Artist's memories of the first days after the Battle of Stalingrad

Volgograd artist Vladimir Rakhleev, who survived the Battle of Stalingrad as a child, shared his memories of the first days after the defeat of German troops and the capture of Field Marshal Paulus on the eve of the 83rd anniversary of the victory. What he saw in those years later became the theme for many of his paintings.

Vladimir Rakhleev and his mother spent the Battle of Stalingrad in the village of Solyanoy, located in the Trans-Volga steppes. They learned about the surrender of the German group from soldiers who heard the joyful news on the radio.

“As soon as we heard this news,” recalls Vladimir Alexandrovich, “we headed, on foot and by hitchhiking, towards Stalingrad. We came to Krasnoslobodsk, but didn«t go further, across the Volga. We had nowhere to go since the city was almost destroyed. We settled in an empty adobe hut on the outskirts of Krasnoslobodsk, in the Tatar settlement. We registered there. Through that, after some time, we began to be issued bread ration cards.”

While the ice held on the Volga, they crossed the river and went to Stalingrad. “We came to Yelshanka, where before the Germans arrived in the city, my grandmother«s house was, but found only ashes there…,” the artist says. After returning to Krasnoslobodsk, Vladimir»s mother got a job at a bakery, which was located on the bank of the Volga in the building of a former slaughterhouse.

In the autumn of 1943, Vladimir Rakhleev went to first grade. “The school building in Krasnoslobodsk had long been bombed. Next to it, in a shed, under a canopy, they set up desks for us — one could say, practically outdoors. That«s where I began my school education,” he recalls.

Over time, Vladimir Rakhleev became a professional artist, one of the most famous in Volgograd. Many of his paintings are based on personal impressions from the events of 1942–1943.

In 2025, Vladimir Rakhleev celebrated his ninetieth birthday. A personal exhibition of his works was timed to this date, which took place in December and January in the district museum complex of Dubovka — the artist«s small homeland.

The artist«s relative, Alexander Rakhleev — the grandson of Vladimir»s own brother — works as a riverman and drives cruise ships on Russian rivers.

“I believe that Vladimir Rakhleev is my relative, from the Dubovka Rakhleevs, but I am not personally acquainted,” Alexander Rakhleev said. “Family ties were broken at the level of my grandfather Ivan, Vladimir«s brother. About Ivan, unfortunately, I know practically nothing, except that he was repressed in the late 1930s. I would like to establish and maintain contact with all the Rakhleevs. A couple of years ago, I tried through the museum where he had an exhibition — it didn»t work out.”