I want to tell you one very interesting story, the events of which began during the Great Patriotic War. The echoes of this story are still heard today. My grandmother told me the story.
In the summer, I lived with my grandmother in the village for a month. She lives in a small village. I often come there to take a break from the bustle of the city.
A simple man, she has lived all her life in the village, so the little bums and brownies do not seem to her "mythical creatures", but on the contrary are very real. In the village, all people believe in omens and honor traditions, perhaps because they are closer to nature ?! Well, okay, let's get to the point!
Our conversation with my grandmother went off with a bang, we discussed strange cases in the village that our neighbors had … In general, village gossip, to which evil spirits were attributed in one way or another. Having finished another story, the grandmother suddenly cried out: “Oh, granddaughter, I completely forgot. Did you know that a German lived in our yard? By the way, he still lives here."
Grandmother's words seemed a little strange to me, but nevertheless, I asked her to tell her more in detail about what she means.
Granny told me this story:
“Well, didn't your mother tell you? She may have forgotten already, or maybe she doesn't even know. Yes, there was a case, a German lived with us for a while. Heh … Hyung … What was his name ?! I don't even remember. Oh yeah, right, Herrick. It was 1944, the German troops were retreating then. Several German battalions have dug in near the village. The soldiers from there often ran to the village. They asked to wash things, wash … In return they constantly gave something from their food ration. Very young guys, everyone is no more than 25 years old …
Many said that they did not want to fight, they say, they forced them to go to the front. But in the village they were still treated with caution, mostly people were interested only in the products from their ration.
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These battalions stood for no more than two weeks. Then our men went, smashed them in half a day and moved on. We then spent the whole day in the cellar, there was terrible shooting in the street …
The man wounded in the arm died a week later, the infection started. The shell-shocked three weeks came to his senses. Dad taught us German at school, so from the story of the soldier I realized that his name was Herrick, he was from some German village. He says that his mother, wife and two children are waiting for him at home.
After three weeks, Herrick's condition began to improve. The soldier helped a lot around the yard, tried to be helpful in everything. I took on any job and did everything as best I could. I was often interested in “how can he get home now” …
I remember him very well. Blond boy with blue eyes. He constantly smiled at me and every day treated me to a piece of chocolate, which remained from his food ration. The soldier often showed a shabby photograph of his wife and two children. Often at such moments he had tears in his eyes, he constantly repeated one of the few Russian words known to him - “Sorry”.
Three months later, Herrick shot himself. Dad found him in the barn in the morning, he left a note in which he thanked us for everything we did for him. He realized that he would never get home …
From this moment mysticism begins!
The barn in which Herrick shot himself was designed for all sorts of tools: hammers, sickles, rakes and other master's tools. It made no sense to talk about the observance of "safety measures" in this place. Once, when dad went into the barn to take some tool, he opened the door and felt someone pulling him by the hand. He stopped, and the next moment the scythe stuck in the door right in front of his nose.
The mysticism did not end there…. At the end of summer, when hay is being prepared in the villages for the winter, mom and dad carried bales to the attic. Climbing the steps, my mother realized that she had picked up too large a bale of hay and was about to fall. But the next moment the burden seemed to be relieved. Mom just flew up the stairs to the top.
When I was 17, my mother suffered a serious back injury. She became paralyzed in her lower body and ended up chained to a wheelchair. Mom fell into a deep depression. After a while, my mother began to tell me that she saw Herrick in the yard of the house. He was sweeping the ground near the barn.
What he saw, oddly enough, influenced my mother well. She began to talk more and more often that she saw a soldier who was doing various work around the yard. Soon, Dad began to notice Mom talking to someone, staring into emptiness. Despite all the strangeness of the situation, dad noticed that talking with the "invisible" is good for mom. Her emotional state improved every day.
But this did not last long. Soon my mother became very ill, the doctors said that they could not do anything. This is due to the injury, the treatment will be long and, most likely, will not give a result.
Mom died a week later. Dad later told me that during the week someone was constantly knocking on the window. Father jumped out into the street in search of a bully, courted the entire site, but no one was there. On returning to the house, the knock was repeated.
Mom constantly reassured dad, she said that it was normal, that it was death trying to enter the house. She said that Herrick was not letting her in, protecting the house, waiting for her mother to be ready. The last will of the mother was: “Ivan, I beg you very much … Find the soldier's relatives. He hid his papers in a barn. Find them ….
Father spent more than one year looking for the soldier's relatives, but he never found them. Dad died 15 years ago, at the age of 75. His last words were: "It's so good that a friend is near." Apparently dad also saw Herrick not long before his death."
Grandmother finished the story with tears in her eyes. I never imagined that they had such dramas.
Grandma says that Herrick also sometimes helps her around the yard. She personally saw the soldier several times. Grandmother says that he is always engaged in some kind of business: now he sweeps, then he fixes the steps, then he paints the fence.
The best thing about this story is that I did find the relatives of the lost soldier. The internet is a huge force these days. Through a number of sites I managed to reach Herrick's granddaughter. The relatives did not know about the soldier's fate. Now, many years later, they will learn about its history and, perhaps, the soul of a German soldier will find well-deserved peace.
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