Author's note*

Some of the scenes depicted in the chapters of this story are based on actual documentary footage* and eye-witness accounts of the crimes and atrocities committed by the Nazis against people of many races, religions and creeds during World War II. This story is written with the utmost respect for those who suffered during this terrible time in history. The name Illya Kuryakin is not owned by me, and is being borrowed for the purpose of this story, the majority of the characters are of my own creation, and some named are actual people who lived through or caused the sufferings in Russia. Special thanks to Avery and WendieZ for their advice and suggestions.

Please excuse any mistakes in my Russian and German.

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May 1940

"Da! Horosho moya mal'chik!_ Yes! Good my boy!"called Nicholaí to his son" that was an excellent shot!"

"Spacibo, papa." young Illya smiled , happy that his father was pleased with him.

Nicholaí Alexaevich Kuryakin taught both his elder sons, Dimitry and Illya to fire a rifle and they both did so with deadly accuracy. He started training them in the use of a handgun as well and even though the gun was massive in Illya's small hands; he showed suprising ability with such a weapon.

Kolya had others sons who would learn as well, Misha and Sasha, but not just yet, as they were but two years of age, but once they could handle the recoil of the rifle simply balanced on a wall for support; Kolya would teach them as well. But he feared that time would not come soon enough.

Dimitry was sixteen years old, nearly a man and had been on many a hunting trip into Bykivnia forest with his father. He had even killed his first wolf. Illya was only seven and too young to go along with them but not too young to learn. He was as good a shot as his older brother, maybe even better considering the age difference between the two boys.

"Your grandfather the Count would have been very proud of you Illushka. He was an excellant shot in his day...he used go hunting in this very place as a young man with Dukes and Princes you know..." said Nicholaí.

Illya squinted at him, scrunching up his face, thinking sometimes his father made these stories up. There were no Counts, Dukes or Princes in the Soviet Union. That's what he was taught in school. They were the oppressors of the people, and the masses rose up in defiance against their greed and tyranny and rid the country of them. This did not make sense to Illya...his grandfather...he was not oppressive, greedy, nor tyrannous and neither was his papa whom his grandmother said should have been a Count like his own father.

But his teachers bellowed their facts to the contrary at him on a daily basis. Illya was not well liked at school because of his heritage and was often treated like a pariah by his classmates. He was quite accustomed to fistfights at his young age. Illya's quiet and reserved manner was often mistaken for an air of superiority. The other children would gang up on him and the next thing he knew, he was in an altercation not of his own doing. He would often come home cut, bruised and stiff-lipped. Even though the Kuryakin family had not lived the life of nobility since Kolya was first born; they still suffered from the long memory of the "collective" mind. Kolya understood what Illya's sufferings at school were all about, but sadly nothing could be done to change it. He sometimes felt the same prejudices as his children did. Such was Soviet life for those who came from a former status of rank and wealth.

"What does that make me papa?" Illya suddenly asked as they began their walk home.

"I do not understand your question my boy.

"Well I was just thinking..." he spoke very deliberately", if Grandfather was a Count and you would have been a Count...what am I. Am I an oppressor of the people?"

Kolya let out a hearty laugh! "you an oppressor of the people.! I hardly think that! And neither was your grandfather! My father was a kind and generous man and no one ever went hungry when he was Count!"

"Then what am I?" Illya was relentless in seeking an answer from his father that would satisfy him,

"You are the second born son of a nobleman and a gentleman. Your brother Dimitry would have inherited the title after me." Kolya smiled at him " but it is no longer wise nor permissible for such a thing to speak, that part of our heritage has become meaningless. It is best you not discuss it any longer Illuyshka...I know you have had some fights at school about it.

"Papa...I do not start the fights"

"I know Illuyshka, I understand," Nicholaí answered sympathetically.

Illya then asked his father,"How did Grandfather become a Count?"

"His father was granted the title and land by the Tsar as reward for for his service in the last century. And the privilege of that title and would be passed down to each eldest son."

Illya was finally quiet for a moment..."papa, why did they send Grandfather away?" The child spoke of his grandfather as if had known him but in fact the man had been sent to his death in the gulag long before Illya was born.

Nicholaí sighed", that is not an easy answer to give Illuyshka. Let us say that people were jealous of what our family had and felt they had a right to take it away...they sent him somewhere far away to be re-educated to their way of thinking."

"but why..."

"Boy, enough with these questions you ask too many. Sometimes you should be observant.., "said Kolya," there are other ways to learn answers without asking questions."

Illya smiled and slipped his hand into his father's as they walked into the straw colored weeds that were so tall that Illya could have gotten lost in them had he not held on to his father.

They finally cleared the field and Kolya lifted his son over the half-finished stone wall behind the dacha with a "hup." Then tussled the boy's shining blond hair with his hand. Illya had the look of his mother about him; same hair, same bright blue eyes as did Misha and Sasha. But he was small for his age, built more like his mother in this respect too. Nicholaí hoped that Illya's size would not put him at a disadvantage some day. But what he lacked in size he made up for in his tenacity.

Of all Nikolaí's children, Illya was the one that stood out. A clever boy, unafraid to ask questions and always trying to figure things out. He received high marks in his school work, especially mathematics. He was a serious child, who loved to learn and he swore the boy could remember anything he read and recite it back word for word!

Dimitry however was tall like his father and had the auburn hair of the Kuryakin's. He loved the woods and being outdoors, his cleverness was of a different type than Illya's. Dima knew the plants and understood the animals and he could track though the forest just like his gypsy cousins, the Rom. Kolya's only daughter, three year old Katiya favored her father's coloring as well and she was his joy. She a happy child who could make anyone smile even his serious little Illya. Kolya was proud that his wife had given him such a fine, handsome family.

Tanya Ivanova Kuryakina's long blond hair blew in the wind as she finished taking in the last of the laundry; the rain was coming soon and she was relieved that everything was dry enough to take in. She smiled as she saw her husband and son returning from the field and laughed softly as Illya ran to her wrapping his arms around her waist in a hug "mama! mama! papa said I did well today!"

"Ah so the great marksman returns," she laughed " You did well... think this deserves a reward eh? How does a nice slice of warm brown bread and jam sound?"

"Yes please?" the boy grinned.

For the life of her she could not understand why such a skinny little boy could have such a large appetite and not gain any weight. But all that mattered to Tanya was that Illya was a strong, healthy and happy little boy.

"Good then,"she smiled "Take this inside for me Illie? I will be there in a moment." She handed the basket of laundry to him, and he ran with it in through the back door of the dacha.

"So if I give you a big hug what do I get?" whispered Nicholaí as he wrapped his arms around his wife.

She wiggled free of his hold, looking unhappy.

"What is wrong Tanya?"

"Why to you do this with him...take him with the gun every day? Kolya, he's just a child... There is Something you are not telling me?" Tanya asked.

"I do it to help protect him, Tanya. I am frightened for him...for all of us" he answered somberly.

"You think the war will come?"

"Yes I fear it will." he sighed heavily.

Stalin had signed a treaty with Germany to prevent invasion but Kolya had heard rumours that Hitler would still dare to invade the Soviet Union and it was these rumors along with other signs that gave him a sense of urgency in preparing his sons for what might come. Local farmers were shipping out their crops instead of storing for the winter. The factories were stepping up their production. Men were being conscripted into the army. Sure indications that Stalin was preparing for war.

He saw no reason tell his sons anything or voice his concerns to them. " Let their young minds be trouble free for now." he thought to himself.

1941

The day that Nicholaí Kuryakin feared had finally arrived. Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union. Stalin had been preparing to strike against Germany he delayed and now the greatest army in the world barreled through Russia. By August Minsk, Smolensk and Novogorod had fallen. On 15 September a great seige against Leningrad began and but a few days later Kyiv was occupied.

The day that Minsk fell to the Germans, Nicholaí and Dimitry left to join the partisans, partnered with the Rom hidden deep in the forest. The Rom were family. Vanya their leader was Kolya's uncle and his mother's younger brother. The Kuryakin's trusted the gypsies where as other people did not. But they knew the woods and the surrounding areas better than anyone and the partisans being few in number relied upon them for guidance through the darkest parts of Bykivnia. The partisans could not engage the Germans directly, so theirs was a war of sabotage. They would blow up bridges, derail trains, destroy farms and dairies that fed the Germans. Nicholaí and Dima would be gone from the family for weeks at a time, and as the Germans began to increase their movement the weeks turned into months.

The Kuryakins lived out in the country west of the city. At one time they ranked as was one of the great families of Kyiv living in a spacious house, having wealth and property. The family was known for being generous to those in need. But the "Great Revolution" had reduced the Kuryakins to near poverty, and the former Countess, her son and his family now lived year round in the family's small dacha.

With her husband and eldest son gone, Tanya Kuryakina did her best to care for and feed her four other children with the help of her husband's mother Madame Marina Vladimirevna Kuryakina. She, the children's babushka was a woman of the old ways, proud of her husband's nobility and remembered when the name Kuryakin was respected. She chose to honor her gypsy heritage, by always calling her son Niko in the gypsy fashion, instead of Kolya.

Tanya Kuryakina was a small, delicate beauty and she worked hard to protect and care for her brood. She toiled chopping wood, did all the household chores what ever needed doing now that Kolya and Dima were gone. She began schooling Illya when he could not longer safe to attend school and took care of the three other youngsters as well.

Food was already scarce as the Russian people had been forced to give up so much to help finance the preparations for war with Germany. But when the Germans launched their offensive, the Soviet Army faltered. They had lived under the brutal regime of Stalin and when it came time to defend it; they did not. They had no loyalty to a man that terrorized his people. Instead soldiers surrendered or ran, sometimes even without a fight. Leaving the people defenseless and at the mercy of the German control over the cities left everyone short in supplies and food, as nothing could get in or out with out the Nazis knowing about it.

It was on 19 September that the Nazi's occupied Kyiv. It was also Illya's ninth birthday. But there was no celebration as the news of the occupation came to the Kuryakins. Days later they heard that the grand Soviet Army that was supposed to defend Kyiv had surrendered. The Germans set a trap and but 150,000 out of 600,000 were able to fight their way out of it. Kruschev had no choice but to surrender Kyiv. He was accused of cowardice, but Stalin ignored him and received nothing but a tongue-lashing from Vaznesensky, Stalin's deputy. It was the people of Kyiv who suffered.

Another ten days later the Nazis began their brutal extermination of the Jews of Kyiv...gunning down over 33,000 men, women and children at a ravine on the northwest outskirts of the city. A place called Baba Yar. Not long after that a concentration camp was set up nearby the ravine, called "Syrets", named after the area it was located in. But these were things that were only rumoured in the countryside. Families were careful with whom they spoke, as well as what they spoke about. Feeling that if the words weren't said, then it couldn't be true. These terrible things could not be true...

Tanya did not want to believe those stories. They were beyond comprehension. She listened instead for the ones that offered hope.

Such story came from a neighbor a few miles down the road. He had heard that a market had sprung up at the Yevbaz Bazaar near the city. There was fresh produce and grain being sold! These were things they needed to lay in as supplies for the harsh winter to come. October was nearing and something had to be done before it was too late.

It was decided that Madame Kuryakina would care for Katiya while Illya and his mother would take the twins with them to the city to the Bazaar. It would be too difficult for their grandmother to handle all three...and Illya had to go with his mother.

She knew it was a risky trip, but there was no choice. Her husband and eldest son had not been home in months, and she wasn't even sure if they were still alive. She had to take the chance, otherwise the rest of her family could starve.

Tanya would put the boys in a small pram, one they could use to also carry the supplies in for the return trip. She and Illya would have to carry Sasha and Misha on the way back.

She gathered all the rubles they had, a pair of silver candlesticks, and the few pieces of jewelry she and Niko's mother owned as she knew the supplies would be expensive to buy. The candlesticks were hidden under the blankets in the carriage, but Tanya made Illya bury the money and the jewels deep in his pockets.

And so Tanya Kuryakina and her three sons started out on their journey, meeting and joining many others along the road with the same goal. It was a long trip and Illya made it without complaint. He helped to push the carriage and keep his brothers amused, soothed them when they cried. And helped his mother feed them when they stopped along the roadside. There was little left but porridge now to feed them. Once done eating, they began to walk again.

It was then that the Germans suddenly appeared on Pobeda Street just outside the city, pulling up in their trucks; they grabbed people from the terrified crowds at random ordering them onto the transports at gunpoint.

Tanya grabbed her boys from the carriage holding one in each arm, ordering little Illya to get behind her as she heard the Nazis voices over the frightened cries of the people around her.

Suddenly a soldier reached into the crowd grabbing Sasha and pulling him from his mother's arm. She screamed as the soldier began tossing the child up into the air...catching him then tossing him again and again until Sasha began to cry.*

"Please no..." Tanya begged", you're frightening him!"Sobbing in fear.

Another soldier grabbed her, pushing she and Misha to the ground. Illya took a step forward to help her but she flashed him a look, stopping him in his tracks..."run," he saw his mother mouth the word, then heard her scream as Sasha was tossed again into the air. The soldier drew his side-arm shooting the child as he dropped. Then turned shooting the mother. Tanya fell dead to the ground and Misha tumbled from her arms screaming loudly. The soldier grabbed him by the leg, tossed him into the air, killing Misha just as he had Sasha.

It had all happened so fast and momentarily stunned in horror Illya stood frozen. He turned and ran as his mother had told him to do, disappearing into the mass of people huddling in terror as more of the soldiers began to shoot into the crowd. Illya could not understand why they did not run? He slipped out of sight easily since he was so small and made his way homeward in the darkness back to the dacha.

It took him hours as he hid now along the way from more of the soldiers, transports and tanks that roared past him on the road. It was near dawn when Illya burst wild-eyed through the door of the dacha, staggering toward his grandmother unable to speak, he could only cry. She held him in her arms until he finally calmed. Whimpering; he struggled to tell her what had happened to his mother and brothers. Marina Kuryakina listened in horror and wept while she rocked her frightened grandson in her arms.