Nikolay Vasilievich Piatnitski (1914 — 1941) is my paternal grandfather, son of Vasiliy Sofronovich and Marfa Tarasovna Piatnitski. Born in 1914 in the village of Dorosino (now Lyuban District, Minsk Region), he dedicated his life to education, working as a physics teacher at the rural school in Korma village, Dobrush District, Gomel Region.
My grandfather's life was cut short with devastating speed: in 1938–1939, he was drafted by the Dobrush District Military Commissariat into active military service and served in a combat engineer (sapper) unit stationed in Rogachev prior to the outbreak of the war. From the earliest days of the Great Patriotic War, combat engineers fought fiercely in desperate defensive rearguard actions. His last frontline letter to his family was dated July 10, 1941, sent from the vicinity of Krasnopolye (Mogilev Region). Later, the family received a bureaucratic notice stating that he was "missing in action in 1944", but fellow soldiers and eyewitnesses confirmed that Nikolay Vasilievich was captured in the summer of 1941 and perished in a concentration camp for Soviet prisoners of war.
Original stamp and handwritten inscription at the bottom: "P. N. V. Nikolay Piatnitski. July 1, 1934". Taken when he was twenty years old.
Authentic historical vintage print from 1938. On the right: Nikolay Vasilievich (about 24 years old); on the left: his younger brother Dmitriy Vasilievich.
Digital AI restoration removing wear, scratches, and paper creases to reveal fine facial details and clothing textures.
Nikolay Vasilievich seated on a wicker sofa in the pine woods along the Sozh River near Gomel, two years before the war.
Handwritten draft inquiry written by Vladimir Nikolayevich on a BelNIIMiVKh institute form, seeking the historical truth about his father's capture and death in 1941.
Family and Lineage
Family and Lineage
Dynamic data from the family tree
Peasant of Dorosino village, spouse of Vasiliy Sofronovich, mother of Nikolay, Ivan, Anton, and Dmitriy Piatnitski
Grandmother of the author. Born on March 12, 1916 in Korma village (baptized by priest Aleksey Rzhevusky, godparents Evfimiy Vasilievich Sotsky and Mariya Savvichna Alampieva, birth certificate issued June 9, 1934). Wife of village physics teacher Nikolay Vasilievich Piatnitski, mother of agricultural scientist Vladimir Nikolaevich Piatnitski
PhD in Agricultural Sciences, Senior Researcher at BelNIIMiVKh (Institute for Land Reclamation). Polissya researcher
Regular Signal Corps Officer of the Red Army, Colonel. Chief of Communications of 822 IPTAP. Defense of Leningrad, Battle of Berlin
Captain-Lieutenant of Soviet Navy (Black Sea Fleet, Dnepr Flotilla). Defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, Order of the Red Star
Resident of Dorosino village, brother of grandfather Nikolay Vasilievich Piatnitski
