We’ve worshipped many gods. Some have been consigned to the scrapheap, others to museums. Let us make Truth into a god! A god before whom each of us shall answer according to his own conscience, and not as a class, or a university year, or a collective, or a people … Let us be charitable to those who have paid a greater price for insight than we ourselves. Remember: ‘I brought my friend, and my own truth, back with me from a raid … Head, arms and legs, all severed, and his skin flayed … ’
Our lives are forever tied to those red gravestones, with their inscriptions in memory, not only of the dead, but also of our naïve and trusting faith:
Tatarchenko Igor Leonidovich
(1962–1981)
In the execution of his duty and true to his military
oath. He showed courage and steadfastness and died on
active service in Afghanistan.
Dearest Igor, You left this life without having known it.
Mama, Papa
Ladutko Aleksandr Viktorovich
(1964–1984)
Died while fulfilling his international duty
You died an honourable death
You did not spare yourself
You died a hero’s death on Afghan soil
That we might live in peace.
To my dear son, from Mama
Bartashevich Yuri Frantsevich
(1967–1986)
Died in the execution of his international duty
We love, remember and mourn.
His family
Bobkov Leonid Ivanovich
(1964–1984)
Died in the execution of his international duty
Sun and moon are extinguished without you, dearest son.
Mama, Papa
Zilfigarov Oleg Nikolayevich
(1964–1984)
Died true to his military oath.
You did not fulfil your dreams and ambitions
Your dear eyes were closed too soon
Dear Oleg, dearest son and brother
We cannot express the pain of your loss.
Mama, Papa, your brothers and sisters
Kozlov Andrei Ivanovich
(1961–1982)
My only son.
Mama
Bogush Viktor Konstantinovich
(1960–1980)
Died defending his country
The earth is a desert without you .
* Nur Mohammed Taraki (1917—79) led a new government set up in 1978 by the Marxist People’s Democratic Party, only to become the victim of a coup in the following year.
† Presumably he had in mind Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko etc.
Copyright © 1990 by Svetlana Alexievich
Translation copyright © 1992 by Julia and Robin Whitby
Introduction copyright © by Larry Heinemann
First American Edition 1992
Zinky Boys was first published in the Soviet Union in 1990.
Its original Russian title is
All rights reserved
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Alexievich, Svetlana.
[TSinkovye mal'chiki. English]
Zinky boys : Soviet voices from a forgotten war / Svetlana
Alexievich ; translated by Julia and Robin Whitby.
p. cm.
1. Afghanistan—History—Soviet occupation, 1979–1989—Personal
narratives. 2. Soldiers—Soviet Union—Biography. I. Title.
DS371.2.A4513 1992
958.104’5—dc20
92–17855
ISBN: 978-0-393-33686-3
eISBN: 978-0-393-25445-7 (e-book)
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