「スターリングラードの戦い」で生き別れの姉妹、７８年ぶりに再会　ロシア

【モスクワＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアで第2次世界大戦の混乱で生き別れた姉妹が、テレビ番組と警察の捜索によって78年ぶりに再会した。（写真は資料写真）
　内務省が公開した動画によると、妹のユリア・ハリトノワさん（９２）と姉のロザリナ・ハリトノワさん（９４）は先月、再会を果たし、涙ぐむ家族が見守る中で抱き合ってキスをした。ロザリナさんは「妹をずっと捜していました」と語り、ユリアさんの手を握った。
　１０代だった頃、スターリングラード（現在のボルゴグラード）で両親と暮らしていた２人は、第２次世界大戦で屈指の激戦となったスターリングラードの戦い（１９４２～４３）を経験。ナチス・ドイツの包囲を逃れるため、住民が疎開させられた１９４２年に離れ離れになった。２８年生まれのユリアさんは母親と共に約５００キロ北のペンザに避難した一方、２６年生まれのロザリナさんは働いていた工場の同僚と一緒に、約１４００キロ北東に位置するウラル地方の工業都市チェリャビンスクに逃れた。
　過去にロザリナさんは、行方不明の家族を捜すテレビ番組を通じてユリアさんを見つけ出そうとしたことがあったが、当時は再会には至らなかった。
　警察関係者によると、ユリアさんの娘からロザリナさんの捜索の要請を受けた警察はロザリナさんがかつてテレビ番組に登場していたことを突き止めて２人に連絡を取り、姉妹はチェリャビンスクで再会を果たした。
　スターリングラードの戦いは半年にわたって続き、双方に多くの死者が出た。ロシアは５月９日、連合国の対独戦勝７５年を記念する大規模な祝賀行事を予定している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/02/12-12:51）

Two Russian sisters have been reunited 78 years after they were separated by the turmoil of World War II, thanks to a television show and a police search.
In footage of their meeting late last month provided by the interior ministry, Yulia and Rozalina Kharitonova, now 92 and 94, hugged and kissed as their family members watched in tears.
I was searching for her, I was always searching for her, said Rozalina, holding her sister's hand.
As teenagers, the sisters lived with their parents in Stalingrad, the city now known as Volgograd that saw one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. They were separated in 1942 as civilians were being evacuated to escape Nazi encirclement.
The younger sister Yulia, who was born in 1928, was evacuated with her mother to the city of Penza some 500 kilometres (310 miles) to the north.
Meanwhile the elder sister Rozalina, born in 1926, was evacuated with her factory workmates to the industrial city of Chelyabinsk some 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) to the northeast in the Urals.
After being separated in their youth, these women never lost hope of seeing each other again over 78 long years, police spokeswoman Irina Volk said in a statement.
The two women met again in Chelyabinsk, Volk said, after Yulia's daughter asked police for help to track down her mother's sister.
Rozalina had already tried to find her sister, without success, through a television show that looks for missing family members.
Russian police found out that Rozalina had appeared on the show and made the connection, contacting both women and organising a reunion.
Russia is set to hold large-scale celebrations on May 9 this year to mark 75 years since Allied victory over the Nazis.
The USSR suffered particularly heavy losses of some 27 million people, according to official figures.
The Battle of Stalingrad saw devastating losses with more than a million troops killed on each side during fighting that lasted over six months.
The Nazi surrender in February 1943 proved a turning point in the war leading to the eventual defeat of Hitler's forces.