Olga Kapitonovna Kretova (Zhuchkova)
Mariinsk Gymnasium
Voronezh
Mariinsk Gymnasium building today (Officers' Club)
Mariinsk Gymnasium
Voronezh
Mariinsk Gymnasium building today (Officers' Club)
USSR
Order of the Badge of Honour
School in Chertovitskoye village, Voronezh district
Kapiton Alekseevich Zhuchkov, Olga Kretova's father
Inna Mazitova, Olga Kretova's great-granddaughter
essayist prose writer memoirs author
Olga Kretova (Zhuchkova) was born on November 7, 1903 in Voronezh in a family of village teachers. She was the oldest of her nine sisters and brothers. After her mother died, she helped her father to look after them. She spent her childhood in Chertovitskoye village, Voronezh region.
Olga Kapitonovna attended Mariinsk Gymnasium for girls named after Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.
Since 1920 to 1928 Olga Kapitonovna was a school teacher in Chertovitskoye village, Voronezh district, where her father worked as a principal. She had her works published since 1924. Since 1929, she worked for the regional peasant newspaper "Novaya derevnya". That same year she became a delegate of the First All-Russian Congress of Peasant Writers. In the 1930s, she was engaged in organizing the literary forces of the Central Black Earth district.
Before the Great Patriotic War, Olga Kapitonovna worked in the regional publishing house. After the Great Patriotic War, she taught at school in Shmakovo village, Kurgan region. Then, after graduating from the school of farm machinery operators she worked as a combine driver.
She was head of the USSR Writers’ Union in Voronezh (1946-1950). Since 1953 to 1956 she worked as a staff correspondent of "Literaturnaya gazeta". Her works appeared in magazines "Podyom", "Oktyabr’", miscellany "Literaturnyy Voronezh".
Olga Kapitonovna admired nature since she was a child. She was brought up in respect for work. That is why she devoted her poems and essays to workers. She saw her mission in collecting evidence about the war, about the atrocities that took place in Voronezh region. She knew how important it was to remember those terrible pages of our history.
Olga Kapitonovna lost her husband and son, but in spite of that, she always remained a positive person.
Olga Kapitonovna was married twice, had two sons. Her eldest son Alexandr died in battles in Courland in the last months of World War II (1945) when he was 22.
Olga Kapitonovna and Sergei Nikitich gor married around 1932. He died in forced labor camp in January 1943.
Olga Kapitonovna called him Shura.
He was born in 1935. His father is Sergey Shevtsov.
