The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

Horror stories before bedtime, cutlets with bread and first love: how Soviet children rested in pioneer camps

'30.10.2021'

Source: Lenta.ru report

Growing up in harsh conditions of scarcity, Soviet pioneers invented games for themselves, spent all day with friends in the yard, and experienced life without the Internet. And the most anticipated event was a trip to the pioneer camp, where they met with old friends, discos with slow-moving people, evenings with a guitar around the fire and night walks under the stars secretly from the counselors. Why did the Soviet camps lure children so much and why do many adults still yearn for those times? Tape.ru the former eaglets, Artekites and pioneers personally told.

Photo: Shutterstock

After a long parting

“The warmest memory is a meeting after the winter, when all friends come together, discuss who has happened this year, who came, who did not come and why. We were waiting for the second shift and hoped that one of the guys would come.

I went to the pioneer camp from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) for several years in a row, we had our favorite counselor there - Volodya Kovbasyuk. And, of course, everyone was upset if he did not get into our squad. We ran to him all the time for meetings. And if to us - well, of course, everyone was happy.

Of course, I didn't want to part afterwards, because over the past month everyone had become friends, and parting for a whole year clearly loomed ahead. Although those who were in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry also met later - at the Christmas trees in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. But this, of course, is not the same, because when you spend time together for a long time, completely different relationships develop. "

"Get up, get up, buddy!"

“The day began with the bugle“ get up, get up, friend, from bed to potty ”- this is how the whole thing sounded. Everyone jumped up to exercise, washed after exercise, then breakfast. After breakfast - hobby groups. Well, some had aeromodelling, others had something else ... I really loved the circle of soft toys. Previously, there weren't too many toys, so bringing a soft toy, a hare or a bear, especially which I sewed myself, from the camp is the best gift. In addition, the blanks there were very good, and if, for example, everything is done as you are told, then the toys turned out to be very worthy.

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Or, if the weather is good, they went swimming. Then sleep, afternoon tea and sports activities. All kinds of pioneerballs, volleyballs are active games. Then dinner. After dinner, either a movie, or a disco, or KVN, and then hang up. Well, after the lights out, it also started: sometimes they climbed out the window - we went to the boys, the boys went to us. I won't say that it is connected with anything romantic, well, just like that ... "

"The girls and I laughed a lot"

“Once they closed our windows so that we wouldn't go for a walk at night. The counselor Vitya said: "Girls, I'm tired of this!" Picked up and hammered the windows. And I, as a member of the squad council, had to go on an evening round with the main counselor Tolya and put all marks in a notebook. We left the building, and I told him: "Tolik, something strange here: probably, after the shift shift, the windows were closed, but we have nothing to breathe, we cannot open it to ventilate." Without thinking twice, he took a crowbar from the fire shield and opened our windows.

Then, when I returned to my building, Vitka asked if everything was in place, and then he closed the door for us with huge cupboards so that they would not go out through it. He didn't know about the windows! The girls and I laughed a lot. And again they ran away at night for a walk. And in the afternoon, during quiet hours, we slept off.

A lot of emotions

““ Eaglet ”was cooler than“ Artek ”- everyone says that. It is more interesting, there were no baby groups, only pioneers and Komsomol members - older children. From my trip to the "Eaglet" I always had a lot of emotions. The coolest thing about this camp is the daily work. For example, all the units were of some kind. When we arrived, we were assigned to different groups, and we did not know in advance where we would go.

Before the shift they asked: “What are you interested in doing? What is your hobby? " And since I liked drawing, I was sent to a detachment where they dealt with newspapers. There were guys who wrote, there were photographers, and we created something like a press center. And then we participated in events in the organizations of the jury. Awesome newspapers were published by our counselors, and we were taught to make very beautiful things, voluminous and different fonts. They taught children journalism and even interviews.

The whole squad was hanging over our newspapers. They hung them in front of the dining room, and each room was waiting for the whole camp! Everyone admired, read articles, looked at our drawings. "

"Of course, cutlets didn't go without bread"

“The food was very ordinary. The same as given at home. Porridge, for example, or a casserole with condensed milk. First, second, third and compote. Cutlets, buckwheat, all sorts of soups, a lot of fruits. They even gave us ice cream sometimes! Sweets, cookies. In general, we were fed normally, we did not complain. But the most delicious thing was black bread with me in the building. Wow! Then you dry the crouton and gnaw it at midnight.

We were still hooligans. We walked one night after another escape around the camp and were hungry! We look - the window is open in the dining room, they took it and climbed. And there is a baking sheet with cutlets, and the fat on them is already so frozen ... Cutlets without bread, of course, did not go at night, so we also went into the bread slicer for bread. It was always scary to turn all these pranks, so we hid, squatted under the stove. But that time we ate cutlets and left unnoticed! "

Eaglets remember everything

“The camp has radically changed my life. The counselors there managed to make people out of us, and the children shone with their talents, and I really wanted to follow them. After one shift, I even arrived and said: “I probably won't quit music school, but I’ll finish my studies.” Mom was happy that the child will bring the matter to the finale! Contests in the camp were not only related to the wall newspaper, we sang and danced there - we did everything we could.

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Our team of leaders was amazing. There were such people who we just fell in love with right away. I remember we had two girls - both Tatiana. One was Tatyana Larina, as according to Pushkin, very feminine. And the second Tatyana Goltvina is such a leader with a guitar at the ready. She was not young, but very, very sincere. This man has fascinated all children! So attentive, funny and taught us a lot. I would like the world to know about such people and that her eaglets remember her! "

There was nothing to show off

“Passions were always in full swing in the camp, the boys shared the girls, there were a lot of romantic stories! In adulthood, I also met my love there, in the camp from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. And at the age of 14 in another camp I had my first cavalier! Not that I liked him, but I liked that he liked me. And at the age of 14, even for such a bespectacled person like me, it was all! We wandered with him at night after lights out. There were no cameras, and you could do whatever you wanted. Then my first kiss happened.

I also remember that once we had a beauty contest, and I won! I was in shock. On that shift, I felt like a girl for the first time. Children in the detachments walk in uniform, there are practically no personal items, except for underwear, they even gave us pajamas. Therefore, we were all the same - pants, shirt and jacket. As a matter of fact, there was nothing to show off except for charm, intelligence, well, and beauty. I didn’t shine with beauty, apparently, the boys chose me for the charm ”.

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"Children squeaked with delight"

“The counselors checked the cleanliness of our chambers twice a day. And on rainy days there was no second round, we were allowed to stay in the building, and whatever we did, we drew, even staged fashion shows. The girls dumped their clothes on the bed, and we changed clothes, changed clothes, dressed up each other at discos. At discos, the most important dance was, of course, the slow one. The younger ones watched who was inviting whom, and those who were older were already all in love. Disco was always expected!

And evening films too! I remember showing the same films all the time, but there were hits like The Elusive Avengers, The Headless Horseman and The Ghost of Morrisville Castle. When watching the latter, the children simply squeaked with delight. The main thing is that this film was shown both last year and the year before last, but no - we were always interested in watching it anyway. "

"We never parted with these"

“It was a lot of fun, we were very social and everyone was so outgoing! That in schools, that after school in all sorts of circles. Of course, it's a pity that today's children are deprived of a lot in this regard, because now they don't even go for a walk in the yard. We disappeared endlessly in the yard.

Therefore, the pioneer camp was for us only a continuation of our social life. There were, of course, slightly different relationships. Because if at school, when you study, you part for the night, then in the camp we never parted! And everything continued - with horror stories before going to bed, with all sorts of escapes, partying and other things. "

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