In the Trenches of Stalingrad
5 hrs. 41 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Viktor Nekrasov
Author
Viktor Nekrasov
Narrator
Andrey Smolyakov
Narrator
Andrey Smolyakov
Description
A story about the defense of Stalingrad in 1942–1943, written by one of its direct participants.
Nekrasov recalled: “For reasons I can’t understand, Alexander Fadeev wasn’t very favorably disposed toward this story. Later, though, it was Всеволод Вишневский who told me—he was editor of the magazine Znamya—and he published the story and, I should say, without any corrections or changes. But then, when something completely unexpected happened for me—that it received the Stalin Prize—Всеволод Віталійович called me in, closed every door, and, I think, even turned off the phone, and said: ‘Viktor Platonovich, you know what strange thing happened?’ (He himself was a member of the Committee for Stalin Prizes). ‘Yesterday night, at the last meeting of the Committee, Fadeev struck your story off the list, and today it appeared.’ Only one person could have put the story on the list in a single night. And it was exactly that person who did it.”
The story brought Nekrasov true fame; it was reissued in a total circulation of several million copies and translated into 36 languages. For this book, after Stalin himself read it, Viktor Nekrasov received the Stalin Prize in 1947. The name Stalin is mentioned in the story only once.
Nekrasov recalled: “For reasons I can’t understand, Alexander Fadeev wasn’t very favorably disposed toward this story. Later, though, it was Всеволод Вишневский who told me—he was editor of the magazine Znamya—and he published the story and, I should say, without any corrections or changes. But then, when something completely unexpected happened for me—that it received the Stalin Prize—Всеволод Віталійович called me in, closed every door, and, I think, even turned off the phone, and said: ‘Viktor Platonovich, you know what strange thing happened?’ (He himself was a member of the Committee for Stalin Prizes). ‘Yesterday night, at the last meeting of the Committee, Fadeev struck your story off the list, and today it appeared.’ Only one person could have put the story on the list in a single night. And it was exactly that person who did it.”
The story brought Nekrasov true fame; it was reissued in a total circulation of several million copies and translated into 36 languages. For this book, after Stalin himself read it, Viktor Nekrasov received the Stalin Prize in 1947. The name Stalin is mentioned in the story only once.
