Schoolboy Lev Fedotov is known for his diaries, which fell into the hands of his childhood friend, writer Yuri Trifonov. From him Trifonov wrote his Anton Ovchinnikov in the story "House on the Embankment". However, those diaries were not just a chronicle of pre-war and military events: the young man almost accurately named the date of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and outlined how it would develop.
Leonardo from 7th "B"
Lev Fedotov was born in 1923 in the family of a responsible party worker and dresser of one of the Moscow theaters. Until 1932, the Fedotov family lived in the National Hotel, then in the famous House on the Embankment in apartment 262. Lev studied at the secondary school No. 19 named after Vissarion Belinsky on Sofiyskaya Embankment and was friends with future writers Mikhail Korshunov and Yuri Trifonov.
Trifonov recalled that Fedotov's range of interests was unusually wide - he was fond of mineralogy, paleontology, oceanography, drawing, music. His favorite opera was "Aida", which he, without notes and score, restored by ear for himself - from the first to the last act.
The young man studied the techniques of jiu-jitsu and, despite the illnesses - myopia, flat feet - prepared himself for travel. According to Lev's friend, Artyom Yaroslav, he always “wore some kind of reworked jackets, short pants, from under which bare skinny knees were visible”. Behind this appearance was also the difficult financial situation of the family - Leo grew up without a father (Fedor Kalistratovich died tragically in 1933), and his mother, Rosa Lazarevna, dragged all the burden of material and everyday problems on herself.
“I became addicted to writing novels thanks to Lyova … - recalled Trifonov. “He was known at school as the local Humboldt, as Leonardo from 7th B.
Photo: Vyacheslav Afonin / RIA Novosti
Promotional video:
The girls avoided him: Lev's gaze was intent, hidden, while the boys looked at Fedotov as if he were a miracle and called him either tenderly or ironically “Fedotik”. According to the writer, Fedotov “vigorously and passionately developed his personality in all directions, he hastily absorbed all sciences, all arts, all books, all music, the whole world. He lived with the feeling that he had very little time, and there was an incredible amount of time to do."
Leo's life ended when he was only twenty years old. Despite his illness, he volunteered for the front. Alas, the boy did not manage to live up to the Victory predicted by him. On July 25, 1943, he was traveling in a truck with other soldiers, and the car came under bombardment.
Accidental discovery
The content of Fedotov's diaries was revealed by chance - in 1980 Trifonov came to Lev's mother and asked her for the diaries of his friend for a while - he wanted to use them to stage the play "House on the Embankment" by Yuri Lyubimov at the Taganka Theater. Rosa Lazarevna has several worn notebooks that her son filled out almost daily.
Lev Fedotov (left) with his father Photo: Public Domain
Many knew that Leo kept a diary. According to his classmates, he wrote down all the events there, down to the smallest detail. Sometimes he filled up to a hundred (!) Pages a day with his small, neat handwriting. For example, on December 27, 1940, Fedotov described his dispute with classmates about flying into the universe. Then he jokingly said that the Americans would fly to Mars in 1969. And almost got to the point - only the US astronauts on "Apollo 11" went to the moon …
But the main thing in Fedotov's diaries is the events of 1941, their assessment and forecasts. Trifonov, having read the diaries of a friend, was shocked - after all, what Fedotov wrote about did not fit into any framework. He indicated almost the exact date of the German attack on the Soviet Union and described the course of hostilities until the beginning of 1942!
On the threshold
On June 5, 1941, Fedotov wrote in his diary: “Although Germany is now on friendly terms with us, I am firmly convinced that all this is only an appearance. Thus, she thinks to lull our vigilance in order to put a poisoned knife in our back at the right moment …"
He was confident in the future success of the Red Army: “I am personally firmly convinced that this will be the last insolent step of the German despots, since they will not defeat us before winter. Victory is victory, but the fact that we will be able to lose a lot of territory in the first half of the war is possible …"
Fedotov believed that the Germans would attack unexpectedly, without declaring war, and seize Minsk, Gomel, Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, Gomel, Pskov and many other cities. He assumed that the Germans would take Kiev as well, but he was sure that the capital would withstand Hitler's onslaught - "in the winter, for them, the districts of Moscow will continue to be just a grave!" He predicted that Leningrad, encircled, would not capitulate either.
Lev Fedotov's diary. Photo: public domain
“Eh, we will lose a lot of territory! - Fedotov lamented. - Although it will still be taken back by us later, this is no consolation. The temporary successes of the Germans, of course, depend not only on the accuracy and strength of their military machine, but also on ourselves. I admit these successes because I know that we are not too prepared for war. If we armed ourselves properly, then no force of the German military mechanism would frighten us, and therefore the war would immediately acquire an offensive character for us …"
Lev complained that a lot of money before the war was spent on palaces, awards to artists and art critics. It was quite possible to wait with this, it would be better if those significant funds were spent on defense and strengthening the army.
On the last peaceful day, June 21, 1941, Fedotov wrote: “Now I am already waiting for trouble for our entire country - war. According to my calculations, if I was really right in my reasoning, that is, if Germany is preparing to attack us, the war should break out in the coming days of this month or in early July … Frankly speaking, now, in the last days, waking up in the morning, I ask myself: maybe at that moment the first volleys had already struck at the border? Now we can expect the beginning of the war from day to day …"
He pointed out that "we will repent of overestimating our forces and underestimating the capitalist encirclement." And he predicted that the United States will enter the war only when it is forced, because "Americans are more fond of making weapons, spending time on considering laws than fighting."
Complete match
On the morning of June 22, his aunt called. "Lyova! Did you hear the radio now? She asked. "No! It's off. " “So turn it on! So you haven't heard anything? " "There is nothing". "War with Germany!" - answered my aunt. At first I somehow did not delve into these words and asked in surprise: “Why is this all of a sudden?”, Writes Fedotov.
After the radio announced the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Fedotov wrote in his diary: “… I was struck by the coincidence of my thoughts with reality! Everything just flew out of my head! After all, I only wrote in the Diary last night once again about the war I predicted, and now it happened. This is a monstrous truth. But the fairness of my predictions is clearly not to my liking. I wish I was wrong!"
Photo: Evgeny Khaldey / RIA Novosti
“The thought of a war with Germany worried me back in 1939, when a significant pact was signed on the so-called friendship between Russia and German despots,” he reflected on June 25. - and when our units entered Poland, playing the role of liberators and defenders of the Polish poor,”he writes.
How did Fedotov manage to get to the point? He partly explains this himself: "True, I am not going to be a prophet, but all these thoughts arose in me in connection with the international situation, and reasoning and guesswork helped me to put them in a logical series and supplement."
However, sometimes Leo's thoughts look naive, which, however, can be justified by youth and her inherent good impulses. “How I wish that Lenin was resurrected now!.. - he wrote. - Eh! If he lived! How I would like these beasts-fascists in the war with us to feel the bright genius of our Ilyich on their skins. Even then they would have fully felt what the Russian people are capable of."
Here is another enthusiastic cry from the heart: "Maybe after the victory over fascism we will still meet with the last enemy - the capitalism of America and England, after which absolute communism will triumph."
However, Fedotov was sure that “the fascists will suffocate in the fight against us. The dullheads, of course, will still shout about the victory over the USSR, but the more reasonable ones will talk about this war as a fatal mistake of Germany."
In one of the first days of the war, he wrote: “Today the report from the front was not bad: it was clear that the Germans seemed to have stopped; but I have no doubt about their further progress. They can strengthen their positions and go over to the offensive. From my reasoning, which I set out in my diary on June 5 - at the beginning of this summer - I am not going to renounce yet”.
Lev Fedotov stopped his diary entries more than a month after the start of the Great Patriotic War: July 27, 1941.
Valery Burt