Why did a man who became a father for hundreds of orphans end his life alone: Vasily Ershov and his "Anthill"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Vasily Ershov began to create his unique "Anthill", a home for orphans, back in tsarist times. And then he became a real caring father for his pupils. He even gave many of them his own surname, sewed clothes for the children himself, made felt boots and for 27 years did not ask for any help from the state. The simple son of a peasant, who grew up in extreme poverty and finished only one class of school, taught his pupils all the wisdom of life, and ended his life away from them in a state house.

Peasant son

Vasily Ershov was born in the village of Poletaevo, Perm province in 1870. The family was extremely poor, and all 13 children from childhood were accustomed to work. At first, Vasily himself looked after the younger children, and later went to the fields with his father. He was nine years old when his father sent the boy to school, but he had to study for only a year. As soon as he was able to put letters into syllables, and then into words, the training was completed, the family needed working hands. Vasily became a shepherd, and the old shepherd, with whom the boy worked together, kept saying that he needed to learn and read books. After Vasily became a tailor's apprentice, in the evenings he rushed headlong home to bury himself in a book again.

After serving in the army, Vasily Ershov returned home with a firm desire to escape from poverty and decided to go to the gold mines in Altai. True, he did not find gold, but he studied agriculture, learned to photograph, and mastered tailoring skills. But with his family he was not lucky. After losing her child, the young wife categorically refused to have children at all, and did not encourage Vasily's desire to help the street children, although the family did not live in poverty at all. As Vasily Ershov would write later, she wanted to live for herself and did not understand her husband's desire to do something for people.

But Vasily Ershov wanted to warm up the orphans, especially those left on the street. True, very soon he realized: what is needed is not one-time help for such children, but systemic help.

Orphanage

It was then that Vasily Ershov made the fateful decision to create a shelter. He chose the place carefully, and in the village of Altayskoye in the fall of 1909 he acquired a good apartment, and already at the beginning of the year, together with his sister Tatyana, they took up first two orphans, and then two more. A sign appeared on the door of the apartment “V. S. Ershov.

They began to bring and bring children to the orphanage, but, of course, they could not accept everyone there. Moreover, he did not have any funding, all needs were covered by what Vasily Stepanovich could help out with his labor. But he gradually taught the children to work, as his father once taught him. In the summer, he took his charges to the fields and once showed them how ants work, they do not freeze in winter, and they do not starve, having time to make supplies. And he said to the children: if they help him, they will also have their own dormitory. Soon the inscription "Anthill" appeared on the sign of the shelter, and already in 1914 a new house was brought under the roof.

But the First World War was already going on, and Vasily Ershov was again drafted into the army. He could not imagine to whom he could leave the kids. That is why I went to Biysk together with the guys for whom I rented rooms. It was a difficult time, and Ershov fed the children with scraps from the soldier's table. When the war ended, Vasily Stepanovich continued the work he had begun.

Anthill

Children were brought to Ershov from all over the area, and in the "Anthill" the work was in full swing. Vasily Stepanovich himself made a pond, for which he drained the swamp, and laid a new channel for the stream. Then he launched crucians into the pond and bought a boat, on which he rode the children. I bought bicycles for children and wooden horses. Yes, and he dressed the children well, while he sewed himself, his pupils were even called Yershov barchatka, because they were dressed like noble children.

The guys taught all the craft. They could manage in the garden, milk the cows, and tinker. There was a separate group for the kids - a kindergarten, where there was a teacher, and the older girls helped her. The children received a salary for their labors. And for participation in regional competitions, and for work in "Anthill".

Vasily Stepanovich wrote down everything at the expense of the guys, but if they wanted to buy something for themselves or, for example, go to the cinema, then with their own money. When the children were released from the orphanage, the entire accumulated amount was given to them, which was a great help for starting an independent life. And they could do everything.

Forgotten testament

There were no famous people among the pupils of "Anthill", but they all grew up to be good people, real workers, doctors, teachers, engineers, workers. 114 children bore the surname Ershov, because they did not remember their real one or did not know. Vasily Ershov was awarded with diplomas, was invited to the commissions, they wrote about him in the newspapers. In those years, after the first heart attacks, he wrote a will, where he asked to cremate his body after death and bury it on the territory of the "Anthill" in the garden in order to be with the children after his death. His request was heard at the Altai regional executive committee on September 17, 1932, and even a decision was made to grant it.

When Vasily Stepanovich became ill at the end of his life, he could not think of who to leave his troubled economy in control. True, the place of the head of the orphanage was taken by a completely stranger, who cares more about benefits than about children. By that time, the Ershova commune began to receive funding, 700 rubles a year per pupil. And the manager, Zoya Polikarpovna Ustinova, inflated the staff, and dismissed Ershov himself, who was a labor instructor. He, of course, was restored, and a year before his death he was sent to the Biysk home of personal pensioners.

Allegedly, the director of "Anthill" took revenge on the old man who criticized his management methods. Vasily Ershov, who gave his whole life to children, was living out his life, alone, far from everything he loved. He came to "Anthill", but there was no place for him there …

And in 1957 no one remembered the will of the creator of the unique orphanage, whose pupils called Vasily Stepanovich dad. They buried him at the cemetery in the village of Altaysk. And "Anthill" still exists, however, it is now called "Altai center for helping children left without parental care, named after V. S. Ershov."

For most, the words "mom" and "dad" mean a lot. After all, it is in our father's house that we wait out the storms of life, it is there that we find words of understanding and support. But what about those who were left without parents in childhood? They often find it difficult, but some were able to break through the narrow path to success and reach great heights in creativity.