Priceless lines from soldier Brovin

The SB editorial office has received unique diaries of Mikhail Brovin, a Minsk resident, which he kept from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s

Ivan Brovin with his son Mikhail and daughter Irina, September 18th, 1935

Son, house and oak of the hero of Tsushima

Ivan Brovin, from Minsk, was 24 years old when he participated in the Battle of Tsushima. Brovin, a Belarusian sailor, survived the fierce battle but was captured after being wounded. Later, the Tsarist government redeemed its sailors and even awarded them compensation. Brovin managed it thriftily: he bought two plots of land in Minsk, one for his family near the current Minsk Yuzhny railway station, the second for his mother and sisters near the railway station.
The brave sailor was not a bachelor for long. A girl of noble birth, Aleksandra Diyesperova, agreed to become his wife. In 1910, the hero of Tsushima accomplished all three main male tasks in one fell swoop: he built a house, planted a tree and fathered a son, Mikhail. Five years later, a daughter, Irina, appeared in the family.
Years later, Minsk resident Nina Solntseva, Irina Ivanovna’s daughter-in-law, brought to the editorial office the diaries that Irina’s brother, Mikhail Brovin, kept from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s. “In the early 2000s, Irina Ivanovna became seriously ill, and I looked after her, living in the house on Dalny Pereulok,” she shared. “Once, around 2003, I found three diaries and photographs. I often sat by Irina Ivanovna’s bed and read her the 70-year-old records, because she was very close with her brother.”

115-year-old giant and Zina

Surprisingly, Ivan Brovin’s house and oak tree remain intact to this day! The author personally verified this by visiting 6 Dalny Pereulok in the capital.
In 1933, Ivan Brovin’s firstborn son, Mikhail, left his parents’ home and went to Gomel Region to work as a land surveyor. There, he met a local girl named Zina, for whom he developed deep feelings. On July 11th, 1935, he wrote in his diary: ‘A great day has come for Belarus — July 11th. I also had to participate: I installed a radio in the village council, where they whitewashed and wallpapered. Since I was not invited to the local evening party, I decided to move the celebration to the 12th, and on the 11th I made a portrait of Zina’.

Incident near Kolodishchi

In early autumn 1935, Mikhail was called up for military field training: ‘I liked the atmosphere in the camps: good tents, relative freedom, good command and specialisation. On the evening of September 8th, our vehicle, having fallen behind in preparations, set off after the first one. The weather turned bad, and then the vehicle broke down. In the pouring rain, we stopped near Kolodishchi, and after a long search for the fault, the driver announced that we could not move any further because the coil condenser was punctured’.
Mikhail, a native of Minsk, offered his help. So on foot, at night, in the rain, he set off for Minsk to find the extremely scarce part! This was virtually impossible, but he delivered the condenser by 10a.m. In total, the young man walked over 50km.
Meanwhile, Zina informed him in a letter that she could not reciprocate his feelings. Returning to Poddobryanka, Mikhail decided to sort things out with the girl, but she avoided meetings. Then he wrote in his diary: ‘It seems she does not love me at all, but is more interested in the material side of things and pleasures, scorning lofty interests’.

He was given an order — to the West

Over the course of three years — from 1937 to August 1939 — Mikhail’s diaries reflect his cultural life: he went to the cinema, theatres, museums, exhibitions, drew, read books, listened to the radio… Women are no longer present in his notes. September 1939 was eventful: ‘On the 7th, I visited the stream, collected a bouquet of wildflowers, and that is where my rest ended. A call-up notice arrived. The whole day of the 8th was spent on preparation — I had to visit the service, complete a first-aid kit and so on. On the 9th, I was already a Red Army soldier. On the 10th, I was going to become a vehicle commander, and on the 11th, I was transferred from the training battalion to a rifle battalion, becoming an anti-aircraft gunner. On the 12th, I was still playing volleyball in a cheerful company in the town, and on the 13th, I was already near the border between Logoisk and Dzerzhinsk. On the 16th, we received live ammunition and emergency food supplies. It became clear that ‘there would be a business’. At 4p.m., an order was read out, proposing to cross the Polish border at 4a.m. on the 17th in the direction of the settlement of Rakov and the town of Volozhin. Our unit crossed the border somewhat later than the advanced units, which opened fire at 4a.m., namely around 7 – 8a.m. The Poles fled. At about 9a.m., we were already passing through the border of Rakov. The reception was ceremonial, and we felt as if we were at the November 7th parade, and not at war. In the evening we were in Volozhin’.

Notably, the Sovetskaya Byelorussia newspaper in its issue of September 18th, 1939 published the operational summary of the General Staff of the Red Army, and it mentions the capture of Volozhin. Both the summary and Mikhail’s diaries say that the population gladly welcomed the Red Army. You have to admit, this speaks volumes.

September 20th, 1939

‘Yesterday we drove a lot around the town of Lida. The population of the towns and villages greets us, waves their hands, shouts ‘Hello!’ and starts conversations with the ‘long-awaited comrades’. Despite the pouring rain, groups of people everywhere see off the passing units, even if they do not stop, children throw apples.
This morning, after a sleepless night in the rain, we got stuck on a rickety bridge. A group of peasants gathered and began to help. The older peasants keep asking about life in the USSR, our ways, how come women were given equal rights, how come they do not believe in God and so on. Peasants are dressed poorly; they say that under Polish landowners you never have enough bread or salt. Matches, kerosene, soap, salt — everything is very expensive, and you have to fret over such things: salted water (soapy water too) literally travels from house to house, matches are split in half. It is really scary when you hear things like that’.

Harsh forties

After the liberation campaign, having fulfilled his military duty, Mikhail returned to Minsk. On his birthday, November 29th, 1939, he left the following entry in his diary: ‘Today I turned 29... Honestly, I am starting, it seems, to feel what happiness is. I feel like I am in paradise... True, alone. Better alone, but away from the hypocrisy, callousness and misunderstanding of all that is beautiful, if not by reason, then by heart’.
Mikhail’s diaries end on February 18th, 1940.

***
For what reasons Mikhail Brovin stopped keeping diaries is unknown. Mikhail’s relative, Nina Solntseva, said that when the Great Patriotic War broke out, he decided to volunteer for the front, “Around June 23rd or 24th, he went to the recruitment office, and his relatives never saw him again. He went missing or died in battle — no one knows.”

To be remembered

In several of his diaries, this sincere and somewhat otherworldly man described his life, feelings, thoughts about the socialist future and dreams... He never once complained about the vicissitudes and hardships of his seemingly unremarkable life — the life of a lonely and very intelligent, spiritually rich young man, who, at the first call of the Motherland, went to defend it. And died for its freedom.
In memory of Mikhail Brovin, not only three diaries, several photographs and pencil drawings remain. In Minsk on Dalny Pereulok, in the courtyard of his parents’ house, the giant oak tree planted by Misha’s father on the day of his birth, November 29th, 1910, still rustles. Belarus remembers!

FOR REFERENCE

July 11th, 1935 marked the 15th anniversary of the liberation of Minsk from Polish troops. For almost 20 years, this day was one of the main holidays in the BSSR. As for the portrait of Zina, painted by Mikhail on July 11th, 1935, it has survived! Today, 90 years later, we are publishing it.

By Oleg Usachev