The fate of Colonel Isaev after the war. The prototype of Stirlitz was the elusive Soviet intelligence officer "Comrade Leonid
Stirlitz Max Otto von(German Max Otto von Stierlitz; aka Maxim Maksimovich Isaev, real name Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov) - a literary character, the hero of many works of the Russian Soviet writer Julian Semyonov, SS Standartenführer, Soviet intelligence agent who worked in the interests of the USSR in Nazi Germany and some other countries . All-Union fame for the image of Stirlitz was brought by Tatyana Lioznova's serial television film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" based on the novel of the same name, where Vyacheslav Tikhonov played his role. This character has become the most famous image of a spy in Soviet and post-Soviet culture, comparable to James Bond in Western culture.
Biography
Contrary to popular belief, Stirlitz's real name is not Maxim Maksimovich Isaev, as can be assumed from Seventeen Moments of Spring, but Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov. The surname "Isaev" is presented by Yulian Semyonov as an operational pseudonym for Vsevolod Vladimirov already in the first novel about him, "Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat".
Isaev-Stirlitz - Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov - was born on October 8, 1900 ("Expansion-2") in Transbaikalia, where his parents were in political exile.
Parents:
- Father - Russian Vladimir Aleksandrovich Vladimirov, "professor of law at St. Petersburg University, dismissed for free thinking and proximity to social democracy circles." Attracted to revolutionary movement Georgy Plekhanov.
- Mother - Ukrainian Olesya Ostapovna Prokopchuk (she died of consumption when her son was five years old).
The parents met and got married in exile. At the end of the exile, father and son returned to St. Petersburg, and then spent some time in exile, in Switzerland (Zurich and Bern). Here Vsevolod showed a love for literary work. In Bern, he worked for a newspaper. Father and son returned to their homeland in 1917. It is known that in 1911 Vladimirov Sr. and the Bolsheviks parted ways. Already after the revolution, in 1921, while his son was in Estonia, Vladimir Vladimirov was sent on a business trip to Eastern Siberia and tragically died there.
Maternal relatives:
- Grandfather - Ostap Nikitovich Prokopchuk, Ukrainian revolutionary democrat, also exiled to Transbaikal exile with his children Olesya and Taras. After the exile, he returned to Ukraine, and from there to Krakow. He died in 1915.
- Uncle - Taras Ostapovich Prokopchuk. In Krakow he married Wanda Krushanskaya. Shot in 1918.
- Cousin - Ganna Tarasovna Prokopchuk. Two children. Professional activity: architect. In 1941, her entire family died in Nazi concentration camps. ("Third card").
In 1920, Vsevolod Vladimirov worked under the name of Captain Maxim Maksimovich Isaev in the press service of the Kolchak government.
In 1921 he was already in Moscow, "working for Dzerzhinsky" as deputy head of the foreign department of the Cheka, Gleb Bokiy. From here Vsevolod is sent to Estonia (“Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat”).
In 1922, the young Chekist underground Vsevolod Vladimirov, on behalf of the leadership, was evacuated with the White troops from Vladivostok to Manchuria ("No Password Needed", "Tenderness"). Over the next 30 years, he is constantly in foreign work.
Meanwhile, in his homeland, he remains his only love for life and a son born in 1923. The son's name was Alexander (an operational pseudonym in the intelligence of the Red Army-Kolya Grishanchikov), his mother is Alexandra Nikolaevna Gavrilina ("Major Whirlwind"). Stirlitz first learns about his son in 1941 from an employee of the Soviet trade mission in Tokyo, where he leaves to meet with Richard Sorge. In the fall of 1944, Standartenführer Stirlitz accidentally meets his son in Krakow - he is here as part of a reconnaissance and sabotage group ("Major Whirlwind").
In connection with the strengthening of the Nazi party and the aggravation of the danger of Hitler coming to power in Germany in 1927, it was decided to send Maxim Isaev from the Far East to Europe. For this, a legend was created about Max Otto von Stirlitz, a German aristocrat robbed in Shanghai, seeking protection at the German consulate in Sydney. In Australia, Stirlitz worked for some time in a hotel with a German owner associated with the NSDAP, after which he was transferred to New York.
From the party characteristics of a member of the NSDAP since 1933 von Stirlitz, SS Standartenführer (VI department of the RSHA): “ True Aryan. Character - Nordic, seasoned. Supports with workmates a good relationship. Fulfills his duty without fail. Merciless to the enemies of the Reich. Excellent athlete: Berlin tennis champion. Single; he was not noticed in connections discrediting him. Marked with awards from the Fuhrer and thanks from the Reichsfuehrer SS ... "
During the Second World War, Stirlitz was an employee of the VI department of the RSHA, which was in charge of SS Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg. In operational work in the RSHA, he used the pseudonyms "Brunn" and "Bolsen".
The head of the IV department of the RSHA was SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller, who “caught Stirlitz all the time, which he succeeded in April 1945, but the combination of circumstances and the chaos that happened during the storming of Berlin frustrated Müller’s plans to use Stirlitz in the game against the command of the Red Army. At the end of the war, Comrade Stalin entrusted Stirlitz with a responsible task: to disrupt separate negotiations between the Germans and the West. Beginning in the summer of 1943, Himmler, through his proxies began to make contacts with representatives of Western intelligence agencies in order to conclude a separate peace. Thanks to the courage and intellect of Stirlitz, these negotiations were thwarted.
Of the Americans who negotiated behind the scenes with the leaders of the Third Reich, Semyonov points to Allen Dulles, who headed the American headquarters in Bern, Switzerland.
Stirlitz's favorite drink is cognac, cigarettes are Karo. He drives a Horch car. Unlike James Bond, Stirlitz treats women in cold blood. To the calls of prostitutes, he usually answers: "No, coffee is better." speech characteristic, repeating from work to work: phrases often end with the question "No?".
Before the end of the war, Stirlitz was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. After the end of the war, Stirlitz was unconscious (wounded Soviet soldier) is exported by the Germans to Spain, from where it enters South America. There, he uncovers a conspiratorial network of fascists who have fled Germany.
During and after the war, he worked under several pseudonyms: Bolzen, Brunn, and others. As a name, he usually used variations of the name "Maxim": Max, Massimo.
In Argentina and Brazil, he works with the American Paul Roman. Here they reveal the secret Nazi organization "ODESSA", which is led by Heinrich Müller. Together with Paul Romen, they identify the agent network and capture Heinrich Muller. Realizing that after Churchill's speech in Fulton and the "witch hunt" hosted by Hoover, Muller can get away with his crimes, they decide to extradite him to the Soviet government. Stirlitz goes to the Soviet embassy, where he tells who he is, as well as information about the whereabouts of Muller. Employees of the MGB carry out the arrest of Stirlitz and transport him to the USSR on a ship. In 1947, on a Soviet ship, he arrives in
Who played Stirlitz in the movie?
This question is actually not as simple as it seems at first.
Most will immediately remember Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Some will add Daniil Strakhov.
Of course, these are the most famous film incarnations of the famous scout on the screen. Especially Stirlitz performed by Tikhonov. But, as in a recent post about Sharapov, Tikhonov was not the first and far from the only one.
Max Otto von Stirlitz, aka Maxim Maksimovich Isaev, aka Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov, is the hero of many works by Julian Semyonov. An illegal intelligence officer who worked in the interests of the USSR in Nazi Germany and some other countries.
"From the party profile of a member of the NSDAP since 1933 von Stirlitz, SS Standartenführer (VI department of the RSHA):
"True Aryan. Character - Nordic, self-possessed. Maintains good relations with workmates. Impeccably fulfills his official duty. Merciless to the enemies of the Reich. Excellent athlete: Berlin tennis champion. Single; in connections discrediting him, he was not noticed. Awarded Fuhrer and thanks to the Reichsfuehrer SS ... "
The first film incarnation of the famous film intelligence officer was in the film adaptation of the novel "No Password Needed" in 1967.
The young Chekist Vsevolod Vladimirov went to Vladivostok in 1921, where, with the support of the Japanese, an anti-Bolshevik coup took place. The role of Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov in this film was played by Rodion Nakhapetov. It is he who should be considered the first Stirlitz in the cinema
In the same 1967 (according to some sources 1968), the Soviet-Mongolian film "Exodus" was released about last days civil war.
The script was created jointly with Bazaryn Shirendyb based on the adventures of intelligence officer Maxim Maksimovich Isaev. The character, however, bears the surname Prokhorov. And played by Vladimir Zamansky
The next was a multi-part film that brought All-Union fame to the image of Stirlitz performed by Vyacheslav Tikhonov
I won't tell the plot. This character has become the most famous image of a scout
After 2 years, in 1975, the film adaptation of the novel "Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" was released.
Vladimir Ivashov plays a young member of the Cheka Vsevolod Vladimirov
A year later, the film adaptation of the novel "Bomb for the Chairman" - "The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce"
The action takes place in the late 1960s. Professor from the USSR Vladimirov, performed by Vsevolod Safonov, goes to West Berlin to help his student
in 1980, the film adaptation of the novel "Spanish Variant" was released
Only for some reason the main character in the film has the name Walter Schulz performed by Uldis Dumpis
Well, the last film incarnation of the beloved character was the series "Isaev"
This is a television adaptation of the novels "Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", "No Password Needed" and the story "Tenderness".
The role of Vsevolod Vladimirov was played here by Daniil Strakhov
True, another film incarnation can be called a comedy parody "The Eighteenth Moment of Spring", where Vasily Antonov played the famous intelligence officer
But then you have to remember both "Hitler Kaput!" and the short film "The Road Without End"
Sources
Scenes from feature films used:
"Password is not needed", Director Boris Grigoriev, 1967
"Exodus", Directed by Anatoly Bobrovsky, Zhamyangiin Buntar, 1967
"Seventeen Moments of Spring", Director Tatyana Lioznova, 1973
"Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", Director Grigory Kromanov, 1975
"The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce", Directed by Anatoly Bobrovsky, 1976
"Spanish Option", Directed by Eric Latsis, 1980
"Isaev", Director Sergei Ursulyak, 2009
Dear friends, I am opening a new column in my blog "Literary Detective". Here I will publish my materials about the history of creation literary works and real prototypes of famous literary characters. My first material is dedicated to the legendary and iconic character Stirlitz. I would be grateful for reasonable criticism and corrections, if any. I warn you that these materials are my personal version, which may differ from other, more accepted and popular versions.
So, get acquainted - Max Otto von Stirlitz
Most Iconic Character Soviet era Soviet intelligence officer Max Otto von Stirlitz, created by the talented pen of Yulian Semenov, has always caused a lot of discussion. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev, believed in the reality of Stirlitz so much after watching the serial film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" that he even awarded him the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, with with great difficulty I had to persuade him that such a scout did not exist in real life and the actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who played Stirlitz in the film, had to give the Hero of Socialist Labor.
But who was this mythical Stirlitz and did he have real prototype. Immediately I want to dispel the main myth - Stirlitz did not have a single real prototype.
Let's start with the fact that Stirlitz's real name is not Maxim Maksimovich Isaev, as can be assumed from Seventeen Moments of Spring, but Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov. The surname Isaev was taken by Yulian Semyonov as an operative pseudonym for Vsevolod Vladimirovich Vladimirov already in the first novel about him, Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
In the novel "Expansion II" we learn that Vsevolod Vladimirov was born on October 8, 1900 in Transbaikalia, where his parents were in political exile. Father - Russian, Vladimir Alexandrovich Vladimirov, "professor of law at St. Petersburg University, dismissed for free thinking and proximity to social democracy circles." Attracted to the revolutionary movement by Georgy Plekhanov. Mother - Ukrainian, Olesya Prokopchuk, died of consumption when her son was five years old.
The parents met and got married in exile. At the end of the exile, father and son returned to St. Petersburg, and then spent some time in exile, in Switzerland, in the cities of Zurich and Bern. Here, Vsevolod Vladimirovich showed a love for literary work. In Bern, he worked for a newspaper. Father and son returned to their homeland in 1917.
It is known that in 1911 Vladimirov Sr. and the Bolsheviks parted ways. Already after the revolution, in 1921, while his son was in Estonia, Vladimir Vladimirov was sent on a business trip to Eastern Siberia and tragically died there at the hands of the White Guards. Here is the backstory of the famous scout.
I will not analyze absolutely all the legends about who was the prototype of Isaev. I will dwell on the most plausible versions, which are directly or indirectly confirmed by Semenov himself.
Birth of Maxim Isaev
The image of Maxim Isaev (Vsevolod Vladimirov) was born from Dzerzhinsky's secret dispatch, which he forwarded to Far East a talented young man who loved horses and painting and had a sharp mind and erudition. That's how Maxim Isaev was born. Semenov himself spoke about it this way: “There are different rumors about me: that Yulian Semenov has access to folders marked“ top secret ”, to the most untouchable archives ... I use quite accessible - up to high school students, if they wish - sources information. I have no authority to get into secret archives and never had. There is also no experience in "secret" work, as I said. I just buy in a bookstore accessible to everyone, for example, the correspondence of the heads of the three states that were allied against Hitler during the war. There I find a passage from a letter from one head of state to the head of another allied state about the people who informed our Supreme High Command. You can go to any city library and read what I wrote. Of course, there is no mention anywhere that there was such a Soviet intelligence officer Isaev. I “invented” it, because there were similar people, remember - Sorge, Abel ... Of course, I work in the archives, but this is not forbidden to anyone.
In the photo, Yakov Grigorievich Blyumkin
And yet, the young Stirlitz had a real prototype, part of whose biography was absorbed by a literary character. This is Yakov Grigoryevich Blumkin (real name is Simkha-Yankev Gershevich Blumkin). It is interesting that among his pseudonyms there are the names of Vladimirov and Isaev. They also have the same date of birth with Stirlitz - October 8, 1900. Blumkin's biography is extremely entertaining. He was highly valued by Dzerzhinsky and Trotsky, he participated in the assassination of the German ambassador Mirbach, was noted in the attempt on the life of Hetman Skoropadsky and the German Field Marshal Eichhorn, "expropriated" the values of the State Bank together with Mishka Yaponchik, overthrew the Persian head of Kuchek Khan and created the Iranian Communist Party. One episode from Blumkin's life almost completely became the basis of the plot of Semyonov's book Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. In the mid-twenties, Yakov graduated from the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army and dealt with the Eastern question, traveled to China, Palestine, Mongolia, and lived in Shanghai. In the summer of 1929, Blumkin returned to the capital to report on his work, but was soon arrested for old connections with Leon Trotsky. At the end of the same year, Blumkin was shot. In October 1921, Blyumkin, under the pseudonym Isaev (taken by his grandfather's name), goes to Revel (Tallinn) under the guise of a jeweler and, acting as a provocateur, reveals the foreign connections of Gokhran employees. It was this episode in the activities of Blumkin that Yulian Semyonov laid the basis for the plot of the book “Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat”.
Another prototype of the young Isaev was a relative of Julian Semenov by wife, Mikhail Mikhalkov. Yulian Semyonov was married to Ekaterina, the daughter of Natalia Petrovna Konchalovskaya from her first marriage. Here are the facts of the biography of Mikhail Mikhalkov: at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War served in a special department Southwestern Front. In September 1941, he was captured, escaped and continued to serve behind enemy lines as an illegal agent, supplying the intelligence agencies of the Red Army with important operational information. In 1945, during a battle in German uniform, he crossed the front line and was detained by authorities. military counterintelligence"SMERSH". On charges of collaborating with German intelligence, he served five years in prison, first in the Lefortovo prison, later in one of the camps in the Far East.
Max Otto von Stirlitz
In the photo Willy Lehman, photo from the archives of the Gestapo
But Max Otto von Strilitz was born from the biography of another intelligence officer who worked for Soviet intelligence, but already a German. Semenov took this hero from the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, whom he made the chief of Stirlitz himself.
The service of SS Standartenführer von Stirlitz proceeded in Berlin on the Prinz-Albrechtstrasse, in the Reichssicherheitsshauptamt. The RSHA had 6 departments, or general bureaus: legal, 2 investigative, "support for the life of the Germans", secret police(Gestapo), foreign intelligence. It was in the latter, the so-called Amt VI, that Stirlitz served. Judging by the previous novels in the series, the brave Standartenführer often moved from one department to another. In the "Spanish variant" (action time - 1936), Stirlitz is clearly an employee of department VI E, which dealt with Italy and Spain. In 1941 ("Alternative") he definitely serves in the VI D department ( Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia). And in 1945 ("Moments"), he most likely works either in VI A (general department) or in VI B (special operations). The Soviet special service, which contains the work book of Colonel Isaev, remained a mystery. Most likely, this is still the foreign intelligence of the NKVD under the leadership of General Pavel Fitin.
Chief Stirlitz Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg is one of the most extraordinary personalities in the Reich. In less than thirty he became the leader German intelligence- thanks not only to brilliant abilities, but also to the patronage of Lina Heydrich, the wife of the head of the RSHA, Reinhard Heydrich. Schellenberg, contrary to Semenov, was by no means an unprincipled (from the point of view of Nazism) opportunist: he refused to cooperate with the allies and, shortly before his death, at the age of only 44, wrote memoirs full of sincere grief for the lost greatness of National Socialism.
And here we come to the third prototype of Stirlitz - the main one for German stage life. His name was Willy Lehman. The name of Willy Lehman became known recently. Meanwhile, this amazing person, who oversaw the defense industry and military construction in the Gestapo Nazi Germany, for 12 years he transmitted to Moscow invaluable information about the scale of the preparation of fascism for the establishment of world domination.
The declassified documents are included in the forthcoming book "His Majesty the Agent", which was written by famous historian, intelligence expert Teodor Gladkov. So far, only a small part of the documents in the Leman case has been opened.
There is a version that Leman was simply recruited for money. The German, a passionate horse race player, was recruited in 1936 by Soviet intelligence, whose employee lent him money after losing, and then offered to supply secret information for a good fee. He bore the operational pseudonym "Breitenbach". In the RSHA he was engaged in countering Soviet industrial espionage.
However, this version is contradicted by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, which declassified some of the documents in the Breitenbach case. According to the representative of the SVR, unlike some agents of the Soviet intelligence, Leman was not recruited. He took the initiative to enter the Soviet residency and disinterestedly offered his services in the fight against Nazism.
On June 19, 1941, the intelligence officer informed the Soviet leadership about the German attack planned in three days. Wilhelm Lehmann, who, like Stirlitz, was a Gestapo officer, SS Hauptsturmführer. Lehman's desire to work for the USSR was dictated by his intransigence towards the basic ideals of fascism. The good-natured and affable person who was Leman was called by many at work (in the IVth department of the RSHA of the Gestapo) "Uncle Willy." No one, including his wife, could even imagine that this bald, kind man, suffering from renal colic and diabetes, was a Soviet agent. Before the war, he transmitted information about the timing and volume of production of self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers, the development of new nerve agents and synthetic gasoline, the start of liquid-fuel rocket testing, the structure and staffing German intelligence services, Gestapo counterintelligence operations and much more. Documents confirming the fact of the impending attack on the Soviet Union, Leman sewn into the lining of his hat, which he then quietly replaced with the same headdress when meeting with the Soviet representative in a cafe.
Until now, the fact that it was Leman who handed over to Moscow the key to the Gestapo ciphers used in the Funkshpruch telegraph and Fernshpruch radio messages to communicate with his territorial and foreign employees was not known until now. Thus, at the Lubyanka they got the opportunity to read the official correspondence of the Gestapo.
In 1942, the Germans managed to declassify a brave intelligence officer. Willy Lehman failed under circumstances close to those described by Yulian Semenov: his radio operator Bart, an anti-fascist, during a surgical operation, under anesthesia, began to talk about ciphers and communications with Moscow, and the doctors signaled to the Gestapo. In December 1942, Willy Lehman was arrested and shot a few months later. The fact of the betrayal of the SS officer was hidden - even the wife of Willy Lehman was informed that her husband had died after falling under a train. The story of Willy Lehmann is told in the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, from which Yulian Semyonov apparently borrowed it.
Himmler was simply shocked by this fact. The employee, who worked in the Gestapo for thirteen years, constantly supplied information to the USSR and was never even suspected of espionage. The very fact of his activities was so shameful for the SS that the Lehman case was completely and completely destroyed before it had time to reach the Fuhrer, and the intelligence officer himself was hastily shot shortly after his arrest. Even the wife of the agent for a long time did not know about the true causes of her husband's death. His name was included in the list of those who died for the Third Reich. Of all the Soviet intelligence officers, it was Leman who held the position of a high-ranking SS officer, similar to Stirlitz, surrounded by the arbiters of the fate of Germany and entering the very heart of the Reich.
This is how we got the first literary detective story, fascinating and interesting. And how can it be boring to read about such a character as Maxim Isaev-Stirlitz?!
To be continued?
; German Standartenfährer Max Otto von Stierlitz) is a legendary Soviet spy Maxim Maksimovich Isaev from the books of Yulian Semyonovich Semyonov. Under the name of Stirlitz, Isaev worked in Nazi Germany. From novel to novel, Yu. Semenov traces the formation and maturation of Maxim Isaev, a communist, soldier, anti-fascist. We see Isaev-Stirlitz during the Spanish Civil War, in Belgrade and Zagreb; we will meet him in Krakow, doomed by the Nazis to destruction. All-Union fame for the image of Stirlitz was brought by the television series "Seventeen Moments of Spring", where Vyacheslav Tikhonov played his role. The most famous image of a scout in Soviet and post-Soviet culture, comparable to James Bond in Western culture. In fact, the German surname Sti(e)rlitz does not exist; the closest similar one is Stieglitz, also known in Russia. Biography From the party characteristics of a member of the NSDAP from the year of von Stirlitz, SS Standartenführer (VI department of the RSHA): "A true Aryan. Character - Nordic, seasoned. Maintains good relations with workmates. Impeccably fulfills his duty. Merciless to the enemies of the Reich. Excellent athlete: champion Berlin tennis. Single; in connections discrediting him, he was not noticed. Marked with awards from the Fuhrer and thanks from the Reichsfuehrer SS ... "During the Second World War, Stirlitz was an employee of the Sixth Branch of the RSHA, which was in charge of SS Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg. The head of the fourth department of the RSHA was SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller, who "caught Stirlitz all the time, but never caught him." At the end of the Second World War, Comrade Stalin entrusted Stirlitz with a responsible task: to disrupt separate negotiations between the Germans and the West. Beginning in the summer of the year, Himmler, through his proxies, began to make contacts with representatives of Western intelligence services in order to conclude separate peace. Thanks to the courage and intellect of Stirlitz, these negotiations were thwarted. Of the Americans who negotiated behind the scenes with the leaders of the Third Reich, Semyonov points to Allen Dulles, who headed the American headquarters in Bern, Switzerland. Stirlitz's favorite drink is cognac. He drives a Horch car. Unlike James Bond, Stirlitz treats women in cold blood. To the calls of prostitutes, he usually answers: "No, coffee is better." According to Semyonov, before the end of the war, Stirlitz was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After Stirlitz returned to his homeland, he was arrested by Beria's employees. Only the death of Stalin saved Stirlitz from death. After that, Stirlitz works in South America- under the guise of a journalist, he tracks down the unfinished Nazis. jokes Stirlitz is a character in one of the largest cycles of Soviet jokes, they usually parody the voice "from the author" constantly commenting on the events of the film. Many of these jokes are based on a language game: Stirlitz put the safe on the priest. Pastor Schlag grunted and walked towards the Swiss border. Stirlitz beat for sure. He probably couldn't resist. Then Stirlitz took out a pistol and fired point-blank. The thrust broke. Suddenly the light went out. Stirlitz fired twice into the blind. The blind fell. The actors who played in the series "Seventeen Moments of Spring" are often played up: Stirlitz shot Muller in the head. The bullet bounced off. "Armored", - Stirlitz thought. In a number of anecdotes, all SS officers turn out to be Soviet agents: Muller suspected that Bormann was a Soviet spy. Together with Stirlitz, they pulled a rope in the corridor: Bormann would stumble and swear at mother tongue. They sit and wait. Bormann walks, stumbles, says:
-- Oh damn!
Muller:
-- Well, nevermind yourself!
Stirlitz:
Hush, hush, comrades! Many anecdotes are ironic about Stirlitz's ability to get out of difficult situations: There is a meeting with Hitler. Suddenly a man runs into the room, grabs a secret card from the table and disappears. Everyone is dumbfounded.
-- Who was that? asks Hitler
- Yes, this is Stirlitz from my department. He is actually a Soviet intelligence officer, Isaev, Muller replies.
So why don't you arrest him?
-- Useless. It will still turn out. On the table