Some of the sources claim that the history of the Brest Fortress began a century before its heroic feat in 1941. This is somewhat untrue. The fortress has existed for a long time. The complete reconstruction of the medieval citadel in the town of Berestye (the historical name of Brest) began in 1836 and lasted 6 years.

Immediately after the fire of 1835, the tsarist government decided to modernize the fortress in order to give it the status of a western outpost of national importance in the future.

Medieval Brest

The fortress arose back in the 11th century; mentions of it can be found in the well-known “Tale of Bygone Years,” where the chronicle recorded episodes of the struggle for the throne between two great princes - Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.

Having a very advantageous location - on a cape between two rivers and Mukhavets, Berestye soon acquired the status of a large shopping center.

In ancient times, the main routes of merchant movement were rivers. And here two whole waterways made it possible to move goods from east to west and vice versa. Along the Bug it was possible to get to Poland, Lithuania and Europe, and along Mukhavets, through Pripyat and the Dnieper, to the Black Sea steppes and the Middle East.

One can only guess how picturesque the medieval Brest Fortress was. Photos of illustrations and drawings of the fortress of the early period are very rare; they can only be found as museum exhibits.

Due to the constant transition of the Brest Fortress under the jurisdiction of one state or another and the development of the town in its own way, the plan of both the outpost and the settlement underwent minor changes. Some of them were inspired by the requirements of the time, but for more than half a thousand years the Brest Fortress managed to preserve its original medieval flavor and appropriate atmosphere.

1812 French in the citadel

The border geography of Brest has always been the reason for the struggle for the town: for 800 years, the history of the Brest Fortress captured the dominion of the Turov and Lithuanian principalities, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland), and only in 1795 did Brest become an integral part of Russian lands.

But before Napoleon's invasion, the Russian government did not attach much importance to the ancient fortress. Only during the Russian-French War of 1812 did the Brest Fortress confirm its status as a reliable outpost, which, as people said, helps its own people and destroys its enemies.

The French also decided to leave Brest behind, but Russian troops recaptured the fortress, winning an unconditional victory over the French cavalry units.

Historical decision

This victory served as the starting point for the decision of the tsarist government to erect a new and powerful fortification on the site of a rather flimsy medieval fortress, corresponding to the spirit of the times in architectural style and military significance.

And what about the heroes of the Brest Fortress of the seasons? After all, any military action presupposes the appearance of desperate daredevils and patriots. Their names remained unknown to wide circles of the public at that time, but it is possible that they received their awards for courage from the hands of Emperor Alexander himself.

Fire in Brest

The fire that engulfed the ancient settlement in 1835 accelerated the process of general reconstruction of the Brest Fortress. The plans of the engineers and architects of that time were to destroy the medieval buildings in order to erect in their place completely new structures in terms of architectural character and strategic significance.

The fire destroyed about 300 buildings in the settlement, and this, paradoxically, turned out to be beneficial for the tsarist government, the builders, and the population of the town.

Reconstruction

Having given compensation to the fire victims in the form of cash and building materials, the state convinced them to settle not in the fortress itself, but separately - two kilometers from the outpost, thus providing the fortress with a single function - protective.

The history of the Brest Fortress has never known such a grandiose reconstruction: the medieval fortification was razed to the ground, and in its place grew a powerful citadel with thick walls, a whole system of drawbridges connecting three artificially created islands, with bastion forts equipped with ravelins, with an impregnable a ten-meter earthen rampart, with narrow embrasures, allowing the defenders to remain as protected as possible during shelling.

Defensive capabilities of the fortress in the 19th century

In addition to defensive structures, which, of course, play a leading role in repelling enemy attacks, the number and training of the soldiers serving in the border fortress are also important.

The defensive strategy of the citadel was thought out by the architects down to the subtleties. Otherwise, why give an ordinary soldier’s barracks the significance of a main fortification? Living in rooms with walls two meters thick, each of the servicemen was subconsciously ready to repel possible enemy attacks, literally, jumping out of bed - at any time of the day.

The 500 casemates of the fortress could easily accommodate 12,000 soldiers with a full set of weapons and provisions for several days. The barracks were so successfully camouflaged from prying eyes that the uninitiated could hardly have guessed their presence - they were located in the thickness of that same ten-meter earthen rampart.

A feature of the architectural design of the fortress was the inextricable connection of its structures: the towers protruding forward protected the main citadel from fire, and from the forts located on the islands it was possible to conduct targeted fire, protecting the front line.

When the fortress was fortified with a ring of 9 forts, it became practically invulnerable: each of them could accommodate an entire garrison of soldiers (that’s 250 soldiers), plus 20 guns.

Brest Fortress in peacetime

During the period of calm on state borders, Brest lived a measured, unhurried life. An enviable order reigned both in the city and in the fortress; services were held in churches. There were several churches on the territory of the fortress; however, one church could not possibly accommodate a huge number of military personnel.

One of the local monasteries was rebuilt into a building for meetings of officers and was named the White Palace.

But even in quiet periods it was not so easy to get into the fortress. The entrance to the “heart” of the citadel consisted of four gates. Three of them, as a symbol of its inaccessibility, have been preserved by the modern Brest Fortress. The museum begins with the old gates: Kholmsky, Terespolsky, Northern... Each of them was prescribed to become the gateway to paradise for many of its defenders in future wars.

Equipping the fortress on the eve of the First World War

During the period of unrest in Europe, the Brest-Litovsk fortress remained one of the most reliable fortifications on the Russian-Polish border. The main task of the citadel was to “facilitate freedom of action for the army and navy,” which did not have modern weapons and equipment.

Of the 871 weapons, only 34% met the requirements for combat in modern conditions, the rest of the weapons were outdated. Among the guns, old models prevailed, capable of firing shots at a distance of no more than 3 miles. At this time, the potential enemy had mortars and artillery systems

In 1910, the aeronautical battalion of the fortress received its first airship, and in 1911, by a special royal decree, the Brest-Litovsk Fortress was equipped with its own radio station.

First war of the 20th century

I found the Brest Fortress engaged in a rather peaceful activity - construction. Attracted villagers from nearby and distant villages actively built additional forts.

The fortress would have been perfectly protected if military reform had not broken out the day before, as a result of which the infantry was disbanded and the outpost lost its combat-ready garrison. At the beginning of the First World War, only militias remained in the Brest-Litovsk Fortress, who during the retreat were forced to burn the strongest and most modern of the outposts.

But the main event of the first war of the 20th century for the fortress was not associated with military operations - the Brest Peace Treaty was signed within its walls.

The monuments of the Brest Fortress have a different appearance and character, and this treaty, significant for those times, remains one of them.

How did the people learn about the feat of Brest?

Most contemporaries know the Brest Citadel from the events of the first day of the treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union. Information about this did not appear immediately; it was made public by the Germans themselves in a completely unexpected way: by showing discreet admiration for the heroism of the defenders of Brest in personal diaries, which were subsequently found and published by military journalists.

This happened in 1943-1944. Until that time, the feat of the citadel was unknown to a wide audience, and the heroes of the Brest Fortress who survived the “meat grinder,” according to the highest military officials, were considered ordinary prisoners of war who surrendered to the enemy out of cowardice.

The information that local battles took place in the citadel in July and even in August 1941 also did not immediately become public knowledge. But now historians can say for sure: the Brest Fortress, which the enemy expected to take in 8 hours, held out for a very long time.

Hell started: June 22, 1941

Before the war, which was not expected, the Brest Fortress looked completely unthreatening: the old earthen rampart had collapsed, was overgrown with grass, and there were flowers and sports grounds on the territory. In early June, the main regiments stationed in the fortress left it and went to summer training camps.

The history of the Brest Fortress for all centuries has never known such treachery: the pre-dawn hours of a short summer night became for its inhabitants Suddenly, out of nowhere, artillery fire was opened on the fortress, taking everyone in it by surprise, and 17,000 ruthless “well done” burst into the territory of the outpost "from the Wehrmacht.

But neither blood, nor horror, nor the death of comrades could break and stop the heroic defenders of Brest. They fought for eight days according to official data. And another two months - according to unofficial ones.

The not so easy and not so quick surrender of its positions in 1941 became an omen of the entire further course of the war and showed the enemy the ineffectiveness of his cold calculations and superweapons, which were defeated by the unpredictable heroism of the poorly armed, but ardently loving Slavs.

"Talking" stones

What is the Brest Fortress silently shouting about now? The museum has preserved numerous exhibits and stones on which you can read the notes of its defenders. Short phrases of one or two lines touch the heartstrings and touch representatives of all generations to tears, even though they sound stingy, masculine, dry and businesslike.

Muscovites: Ivanov, Stepanchikov and Zhuntyaev chronicled this terrible period - with a nail on a stone, with tears on a heart. Two of them died, the remaining Ivanov also knew that he did not have long left, he promised: “The last grenade remained. I won’t surrender alive,” and immediately asked: “Avenge us, comrades.”

Among the evidence that the fortress held out for longer than eight days were the dates in stone: July 20, 1941 is the clearest of them.

To understand the significance of the heroism and steadfastness of the defenders of the fortress for the entire country, you just need to remember the place and date: Brest Fortress, 1941.

Creation of a memorial

For the first time after the occupation, representatives of the Soviet Union (official and popular) were able to enter the territory of the fortress in 1943. It was during this period that the publication of excerpts from the diaries of German soldiers and officers appeared.

Before that, Brest was a legend, passed from mouth to mouth on all fronts and in the rear. In order to give the events officiality, stop all kinds of fiction (even of a positive nature) and capture the feat of the Brest Fortress through the centuries, it was decided to reclassify the western outpost as a memorial.

The implementation of the idea took place several decades after the end of the war - in 1971. Ruins, burnt and shelled walls - all this became an integral element of the exhibition. The wounded buildings are unique, and they form the main part of the evidence of the courage of their defenders.

In addition, during the years of peace, the Brest Fortress memorial acquired several thematic monuments and obelisks of later origin, which harmoniously fit into the unique ensemble of the fortress-museum and, with their severity and brevity, emphasized the tragedy that occurred within these walls.

Brest Fortress in literature

The most famous and even somewhat scandalous work about the Brest Fortress was the book by S. S. Smirnov. Having met with eyewitnesses and surviving participants in the defense of the citadel, the author decided to restore justice and clear the names of the real heroes, whom the then government blamed for being in German captivity.

And he succeeded, even though the times were not the most democratic - the mid-50s of the last century.

The book “Brest Fortress” helped many to return to a normal life, not despised by their fellow citizens. Photos of some of these lucky ones were widely published in the press, and their names were heard on the radio. There was even a series of radio broadcasts dedicated to the search for the defenders of the Brest Fortress.

Smirnov’s work became the saving thread along which, like the mythological heroine, other heroes emerged from the darkness of oblivion - the defenders of Brest, privates and commanders. Among them: Commissioner Fomin, Lieutenant Semenenko, Captain Zubachev.

The Brest Fortress is a monument to the valor and glory of the people, quite tangible and material. Many mysterious legends about its fearless defenders live among the people to this day. We know them in the form of literary and musical works, and sometimes we find them in oral folk art.

And these legends will live on for centuries, because the feat of the Brest Fortress is worthy of being remembered in the 21st, 22nd, and subsequent centuries.

There are writers of “one book,” but Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov was a writer of one topic: in literature, in cinema, on television and on the radio, he talked about people who died heroically in the Great Patriotic War, and after that - forgotten. Few people know that May 9 became a holiday only in 1965, 20 years after the Victory. The writer Sergei Smirnov achieved this. His speeches on radio and television forced the victorious country to remember those to whom it owed both peace and life.

Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov (1915 – 1976) – prose writer, playwright, journalist, public figure. Born in Petrograd, in the family of an engineer. He spent his childhood in Kharkov. He began his career at the Kharkov Electromechanical Plant. In 1932-1937 studied at the Moscow Energy Institute. Since 1937 - an employee of the newspaper "Gudok" and at the same time a student at the Literary Institute. A.M. Gorky.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, S. Smirnov joined the ranks of a fighter battalion and graduated from sniper school. In September 1941, a group of graduate students from the Literary Institute were demobilized in order to pass the state exam. In the summer of 1942, Sergei Smirnov was drafted into the army and sent to an artillery school. After graduating from college, he received the rank of lieutenant and became the commander of a machine gun platoon.

He began writing for the army newspaper “Courage”, after some time he was seconded to serve in its editorial office. Captain Smirnov celebrated the end of the war in Austria. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and the medal “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”

After the war, he worked for some time at the same newspaper, and then returned to Moscow and became editor of the Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense. Until 1954 he worked at the magazine “New World”.

S. Smirnov said: “I had already begun to think about writing a book dedicated to the defense of the hero cities of Odessa and Sevastopol, when suddenly one chance conversation made me change my plans.

One day my friend, writer German Nagaev, came to see me. He asked me what I was going to work on next, and suddenly said:

– If only you could write a book about the defense of the Brest Fortress. This was an extremely interesting episode of the war.

And then I remembered that a year or two ago I came across an essay by the writer M.L. Zlatogorov about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress. It was published in Ogonyok, and then placed in one collection published by the Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense. After talking with Nagaev, I found this collection and re-read Zlatogorov’s essay again.

I must say that the theme of the Brest Fortress somehow immediately captivated me. The presence of a great and not yet revealed secret was felt in it; a huge field for research opened up, for difficult but fascinating research work. It was felt that this theme was thoroughly imbued with high human heroism, that the heroic spirit of our people, our army, was somehow especially clearly manifested in it. And I started work."

First visit to the Brest Fortress, 1954

S. Smirnov conducted painstaking research work to establish the fate of the participants in the defense and the events of 1941 in the citadel above the Bug for about 10 years. The writer came to Brest and met with the defenders. He was one of the initiators of the creation of the fortress defense museum; he donated the materials he collected (more than 50 folders with letters, 60 notebooks and notebooks with recordings of conversations with the defenders of the fortress, hundreds of photographs, etc.) to the museum. There is a stand dedicated to him in the fortress museum.

S. Smirnov recalled: “Our enemies spoke with amazement of the exceptional courage, fortitude and tenacity of the defenders of this stronghold. And we consigned all this to oblivion... In Moscow, in the Museum of the Armed Forces, there is no stand, no photographs, nothing about the defense of the Brest Fortress. Museum workers shrugged their shoulders: “We have a museum of the history of exploits... What heroism could have been on the western border. The German crossed the border unhindered and reached Moscow under a green traffic light. Don’t you know that?”

S. Smirnov’s speeches in print, on radio and television, and in the TV almanac “Feat” made a huge contribution to the search for those missing during the war and its unknown heroes. His books are devoted to the theme of war: "In the Fields of Hungary" (1954), "Stalingrad on the Dnieper" (1958), "In search of the heroes of the Brest Fortress" (1959), "There was a Great War" (1966), "Family"(1968) and others.

S. Smirnov did not claim to create a work of art. He worked as a documentarian with purely documentary material. According to Nyota Tun, in his "Brest Fortress" reflected most clearly “a tendency characteristic of the late 60s... towards documentary accuracy.”

Later talking about the method of his work, S. Smirnov wrote: “I may be rigoristic about the documentary basis of a work of art. I strive to ensure that not a single fact presented in the documentary book written by me can be disputed by an eyewitness and participant. Artistic work, in my opinion, lies in understanding and illuminating these facts. And here the documentary writer must rise above petty factography, so that the actual facts cited by him are comprehended and illuminated so that even the participants and eyewitnesses of these events suddenly see themselves in the correct light and in the understanding that, perhaps, they themselves didn’t expect... In my book “Brest Fortress”, as you know, I preserved the real names of the heroes. I have strictly adhered to the facts even in detail, and none of the facts stated in the book can probably be disputed by the defenders of the fortress, but none of them in their stories showed me the defense of the fortress as it appears in my book. And this is completely natural. Everyone saw only a piece of this picture, and even saw it subjectively, through the prism of their experiences, through the layers of their subsequent fate with all the difficulties and surprises. My job as a researcher, as a writer was to collect all the scattered pieces of the mosaic, arrange them correctly, so that they give a broad picture of the struggle, remove subjective layers, illuminate this mosaic with the right light so that it appears as a wide panel of an amazing people’s feat.”

The book is prefaced by an “Open Letter to the Heroes of the Brest Fortress”, in which the author writes: “Ten years ago, the Brest Fortress lay in forgotten and abandoned ruins, and you - its hero-defenders - were not only unknown, but, like people who mostly went through Hitler’s captivity, you encountered offensive distrust in yourself, and sometimes experienced direct injustice. Our party and its 20th Congress, having put an end to the lawlessness and mistakes of the period of Stalin’s personality cult, opened up a new phase of life for you, as well as for the entire country.”

For a documentary story - book "Brest Fortress", published twice (1957, 1964), - S. Smirnov received the Lenin Prize in the field of literature. Based on the award materials he prepared, about 70 defenders of the Brest Fortress were awarded state awards.

(his son), has gradually been erased from the media, a generation has grown up that has no idea that there was such a person, there was such a book. We are talking about the "Brest Fortress". In the 50s, Sergei Smirnov found living heroes of the Brest Stronghold, spoke about their fates, and in 1955, on the advice of Irakli Andronikov, he made a radio broadcast that literally the whole country listened to. After Stalin's death, Sergei Smirnov was the first to say that not all prisoners of war were traitors. The writer argued that many suffered innocently. For these efforts to restore the good name of thousands of front-line soldiers, Sergei Smirnov has already earned a deep bow. As a result of many years of searches and investigations, a book was published, for which the author was awarded the Lenin Prize. But soon, on Suslov’s instructions, the set was scattered, and “The Brest Fortress” was not published for almost two decades...After 18 years it was republished, I can’t help but mention the people who did this: the last edition was Valentin Osipov, the publisher who ensured that this book was republished for the anniversary of the Victory. This publication was for charity, it was practically not sold, it was sent mainly to libraries, and was also given as a gift to war veterans who came to Moscow to celebrate Victory Day. And so our mother reproaches me and my brother, saying: “Why don’t you do anything to remember your father?” My answer to this is that he did such an important thing that, I hope, maybe over time it should not be erased in the memory of the Russian people. And if it is erased, then all efforts are useless.

The fact is that people who do not go to work today on May 9 and March 8 do not even suspect that they also owe this to my father.

In 1955, for the first time, in the month of August, his radio broadcasts, which were called “In Search of the Heroes of the Brest Fortress,” were heard on the radio. Following the first traces of this search, he managed to find and question the first living participants in the defense of Brest. I went to school two weeks later, and it turned out that the whole country was listening to the radio, literally the whole country, my father instantly became famous. But what was the most important thing in these programs? Of course, stories about the heroism of the Russian soldier, about the people who fought and continued to fight in conditions that were absolutely unpromising and hopeless. After all, there were still pockets of resistance in the fortress, when the Germans were already beyond Smolensk, Minsk had already been taken. Nevertheless, these people, simple Russian guys - and not only Russians, of course, Russian guys, because there were Tatars, and Armenians, and Volga Germans, and whoever was there, and Kazakhs, in short, from all over ends of the empire - continued to fight, not give up, kill Germans, starve... And, naturally, all of them later - who did not shoot themselves or were not killed - were captured, fled repeatedly, then joined the partisans, when they were able, right up to what they tried to harm there, inside Germany. Yes, in fact, if there had not been such soldiers, the outcome of the war would probably have been different. And all these people were denied the right of citizenship. Father was the first to talk about how circumstances forced these people to be captured, that these are soldiers who have the right to the same, and perhaps even more, respect than anyone else. And gradually this took root not only in the consciousness of the people, but also in the consciousness of the authorities. I will never forget how we tried - when Brezhnev died, but the “living dead” bosses were replaced one after another, until it came to Gorbachev - once again my mother and I were on Old Square, in the Central Committee of the Party, talking about that it would not be a bad idea to publish this book. And every time they promised, they said that this was our national treasure, and then at the Young Guard the editor - I will never forget! - he said in a completely state-like voice, explained to me... I remember his last name well - let this scoundrel, perhaps, or his children hear - his last name was Mashavets, then editor-in-chief of the publishing house "Young Guard", some kind of party or Komsomol member activist I vouch for the accuracy of the quote, because I wrote it down right there, behind the doors of his office. He explained that the book cannot be republished at the moment because it gives “an incorrect and superficial assessment of the first stage of the war, and secondly, if published, all references to those who were captured must be removed from the book.” And those who were not captured were not mentioned in the book. This was already the time of Afghanistan, our army was stuck there, the problem of our prisoners rose to its full height, and therefore familiar guiding notes began to sound. And in 1965, there was a decree that May 9, the 20th anniversary of the victory, would become a day off. Let me remind you that from 1945 to 1965 this was a working day. But the generous government also gave the people March 8, which was also a working day, and the decree said: as a sign of respect (something like that) for the contribution of Soviet women to the war and to labor on the home front. So let them know when they drink on May 9 and March 8, who they should clink glasses with.

P. Krivonogov “Defenders of the Brest Fortress”, 1951

Smirnov Sergey Sergeevich (1915-1976).

Smirnov Sergey Sergeevich (1915-1976).

Prose writer, playwright, journalist, public figure. Born in Petrograd. He began his career at the Kharkov Electromechanical Plant. In 1932-1937 studied at the Moscow Energy Institute. Since 1937 - an employee of the newspaper "Gudok" and at the same time a student at the Literary Institute. A.M. Gorky. “He took part in the Great Patriotic War, first as a combat commander, and from 1943 as a special correspondent for an army newspaper.”1 After the war, he worked at the Military Publishing House, then at the editorial office of the magazine “New World.” In 1950-1960 - editor-in-chief of Literaturnaya Gazeta. Member of the Soviet War Veterans Committee, secretary of the Moscow branch of the Writers' Union of the RSFSR, member of the Board of the USSR Writers' Union, member of the editorial board of the Smena magazine. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.

S. Smirnov is the author of plays and film scripts, documentary books and essays about unknown heroes of the Great Patriotic War, including “Brest Fortress” (1957; expanded edition - in 1964), “Stories about unknown heroes” (1963) etc. For many years he hosted a popular program on television - the TV almanac “Podvig”.

The most important feat of S. Smirnov was the rehabilitation of the heroes of the Brest Fortress. He was one of the initiators of the creation of the fortress defense museum; he donated the materials he collected (more than 50 folders with letters, 60 notebooks and notebooks with recordings of conversations with the defenders of the fortress, hundreds of photographs, etc.) to the museum. There is a stand dedicated to him in the fortress museum. Smirnov recalled: “Our enemies spoke with amazement about the exceptional courage, fortitude and tenacity of the defenders of this stronghold. And we consigned all this to oblivion... In Moscow, in the Museum of the Armed Forces, there is no stand, no photographs, nothing about the defense of the Brest Fortress. Museum workers shrugged their shoulders: “We have a museum of the history of exploits... What heroism could have been on the western border.” The German crossed the border unhindered and reached Moscow under a green traffic light. Don’t you know this?’” In 1965, S. Smirnov became a Lenin Prize laureate for his book “Brest Fortress.” On this occasion, G. Svirsky wrote:

“Until 1957, the press did not say a word about the heroism of the defenders of the Brest Fortress,2 which later became a symbol of the Resistance in the history of the war. The photograph of the leaders of the defense of the Brest Fortress, foreheads pressed together, crying, who met in Moscow on the way from the Siberian camps - this stunning photograph, reproduced by the Literary Gazette in Khrushchev's times, became an irrefutable document of the vile cruelty of Stalin's time. “We have no prisoners of war.” “- Stalin is known to have said, “there are traitors.” Who needs traitors?.. The Sovinformburo reported on the tragedy of time with a fake headline: “How German generals are fabricating Soviet prisoners of war.”

In the mid-sixties, the history of the defense of the Brest Fortress and its heroes who were captured by Germans (and later in Soviet camps) was told by Sergei Smirnov in the documentary book “Brest Fortress” (awarded the Lenin Prize in 1965). The book was prefaced by “An Open Letter to the Heroes.” Brest Fortress", in which the author writes: "Ten years ago, the Brest Fortress lay in forgotten and abandoned ruins, and you - its hero-defenders - were not only unknown, but, as people who mostly went through Hitler's captivity, met the offensive lack of confidence in themselves, and sometimes experienced direct injustice. Our party and its 20th Congress, having put an end to the lawlessness and mistakes of the period of Stalin’s personality cult, opened up a new phase of life for you, as well as for the entire country.”

“Direct injustices”, “lawlessness and mistakes”, “offensive mistrust” - all these euphemisms mean that the heroes who fought bravely in a fortress, deep behind German lines, were arrested by the Soviet security authorities only because they turned out to be prisoners of war, and that these war heroes spent the post-war years in camps. But even at that time of Khrushchev’s “thaw” their chronicler, writer S.S. Smirnov, could not tell the whole truth about them without resorting to shameful, deceitful substitutions: “concentration camp” is replaced by the phrase “direct injustice”, the words “crimes” and “terror” - the words “lawlessness” and “mistakes”, the words “Stalinist despotism” “- the stereotype “the period of the personality cult of Stalin”” (Svirsky G.S. At the Place of Execution. Literature of Moral Resistance. M., 1998. P. 471-472).

The work of writer S.S. Smirnova ended with the rehabilitation of A. Fil, the release of P. Klyp, the removal of all suspicions from majors P. Gavrilov and S. Matevosyan and other surviving defenders of the Brest Fortress. Those expelled from the party were reinstated and properly employed (Viktorov B.A. Not classified as “secret.” Notes of a military prosecutor. Issue 3. M., 1990. P. 286).

Son of S.S. Smirnova - Konstantin Smirnov (b. 1952) largely continues his father’s work. He is the host of the Sunday TV show Big Parents, which consistently has high ratings. In one of the interviews, to the question “What was the main idea you learned from communicating with the children of great parents?” he replied: “I realized that the Soviet government was so inhumane that it even ate its beloved children, those who served it not out of fear, but out of conscience, like a pig eats its piglets. In their own lives or in the lives of loved ones, they must have had some kind of tragedy, which often no one knows about at all” (NTV: hunting for children // Arguments and Facts. 2000. No. 9. P. 8). The eldest son of S.S. Smirnova - Andrey Smirnov (b. 1941) - film director, author of the films “Belorussky Station” (1971), “Autumn” (1975), etc.

Notes

1) These data are taken from the reference book “Screenwriters of Soviet Feature Cinema” (Moscow, 1972, p. 336). In a different

And now the ruins of the Brest Fortress, ruins covered in military glory, rise above the Bug. Every year thousands of people from all over our country come here to lay flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers, to pay tribute to their deep respect for the selfless courage and fortitude of its defenders.
The defense of the Brest Fortress, like the defense of Sevastopol and Leningrad, became a symbol of the perseverance and fearlessness of Soviet soldiers and was forever included in the annals of the Great Patriotic War.
Who can remain indifferent when hearing today about the heroes of the Brest Defense, who will not be touched by the greatness of their feat?!
Sergei Smirnov first heard about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress in 1953. Then it was believed that all participants in this defense died.
Who are they, these unknown, nameless people who have shown unprecedented resilience? Perhaps one of them is alive? These are the questions that worried the writer. The painstaking work of collecting materials began, requiring a lot of effort and energy. It was necessary to unravel the most complex interweaving of destinies and circumstances in order to restore the picture of the heroic days. The writer overcomes difficulties step by step, unraveling the threads of this tangle, looking for eyewitnesses and participants in the defense.
Thus, initially conceived as a series of essays, “Brest Fortress” turned into a historical and literary epic grandiose in its scope of events. The novel combines two time planes... Bygone days and modernity stood side by side, revealing all the beauty and greatness of the Soviet man. The heroes of the defense pass before the reader: Major Gavrilov, amazing in his tenacity and fortitude, who fought to the last bullet; full of bright optimism and fierce fearlessness, Private Matevosyan; little trumpeter Petya Klypa is a fearless and selfless boy. And next to these heroes, who miraculously survived, the readers see images of the dead - nameless soldiers and commanders, women and teenagers who took part in battles with enemies. Very little is known about them, but even these meager facts make one marvel at the resilience of the Brest residents, their selfless devotion to the Motherland.
The strength of Sergei Smirnov's work lies in the rigor and simplicity with which the writer presents dramatic events. His stern, restrained manner of narration further emphasizes the significance of the feat accomplished by the defenders of the Brest Fortress. In every line of this work one can feel the writer’s deep respect for these simple and at the same time extraordinary people, admiration for their courage and bravery.
“I was a participant in the war and saw a lot in those memorable years,” he writes in the essay preceding the novel, “but it was the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress that, as if with a new light, illuminated everything I saw, revealed to me the strength and breadth of the soul of our man, made me feel especially acute experience the happiness and pride of belonging to a great, noble and selfless people..."
The memory of the feat of the heroes of Brest will never die. Book by S.S. Smirnova, awarded the Lenin Prize in 1965, returned to the country the names of many fallen heroes, helped restore justice, and reward the courage of people who gave their lives in the name of the Motherland.
Each historical era creates works that reflect the spirit of its time. The heroic events of the civil war were embodied in Furman’s “Chapaev” and in Ostrovsky’s crystal clear novel “How the Steel Was Tempered.” Many wonderful books have been written about the Great Patriotic War. And among them, a worthy place belongs to the strong and courageous book of S. S. Smirnov. The heroes of the “Brest Fortress” will stand next to the immortal images created by D. Furmanov and N. Ostrovsky, as a symbol of unparalleled devotion to the Motherland.

S. SMIRNOV

FROM THE BOOK “THE BREST FORTRESS”

GAVROCHE OF THE BREST FORTRESS
HEROIC PAGE
CIRCLE OF FAME

And now the ruins of the Brest Fortress, ruins covered in military glory, rise above the Bug. Every year thousands of people from all over our country come here to lay flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers, to pay tribute to their deep respect for the selfless courage and fortitude of its defenders.
The defense of the Brest Fortress, like the defense of Sevastopol and Leningrad, became a symbol of the perseverance and fearlessness of Soviet soldiers and was forever included in the annals of the Great Patriotic War.
Who can remain indifferent when hearing today about the heroes of the Brest Defense, who will not be touched by the greatness of their feat?!
Sergei Smirnov first heard about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress in 1953. Then it was believed that all participants in this defense died.
Who are they, these unknown, nameless people who have shown unprecedented resilience? Perhaps one of them is alive? These are the questions that worried the writer. The painstaking work of collecting materials began, requiring a lot of effort and energy. It was necessary to unravel the most complex interweaving of destinies and circumstances in order to restore the picture of the heroic days. The writer overcomes difficulties step by step, unraveling the threads of this tangle, looking for eyewitnesses and participants in the defense.
Thus, initially conceived as a series of essays, “Brest Fortress” turned into a historical and literary epic grandiose in its scope of events. The novel combines two time planes... Bygone days and modernity stood side by side, revealing all the beauty and greatness of the Soviet man. The heroes of the defense pass before the reader: Major Gavrilov, amazing in his tenacity and fortitude, who fought to the last bullet; full of bright optimism and fierce fearlessness, Private Matevosyan; little trumpeter Petya Klypa is a fearless and selfless boy. And next to these heroes, who miraculously survived, the readers see images of the dead - nameless soldiers and commanders, women and teenagers who took part in battles with enemies. Very little is known about them, but even these meager facts make one marvel at the resilience of the Brest residents, their selfless devotion to the Motherland.
The strength of Sergei Smirnov's work lies in the rigor and simplicity with which the writer presents dramatic events. His stern, restrained manner of narration further emphasizes the significance of the feat accomplished by the defenders of the Brest Fortress. In every line of this work one can feel the writer’s deep respect for these simple and at the same time extraordinary people, admiration for their courage and bravery.
“I was a participant in the war and saw a lot in those memorable years,” he writes in the essay preceding the novel, “but it was the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress that, as if with a new light, illuminated everything I saw, revealed to me the strength and breadth of the soul of our man, “I was able to experience with particular acuteness the happiness and pride of the consciousness of belonging to a great, noble and selfless people...”
The memory of the feat of the heroes of Brest will never die. Book by S.S. Smirnova, awarded the Lenin Prize in 1965, returned the names of many fallen heroes to the country, helped restore justice, and reward the courage of people who gave their lives in the name of the Motherland.
Each historical era creates works that reflect the spirit of its time. The heroic events of the civil war found their embodiment in Furman’s “Chapaev”, in Ostrovsky’s crystal clear novel “How the Steel Was Tempered.” Many wonderful books have been written about the Great Patriotic War. And among them, a worthy place belongs to the strong and courageous book of S. S. Smirnov. The heroes of the “Brest Fortress” will stand next to the immortal images created by D. Furmanov and N. Ostrovsky, as a symbol of unparalleled devotion to the Motherland.