FROM RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA:
Musa Jalil, Stockings
They were shot at dawn
When the darkness was still white,
There were women and children there
And this girl.
First they ordered them to undress,
Then stand with their backs to the cliff,
And suddenly a child's voice rang out
Naive, pure, and alive:
"Should I take off my stockings too, Uncle?"
Without reproach, without scolding,
The eyes of a three-year-old girl looked straight into her soul.
"Stockings too...?"
And the SS man was overcome with confusion.
His hand, involuntarily filled with agitation,
Suddenly lowered his machine gun.
And again he was frozen in a childish gaze,
And it seemed as if he had grown into the earth.
"Eyes like my Duck's," he said in vague confusion,
Shrouded in an involuntary tremor.
No! He can't kill her,
But he fired a burst in a hurry...
The girl in her stockings fell.
She didn't have time to take them off, couldn't.
Soldier, soldier, what if your daughter
Would have lain here like this,
And this little heart
Pierced by your bullet.
You're not just a German,
You're a terrible beast among men.
The SS man strode stubbornly,
Strode without raising his eyes.
Perhaps for the first time this thought
Sparked in his poisoned mind,
And again the childish gaze shone,
And again it is heard again,
And will never be forgotten
"UNCLE, SHOULD I TAKE OFF MY STOCKINGS TOO?"
