Seventeen moments of spring romance. Seventeen Moments of Spring (compilation)

The President of the Imperial People's Court, Freisler, was constantly shouting. He simply could not listen to the testimony of the accused, interrupted him, pounded his fist on the table and felt his legs get cold with anger.

“You are not even a pig!” He shouted. “You are a hybrid of a donkey and a pig!” Answer: what motives did you follow when passing red information of national importance ?!

“I was guided by only one motive - love for the motherland,” the accused answered, “only love for the motherland ...”

- Insolent! You do not dare to talk about love for the motherland! You do not have a homeland!

- I really love my homeland.

“What love do you love her ?!” You love her with the love of a homosexual! Well?! To whom did you transmit this data in Krakow?

- This question is no longer of interest to you. Those to whom I have transmitted information are outside the scope of your reach.

“You are not just a hybrid of a donkey and a pig!” You are also a fool! In the mountains of Bavaria has already created a super-powerful weapon of destruction, which will crush the enemies of the Reich!

- Do not entertain yourself with illusions. It’s March forty-fifth, and not June forty-first, Mr. Chairman.

“No, you are not just a fool!” You are a naive fool! Retribution is coming as implacably as dawn and the sunrise of our victory! Only decayed types like you can't see it! Answer the truth to the court - this is the only thing that can save your stinking, cowardly, corrupt life!

“I will not answer anymore.”

- You are aware of what this threatens you with?

“Nothing threatens me anymore.” I sleep peacefully. Do not sleep you.

- Take this villain away! Take him away! I am disgusted to see this vile face!

When the accused was taken away, Freisler put on his quadrangular cap, straightened the mantle and said:

- A break is being announced for sentencing!

He always announced a break ten minutes before dinner: the chairman of the imperial people's court suffered from peptic ulcer, and doctors ordered him not only to carefully follow a strict diet, but also to take food by the minute.

All this, which happened in March 1945, was one of the denouements of history that began last summer ...

« Center. The meeting at Himmler's field headquarters on May 12, 1944 was interrupted due to the call of the SS Reichsfuhrer to Hitler. However, some of the issues on the agenda of the meeting were discussed. The question of transferring the party leaders of East Prussia to an illegal position in connection with the actions of the Russian troops was left until the next meeting.

The question of the fate of the largest centers of Slavic culture was considered. I bring the record:

„ Himmler. One of our serious mistakes, I am convinced of this, was an extremely liberal attitude towards the Slavs. The best solution to the Slavic question would be to copy, somewhat, albeit amended, the Jewish question. Unfortunately, my arguments were not taken into account, the point of view of Rosenberg won.

Kaltenbrunner. I am deeply convinced that a good offer is never too late to put into practice.

Himmler. With good intentions, the road to hell is paved. If we began an active, energetic solution to the Slavic issue two years ago, we would not have to prepare ourselves for going underground now. Let's take a sober look at things. Now we are obliged to accumulate our efforts in order to try to resolve as soon as possible what has not yet been decided.

Kaltenbrunner. I think our proposals for the complete destruction of the historical centers of Slavism - Krakow, Prague, Warsaw and other centers like them - will leave a certain imprint even on the possible (I take an extreme case) revival of this nation. By nature, the Slav is not just stupid, but sentimental. The appearance of the ashes will accordingly shape the future generations of the Slavs. The collapse of the centers of historical culture is a form of the collapse of the spirit of a nation.

Himmler. The army will not agree to the immediate destruction of all centers prepared for your project. The army cannot fight in the desert. The question, if we are thinking of resolving it in a coordinated manner, can probably be posed in such a way that the destruction of the centers of Slavism should be immutably carried out either after our final victory, or, at worst, in the last days before the army retreats from the cities you named.

Breitigam. It would be worth considering the question of evacuating some of the most valuable historical monuments.

Kaltenbrunner. Breitigam, it’s funny for me to listen to you. You are a diplomat, but you are talking nonsense.

Himmler. There is a certain reason in the proposal of Breitigam. But we will return to this point next week. Kaltenbrunner, contact Keitel or Jodl; apparently better with Jodel, he's smarter. Talk to him about the details and details. Highlight some of the largest centers - I agree with you: Krakow, Prague, Sofia, Bratislava ...

Kaltenbrunner. Bratislava is a wonderful city, in the vicinity there is a great goat hunt.

Himmler. Stop interrupting me, Kaltenbrunner, what a wild manner!

Kaltenbrunner. Still, Bratislava is still the capital of a Slovak state friendly to us.

Himmler. Sometimes I don’t know how to react to your conclusions: either laugh, or scold you. I will tear a sheet of agreement with Slovakia at the time when it will be profitable for me. Don't you think that a treaty with the Slavs - any of their national forms - can be serious?

Kaltenbrunner. So, do I need to get the army’s fundamental consent for the action to destroy these centers?

Himmler. Yes, of course, otherwise the General Staff will begin to disturb the Fuhrer with complaints about us. Why do we need an extra squabble! We are all fatally tired of squabbles. Goodbye friends…

Breitigam. All the best, Reichsfuhrer.

Kaltenbrunner. Bye. Reichsfuhrer, you forgot your pen.

Himmler. Thank you, I’m very used to it. Switzerland makes great pens. Well done! "Mont Blanc" is in every sense a high firm ... "

As I learned, Kaltenbrunner has already agreed with Jodl on a joint (Gestapo, SS, SD and army) action to destroy the largest centers of Slavic culture. Eustace».

This encryption came from Berlin to the Center on May 21, 1944. On the same day she was transferred with the messengers to the entire front commander. At the same time, a radio message was sent to Berlin - through the channel of Erwin and Kat, the radio operators of Stirlitz, who had been working with him in Berlin for more than one year -:

« Eustace. Find the opportunity to visit Krakow in person. Center».

A month later, documents were prepared in the intelligence department of the front headquarters:

“A military intelligence group of three people: the leader — Vikhr, the deputy intelligence officer — Kolya and the cryptographic operator — Anya, who were seconded by the General Staff of the Red Army to carry out a special mission, were trained on issues related to the passport regime of the governor general and, separately, Krakow legends, ciphers, time and place of radio communication are specified.

The tasks of the group are to establish the methods, time, and also the persons responsible for the destruction of Krakow.

Methods of execution are agreed with the head of the Center for the implementation of a special task, Colonel Borodin.

Work: after throwing and landing - collecting. Locate each other by flashing flashlights. The collection center is Anya. If someone has a bruise or injury, it is necessary to wink at the flashlights more often, with an interval after one minute, and not after three, as it is established. Color differences: the radio operator is white, the head is red, the deputy is green.

Immediately after landing, parachutes are buried and they begin moving to the north - three kilometers. Here is a halt; change clothes and establish contact with Borodin. After that, the walkie-talkie should be buried, two remain in the forest near the walkie-talkie, and the deputy intelligence officer goes to the village of Rybny. There he must find out the presence of German patrols. If there are no troops and patrols in the village, the Whirlwind goes to the town of Zlobnou, on 107 Grushevu Street, to Stanislav Palek and sends him greetings from his son Ignatius, Colonel of the Polish Army. Sigismund Palek brings Whirlwind through his people into contact with the cryptographer Mucha. The whirlwind subjugates the fly.

If for some reason all the members of the group did not come together after the landing or the Palek house was occupied by the Germans, a church is set up in the village of Rybny: every day, from the seventh to the tenth, from ten to eleven in the morning. Fly is approaching the leader - a young man in a battered German uniform without shoulder straps. The whirlwind should be dressed in a blue suit, a cap in his right hand, and a white scarf in his left, with which he will wipe his forehead from right to left with a quick movement. Password: “Excuse me, have you seen the old woman with two bags here?” Review: “In my opinion, she recently left with a passing car.”

EQUIPMENT OF THE VORTEX GROUP:

occupation marks - 10,000

reichsmark - 2000

gold watch - 8 pieces

4 suits (two Boston, two Sheviotov tailored to order in Lviv)

boot - 4 pairs

boot - 2 pairs

shirt - 2 pairs

woolen socks - 2 pairs

socks - 3 pairs

handkerchiefs - 4 pieces

pistols "parabellum" - 3 pieces

holder for them - 6 pieces

pomegranate - 8

automatic machines "PPD" - 3 pieces

walkie-talkie - one

power sets - 2

Things handed over by the captain VYSOKOVSKY (signature).

Things are taken by the major SWIRL (signature)».

The President of the Imperial People's Court, Freisler, was constantly shouting. He simply could not listen to the testimony of the accused, interrupted him, pounded his fist on the table and felt his legs get cold with anger.

“You are not even a pig!” He shouted. “You are a hybrid of a donkey and a pig!” Answer: what motives did you follow when passing red information of national importance ?!

“I was guided by only one motive - love for the motherland,” the accused answered, “only love for the motherland ...”

- Insolent! You do not dare to talk about love for the motherland! You do not have a homeland!

- I really love my homeland.

“What love do you love her ?!” You love her with the love of a homosexual! Well?! To whom did you transmit this data in Krakow?

- This question is no longer of interest to you. Those to whom I have transmitted information are outside the scope of your reach.

“You are not just a hybrid of a donkey and a pig!” You are also a fool! In the mountains of Bavaria has already created a super-powerful weapon of destruction, which will crush the enemies of the Reich!

- Do not entertain yourself with illusions. It’s March forty-fifth, and not June forty-first, Mr. Chairman.

“No, you are not just a fool!” You are a naive fool! Retribution is coming as implacably as dawn and the sunrise of our victory! Only decayed types like you can't see it! Answer the truth to the court - this is the only thing that can save your stinking, cowardly, corrupt life!

“I will not answer anymore.”

- You are aware of what this threatens you with?

“Nothing threatens me anymore.” I sleep peacefully. Do not sleep you.

- Take this villain away! Take him away! I am disgusted to see this vile face!

When the accused was taken away, Freisler put on his quadrangular cap, straightened the mantle and said:

- A break is being announced for sentencing!

He always announced a break ten minutes before dinner: the chairman of the imperial people's court suffered from peptic ulcer, and doctors ordered him not only to carefully follow a strict diet, but also to take food by the minute.

All this, which happened in March 1945, was one of the denouements of history that began last summer ...

« Center. The meeting at Himmler's field headquarters on May 12, 1944 was interrupted due to the call of the SS Reichsfuhrer to Hitler. However, some of the issues on the agenda of the meeting were discussed. The question of transferring the party leaders of East Prussia to an illegal position in connection with the actions of the Russian troops was left until the next meeting.

The question of the fate of the largest centers of Slavic culture was considered. I bring the record:

„ Himmler. One of our serious mistakes, I am convinced of this, was an extremely liberal attitude towards the Slavs. The best solution to the Slavic question would be to copy, somewhat, albeit amended, the Jewish question. Unfortunately, my arguments were not taken into account, the point of view of Rosenberg won.

Kaltenbrunner.

I am deeply convinced that a good offer is never too late to put into practice.

Himmler. With good intentions, the road to hell is paved. If we began an active, energetic solution to the Slavic issue two years ago, we would not have to prepare ourselves for going underground now. Let's take a sober look at things. Now we are obliged to accumulate our efforts in order to try to resolve as soon as possible what has not yet been decided.

Kaltenbrunner. I think our proposals for the complete destruction of the historical centers of Slavism - Krakow, Prague, Warsaw and other centers like them - will leave a certain imprint even on the possible (I take an extreme case) revival of this nation. By nature, the Slav is not just stupid, but sentimental. The appearance of the ashes will accordingly shape the future generations of the Slavs. The collapse of the centers of historical culture is a form of the collapse of the spirit of a nation.

Himmler. The army will not agree to the immediate destruction of all centers prepared for your project. The army cannot fight in the desert. The question, if we are thinking of resolving it in a coordinated manner, can probably be posed in such a way that the destruction of the centers of Slavism should be immutably carried out either after our final victory, or, at worst, in the last days before the army retreats from the cities you named.

Breitigam. It would be worth considering the question of evacuating some of the most valuable historical monuments.

Kaltenbrunner. Breitigam, it’s funny for me to listen to you. You are a diplomat, but you are talking nonsense.

Himmler. There is a certain reason in the proposal of Breitigam. But we will return to this point next week. Kaltenbrunner, contact Keitel or Jodl; apparently better with Jodel, he's smarter. Talk to him about the details and details. Highlight some of the largest centers - I agree with you: Krakow, Prague, Sofia, Bratislava ...

Kaltenbrunner. Bratislava is a wonderful city, in the vicinity there is a great goat hunt.

Himmler. Stop interrupting me, Kaltenbrunner, what a wild manner!

Kaltenbrunner. Still, Bratislava is still the capital of a Slovak state friendly to us.

Himmler. Sometimes I don’t know how to react to your conclusions: either laugh, or scold you. I will tear a sheet of agreement with Slovakia at the time when it will be profitable for me. Don't you think that a treaty with the Slavs - any of their national forms - can be serious?

Kaltenbrunner. So, do I need to get the army’s fundamental consent for the action to destroy these centers?

Himmler. Yes, of course, otherwise the General Staff will begin to disturb the Fuhrer with complaints about us. Why do we need an extra squabble! We are all fatally tired of squabbles. Goodbye friends…

Breitigam. All the best, Reichsfuhrer.

Kaltenbrunner. Bye. Reichsfuhrer, you forgot your pen.

Himmler. Thank you, I’m very used to it. Switzerland makes great pens. Well done! "Mont Blanc" is in every sense a high firm ... "

As I learned, Kaltenbrunner has already agreed with Jodl on a joint (Gestapo, SS, SD and army) action to destroy the largest centers of Slavic culture. Eustace».

This encryption came from Berlin to the Center on May 21, 1944. On the same day she was transferred with the messengers to the entire front commander. At the same time, a radio message was sent to Berlin - through the channel of Erwin and Kat, the radio operators of Stirlitz, who had been working with him in Berlin for more than one year -:

« Eustace. Find the opportunity to visit Krakow in person. Center».

A month later, documents were prepared in the intelligence department of the front headquarters:

“A military intelligence group of three people: the leader — Vikhr, the deputy intelligence officer — Kolya and the cryptographic operator — Anya, who were seconded by the General Staff of the Red Army to carry out a special mission, were trained on issues related to the passport regime of the governor general and, separately, Krakow legends, ciphers, time and place of radio communication are specified.

The tasks of the group are to establish the methods, time, and also the persons responsible for the destruction of Krakow.

Methods of execution are agreed with the head of the Center for the implementation of a special task, Colonel Borodin.

Work: after throwing and landing - collecting. Locate each other by flashing flashlights. The collection center is Anya. If someone has a bruise or injury, it is necessary to wink at the flashlights more often, with an interval after one minute, and not after three, as it is established. Color differences: the radio operator is white, the head is red, the deputy is green.

Immediately after landing, parachutes are buried and they begin moving to the north - three kilometers. Here is a halt; change clothes and establish contact with Borodin. After that, the walkie-talkie should be buried, two remain in the forest near the walkie-talkie, and the deputy intelligence officer goes to the village of Rybny. There he must find out the presence of German patrols. If there are no troops and patrols in the village, the Whirlwind goes to the town of Zlobnou, on 107 Grushevu Street, to Stanislav Palek and sends him greetings from his son Ignatius, Colonel of the Polish Army. Sigismund Palek brings Whirlwind through his people into contact with the cryptographer Mucha. The whirlwind subjugates the fly.

If for some reason all the members of the group did not come together after the landing or the Palek house was occupied by the Germans, a church is set up in the village of Rybny: every day, from the seventh to the tenth, from ten to eleven in the morning. Fly is approaching the leader - a young man in a battered German uniform without shoulder straps. The whirlwind should be dressed in a blue suit, a cap in his right hand, and a white scarf in his left, with which he will wipe his forehead from right to left with a quick movement. Password: “Excuse me, have you seen the old woman with two bags here?” Review: “In my opinion, she recently left with a passing car.”

EQUIPMENT OF THE VORTEX GROUP:

occupation marks - 10,000

reichsmark - 2000

gold watch - 8 pieces

4 suits (two Boston, two Sheviotov tailored to order in Lviv)

boot - 4 pairs

boot - 2 pairs

shirt - 2 pairs

woolen socks - 2 pairs

socks - 3 pairs

handkerchiefs - 4 pieces

pistols "parabellum" - 3 pieces

holder for them - 6 pieces

pomegranate - 8

automatic machines "PPD" - 3 pieces

walkie-talkie - one

power sets - 2

Things handed over by the captain VYSOKOVSKY (signature).

Things are taken by the major SWIRL (signature)».

The following characteristics were embedded in the thin folder attached to the materials of Operation Whirlwind:

“Andrei Fedorovich Burlakov, Russian, was born in Tambov in 1917, single, member of the CPSU (B.) Since 1939. In 1935 he entered the Pedagogical Institute, the Faculty of Philology and History. After graduating from the pedagogical institute, comrade Burlakov A.F. was sent by the teacher to school with. Shapovalovka. He participated in the war with the White Finns. After being wounded and demobilized, he returned to Tambov, where he began working as an instructor in the city party committee. At the beginning of World War II, he volunteered for the front. Subsequently, he was seconded to the special school of the General Staff of the Red Army. At the end of the special school he was abandoned in Dnepropetrovsk, where he became the head of the residency. He lived illegally for a year, legally for three months, working as a translator in Todt’s organization at facility 45/22. For the successful completion of the command assignments he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree. He was not brought to trial and investigation. Aged, morally stable. He is devotedly devoted to the cause of the party. ”

“Isaev Alexander Maksimovich, Russian, was born in Vladivostok in 1923, single, member of the CPSU (B.) Since 1943, in 1940 he entered the Physics Department of Moscow State University. In June 1941, he volunteered for the front of World War II. For the courage shown during the battles near Gzhatsk, he was awarded the medal “For Courage”. Sent to a special school of the General Staff of the Red Army. At the end of special schools, he was thrown three times into the rear with special tasks. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star and World War II degree. Aged, morally stable. He was not brought to trial and investigation. The party’s cause is devotedly devoted. ”

“Lebedeva Evgenia Sergeevna, Russian, born in 1923, a member of the Komsomol, was not married, was born in the town of Taishet, Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 1940 she graduated from high school. She worked as a collector in the survey department of the Yuzhsib branch. In 1941, she applied to the district military enlistment office. It was sent to the air defense of Leningrad. From there, after staying in the hospital, she was sent to the school of radio operators. Threw herself to the rear with a special task. She was awarded the Order of the Red Star. She was not brought to trial and investigation. Aged, morally stable. Devoted to the cause of the party. ”

Here were stored texts of legends designed for implementation and legalization, as well as in case of failure.

“I, Popko Kirill Avksentievich, Ukrainian, was born on October 24, 1917 in Dneprodzerzhinsk in a teacher’s family. My mother, a member of the bureau of the district party committee, was shot by the NKVD in the fall of the thirty-seventh year. I worked as a loader at the Krivoy Rog railway station, in the seventh distance of the Stalin railway. He served in the ranks of the Red Army in the troops of the Kiev Military District, in the first rifle regiment of a separate cavalry division stationed in the area of \u200b\u200bthe White Church. During the battles near Kiev he surrendered. After checking in filtration camp No. 56 / a, he was released and got a job as an assistant to the head of the workshop at the Dnepropetrovsk mill. My father worked as the principal of the school, and soon I moved from the mill to work at the school as a supply manager. During the offensive of the Red Army, his father died during an air raid. I retreated with units of the German army to Lviv, where I worked as a dispatcher service manager at a railway station. Currently, he left from there in connection with the onset of the Bolsheviks. Ausweis No. 7419 issued by the city mayor of Lviv. ”

“I, Grishanchikov Andrey Yakovlevich, Russian, was born on May 9, 1922 in Moscow. He studied at the Pedagogical Institute, at the Faculty of Physics. He was sent in September 1941 near Moscow to dig trenches. In October he surrendered. He was sent to Minsk, where he worked first as a construction worker, then as a hairdresser in the workshop of Yereminsky, which was located on Ugolnaya Street, 7. He retreated with the German troops, now I am going to Krakow, where, as I was told in the train, there is a point to assist those fleeing the Bolshevik terror. Ausweis No. 12/299, issued on July 22, 1942 by the mayor of Minsk. ”

“I, Grudinina Elizaveta Rodionovna, Russian, was born on August 16, 1924 in the village of Vyselki, Kursk region. My parents were dispossessed in 1929 and exiled to a settlement in the Khakass Autonomous Region, in the village of Divnoye. A month before the war, after the end of the ninth grade, I went to visit my aunt in Kursk. Here, at the aunt who lived on Voroshilova street, house 42, apartment 17, the war caught me. After the Bolsheviks left the city, I began to work in an officer club as a waitress. Later she was a typist-secretary in a city hospital. Together with my aunt's family, Lakurina Praskovya Nikolaevna, she retreated to Kiev, where she got a job as a maid for the Deputy Prosecutor Sturmer. From Kiev, having lagged behind my aunt’s family, I moved to Uzhgorod, where I met my friend in Kursk, an officer of the Russian Liberation Army Shevtsov Grigory, who said that he had seen my aunt on his retreat from Lviv. Aunt was going to go to Germany through Krakow. Therefore, I am now going to Krakow to turn to the authorities for help. Together with my aunt's family, I am also going to go to Germany. Ausweis No. 7779, issued August 3, 1942. ”

The following three pieces of paper were handwritten:

“I, Andrei Fedorovich Burlakov, major of the Red Army, ask me to transfer the salary due to my parents to the address: 56, Abkhazskaya, Astrakhan, Fedor Fedorovich Burlakov and Tamara Mikhailovna.”

“I, Isaev Alexander Maksimovich, senior lieutenant of the Red Army, please transfer the salary due to me to my mother, Gavrilina Alexandra Nikolaevna, at the address available in my personal file.”

“I, Lebedeva Evgenia Sergeevna, junior lieutenant of the Red Army, please transfer my salary to a savings book, because I have no relatives after the death of my parents. I’m attaching a passbook. ”

And - the last document:

“Today, June 27, 1944, at 23 hours 45 minutes in a square 57 three parachutists were dropped. Due to low cloud cover and strong winds, a slight deviation from the specified area is possible. Captain Rodionov».

Pilot Rodionov was right - the clouds were low and the wind was strong. He was wrong in another: the deviation from the given area turned out to be very large. The group jumped seventy-five kilometers from a given landing site. The wind scattered paratroopers in different directions. No one answered the signals of the white beam of Anin's flashlight. The earth was not like a cold summer. The puddles were bubbling with rain snatches. The forest smelled of autumn leaves. Somewhere in the distance, dogs howled. Anya buried a parachute, jumpsuit and walkie-talkie, combed her hair, washed her hands in a puddle and went north.

Popko

In the morning, Whirlwind climbed to the highway. Milk dew lay on the pavement, as if the first autumn frost. The clouds rose and now no longer burst, as at night, bumping into the tops of trees. It was very quiet, as happens at dawn, when night is still trying to confront the morning.

A whirlwind walked along the road, along a shallow forest. Wet leaves gently touched his face, and he smiled, remembering for some reason how his father planted trees in the area around their house. From somewhere he brought seedlings of American walnut - a broad-leaved, amazingly beautiful tree. When the two seedlings began and went wildly up and in breadth, the father, returning home, stopped and greeted the trees, as with people, carefully shaking their large leaves with two fingers. If someone noticed this, the father pretended to feel the leaves, and if no one was near, he talked quietly and gently for a long time with the trees. That tree, which was wider and lower, was considered to be a woman in him, and a long one, slightly littered on one side, was considered a man. A whirlwind several times heard his father whispering to the trees, asking them about life, complaining about his own and listening for a long time that they answered him with the noise of his foliage.

Memories did not prevent Whirlwind from thinking: what he remembered slowly swam before his eyes, becoming a kind of visible connection with the house, with what now became the past. And he was thinking now about the present, about what had happened that night with his comrades. He went through all the possible options - the worst at first, and then, gradually, the most favorable for the members of his group.

“Apparently, the wind scattered us,” thought the Whirlwind. - I had to hear the shooting, because the wind was on me, and they jumped first, therefore, they landed in the direction from which the wind came. “A whirlwind,” he grinned, “a whirlwind flashed ... A stupid nickname, just in the manner of Aivengo, the right word ... We had to take the nickname Wind - even without any complaints.”

He stopped - with a jolt - and froze. Ahead of the asphalt was blocked by two rows of barbed wire, coming close to the striped border barrier. A German sentry walked along the barrier. At the edge of the forest a guardhouse was getting dark. Blue smoke poured out of the chimney - in clubs, falling on the ground: apparently, the stove was just melted.

For several moments the Whirlwind stood, feeling how heavy, gradually awakening tension brought it all over its body. Then he slowly began to crouch. He knew the forest. As a boy, he realized that there was nothing more noticeable in the forest than a sudden movement. The beast runs through the thicket, and it is visible, but then it froze - and disappeared, until then disappeared until it again betrayed itself with movement.

The whirlwind lay on the ground, lay there for a minute, and then began to slowly crawl into the forest. He climbed into the thicket, turned on his back, lit a cigarette, and stared for a long time at the bizarre interweaving of black branches above his head.

“Apparently, I went to the border of the Reich with the Governor General, with Poland. Otherwise, where does the border come from? Apparently, we jumped a lot to the west of Krakow, which means patrols here to hell. Sucks! ”

The whirlwind took out a map, spread it on the grass and, propping his head on his fist with a cigarette in it, he began to drive his little finger with his fingernail along the highways leading from Krakow: one to the east, another to Zakopane, the third to Silesia, the fourth to Warsaw.

“Right. This is the road to Silesia. A kilometer from here is the territory of the Third Reich, his mother is so ... It’s necessary back. Seventy kilometers, no less. "

A whirlwind took a chocolate bar from his pocket and chewed it lazily. I drank some cold water from the flask and began to crawl even further into the thicket, now and then freezing and listening to the fragile, moist silence of the morning.

(The whirlwind correctly determined that there was a border in front of him. He also correctly assumed that there are more patrols here than elsewhere. But the Whirlwind could not know that their plane was blocked by direction finding systems yesterday. Moreover, it was accurate even the place where the Douglas went on the reverse course was detected, therefore the chief of the Krakow Gestapo instructed the head of department III-A to comb through the forests in the area of \u200b\u200bthose squares where, presumably, the cargo or the paratroopers of the Reds were dropped.)

A whirlwind walked along a forest road. She climbed up the hills, then went down into the dark and cold hollows. The forest was loud and quiet, the road was unladen, but nevertheless excellently good, tight, not broken by rains. The whirlwind figured that if he took such a step through the forest, then tomorrow evening would be very close to Rybny and Zlobnuv. He decided not to go into the villages, although he spoke Polish fairly well.

“It’s not worth it,” he decided, “or else I’ll take it. I don’t really know the local situation. Better to miss the extra ten kilometers. One way or another, the compass will help out. ”

Coming to the glades, he, like at the border, froze, slowly sank to the ground, and only then bypassed the glade. Once he stood for a long time at the edge of a young birch forest and listened to the bees humming muffled. He even felt in his mouth a slow, from somewhere inside, linden flavor of the first, liquid light honey.

Towards evening, he felt severe fatigue. He was tired not because he walked more than forty kilometers. He was tired of walking through the forest — wary, silent; each trunk is an enemy, each meadow is a raid, each river is a barbed wire.

“You bastard,” Whirlwind thought tiredly of this quiet forest, “grows to himself,” and spat seven times in the war. Not even the tops cut off by shells. And burnt sectors too. The burned forest is a pity. I got into a human skirmish and suffers for no reason at all. And this one is a safe, quiet, bee forest, I don’t feel sorry for him at all. ”

Current page: 1 (total for the book is 19 pages) [available passage for reading: 11 pages]

SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING

"WHO IS WHO?"

At first, Stirlitz did not believe himself: the nightingale sang in the garden. The air was icy, bluish, and although the colors were spring, February, cautious, the snow still lay dense without the inner, timid blue that always precedes night melting.

The nightingale sang in a hazel, which descended to the river, near an oak grove. The mighty trunks of the old trees were black; it smelled freshly frozen fish in the park. Last spring there was no strong smell of last year’s birch and oak, and the nightingale was in full swing — snapping, scattering with trill, brittle and defenseless in this black, quiet park.

Stirlitz remembered his grandfather: the old man knew how to talk with birds. He sat down under a tree, lured a tit, and looked at the pichu for a long time, and his eyes also became birdlike - fast, black beads, and the birds were not at all afraid of him.

“Pin-pin-tararah!” The grandfather whistled.

And the tits answered him - confidentially and cheerfully.

The sun was gone, and the black trunks of the trees fell over the white snow with violet even shadows.

“It will freeze, poor,” thought Stirlitz, and, smelling his greatcoat, returned to the house. “And you can’t help in any way: only one bird doesn’t believe people - the nightingale.”

Stirlitz looked at his watch.

Klaus is coming, Stirlitz thought. “He's always accurate.” I myself asked him to go from the station through the forest, so as not to meet with anyone. Nothing. I'll wait. Here is such a beauty ... "

Stirlitz always took this agent here, in a small mansion on the lake - his most comfortable safe house. For three months he persuaded the Obergruppenführer SS Paul to allocate money for him to purchase a villa from the children of the Opera dancers who died during the bombing. The children asked a lot, and Paul, who was responsible for the economic policy of the SS and SD, categorically refused Stirlitz. “You are crazy,” he said, “take off something more modest. Where does this craving for luxury come from? We cannot throw money right and left! This is dishonorable to a nation bearing the burden of war. ”

Stirlitz had to bring his boss, the chief of political intelligence of the security service, here. The thirty-four-year-old SS brigadefuhrer Walter Schellenberg immediately realized that it was impossible to find a better place to talk with serious agents. A bill of sale was made through the dummies, and a certain Bolsen, the chief engineer of the Robert Ley Chemical Company, got the right to use the villa. He hired a watchman for a high fee and a good ration. The Bolezen was the Standartenführer SS von Stirlitz.

... Having finished serving the table, Stirlitz turned on the receiver. London broadcast fun music. The American Glan Miller Orchestra played a composition from the Sun Valley Serenade. Himmler liked this film, and one copy was purchased in Sweden. Since then, the tape was often watched in the basement on Prince Albrechtstrasse, especially during the night bombing, when it was impossible to interrogate the arrested.

Stirlitz called the guard and, when he came, he said:

- Man, today you can go to the city, to the children. Go back to six in the morning and, if I have not left, brew me the strongest coffee, the strongest you can ...

12.2.1945 (18 hours 38 minutes)

“- What do you think, pastor, what is more in a person - a person or an animal?”

- I think that one and the other in a person are equally divided.

- That's impossible.

“It could be just that.”

- Otherwise, one thing would have won a long time ago.

- You reproach us for appealing to the base, considering the spiritual as secondary. The spiritual is truly secondary. The spiritual grows like a fungus on the main leaven.

- And this leaven?

- Ambition. This is what you call lust, and I call a healthy desire to sleep with a woman and love her. This is a healthy desire to be the first in your business. Without these aspirations, the entire development of mankind would cease. The church put a lot of effort into slowing down the development of mankind. Do you remember what period of church history I'm talking about?

- Yes, yes, of course, I know this period. I know this period very well, but I know something else. I cease to see the difference between your attitude towards a person and that which the Führer preaches.

- Yes. He sees in man an ambitious beast. Healthy, strong, who wants to regain their living space.

“You cannot imagine how wrong you are, for the Führer sees in every German not just a beast, but a blond beast.”

- And you see in every person a beast in general.

- And I see in every person that from which he came out. And the man came out of the monkey. A monkey is an animal.

- Here we disagree. Do you believe that man came from a monkey; You have not seen the monkey from which it came, and this monkey did not say anything in your ear on this subject. You did not feel it, you cannot feel it. And believe in it, because this faith is in line with your spiritual organization.

“Did God tell you in your ear that he created man?”

“Of course, no one told me anything, and I cannot prove the existence of God,” this is unprovable, you can only believe in it. You believe in a monkey, and I believe in God. You believe in a monkey, because it corresponds to your spiritual organization; I believe in God because it corresponds to my spiritual organization.

- Here you are a little juggling. I do not believe in a monkey. I believe in man.

- Which descended from a monkey. You believe in a monkey in a person. And I believe in God in man.

“And God, is he in every person?”

- Of course.

“Where is he in the Fuhrer?” In Goering? Where is he in Himmler?

“You are asking a difficult question.” We are talking with you about the nature of man. Of course, in each of these villains you can find traces of the fallen angel. But, unfortunately, their whole nature so obeyed the laws of cruelty, necessity, lies, meanness, violence, that practically there was nothing human left there. But in principle, I do not believe that a person who is born into the world necessarily carries a curse of monkey origin.

- Why the “curse” of monkey origin?

“I speak my language.”

“So you have to accept the divine law on the destruction of monkeys?”

“Well, why so ...”

- All the time you are very morally moving away from answering questions that torment me. You do not give the answer “yes” or “no”, and each person who seeks faith loves concreteness, and he loves one “yes” or one “no”. You have “yes no,” “no,” “probably no,” and other phraseological shades of “yes.” This is exactly what deeply repels me, if you like, not so much from your method as from your practice.

“You dislike my practice.” I see ... And yet you came running from a concentration camp to me. How to connect it?

- This once again testifies to the fact that in every person, as you say, there is both a divine and a monkey. If only the divine was present in me, I would not turn to you. I would not run away, but would have accepted death from the SS executioners, would have turned their second cheek to awaken a person in them. Now, if you had to get to them, I wonder if you would turn your second cheek or try to avoid a blow?

- What does it mean to turn the second cheek? You again project a symbolic parable onto the real machine of the Nazi state. It’s one thing to turn the cheek in a parable. As I told you, this parable of human conscience. Another thing is to get into a car that does not ask you whether you turn the other cheek or not. To get into a car, which, in principle, has no conscience in its idea ... Of course, with a car, or with a stone on the road, or with a wall that you come across, there is nothing to communicate the way you communicate with another creature.

“Pastor, I'm embarrassed, - maybe I touch your secret, but ... Have you been to the Gestapo at one time?”

“Well, what can I tell you?” I was there…

- Clear. You do not want to touch this story, because for you this is a very painful issue. But do you not think, pastor, that after the end of the war your parishioners will not believe you?

- You never know who was in the Gestapo.

“And if they flock to the flock, that the pastor, as a provocateur, was put in cells to other prisoners who did not return?” And there are only a few of those who have returned, like you ... Not so many flocks will believe you ... Who will you preach your truth to?

- Of course, if you act on a person by such methods, you can destroy anyone. In this case, I can hardly fix anything in my situation.

- And then what?

- Then? Disprove it. To refute, as far as I can, to refute until they listen to me. When they don’t listen, die inwardly.

- Internally. So, you will remain a living, carnal person?

- The Lord judges. I will stay so stay.

- Is your religion against suicide?

“That's why I won't kill myself.”

“What will you do, deprived of the opportunity to preach?”

“I will believe without preaching.”

- And why do not you see for yourself another way out - to work together with everyone?

- What do you call "work"?

- To carry stones in order to build temples of science, - at least.

- If a person who graduated from the theological faculty, society needs only then to carry stones, then I have nothing to talk about with you. Then it’s really better for me now to return to the concentration camp and burn there in the crematorium ...

- I just ask the question: what if? I am interested in listening to your supposed opinion - focusing your thoughts forward, so to speak.

“Do you think that a person who addresses the flock with spiritual preaching is an idler and a charlatan?” Don't you think this is work? Your work is the carrying of stones, but I believe that spiritual work is not enough to say equal with any other work - spiritual work is especially important.

- I myself am a journalist by profession, and my correspondence was ostracized both by the Nazis and the Orthodox Church.

- They were condemned by the Orthodox Church for the simple reason that you misinterpreted the person himself.

- I did not interpret the person. I showed the world of thieves and prostitutes who lived in the catacombs of Bremen and Hamburg. The Hitlerite state called it a vile slander of the higher race, and the church called it a slander of man.

- We are not afraid of the truth of life.

- Afraid! I showed how these people tried to come to church and how the church repelled them; it was the flocks that repelled them, and the pastor could not go against the flock.

“Of course he could not.” I do not blame you for the truth. I do not blame you for showing the truth. I disagree with you in forecasts for the future person.

- Do not you think that in your answers you are not a shepherd, but a politician?

“You just see in me only what fits into you.” You see in me a political circuit that is only one plane. In the same way, as you can see in the slide rule, an item for hammering nails. With a slide rule, you can hammer a nail, it has a length and a known mass. But this is the same option in which you see the tenth, twentieth function of an object, while using a ruler you can count, and not just hammer in nails.

- Pastor, I ask a question, and you, without answering, hammer nails into me. You somehow very cleverly turn me from asking to defendant. You somehow immediately turn me from a seeker into a heretic. Why do you say that you are above the battle, when you are also in the battle?

- This is true: I’m in a fight, and I’m really in a war, but I’m at war with the war itself.

“You argue very materialistically.”

- I argue with the materialist.

“So you can fight me with my weapons?”

- I have to do it.

“Listen ... For the good of your flock, I need you to contact my friends.” I will give you the address. I will trust you with the address of my comrades ... Pastor, you will not betray the innocent ... "

Stirlitz finished listening to this tape recording, quickly got up and went to the window so as not to meet his eyes who asked the pastor for help yesterday, and now smirked while listening to his voice, drank cognac and smoked greedily.

- Was the pastor ill with smoking? - asked Stirlitz without looking back.

He stood by the window - a huge one, all over the wall - and watched the crows fight in the snow over bread: the local watchman received a double ration and was very fond of birds. The watchman did not know that Stirlitz was from the SD, and was firmly convinced that the cottage belongs to either homosexuals or trade tycoons: not a single woman came here ever, and when the men gathered, their conversations were quiet, the food was delicious and first-class , most often American, drink.

- Yes, I was tortured there without smoking ... The old man is a talker, but I wanted to hang myself without tobacco ...

The agent's name was Klaus. He was recruited two years ago. He himself went for recruitment: the former corrector wanted a thrill. He worked artistically, disarming the interlocutors with sincerity and harsh judgments. He was allowed to say everything, if only the work was efficient and quick. Looking closely at Klaus, Stirlitz every day they met experienced an increasing sense of fear.

“Or maybe he is sick? - once thought Stirlitz. - The thirst for betrayal is also a peculiar disease. Interesting. Klaus completely beats Lombroso 1
  Lombroso Cesare (1835 - 1909) - Italian psychiatrist and forensic scientist, founder of the anthropological trend in bourgeois criminal law.

  “He is worse than all the criminals I have seen, but how handsome and sweet ...”

Stirlitz returned to the table, sat opposite Klaus, smiled at him.

- Well? - he asked. “So you are convinced that the old man will establish a connection with you?”

- Yes, this is a resolved issue. Most of all I like to work with intellectuals and priests. You know, it’s amazing to watch a person go to death. Sometimes I even wanted to say differently: “Wait! Fool! Where to?!"

“Well, that’s not worth it,” said Stirlitz. “That would be unreasonable.”

- You do not have canned fish? I'm going crazy without fish. Phosphorus, you know. Nerve cells require ...

- I will prepare you good canned fish. Which do you want?

- I love in oil ...

“I understand that ... What kind of production?” Ours or ...

“Or,” Klaus laughed. “It may be unpatriotic, but I really love both food and drink made in America or in France ...”

“I will prepare for you a box of real French sardines.” They are in olive oil, very spicy ... A lot of phosphorus ... You know, I looked at your file yesterday ...

“I would give dearly for looking at him with just one eye ...”

“It's not as interesting as it seems ... When you say, laugh, complain about a pain in the liver, it’s impressive when you consider that before that you had a puzzling operation ... But your dossier is boring: reports, reports. Everything was mixed up: your denunciations, denunciations against you ... No, this is not interesting ... Another interesting thing: I calculated that according to your reports, thanks to your initiative, ninety-seven people were arrested ... And all of them were silent about you. All without exception. And they were pretty famously processed in the Gestapo ...

“Why are you telling me this?”

- I don’t know ... I’m trying to analyze something ... Did it hurt when people who gave you shelter were then taken away?

- And what do you think?

- I dont know.

“The devil will understand him ... I, apparently, felt strong when I entered combat with them.” I was interested in the fight ... What will happen to them later - I don’t know ... What will happen to us then? With everyone?

“That's right, too,” Stirlitz agreed.

- After us - at least a flood. And then, our people: cowardice, baseness, greed, denunciations. In each, simply in each. Among slaves you cannot be free ... This is true. So is it not better to be the most free among slaves? All these years I have enjoyed full spiritual freedom ...

Stirlitz asked:

- Listen, and who came to the pastor the day before yesterday?

- No one…

“About nine ...”

“You are mistaken,” Klaus answered, “in any case, no one came from you, I was there all alone.”

- Maybe it was a parishioner? My people did not make out faces.

“Have you watched his house?”

- Of course. All the time ... So, you are convinced that the old man will work for you?

- Will be. In general, I feel the calling of an oppositionist, tribune, leader. People submit to my pressure, the logic of thinking ...

- Okay. Well done, Klaus. Just don’t boast beyond measure. Now about the matter ... For several days you will live in one of our apartment ... Because after you will have serious work, and moreover, not for my part ...

Stirlitz was telling the truth. Colleagues from the Gestapo today asked to give them Klaus for a week: two Russian “pianists” were captured in Cologne. They were taken at work, right by the radio. They were silent, it was necessary to plant a good man for them. Better than Klaus, you will not find. Stirlitz promised to find Klaus.

“Take a sheet of paper in the gray folder,” said Stirlitz, “and write the following:“ Standartenfuhrer! I'm dead tired. My strength is running out. I honestly worked, but I can’t do it anymore. I want a rest ... "

- Why is this? Klaus asked, signing the letter.

“I think it’s good for you to go to Innsbruck for a week,” Stirlitz answered, handing him a wad of money. - There are casinos there, and young skiers are still skating from the mountains. Without this letter, I will not be able to recapture a week of happiness for you.

“Thank you,” Klaus said, “only I have a lot of money ...”

“It won't hurt anymore, huh?” Or hurt?

“Yes, in general, it will not hurt,” Klaus agreed, hiding the money in the back pocket of his trousers. - Now they say gonorrhea is quite expensive to treat ...

- Remember again: no one saw you at the pastor?

- Nothing to remember - no one ...

- I mean our people.

“Actually, yours could see me if they watched this old man’s house.” And that is unlikely ... I have not seen anyone ...

Stirlitz recalled how a week ago he himself dressed him in the clothes of a convict, before staging a play with the prisoners running through the village where Pastor Schlag now lived. He remembered Klaus's face then, a week ago: his eyes shone with kindness and courage - he had already entered the role that he was to play. Then Stirlitz spoke differently with him, because a saint was sitting next to him - his face was so beautiful, his voice was mournful and the words he spoke were so precise.

“We will omit this letter on the way to your new apartment,” said Stirlitz. - And sketch one more thing - to the pastor, so that there are no suspicions. Try this yourself. I won’t bother you, I still make some coffee.

When he returned, Klaus was holding a piece of paper in his hands.

“Honesty means action,” he began to read with a chuckle. “Faith is based on struggle. The preaching of honesty with complete inaction is a betrayal of both the flock and himself. A person can forgive himself dishonesty, offspring - never. Therefore, I cannot forgive myself for inaction. Inaction is worse than betrayal. I'm leaving. Justify yourself - God help you. ” Well how? Nothing?

- famously. Have you tried writing prose? Or poems?

- Not. If I could write - would I become ... - Klaus suddenly cut himself off and furtively glanced at Stirlitz.

- Go on, eccentric. We are talking openly. You wanted to say: if you could write, would you really work for us?

- Something like that.

“Not like that,” Stirlitz corrected him, “and that is what you wanted to say.” Not?

- Well done. What is your reason for lying to me? Drink whiskey, and the throne, it’s already dark, soon, apparently, the Yankees will arrive.

- Is the apartment far?

- In the forest, ten kilometers. It's quiet there, sleep until tomorrow ...

Already in the car, Stirlitz asked:

“Was he silent about the former chancellor Bruening?”

- I told you about this - I immediately locked myself in. I was afraid to reap on him ...

“They did it right ... And was he silent about Switzerland too?”

- tightly.

- Okay. We will pick up from the other edge. It is important that he agreed to help the communist. Ah yes pastor!

Stirlitz killed Klaus with a shot at the temple. They stood on the shore of the lake. There was a restricted area here, but the security post - that Stirlitz knew for sure - was two kilometers away, the raid had already begun, and during the raid a pistol shot was not heard. He calculated that Klaus would fall from the concrete site - they used to fish from here - right into the water.

Klaus fell into the water silently, kulom. Stirlitz threw a gun into the place where he fell (a version of suicide based on nervous exhaustion lined up accurately, letters were sent by Klaus himself), took off his gloves and went through the forest to his car. There were forty kilometers to the village where Pastor Schlag lived. Stirlitz calculated that he would be with him in an hour - he foresaw everything, even the possibility of presenting an alibi in time ...

12.2.1945 (19 hours 56 minutes)

(From the party characterization of a member of the NSDAP since 1930, SS kruppenführer Krueger: “A true Aryan loyal to the Führer. His character is Nordic, solid. With friends he is even and sociable; merciless to the enemies of the Reich. He is an excellent family man; he did not have any connections that defamed him. In proved to be an indispensable master of his craft ... ")

After the Russians broke into Krakow in January 1945 and the city, so carefully mined, remained intact, the head of the imperial security department Kaltenbrunner ordered the chief of the Gestapo Kruger, the eastern department, to be brought to him.

Kaltenbrunner was silent for a long time, peering at the heavy, massive face of the general, and then very quietly asked:

“Do you have any justification — objective enough that the Führer can believe you?”

A manly, outwardly innocent Kruger was waiting for this question. He was ready to answer. But he had to play a whole gamut of feelings: for fifteen years in the SS and in the party, he learned acting. He knew that it was impossible to answer right away, just as it was impossible to dispute his guilt completely. Even at home, he found himself becoming a completely different person. At first, he occasionally spoke with his wife, and even in a whisper, at night, but with the development of special equipment, and he, like no one else, knew her successes, he stopped speaking aloud at all what he sometimes allowed himself to think. Even in the woods, walking with his wife, he was silent or talking about trifles, because the RSHA at any moment could invent an apparatus capable of recording a voice at a distance of a kilometer or more.

So gradually the old Kruger disappeared; instead, in the shell of a person familiar to everyone and outwardly unchanged, there was another general created by the former, completely unfamiliar to anyone, afraid not only to tell the truth, no, afraid to allow himself to think the truth.

“No,” answered Kruger, frowning, suppressing a sigh, very sensible and hard, “I have no sufficient excuse ... And it cannot be. I am a soldier, war is war, and I do not expect any indulgences for myself.

He played for sure. He knew that the more severe he would be in relation to himself, the less weapons he would leave in Kaltenbrunner's hands.

“Do not be a woman,” said Kaltenbrunner, lighting a cigarette, and Krueger realized that he had chosen the absolutely exact line of conduct. “We need to analyze the failure so as not to repeat it.”

Kruger said:

- Obergruppenführer, I understand that my guilt is immense. But I would like you to hear the Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz. He was fully aware of our operation, and he can confirm: everything was prepared in the highest degree thoroughly and conscientiously.

- What did Stirlitz have to do with the operation? - shrugged Kaltenbrunner. - He is from intelligence, he was engaged in other matters in Krakow.

“I know that he dealt with the missing FAA in Krakow, but I considered it my duty to devote him to all the details of our operation, believing that when he returned, he would report either to the Reichsfuhrer or to you about how we organized the case.” I was waiting for some additional instructions from you, but I never received anything.

Kaltenbrunner called the secretary and asked him:

- Please find out if Stirlitz from the Sixth Directorate was included in the list of persons admitted to the Schwarzfire operation. Find out if Stirlitz attended the reception after returning from Krakow, and if so, who. Ask also what questions he raised in the conversation.

Krueger realized that he too early began to expose Stirlitz to blow.

“I alone am responsible,” he spoke again, bowing his head, squeezing deaf, heavy words out of himself, “it will hurt me very much if you punish Stirlitz.” I deeply respect him as a dedicated fighter. I have no excuse, and I can atone for my guilt only with blood on the battlefield.

“And who will fight the enemies here ?!” I?! One?! It is too simple to die for the homeland and the Fuhrer at the front! And it’s much more difficult to live here, under the bombs, and burn foul with hot iron! Here you need not only courage, but also the mind! Great mind, Kruger!

Kruger understood: there would be no dispatch to the front.

The secretary, inaudibly opening the door, laid several thin folders on Kaltenbrunner's table. Kaltenbrunner leafed through the folders and looked expectantly at the secretary.

“No,” said the secretary, “upon returning from Krakow, Stirlitz immediately switched to identifying a strategic transmitter working for Moscow ...”

Kruger decided to continue his game, he thought that Kaltenbrunner, like all cruel people, is extremely sentimental.

- Obergruppenführer, however, I ask you to let me go to the forefront.

“Sit down,” said Kaltenbrunner, “you are a general, not a woman.” Today you can relax, and tomorrow in detail, in detail, write me everything about the operation. We’ll think about where to send you to work ... There are few people, but many things, Kruger. A lot of work.

When Kruger left, Kaltenbrunner called the secretary and asked him:

“Pick me all of Stirlitz’s affairs for the last year or two, but so that Schellenberg doesn’t find out about this: Stirlitz is a valuable worker and a brave man, you should not cast a shadow over him.” It’s just an ordinary comradely mutual check ... And prepare an order for Kruger: we will send him the deputy chief of the Prague Gestapo - there is a hot spot ...

On August 11, 1973, a demonstration of the multi-part film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” began on the Central Television of the USSR.
  How Stirlitz influenced the crime rate in the USSR, who Breitenbach is and what Fidel Castro said after watching.
Who is the last on Stirlitz?


  It is simply impossible to imagine Shtirlitsa performed by someone other than Vyacheslav Tikhonov, but at first his candidacy was not considered. The author of the script “Seventeen Moments of Spring” Yulian Semenov wanted the actor Archil Gomiashvili, known to the audience for the role of Ostap Bender in “12 Chairs” by Gaidai, to play the role of Soviet intelligence. Oleg Strizhenov’s candidacy was also considered, but he did not want to leave the game at the Moscow Art Theater for three years for the sake of filming a movie (that is how many “Seventeen Moments of Spring” were shot). Tikhonov himself got into the film by accident - one of the assistant directors Tatyana Lioznova offered his candidacy. On tests, when Tikhonov was made up and a huge fluffy mustache was stuck to him, Lioznova, having hardly looked at him, almost refused the new Stirlitz, but after listening she changed her mind.
Mysterious Breitenbach


Stirlitz never existed in reality - this character was invented by the writer and screenwriter Julian Semenov. However, there is a legend that the prototype was his deputy chief of German intelligence Willy Lehman (nickname Breitenbach, code number - A201). Lehman worked for the USSR on his own initiative, no one recruited him. It is interesting that for a long time Lehman was in good standing with Hitler, for which he was awarded a portrait of the Fuhrer with an autograph. Lehman's traces in history are lost in 1942, when he was arrested by the Gestapo without formulating a charge. Of course, most likely Willy Leman died, but Tatyana Lioznova still left the finale of “Seventeen Moments of Spring Open”, leaving the viewer to decide for himself what happened to Stirlitz.
Wife appeared suddenly


  Shtirlitsa’s wife appeared in the film only thanks to the initiative of Vyacheslav Tikhonov - the scenario of her appearance was not supposed. A friend of Tikhonov, a KGB spy, told the actor that sometimes those who worked undercover outside the USSR brought relatives for a meeting, and the actor shared an idea with Lioznova. The director agreed, considering that so in the film there will be more drama.
The failed role of Svetlana Svetlichnaya


  Samples for the role of Colonel Isaev’s wife were held by singer Maria Pakhomenko and actress Svetlana Svetlichnaya, but Tatyana Lioznova considered their candidacy unsuccessful. And although Svetlichnaya eventually passed on to the role of the German Gaby, who was in love with Stirlitz, she regretted for a long time that she could not get exactly that cherished role. Although, by the way, her performance by Gaby was highly appreciated by the audience, for whom her heroine became the embodiment of unconditional and devoted love, and critics who noted the actress’s great dramatic talent.
Just a glance


An interesting story is associated with actress Eleanor Shashkova, who eventually played the role of Colonel Isaev’s wife. According to the memoirs of Shashkova, she was brought to the set a day before the filming began. At first, sitting face to face with the director, she coped poorly with the role. However, then Lioznova called Vyacheslav Tikhonov and put him in front of the actress, saying: “And now seriously. Here is your scout husband. ” It was after these words, seeing Tikhonov-Shtirlitsa in front of her, Shashkova played the role as it should - with restrained depth, with one glance showing all the bitter, heavy, but light feelings of her heroine. By the way, Vyacheslav Tikhonov himself said that the multiplication table helped him to create a intense and focused look at Shtirlits: when he needed to “look hard” at someone, he just started to recall examples and tried to solve them.
The child outplayed everyone


  By the way, in the episode of Isaev’s meeting with his wife, there should have been a small child - the son of a colonel, whom he saw for the first time in his life. However, right during the filming, Lioznova ordered to remove the child, leaving Stirlitz with his wife face-to-face. She reasoned that if a child appears in the frame, this will add to the already overwhelmed emotions meeting unnecessary sentimentality, moreover, all attention will turn from adults to the child, who by her charm will negate the game of Tikhonov and Shashkova.
Shooting under the hood


  KGB agents who advised the crew admitted that although they liked the strong episode of Isaev’s meeting with his wife, they noted that there was little credibility in him. The real wife of the scout would understand perfectly the conditions under which she meets with her husband, that they can follow him 24 hours a day, and therefore she would never allow herself to show any “suspicious” emotions so as not to jeopardize the life of a loved one . By the way, the “customer” of the film was the State Security Committee and personally Yuri Andropov, but of course, this is not mentioned in the credits.
Jewish platoon SS


The creators' pursuit of historical authenticity in the film led to a very funny story. When all the footage with the participation of the German army was shot, a consultant, glancing over the names in the credits, noticed that almost all SS soldiers were Jews. The second consultant, acting independently of the first, made the same summary: all “Germans” had a Jewish appearance. Therefore, fifty blond-blue-eyed border cadets arrived urgently from Estonia, and they became the very same SS soldiers that we see in the film.
Show hands


  In the scene where Stirlitz lays matches on the table, we see the hands not of Vyacheslav Tikhonov, but of the artist Felix Rostotsky. The reason for such a strange replacement is that on the back of Tikhonov’s arm was an impressive ink tattoo “SLAVA”, which he had done in his youth and which no makeup could do. At the same time, the same Rostotsky wrote the encodings for Professor Pleischner - not because Yevgeny Evstigneev had the tattoo “ZHENYA”, but because of the actor’s handwriting - he wrote like he was joking like a chicken paw.
To Cuba with love


  A fan of the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” was the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who met with the tape in a very unexpected way. He began to notice that several high-ranking officials repeatedly took time off from meetings and ran home. When he asked them directly what was the matter, they explained to him that the whole thing was in the Soviet television movie about an intelligence officer working undercover in Nazi Germany: the tape was shown without repetition at a certain time. Then Castro, using contacts, asked the USSR for a copy of the film about Stirlitz and arranged a collective viewing of “Seventeen Moments of Spring” for all members of the government: all 12 episodes were shown in one evening, in total it took 14 hours.
100 shirts for scout


All the costumes in the picture were sewn under the supervision of a consultant - a certain Colonel Brown, who once served in intelligence. Every detail, from shoulder straps to badges and buttonholes, was verified, costumes were sewn by specialized "general" ateliers, which were tasked with dressing the actors flawlessly. The entire "clothes" props of the film barely fit in 60 large boxes that occupied three standard freight wagons of the train. As eyewitnesses said, when all the extras were dressed in the German “haute couture-USSR” uniform, the Germans present on the site, who had once seen such things with their own eyes, cringed - everything was so realistic. By the way, specially for Shtirlits, really, as many as 100 white shirts were brought to the set in the GDR - just in case, so that the Soviet intelligence would look flawless on the screen.
Effect of presence


  Color television already existed in the 1970s, although a television with such color rendition was rare. Despite this, Tatyana Lioznova decided to shoot the film in black and white - for maximum resemblance to a documentary tape. The director also made such a decision because the film has many inserts with real documentary chronicles, and Lioznova did not want them to “get out” of the visual line of the tape and somehow influence the “effect” of the viewer in the film.
Hold the fascist!


  Filming of “Seventeen Moments of Spring” was not without curiosities. So, residents of East Berlin almost handed over to Vyacheslav Tikhonov to the police. The actor, in a hurry to shoot, decided to dress in the SS uniform right in the hotel room and walk the streets in a suit. But as soon as he appeared in public, he began to be surrounded by indignant people who mistook him for a fascist (however, it is not clear where he came from - in the yard in 1970). Tikhonov was saved by the fact that, due to his lateness, the director's assistants were sent for him, who hardly calmed the public and almost with a fight took the failed fascist to the shooting.
"Whose fool are you?"


  The famous scene where Stirlitz talks to a dog was an improvisation. During the filming of the car parking, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, as prescribed by the script, slowly got out of the car, and at the same time a dog ran up to him, with whom he was walking with the owner nearby. The actor was not taken aback, crouched down, extended his hand to the dog, and in the sight of cameras, in the form of Shtirlits, asked: “Whose fool are you?” The dog poked into Tikhonov’s palm and began to caress. Tatyana Lioznova really liked this scene, and she decided to include it in the final editing of the film.
Jolly Roger and Lev Durov


  Gestapovets Klaus, who was played by Lev Durov in the film, was supposed to die in the GDR, but the actor refused to let go abroad. When Durov came to get permission to leave, they began to ask standard questions: describe the Soviet flag, tell us about the Union republics ... Durov, however, did not want to answer questions, and instead of the Soviet flag began to describe the pirate Jolly Roger, and as the capitals of the USSR mentioned London, Paris, Brussels and several other cities that were never even close to Soviet. As a result, Durov did not go to the GDR because of the wording “bad behavior,” and Klaus died somewhere in a forest near Moscow.
Seventeen Moments of Spring and Crime


  “Seventeen Moments of Spring” literally from the moment of the premiere became a cult film in the USSR. A total of more than 200 million viewers watched the tape. Moreover, according to reports of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Agency, exactly at the time when the show began, the streets of various cities of the USSR were empty, water and electricity consumption were falling, even the crime rate was falling - everyone was confined to the screens.
Kobzon who is not Kobzon


  Muslim Magomayev, Valentina Tolkunova, Valery Obodzinsky and a number of popular singers at that time wanted to perform songs for "Seventeen Moments of Spring", but Tatyana Lioznova rejected almost all the candidates, with the exception of Joseph Kobzon. However, when meeting with the singer, Lioznova made a statement completely unexpected for Kobzon: his manner of performing the film is not suitable, and if he wants to sing, he will have to use a different timbre. Kobzon rewrote the famous song “Don’t think about seconds down” at least ten times - and each time in a different performance.

Seventeen Moments of Spring (compilation)  Julian Semenov

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Title: Seventeen Moments of Spring (collection)
  Author: Julian Semenov
  Year: 1967, 1969, 1982
  Genre: Books on War, Political Detectives, Soviet Literature, Spy Detectives

About the book "Seventeen Moments of Spring (collection)" Julian Semenov

The Soviet writer Yulian Semenov was almost the only author in the USSR writing in the genre of a military-political detective. War is just a continuation of politics, and of course, in his books, the theme of achievement is in the first place. The novel “Seventeen Moments of Spring” relates precisely to such a work. In the USSR, he was in great demand. This book was created from archival documents and looks very realistic and believable.

The style of the story of the novel “Seventeen Moments of Spring” is characteristic only for Julian Semenov. In the work, for example, there are many dialogues that alternate with deep reflections of the author himself about the events of that time, and, of course, there are many bright personalities. The heroes of the novel are not fictional people, but the officers and generals of the German army and Soviet intelligence who really existed at that time. The image of a scout was taken from a man who had devoted many years of his life to serving in counterintelligence and had been in the rear of fascist Germany. But still the main character is a collective image. The author allowed himself to generalize the exploits of many people working behind enemy lines, into the exploit of one hero Isaev.

The novel by Julian Semenov “Seventeen Moments of Spring” is a story about 17 days of the dangerous work of the Soviet intelligence officer Isaev behind enemy lines. He had the officer rank of the German army and directly communicated with the senior officers of Germany. Communication with the homeland was established through the radio operator Kat. Isaev worked behind enemy lines under the name Stirlitz. He will have to overcome many dangerous moments to achieve his goal. The book is very interesting and is only one part of a whole cycle.

The book of Julian Semenov “Seventeen Moments of Spring” was created on the documented events of the war of the forties. The plot is related to the disclosure of the attempt of some senior officers of the German army to agree with the American and British representatives of military intelligence on the conclusion of peace, without waiting for the complete defeat of Germany. Thus, the West wanted to strengthen its position against the USSR.

The work “Seventeen Moments of Spring” is written in a concise, accurate language, but is read very easily. The author is the only one of the writers of the USSR had access to the KGB documents and therefore the book is full of truthful information. Of course, Julian Semenov was not allowed to write everything in his books, unfortunately, censorship of the USSR was at the highest level. Much is still under the stamp of secrecy.

For the younger generation, the novel “Seventeen Moments of Spring” will give an example of courage and courage. Each reader will see here a story of duty, honor and responsibility. And you can also try to think logically yourself, like Stirlitz. Surely this can be useful in our life.

On our website about books, you can download the website for free or read the online book “Seventeen Moments of Spring (collection)” by Julian Semenov in the formats epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and true reading pleasure. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary mastery.

Quotes from the book “Seventeen Moments of Spring (collection)” Julian Semenov

A small lie gives rise to great distrust.

In my opinion, betrayal is scary, but even more terrible is the indifferent and passive observation of how betrayal and murder take place.
  “In that case, there can only be one part in this: ending the murder.”
  “This does not depend on you.”
  - Does not depend. What do you call betrayal?
  - Betrayal is passivity.
  - No, passivity is not a betrayal.
  - This is worse than betrayal ...

Words are strong only when they are formed in the Bible or in Pushkin’s poems ... And so - they are garbage, and that's all.

Oil is blood pulsing through the arteries of war.

“... Aren't you a German patriot?”
  - I am. But what is meant by the "patriot of Germany"?
  - Fidelity to our ideology.
  - Ideology is not a country yet.

Nothing is more valued than helping to justify villainy.

The character of a person is best recognized in a dispute.

Stirlitz tuned the receiver to France - Paris was broadcasting a concert by a young songwriter Edith Piaf. Her voice was low, strong, and the lyrics were simple and unsophisticated.
  “A complete decline in morals,” said the pastor, “I do not blame, no, I just listen to her and always remember Handel and Bach.” Earlier, apparently, people of art were more demanding of themselves: they walked alongside faith and set themselves super tasks. What about this? So they say in the markets ...
  - This singer will outlive herself ... But you and I will argue after the war.