Yulia Mamontova (Zabrodina)
Moscow, Russia
«Regulirovschitsasiradze E. D.», 2020
Oil on canvas
50×70 cm
60×80 cm in the frame
A family history that we cherish.
Elizabeth Siradze
(23.10.1923 – 4.09.2014)
Shortly before the great Patriotic war, the young Elizabeth went from her native village of Kadom in the Ryazan region to distant relatives in Moscow to help them take care of their children. But in August 1941, she had to be evacuated along with everyone to Buzuluk: the children’s mother worked there on a business trip. In the Orenburg region, the girl went to work in a collective farm.
It was a difficult time. In 1943, Elizabeth, along with a group of Komsomol members — 12 people — went on an assignment to drive cattle to Dnepropetrovsk. The city had already been liberated from the enemy. But on the way, the group had to save cattle from bandits, and the girl made a brave act: standing under the muzzles of three machine guns, she managed to call for help, but was wounded in the leg…
Later in Dnepropetrovsk, Elizabeth began to ask to go to the front, but she was left in the troops of the Ministry of internal Affairs-a traffic controller on the road along which our soldiers were moving. At her post, she continued to work after the war: she met soldiers who were returning home from Europe. Even after many years, Elizaveta Dmitrievna could not remember all these events without tears, she said: “So many people died! Damn this war!”
The girl returned to Moscow in 1948 and met a blue — eyed Georgian-Yegor, who went through the entire war, was wounded and found victory In a hospital in Narofominsk. Thus began the history of the family of Elizaveta Dmitrievna and Yegor Ivanovich Siradze-the grandparents of the artist’s husband Yulia Mamontova, who captured on canvas an important milestone in the family history to preserve it for centuries. Behind the simple-looking plot are hidden symbols, reflections on the war, the fate and strength of the spirit of people in a difficult, terrible time.
This story of a brave girl and her meeting with fate was told by their daughter — Larisa Yegorovna Yegorova, saving the details for children and grandchildren to remember and honor the memory of native veterans of the great Patriotic War, defenders of the Motherland, because thanks to them we live!
Full exhibition catalog: 1812panorama.ru
