18 May 2015
The story of my family is directly related to the tragic event — the Great Patriotic War. This year marks the 9th anniversary since the death of my grandfather — veteran of the war Taube Tazhenov.
He was born on 10 January 1926 in a large family that had ten children. As all people in the pre-war years, especially in villages, they were very poor and even didn’t have enough food. The father of the family, Shaike Tazhenov, was born in the village of Akzhar, Mendygarinsky area, Kustanay region in 1895 (at that time nobody registered and knew exact dates). Despite the fact that he had a large family, Shaike was sent to the front. Many years the relatives knew nothing about him. And only in 1986 my grandfather obtained a copy of a document from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Soviet Union certifying the following: "Shaike Tazhenov served as a soldier of the 1225th Infantry Regiment. Was killed on 5 March 1943 and buried in a massive grave not far from the village of Shubino, Sychevsky area, Smolensk region with military honours." There is a note about him in the third volume of the Memory Book of Kostanay region published in 1997 in Almaty. It is said that he was buried in Smolensk region.
It was very difficult for children and my great-grandmother to live without the household head. But it became worse when the elder sons Shamay and Taube were also sent to the war. My grandfather joined the Red Army at the end of the war. He was sent to the 24th Reserve Infantry Regiment where on 24 December 1944 he took the military oath. From April to November 1945 Taube Tazhenov served as a part of the 120th Infantry Regiment.
Taube Tazhenov didn’t finish his military service on 9 May 1945. From November 1945 to November 1946 he served in the 1001st Infantry Regiment, and from November 1946 to June 1950 — in the 84th Mechanised Regiment. My grandfather conducted service in the territory of Hungary and Bulgaria. He returned home when the relatives didn’t even hope to see him again.
My grandfather was awarded commemorative medals, the Order of the Patriotic War of the II class, Medal of Marshal Zhukov and Medal for Liberation of Belarus.
I can’t tell more about him as he passed away when I was a little child. But those moments I spent with him permit to conclude that he was a great person. I didn’t see anything bad in him. He was a good man, good father, good friend and good grandfather... He deserved all the best. Taube Tazhenov managed to grow four children. And each of them has taken over something from him — intelligence, courage, diligence, wisdom. In turn, thanks to him, they are also good parents. I am sure that my grandfather was a person who contributed much in establishing of our family.
Taube Tazhenov spent not so much time at the war, less than a year. He recalled how difficult it was: he lived in a Kazakh village and almost didn’t speak Russian so he failed to understand the orders of his commander.
However, commanders made few concessions to age, ethnic background or education: it was necessary to defend the Motherland, relatives though fascists didn’t reach Kazakhstan. After returning home, my grandfather finished a secondary school and worked until 4 January 1995.
It is hard to imagine how it was for him to live at that time. Undoubtedly, the Great Patriotic War changed him much. But I believe it improved him. According to my mother he has deserved respect. And all people who knew him respected him much.
In childhood, I wasn’t close to him as I couldn’t realise many things. I didn’t value the time that I spent with him. Later I blamed myself for that. Now I understand that it’s very important to spend more time with relatives or it will too late.
I would like to thank my grandfather for everything he did for my family and country. He was a real patriot.
Andrey Ten,
grade 8 student of the Secondary School № 7,
Kostanay, Kostanay region
