Artek. How much has merged in this sound for a child's heart! Heart, of course, Soviet. Every child in the USSR dreamed of getting a ticket to this camp. But it had to be earned by shock studies, work or sports achievements, so only the best of the best went there. The time spent in the camp will forever remain in their memory. Including because a lot of things happened in Artek that were not accepted to speak out loud during the Soviet era.
White lady
As you know, ghosts do not exist. But in Artek he was, or rather, was: the White Lady. It is possible that she still wanders along the night alleys and catches violators of the regime. Indeed, when Artek was a Soviet pioneer camp, this is exactly what she was doing. Agree, a simple activity. But during her lifetime, the White Lady was called Jeanne de Lamotte, made friends with the famous Cagliostro and Cardinal Louis de Rohan, made friends with Marie Antoinette, hunted for swindles became the prototype of Milady in Dumas's Three Musketeers. One of her adventures became "the prologue to the Great French Revolution." Jeanne, using forged IOUs, allegedly signed by Marie Antoinette, stole a diamond necklace with a fabulous value of 1,600,000 livres. The deception was revealed, and a terrible scandal broke out. And although Marie Antoinette proved her innocence in the ruinous deal, her reputation, like that of the entire royal court, suffered greatly.
Jeanne de LaMotte was branded, stripped of her nobility and sentenced to life exclusion. But she managed to escape and under the name of Countess de Gachet settled in Russia, where 12 years later she was identified by the French ambassador and demanded that Alexander I extradite the criminal. But our gallant emperor exiled Joan to the Crimea. She settled at the foot of Mount Ayudag in a house, which soon received the nickname "devil". And all because Jeanne, dressed in black clothes, was engaged in magic and divination there. And for 2 years, released to her death, she was so successful in this occupation that she was remembered by the Crimeans forever. By the will of fate, the last refuge of Jeanne de Lamotte was on the territory of Artek. And the pioneers, not without pleasure, visited the "devil's house", and then flew away with all their might from the ghost and in colors told each other the details of their meeting with him. By the way,modern Artekites do the same and seriously consider the white marble statue of N. K. Krupskaya, standing near the Suuk-Su palace, a monument to that very White Lady.
Gift from the pioneers
In the Soviet years, Artek, as an exemplary showcase of a happy childhood, was included in the mandatory program of visits by foreign delegations. In the early 1950s, the famous camp was visited by the American Ambassador Harriman. The pioneers solemnly presented him with the US coat of arms, made of valuable tree species. He looked so gorgeous that the translator considered it possible to make recommendations to the American ambassador: "Hang him in your office and the British will die of envy!"
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Harriman did just that. The coat of arms hung in the ambassador's office for 8 years. During this time, four people were replaced at the post of head of the American embassy in Moscow. Each of them changed the decor of the office to their liking, but did not touch the coat of arms: it was so good. It all ended when a so-called bug was found in it - an electronic eavesdropping device. This operation with the telling name "Confession" was controlled by Stalin and Beria themselves.
It is clear that the Americans preferred to remain silent about this shameful fact of the biography of their counterintelligence. And it was made public only after a reconnaissance plane piloted by Gary Powers was shot down in the sky over Sverdlovsk, and the Soviet government began to accuse the United States of espionage. It was then that the Americans expressed themselves in the spirit: "Whose cow would bellow, and yours would be silent." In Artek itself, however, this whole story became known only during the perestroika period. As for the coat of arms, today this gift from the Soviet pioneers and its filling are exhibited in the American CIA museum.
Leonid Ilyich Lenin
Artek has existed since 1925, and during this time many politicians, writers and cultural figures from various countries, hundreds of actors and almost all cosmonauts have stayed here. As a rule, their visits to the pioneer camp were widely reported on television and in print. But sometimes it happened that the media did not get it. So, during one of the visits of the General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, the girl who spoke with the greeting was so worried that she said: "Dear Leonid Ilyich Lenin …" The leaders and educators were shocked. But Brezhnev only remarked ironically: "It's good that Stalin is not …"
And in 1962, when the North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh arrived at the camp, a heavily drunk Artek gardener approached him, familiarly extended his hand for a handshake and said: "So that's what you are, Mao Zedong!.."
At the end of the perestroika 1980s, Artek was visited by the then popular Soviet-American children's theater group Peace Child. At the end of the show, all the participants and spectators had to chant Peace Day in English. The voice of several thousand pioneer sips sounded so loud that it was heard even in Yalta. And all over Crimea there was talk that children in Artek were taught to swear in chorus …
Cannibal - lover of children
In 1973, Artek was honored with his attention by the leader of an African country. Bright and expressive, with a cheerful smile on his face, he charmed everyone. On his own initiative, the African staged a real performance in front of the Artekites: he shouted, sang, hit the drums and danced, waving a massive cane, learned with the pioneers a rhythmic African song, which remained a hit in the camp almost until the collapse of the USSR. Literally all children fell in love with this African and awarded him the title of honorary Artek member. In parting, he said: "I really like Artek's children."
The name of this cheerful man was Jean Bedel Bokassa. At that time he was the president of the Central African Republic, but later he declared himself emperor and became famous for … cannibalism. Most of all, Bokassa loved to eat children and young girls. He could not live a day without human meat, which he called "sugar pork." On business trips, he took with him canned meat prepared by his personal chef. The cannibalistic delicacy was kept in a special case, with which Bokassa, by the way, came to a meeting with the Artekites. Agree, in this context, his farewell phrase takes on a completely different meaning …
UFO IN THE CAMP
In August 1991, another concert was being prepared in Artek.
Suddenly the children jumped out of their seats and shouted “UFOs! UFO! ran to the sea, where over the rocks of Adalar hung one above the other two balls glowing with gold. Approximately every 10 minutes the balls “turned on” and “turned off” the illumination. An hour later, the unexpected guests disappeared as suddenly as they appeared.
Another time a UFO encounter took place in October 1995. A group of Artekites went on boats to Panair Bay. Suddenly, the children saw how five luminous objects of an indefinite shape appeared in the sky, which, following each other, completely silently moved to Mount Ayudag, and then disappeared in it. Later, an expedition of ufologists tried to find the alleged entrances to the underground on the surface of the mountain, but in vain.
Arkady Vyatkin