Shurochka Lazarenok
CHAPTER 8
When I think of the autumn of 1942 I always think of Shura Lazarenok or, as we all called her, Shurochka. Her fate was not at all easy and yet I do not think there have been many people who had borne their troubles without asking anything of anyone and had even tried to help people around them. Shurochka was a courageous human being ever since her childhood. Here is her story.
Shurochka was brought to the orphanage one night in the autumn of 1942. We already knew that she was the girl whose both legs were amputated and who had spent a whole year in a Yaroslavl hospital. Shurochka and her mother were on a train bringing evacuees from Latvia into Russia and the train was bombed. Her mother died and Shurochka was badly injured. As she later told us, she was operated on in Yaroslavl by a "drunken surgeon" and as a result of that one of her legs became septic and took a very long time to heal. Her both legs were amputated above the knee.
In the morning I found it hard to look forward to my forthcoming meeting with Shurochka. I imagined a grim, gloomy, tired and exhausted girl and I was therefore apprehensive about meeting her. Yet, when I came into the room where our younger girls lived I saw on the bed near the window a rather pretty and pleasant girl with blue eyes. She had an open face and she looked around smiling. When I came up to her she smiled at me too and said: "How are you? My name is Shura." I felt at ease right away. Dealing with Shura was simple and easy always – despite her terrible injury.
During the summer and the autumn some of the older youngsters carried Shura from place to place on their backs. In winter she was taken to school or to a stroll on a sled. When there were folkdances at the orphanage Shurochka was always brought in to participate. When we danced in pairs she sat on a chair and enjoyed watching everyone dance. I remember once, when it was announced "Dancing is over!" Shurochka was the first to cry out: "Oh, please, let us dance some more!" I always remembered this very altruistic remark she had made…
When we stopped in Moscow on our way back to Latvia we took Shurochka with us to see the Red Square and to go on the Moscow underground despite the fact that it was snowing, the ground was slippery and it was not at all easy to carry her on one's back.
Shurochka now lives in her native town of Ludza in Latvia. She has been working as a proofreader in the local paper. Her coworkers call her "the soul of the Editor's Office". Years back she graduated from highschool in Ludza and she then studied philology by correspondence. Shurochka lives with her two aunts and the two daughters of one of her aunts. The husband of one of her aunts takes her with him fishing and she can compete as an expert fisherwoman with any of her colleagues. She has been living in Ludza with her large family in a house which she calls either her "barn" or her "castle."
In November 1971 I used a business trip to Ludza to visit Shurochka. We have been corresponding for years. I even brought her a book written by Zyama where he had mentioned her.
Here is a picture of her made in November 1971.
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