[RPG - 200] Courage and Conviction — Cold War • Rollentopic - Rollentopics

Andrei Konstantin Ivashkov • father • 51• coming
Mariya Varvara Ivashkova (nee Popova) • mother • 49 • housewife
Dmitriy Vasily Ivashkov • brother • 29 • ... in the Soviet military

• Darya grew up in a village near Irkutsk, Siberia, to a middleclass family. At the age of nine, she moved with her family to Leningrad for better employment opportunities.
• At the age of sixteen, she took her first flying classes and loved it from the very first second. Much to her parents' dismay, she spent a lot of time at Leningrad's aviation school.
• On, 8 September 1941, Marina Raskova made an announcement that she wanted to set up a female combat unit. This was followed up by Stalin on 8 October 1941, when ordered the formation of the all-female 122nd Aviation Corps (which would become the 586th, 587th and 588th Night Bomber Regiment). Darya took to the train to Moscow as soon as she heard this. After admittance, she continued her training at Zhukovsky Air Academy.
• Darya was a military aviatrix of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the “Taman” Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. Though originally all three regiments were supposed to stay women only (not only the pilots, but also the support staff and engineers), the 588th regiment was the only one that stayed that way. At first, they were not welcomed in the Soviet Army. Their male counterparts saw them as inferior and did not have much respect for them, calling the women little princesses. The disrespect also showed in the materials that the women were given, often too large, hand-me-down uniforms and rudimentary tools (e.g. rules, flashlight and pencils for navigation rather than radars). They flew in outdated Polikarpov Po-2’s. The Germans were the ones to nickname them as The Night Witches, as the sound that these planes reminded them of broomsticks. They were first deployed to the front line in June 1942. From then on, they flew harassment and precision bombing missions against the German army until the end of the Second World War. As their planes could only carry a light amount of bombs, multiple missions per night were needed. At the end of war, this bomber regiment tallied 24,000 combat missions. Though slow, the planes maneuverability made it hard for the German Messerschmitts to shoot them down.
• The women of the 588th Regiment grew very close, seeing each other as sestry (sisters).
• She started as a navigator but was promoted to a pilot when her own pilot, Tamara, died. When she still was a navigator, she once had to climb out her plane midflight, as one of the bombs got stuck.
• The women made long flying hours, especially during the cold winter nights, which led many of them to take Coca Cola pills (cocaine). Darya and many of her fellow sestry became addicted to them.
• She got the Order of the Red Banner and Hero of the Soviet Union distinction.
• A few months after the end of the war, the women's regiment was disbanded, the girls returned to a peaceful life, many continued their interrupted studies. But their front-line friendship still lives on. Every year, on May 2 and November 8, Darya returns to Moscow to meet with her fellow sestry in the square of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. During these meetings, former guardsmen tell each other about their lives, about their successes and difficulties in their work.
• Currently, she feels no remorse (yet) for the bombing that she and her regiment has done.
• After the war, Darya moved to Berlin together with her navigator, Yeva. Yeva had always wanted to see Berlin and Darya wasn't ready yet to let go off one of the women she was closest to.
• An outdoorsy girl in nature, the city often feels confined to her, just as Leningrad had always done

Leopold Odenwald • 53 • coming
Gisele Odenwald (née Dassauer) • 50 • coming
Christian Odenwald • brother • 29
† Theodor Odenwald • brother • 24
† Stefan Meminger • husband • 22 • coming

• Lorelei grew up in Berlin, to a well off family, where she lived until she was eightteen years old.
• When still living in Berlin, she reported one of her neighbours to the Gestapo as he acted suspicious, then thinking it was the right thing to do. It turned out that her neighbour was hiding political opponnents of Hitler in his house. Ever since finding out what happened to them (both her neighbour and the political opponnents), Lorelei feels tremendously guilty for betraying her neighbour, wishing she had never done it.
• Lorelei and Stefan instantly clicked when they met when they were fifteen. They soon became a couple and married shortly after Lorelei graduated high school. Together with Stefan she moved to Dresden in 1939. In Dresden Stefan worked at the Deutsche Bank as a financial controller, whereas Lorelei studied art history at Dresden Art Academy. In 1940 Stefan was drafted to serve. He died in 1942 during the Battles of Rzhev, at the Eastern Front.
• During the war, she felt very conflicted in what thought she had to do and what she wanted to actually do.
• Pressured by her parents, Lorelei helped at the local office of the SS in Dresden. The son of one of the SS'ers took a liking to her.
• Though Lorelei always had had some doubts about the Nazi regime, her doubts grew further after Stefan died. This eventually made her join the resistance in Dresden, together with some fellow students. Always having been a big lover of the arts, she helped to secure and hide degenerate art (paintings, books, etc) that otherwise would’ve been destroyed by the Nazi’s. more coming.
• She was present in Dresden during the aerial bombing attacks of 13 – 15 February 1945. Her apartment was one of many that got destroyed.
• After the war she moved back to Berlin, temporarily living with her parents before finding an apartment of her own.
• She thinks a lot about what could've done better and differently during the war.