The other day I visited the offspring of the famous noble family Stakhovichi - Mikhail Mikhailovich. Four years ago, he, who had lived all his life in Austria and the United States, returned to his family nest, which during October revolution left his parents - the village of Palna-Mikhailovka, Stanovlyansky district of the Lipetsk region.
I will not hide, despite the conflicting feelings that some facts of his biography evoke, such as, for example, service in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht from 1939 to 1945, it is interesting for me to communicate with this old man.
Not always, however, the tongue turns to call him an old man, because at 88 years old, Mikhail Stakhovich looks great - fit, athletic and, most importantly, in his right mind and memory.
Stakhovich never ceases to amaze. During our last meeting, he stunned me by the fact that he had just returned from a road trip through Europe, having wound ten and a half thousand kilometers on the speedometer of his Renault minivan. I went by car to Austria, visited my daughter in Sweden, rested with my young wife in Croatia, and transited half of Europe. At 88 years old!
To my surprise, he said that it was very convenient for him to travel behind the wheel. “I can drive for 12 hours and never get tired,” Stakhovich says.
And I look at his Russian peers and just marvel. Comparisons are not in our favor. And very few of us live to that age. Moreover, “this age” protected our country from the Nazis, the war for the most part wiped them out.
Once I told his wife Tatyana, who is half his age, about this, and she told me one interesting detail.
When we registered the marriage in Salzburg, during our honeymoon, I got to a meeting of Mikhail's classmates, Tatiana said. - Can you imagine, all his classmates are alive. And they feel great. They danced for so long! At the same time, all the guys from his class, as well as Mikhail, served in the Nazi army. There are those who survived near Stalingrad ...
Frankly, I asked Mikhail Mikhailovich different questions. And uncomfortable for him, it seems to me, including. Somehow I reproached that it was difficult for our country to recover after what the brave soldiers of Adolf Hitler had done here. So I tried to justify the whole disorder of our country. Of course, he agrees with this, but ... He once said, as if by chance, while trying not to offend me: “Berlin was destroyed Soviet troops almost to the ground. Dresden too. And such a fate befell 60 German cities. The Germans restored everything almost from scratch in 12 years. And then there was only development, and you know what Germany has become ... ".
Mikhail Stakhovich does not try to make excuses for his past, service in the Wehrmacht. It is not his fault that the Revolution of 1917 forced his father, a tsarist diplomat, to stay in Europe, where Mikhail Stakhovich was already born in 1921. And how could he, an 18-year-old boy, an Austrian citizen, know when he volunteered for the Nazi army what the Fuhrer had in mind and what fate he was preparing for his historical homeland. Stakhovich was driven by another interest - the volunteers had the advantage of choosing a place of service and a branch of service. If he had entered the army a little later, on conscription, it is not known how his fate would have turned. However, I will not repeat myself, about this in ...
Austrians aspired to the Third Reich with great desire
This time I asked Mikhail Mikhailovich about what I forgot to ask before: “Have you seen Hitler?”
One single time, - Stakhovich began his story. - It was in 1938, during the Anschluss of Austria by Germany. On March 13, our entire class was brought from Salzburg to Vienna, where the Reich Chancellor was to come. I remember we were led to some kind of bridge under which he had to pass. The people gathered on the streets of Vienna - darkness. All with flowers, flags with a swastika. And at some point, a real hysteria began, an enthusiastic cry filled my ears - a car appeared on which Hitler stood to his full height and waved his hand to the crowns that met him. I saw him...
It was the famous, triumphal entry of Adolf Hitler into Vienna, accompanied by the chief Supreme High Command armed forces Germany Wilhelm Keitel. On the same day, the law "On the reunification of Austria with the German Empire" was published, according to which Austria was declared "one of the lands German Empire"and became known as" Ostmark ".
It must be said that the absolute majority of Austrians, and this is confirmed by the witness of those events, Mikhail Stakhovich, accepted the Anschluss with approval. As Stakhovich said, and this is confirmed by history, during the so-called plebiscite on the Anschluss, which took place after the fact, on April 12, 1938, the vast majority of Austrian citizens supported him (official data - 99.75%).
But there were those who opposed the Anschluss and Hitler. There were very few of them, and after the reunification their fate was unenviable. The concentration camp was waiting for them.
The plebiscite was not secret, the Austrians voted by name, and the opponents, as they say, everyone knew by sight. Real repressions began against such people. Two Austrians, persecuted for their convictions, hid in the attic of the Stakhovich house. Mikhail Mikhailovich himself learned about this from his mother only many years later.
Of course, if the police knew about it, the fate of my family could have changed dramatically,” he says now. - I think that we, the Russians, who sheltered the opponents of the annexation of Austria to Germany, would hardly have been able to avoid reprisals.
But, the vast majority of Austrians really wanted to reunite with Germany, - recalls Mikhail Stakhovich. - The Austrians then lived very poorly, there was a terrible unemployment. And nearby was Germany, which had already grown rich, where there was no unemployment and the Germans lived very decently. Austria simply longed for reunification with Germany. It really was.
How can one not believe the old man Stakhovich? These are well known facts. Germans who lost in the First World War, whose national pride was trampled under the conditions Treaty of Versailles and subsequent events, with the advent of Hitler, they perked up great and under him Germany gained unprecedented economic power.
Admittedly, the evil genius of Adolf Aloizovich Shiklgruber did the impossible.
That is why Germany idolized him so much, and the people followed him on all his adventures. The average German did not need to know that the entire economic power of the country rose mainly on loans from American and British banks. And in order to pay off the bills, and at the same time try to win world domination, Hitler plunged the world into the most terrible meat grinder in the history of mankind.
It seemed to me that in the four years of my acquaintance with Stakhovich, I already know the biography of this living witness of the terrible events of the bygone 20th century quite well. It was stupid to think so. Nobody knows his life better than himself. And apparently there is still a lot of unknown in it. During my recent visit to Stanovoe, Mikhail Mikhailovich again showed his photo archive. Some of the photos I have already seen, and there was an opportunity to retake them. This time, among a pile of photos, one card flashed, which seemed very interesting to me and promised new pages in the history of the life of Mikhail Stakhovich. On it, Mikhail Mikhailovich stands next to American soldiers. He himself, noticing my interest in this photo, explained: “This is me after the war, in the USA, at an American military base. There I taught the Americans lessons in radio communications and encryption ... ".
Hell! It looks like another "series" of the story is brewing. We'll have to "torture" him about the soldiers of the Nazi army, who ended up in the hands of the Americans after the war, and, apparently, brought considerable benefits to their military.
There are unions of veterans in almost all countries. And in Germany, after the defeat of Nazism in 1945, all traditions of honoring and perpetuating the memory of veterans broke off. In the words of Herfried Münkler, professor of political theory at Humboldt University, Germany is a "post-heroic society." If memory is commemorated in Germany, it is not heroes, but victims of the First and Second World Wars. At the same time, the Bundeswehr, within the framework of NATO and UN peacekeeping missions, participates in military operations abroad. Therefore, a discussion began among the military and politicians: who should be considered veterans?
Veterans of the Bundeswehr
After the war, until 1955, in Germany - both in East and West - there was no army at all. Veterans unions were banned. What a glorification of heroism when German soldiers participated in the criminal conquest war? But even in the Bundeswehr founded in 1955 in the years " cold war"Veteran traditions did not arise. The functions of the army were limited to protecting their own territory, there were no hostilities.
context
AT last years the Bundeswehr is involved in operations abroad, for example, in the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan. In total, according to estimates, about 300 thousand soldiers and officers completed such service. Until very recently, these operations were not even called "war" or "combat actions" directly. It was about "assistance in establishing a peaceful order", humanitarian actions and other euphemisms.
Now decided to call a spade a spade. German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere (ThomasdeMaiziere) in September last year returned to use the word "veteran". Speaking in the Bundestag, he said that "if there are veterans in other countries, then in Germany he has the right to talk about" veterans of the Bundeswehr ".
This discussion was unleashed by the soldiers themselves - those who returned from Afghanistan with wounds or mental trauma. In 2010 they founded the "Union of German Veterans". Critics say that the very term "veteran" has been discredited by German history and is therefore unacceptable.
But who is considered a "veteran"? Everyone who wore the uniform of the Bundeswehr for some time, or only those who served abroad? Or maybe only those who participated in real hostilities? The "Union of German Veterans" has already decided: whoever served abroad is a veteran.
Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, for his part, is trying to avoid a split on the issue. Many military men believe that military service during the Cold War was also risky, so it would be wrong to assign the status of "veteran" exclusively to those who had a chance to sniff gunpowder in Afghanistan.
Will there be a Veteran's Day?
For soldiers of the Bundeswehr who have been in combat, special awards have been established - the Cross of Honor for Courage and the medal "For participation in combat. However, many military officers believe that society does not appreciate their willingness to risk their lives highly enough. After all, decisions on participation in operations abroad, the Bundestag, that is, the elected representatives of the people, takes over. Consequently, the soldiers also participate in dangerous operations at the will of the people. So why doesn't society give them the respect they deserve?
Now the possibility of establishing a special "Veteran's Day" is being discussed. This idea is also supported by the influential Union of Bundeswehr Servicemen, which unites about 200,000 active and retired military personnel. But there is also a proposal to honor on this day the work of not only soldiers, but also rescuers, police officers and employees of development aid organizations.
Secretary of Defense de Maizières is also considering establishing a special commissioner for veterans' affairs and, following the American example, special homes for veterans. But there is no increase in benefits for veterans. The Minister of Defense believes that in Germany the social security of active and retired soldiers is already at a fairly high level.
Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, living in Germany, on the eve of the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism, the German social authorities reported that a veteran's allowance to the pension they receive in Russia will now be deducted from their social benefits. Germany does not recognize our compatriots (with the exception of ethnic Germans) work experience in the USSR and Russia and pays them the lowest basic old-age allowance in Germany - 350 euros. This is the same as the German declassed citizens who have never worked anywhere and do not deserve a pension. Russian government, for its part, pays war veterans, war invalids and blockade survivors living abroad a pension supplement in the amount of approximately 70-100 euros. This money, according to German law, is considered the veteran's additional income, so it was decided to deduct the "earned" amount from the allowance paid by Germany. According to the German social legislation, similar compensation payments to war veterans and invalids, Leningrad blockade survivors and victims of Nazi repression, which are paid by German authorities, are not considered income and are not deducted from social pensions.
The appeals of Russian veterans to the German Ministry of Labor and Social Protection did not give any results, despite the fact that the problem was repeatedly raised at special hearings in the Bundestag by the Greens and the Left Party. The veterans' requests to intervene in the situation were ignored by the Russian embassy in Germany, the Pension Fund and the Russian Foreign Ministry.
German lawyers state that there is no unified federal legislation on this subject in Germany, this area is regulated by local authorities. Today, about 2 million Russian citizens live in Germany. Veterans, invalids of the Great Patriotic War and Leningrad siege survivors are only a few thousand.
For veterans of the German Wehrmacht who were in captivity and the disabled of World War II, Germany pays significant monthly pension increases - from 200 to more than 1 thousand euros. About 400 euros are received by the widows of Wehrmacht soldiers, both those who died in the war and those who died after it ended. All these payments are guaranteed to persons of German origin who "fulfilled the statutory military service in accordance with the rules of its passage and until May 9, 1945 served in German Wehrmacht". The same laws state that a participant in the Second World War who committed self-harm in order not to participate in hostilities as part of the Nazi army is deprived of all these additional payments and compensation.
According to Russian media reports, not a single country in the world, including the United States and Israel, where a significant number of Russian veterans live, claims veterans' allowances.
In the federal law "On public policy of the Russian Federation in respect of compatriots abroad” proclaimed: “Compatriots living abroad have the right to rely on the support of the Russian Federation in the exercise of their civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.” But neither the Russian Pension Fund, nor the Russian embassy, nor the Russian Foreign Ministry want to deal with Russian veterans of the Second World War, who for various reasons found themselves outside Russia. They prefer to ignore any requests and appeals on this issue. But the Russian criminals who are in prisons in Germany for violating German laws - full respect! Their consuls are obliged to visit and look for lawyers for them, in a word, to mitigate the "hard" fate of the criminal element.
Meanwhile, the Russian government has repeatedly stated its desire to improve the lives of Russian veterans. Thus, this year veterans of the Great Patriotic War will be provided with a number of additional payments and benefits. During the year, pensions for the elderly will be increased by 2,138 rubles and 2,243 rubles, respectively, for veterans and war veterans. By decision of the authorities, from May 1 to May 10, veterans will be able to move around the CIS free of charge. They will enjoy the right free travel on all types of transport, and also "will be delivered both to cities located in the CIS countries - these are Minsk, Kyiv, Brest, as well as through the territory of Russia." For these purposes, it is planned to allocate 1 billion rubles from the 2010 budget through the Ministry of Transport. By the anniversary of the Victory, veterans and invalids of the Great Patriotic War, as well as home front workers and prisoners of concentration camps will receive lump sum payments in the amount of 1,000 to 5,000 rubles. Veterans and invalids of the war will receive 5,000 rubles each, while home front workers and prisoners of concentration camps will receive 1,000 rubles each. A total of 10 million rubles are allocated from the budget for the implementation of these goals.
At the end of last year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree on an additional allocation of 5.6 billion rubles for the purchase of housing for veterans of the Great Patriotic War. The government also decided to abandon the idea of providing housing only to those who were on the waiting list before March 1, 2005. In accordance with the resolution, housing will be provided to all veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Additional funding will be used to provide housing for those veterans who did not have time to join the queue for housing before March 1, 2005. Last year, the government spent 40.2 billion rubles on improving housing conditions, and 19,442 veterans received apartments or improved their living conditions. By May 1, it was planned to provide housing for 9,813 veterans.
In 2009, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the suit of Hero Soviet Union, veteran of the Great Patriotic War Stepan Borozents, living in the United States, decided that the Heroes of the Soviet Union and other veterans-order bearers living abroad are entitled to monthly monetary compensation instead of social benefits provided for in their homeland, but only if the country where the veteran lives, Russia has a special agreement. According to the existing laws of the Russian Federation, the state is obliged to pay pensions to veterans, regardless of the location of the citizen, while the envisaged benefits can only be provided on the territory of Russia.