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Abstract:

The novel by Vs. Ivanov “The Taking of Berlin” is based on the impressions received by the writer, who in March 1945 went to the 1st Belorussian Front and in May witnessed the storming of the Reichstag in Germany. The novel, which was published in issues 1–6 of the Novy Mir magazine in 1946, was criticized as “ideologically and artistically weak,” marked by “poor knowledge of ... the material.” Based on the analysis of the text of the novel and materials stored in the Ivanov archive at the Manuscript Department of IWL RAS, including a letter from journalist G.I. Shoshin, newspaper clippings from 1946, as well as memoirs of participants of the Great Patriotic War, and historical research from the 1940s to 1990s, this article suggests that the harsh critical assessment was partly due to the fact that one of the characters in “The Taking of Berlin” was Lieutenant A.P. Berest. He covered himself in glory during the storming of the Reichstag, and his name was undeservedly forgotten for nearly twenty years. It was he who led the group of soldiers who covered sergeants M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria when they raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building, and he, disguised as a colonel, became a Soviet parliamentarian in the Reichstag on May 1, 1945. Ivanov’s novel depicts the second episode of the storming of the Reichstag, which was recounted to the writer by the journalist Shoshin, who told him about the raising of the flag. Thus, the novel “The Taking of Berlin” became evidence of a little-known feat of one of the participants in the Great Patriotic War.

Keywords: Vs. Ivanov, the novel “The Taking of Berlin”, personal impressions, Reichstag hero Lieutenant A.P. Berest, archival materials, memoirs, historical research.