The Volunteer
Kazakhstan 2016
When I saw this girl with her kerchief and pigtails, I immediately thought of the time (1930’s) when hundreds of thousands of young Russians volunteered for hardship posts to fulfill Stalin’s economic plans, often referred to as “Five Year Plans”. Stalin was determined to catch up and pass the United States economically and militarily and young idealists wanted to do their part.
When Russia was attacked by Germany at the start of WWII, children, both boys and girls, as young as 12 or 13 volunteered. The girls were told to run onto the battle field and carry wounded men back behind the lines. How they did it, I don’t know, but the girls would somehow get a man onto their shoulders and drag him to safety. I can only imagine that the wounded man’s legs were dragging along the ground but the girls saved them.
There are many Russians in Kazakhstan, about as many as ethnic Kazakhs. I asked one young man if he considered himself a Kazakh or a Russian and he responded emphatically, “Russian!”