Memories of events that took place in the distant past are written by many elderly people. Nikolai Nikulin, a war veteran, also transferred to paper the facts and events that have been preserved in memory.
Harsh youth
Any retelling is imperfect. Even the most verified memories do not reflect the innermost meaning of events. Nikolai Nikolaevich Nikulin - participant of the Great Patriotic War. Many years after the Victory, he published a book based on memories of the events at the front. The book is called "Memories of War". By that time, such publications had become commonplace on the shelves of bookstores. The reading public accepted the next memories as a habit. In a sense, writing memoirs has become fashionable.
However, Nikolai Nikulin did not even think to follow the fashion. He simply freed his memory of impressions that had been stored for decades. The future author was born on April 7, 1923 in a family of rural teachers. Parents lived in a small village in the Yaroslavl province. In 1927, the head of the family was transferred to work in the famous city of Leningrad. Here the boy went to school. Nikulin received his certificate of maturity in June 1941. Five days after the start of the war, he enlisted in the militia, which was formed from volunteers living in the city on the Neva.
Creative activity
Nikulin spent all the long years of the war on the front line. Wounded four times and shell-shocked once. He was demobilized from the ranks of the armed forces after being wounded in the fall of 1945. Returning home, Nikolai began to build his future destiny. In 1950 he received a specialized education at the Faculty of History of the Leningrad State University. And from that moment he was hired as a tour guide to the Hermitage. The former front-line soldier treated his duties conscientiously. Five years later, the work of the guide was appreciated and transferred to the category of scientific workers.
Nikulin worked in the department of Western European art for over fifty years. Over the past period, he wrote and defended his dissertation, receiving a diploma of candidate of art history. Almost two hundred articles came out from under his pen, which were published in domestic and foreign publications. Nikolai Nikolaevich was invited to thematic conferences and symposia. He lectured on art history to students of the Repin Institute of Painting. In 1975, he completed work on a book of memoirs about his military youth.
Recognition and privacy
For participation in the Patriotic War, Nikulin was awarded military orders and medals. Among them are the Order of the Patriotic War and the Red Star. It is important to note that he was awarded the medal "For Courage" twice.
The personal life of Nikolai Nikolaevich was successful. He was married. The husband and wife raised two children - a son and a daughter. War veteran Nikulin died in March 2009.
