Continuing the theme of the feat of Alexander Matrosov, I would like to touch upon the painful for some critics, the theme of the hero's nationality. They have been trying to drag Russia into interethnic squabbles for quite a long time. The world politicians are well aware that Russia, like the USSR, is a multinational country, a country that has united more than one and a half hundred peoples.
The materials that we will use today in the article have been in the public domain for a long time. We are simply systematizing known facts.
So, there is in Bashkiria, in the Uchalinsky district, an ordinary village called Kunakbaevo. The village has its own "zest" - a monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov. And it is unusual in this monument that after the name and surname of the Hero, in brackets, another name is written - Shakiryan Mukhametyanov.
Many residents of Kunakbaevo will tell you that this was the name of Alexander Matrosov in childhood. And this monument is installed here because it is from here that Alexander - Shakiryan comes from. Even those who knew him personally will someday be named. Bashkirs very much respect the history of their people, their village, their kind. More precisely, they are honored, remembered and passed on to children.
How did it happen that the Bashkir version of the Hero's birth does not coincide with the official one? Any student from history textbooks knows that Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was born on December 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk). Was brought up in the family of an aunt. He lived in her separate apartment. He worked at the factory as a 6-grade turner. Orphan. The father was killed by fists, and the mother died of grief. There is even a museum in Dnepropetrovsk.
And in another museum, in Velikiye Luki, where Matrosov died, they will tell you exactly this version of the Hero's birth. However, not a single document confirming these stories will be shown. Everything perished during the occupation. Therefore, the main evidence of the history of the birth of Alexander Matrosov will be copies of documents from military units.
Where did the second version come from? Oddly enough, it was the museums that contributed to its appearance. More precisely, the painstaking work of museum workers and historians.
Agree that the life story of a 19-year-old boy cannot be long. Therefore, museum workers were looking for any information about Alexander. Documents, photographs, reports of commanders, descriptions of the feat by witnesses. Even the machine gun and the Komsomol ID stored in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk were studied and copies were made.
The history of Matrosov's Komsomol ticket is the subject of a separate investigation. It exists in duplicate. With the same number. The first is at the Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, the second is at the Velikiye Luki Museum. Which of the two is genuine, it is difficult to say now.
It's good that there are photographs.
It was the appearance of photographs that became a turning point in the history of Matrosov. In 1952, one of the villagers recognized in the photo his fellow villager, who left the village in 1933. And then, remember the relationship of the Bashkirs to their own history, and the true story of Matrosov began to appear.
Bashkir writers Anver Bikchentaev and Rauf Nasyrov did a great job.
Alas, not everything in this man's life was as the official version told. More precisely, as always, they composed from three boxes.
The boy was born into an ordinary family of Yunus Mukhametyanov. He was the fourth child. In 1932 he went to school. And it was then, on September 2, 1932, that I first got into the camera lens. Was filmed in a group of students at a local school. It is important.
We remember from history that it was in 1932-33 that the second wave of famine overtook the USSR. For the family of the future hero, this became a personal tragedy. Mother died. My father drank from grief. The children were left unattended. The economy fell into disrepair.
It was then that the compassionate neighbors decided to send the youngest of the Mukhametyanovs to an orphanage. This is how the village council's documents appeared in a completely unusual entry for that time against the name of Shakiryan - he dropped out.
So Shakiryan did not go to his aunt then, but to the orphanage. Actually, this, most likely, saved his life.
How was it sent? Yes, the whole world. Collected in the village, who could, and sent to the Melekessk orphanage of the Ulyanovsk region.
In the orphanage, Shakiryan received the nickname "Sailor". Today it is difficult to say what was the prerequisite, but the fact itself remained in the memory.
The fact that life in an orphanage was, to put it mildly, not sugar. The struggle for survival, in which the strong and stubborn won. Shakiryan-Sailor survived.
And then it happened that in November 1935 he was transferred to the Ivanovo orphanage. And then, as often happened then, the boy became forgetful. According to the documents of the orphanage, the newcomer is recorded as having no surname. But, it is in the Ivanovo orphanage that the guy receives official documents in the name of Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich.
Everything is logical. Shakiryan became Alexander, the surname Matrosov was taken from the nickname, the patronymic was given by one of the educators. Normal practice at the time.
What is the background? Most likely, in the unwillingness to be a "black sheep". It is good to be Shakiryan in Bashkiria or Tatarstan. But in the Ulyanovsk or Ivanovo regions, Alexander is still better.
Children are generally cruel creatures. Especially in orphanages. So the transformation of Shakiryan Mukhametyanov into Alexander Matrosov is normal, logical and justified. The Soviet people, as a community, will appear later.
With the received documents, Alexander repeatedly comes to his native village on vacation. And according to the recollections of local residents, he asks to call him not Shakir, but Sasha. Memories are recorded and kept in the village council of Kunakbaevo.
They pushed the local authorities to insist on an official examination of Matrosov's personality. Photos of Matrosov were sent to the Forensic Research Institute under the Ministry of Justice. One, about which we wrote above, 1932 and three, which were in the personal affairs of the Hero.
The experts' answer was unequivocal. All photos show, albeit with a reservation, the same person. Thus, Alexander Matrosov and Shakiryan Mukhametyanov are one and the same person.
The further fate of the future Hero of the Soviet Union is also interesting. He graduated from the seven-year period in an orphanage and was sent to work in Kuibyshev, at a car repair plant. However, he escaped and was caught by police officers in Saratov. For lack of documents he was arrested and sent to the Ufa children's labor colony of the NKVD.
It sounds ominous, but the colony played a positive role in the fate of Matrosov. It was from there that he was drafted into the army in 1942. But they were sent not to the front, but to the Krasnokholmsk infantry school in the Orenburg region. An intelligent and quick-witted young man was saved for a command position.
They also accepted into the Komsomol.
Matrosov was not destined to graduate from college. As often happened at the time, at the beginning of 1943, an order came to send cadets to the active army. Alexander is sent to the 2nd battalion of the 254th guards regiment of the 91st brigade of the 6th Stalinist corps. This unit was formed by the NKVD.
We wrote about the feat of Alexander Matrosov in the previous article. But one question remains, the answer to which can finally close the topic of the birth of the hero of the article. Where did the official version of the Hero's pre-war life come from? Why would any schoolchild tell exactly that fictional story about Matrosov?
An indirect reason for this was … Stalin! It was he who, with his own hand, wrote on the documents about the death of Alexander Matrosov: "The soldier is a hero. The corps is of the guards." Thus, the rewarding had to be fast. But at least some documents were needed to formalize the case of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
An officer of the political administration of the front was sent to the 91st brigade, who, on the basis of documents sent from the Krasnokholmsk school, compiled a biography of Matrosov. Tu, beautiful, in accordance with the spirit of the times. It is impossible to disobey the leader, but also to talk about the realities of that time … About an orphanage, escapes, a children's labor colony …
Apparently, the officer was not a fool and did not seek adventure. I just wrote the right story.
The final version of the life and death of Alexander Matrosov was invented by the director of the famous film "Two Soldiers" (1943) Leonid Lukov.
It was he who in 1947 made the famous film "Private Alexander Matrosov". He shot brilliantly, mentally, but … As an artist, he even embellished the official version a little, thought of some details, from a young, inexperienced soldier, Alexander turned into a seasoned warrior who had been routing the Nazis for more than a year.
It is impossible to reproach Lukov for a brilliant, but not true film. The director was shooting not a documentary, but a feature film. And took off well. Probably every boy of the post-war period saw the "movie about Matrosov" several times. And most of today's readers too.
So, in the fate of one nineteen-year-old soldier, the fate of many famous and nameless heroes of that war crossed. 75 years ago, a Bashkir with a Russian surname performed a feat, which was later repeated by more than 200 people.
And now why are we all this, in fact.
Have you ever wondered why even today the heroes of war films are not perceived by Russians, Ukrainians, Yakuts, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Tatars, Ossetians? Even in modern films it is present. Remember the famous "28 Panfilovites".
Does it really matter where this soldier comes from? Does it really matter what language he spoke? Does it really matter what his nose, hair color, eye shape? This is a Russian soldier. This is the protector. What difference does it make if he is Alexander or Shakiryan?
In principle, none. Thousands of Aleksandrov and Shakiryan died far from their homes, fighting for their village and for the whole country. And they won in the end.
And we, all normal people, say: "Eternal memory to the heroes!" Without any division into nationalities or nationalities.
And the inhabitants of the Bashkir village did the right thing when they were the first to write the name that their fellow countryman took. But it is also true that they wrote his family name second. This is our common hero, Alexander Matrosov, and the Bashkir hero Shakiryan Mukhametyanov.
Speaking about the fact that in our history, unfortunately, there were a lot of inventions and frankly unnecessary corrections, you just have to admit that yes, there were. Invented, thought out and embellished. And nothing can be done about it.
But how much do all these notions belittle the feat of Matrosov? Kosmodemyanskaya? Talalikhin? Gorobets and many others?
Yes, someone remained unknown and not marked with awards, respect and memory. As the first junior political instructor Ponkratov, who closed a machine gun, for example.
Does this make Matrosov's feat less valuable? Still no. It does not become. And it is really vile to delve into the past, looking for absurdities, on the basis of which one can loudly declare that all this is lies and fiction.
We'll get this far. Until May 2, there was no banner over the Reich Chancellery. This, too, was invented by the damned communists. And so on.
Don't shit on the dead, they don't care anymore. On the contrary, finding and telling about an unknown feat is a nobler task.
But you can't get likes for this. But nevertheless, we will continue our historical stories about famous and not so famous heroes of that war.
Our heroes. The real ones.
Alexander Matrosov. Part 1. Gods are not overthrown from pedestals
Alexander Matrosov. Part 2. Anatomy of a feat
