On June 16, 1945, Soviet General Berzarin died in a car accident in Berlin's Friedrichsfelde district. His death gave rise to many rumors and legends.

Road to Berlin

Before the general offensive against Germany, a careful selection of the commanders of operations began. The candidacies of the marshals were not in doubt - Zhukov, Rokosovsky, Chernyakhovsky, Konev. From the commanders of a lower rank, Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin, who commanded a special 5th Army, was chosen.

Berzarin managed to fight under the command of Marshals Tolbukhin and Rokossovsky. In the summer of 1944, the 5th Shock Army, as part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, successfully liberated part of Moldova from Chisinau and also successfully participated in the operations of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts to eliminate the Yassko-Chisinau grouping, initially being in the direction of the main attack.

After breaking through the front, units and formations of the 5th Army rushed to Berlin. Leading the offensive in the vanguard of the 1st Belorussian Front, units and formations of Berzarin's army on the evening of April 22 were the first to reach the eastern outskirts of the fascist capital.

Six days before the celebration in Moscow of the victory over Nazi Germany, Berzarin was seen off on his last journey.

The version taught to Stalin

Berzarin served in the army since 1918. All his life he invariably woke up at dawn, did exercises, doused himself with cold water, and from the time of the Iassy-Kishinev operation he sat behind the wheel of a motorcycle. Even then, the front commander Fyodor Tolbukhin made a remark to him: “What are you risking for? You don't even use a helmet. ”Berzarin replied:“ I am saving time. ”Tolbukhin retorted:“ We do not need this economy, but your life is needed. The general driving is nonsense. "

After that, Berzarin gave the motorcycle to the communications battalion, but then he saddled his favorite car again. According to the official version, the cause of the accident on June 16 was the following. The general, accustomed to driving around Berlin in a two-wheeled American Harley, got behind the wheel of the German Zündapp KS 750 with a sidecar, which was given to him the day before, and was called the “green elephant” for its size and weight. A convoy of trucks with construction materials was crossing the line. Berzarin at a speed of 70 km decided to slip through the convoy, but lost control, and, hitting the side of the truck, died on the spot.

However, accidents are described differently in different sources. Was there a convoy of trucks or was there one truck? And what did the motorcycle hit - a truck or a high stone curb?

What prompted the Soviet leadership to hide so carefully the data on an ordinary road accident? Perhaps it was not ordinary?

First Commandant of Berlin

The building where the surrender was signed in 1945 is now a German-Russian museum with an exhibition dedicated to the first commandant of Berlin after the surrender of the Reich. Berzarin headed the Soviet military administration for only 54 days, but managed to earn the gratitude of the Berliners, whom he saved from starvation. Already in the first order, the commandant ordered to give milk to sick children and newborns, to resume the work of radio and theaters, and to open schools. Soon the metro started working ... More than 10 thousand Berliners accompanied the general on his last journey. 15 thousand roses were cut in horticultures.

In 1946, the name of Berzarin was given to one of the squares of Berlin, and in 1975, the magistrate of East Berlin conferred the title of honorary citizen of the city on the general. After the unification of Germany, Berzarinplatz remained, but the honorary citizenship of the first commandant was deprived in 1992. For the return of this title to the general for 12 years, all factions in the mayor's office, except for the Christian Democrats, spoke out. As a result, Berzarin again became an honorary Berliner. His grandchildren visit Berlin almost every year at the invitation of the authorities, including the Berzarin Rally.

A bronze bas-relief on the building where Berzarin worked in 1945 and a five-pointed star with the inscription "To Berlin!" on the house that was first recaptured by his army. In 2005, in honor of the general, one of the bridges in Berlin was renamed and a birch tree was planted at the place of death. And the youth hit of many years - mystical music performed by the Berzarin Quartet - is called “In Memory of the Soviet Commandant”. True, the question of erecting a monument in front of the Brandenburg Gate is pending. The famous sculptor Anna Franziska Schwarzbach depicted the general hovering on a motorcycle at the time of his death.

But Berzarin Street in the center of Chisinau was renamed irrevocably.

"Berlin idolized him"

Passions around the death of Berzarin among historians do not subside. Here is what Peter Jan, the former director of the Museum of Capitulation, author of the book “Nikolaj Bersarin. Generaloberst. Stadtkommandant ".

Post-war Berlin idolized Berzarin. And when this second person after Zhukov died so absurdly, having spent only seven weeks in his post, rumors spread about the "hand of the NKVD." My dream is to get to the papers from the scene of the accident. The investigation was conducted by the military prosecutor of the 1st Belorussian Front, Kotlyar. The Moscow archives refused us.

Berzarin was considered a cool driver. It was not the brakes that could fail, but the heart, perhaps, something was added: the day before, on June 14, there was a reception. The situation was difficult: sabotage became more frequent, signals appeared that the Allies were preparing an invasion of the Soviet zone. Churchill ordered the storage of captured weapons so that, on occasion, they would be quickly distributed to prisoners, of whom there were up to 700,000 in the western zones.

Stalin was shocked by the death of Berzarin. On June 16, the coffin with the general's body stood in the hall, where five weeks ago he was present at the signing of the act of surrender, and then celebrated the Victory until the morning. In practice, surgeons performed plastic surgery, as the head was flattened.

Life for Bormann?

The most incredible version of Berzarin's death - the version about the party's fund - is put forward in the pseudo-documentary book "The Leader's Privy Counselor." Allegedly, Berzarin is personally behind the disappearance of Bormann - a Soviet resident - with the entire Nazi party treasury. The author relies on the fact that it was the 5th Shock Army, which was commanded by Berzarin, who stormed the Reich Chancellery, where Bormann was hiding, and it was the general who got his diary. Allegedly, Bormann was transported to Russia, and Berzarin was eliminated as an extra witness.

Death Parade: On the Condemned List

There are other versions as well. In the post-war years, mysterious events took place that led to the disgrace or death of the best commanders of the Soviet Army. The list is depressing.

On March 26, 1945, Marshal of the USSR Shaposhnikov, the chief of the USSR General Staff during the most difficult months of the war, died in the Kremlin hospital. His death seems inexplicable: he felt good and was ready to be discharged from the Kremlin hospital ...

On February 18, 1945, General Chernyakhovsky died under unclear circumstances.

In December 1945, Marshal Khudyakov, close to Malenkov and Beria, was arrested. In May 1946 - Marshal Novikov, they beat him to testify against Zhukov and Malenkov.

In June 1946, Marshal Zhukov was accused of high treason, heard, acquitted, but exiled to the Odessa military district.

In March 1947, suddenly, at the age of 51, Marshal Fedorkin dies - also in the Kremlin hospital.

At the end of 1947, the health of Marshal Rybalko suddenly and sharply deteriorated. He was taken to the Kremlin hospital.

In June 1948, Marshal Zhukov was summoned to the capital, where he suddenly had a heart attack. He is placed in a ward next to Marshal Rybalko's ward. On August 28, under unclear circumstances, Rybalko, who was undergoing an amendment, dies ...

Have so many generals died a natural death? Or were they killed as a result of the actions of the Soviet special services?

A number of historians believe that Malenkov, Beria and Zhukov were the targets of the MGB's military actions. Beria was compromised, Malenkov and Zhukov were on the verge of death, Zhukov was saved from death by the expulsion to the Urals. Marshals Fedorenko and Rybalko were Zhukov's loyal allies, and Berzarin was his closest assistant. There is a version that the customer of all these killings was a group of leaders of the fifth column, who seized control of the Soviet special services. The strange deaths were very similar to the planned action of the destruction of the best command staff of the Soviet Army in 1938.

Fifth Column Trail

And the arrests and mysterious deaths of commanders began with the rise of the head of SMERSH Abakumov. M minister GB was a key figure in fabricating cases, he had every opportunity to organize murders.

In the list of leaders of the fifth column for 1946 - Zhdanov, secretary of the Central Committee and the second most influential person in the USSR; Kuznetsov - Secretary of the Central Committee, the third most influential; Khrushchev, Secretary of the Central Committee; Voznesensky, head of the State Planning Commission; Suslov, secretary of the Central Committee, as well as the party leadership of Leningrad and the region.

We can add to them two marshals - Tymoshenko and Malinovsky. Let us note in passing that the relatives of Bessarabets Tymoshenko collaborated with the Romanian administration of Transnistria throughout the war, which was well known, but this did not have any consequences for the marshal.

The victims of the traitors were those who did the most for victory: Marshal Shaposhnikov, a well-known opponent of Timoshenko, Marshals Fedorkin and Rybalko, Zhukov's closest allies, General Berzarin, a promoted candidate of Blucher and Zhukov, air marshals Khudyakov and Novikov, close to Malenkov, Malenkov himself, Zhukov and Beria is Abakumov's personal enemy.

All these people were compromised, convicted, killed. The hunt went on until the removal of Abakumov.

The myth of German saboteurs

In the strange circumstances of the death of the commandant of Berlin, the following accents can be distinguished.

Berzarin was going to fly to Moscow for the Victory Parade, where he would meet with Stalin. He died under unclear circumstances. After the death of the general, SMERSH seized all his documentation.

Later, a version appeared about some German avengers - the organizers of the murder of Berzarin. But what sense did they have to deal with the commandant of Berlin? And there are no facts. In addition, the hidden action, which did not call for resistance, did not make any sense.

Remain their own.

Berzarin's visit to Moscow was dangerous

The motives of “insiders” could be as follows.

The first version. The action was ordered by Stalin, who envied Zhukov and Berzarin.

Second version. Berzarin was killed by traitors in the army, Abakumov, on Stalin's orders, seized the documentation and sent it to Moscow.

Third version. Berzarin was killed on the orders of Abakumov in order to prevent a meeting with Stalin and destroy all the documents that Berzarin was preparing for transfer to Stalin.

The first version can be discarded right away. But the second also has very weak points. If Stalin knew that Berzarin was killed in order to prevent the transmission of important information to him, why did he not do anything? No one was arrested or interrogated ...

The third version is most likely: Abakumov, as a representative of the fifth column, organizes the murder of Berzarin and destroys documents that are dangerous for the traitors.

So, Berzarin's death is limited to two circumstances: the upcoming visit to Moscow and the missing documents. Someone really did not want the general's visit to the capital and prevented it with extreme measures.

But what could the commandant of Berlin know? A lot of things.

Victim of the conflict between Zhukov and Abakumov

Marshal Zhukov and General Abakumov were on good terms until early 1945, but gradually the relationship came to naught.

On June 14, two days before the death of Berzarin, Abakumov arrives at the front headquarters. He did not report the purpose of the visit to the command of the front and immediately made arrests of the commanding staff. Zhukov arrived at the front headquarters, on the evening of June 14, met with Abakumov and expressed indignation, ordered all those arrested to be released. the guest departed on his way.

So, Abakumov just came and without any reason arrested the officers of the front headquarters, without Stalin's approval. Berzarin, as a close associate of Zhukov, undoubtedly fell under the hand.

So, on June 13, Zhukov and Berzarin attended a press conference on the post-war reconstruction of Berlin.

On June 14, the head of SMERSHA Abakumov arrives at the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front and makes arrests.

On June 14, in the evening, Zhukov comes into conflict with Abakumov and releases the arrested subordinates.

On June 16, in the morning, SMERSH employees confiscate all documentation from the office of the deceased commandant.

The parade of disgrace and deaths of those who led the USSR to victory looks like revenge on the losing side. Zhukov, Rybalko, Fedorenko, Berzarin, Shaposhnikov were the winners. In the diaries of Goebbels it is said that Hitler and Goebbels himself put Marshal Zhukov and his associates above their generals.

But in the USSR there were those who hoped for the defeat of the USSR in the war and planned it. This was the revenge of the fifth column, although it cannot be ruled out that the motives for the murders were much more serious.

... After the war, General Berzarin was covered for some time in military publications. But since 1957, his name is mentioned less and less. In Chisinau, which he was liberating, few people knew whose name Berzarin Street was named after.

Elena GERGELASH

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth
Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel-General N.E. Berzarin

The name of General Berzarin is inseparable from the Berlin operation and our Great Victory. When the storming of the capital of the Third Reich began, his 5th Shock Army was given the task of particular importance - to seize the area of ​​government quarters in the center of Berlin, including the imperial chancellery, where Hitler's headquarters was located. storming the enemy capital, - says the Soviet Military Encyclopedia, - as well as the outstanding personal qualities of its commander, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on the eve of the Berlin operation, the command appointed Berzarin on April 24, 1945 as the first Soviet commandant and head of the Soviet garrison in Berlin. On April 28, 1945, order No. 1 signed by Berzarin was published on the transfer of all power in Berlin to the hands of the Soviet military commandant's office. In a difficult situation, under the leadership of Berzarin, she set about solving difficult tasks to establish a normal life in the city. In the midst of this work, Berzarin died in the line of duty. ”Unfortunately, this is all that the reader can learn from the SVE about the Berlin period of Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin's activities. My journalistic destiny developed in such a way that for many years I knew Berzarin's military comrades-in-arms closely, visited the apartments of his wife and daughter. In my journalistic notebooks, there are records of the stories of the famous commander in arms.

FROM THE MEMORIES of a member of the military council of the 5th Shock Army, Lieutenant General Fyodor Efimovich BOKOV:
- On the fiery roads of the war, I happened to meet and work with many Soviet military leaders, but I have especially fond memories of Colonel-General N.E. Berzarine, with whom we walked from the Dniester to Berlin.
Nikolai Erastovich not only knew how to brilliantly prepare and conduct military operations, but also had a wonderful gift to attract people to himself, to arouse their respect, trust, and affection. He had an organic need for everyday communication with soldiers and officers.
The battles for Berlin were fierce, and where the most difficult situation was developing, Army Commander Berzarin was in a hurry. Without losing his hands on the reins of control of all his formations, he instantly assessed the situation in the most difficult direction, quickly helped to straighten things out. Moreover, seeing some blunders, the commander never scolded his subordinates.
I remember one hot fight in the suburbs of Berlin. General Berzarin arrived at the OP of the battalion commander, Captain F. Shapovalov.
“Why did the infantry lie down? - Sternly asked the battalion commander. "Where are the tanks, where is the artillery?"
"We are behind, Comrade General," Captain Shapovalov drew himself to attention.
“I see that we are behind. For what reason? Urgently summon the commanders of tank and artillery units to me! "
When the messengers, following the order, disappeared around the corner of the house, General Berzarin took the battalion commander aside.
"Are the losses big?"
"Big ..."
“Sorry for the guys,” the army commander shook his head. "But things could have turned out differently if you worked closely with tanks and artillery."
"There are mines around, so they lingered ..."
“I think this is not the only problem. You are below your colleagues in rank, much younger in age. Apparently, they were ashamed to demand it properly. It is so?"
"Yes, I ..." - Shapovalov blushed to the roots of his hair. “In such cases, we must act more boldly,” General Berzarin said firmly. - In battle, for every weakness shown, one has to pay with blood, or even with life itself ... "
Soon the commanders of the tank and artillery units arrived. After a conversation with the army commander, they quickly pulled up combat vehicles and guns to the infantry - and the enemy was driven out of the stronghold.
Nikolai Erastovich was able to influence the course of events at a critical moment, without shouting and swearing, to inspire people to heroic deeds. He often emphasized that noise and rudeness could not help matters. This wonderful person was of great mind and generous heart!
... Once the commander and I decided to visit one of the divisions. Passing the field kitchen, we saw a little boy in a Red Army uniform.
General Berzarin touched the driver's shoulder - the car stopped. Up close, the boy seemed even smaller. Nikolai Erastovich laughed:
“I don’t remember about such undersized soldiers in the 5th shock!”
“And this is not ours,” the soldier remarked with a garrison cap famously bent to one side, from under which a lush forelock of brown hair “gushed”, and continued gloomily:
- Comrade General! Where have you seen this? Our chef has dressed this freedman in a military uniform. I personally and some others did not approve of the chef's idea. But the next day he got this kid a cap with a red star ... Well, give him a pot of porridge - it's all right, let it burst, but the uniform, the asterisk ... We explain to our cook, and he is completely politically irresponsible. Dark forest, taiga! Just think, a freeware is a star! ..
General Berzarin, listening attentively to the forelock, turned to the cook, whose ladle had fallen out of his hands.
“Forgive me, Comrade General, if I made a mistake,” the cook began, worried. - Only this is me ... In a word, my son stayed at my house - Petrushka, that is, Petya. And this is a kid - Peter, like the same Petya. He is so friendly, everything squeezes to my kitchen. I didn’t ask - I’m looking at an armful of boards I brought for the flood. Relatives - I was transferred from theirs, German - he does not have: his father died at the front, his mother fell to death during the bombing of Kustrin ... Where can he go? Reaches me like a dad ... If I was guilty, then ... "
The cook stopped short in mid-sentence, bowed his head. The soldiers who surrounded the field kitchen were also silent. Everyone was looking forward to what the army commander would say. But he unexpectedly asked one of the warriors for a bowler hat and handed it to the cook: “Give me some porridge! I'll taste what the gallant tankers eat. "
The cook put porridge "with a mountain" into the pot.
“Doesn't offend the authorities,” General Berzarin winked at the soldiers and immediately defused the awkward situation.
Then he gestured to the boy who was standing next to the cook. And, who knows, perhaps for the first time in all the years of the war a Soviet general and a German boy ate from the same pot ...
Saying goodbye to the tankers, General Berzarin said to the forelock:
“Peter has not fought with us and is not going to fight. He himself is a victim of the war. The time will come - we will find and punish all the villains whose hands are in the blood of innocent people. And Peter? .. Let him wear a red star. She suits him ... "
FROM THE STORY of the first commandant of the Reichstag, Colonel Fyodor Matveyevich ZINCHENKO:
- I first met Nikolai Erastovich in the twenties in Blagoveshchensk. He commanded a platoon, and I was his assistant. And in the 30s, the army service famously spun us - Berzarin has grown to a division commander.
His division distinguished itself in the battles at Lake Khasan. In the Great Patriotic War, Berzarin was already in command of the army. Frontline fate scattered us on different fronts. I wanted to meet. But will he recognize me? I found out! I have not forgotten the name and patronymic.
“Hello, hello, Fedor Matveyevich! When I read about the heroes of the storming of the Reichstag and that the regiment, whose soldiers had hoisted the victorious banner over the Reichstag, was commanded by Zinchenko, I immediately thought: “Isn't that the one? My commander ... ”It turns out that he is the most. How do your brothers fight? You seem to have three of them ... "
“It was, Nikolai Erastovich, Alexey died near Berlin. Emelyan died back in 1941 on the outskirts of Moscow. In Stalingrad - Vladimir ... "
“Be strong, Fyodor Matveyevich ... A huge number of people perished. And how many more will die from wounds and other consequences of the war. "
I listened to General Berzarin, who tried to console me, and could not imagine that he himself had a little more than a month to live.
* * *
Nikolai Erastovich left us when he was a little over forty. Buried Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel-General N.E. Berzarin at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. One of the streets of the capital is named after him.

In the picture: N. BERZARIN with his family.

Berzarin headed the Soviet military administration in Berlin for only a few weeks (on June 16, 1945, he died under mysterious circumstances). But Berliners managed to love him sincerely, because many of ...

Berzarin headed the Soviet military administration in Berlin for only a few weeks (on June 16, 1945, he died under mysterious circumstances). But Berliners managed to sincerely love him, because he managed to save many of them from starvation. In his first order, the Russian general ordered that milk be given to sick children and newborns (how different his behavior was from the cannibalistic actions of Western "civilizers" on Soviet territory!). On May 13, the radio in Berlin already started working, theaters resumed rehearsals, and on September 9 Deutsche Theater showed the first premiere - Lessing's drama Nathan the Wise. After the death of the general, 10 thousand Berliners came to see him on his last journey - they honored this man so much. On June 16, all roses were cut in the gardeners of Berlin - a total of 15 thousand. By the afternoon, the coffin was at the main Soviet headquarters in Karlshorst. In the hall where five weeks ago Berzarin was present at the signing of the act of Hitler's surrender, and then celebrated the Victory until the morning.

Moscow Kremlin. To Comrade Stalin

Today, June 16, at 8:15 am in Berlin, the Hero of the Soviet Union, the commander of the 5th Shock Army and the commandant of the city of Berlin, Berzarin Nikolai Erastovich, died from a motorcycle accident in Berlin. Death occurred under the following circumstances.

At 8. 00 Com. Berzarin on a motorcycle with a sidecar went to the location of the army headquarters. Driving along Schlossstrasse streets at a speed of 60-70 km, at the intersection with Wilhelmstrasse (the current corner of Am Tirpark and Alfred-Kovalkestrasse streets - editor's note), where a convoy of trucks, Berzarin, passed through the traffic controller, without slowing down and, VISIBLE, having lost control, crashed into the left side of a Ford-6 truck.

As a result of the disaster, Berzarin received a fractured skull, fractures of his right arm and right leg, destruction of the chest with instant death. Together with him, his orderly, the Red Army soldier Polyakov, who was in the wheelchair, died.

Considering the special services to the Motherland, as well as the undesirability of leaving the grave in the future on the territory of Germany, I ask your permission for the funeral of Comrade Berzarin in Moscow, delivered by plane. Family comrade Berzarina, consisting of a wife and two children, lives in Moscow.
Commander of the 1st White Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov.

Member of the Military Council of the 1st Baltic Fleet, Lieutenant General Telegin.

6/16/1945 ".

The word "apparently" in this special message has caused various rumors. They are most detailed in an interview with the Saturday newspaper of Peter Jan, Ph.D. and researcher of the modern history of Eastern Europe, former director of the Museum of Capitulation and author of the book about Berzarin, which we publish today.

Until now, people refuse to believe that it was a banal accident. The main versions: the Germans killed, set up their own.

It is easier for us to think that only not the Germans. Post-war Berlin idolized Berzarin: Hitler inspired that the Soviets would uproot the nation, and he first began to feed it. Even before the surrender and from the army reserves. Up to free milk for children. Incredibly quickly raised the most important infrastructures from ruins, developed culture and religion. And when this man, second in Berlin after Zhukov, absurdly died, having spent only seven weeks at his post, rumors spread about the "hand of the NKVD." There was such a wording in the USSR: "reduced vigilance and familiarity." Here, they say, and paid. And the rest is a matter of technology.

Do you admit this version?

I can neither refute nor confirm it. Deeply respecting Marshal Zhukov, I have no reason not to believe the report signed by him. But I also know that he appointed Berzarin as commandant without the consent of the NKVD, and Beria then dug well for both.

I would like to end the endless discussions. But, apart from obituaries and a cipher code, there are no documents.

How did it come about? After all, Berzarin was considered a cool driver ...

Since the war, Berzarin had a Harley motorcycle. Of those that the Americans supplied under Lend-Lease. And in June, colleagues presented the trophy Tsundap KS-750, which was nicknamed the "green elephant" for its dimensions. He rode it for the first time that morning. A convoy of trucks with construction fittings was crossing the line. According to our information, the Studebakers are a gift from the Dutch king to the Red Army. And Berzarin, pressing the gas, decided to slip through the column. But he didn't have time. Affected by the lack of skills in riding a motorcycle with a sidecar and alcohol.

Alcohol at eight in the morning?

Morning or evening, but there is an interview with a doctor who found these traces in the blood. No wonder: Berzarin did not sleep for days, everything in the city of three million went through him.

The traffic controller (and not the traffic controller, like Zhukov's) would definitely stop the movement if she found out. But he was wearing a jumpsuit over a star uniform and a helmet. Disguised himself: Zhukov forbade commanders to get behind the wheel in post-front Berlin. In order not to get shot.

Werewolfs, who are German "forest brothers"? By the way, from the book of General Bokov, one of his associates, it follows that the first message sounded: "They killed." In general, they write that it was a natural terrorist attack, which Moscow hid so as not to sow panic.

Or so: it was not the brakes that failed, but the heart. After all, they could have added something the day before, the last photo was taken at the table at a reception on June 14th.
- And the evidence? Doenitz, becoming Hitler's successor, dismissed the werewolf.
- It is clear that they did not subside at once. But this is again a hypothesis. The motorcycle, by the way, was checked and found nothing. But the situation was difficult: sabotage became more frequent and signals appeared that the Allies were preparing an invasion of the Soviet zone. It was not for nothing that Zhukov ordered to work out the rise on the alert by June 15th. At first, there was only a Russian commandant's office in Berlin, Berzarin was in charge of the city, which had not yet been divided into sectors. But the inter-allied commandant's office was about to open, to which he harbored understandable skepticism.

Churchill ordered, as it became known recently, to stockpile captured weapons so that, on occasion, quickly distribute them to prisoners. And there were up to 700 thousand of them in the western zones, moreover, in military formations.

Is it true that the Red Army chauffeur shot himself in the forehead when he found out whom he had killed?

Typical folklore. When a commander - energetic, charming, magnanimous - dies at the zenith of glory and at the age of just over 40, he is doomed to posthumous mythology. Including speculative.

In 2003, a pensioner was discovered who allegedly witnessed this incident as a child. But, as it turned out after checking, at a neighboring intersection the day before. And, they say, there was no convoy, no motorcycle, but only a single truck that crashed into a tree. He is sure that the two dead in the booth were Berzarin with an orderly, and the surviving driver was very drunk. But it doesn't add up.

There is a high curb, and everyone in the car would be thrown out. The version that the commandant allegedly became a victim of the struggle for a luxurious limousine, which he tried to requisition from a Berlin restaurateur, is also not convincing enough.

It is noteworthy that both stories appeared in the press on the day when, at the suggestion of our museum, the Berlin Senate reinstated Berzarin as an honorary citizen.

So they tried to sow doubts, make him a marauder.

Speaking of looting. In one of the newest Russian biographies of Berzarin on the Internet, we read: “I tried unsuccessfully to stop the massive looting and violence of the Soviet troops in Berlin, which was connived by the high command” ...

O! This is clearly from Mr. Anthony Beaver, who reported in his book: "Russian soldiers raped every German woman between the ages of eight and eighty." Of course, the avenger instinct is a problem for any winning army. But not to the same extent.

There is also about Zhukov's order, "giving three days to plunder."

Zhukov has no such order. Definitely. On the contrary, there is a directive dated April 22, where in black and white: "No unauthorized seizure ... arbitrariness in eviction ... to guarantee the safety of property ..." - and so on. By the way, Berzarin was appointed commandant two days after this directive. As a person who could provide and control it. Until the execution on the spot.

There is also a "version". In the pseudo-documentary book "The Leader's Privy Adviser" a version is put forward where Berzarin is personally behind the disappearance of Bormann from Berlin, an alleged Soviet resident. With all the Nazi party treasury.

The author relies on the fact that it was the 5th Shock Army that stormed the Reich Chancellery, where Bormann was hiding and from where he fled, and that it was Berzarin who got his diary with the famous line: “May 1. Breakthrough attempt. "

Result: a breakthrough took place with the assistance of the commandant and SMERSH, Bormann was transported to Russia. And the companion was eliminated as an extra witness. Of course, nonsense.

In Germany, Berzarin is still honored. He was posthumously declared an honorary citizen of Berlin. True, in 1992 the liberals deprived him of this title, but the people were indignant and had to be restored. Berzarin's grandchildren visit Berlin almost every year at the invitation of the authorities. Including the Berzarin rally, which is held in the fall. In the GDR, several schools, where there were museums, bore his name. Now they are gone. But after the 12-year struggle for the return of the commandant to the ranks of the honorary Berliners was successfully completed by the efforts of the public, no one encroached on Berzarin's memory. They donated only the street (they returned the historical name - Petersburg). But Berzarin Square, the former Baltic, is still there. As well as the bronze bas-relief on the building where he worked in 1945, and the five-pointed star with the Russian inscription "To Berlin!" on the house, which was first recaptured by Berzarin's army. Moreover, in 2005 one of the bridges was renamed in his honor and a birch tree was planted at the place of death. And the youth hit of many years is mystical music performed by the Berzarin Quartet. Which is called "In memory of the Soviet commandant."

Nikolay Erastovich Berzarin

Commander of the 27th, 34th, 39th and 5th shock armies of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The first commandant of Berlin taken by Soviet troops
and the head of the Berlin garrison, Colonel General, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Nikolai, his brother and 4 sisters were left without parents early: his father died in 1917,
mother - in 1918. In 1913 he entered evening courses at the Petrograd elementary school, finished his education with a specialty "bookbinder".

In October 1918, Berzarin voluntarily joined the Red Army. In 1923 he graduated from the team courses. He fought on the Northern Front against the Anglo-American invaders. In 1921 he took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising,
and in the position of assistant chief of the machine-gun team - in the defeat of the gangs
in the Amur region.

After the end of the civil war, the commander and commissar of a rifle regiment, commander of rifle divisions, corps and deputy. commander of the 1st Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front.

Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin entered the Great Patriotic War as commander of the 27th Army of the Baltic Special Military District, then commanded the 34th Army of the North-Western Front; was the deputy commander of the 61st Army, the 20th Army, the commander of the 39th Army, respectively, in the Western, Kalininsky
and the 1st Baltic fronts. In March 1943, he was seriously wounded near Vyazma, after which he was in a military hospital until August 1943.

Since May 1944, he commanded the 5th Shock Army in the offensive operations of the Soviet Armed Forces: Jassy-Kishinev, Vistula-Oder, Berlin operations.

In the storming of Berlin, the 5th Shock Army under the command of Berzarin was entrusted with a combat mission of particular importance - to seize the area of ​​government quarters located in the city center, including the imperial chancellery, where Hitler's headquarters was located. Berzarin's shock army entered Berlin-Marzahn on April 21.

Considering the most successful advancement of the 5th Shock Army during the assault on Berlin
and the outstanding personal qualities of its commander, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on the eve of the Berlin operation, Marshal Zhukov appoints on April 24
1945 Berzarin was the first Soviet commandant and head of the Soviet garrison in Berlin.

On April 28, 1945, order No. 1 signed by Berzarin was published
"On the transfer of all power in Berlin into the hands of the Soviet military commandant's office." The city commandant's office is located in the Lichtenberg district,
while the headquarters of the Soviet garrison, which was also subordinate to him, was in the Karlshorst area.

As city commander, he advocates for the restoration of order, creates the city police and provides orders for the supply of the population. In addition, he invites the first post-war magistrate and is concerned about the revitalization of cultural life.
in the town.

On June 16, 1945, Berzarin was killed in a motorcycle accident in a truck convoy in Berlin-Friedrichsfeld. Buried at the Novodevichy cemetery
in Moscow.

On this day:

Kulevchinskoe battle

On June 11, 1829, Russian troops under the command of General of Infantry Ivan Dibich inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turkish army at Kulevche in eastern Bulgaria.

Kulevchinskoe battle

On June 11, 1829, Russian troops under the command of General of Infantry Ivan Dibich inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turkish army at Kulevche in eastern Bulgaria.

The Russian army, numbering 125 thousand people and 450 guns, laid siege to the fortress of Silistria occupied by Turkish troops. On June 11, a Russian detachment attacked the Turks and captured the heights of the village of Kulevcha.

The victory in the Battle of Kulevchin gave the Russian army a passage through the Balkans to Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey). The Turkish army lost 5 thousand people killed, 1.5 thousand prisoners, 43 guns and all the food. The Russian army lost 1270 people killed.

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Adrianople, Russian troops left Kulevch. Thousands of Bulgarians rushed after them, fearing Turkish repressions. Kulevch became empty, and the settlers founded a new village in the Odessa region, which is still called Kulevch. where do they live today about 5000 ethnic Bulgarians.

The execution of Tukhachevsky

On June 11, 1937, the highest commanders and political workers of the Soviet Armed Forces Tukhachevsky, Primakov, Yakir, Uborevich, Eideman and others were shot about the verdict of a military tribunal in Moscow on charges of organizing a "military-fascist conspiracy in the Red Army."

The execution of Tukhachevsky

On June 11, 1937, the highest commanders and political workers of the Soviet Armed Forces Tukhachevsky, Primakov, Yakir, Uborevich, Eideman and others were shot about the verdict of a military tribunal in Moscow on charges of organizing a "military-fascist conspiracy in the Red Army."

This process went down in history as the "Tukhachevsky case". It arose 11 months before the execution of the sentence in July 1936. Then, through Czech diplomats, Stalin received information that Among the leadership of the Red Army, a conspiracy is brewing, led by Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Mikhail Tukhachevsky, and that the conspirators are in contact with the leading generals of the German High Command and the German intelligence service. A dossier stolen from SS security services, which contained documents of the special department "K" - a camouflaged Reichswehr organization dealing with the production of weapons and ammunition prohibited by the Versailles Treaty. The dossier contained recordings of conversations between German officers and representatives of the Soviet command, including the minutes of negotiations with Tukhachevsky. With these documents, a criminal case began under the code name "The Conspiracy of General Turguev" (the pseudonym of Tukhachevsky, under which he came to Germany with an official military delegation in the early 1930s).

Today, in the liberal press, the version that "stupid Stalin" became a victim of the provocation of the special services of Nazi Germany, who planted fabricated documents about the "conspiracy in the Red Army" for the purpose of decapitation Soviet Armed Forces on the eve of the war.

I happened to get acquainted with the criminal case against Tukhachevsky, but there was no confirmation of this version. I'll start with the confessions of Tukhachevsky himself. The marshal's first written statement after his arrest was dated May 26, 1937. He wrote to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Yezhov: “Being arrested on May 22, arriving in Moscow on the 24th, I was first interrogated on the 25th and today, on May 26, I declare that I admit the existence of an anti-Soviet military Trotskyist conspiracy and that I was at the head of it. I undertake to independently explain to the investigation everything concerning the conspiracy, without hiding any of its participants, not a single fact and document. The founding of the conspiracy dates back to 1932. It was attended by: Feldman, Alafuzov, Primakov, Putna and others, which I will show in detail in addition. " During interrogation by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Tukhachevsky said: “Back in 1928, I was dragged into the right-wing organization by Yenukidze. In 1934, I personally contacted Bukharin; I established an espionage relationship with the Germans since 1925, when I went to Germany for exercises and maneuvers ... While traveling to London in 1936, Putna arranged for me to meet with Sedov (the son of L.D. Trotsky. - S.T.) .. . "

There are also materials in the criminal case that were previously collected on Tukhachevsky, which at one time were not given a course. For example, testimony from 1922 of two officers who served in the past in the tsarist army. They named ... Tukhachevsky the inspirer of their anti-Soviet activities. Copies of the interrogation protocols were reported to Stalin, who sent them to Ordzhonikidze with such a meaningful note: "Please read. Since this is not excluded, it is possible." Ordzhonikidze's reaction is unknown - he apparently did not believe the slander. There was another case: the secretary of the party committee of the Western Military District complained to the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs about Tukhachevsky (wrong attitude towards the communists, immoral behavior). But the People's Commissar M. Frunze imposed a resolution on the information: "The Party believed Comrade Tukhachevsky, it believes and will continue to believe." An interesting extract from the testimony of the arrested brigade commander Medvedev that in 1931 he became "aware" of the existence of a counter-revolutionary Trotskyist organization in the central directorates of the Red Army. On May 13, 1937, Yezhov arrested Dzerzhinsky's former comrade-in-arms A. Artuzov, and he testified that information received in 1931 from Germany reported a conspiracy in the Red Army under the leadership of a certain General Turguev (pseudonym Tukhachevsky), who was in Germany. Yezhov's predecessor, Yagoda, said at the same time: "This is not serious material, turn it over to the archive."

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, fascist documents with assessments of the "Tukhachevsky case" became known. Here is some of them.

An interesting diary entry by Goebbels dated May 8, 1943: "There was a conference of Reichsleiters and Gauleiters ... The Fuehrer recalled the incident with Tukhachevsky and expressed the opinion that we were completely wrong when we believed that Stalin would destroy the Red Army in this way. The opposite was true: Stalin got rid of the opposition in the Red Army and thus put an end to defeatism. "

In his speech before subordinates In October 1943, SS Reichsfuehrer Himmler said: “When large demonstration trials were going on in Moscow and the former Tsarist cadet, and subsequently the Bolshevik General Tukhachevsky and other generals, all of us in Europe, including us, members of the party and the SS, adhered to opinions that the Bolshevik system and Stalin made one of their biggest mistakes here. By assessing the situation in this way, we have greatly deceived ourselves. We can truthfully and confidently state this. I believe that Russia would not have withstood all these two years of war - and now it is already in its third - if it had kept the former tsarist generals. "

On September 16, 1944, a conversation took place between Himmler and the traitor general A.A. Vlasov, during which Himmler asked Vlasov about the Tukhachevsky case. Why did he fail. Vlasov replied: "Tukhachevsky made the same mistake as your people on July 20 (an attempt on Hitler's life). He did not know the law of the masses." Those. and one and the second conspiracy is not denied.

V his memoirs, a major Soviet intelligence officer Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov states: “The myth of the involvement of German intelligence in Stalin’s reprisal against Tukhachevsky was first launched in 1939 by the defector V. Krivitsky, a former officer of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army, in the book“ I was Stalin’s agent ”. In doing so, he referred to the white general Skoblin, a prominent agent of the INO NKVD among the white emigration. Skoblin, according to Krivitsky, was a double working for German intelligence. In reality, Skoblin was not a double. His undercover case completely refutes this version. The invention of Krivitsky, who became a mentally unstable person in emigration, was later used by Schellenberg in his memoirs, attributing to himself the merit in falsifying the Tukhachevsky case.

Even if Tukhachevsky turned out to be clean before the Soviet government, in his criminal case I found such documents, after reading which his execution seems to be well deserved. Here are some of them.

In March 1921, Tukhachevsky was appointed commander of the 7th Army, aimed at suppressing the uprising of the Kronstadt garrison. TO It is known to have been drowned in blood.

In 1921 Soviet Russia was engulfed in anti-Soviet uprisings, the largest of which in European Russia was the peasant uprising in the Tambov province. Regarding the Tambov uprising as a serious danger, the Politburo of the Central Committee at the beginning of May 1921 appointed Tukhachevsky as the commander of the troops of the Tambov district with the task of completely suppressing it as soon as possible. According to the plan developed by Tukhachevsky, the uprising was largely suppressed by the end of July 1921.

Venus' atmosphere explored

On June 11, 1985 the automatic interplanetary station "Vega-1" reached the vicinity of the planet Venus and carried out a complex of scientific research under the international project "Venus - Halley's comet". As early as June 4, 1960, the USSR government issued a decree "On plans for space exploration", which ordered the creation of a launch vehicle for a flight to Mars and Venus.

Venus' atmosphere explored

On June 11, 1985 the automatic interplanetary station "Vega-1" reached the vicinity of the planet Venus and carried out a complex of scientific research under the international project "Venus - Halley's comet". As early as June 4, 1960, the USSR government issued a decree "On plans for space exploration", which ordered the creation of a launch vehicle for a flight to Mars and Venus.

From February 1961 to June 1985, 16 Venera spacecraft were launched in the USSR. In December 1984, the Soviet spacecraft Vega-1 and Vega-2 were launched to explore Venus and Halley's comet. On June 11 and 15, 1985, these AMS reached Venus and dropped landing modules into its atmosphere.
As a result of the experiments carried out by the devices, the atmosphere of the planet was studied in detail, which is the densest among the planets of the terrestrial group, since it contains up to 96 percent of carbon dioxide, up to 4 percent of nitrogen and a little water vapor. A thin layer of dust was discovered on the surface of Venus. Most of it is occupied by hilly plains, the highest mountains rise 11 kilometers above average surface level.

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