The family of Alexandra Frolovna and Timofei Alexandrovich Kalashnikov was big and close-knit. At that time in the Altai region people were given an allotment of land for free for each newly-born boy, so families with ten and more children were a commonplace. Alexandra Frolovna gave birth to 19 children, 11 of whom died. Among the elder children who were spared by the typhus epidemic in 1910, was her son Viktor. And he became a reliable domestic helper for his parents who had to raise their younger children.
Mikhail Kalashnikov recalled that Viktor was treated by younger kids with a special respect. He was not tall, but thick-set and strong enough to cope with a variety of homework on an equal basis with adults. Together with his elder sister Gasha, he worked in the field on sowing, harvesting and haymaking. One of his responsibilities was to provide that the livestock always had food to eat. Once, in a snowstorm, the hay in the barn ran out, and the elder brother harnessed his horse to go and get some from a distant field, where the Kalashnikovs left a stack for the winter. He returned several hours later, angry and chilled. It turned out that someone stole the hay from the field, using the conditions of the snowstorm, which immediately swept over the traces. It was not possible to determine which of the neighbors did this, but Viktor Kalashnikov could not calm down for a long time. And not only because the hay was stolen - there was nothing left to feed livestock that day.
Viktor was the only one among all Kalashnikovs' children, who was left-handed. Younger sisters and brothers were amazed at how crafty he used his left hand, performing a variety of homework. His hand, by the way, was heavy, he could strike any of the kids for disobedience. However, physical punishment was not welcomed in the family. The father could only threaten that he would beat someone for naughtiness, but rarely carried out his threats. Viktor did the same, i.e. he often shouted at younger children, but rarely used his fists or belt.
With all his strictness, Viktor Kalashnikov took care about the younger children in the family as much as he could. Once he improvised a skate for Mikhail to do ice-skating by adjusting a new blade to a snow-boot. Though the first attempt to skate on the river was not crowned with success. The ice cracked under Mikhail and he turned out to be in the water. He was saved by Viktor’s fur coat, in which Mikhail went skating - it inflated like a sail, and kept the boy on the surface of the water.
In 1930, the Kalashnikov family was dispossessed and exiled to the Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya village in the Tomsk region. By that time, two elder daughters and Viktor himself had their own families. Gasha and Nura were left untouched as they lived in separate households. As for Viktor, he was a newly married man, had a newly-born son, and his family was constructing its own house. A a son of a kulak, i.e. a substantial farmer, he was obliged to leave the native village with all his belongings, but Viktor did not do that, having sheltered with the help of one of his friends. Only few years later the Kalashnikovs found out that he was given away by one of the neighbours. Viktor was arrested and sentenced to three years of hard labour as a kulak’s son. Kalashnikov served his term of imprisonment at the construction of the White Sea - Baltic Sea Canal. The term was extended several times for attempts to escape, and the last time they added one year just because Viktor asked why he was convicted.
Mikhail Kalashnikov recalled that Viktor was treated by younger kids with a special respect. He was not tall, but thick-set and strong enough to cope with a variety of homework on an equal basis with adults. Together with his elder sister Gasha, he worked in the field on sowing, harvesting and haymaking. One of his responsibilities was to provide that the livestock always had food to eat. Once, in a snowstorm, the hay in the barn ran out, and the elder brother harnessed his horse to go and get some from a distant field, where the Kalashnikovs left a stack for the winter. He returned several hours later, angry and chilled. It turned out that someone stole the hay from the field, using the conditions of the snowstorm, which immediately swept over the traces. It was not possible to determine which of the neighbors did this, but Viktor Kalashnikov could not calm down for a long time. And not only because the hay was stolen - there was nothing left to feed livestock that day.
Viktor was the only one among all Kalashnikovs' children, who was left-handed. Younger sisters and brothers were amazed at how crafty he used his left hand, performing a variety of homework. His hand, by the way, was heavy, he could strike any of the kids for disobedience. However, physical punishment was not welcomed in the family. The father could only threaten that he would beat someone for naughtiness, but rarely carried out his threats. Viktor did the same, i.e. he often shouted at younger children, but rarely used his fists or belt.
With all his strictness, Viktor Kalashnikov took care about the younger children in the family as much as he could. Once he improvised a skate for Mikhail to do ice-skating by adjusting a new blade to a snow-boot. Though the first attempt to skate on the river was not crowned with success. The ice cracked under Mikhail and he turned out to be in the water. He was saved by Viktor’s fur coat, in which Mikhail went skating - it inflated like a sail, and kept the boy on the surface of the water.
In 1930, the Kalashnikov family was dispossessed and exiled to the Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya village in the Tomsk region. By that time, two elder daughters and Viktor himself had their own families. Gasha and Nura were left untouched as they lived in separate households. As for Viktor, he was a newly married man, had a newly-born son, and his family was constructing its own house. A a son of a kulak, i.e. a substantial farmer, he was obliged to leave the native village with all his belongings, but Viktor did not do that, having sheltered with the help of one of his friends. Only few years later the Kalashnikovs found out that he was given away by one of the neighbours. Viktor was arrested and sentenced to three years of hard labour as a kulak’s son. Kalashnikov served his term of imprisonment at the construction of the White Sea - Baltic Sea Canal. The term was extended several times for attempts to escape, and the last time they added one year just because Viktor asked why he was convicted.
