FESTIVE FRINGE
At the beginning of the year 1945, the orphanage began to prepare for the Victory celebrations. In February, several women were brought in from a women’s prison or colony, under guard. In the hall of Felix Edmundovich, we were lined up in front of them, from the mites to the dudes. The prisoners picked different sized boys and took their measurements. After the measuring women had left, there was talk on the floors that we would have a new uniform sewn for us by spring.
The last time the orphanage gang had its hair cut was in February. In April, a rumor spread around the rooms that for the next haircut, in honor of Victory we would have our fringes kept. Initially, none of us believed this nonsense. We thought that as always, we were being taken in. On 20 April, it was ann
