Copyright © 2017 by Svetlana Alexievich Translation copyright © 2017 by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. R ANDOM H OUSE and the H OUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Originally published in Russian as У в о й н ы н е ж е н с к о е л и ц о by Mastatskaya Litaratura, Minsk, in 1985. Copyright © 1985 by Svetlana Alexievich. Originally published in English as War ’ s Unwomanly Face by Progress Publishers, Moscow, in 1988. This English translation is published in the United Kingdom by Penguin, London. L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN- P UBLICATION D ATA N AMES: Aleksievich, Svetlana, author. | Pevear, Richard, translator. | Volokhonsky, Larissa, translator. T ITLE: The unwomanly face of war : an oral history of women in World War II / Svetlana Alexievich; translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. O THER TITLES: U voæiny — ne zhenskoe liëtìso — . English D ESCRIPTION: New York : Random House, 2017 I DENTIFIERS: LCCN 2016036099 | ISBN 9780399588723 | ISBN 9780399588730 (ebook) S UBJECTS: LCSH: World War, 1939 – 1945 — Women — Soviet Union. | World War, 1939 – 1945 — Personal narratives, Russian. | World War, 1939 – 1945 — Participation, Female. | Women and war — Soviet Union. C LASSIFICATION: LCC D810.W7 A5313 2017 | DDC 940.53/4709252 — dc23 LC record available at Contents Cover Title Page Copyright From a Conversation with a Historian A Human Being Is Greater Than War “ I Don ’ t Want to Remember ... ” “ G row Up, Girls ... You ’ re Still Green ...” “ I Alone Came Back to Mama ...” “ T wo Wars Live in Our House ...” “ T elephones Don ’ t Shoot ... ” “ T hey Awarded Us Little Medals ...” “ I t Wasn ’ t Me ... ” “ I Remember Those Eyes Even Now ...” “ W e Didn ’ t Shoot ... ” “ T hey Needed Soldiers ... but We Also Wanted to Be Beautiful ...” “ Y oung Ladies! Do You Know: The Commander of a Sapper Platoon Lives Only Two Months ... ” “ T o See Him Just Once ... ” “ A bout Tiny Potatoes ... ” “ M ama, What ’ s a Papa? ” “ A nd She Puts Her Hand to Her Heart ...” “ S uddenly We Wanted Desperately to Live ...” By Svetlana Alexievich About the Author About the Translators