Victory anniversary fans memories of WWII's fright

The tears came quickly for Mira Braginskaya as she sat in a room yesterday surrounded by her past, and the dark memories of war that steal her sleep.

Sixty years later, and the faces still won't fade.

How do you forget a mother cradling a naked infant on the ground, a stake piercing both of them through the chest? Or corpses dangling like marionettes from balconies in Kharkiv, Ukraine?

Braginskaya, 83, struggled for composure during an emotional event honoring nearly 60 Seattle-area Russian veterans of World War II at the Circle of Friends senior center in Bellevue. She wore three medals on her dress, recognizing her work as a translator during the war.

About 200 people attended the ceremony, marking the 60th anniversary of the Allies' victory over Germany in 1945. Former Russian officers donned war-decorated jackets. Nurses had gold medals pinned to their hearts. Bellevue Mayor Connie Marshall thanked them for their sacrifice.

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mira Braginskaya's emotions overflow during the World War II victory ceremony held yesterday in Bellevue.

Third-graders from Enatai Elementary school in Bellevue passed out roses to the elderly Russians, and sat quietly as the seniors spoke in a language the children couldn't understand. One by one, veterans stood up to share, in Russian, their stories of the Nazi occupation.

Some of the veterans remembered burning cities and families forced to live underground. Others recalled gunshot wounds, hunger and thirst. Yet the old soldiers spoke of sweet moments, too. Like the times when women and children kissed and hugged them, as if the young men in uniforms had given them hope.

Yesterday's event was a tribute to heroism. Russian music played. Footage from the war was shown. And a deputy consul general of Russia, Alexander Doronin, of the Russian Federation's Seattle office, said a few words.

From the front row, Braginskaya wept.

She was barely 23 when the Russian army hired her as an interpreter because she spoke fluent German. Braginskaya traveled with the army from Gorky, Russia, to Ukraine. The train was bombed along the way, so they walked long distances. That's when she saw the horrors that still pace inside her soul, unwilling to let go, she said.

Braginskaya immigrated to the U.S. in 1996, and now lives in Lynnwood near her two sons and three grandchildren. She almost never talks about what she saw, she said. She can't bring herself to burden her family.

But she is proud of her country for winning the war. She had written a poem commending the veterans but was too overcome to read it aloud.

"Victory," it read, "will live in our hearts forever."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com