The mural at Heroes of Kharkiv Avenue, 99 dedicated to a WWII song performed by the famous Kharkiv native Klavdiya Shulzhenko, has undergone two “iterations.”

In 2013, his image was painted on two opposite sides of a pharmacy building as part of the “Pride of Kharkiv” project, which honors notable residents of Kharkiv.

During the renovation and insulation of the pharmacy in 2016, the murals were lost, but it was decided to restore the mural in a different form—with a larger portrait of Shulzhenko. The work was carried out by the Kailas-V studio.

In Kharkiv, people remember Shulzhenko, especially the older generation. There are two monuments to Shulzhenko in the city. The first, created by sculptor M. Ovsyankin, was erected near the K. I. Shulzhenko Museum of Famous Kharkiv Residents in 2001. The museum is located at Selyshchnyi Lane, 1, in 800 meters from the mural.

The second monument, created by sculptor K. Mamedov, was erected in 2019 in Shevchenko Park and depicts her alongside composer Isaak Dunayevsky. She is holding that very same “Blue Shawl” in her hands.

The song “Blue Shawl” was a waltz composed by Yezhi Petersburgsky to lyrics by Yakov Galitsky in 1940. It is precisely this song—with which the jazz ensemble led by Klavdiya Shulzhenko and Vladimir Koralli toured the battlefronts of World War II—that the singer is most often associated with.

In 1942, Galitsky’s text was revised and adapted to the realities of wartime by M. Maksimov; it was with this version that the singer continued to perform

I remember how, on that memorable evening,
your shawl slipped from your shoulders,
how you saw me off and promised
to keep the blue shawl safe.

And even though my beloved, my dearest,
is not with me
today, I know that, out of love,
you’ve tucked that precious handkerchief by the head of the bed.

When I receive your letters,
I hear your familiar voice.
And between the lines, that blue shawl
appears before me once again.

And often, your image accompanies me into battle.
I feel that, with your loving gaze,
you are always with me.

How many cherished shawls
we keep with us!
Tender words, a maiden’s shoulders
—we remember them in the heat of battle.

For them, for their family,
his dearest, his beloved ones—
the machine-gunner fights for the blue shawl that
once rested on their beloved shoulders.