Valentin and Zoya Gagarin: How was the fate of Yuri Gagarin's older brother and sister, whom the Germans hijacked during the war

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

A lot was written about the family of Yuri Gagarin at one time, but in fact, the first cosmonaut himself aroused keen interest. Although the fate of his older brother Valentine and sister Zoe was very difficult. Before the occupation of the village by fascist troops, the Gagarin family did not manage to evacuate due to their father's illness, Valentin and Zoya were among those whom the Germans sent to work in Germany.

When trouble comes

Alexei Ivanovich Gagarin brought the news of the beginning of the war into the house and on the same day fell from typhus. His wife Anna Timofeevna and the eldest son Valentin took his father to the hospital, and when he returned home, weakened, the Germans were already on the outskirts of the village of Klushino, where the family lived.

All the inhabitants of the occupied Smolensk village drank in grief: the inhabitants were mercilessly driven out of their houses, and German soldiers settled in their places. Valentin got it from the very first day: he looked after the house of his uncle, Pavel Ivanovich, but the Germans locked him in a chicken coop and mocked the 17-year-old teenager: they beat him, forced to catch chickens, and in a drunken swagger they even shot at the bottles that Valentin kept in hands.

He managed to free himself thanks to the pity of a German translator, who succumbed to the requests of his younger brother Yuri to see his older one. So they left. At first, Valentin hid in a dugout where the whole family settled, then, when the first part left, and a new one took its place, he began to help his family with the housework.

The father was forced to work at the mill, the mother was exhausted trying to feed the children and her husband. But the worst thing happened already in 1942, when a local policeman came to the Gagarins' dugout and told Valentin to come to the square the next morning: supposedly all the guys of his age were sent to clean snow drifts in Gzhatsk.

Already there, in the courtyard of the commandant's office, it turned out that they were being sent as part of a special unit to accompany some wagon train heading to Germany. They immediately warned that if they tried to escape, the family that remained in Klushino would be immediately shot. A day after Valentine, 15-year-old Zoya was also hijacked in a column of girls.

Never give up

The column, in which Valentin was, reached Gzhatsk, and there the young people were put on carts, with a guard assigned to each teenager. Valentine was guarded by an elderly and very plump Johann, who ate even that piece of bread that was due to his ward.

On the way, even the hijacked heard rumors about the liberation of their native village. The Red Army entered Klushino on the day Yura Gagarin turned 9, March 9, 1943.

It was then that Valya decided to flee. One night, the young man took advantage of the fact that his guard fell asleep after a delicious dinner and, taking a rifle, fled into the forest. A few days later, the young man stumbled upon a Soviet tank unit, where he remained as a result to serve, because by that time he was already 18 years old.

And in the very first letter that Valentin received from his father's house, he learned that his sister Zoya also managed to escape and now she serves as a veterinarian in the cavalry unit. Father wrote with pride that he himself was honored to serve in the Red Army, however, due to his disability, he was left at the hospital in Gzhatsk.

After their release, Yuri and Boris Gagarins went to school, and Zoya and Valentin returned to Klushino after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

After the war

After the family reunion, the times were difficult, but happy for everyone. The Gagarins moved from Klushino to Gzhatsk, where Alexey Ivanovich built a new house. Zoya got married, and in 1947 gave birth to a daughter, Tamara.

After marriage, Zoya Alekseevna bore the surname Bruevich and worked as a nurse in the Gzhatsk hospital all her life. But her daughter, Tamara Dmitrievna, became the head of the department of the Yuri Gagarin museum. By the way, the city of Gzhatsk was renamed in 1968 and now bears the name Gagarin, in honor of the first cosmonaut.

Valentin Alekseevich in the post-war years undertook any job. He was a carpenter and auto mechanic, served as a chauffeur and locksmith. He married and raised three daughters, then settled with his family in Ryazan, where he was a foreman and an assembly fitter at the Ryazan Radio Plant. The decision was not easy for Valentin Gagarin, but he was attracted by the opening prospects: he had to think about the education of his daughters, and even his health did not allow him to work as a driver.

In 1985, the publishing house "Young Worker" published a book by Valentin Gagarin "My brother Yuri", in which he described in great detail the life of the Gagarin family until the very moment when the tragedy happened and Yuri Gagarin died in March 1968. A year after the book was published, the elder brother of the first cosmonaut was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.

In 1973, Yuri Gagarin's father died - the death of his son greatly crippled his already not very good health. In 1977, the youngest Gagarin, Boris, passed away, in 1984 his mother, Anna Timofeevna, died. Zoya Alekseevna died in 2004, and two years later Valentin Alekseevich was gone.

They could celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage in 2017. The first cosmonaut and his wife, Yuri and Valentina Gagarins. Their happiness was bright, but very short. For less than 10 years they were husband and wife. But for almost half a century, she continues to love, believe and wait. Knowing exactly that he is not.