The story is accurate, concrete, because it is not told by anyone, and the cosmonaut Alexei Aripovich Leonov, the most remarkable, the most unique person, I myself a little personally, alive, was acquainted with him, so I am responsible for the words. And the story from the book "Time of the First", the book itself is written somewhat tumultuously, the editors-correctors did not correct the many mistakes of Oksana's daughter, but this does not affect the essence. Alexey Archipovich tells about his childhood, about the fact that in Kemerovo, where they lived after the war, there were barracks for prisoners of Germans, to whom they went to talk.

The Germans were removed, in 1945, in this place, and he, in fact, nobody guarded, settled by the Japanese. They lived in barracks on the islands after their army surrendered. We didn’t understand this – why the Germans, then the Japanese... And we came to them too, and the Japanese made us crackers every time. The first time I saw these cockroaches, we brought the Japanese pieces of bread. It was so touching, they were crying.

After many years, I was in Tokyo and went there to the famous fish market, where you can see all kinds of exotics. Probably not anywhere in the world. There is big trade. There I saw dozens of tons weighing two hundred kilograms... Different mollusks... And there I saw near the market such small relatives where fish are cooked. Well, we talk loudly in Russian and suddenly we also in Russian:

Hey there, come here!

Of course, we went in and asked the Japanese: how do you know Russian so well?

I was in captivity...

Where was he in captivity?

In Russia.

In what place?

and Siberia...

I began to move something: where, in what place?

In the Kemerovo. We were on the islands.

Did children come to you? The Russian children?

They came, they came, they gave me bread.

I am the boy who came to you. You made me crows.

They did, they did caterpillars. Very well, you were good people, there was nothing to eat, and you gave us the last... I will never forget, I tell my children, grandchildren, what you, Russian children, are good. Sit down, I want to serve you.

And we sat down at his small table, he started cooking his fish for us. I put on a sack. It was delicious. When asked how much it cost, he replied:

Nothing, nothing is worth it. Because you are so rich in soul, it is worth nothing.