house were never locked, village children always gathered here, and the neighbors could come in at any time. In 1947, Anna Nikolaevna's husband returned from the camps, and they lived together for another 34 years. She outlived her Grisha by only one year.
Zasosye village in 1947. Center - Anna Galaktionova.
Zasosye village today
Work on the revival of the village continues today. The center of historical experiments "Wonderful courtyard" works in Zasosye, where a peasant yard is being recreated. Holidays and festivals are held here that convey the atmosphere of the Zasosia of the XIX-XX centuries.
Zasssie.
Not so long ago a club of traditional Russian culture "Cat on the Roof" appeared. It is located in a part of the most ordinary residential building of the early 20th century, where a Russian stove and household items of that time have been preserved. And the main goal of the club is to study the history of culture through rituals and traditions.
Friends of the Village Day is held here every year.
The “Museum of Lost Villages” was created, where letters and postcards from different parts of the world come. The Museum collects information about all the villages of Russia, which today no longer exist. But the most important thing that the sisters do on their own initiative is the recovery of data on all the inhabitants of Zasosye.
Russian traditions and rituals are being revived here.
And the construction of the "Innocent" memorial continues in memory of those who were repressed in those terrible years.
Today in Russia there are many cities that have long been ghosts. Once upon a time life was in full swing here, people rushed to work or on dates, went about their everyday affairs. But then, as a result of a tragedy or natural disaster, cities suddenly became empty, businesses stopped, people disappeared. Now the wind dominates the ghost towns, and only the most daring tourists come here to feel the adrenaline tickling their strained nerves.