V. A. Kharkova

Vera Kharkova (1922-2012) witnessed and took part in the entire lifespan of the Soviet Union. Her mother was a village teacher. Her father, a young communist, organized orphanages, communes and collective farms. In 1936, he was arrested and died in a labor camp. After her father's arrest, she lived with her aunt in Moscow. The war struck Moscow just as Vera was in the prime of her life as a student. This book describes the entirety of her wartime experience, including the major event of her life: meeting her future husband in 1943, who became the love of her life. After the war Vera and her husband moved to Leningrad, where she devoted all of her time to her family and to raising their three children. After her husband's death she began working, spending more than 20 years at work before her retirement. In the early 2000s, upon her retirement, she began writing down her memories about her life. “HOW IT WAS” is a part of the memories dedicated to the war period.