Monument to the unknown soldier near the Kremlin wall. Eternal flame in the Alexander Garden
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is an architectural memorial ensemble in the city of Moscow, near the walls of the Kremlin, in the Alexander Garden. The center of the composition has been burning for 34 years. People come to the monument to bow to the fighter who gave his life for his Motherland.
Description
The tombstone is decorated with a bronze composition: a laurel branch and a soldier's helmet, reclining on the banner of military glory. In the center of the architectural composition is a niche made of labradorite, where the words are carved: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." In the middle of the niche is a bronze five-pointed star, in which Eternal flame military glory.
To the left of the burial there is a wall made of quartzite with the words written on it: "1941 fallen for the Motherland 1945". To the right of the grave is an alley of granite with blocks of dark red porphyry. Each of them bears a medal Golden Star”and the name of the hero city is inscribed: Kyiv, Leningrad, Odessa, Stalingrad, Minsk, Sevastopol, Smolensk, Murmansk, Tula, Brest, Novorossiysk, Kerch. The blocks contain capsules with earth taken from the listed objects.
On the right side of the alley there is a stele made of red granite, on which the names of magpies are immortalized.
Creation idea
In 1966, Muscovites prepared with special solemnity to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the defense of their city. The position of the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee at that time was occupied by Egorychev Nikolai Grigorievich. This man was one of the communist reformers who played an important role in the politics of the state.
The anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War began to be celebrated with special pomp since 1965, after Moscow became a hero city, and May 9 was made a holiday, non-working day. It was then that the idea arose to erect a monument to ordinary soldiers who lost their lives during the defense of the capital. Egorychev decided to make this monument popular. In 1966, Nikolai Grigoryevich received a call from Nikolaevich and said that there was a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Poland, and suggested that such a monument be erected in Moscow. Egorychev replied that he was just considering this project. Soon the sketches of the memorial were shown to the first leaders of the country - Mikhail Andreevich Suslov and Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.
Location selection
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument close to the heart of every person. The choice of the site on which it will be located was given exceptional importance. Egorychev immediately suggested that a memorial be erected in the Alexander Garden, and there was just the right place. However, Brezhnev did not like this idea. The biggest obstacle was that in this area there was an obelisk created in honor of the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913. After the coup of 1917, the names of the reigning persons were erased from the pedestal, and in their place the names of the revolutionary leaders were knocked out. The list of titans of the revolution was compiled personally by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. And in the USSR, everything that was connected with this person was not allowed to be touched. However, Yegorychev took a risk, deciding to move the obelisk a little to the side without the highest approval. Nikolai Grigorievich was sure that he would not receive permission anyway, and the discussion of this issue would drag on for many years. Together with the head of the architectural department of the capital, Fomin Gennady, they moved the obelisk, so cleverly that no one noticed it. However, in order to start building global work, the approval of the Politburo was needed, which Egorychev received with great difficulty.
Search for remains
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow was intended for a soldier who died for his Motherland. Then large-scale construction was carried out in the city of Zelenograd, during which it was discovered with the remains of soldiers. However, the Politburo had many sensitive issues. Whose ashes to bury? What if it will be the remains of a German or a shot deserter? Now each of us understands that any person is worthy of prayer and memory, but in 1965 they thought differently. Therefore, all the circumstances of the death of the soldiers were subjected to a thorough check. We opted for the remains of a soldier on whom she survived military uniform(it did not have commander's insignia). As Yegorychev later explained, the deceased could not have been wounded and taken prisoner, because the Germans did not reach Zelenograd, the unknown was not a deserter either - before being shot, the belt was removed from them. It was clear that the body belonged Soviet people who heroically died in the battle for the defense of Moscow. No documents were found with him, his ashes were truly nameless.
burial
The military developed a ritual for the solemn burial of an unknown soldier. The body of a soldier from Zelenograd was delivered to Moscow on a gun carriage. In 1966, on December 6, thousands of people stretched along Gorky Street from the very morning. They wept as the procession passed by. The funeral cortege reached Manezhnaya Square in mournful silence. The last few meters of the coffin were carried by leading members of the party, such as Marshal Rokossovsky. Yevgeny Konstantinovich Zhukov was not allowed to carry the remains because he was in disgrace. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the photo of which you can see in this article, has become iconic place which everyone aspires to visit.
Eternal flame
On May 7, 1967, a torch from the Eternal Flame was lit in Leningrad. By baton, the fire was delivered to the capital. They say that the whole way from Leningrad to Moscow was littered with people. On the morning of May 8, the procession reached the capital. The first to receive the torch at Manezhnaya Square was the legendary pilot, hero Soviet Union, Alexei Maresiev. A unique newsreel that captured this moment has been preserved. People froze in anticipation of the most important event- Lighting the Eternal Flame.
The opening of the memorial was entrusted to Yegorychev. And Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev had a chance to light the Eternal Flame.
Commemorative inscription
Everyone who comes to the memorial sees the words at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal." This inscription has authors. When the Central Committee approved the project to create a monument, Yegorychev gathered the leading writers of the country - Simonov, Narovchatov, Smirnov and Mikhalkov - and invited them to compose an epitaph. They settled on the sentence: "His name is unknown, his feat is immortal." When everyone dispersed, Nikolai Grigorievich thought about what words each person would approach the grave with. And he decided that the inscription should contain a direct appeal to the deceased. Egorychev phoned Mikhalkov, and they came to the conclusion that the line that we can observe today should appear on the granite slab.
Nowadays
In 1997, on December 12, the Decree of the President of Russia was signed, according to which the guard of honor is transferred from to the place where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located. There is a changing of the guard every hour. In 2009, on November 17, in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 1297, the burial became the National Memorial of Military Glory. From December 16, 2009 to February 19, 2010, the monument was subject to reconstruction, in connection with which the guard of honor was not exhibited, and the laying of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was temporarily suspended. On February 23, 2010, the Eternal Flame was returned to the Alexander Garden, it was lit by Dmitry Medvedev, at that time the President of the Russian Federation.
Conclusion
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has become a symbol of mourning for all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives to save the Motherland. Everyone who was involved in the creation of this memorial felt that this work was the main thing in his life. We will disappear, our descendants will leave, and the Eternal Flame will burn.
The memorial architectural ensemble Tomb of the Unknown Soldier turns 50 on May 8.
On Monday, members of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, headed by the head General Staff The RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden. The ceremony was also attended by veterans-front-line soldiers, members of the public council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as well as students of pre-university educational institutions Ministry of Defense. The event ended with a solemn march of the guard of honor company, RIA Novosti reports.
The idea of a memorial unknown soldier in the USSR arose 20 years after the end of the Great Patriotic War- in 1965, when Moscow was awarded the title of Hero City. A huge merit in the fact that the idea was implemented belongs to the then First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, Nikolai Egorychev.
Ashes of the Unknown Soldier and the capital in 1966 from a mass grave located on the site of fierce fighting in Zelenograd, 40 kilometers from Moscow.
Later, Yegorychev said: “If it were a deserter who had been shot, the belt would have been removed from him. He could not have been wounded, taken prisoner, because the Germans had not reached that place. soviet soldier who died heroically defending Moscow. No documents were found with him in the grave - the ashes of this private were truly nameless.
On December 2, 1966, the mass grave was opened, the ashes of one of the buried were placed in a coffin, twined with an orange-black ribbon - a symbol of the soldier's Order of Glory, and a helmet of the 1941 model was placed on the lid of the coffin. Until the morning of the next day, young soldiers and veterans of the war stood guard of honor at the coffin, changing every two hours. The next day, the coffin was placed on an open car, and the funeral procession moved along the Leningrad highway to Moscow.
In the capital, the coffin was transferred to an artillery carriage and, accompanied by soldiers of the guard of honor and participants in the war, with an unfolded battle banner to the sounds of a mourning march of a military brass band, was taken to a permanent burial place near the Kremlin wall.
After the end of the funeral meeting, the coffin was lowered into the grave in the Alexander Garden. An artillery salute thundered; battalions of all branches of the military marched solemnly along Manezhnaya Square, saluting their last military honors to the Unknown Soldier.
On May 8, 1967, the memorial architectural ensemble "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was opened at this place, designed by architects D.I. Burdin, V.A. Klimova, Yu.R. Rabaev and sculptor N.V. Tomsky.
Also lit was the Eternal Flame of Glory, which bursts from the middle of a bronze star placed in the center of a mirror-polished black square of labrador, framed by a platform of red granite. The torch was delivered from Leningrad, where it was lit from the Eternal Flame on the Field of Mars.
Eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lit general secretary CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, accepting the torch from the hands of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Maresyev.
The monument is a tombstone covered with a bronze battle banner, on which lie a soldier's helmet and a laurel branch. In the center of the memorial burns the Eternal Flame of Glory, next to it is the inscription: "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal."
The memorial also includes a granite alley with pedestals of dark red porphyry, each with the name of the hero city and a chased image of the Gold Star medal. The cabinets contain capsules with the earth of hero cities. The ensemble also includes a red granite stele in memory of the cities of military glory.
On December 12, 1997, in accordance with the decree of the President of Russia, post No. 1 of the guard of honor was transferred from the Lenin Mausoleum to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guard is carried out by the military personnel of the Presidential Regiment. The changing of the guard takes place every hour. According to Presidential Decree No. 1297 dated November 17, 2009, the monument was given the status of a National Memorial of Military Glory.
One of the main monuments and symbols of the Great Patriotic War is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. Now the monument seems natural and familiar to us, but just over 50 years ago, when the idea of its creation first arose, some, including representatives of the top party leadership, were against its installation.
Dissenting Brezhnev
The idea to erect a monument arose in 1967 from the first secretary of the capital's city committee, Nikolai Yegorychev. He decided to create a memorial ensemble in memory of all the fallen in the Great Patriotic War. Yegorychev enlisted the support of the influential Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin. It was supposed to install a monument in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Kremlin next to the Corner (Arsenal) tower. But General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev still had to give consent. And he just did not approve of the location of the monument. The Alexander Garden, Brezhnev believed, was not suitable for such an ensemble. The problem was ideology. The fact is that on the site of the future memorial at that time there was already another monument - to revolutionary thinkers and fighters for the liberation of workers. Until 1918, it was an obelisk in honor of the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty, then it was converted into a monument to the revolutionaries. To remove the monument would be unheard of impudence and almost a state crime.
Alternative places
Egorychev was offered other locations. The following options were considered: Manezhnaya Square, Repin Square (now Bolotnaya), Maurice Thorez Embankment (now Sofiyskaya), as well as the intersection of Kutuzovsky Prospekt and Dorogomilovskaya Street (now there is an obelisk to the Hero City of Moscow). But the initiators of the installation of the monument to the Unknown Soldier refused to consider these places. They referred to the fact that those who died for the cause of the revolution had already been buried near the Kremlin. Nevertheless, Brezhnev continued to brush off the idea. A violent conflict brewed.
Egorychev's maneuver
Egorychev was not one of the timid and decided to defend his position to the end. At the same time, he was well aware that he was playing with fire, going against the top party leadership. The first secretary of the Moscow City Committee went to the trick. In early November 1966, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the occasion of the next anniversary October revolution he exhibited sketches of the future memorial in the rest room of Politburo members. They saw the project and approved it. Brezhnev was put in an awkward position: it was no longer possible to refuse the monument.
Hard selection
After that, the question arose - who will embody the collective image of the Unknown Soldier? The fighter had to meet strict criteria: not to stain himself with war crimes, including desertion, not to die in captivity and, of course, he should not have had any identity documents with him.
Just at that time, active construction was underway in Zelenograd. Workers accidentally stumbled upon a mass grave Soviet soldiers. She was in a place that the Germans did not reach. So, the fighter died not in captivity. A belt was preserved on the uniform of one of the soldiers - not a deserter. Accordingly, the unknown warrior also did not have any documents. It was decided to bury this nameless hero near the Kremlin wall.
On the last journey
A whole ritual of his burial was developed. The remains of the soldier were brought from Zelenograd. One December day in 1966, a human chain of thousands of people lined up on Gorky Street (now Tverskaya). Many wept as the funeral procession passed by. The cortege proceeded to Manezhnaya Square in deathly silence. The last few tens of meters to the burial place, the coffin was carried by high-ranking party and military officials, including Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky. Georgy Zhukov was not allowed to carry the remains: the commander was in disgrace.
The eternal flame for the memorial was lit on May 7, 1967 on the Field of Mars in Leningrad. The next day he arrived in the capital. On Manezhnaya Square, the torch was met by the Hero of the USSR, pilot Alexei Maresyev, and Leonid Brezhnev lit the Eternal Flame near the Kremlin wall.
Commemorative inscription
“Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal” - these words are seen by everyone who comes to the monument. Their authorship belongs to the writer Sergei Mikhalkov. After the monument project was approved, Yegorychev spoke with leading Soviet writers, including Mikhalkov, Konstantin Simonov and others. They were asked to compose an epitaph. Yegorychev asked to think about what words would appear in a person's head when he approaches the memorial. In his opinion, the inscription should have contained an appeal to the fallen hero. As a result, the Mikhalkov variant was chosen.
In December 1966, on the 25th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow, the ashes of the Unknown Soldier were transferred to the Alexander Garden from the 41st kilometer of the Leningrad Highway - the place of bloody battles.
The eternal flame of glory, bursting out from the middle of a bronze military star, was lit from a flame blazing on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg. “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal” - inscribed on the granite slab of the tombstone.
On the right, along the Kremlin wall, urns are placed in a row, where the sacred land of the hero cities is kept.
Website of the President
FIGHTS AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE LENINGRAD AND LYALOVSKY HIGHWAYS
In 1967, a local forester, an eyewitness to a fierce battle at the 41st kilometer, told about an unusual episode of the battle in 1941 to the builders of Zelenograd, who helped build a monument with a T-34 tank: “German armored vehicles were approaching along the highway from Chashnikov ... Suddenly our tank moved towards them. Having reached the intersection, the driver jumped into the ditch on the move, and a few seconds later the tank was hit. A second tank followed. History repeated itself: the driver jumped, the enemy shot, another tank cluttered the highway. So a kind of barricade of wrecked tanks was formed. The Germans were forced to look for a detour to the left
An excerpt from the memoirs of the commissar of the 219th howitzer regiment, Alexei Vasilyevich Penkov (see: Works of the GZIKM, issue 1. Zelenograd, 1945, p. 65-66): “By 13 o’clock, the Germans, having concentrated superior forces of infantry, tanks and aviation, broke the resistance of our neighbor on the left ... and through the village of Matushkino, tank units entered the Moscow-Leningrad highway, semi-surrounding our rifle units and began shelling firing positions with tank guns. Dozens of German dive bombers hung in the air. Communication with the command post of the regiment was broken. Two divisions deployed for all-round defense. They shot german tanks and direct fire infantry. Chuprunov, I and the signalmen were 300 meters from the firing positions of the batteries on the church bell tower in the village of B. Rzhavka.
With the onset of darkness, the Nazis calmed down and fell silent. We went to see the battlefield. The picture for the war is familiar, but terrible: half of the compositions of gun crews died, many commanders of fire platoons and guns failed. 9 guns, 7 tractors were destroyed. The last wooden houses and barns on this western outskirts of the village were burning down...
On December 1, in the area of the village of B. Rzhavka, the enemy only occasionally fired mortars. On this day, the situation stabilized ...
HERE AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER DIE
Newspapers in early December 1966 reported that on December 3, Muscovites bowed their heads in front of one of their heroes - the Unknown Soldier, who died in the harsh days of December 1941 on the outskirts of Moscow. In particular, the Izvestia newspaper wrote: “... he was slain for the Fatherland, for his native Moscow. That's all we know about him."
On December 2, 1966, representatives of the Moscow City Council and a group of soldiers and officers of the Taman division arrived at the place of the former burial place on the 41st km of the Leningradskoye Highway around noon. The Taman soldiers cleared the snow around the grave and proceeded to open the grave. At 2:30 pm, the remains of one of the soldiers resting in a mass grave were placed in a coffin, twined with an orange-black ribbon - a symbol of the soldier's Order of Glory, on the lid of the coffin in the heads - a helmet of the 41st year. A coffin with the remains of the Unknown Soldier was placed on the pedestal. All evening, all night and the next morning, changing every two hours, young soldiers with machine guns, veterans of the war, stood in the guard of honor at the coffin.
Cars passing by stopped, people from the surrounding villages, from the village of Kryukovo, from Zelenograd, walked. On December 3, at 11:45 a.m., the coffin was placed on an open car, which moved along the Leningrad highway to Moscow. And everywhere along the way, the funeral procession was accompanied by residents of the Moscow region, lined up along the highway.
In Moscow, at the entrance to the street. Gorky (now Tverskaya), the coffin was transferred from the car to an artillery carriage. An armored personnel carrier with an unfolded combat banner moved on to the sounds of a mourning march of a military brass band. He was accompanied by soldiers of the guard of honor, participants in the war, participants in the defense of Moscow.
The cortege was approaching the Alexander Garden. Here everything is ready for the rally. On the podium among the leaders of the party and government - participants in the battle for Moscow - Marshals of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and K.K. Rokossovsky.
“The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the ancient walls of the Moscow Kremlin will become a monument of eternal glory to the heroes who died on the battlefield for native land, from now on, the ashes of one of those who shielded Moscow with their breasts lie here ”- these are the words of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky, said at the rally.
A few months later, on May 8, 1967, on the eve of Victory Day, the monument "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" was unveiled and the Eternal Flame was lit.
IN NO OTHER COUNTRY
EMAR VILLAGE (Primorsky Territory), September 25, 2014. The head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ivanov, supported the proposal to make December 3 the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
“Such a memorable day, if you like, a day of remembrance, could well be done,” he said, responding to a proposal made during a meeting with the winners and participants of the competition among school search teams “Search. Finds. Opening".
Ivanov noted that this is especially relevant for Russia, given that there were no such number of missing soldiers as in the USSR in any country. According to the head of the presidential administration, the majority of Russians will support the establishment of December 3 as the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
THE FEDERAL LAW
ON AMENDMENTS TO ARTICLE 1.1 OF THE FEDERAL LAW "ON THE DAYS OF MILITARY GLORY AND MEMORABLE DATES OF RUSSIA"
To introduce into Article 1.1 of the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 N 32-FZ "On the days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia" ... the following changes:
1) add a new paragraph fourteen of the following content:
President of Russian Federation
Consultant Plus
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
For the first time, this concept itself (as well as a memorial) appeared in France, when on November 11, 1920, an honorary burial of an unknown soldier who died in the First World War was made in Paris near the Arc de Triomphe. And at the same time, the inscription “Un soldat inconnu” appeared on this memorial and the Eternal Flame was solemnly lit.
Then, in England, at Westminster Abbey, a memorial appeared with the inscription "Soldier great war whose name is known to God. Later, such a memorial appeared in the United States, where the ashes of an unknown soldier were buried at the Arlington Cemetery in Washington. The inscription on the tombstone: "Here lies a famous and honored American soldier, whose name only God knows."
In December 1966, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow, the ashes of an unknown soldier were transferred to the Kremlin wall from a burial place near the 41st kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway. On the slab lying on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an inscription is made: “Your name is unknown. Your feat is immortal "(author of the words - poet Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov).
Used: in the literal sense, as a symbol of all the dead soldiers, whose names have remained unknown.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M., 2003
Every year on the ninth of May, Muscovites go to the Eternal Flame to bow to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. However, few people already remember the people who created this memorial. The eternal flame has been burning for 50 years. It seems like he has always been there. However, the history of its ignition is extremely dramatic. It had its own tears and tragedy.
Every year on the ninth of May, Muscovites go to the Eternal Flame to bow to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. However, few people already remember the people who created this memorial. The eternal flame has been burning for 34 years. It seems like he has always been there. However, the history of its ignition is extremely dramatic. It had its own tears and tragedy.
In December 1966, Moscow was preparing to solemnly celebrate the 25th anniversary of the defense of Moscow. At that time, the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee was Nikolai Grigoryevich Egorychev. A man who played a prominent role in politics, including in the dramatic situation of the removal of Khrushchev and the election of Brezhnev to the post of General Secretary, one of the communist reformers.
Especially solemnly, the anniversary of the victory over the Nazis began to be celebrated only in 1965, when Moscow was awarded the title of Hero City and May 9 officially became a non-working day. Actually, then the idea was born to create a monument to ordinary soldiers who died for Moscow. However, Yegorychev understood that the monument should not be Moscow, but nationwide. This could only be a monument to the Unknown Soldier.
Somehow, at the beginning of 1966, Alexey Nikolayevich Kosygin called Nikolai Yegorychev and said: "I was recently in Poland, I laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Why is there no such monument in Moscow?" “Yes,” Yegorychev answers, “we are just thinking about it right now.” And he talked about his plans. Kosygin liked the idea. When work on the project was over, Yegorychev brought the sketches to the premiere. However, it was necessary to acquaint Brezhnev with the project. And at that time he left somewhere, so Yegorychev went to the Central Committee to Mikhail Suslov, showed sketches.
He also approved the project. Soon Brezhnev returned to Moscow. He received the Moscow leader very coldly. Apparently, he became aware that Yegorychev had reported everything to Kosygin and Suslov earlier. Brezhnev began to ponder whether it was worth building such a memorial at all. At that time, the idea was already in the air to give exclusivity to the battles on Malaya Zemlya. In addition, as Nikolai Grigorievich told me: "Leonid Ilyich understood perfectly well that the opening of a monument close to the heart of every person would strengthen my personal authority. And Brezhnev did not like this even more." However, besides the question of the "struggle of authorities" other, purely practical problems arose. And the main one is a place for a monument.
Brezhnev rested: "I don't like the Alexander Garden. Look for another place."
Two or three times Egorychev returned to this question in conversations with the General. All to no avail.
Egorychev insisted on the Alexander Garden, near the ancient Kremlin wall. Then it was a unkempt place, with a stunted lawn, the wall itself required restoration. But the biggest obstacle lay elsewhere. Almost on the very spot where the Eternal Flame is now burning, there was an obelisk built in 1913 for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. After the revolution, the names of the reigning house were scraped off the obelisk and the names of the titans of the revolution were knocked out.
The list was allegedly compiled personally by Lenin. To assess what happened next, let me remind you that at that time touching anything connected with Lenin was a monstrous sedition. Egorychev suggested that the architects, without asking anyone for the highest permission (because they would not allow it), quietly move the obelisk a little to the right, to where the grotto is located. And no one will notice. The funny thing is that Yegorychev was right. If they had begun to coordinate the issue of moving the Lenin monument with the Politburo, the matter would have dragged on for years.
Yegorychev appealed to the common sense of Gennady Fomin, head of the Moscow architectural directorate. Persuaded to act without permission. By the way, if something went wrong, for such arbitrariness they could easily be deprived of all positions, if not worse ...
And yet, before starting global construction works required the approval of the Politburo. However, they did not intend to convene the Politburo. Yegorychev's note on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been lying in the Politburo since May 1966 without movement. Then Nikolai Grigorievich again went for a little trick.
He asked Fomin to prepare materials for the design of the monument: models, tablets - by November 6, the anniversary of the revolution - and put them in the rest room of the presidium in the Palace of Congresses. When the ceremonial meeting ended and members of the Politburo began to enter the room, I asked them to come and see the models. Someone was even surprised: after all, they had nothing to do with the anniversary of the revolution. Told them about the monument. Then I ask: "What is your opinion?" All members of the Politburo unanimously say: "This is great!" I'm wondering if I can get started?
I see that Brezhnev has nowhere to go - the Politburo voted "for" ...
Memorial complex "Bayonets" near Zelenograd - a mass grave from which the ashes of an unknown soldier were transferred for burial in Moscow
Last most main question- where to look for the remains of a soldier? At that time, a large construction was going on in Zelenograd, and there, during earthworks, a mass grave, lost since the war, was found. The secretary of the city committee for construction, Alexei Maksimovich Kalashnikov, was entrusted with conducting this case.
Then even more delicate questions arose: whose remains will be buried in the grave? What if it turns out to be the body of a deserter? Or a German? By and large, from the height of today, no matter who is there, anyone is worthy of memory and prayer.
But in 1965 they didn't think so. Therefore, everyone tried to carefully check. As a result, the choice fell on the remains of a warrior, on whom the military uniform was well preserved, but on which there were no commander's insignia. As Yegorychev explained to me: “If it were a deserter who had been shot, the belt would have been removed from him. He could not have been wounded, taken prisoner, because the Germans had not reached that place. So it was completely clear that this was a Soviet soldier, who died heroically defending Moscow. No documents were found with him in the grave - the ashes of this private were truly nameless. "
The military developed a solemn burial ritual. From Zelenograd, the ashes were delivered to the capital on a gun carriage. On December 6, hundreds of thousands of Muscovites were standing all along Gorky Street from early morning. People wept as the funeral cortege passed by. Many old women secretly overshadowed the coffin with the sign of the cross. In mournful silence, the procession reached Manezhnaya Square. The last meters of the coffin were carried by Marshal Rokossovsky and prominent members of the party. The only one who was not allowed to carry the remains was Marshal Zhukov, who was then in disgrace ...
On May 7, 1967, a torch was lit from the Eternal Flame on the Field of Mars in Leningrad, which was delivered to Moscow by relay. They say that there was a living corridor all the way from Leningrad to Moscow - people wanted to see what was sacred to them. In the early morning of May 8, the cortege reached Moscow. The streets were also filled to overflowing with people. At Manezhnaya Square, the torch was received by the Hero of the Soviet Union, the legendary pilot Alexei Maresyev. Unique chronicle footage that captured this moment has been preserved. I saw men crying and women praying. People froze, trying not to miss the most important moment - the lighting of the Eternal Flame.
The memorial was opened by Nikolay Egorychev. And Brezhnev was supposed to light the Eternal Flame.
Leonid Ilyich was explained in advance what to do. That evening in the final information program they showed a television report of how the general secretary takes the torch, approaches the star with the torch, then a cliff followed - and in the next frame they already showed the lit Eternal Flame. The fact is that during the ignition an emergency occurred, which was witnessed only by people standing nearby. Nikolay Egorychev: “Leonid Ilyich misunderstood something, and when the gas went off, he did not have time to immediately raise the torch. As a result, something like an explosion occurred. There was a bang.
Brezhnev was frightened, staggered back, almost fell. "The highest order immediately followed this impartial moment from the TV report to cut it out.
As Nikolai Grigorievich recalled, because of this incident, television covered the great event rather sparingly.
Almost all the people involved in the creation of this monument had the feeling that this is the main business of their lives and it is FOREVER, FOREVER.
Since then, every year on May 9, people come to the Eternal Flame. Almost everyone knows that he will read the lines carved on a marble slab: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." But no one comes to mind that these lines had an author. And it all happened like that. When the Central Committee approved the creation of the Eternal Flame, Yegorychev asked the then literary generals - Sergei Mikhalkov, Konstantin Simonov, Sergei Narovchatov and Sergei Smirnov - to come up with an inscription on the grave. We settled on the following text: "His name is unknown, his feat is immortal." Under these words, all the writers put their signatures ... and left.
Egorychev was left alone. Something in the final version did not suit him: “I thought,” he recalled, “how people would approach the grave. Maybe those who lost their loved ones and do not know where they found peace. What will they say?
Probably: "Thank you, soldier! Your feat is immortal!" Although it was late in the evening, Yegorychev called Mikhalkov: “The word“ his ”should be replaced with“ yours ”.
Mikhalkov thought: "Yes," he says, "this is better." So the words carved in stone appeared on the granite slab: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal"...
It would be great if we no longer had to compose new inscriptions over the new graves of unknown soldiers. Although this, of course, is a utopia. One of the greats said: "Time is changing - but our attitude to our Victories does not change." Indeed, we will disappear, our children and great-grandchildren will leave, and the Eternal Flame will burn.
P.S. On October 24, 2014, the State Duma announced December 3 memorable date Russia - Day of the Unknown Soldier. The date is set in memory of all the unknown soldiers.