I.V. Tongur. Journal from the front (1941-1945)

I.V. Tongur. Journal from the front (1941-1945) ed. E.I. Lebedeva, V.N. Lebedev – Simferopol, Ukraine – Slippery-Rock, USA: 2006. – 196 pp.

A real scientist might be a person, who observes the object without emotions, even at the War. Veniamin Tongur as a young researcher, when he was at the military service, described the situations with truth. Although he knew that he would be punished and even executed in GULAG, special clinics and in the other types of disciplinary camps. He does not consider himself as a hero and two his notebooks were written just for private aim. He wrote: «Sometimes, when I become old, I will read it and remember how it was at the War». Therefore this diary was hidden for decades. Veniamin Tongur (1911-1967) passed away long time ago. However his relatives and friends preserved his pictures and diary, which are an extraordinary document of Stalin time and the evidence of the life during the Second World War.