The deputy called the "shooting at the training grounds" an invention of anti-Soviet propaganda. “We lost the skill of spiritual experience of tragic events for 25 days for an inflatable duck from a window

It’s interesting if “the country has lost a valuable gene pool, an elite part of society that has been created over the centuries: the best officers, professors, thinkers, writers, doctors, scientists, musicians have left” - it turns out that people who howl about this with good faces, like the freshly reposed Mark Zakharov - descendants of the worst officers, professors, thinkers, writers, and further down the list. In short, genetic waste.

https://rg.ru/2013/10/13/zaharov-arhiv.html
...
Mark Zakharov: Personally, I have nothing to thank him for, although I understand: the appearance of this subject in our country was not accidental. Until 1917, Russia remained a fairly healthy state, carried out Witte's reforms, strengthened finances, and fed bread to Europe. At the same time, the disease was ripening, the revolution was approaching. Maybe the country would pass this dangerous zone, but every organism has a margin of safety. Any analogy is lame, and my comparison is probably rough, but let's imagine a patient who has lost a liter of blood. Internal reserve, the strength of healthy cells will be enough to recover. It is no longer possible to compensate for the loss of two liters on your own. There is a limit beyond which there is no way out. The year 1917 was a terrible, most difficult shake-up of the entire social and state structure.

Have those two liters of blood been sucked out of the country?

Mark Zakharov: Yes. A mass exodus from Russia began. According to various sources, about three million people left their native land in two years. They moved to Europe, Asia, scattered around the world. The country lost a valuable gene pool, an elite part of society that had been created over the centuries: the best officers, professors, thinkers, writers, doctors, scientists, musicians left ... Following the exodus, Lenin organized a forced deportation of his own free will. The remaining flower of the nation, those who refused to leave Russia, were expelled forcibly. Berdyaev recalls how Dzerzhinsky summoned him for interrogation and found out the degree of intellectual consistency of the interlocutor. Convinced that he was a very intelligent person, Felix Edmundovich added the philosopher to the list of passengers on the first German steamer, which took many outstanding people from Russia ...

Like, do not teach, smart guys, we live, we ourselves with a mustache?

Mark Zakharov: Exactly. The deportation lasted a long time, there were many steamers ... For Russia, this all meant new tangible blood loss. The next painful, almost fatal bloodletting was the destruction of the cultivator class. Lenin saw in the peasants a threat to the state of the victorious proletariat, he understood that a well-working and earning peasant would certainly expand his own production and eventually become bourgeois. The peasants were subject to extermination, which later Stalin did. Not a single dictator, with the possible exception of Pol Pot, touched the peasants. Agriculture in Russia has not yet been restored ...

Since the early 1930s, blood has been pumped from the country. The terror of 1937, mass repressions, the GULAG ... The figures testifying to the destruction of people are transcendental and terrible. Account for tens of millions of lives. I'm afraid the health of the nation has been completely undermined. After all, almost every family has suffered!

As a result, it turned out that half of the people are somehow connected with the convicts, and the other half with the guards.

Did you burn your party membership card twice in front of the cameras?

Mark Zakharov: You know, over the years I am ready to honestly admit: it was a stupid, spontaneous act, which I bitterly regret. The act of burning a red-skinned book took the form of unbridled and absolutely unnecessary theatricality. It was necessary to part with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in a completely different way - calmly and with dignity. I really liked how Yeltsin did it at the 19th Party conference. He put his membership card on the presidium table and left the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. The audience sat, not daring to move. And only when Boris Nikolayevich approached the door, they began to hiss and hoot in his back. They were afraid to meet his gaze, they were afraid to say something in the eye ...

How much time did you spend in the party?

Mark Zakharov: Entered in 73, and left in 91 ...

They left voluntarily, but entered?

Mark Zakharov: An acquaintance who worked in the department of culture recommended: if you want to get an independent job, and not forever be under one of the artistic directors, write a statement: there was a certain quota for non-party directors of theaters, and I did not get into it. Indeed, a day after the expiration of my candidate's experience, they called me, told me to put on a modest tie and appear at the bureau of the Moscow City Party Committee, where I was approved as the chief director of the Lenin Komsomol Theater.

Strictly speaking, do you owe your current job to your party card?

Mark Zakharov: Yes, as well as to Comrades Grishin, the then First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, and Suslov, the main party ideologist. The latter supported the "Defeat" play, which was in danger of being closed. Suslov came to the theater and gave a standing ovation to the artists, after which a laudatory review appeared in Pravda. I didn’t realize then that my directorial destiny was hanging in the balance.

In St. Petersburg, a court sentenced the activist of the youth movement "Vesna" Artem Goncharenko, detained in the city on the eve of February 25, before a rally in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov
Global Look Press

In St. Petersburg, a court sentenced the activist of the youth movement "Vesna" Artem Goncharenko, detained in the city on the eve of February 25, before a rally in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. This is reported in the traffic account at https://twitter.com/spb_vesna / status / 968074932268748800 "target \u003d" _blank "\u003e Twitter.

Goncharenko was found guilty of repeated violation of the procedure for holding rallies (part 8 of article 20.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation), Fontanka reports. The court appointed him 25 days of administrative arrest. Thus, the oppositionist will be released after the presidential elections scheduled for March 18, the media notes.

The Goncharenko case was considered by the Smolninsky District Court. The accusation was about a violation allegedly committed by the activist during the rally of Alexei Navalny's supporters, which took place in the northern capital on January 28.

On Twitter "Vesna" https://twitter.com/spb_vesna / status / 967800407539011585 "target \u003d" _blank "\u003e it is reported that the protocol said" about the demonstration of the candidate Duck from the window of the apartment. "" Goncharenko showed an inflatable duckling from the window of a house next to with the Proletarian Dictatorship Square, where the (Navalny) rally took place, "Bogdan Litvin, the federal coordinator of the Vesna movement from St. Petersburg, confirmed to Interfax.

https://twitter.com/spb_vesna "\u003e Spring movement‏ @ spb_vesna

Artyom Goncharenko is left at the police station overnight. As far as we know, the protocol is about the demonstration of the Duck candidate from the window of the apartment on January 28. Photo: David Frenkel.

The OVD-Info website reported that then the police tried to break into Goncharenko's apartment, but they failed. Almost a month later, on February 25, the activist was detained at the exit from the house, when he was going to a rally in memory of Nemtsov. The trial of Goncharenko took place the next day. Before that, he spent the whole night in the police station.

Recall that the yellow inflatable duck has become a symbol of the fight against corruption in Russia at the suggestion of the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Navalny, which published a year ago an investigation into the "secret empire" of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called "He's not Dimon for you." The FBK investigation mentioned a house for a duck in the middle of a lake in one of the country estates in the vicinity of the town of Ples, the alleged residence of Medvedev.

Since then, representatives of the authorities have been quite sensitive to almost any images of ducks. For example, in June last year, at a mass rally in St. Petersburg, the police confiscated a large yellow duck from protesters, recognizing it as a means of agitation. Police reports stated that "some had a means of visual agitation in the form of a yellow toy duck, that is, they participated in an uncoordinated meeting."

On March 7, 2017, in St. Petersburg, the police detained participants in the rally for Medvedev's resignation, who sang the poem "Quack! Quack! Dima, you are stealing in vain."

And in August 2017, the charity event "Duck Race" was canceled in Arkhangelsk - a swim on rubber ducks, planned in the park "Amusement yard". According to the organizers of the event, the city administration demanded that the park management either cancel the event or replace the ducks with any other character.

- How are funeral rites formed in general? They do not grow on empty soil, do they?

- By itself. If we talk about the Russian funeral tradition (and we must remember that many peoples live on the territory of Russia and each has its own funeral tradition), then this is a contamination of ideas associated with the Orthodox tradition, and some pre-Christian ideas about the posthumous existence of the dead.

In the 20th century, both atheistic ideology and changes in the way of life are superimposed on them. In the 21st century, Soviet ideological pressure disappears, but a free market appears - oddly enough, this leaves a rather serious imprint, as, by the way, does all sorts of experiments with the vertical of power.

In addition, there are some global processes. Sometimes it seems to us that some phenomenon is unique, but in fact it turns out that in many other cultures it is also observed.

The funeral rite has an important function - it prevents endless grief.

- Psychologists say that now there is such a problem: people do not have enough experience of experiencing drama.

- Yes, the problem of losing the skill of experiencing tragic events is absolutely obvious. The funeral rite, in addition to being based on ideas about the afterlife (or its absence), is a rite of passage. He (like any ritual of the life cycle) must formalize the transition of all participants to a new status - the deceased to the status of an ancestor, relatives - to a widow, widower or orphans, and so on. By and large, society needs it for this.

In addition, it has another important function - it prevents endless grief. For example, tradition prescribes how long a person can cry for a deceased, how long to mourn. And after the mourning, a new life should begin. The situation where grief is endless is not normal.

Anna Sokolova junior researcher at the Institute of Ethnology named after N.N. Miklouho-Maclay RAS

Finally, in any culture there are certain spiritual skills of experiencing grief - in Russian traditional culture this is undoubtedly prayer: there is a huge number of prayers that must be read in the event of a particular death of certain people, there are special canons that regulate this.

In the Soviet period, this became a problem largely because the tradition of transferring religious knowledge, including intrafamily, was interrupted. But some kind of ritual that helps to cope with grief should be all the same, so Soviet ideologists conducted a whole campaign to develop and introduce socialist rituals. The idea was expressed that the ritual is a pre-religious practice, so you can cleanse it of the religious component and leave a pure ritual that will somehow help people psychologically, somehow order their life.

With the wedding ceremony, everything turned out fine - the current wedding ceremony (for example, the visit of the newlyweds to war memorials) is completely inherited by us from the Soviet era. The childbirth rite disappeared completely, but it was replaced by an discharge from the hospital. And there were problems with the funeral rite.

Even the developers themselves did not understand what they could offer people. You read propaganda descriptions, and you can see that the body is taken to cremation - and then there is a vacuum. Some living thread of the rite has been lost. They tried to solve this problem, for example, by making special windows through which one could look at the fire of the cremation furnace, as if saying goodbye to a person. Later, there were attempts to establish some general days of remembrance - they tried to coincide with May 9, this is close to Easter. But one way or another, this problem could not be solved. The methodological instructions on how to conduct a funeral are least preserved.

- And they were? Any reminders, manuals? Who wrote them and for whom?

- There were special commissions that created these developments. For example, at the Institute of Scientific Atheism of the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU. New rituals were invented and described, and then they were introduced through the local departments of culture at district committees, city committees, and village councils.

But they were not implemented very successfully, because those who were supposed to be directly involved in this - ordinary employees of the cultural departments, did not understand what to do, what was expected of them. Weddings, naming, presentation of a passport - it was clear to them. And they tried not to do the funeral.

- In addition to propaganda, what influenced the change in traditions?

- Urbanization. True, the first or second generation of people who moved to the megalopolis from a village or even from a small town inherit old traditions. I interviewed a young man who now lives in Moscow, but was born somewhere in the provinces. He told how his friend was taken to her homeland to be buried. I asked: “Well, she was cremated, probably? Was the ashes transported? " No, how can you. Cremation for the relatives of the deceased (and for this young man himself) is completely unacceptable. If this woman died abroad, she would be transported from abroad.

Traditionally in Russia, funeral rituals were strongly influenced by the state. After the collapse of the USSR, she first became uninteresting to the authorities

- By the way, why do many people reject cremation?

- I must say that cremation is inaccessible for most Russians, because there are few crematoria. Although the talk that the cemeteries occupy vast territories and that the responsible deceased would prefer cremation has been going on since the end of the 19th century. It's just not our tradition. In the Russian folk tradition - not just the Orthodox, but the folk - there was no cremation. She, judging by the archaeological data, was once a very long time ago, but this is only according to archaeological data. And the fact that most people in megacities now treat cremation so lightly is, of course, the Soviet legacy. This is both an achievement of propaganda, and simply a loss of tradition, and great efforts were made to make this happen. The first crematoria were not popular, a significant part of the first cremated were either unknown or repressed.

For our tradition, cremation is the kind of burial that was applicable to the most fallen people, to the worst criminals. And, by the way, the Bolsheviks burned Fanny Kaplan in a barrel for a reason. It is no coincidence that they came up with this.

- The XX century is over, the USSR collapsed - what happened to the funeral?

- An unusual situation has developed. The fact is that traditionally in Russia, funeral rituals were strongly influenced by the state. For example, in the 19th century, people who were baptized - and religious affiliation was a mandatory marker - could not be buried without the participation of a priest. Of course, there were some cases when this was technically impossible, but as a rule it was necessary to have a funeral service and the participation of a priest in the funeral train.

After the revolution, the situation was reversed. It was not always possible to sing a song even if there was a church in the village. At the same time, there was this new ritual, which they tried to implant especially during the second atheist campaign under Khrushchev (in the 1920s it was more of a revolutionary alternative “for those who are interested”).

And after the collapse of the USSR, there was no such force that would be at least somehow interested in who buries how. And for our funeral ritual, this was a new state that she had to cope with. State "unattended".

At the same time, ritual agencies appear on the market. And they begin to very actively participate in the funeral rite. At first, they are faced with the problem of access to a client, especially in the provinces - if someone died in the village, the relatives in the village council received death documents and washed them themselves, made a coffin themselves, and dug a grave themselves. Then, maybe a year later they ordered a monument - or maybe they did it with a wooden cross, also themselves.

This is where the vertical of power begins to work. In the early 2000s, a reform of the registry office took place. The functions of registering acts of civil status are alienated from village councils. And now, in order to obtain a death certificate, you need to go to the registry office, which is located in the regional center (this is not the case everywhere, there are some subtleties and exceptions, but in most regions it is). There, in the registry office, all the relatives of the deceased pass through one room, where they are "caught" by the funeral agents. And people who, perhaps, did not know about the existence of the market for funeral services, suddenly realize that they can not do everything themselves - the only question is about money.

People want this - this is a very big relief, although this, of course, leaves a certain imprint on the funeral rite. But, as it turns out, people are ready to abandon traditions. This is partly due to the fact that there are very few young people in the village, the old people do not have enough strength, and the relatives who come to the funeral from the city are reluctant to harness all this. Although sometimes the dead person is not taken from the morgue immediately to the cemetery, they first bring him to the house so that everyone can say goodbye, sometimes they bring him home the night before in order to have time to read the psalter over him. You won't find this in Moscow, but even in the nearest Moscow region they do it.

Recently in one blog in the comments I saw a serious discussion about how to fit a deceased young woman into a coffin in a wedding crinoline

- Are there any innovations in memorial traditions? In addition to the widespread visits to cemeteries at Easter.

- The traditional peasant way of life has, one might say, lost. In new social conditions, some new forms are emerging. What is visible with the naked eye is spontaneous memorialization when some kind of tragedy occurs. Of the latter, there is a memorial near the Japanese embassy after Fukushima, a memorial in Kazan in the river port after the "Bulgaria", in Yaroslavl - after the death of a hockey team.

They arise absolutely spontaneously and they are the same, they have many similarities. And this is evidence that for a certain number of people this is already a tradition. They do not need to figure out what to do: if they understand that some tragedy somehow concerns them, they already know that they need to bring candles, toys, flowers, and so on.

This is a new tradition, it is only ten years old. There was a memorial to the defenders of the White House in 1991, in principle there was something similar during the funeral of Vysotsky, when verses in memory of Vysotsky and photographs were hung on the walls and windows of the Taganka Theater, but still it was not of such a large-scale nature. Now, if a tragedy occurs, then even if it does not directly concern us, it is the reason for such a spontaneous memorialization - and this is an example of a new memorial ritual. She is probably not perceived by the participants as such, but she is exactly that. There was nothing like this before in the memorial ceremony.

Another innovation is the monuments along the roads. This tradition is also clearly new. It can be argued that its appearance is associated with an increase in the number of car accidents, but I am inclined to believe that this is primarily due to a change in consciousness. The point is that in traditional culture, an accidental, tragic death is a “bad” death. They tried to distance themselves from such dead, they did not even receive a full commemoration - there was one day a year when they were commemorated, and that was all.

And then they suddenly not only do not lose the commemoration, but also receive it in double the amount - at the cemetery and by the road. They also mow the grass there, bring food there, put lit cigarettes. What people think about it is a question. It seems that this is some kind of shift in consciousness associated with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe posthumous existence of the deceased. In traditional culture, the posthumous existence of the deceased is also associated with the place of death, but no one would have thought of visiting it, because nothing good happens there.

- At the very beginning, the rites of passage were mentioned. Do funeral rituals have any similarities with others?

- There are great similarities with wedding rites. For example, the tradition of burying unmarried and unmarried in wedding clothes - the funeral train in this case takes on some features of the wedding.

- Is this rite still preserved?

- Yes. In my field notes, I have a story about a woman who died at 40. She was not married, and when she was buried - it happened in the village, they made her a veil. And recently in one blog in the comments I saw a serious discussion about how to fit a deceased young woman into a coffin in a wedding crinoline.

Party card from the other world

The story took place during the Soviet era. The woman died. She was buried, her husband remained. After some time, he realizes that he has lost his party card. What to do? I looked everywhere - I cannot find it. I came to repent to the Party organization. They treated him with understanding, offered to look more. At night, in a dream, his wife comes to him:

- Why are you so sad?

- Here, I lost my party card.

- And I have it, right under my heart! When you said goodbye to me, you bent down - it fell out of your pocket.

One of the respondents told me the story.

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The Cheka sentenced Kaplan to death. The execution took place in the Kremlin: the procedure was entrusted by the Chekists to Commandant Malkov. The sentence was carried out at about 4:00 pm on September 3, 1918. Kaplan's body was doused with gasoline and burned in a metal barrel.

And the day before, an investigative experiment took place on the territory of the Michelson plant - a picture of the assassination was modeled. The event was held by prominent revolutionaries Viktor Kingisepp and Yakov Yurovsky, who returned from the Urals after the massacre of the royal family.

Malkov recalls:

“Retribution has happened. The verdict was carried out. It was performed by me, a member of the Bolshevik Party, sailor of the Baltic Fleet, commandant of the Moscow Kremlin, Pavel Dmitrievich Malkov, with my own hand. And if history would repeat itself, if the creature that raised its hand to Ilyich had appeared before the barrel of my pistol again, my hand would not have trembled, pulling the trigger, as it did not flinch then ... "

The murder of Uritsky and the attempt on Lenin's life prompted the Soviet authorities to switch to the tactics of the Red Terror. The corresponding resolution on the legality of such a struggle was issued by the government on September 5.

Despite the seeming seriousness of his wounds, Lenin recovered pretty soon. Already on October 22, he made his first public appearance after the assassination attempt.

Wikimedia Commons

Kaplan testifies:

“Who gave me the revolver, I won't tell. I didn't have any trade union card. I have not served for a long time. Where did I get the money, I will not answer. I shot for conviction. I confirm that I came from Crimea. Whether my socialism is connected with Pavel Skoropadsky (at that time the hetman of Ukraine - "Gazeta.Ru"), I will not answer. I have not heard anything about the organization of terrorists associated with Boris Savinkov (one of the leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. - "Gazeta.Ru"). Whether I have acquaintances among those arrested by the Extraordinary Commission, I don’t know. I have a negative attitude to the current government in Ukraine. I don’t want to answer how I feel about the Samara and Arkhangelsk authorities ”.

Planetzerocolor

The detainee is brought to the office of the acting chairman of the Cheka Yakov Peters. Sverdlov, the secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Varlaam Avanesov, who was present at the first interrogation of Dyakonov, and Dmitry Kurskiy, People's Commissar of Justice of the RSFSR, are already present here, and he begins to ask questions.

Wikimedia Commons

Kaplan is transported from the Zamoskvoretsk military registration and enlistment office to the Lubyanka.

Even then, Bonch-Bruyevich thought about the need for the Red Terror: “By late night, the political side of this whole event began to emerge. It became quite clear that the power of the dictatorship of the proletariat was being attacked by all counter-revolutionary elements, whoever they were. Here everyone was at the same time: the White Guards, the Cadets, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and representatives of foreign powers. It is clear that the White Terror was proclaimed against representatives of the workers 'and peasants' government. The blow had to be answered a hundred times with the strongest blow. To the white terror - the red terror. "

And again we turn to the memoirs of Bonch-Bruyevich:

"The temperature has risen. Vladimir Ilyich was half-forgotten, sometimes uttering separate words. Professor Mints, leaving, expressed his extreme amazement at the staunchness and patience of Vladimir Ilyich, who did not utter a sound even when he was undergoing a terribly painful dressing. Mints did not say anything definite about the condition of Vladimir Ilyich, saying only that this wound belongs, undoubtedly, to the category of very serious ones.

The chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Sverdlov, addresses the people with an emergency appeal. The letter is addressed to "all the Soviets of Workers ', Peasants' and Red Army Deputies, all armies, everyone, everyone, everyone."

“A villainous attempt on the life of Comrade Lenin was committed several hours ago,” writes Sverdlov. - The role of Comrade Lenin, his significance for the labor movement in Russia, the labor movement of the whole world are known to the broadest circles of workers in all countries. The true leader of the working class did not lose close contact with the class, the interests, the needs of which he defended for decades. Comrade Lenin, who spoke all the time at workers' rallies, spoke to the workers of the Michelson plant on Friday. When leaving the meeting, he was wounded. Several people were detained. Their identities are being investigated.

We have no doubt that here too will be found traces of the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, traces of the hirelings of the British and French. We call on all comrades to be completely calm and to intensify their work in the fight against counter-revolutionary elements.

The working class will respond to the assassination attempts directed against its leaders by even more rallying its forces, will respond with ruthless mass terror against all enemies of the revolution.

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An official document from the case of the attempt on Lenin's life.

Presidential Library

Bonch-Bruevich wrote very emotionally about what was happening at that time in Lenin's apartment: “The thin naked body of Vladimir Ilyich, helplessly sprawled on the bed, - he lay supine, slightly covered, - his head bowed slightly to one side, a deathly pale, mournful face, drops of large sweat that appeared on his forehead - all this was so terrible, so immensely painful that with difficulty it was possible to restrain oneself from the excitement flooding the heart ... And thoughts rushed in their own way ... And in those minutes I remembered the whole long life, the recent fiery revolutionary struggle, the joy of victories, deep hopes for the future ... And all this is everywhere and always, with him and only with him, with this truly inspired, brilliant leader of those masses who believed him immensely and infinitely everywhere, followed him and were ready to give their lives. "

Lenin's ward, in which he was treated for his wounds a few years later.

Sverdlov and members of the Council of People's Commissars gathered in the Kremlin. There is complete silence at the table. Information about Lenin's condition is received by telephone.

Photo of Kaplan after his arrest.

Wikimedia Commons

The chairman of the Mikhelson plant committee, Nikolai Ivanov, who was a direct witness to the assassination attempt, spoke about the condition of the injured Popova: “Long before Comrade Lenin's arrival, a woman came to the rally, who was later wounded by the gunman. She behaved in a very special way: she walked excitedly and seemed to be trying to speak. One could assume that she was a party worker, but no one knew her. “... The wounded was taken to the hospital. When they came to the Peter and Paul hospital to take linen for the wounded, it turned out that she was a castellan of this hospital ... that she was a completely innocent victim of the terror of a bourgeois hireling. ”

The bulletin of the Kremlin doctors has been published: “There are two gunshot wounds. One bullet entered under the left shoulder blade, passed through the chest cavity and, hitting the upper lobe of the lung, stuck in the right side of the neck above the right collarbone. The second bullet hit the left shoulder. She shattered a bone and got stuck in the left shoulder region, causing internal hemorrhage.

Wikimedia Commons

Information about the attempt on Lenin's life is leaking out to the people. Moscow begins to seethe amid ominous rumors.

Having learned about the incident, the closest associate of the leader Bonch-Bruyevich, fearing an attack on the Kremlin, ordered the Kremlin commandant of the Kremlin, Malkov, to bring the guards and all the Red Army soldiers on alert, and to strengthen the security, to establish continuous watch at all gates, on the wall, at the entrances to the Council of People's Commissars and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee ...

The word to Bonch-Bruevich:

“When I ran into Vladimir Ilyich’s small apartment, I first of all saw Maria Ilyinichna, rushing from room to room and repeating in extremely nervous excitement:

- What is it? How long will it be tolerated? Could it be that this too will be for free?

“Take courage, Maria Ilyinichna,” I said to her, and meeting my gaze, I understood all the tremendous grief written in her focused eyes. - Calmness first of all ... Let us give all our attention to him ... Vladimir Ilyich lay on his right side on the bed, which stood closer to the window, and moaned softly, quietly ... His face was pale ... The torn shirt exposed his chest and left hand, which showed two wounds on the humerus. He was half-dressed, without a jacket, in boots ... On the other side of Vladimir Ilyich, with his back to the window, stood Comrade Vinokurov, who had come to the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars earlier than the others and who, having learned about the misfortune with Vladimir Ilyich, immediately appeared in his apartment, located on the same floor close to the Council of People's Commissars.

I offered to immediately lubricate the opening of the wounds with iodine in order to protect it from external contamination, which Comrade Vinokurov did right away. "

The American historian Richard Pipes, referring in his work "Bolsheviks in the Struggle for Power" to the testimony of Semyonov obtained during the trial of the Social Revolutionaries, defended the version that Lenin was wounded by poisoned bullets. They were allegedly treated with poison, which was supposed to cause irreparable damage to the body. However, more convincing evidence of this was never found: the poisoned bullets remained only an assumption.

Wikimedia Commons

Driver Gil recalls:

“I drove right up to Vladimir Ilyich's apartment in the courtyard. Here we all three helped Lenin get out of the car ... We began to ask and beg him to allow us to bring it in, but no persuasion helped, and he firmly said: "I will go myself" ... And he, leaning on us, went along a steep staircase to the third floor. "

Kaplan was taken to the Zamoskvoretsk military commissariat. After a thorough search in the presence of Batulin, Chairman of the Moscow Tribunal Dyakonov, Commissar of Zamoskvorechye Kosior, Commissar of Piotrovsky and Uvarov workers' plant, she makes her first official statement. “I am Fanny Efimovna Kaplan. Under this name she served hard labor in Akatui. She spent 11 years in hard labor. Today I shot Lenin. I shot on my own accord. I consider him a traitor to the revolution. I don't belong to any party, but I consider myself a socialist. "

Wikimedia Commons

Pavel Kotlyar / "Gazeta.Ru"

By coincidence, a doctor named Polutorny turned out to be in the crowd, who immediately provided first aid to Lenin. The leader was helped to get up, and he was seated in the back seat of the car. Two workers were stationed nearby. After that, he is immediately taken to the Kremlin apartment. Gil drives the car as fast as possible.

Reproduction of the painting "The Attempted Assassination of V. I. Lenin on August 30, 1918". Artist Mikhail Sokolov (1875-1953)

From the testimony of Batulin, published on the Presidential Library portal: “I heard three sharp dry sounds, which I mistook not for revolver shots, but for ordinary motor sounds. I saw a crowd of people, before that quietly standing by the car, scattering in different directions and saw Comrade Lenin's carriage-car behind him, lying motionless with his face to the ground. I was not at a loss and shouted: "Stop the killer of Comrade Lenin!", And with these shouts I ran out to Serpukhovka. Near the tree, I saw a woman with a briefcase and an umbrella in her hands, who, with her strange appearance, caught my attention. She looked like a person fleeing persecution, intimidated and hunted. I asked this woman why she came here. To these words she replied: "Why do you need this?" Then I, having searched her pockets and took her briefcase and umbrella, invited her to follow me. "

Fearing that the woman would not be recaptured by her like-minded people and that “a mob would not be lynched against her,” Batulin asked the arriving Red Army soldiers to accompany them to the commissariat.

At a distance of 20 steps from Lenin during the shots was the assistant to the military commissar of the 5th Moscow Soviet Infantry Division Stepan Batulin. He instantly got his bearings, ran out into the street through the entrance and noticed a strange woman standing by a tree with a briefcase and an umbrella.

It was not difficult for Batulin to detain Kaplan, although he was not yet 100% sure of her guilt. The suspect was taken back to the factory. Then the members of the committee called the car in which the terrorist was taken to the Zamoskvoretsk military commissariat.

The driver of the Soviet leader, Gil, noticed a man in a sailor's uniform who was running straight at the leader with his right hand in his pocket. It was Novikov. Only when he saw the revolver in the hands of the driver, aimed at his forehead, the "sailor" changed direction and disappeared.

BOOM BOOM, BOOM! Suddenly evening Moscow is rocked by shots. In the first seconds, no one understands where the firing is coming from. Lenin falls near the car, losing consciousness. In total, three bullets were fired. One hit in the neck under the jaw, the other struck the hand, the third "went" to Maria Popova, the castellan of the Pavlovsk hospital ...

Reproduction of the painting "The Assassination of Lenin". Artist Pyotr Belousov (1912-1989).

Lenin left the rostrum to a standing ovation. The audience applauds. He is pleased with himself. Now we must go to the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, appointed by Sverdlov at 9 pm. Chauffeur Gil had already started the engine. However, a woman stops Ilyich near the car. She complains that bread is being confiscated at the railway stations. The sensitive leader begins to listen attentively to the petitioner ...

The rally begins. Theme - "The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the dictatorship of the proletariat." The people are fascinated by the words of the Bolshevik leader. He himself, as they say, is in shock. There is no security at the plant.

Lenin ends his speech with the words: "Let's die or win!"

The head of the Council of People's Commissars arrives at Serpukhovka. The production of steam powered machines was opened here by the British Hopper and Wrigley back in 1847. In 1887, the first underground Marxist circle was organized at the plant, which later became one of the main Bolshevik centers of Moscow. The plant received its legendary name from the entrepreneur Lev Mikhelson, who in 1916 bought it for the production of shells.

After the February Revolution, the plant was nationalized, and the Bolsheviks entered the local committee. In 1922 the plant was named after the leader of the revolution. Today the Moscow Electromechanical Plant named after Vladimir Ilyich operates at 1, Party Lane.

Pavel Kotlyar / "Gazeta.Ru"

Kaplan is waiting for Lenin at the Michelson plant. He walks in the crowd, listens to conversations, smokes cigarettes. Another militant, Novikov, dressed in a sailor's uniform, is also nearby. He must insure the former convict and ensure her escape after the shots. Kaplan's briefcase contains a ticket to the Tomilino station, where the SR's safe house is located.

Lenin on the road. He is driving in a good mood and feels satisfaction from talking to the working masses. The people believe in the party, this instills optimism before a new stage of the fierce struggle against the white armies of Anton Denikin and Alexander Kolchak.

Apparently, Kaplan is not the only hunter for Lenin's head. According to the testimony of the Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist Grigory Semyonov, given during the 1922 trial, a group of four perpetrators was formed when organizing the assassination attempt. The plan was considered simple, because Ilyich came to the performances without protection. For the first time, the criminals "spotted" Lenin at a rally in the Alekseevsky people's house on August 23, 1918, but the militant Usov, who was sent to the event, did not dare to shoot.

The same thing happened with his accomplice Fedorov-Kozlov at the Bread Exchange on August 30. Perhaps the leader's fiery speeches made too much of an impression on the terrorists. From the statement of Fedorov-Kozlov at the hearing:

"I did not dare to shoot Lenin, because by this time I was convinced that the tactics of assassinations that my leaders had chosen were wrong, harmful, and terrible for the cause of socialism ..."

A speech at the Bread Exchange runs smoothly and takes 15-20 minutes. Immediately after, the head of the Council of People's Commissars with his personal driver Stepan Gil without delay went to the plant ... In Moscow at that time, it was about 10 km by the shortest route. A car from that time would have taken the route in 40 minutes.

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Lenin leaves for a rally in the Basmanny District. After the revolution, the House of Communist Education was placed in the building of the Bread Exchange, which was later renamed the Bauman Children's House of Culture. Lenin spoke here more than once. Today it is the building of the Moscow Drama Theater "Modern" on Spartakovskaya Square.

Kaplan is aware of Lenin's impending speech at the Michelson plant. She is looking for an address and plans to disappear into the crowd of workers.

Lenin dines with his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya in the Kremlin, has fun and jokes at the meal. His wife, like his sister earlier, cannot persuade him from the fatal trip.

In Crimea, the terrorist met Lenin's brother, Dmitry Ulyanov. A doctor by profession, he became interested in a young, blind girl. It was rumored that the younger Ulyanov even made her a marriage proposal, but she refused. At parting, Dmitry left Kaplan with a referral to the Leonard Girshman Eye Clinic, which was located in Kharkov and was one of the best in Russia.

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The February Revolution brought freedom to Kaplan. Having received the amnesty, the girl went to Moscow. There she settled with a former cellmate, Anna Pigit, where she lived for a month. And by the summer of 1917, the Provisional Government opened a specialized sanatorium in Crimea for former political prisoners, where Fanny was given a ticket.

The girl was assigned to the Akatuisk prison of the Nerchinsk penal servitude, which was rightfully considered hell on earth. The tests began on the way to the distant Transbaikalia - Kaplan, as "inclined to escape", had to go to the place of detention on foot, in hand and foot shackles under guard. The details of Kaplan's painful journey are unknown, but she reached the Nerchinsk penal servitude only on August 22, 1907.

Upon arrival at the prison, it became clear that Fanny was not only blind, but also hears almost nothing. In addition, small fragments of the bomb dug into the skin of the hands and feet, which contributed to the development of rheumatism. The exhausted girl tried several times to commit suicide, but they interfered with her.

At the same time, Maria Spiridonova, who was also famous for her political crimes, was imprisoned with Kaplan in the Akatui prison. Together they were transferred first to the Maltsev prison, and a few years later they were returned to Akatui. Spiridonova took Dora under her wing and she abandoned anarchism, becoming a Socialist Revolutionary Socialist-Revolutionary, which later played a decisive role in her life.

Kaplan's trial took place on January 5, 1907. Despite the fact that a blind, miniature 16-year-old girl with a height of less than 160 cm appeared before them, the hearts of the judges did not flinch - she was sentenced to death. It was possible to mitigate the punishment only due to the fact that Fanny was a minor - the gallows was replaced with life hard labor.

At this time, a certain 28-year-old girl, a half-blind former convict woman, is wandering around Moscow. She has four first and last names. The most popular variants in the Soviet tradition are Fanny Kaplan and Feiga Roitblat.

Kaplan began her terrorist activities back in 1905, during the first revolution. Then, together with like-minded people, she decided to organize an attempt on the life of the Kiev Governor-General Vladimir Sukhomlinov. However, the assassination attempt for the 16-year-old revolutionary, nicknamed Dora, turned into arrest and hard labor. Improvised explosive devices made to assassinate the mayor, due to an absurd accident, detonated earlier - right in the hotel, in the hands of Kaplan.

However, it did not kill her. The blast wave threw the girl against the wall: she hit her head, damaging the optic nerve. Half blind and frightened, Kaplan did not have time to escape from the crime scene, where the police immediately arrived.

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For the 30s, Lenin has two performances planned: first at the Bread Exchange in the Basmanny District, then at the Mikhelson plant in Zamoskvorechye. Ilyich is resting, gathering his thoughts, getting ready.

Conducted by Lenin's closest associate, the head of the Council of People's Commissars Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich, the consequence did not have a success. “On the same night, some distant, barely noticeable hints appeared that a military officers' organization had formed in Petrograd, looking for an opportunity to kill Vladimir Ilyich. And after that, for several days, no matter how hard we tried, we could not clarify anything, ”he wrote in his“ Memoirs of Lenin ”.

Another attempt was thwarted in mid-January, when a certain soldier Spiridonov confessed to Bonch-Bruyevich, confessing that he had received the assignment to kill Lenin from the "Union of St. George's Cavaliers." On the night of January 22, the Chekists arrested the conspirators. They were asked to send them to the front, but at least two of them joined the White movement.

Presidential Library

Although someone, but Lenin really had something to fear. Before the ill-fated day, he had already survived two attempts on his life in 1918. The first attempt happened on January 1st. The leader of the proletariat himself was not injured, and his friend, a socialist from Switzerland Friedrich Platten, who was with him, was slightly wounded by a bullet. The head of government's sister Maria Ulyanova, who was also at the scene, spoke in detail about the incident. She cites her words in her book "The Riddles of History. Secrets of the Soviet Empire "Andrey Khoroshevsky.

“On January 1 (14), 1918, in the evening, Vladimir Ilyich performed in the Mikhailovsky Manege in front of the first detachment of the socialist army leaving for the front. The Swiss comrade Platten and the woman who wrote these lines accompanied him to the rally. Leaving the arena after the meeting, we got into a closed car and drove to Smolny. But before we had time to drive off a few dozen fathoms, rifle bullets rained down on the back of the car like peas. “They're shooting,” I said. This was confirmed by Platten, who first grabbed the head of Vladimir Ilyich (they were sitting behind) and pulled it aside, but Ilyich began to assure us that we were mistaken and that he did not think it was shooting. After the shots, the driver accelerated, then, turning around the corner, stopped and, opening the car doors, asked: "Are you all alive?" - "Did they really shoot?" Ilyich asked him.

“How else,” the driver replied, “I thought, none of you are already gone. We got off happily. If we had hit the tire, we would not have left. And even so it was very hard to go - fog, and then we were at risk. " Everything around was really white from the thick Petersburg fog. Arriving at Smolny, we began to examine the car. It turned out that the body was perforated in several places by bullets, some of them flew right through, breaking through the front glass. We immediately discovered that Comrade Platten's hand was covered in blood. The bullet grazed him, apparently when he pulled Vladimir Ilyich's head away, and tore off the skin on his finger.

“Yes, we got off happily,” we said, going up the stairs to Lenin's office.

Lenin's relatives, led by his sister Maria, tried to persuade him to cancel the speeches, but he refused, stating that "Comrade Sverdlov strictly demands that all leaders take part in the rallies and will strongly scold him for such a refusal."

From the memoirs of the Kremlin commandant Pavel Malkov: “Relatives, having learned about the death of Uritsky, tried to restrain Lenin, to dissuade him from going to the rally. To calm them down, Vladimir Ilyich said at dinner that maybe he would not go, but called the car himself and drove away. "

“Vladimir Ilyich! I ask you to schedule a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars no earlier than 9 pm. Tomorrow, in all districts, there will be large rallies according to the plan, about which we agreed with you; warn all councilors of people's commissars that in case of receiving an invitation or appointment to a meeting, no one has the right to refuse. The rallies begin at 6 pm. "

Moscow promptly received shocking information from Petrograd. However, they did not cancel the planned speeches of members of the Council of People's Commissars at the factory rallies. August 30 fell on Friday - on this day in the new-old capital, it was customary to hold "party days" when the leaders of the state and the city met with the common people.

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The next day, August 31, Gleb Bokiy was appointed the new chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, in the future - the organizer and curator of the Solovetsky camps. Arrested and shot in 1937.

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Uritsky was buried on the Champ de Mars. In the same 1918, Palace Square was renamed into Uritsky Square, and the Tauride Palace - into Uritsky Palace. However, even before the end of the Great Patriotic War, the historical name was returned to the objects.

Alexey Danichev / RIA Novosti

The modern historian Vasily Tsvetkov, specializing in the period of the Civil War, on the basis of the later testimonies of members of the anti-Bolshevik forces, is inclined to believe that in fact Kannegisser was not a lone avenger, but was a member of a secret organization headed by his cousin Maximilian Filonenko, which aimed to eliminate the highest Soviet leaders.

In 1919, this man emigrated to Paris, where he lived with minor interruptions until 1960, mainly engaged in advocacy.

"Krasnaya Gazeta" - about what happened: "Uritsky was killed. We must respond to a single terror of our enemies with mass terror ...

Thousands of enemies must pay for the death of one of our fighters. "

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An investigation began, during which many friends and relatives of the murderer Uritsky were detained. He himself lived for about a month and a half until he was shot one of the October days. Kannegisser's parents, who belonged to the Orthodox Jews, were released to Poland after interrogation. The Zionist theme came up in the murderer's appeal, which he allegedly made immediately after his arrest. The words of the avenger were quoted in the essay "The Murder of Uritsky" by the publicist Mark Aldanov who knew him.

"I am Jewish. I killed a Jewish vampire who was drinking the blood of the Russian people drop by drop. I tried to show the Russian people that Uritsky is not a Jew for us. He's a renegade. I killed him in the hope of restoring the good name of the Russian Jews, ”Kannegisser allegedly said. However, modern researchers question the authenticity of this statement.

A car chase was immediately organized for the shooter. This moment is believably shown in the historical saga "The Fall of the Empire". Being overtaken by angry Chekists, he got off his bike and ran into the entrance of house No. 17 on Millionnaya Street.

The door of one of the apartments turned out to be open - Kannegisser grabbed the master's coat hanging on a hanger, threw it over his jacket and, “disguised,” tried to walk past the Chekists who had already run into the staircase. The attempt failed. The young man was easily exposed, captured and arrested.

At the sound of a shot, employees come running. People gather in the lobby. Around - a woman's crying, a mate of the Chekists, turmoil. At first, no one pays attention to the slender young man in a jacket, who seems to have fallen into a daze.

He ought to mingle with the crowd - and then try, figure it out. However, Kannegisser panicked. The pistol remained in his hand, as if stuck. Recovering himself, the killer ran out of the building, but did not go away, which they might not have noticed, but got on a bicycle. And thus he made a fatal mistake. Both remain on the street while Uritsky himself enters the entrance ...

Kanegisser parked his vehicle and asked if Uritsky was already receiving visitors. Having received information that the chief of PetroCheK has not yet arrived, the young man settles down on the windowsill in the lobby. He does not wait for the moment for the execution of the main work of his life, from ten to 20-25 minutes.

Only the old doorman is on duty in the lobby. He does not even think to suspect something was wrong. Many petitioners, secret agents and just informers visit Comrade Uritsky. The work of the recently created department has not yet been debugged, there are enough weaknesses. Nobody checks Kannegiser's documents, and he tries in every possible way not to betray his own excitement. X-hour is approaching ...

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Between Saperny and the General Staff building, where the Extraordinary Commission was located, there is a little more than three kilometers strictly to the west. On Pestel Street, you need to cross Liteiny Prospect, then Fontanka, in order to get to Palace Square along the Moika River embankment.

One of these victims was officer Vladimir Pereltsweig. On August 21, he was shot in the case of a counter-revolutionary conspiracy at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. The order on the execution of capital punishment published in the newspapers bore the name of Uritsky.

The relatives of the executed considered the head of the Cheka to be unequivocally responsible for the actions of the Chekists. Although it was he - and there is a lot of evidence of this - who tried in vain to prevent the death of the Mikhailovites.

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Colleagues, friends and associates of Volodarsky demanded "blood". The leadership of Red Petrograd called for the most decisive measures against the anti-Bolshevik forces. Smolny hesitated. And the only one who spoke out against the extrajudicial executions was the chief security officer of the city, Moisey Uritsky. This man, in the harsh conditions of the summer of 1918, who possessed exceptional power, in the modern historical tradition is considered to be, so to speak, a fair “humanist”. Even after the murder of Volodarsky, he rejected the practice of mass hostage taking from among the urban representatives of the bourgeoisie, the intelligentsia and the former government. It is believed that Uritsky categorically did not support repression - this issue remains one of the debatable today, this version has both ardent supporters and no less ardent antagonists. Some of the detainees were allegedly released by Uritsky personally, without finding any traces of the crime in their actions.

In any case, the flywheel of the Petrograd Cheka simply could not work so cleanly as not to hurt hundreds, and even thousands of people who were not involved in any violent actions. Often, all the "guilt" of the captured persons was a word that was carelessly thrown in public or belonging to "alien class elements."

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“The air, as after a strong heat, suddenly smelled of a thunderstorm, strong thunderous peals are awaited, after a man in a work jacket fired six bullets from a Browning directed at a representative of the authorities, Volodarsky,” wrote the legally published newspaper Anarchia in hot pursuit ... - Your Red Terror will be answered with Black Terror. You will know no rest day or night; the power with which you are drunk will be a burden to you. You will not be sure that when you go to bed, you will wake up, and when you leave for a walk, you will return; you will also be careful about food, drink and tobacco. Wikimedia Commons

The "first swallow" that eventually led to the Red Terror was the assassination of Volodarsky, People's Commissar for Press, Propaganda and Agitation, founder and editor-in-chief of Krasnaya Gazeta. Death overtook the prominent revolutionary on June 20, when he was heading in a car to a rally at the Obukhovsky plant in Petrograd. The reprisal against a comrade-in-arms who, at the age of 26, played an important role in the structure of the RCP (b), came as a shock to Lenin and the rest of his comrades. The murder was attributed to the Social Revolutionaries, who, however, categorically denied their involvement in the incident. In conditions of total confusion, the investigation into the murder case was not brought to its logical conclusion. It still conceals a lot of mysteries. The motives that prompted worker Nikita Sergeev to grab the pistol have not been thoroughly established. At the "SR trial" In 1922, Grigory Semyonov confessed to organizing the murder. However, there were rumors about Sergeev's personal revenge ...

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The end of the summer of 1918 was the most difficult period for the Soviet regime, which no one abroad even thinks to recognize. Hunger is raging in the cities, devastation and lawlessness in the villages. The torn country burns with thousands of fires of the Civil War. The situation on the fronts is going very badly for the Reds. Under the onslaught of White Guard units and other anti-Bolshevik forces, they lose colossal territories. By the beginning of September, the power of the Soviets in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East had been completely eliminated.

In the south, the Kuban comes under enemy control. In the north, the Reds surrender Arkhangelsk without a fight. On the outskirts of the former empire, foreign invaders, unfriendly to the Bolsheviks, are landing, pursuing their own goals. At the same time, the country is shaken by workers' uprisings. Some of them were supported by the recent allies of the Bolsheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionaries. Representatives of this party become the number one enemy for the Reds.

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Hello dear readers! A hundred years ago, dramatic events took place in Russia that seriously changed the course of the country's history. The assassination of the head of the Petrograd Cheka Moisei Uritsky and the attempt on the life of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vladimir Lenin on August 30, 1918 prompted the Bolsheviks to switch to the tactics of the so-called Red Terror, in the merciless millstones of which both the ideological opponents of the new Soviet government and those who had nothing to do with the fierce political struggle people - wealthy peasants, former landowners, representatives of the clergy, retired military men, creative intelligentsia and many others.

Gazeta.Ru reproduces the fateful day of Russian history in a historical online broadcast.

Alexander Kolesnikov advised his colleagues making such statements to study history, he said that "neither here, nor in Moscow, the Soviet authorities did not shoot people in the fields." According to him, such versions were invented by anti-Soviet propaganda.

"I was outraged by the fact that we are talking only about the victims of" terror ", why do not we talk about the victims of the Civil War? Then many more people died on both sides. Why do we condemn only the Communists, and not condemn the same war criminal Kolchak? Kolchak is not rehabilitated, he is a war criminal according to all laws, because many people were tortured by him. There were victims in the "Great Terror", no one denies this, but let's not interfere with the concept - shootings at ranges are not were produced, "said Kolesnikov.

The fact that people were not shot in the forests and fields during the "big terror" is confirmed in an interview with the head of the Archives Department of the Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Kapustin.

"They were shot in other places, for this there were specially equipped premises. These are all fairy tales, of course, that they were taken to the landfill, they forced graves to dig and shot. This was not in fact, they shot in a different way, but shot. Those who were shot were shot. and the judiciary was sentenced. By the way, the "troika" is also a judicial official body, not an extrajudicial body, as was commonly believed. The "troika" included a prosecutor - so this is also a court decision, they were shot by court decisions, "said Alexander Kapustin.

Recall that a memorial was built on the 12th km of the Moscow highway, its website says that on the territory of the "12th kilometer" there are allegedly the remains of almost 21 thousand people, "we know practically nothing about the absolute majority of them." At the same time, it is immediately indicated that the names of 18,475 people are marked on the memorial plates, but those who were shot not in this place, but in Sverdlovsk and subsequently rehabilitated. Meanwhile, a state examination was working on the construction site of the future biathlon center, as reported on the website of the government of the Sverdlovsk region, no remains were found there. Kapustin explains this by the fact that the burials were not "even layer" along the entire perimeter, but they are somewhere "compactly" located - where exactly, it is probably impossible to establish. The main thing is that, indeed, people were not shot at the range.

At the same time, the expert says that it is known for certain - the victims of political repression are buried exactly 12 km away, Kapustin is convinced of this, but another thing is that the number of those buried differs from the number mentioned at the memorial complex, and there is a logical explanation for this.

"How many of them are buried there - this must be counted and investigated, no one seriously engaged in this. We wrote down everyone who is listed in the Memory Book, 12 km is just a memorable place, there is a monument dedicated to the victims of political repression We just mentioned everyone who was shot according to the documents that are in our archives, but this does not mean that they are buried there, "he says.

To establish who exactly is buried on the Moscow highway, it is necessary to carry out autopsies and examinations or look for relevant documents that are not in the archives of the region. Also, an expert cannot tell where exactly the bodies lie. "The place that was designated as a monument to victims of political repression - remains were found there, and it is generally accepted that they were just politically repressed. But I want to say again that no one was doing research, this memorable place was simply immortalized," said Kapustin in a conversation with.

Deputy Kolesnikov says that a number of officials are trying to "promote" on the topic of mass shootings and "great terror."

“Of course, these are all horror stories about how people were shot in the fields,” confirms Kapustin. “When in the film“ Major Pugachev’s Last Battle, ”a guard shoots a prisoner, it’s a fiction, and a malicious fiction. This would never have happened, because if the guard killed the prisoner, then they would put him next to the wall. The prisoner is a person, it is a labor force, no matter how we talk about the regime. But even those people who were convicted and those who were serving sentences - they represented a certain value for the state. No one would allow anyone to throw this value around, "he said.

According to him, the "terror" was, but how big it was is already documented - just watch the speech of the FSB director, who gave an interview on the eve of the centenary of service, where the numbers were clearly named, and not to Solzhenitsyn, who calls 60-70 million, and even hundreds of millions. "The organs of the NKVD of the 1930s can be accused of anything but concealing statistics. The statistics were absolutely accurate, and these figures, which the FSB director named, can be trusted," said Alexander Kapustin.

Recall, as the director of the FSB noted Alexander Bortnikov, back in the late 1980s, a 1954 certificate from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was declassified on the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary and other especially dangerous state crimes, including banditry and military espionage, in 1921-1953. - 4 million 60 thousand 306 people. Of these, 642 thousand 980 were sentenced to capital punishment, 765 thousand 180 to exile and deportation.