Nomadic military service as a motivator writing communication of the family (continuation, the beginning in "Klio" № 6 (2016))
The letters in this publication were written between May 1940 and November 1943. Their author, M.A. Shadrov, after graduating from «Vystrel», the Higher Professional Advancement Centre for the military officers (Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Region), got a new assignment - to fill up the vacancy of a teacher/trainer of topography at the Centre for Military Instruction where senior party cadres were sent from various regions of the Soviet Union to get basic education in military disciplines. The Centre was established in April 1940, by the order of the People’s Comissariat for Defense. The necessity for it became clear to the Soviet leadership after the analysis of recent «Winter war» with Finland. The palace and the territory where the Centre was stationed (Maryino, Kursk Region) until the revolution of 1917 was Count Baryatinsky’s familial property. In 1941, three months after Germany’s invasion in the Soviet Union, the Centre was transferred to the town of Menzelinsk, about 300 km east of Kazan. Shadrov’s family was evacuated to Kazan two months earlier. The letters describe various aspects of everyday life and activities of the military officer and his family members during peace and wartime, and contain both factual and emotional assessment of events within and outside the ‘family circle’.