Boris Efimov: great artist and smart politician. Boris Yefimov - the patriarch of the Soviet caricature Blood and Nikolai

Was born on September 28, 1900 in Kiev. Father - Fridland Efim Moiseevich (born in 1860). Mother - Rakhil Savelyevna (born in 1880). The first wife is Koretskaya Rosalia Borisovna (born in 1900). The second wife is Raisa Efimovna Fradkina (born in 1901). Son - Efimov Mikhail Borisovich (born in 1929).

Boris Efimov never thought that he would become an artist, although he loved to draw since childhood. The ability to draw showed up in him early, from the age of 5-6. On paper, he preferred to depict not the surrounding nature - houses, trees, cats or horses, but figures and characters born of his own imagination, the stories of his older brother and the content of the books he read. Very soon, this childish passion was replaced by a conscious desire to transfer to paper the funny in the habits and characters of people.

After his parents moved to Bialystok, Boris was assigned to a real school, where his older brother also studied. There they published a handwritten school magazine together. Brother Mikhail (future publicist and feuilletonist Mikhail Koltsov) edited it, and Boris illustrated it.

The first caricature of Yefimov was published in 1916 in the illustrated magazine Sun of Russia, which was popular in those years. Later, he recalled this event as follows: “As a fifth grade student, using photographs, I made a caricature of Rodzianko, Chairman of the State Duma, and sent him to Petrograd. Seeing the printed drawing, I was shocked ... "

Soon the family moved to Kharkov. The parents stayed, and the brother left for Petrograd. Boris returned to Kyiv, completed his studies at a real school, and in 1917 entered the Kyiv Institute of National Economy. However, after studying there for a year, he moved to the law faculty of Kyiv University.

In 1918, cartoons of Blok, the then-famous actress Yurenev, the director Kugel, and the poet Voznesensky, appeared in the Kiev magazine Spectator. The series of colored drawings "The Conquerors" dates back to the same time - a kind of satirical chronicle of the changing authorities in Kyiv, first German, then the White Guards and Petliurists.

With the establishment of Soviet power in Kyiv, Boris Efimov worked as a secretary of the Editing and Publishing Department in the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs. In June of the same year, his first propaganda drawings were published in the military newspaper "Red Army", equipped with the autograph "Bor. Efimov", which later became world-famous.

Since 1920, Boris Efimov has been working as a cartoonist in the newspapers "Kommunar", "Bolshevik", "Visti", the head of the visual propaganda department of YugROSTA in Odessa. Here he made his first poster on a plywood sheet, on which he depicted Denikin beaten by the Red Army. Later, B. Efimov was the head of the Izosection of the propaganda department of the South-Western Front in Kharkov. Upon his return to Kyiv, he became the head of the art and poster department Kyiv - UkrROSTA. In parallel, he collaborated with the newspapers "Kyiv Proletarian" and "Proletarskaya Pravda".

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In 1922 Boris Efimov moved to Moscow. Since then, his works have been published on the pages of Rabochaya Gazeta, Krokodil, Pravda, Izvestia, Ogonyok, Searchlight and many other publications, and appear in separate collections and albums. During these years, political satire became his main specialization. The "heroes" of his cartoons were: in the 1920s, many Western politicians - Hughes, Daladier, Chamberlain; in the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler, Mussolini, Goering and Goebbels, whom he invariably portrayed as a lame monkey; in subsequent years - Churchill, Truman and others. Other caricatures evoked such a violent reaction from the characters depicted on them that it came to diplomatic protests.

In the 1930s, the albums of cartoons "Face of the Enemy" (1931), "Caricature in the Defense Service of the USSR" (1931), "Political Cartoons" (1931), "A Way Out Will Be Found" (1932), "Political Cartoons" were published. (1935), "Fascism is the enemy of the peoples" (1937), "Warmongers" (1938), "Fascist interventionists in Spain" (1938).

The "lethal force" of Yefimov's cartoons was fully manifested during the war years. His works were published in those years on the pages of Krasnaya Zvezda, Frontline Illustration, as well as in front-line, army, divisional newspapers and even on leaflets that were scattered behind the front line and called on enemy soldiers to surrender. In search of plots for his works, Boris Efimov repeatedly went to the army.

During the war years, he actively worked in the field of posters. Boris Efimov was among those Soviet writers and artists (Moor, Denis, Kukryniksy and others) who, already on the sixth day of the German attack on the USSR, created the TASS Windows workshop. As in the years of the Civil War, posters made immediately upon receipt of reports from the front or the latest international communications were hung on the streets of Moscow, instilling faith in the Victory even in the most difficult days. Then "Windows" were replicated and produced in the rear - Pyatigorsk, Tbilisi, Tyumen.

Boris Efimov's merits during the Great Patriotic War were awarded medals "For the Defense of Moscow" and "For the Victory over Germany".

In the post-war period, Boris Efimov continued to work actively in a variety of genres. In 1948, a collection of his cartoons "Mr. Dollar" was published, and in 1950 - an album of drawings "For a lasting peace, against warmongers."

In 1954 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, in 1957 - a member of the board of the Union of Artists of the USSR, in 1958 he was awarded the title of "People's Artist of the RSFSR", and in 1967 - "People's Artist of the USSR". Since 1932 he has been a member of the Union of Artists. He was repeatedly elected a member of the board and secretary of the Union of Artists of the USSR.

Since 1965 and for almost 30 years, Boris Efimov headed the Creative and Production Association "Agitplakat" under the Union of Artists of the USSR as the editor-in-chief, while remaining one of its most active authors.

In total, over the years of his creative activity, Boris Yefimov created tens of thousands of political cartoons, propaganda posters, humorous drawings, illustrations, cartoons, as well as easel series of satirical drawings for zonal, group and all-Union art exhibitions. Dozens of satirical albums were published, as well as a number of memoir books, stories, essays, studies on the history and theory of the art of caricature. Among them: "40 years. Notes of a satirical artist", "Work, memories, meetings", "Stories about satirical artists", "I want to tell", "Basic understanding of caricature", "In my opinion", "Unfictional stories "," To schoolchildren about caricature and cartoonists "," Tales of an old Muscovite "," A peer of the century "," My century "and others.

B. Yefimov - Hero of Socialist Labor, three times Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1950, 1951, 1972), Academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, then - of the Russian Academy of Arts. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Bulgarian Order of Cyril and Methodius, 1st class, and many other domestic and foreign awards.

Boris Yefimov met the year 2000 - the year of the 55th anniversary of the Great Victory - the year of his 100th anniversary, still in love with life, beauty, books, theater, sports, a company of friends, a good joke, a good anecdote.

When the famous cartoonist Boris Efimov turned only 100 years old, all the newspapers wrote about it excitedly.

He survived the revolution, the Civil and Patriotic Wars, in a word, all the epochs of the past century. Five years later, Boris Efimovich celebrated the next anniversary. September 28, 2008 he is already 108! The correspondent of "RG" met with the long-lived artist and asked him a few questions.

I don't draw anymore

Russian newspaper:Open the secret: how did you manage to live to such a venerable age? Do you follow any special diets or practices?

Boris Efimov: No way. I like one anecdote. In the Caucasus, a centenarian is honored, who tells that he leads a healthy lifestyle, does not drink or smoke. Suddenly drunken screams are heard from the back rows. The old-timer says: "Pay no attention, it was my older brother who got drunk again."

RG:You are the same age as the century, political leaders, artists and scientists have come and gone before your eyes... The political system, laws, rules of life, style of communication, fashion have changed... What period of your life is the most interesting?

Efimov: The age itself was interesting. Every decade has something different. Now it is difficult to single out any one period, a decade. It is necessary to consider the era as a whole.

RG:Are you painting now?

Efimov: No. I don't draw anymore. The period of activity has ended a long time ago. But I continue to work, though in a different field. I write books because I have stories to tell. For example, the book of memoirs "About times and people", written in collaboration with Viktor Fradkin. By the way, it just can be a detailed, detailed answer to the first question. It tells about the people and the times that they filled. There are stories about political figures, and about actors, and about writers, and about my fellow artists, for example, about the Kukryniksy, Ernst Neizvestny, Zurab Tsereteli.

In addition, there are other books of memoirs: "The Age of the Century", "Ten Decades" and others.

RG:What else do you do, how do you spend your time, what books do you read?

Efimov: I read different books, but there is one favorite that I am ready to re-read endlessly. This is Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

RG:Which of today's characters in world politics is the most imaginative?

Efimov: Now there are no such bright characters as were the same Hitler, Mussolini, Tito, who could be ridiculed by noticing one or more details of their behavior, appearance.

RG:Do you follow the current situation with the cartoon genre in the country? Do you have followers today?

Efimov: Of course, there are good cartoonists. These are, for example, Vladimir Mochalov, Igor Smirnov.

But it should be noted that the political cartoon as a genre ceased to exist. What we see now is handwriting.

Angry Stalin

RG:Did you yourself look for characters for cartoons, because you were in the context of what was happening, or was there an order from the authorities every time?

Efimov: I searched myself. I read newspapers, listened to the radio, watched newsreels, then television appeared. I chose the topics myself. But of course there were also orders, including, for example, personally from Stalin. But we can say that I chose 90 percent of the stories myself.

RG:Did the authorities interfere in the creative process, did they point out some detail that needs to be emphasized?

Efimov: Yes, this has happened. For example, we can recall such a case. I drew a caricature of the Japanese militarists. To emphasize their political expansionist ambitions, I endowed them with long teeth. Then Stalin called the editor-in-chief of Pravda, Lev Mekhlis, and became indignant. Say, it offends the national dignity of the Japanese people.

Another example is from more recent times. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Great Britain. I drew a cartoon of her. This drawing was posted in agitprop windows throughout Moscow and other cities. This aroused the indignation of those in power, as it did not look very diplomatic.

RG:Is it hard for you to realize that your peers are leaving one by one?

Efimov: Of course. This is a great tragedy, it is very difficult to see that you are left alone.

Made and sent by Anatoly Kaydalov.
_____________________

Boris Fridland was born on September 15 (28), 1900 in Kyiv. Parents - Fridland Efim Moiseevich (1860-1945), a shoemaker, and Rakhil Savelievna (1880-1969). Boris started drawing at the age of five. Since 1920, Efimov has been working in Odessa as a cartoonist in the newspapers Kommunar, Bolshevik, etc. Since 1922, the artist moved to Moscow, where he collaborated with the newspapers Pravda and Izvestia, with the Crocodile". Author of politically topical cartoons on international topics. After the arrests at the end of 1938, the artist was fired from the Izvestia newspaper and was forced to switch to work in book illustration (works by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Actively participated in all the political campaigns of the Soviet government: the fight against the "social fascists" - the social democratic parties of the West, the fight against the Trotskyists, Bukharinites, etc., against cosmopolitans, against geneticists - "Weisman-Morganists, murderers-fly-lovers", against the Vatican , "killer doctors" (the so-called Case of Doctors, Case of Doctors-Poisoners, in the materials of the investigation The case of the Zionist conspiracy in the MGB is a criminal case against a group of prominent Soviet doctors accused of conspiring and killing a number of Soviet leaders. The origins of the campaign date back to 1948 , when the doctor Lidia Timashuk drew the attention of the competent authorities to the oddities in the treatment of Zhdanov, which led to the death of the patient.), with Marshal Tito, with "enemy voices" - radio stations in Western Europe and America, etc., created a unique phenomenon in world culture - positive satire.
In 1966-1990, Efimov was the editor-in-chief of the Agitplakat creative and production association. The last year of his life (at the age of 107-108) was the chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper.
Died October 1, 2008 AT THE ONE HUNDRED AND NINE YEAR OF LIFE.

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People's Artist of the USSR Boris Efimovich Efimov

Boris Yefimov's cartoons, his satirical and humorous drawings appeared in print after the Great October Revolution in the newspapers of Soviet Ukraine, the artist's homeland. And already in 1922 his works were published in Moscow, on the pages of Pravda and Izvestia. Of course, Efimov is a little older, but Efimov the satirist, no doubt, was born and matured with the Soviet regime.
For nearly fifty years, Efimov's drawings have been exposing and ridiculing the enemies of the Soviet Union, mocking them. Capitalism, militarism, imperialism and fascism are the themes of most of his cartoons. He fully deserved the recognition that he had long won as a people's artist.
Already in Efimov's early drawings, the thoughts and feelings of the Soviet people were conveyed so clearly and precisely that it was impossible to make a mistake in their meaning. Efimov's artistic style - expressive and purely newspaper - allows him to very clearly reflect the most difficult political problems. His caricatures of political opponents are distinguished by great portrait resemblance. They always very accurately emphasize those features that reflect the weaknesses of the enemies, weaknesses carefully covered up by a pompous appearance, empty phrases, superbly tailored clothes. Efimov's drawings rip off all these robes from them. In this respect, he is unfailingly frank and ruthless. At the same time, even the sharpest Efimov's drawings are full of deep humanity, they always contain playfulness, humor - that is, qualities so inherent in the Soviet people. They express the faith of the Soviet people in their own strength, their conviction in the rightness of their cause. How much humor, for example, in Efimov's drawing of 1937, which depicts the fascist leaders of the "anti-Comintern pact", tensely balancing on a lit bomb. Will they fall off her or will they manage to hold on? One way or another, but this "circus" anti-communist number will end badly for them.
Even in the difficult years of the war, Efimov did not change his sense of humor. His contempt for the Hitlerite horde, for the Nazi leaders, expressed in caricatures, strengthened the will of the Soviet people to fight against the enemies of mankind and humanity. The drawing of 1942 depicted a greedy Nazi soldier who, in pursuit of a fat pig, falls at the fly of a partisan. Even funnier is the world-famous caricature, where a Nazi, wrapped in a warm blanket, runs through the snow to relieve himself. In this drawing, which combines cheerful comedy and caustic mockery in a purely Efimov style, the “superman” of the Third Reich is completely exposed.
The ridicule of fascism contributed to its weakening and increased determination to fight it to the end. Efimov's pencil reached the enemy before the bullets of the Soviet soldiers finally hit him. The artist hung the Nazi war criminals long before they lost their lives on the rope of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It was probably a great moment for Efimov when he saw the objects of his caricatures in the dock at Nuremberg. The trial showed that Efimov, in his caricatures of the leaders of the “thousand-year-old” Reich, did not exaggerate anything and that, on the contrary, these criminals were in fact even more disgusting and insignificant than in Efimov’s images, representing caricatures of Efimov’s caricatures.
Many of the long-dead enemies of the Soviet Union gained "immortality" in Efimov's cartoons. They live in his drawings not as exemplary examples, but as warning examples of the hopelessness of anti-communist designs. But Efimov, unfortunately, does not yet have to suffer from a lack of topics for satire.
Fascism found "worthy" heirs, who at first hid behind democratic masks, but then bared their faces. The despicable US war in Vietnam, unleashed to prevent the people of a small country from running it the way they want, gave Efimov plenty of themes. The military dictatorship in Greece was also the target of his direct hits.
Whom Efimov has not painted over the past years!
His first models were Curzon and Hughes, Sir Austin Chamberlain and the Polish dictator Marshal Piłsudski. These anti-communist "phenomena" have long since disappeared from the historical arena. Similarly, Mussolini, Hitler, Goering and Goebbels left. And Efimov's cartoons, which appeared in their time, today remind not so much of these ominous ghosts that have sunk into oblivion, but of the resilience and courage of the Soviet people, to whom these ghosts, then powerful and arrogant, threatened with all sorts of troubles, predicted the death of Soviet power. All of them have found their place in the garbage dump of history.
Efimov reflected in his work and brave fighters against fascism. One of his drawings depicts Dimitrov, thrown into prison, boldly denouncing German fascism at the Reichstag fire trial taking place in Leipzig. Many drawings pay well-deserved honor to the Soviet soldier.
Efimov branded the crimes of the fascist dictator Franco against the Spanish people. In the same way, the British lion received what he deserved for his humility, pliability and, frankly, support for the fascist aggressive plans in the East. Efimov's pencil reflected both the predatory campaign of the Nazi army in Europe and its inglorious defeat in the war against the Soviet Union.
As already mentioned, Efimov did not become unemployed after the end of World War II. During the Cold War, the fascist reptile, using dollar support, again crawled out of the grave and took its place in NATO. Anti-communism rolled forward again, this time on the "democratic" wheels of the dollar. The West German eagle began hatching its revanchist plans. Wherever possible, the United States began to plant puppet regimes and suppress freedom, naturally hiding behind the slogan of "defending freedom." The Cold War led the United States into a hot war - first in Korea, then in Vietnam - again, of course, in the name of "freedom" and "peace." Yes, unfortunately, Efimov still has enough work to do. But he predicts the defeat of imperialism. And we have every reason to believe that he is not mistaken in his predictions in the same way that he was not mistaken in them before. Sooner or later justice will prevail. The October Revolution showed that the working people are capable of defeating the warmongers and exploiters, and today the Soviet Union is the best example of the struggle for freedom, independence and peace for the peoples of the entire globe. Efimov contributed to the fact that the Soviet people remained optimistic even in the most difficult times, and it is very correct that at the beginning of the second half-century of the Soviet state, Efimov's caricatures are again reproduced. Of course, only a few examples of his countless drawings are given here.
Boris Yefimov is one of the most popular artists of the Soviet Union. Perhaps the most popular, although it is difficult for a foreigner to judge this. Now he is the oldest employee of Izvestia, Pravda, and Krokodil. But he looks wonderful - as if he belongs to the younger generation. This is very good, because it allows us to hope that his pencil will serve for many years to come in defense of the interests of peace, socialism and the happiness of the working people.
Herluf Bidstrup,
laureate of the International Lenin Prize for strengthening peace between peoples.
COPENHAGEN.

The civil war ended with the victory of the young Soviet Republic. The participants in the "fourteen powers' campaign" against Moscow bruised their foreheads. The last remnants of the White Guards and interventionists were thrown out of the Soviet country. In 1922, the world's first state of workers and peasants opens, in fact, the first page of its peaceful existence.
The pulse of the Soviet country speaks of its good health, excellent mood and confidence in the future, which cannot be said about the West. The enemies of the revolution are experiencing a severe moral and mental crisis. So obvious and clinical in form that the international review, drawn by the Izvestia cartoonist, had to be called "Crazy House Europe". Here are the carriers of a number of mental and political diseases. The central figure of this "Europe" is the French Prime Minister (former president) Raymond Poincaré, nicknamed the "Poincaré War" by the working people of France. Already five years have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which meant the end of the First World War, and the prime minister still cannot part with steel
wearing a helmet, he lets out a warlike growl, demands the rejection of foreign territories, indemnities, and especially the destruction of Bolshevism ... Obvious symptoms of violent insanity.
Nearby is the English minister, Lord Curzon of Kedleston (we will meet him later). The Lord suffers from an obsession - to get as much oil as possible, and above all, Soviet oil attracts him. An exceptionally serious form of the disease and, as we shall see, incurable.
Every lunatic asylum has, as a rule, its Caius Julius Caesar and its Napoleon Bonaparte. These are the most banal examples of megalomania. Of course, they are also present in Europe. A certain Benito Mussolini, the leader of the Italian "black shirts" who call themselves fascists, wrapped himself in Caesar's toga. Soon this first fascist in the world will become the sovereign master of Italy with the title of "Duce" and will do a lot of trouble and bloody crimes before the Italian partisans hang him upside down. But this humanity will have to wait another 22 years.
A maniac in a Napoleonic cocked hat is a certain Pilsudski, a fascist who seized power in bourgeois Poland. Why he imagined himself a great commander, no one knows, but the laurels of Bonaparte clearly clouded the mind of Pan Marshal, who turned his gloomy and threatening gaze towards the Soviet borders. We will also meet him on these pages.
With a noose in his hands - Land Admiral Miklós Horthy de Nadbanya, the bloody executioner of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, the future satellite of Hitler, a sadist obsessed with hatred of revolution and democracy. He will finally go insane after the collapse of the counter-revolutionary rebellion of 1956 and end his days in Lisbon under the wing of the now former fascist dictator Salazar.
Around these large-caliber madmen bustle "psychos" and on a smaller scale - mainly representatives of the White Guard emigration: Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Black Hundreds, monarchists and other anti-Soviet rump; they went crazy because the October Revolution swept them from their homes.
Crazy house "Europe".
So, the year 1923 is coming, the 6th from the October Revolution. A scarlet banner with a sickle and a hammer proudly flies over the sixth part of the planet. The Soviet state stretched from the Neman to the Pacific Ocean. Many have already broken their teeth, testing the strength of its boundaries. However, not everyone was satisfied...
The seasoned imperialist bison, already familiar to us, Lord Curzon, the former viceroy of India and one of the organizers of the intervention against the Soviet country, decided that the time had come for another anti-Soviet attack. On May 8, 1923, he handed over to M. M. Litvinov his so-called “Curzon ultimatum”. The meaning of this document: Soviet Russia must fulfill a number of provocative British demands within ten days, otherwise, a rupture of relations and military measures.
The drawings "Pyro" and "Cold Shower" quite clearly characterize the further course of events. Faced with the firm position of the Soviet government, the zealous lord was forced to back down, realizing for all his stubbornness that it was useless to speak with the Soviet people in the language of ultimatums. The unfortunate arsonist lord soon ended his political career, but never gave up his anti-Soviet obsessions. Even leaving, "as they say, to another world" in 1925, Curzon said that the recognition of the Soviet Union was "the greatest mistake in the world" ...
Arsonist and... cold shower.
And yet, despite the “dissenting opinion” of Lord Curzon, this “mistake” was made during his lifetime by many European states in 1924, which went down in the history of Soviet foreign policy as the “year of confessions”.
This is also evidenced by the drawing "New Year's Prediction", printed on January 1, 1924 in Izvestia with a note that the first page of the newspaper depicted in the cartoon is specially assigned to Senator Hughes. Who is Yuz? And why didn't they spare a whole page of Izvestia for him?
Lawyer Charles Hughes at that time had been at the helm of American foreign policy for several years, in no way inferior to his British colleague Curzon in terms of the degree of anti-Soviet policy.
sence. He repeatedly burst into abuse and threats against the Soviet country. Hughes was particularly enraged by those articles and speeches by Soviet statesmen that were published on the front page of Izvestia, to which the irritable senator attached some special, offensive meaning to himself. This maniacal sensitivity of Hughes to the first page of Izvestia was the reason for the caricature.
The "principled" Mr. Hughes, of course, did not recognize the existence of the Soviet Union. It will take a few more years before US statesmen "notice" on the map one-sixth of the earth's land, painted in red.

From the beginning of 1924, the recognitions of the Soviet Union follow one after another. Some bourgeois governments still resist, still cling to the so-called "recognition de facto, but not de jure" (that is, factual, but not legal), but in the end they are forced to submit to the inexorable course of historical development. This is told by the drawing "New Magnetic Anomaly", the plot of which was suggested to the cartoonist by a major event in the national economy of the Soviet country - the discovery of the Kursk magnetic anomaly.
The Soviet Union is recognized by England, followed by Italy, Norway, Greece and many other states. In the waiting room of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin, it becomes crowded, a kind of "Diplomatic friction" arises.
Bourgeois politicians are forced to reckon with very stubborn facts: the growing international prestige of the Soviet state, the development of its economy, and, last but not least, the strength of the Red Army guarding the peaceful labor of the Soviet people.

Red Army. 1924
In May 1924, after the parliamentary elections, the Poincaré War very reluctantly parted with the portfolio of Prime Minister, and soon the new French government of Edouard Herriot recognized the Soviet Union.
The first Soviet ambassador (then they were still called plenipotentiaries) in Paris
became Leonid Borisovich Krasin. The reactionaries gnashed their teeth. Ah, how the former socialist, and later super-imperialist, the fierce enemy of the Soviet country, Millerand, would like to crush Soviet-French cooperation. But it turned out to be much stronger than his bouncy horns...
Farewell aria of Poincaré
You will soon forget me. But I won't forget you!
At our embassy in Paris
Mr. Millerand kindly confirms that the bulls still cannot stand the color red.
In October 1924, parliamentary elections were coming up in England. The Conservatives, who had a very slim chance of success, resorted to a tried and tested scam - they created a sensation: Scotland Yard uncovered a "Bolshevik conspiracy" against Great Britain! The British reactionary press, with incredible noise, published an impudent forgery depicting the "Instructions of the Comintern to the British Communists." The fake was soon exposed, but the deed was done: the Labor
MacDonald's government was defeated, and the Conservatives were back in power. And at the same time cheap: the fake cost them only 5 thousand pounds, as its performers publicly told about this many years later.
Charles Hughes again. And this time for the last time. We won't see him again. This gloomy figure of American foreign policy, together with her countless anti-Soviet speeches, blatant interpellations, as well as direct threats and vicious warnings - all this has firmly lain down in the dusty folder of the historical archive.
Now let's talk about the Chamberlains. In 1925, two brothers enter the political arena - the offspring of the well-known ideologue of British imperialism, Sir Joseph Chamberlain. Neville, the youngest of the brothers, is still a modest Minister of Health (but we will meet him in a different, less innocent role), and Austin, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Remember that icy face with the monocle in the right eye. She will appear more than once in the drawings of Soviet cartoonists. In that year, Sir Austen was awarded the highest honor of the empire - the Order of the Garter, which is worn under the left knee. For what merits, it is difficult to answer exactly, but, of course, also for the fact that the elder Chamberlain more than diligently undertook to follow the line of his predecessor, Lord Curzon. It doesn't change the fact that if Curzon got his hands on threats against the Soviets, Chamberlain prefers to shout about the "red threat", about "Bolshevik propaganda", about the "hand of Moscow".
Mr. Charles Hughes "Hand of Moscow". With a portrait of the inventor.
And it is no coincidence that it was precisely from the end of 1925, after the conference of the imperialist powers in the Italian city of Locarno, that the policy hostile to the Soviet Union, orchestrated by Britain, intensified and grew. The bosses of the West already then set themselves the goal of insuring themselves
from the revanchist aspirations of Germany and direct them to the East, against the USSR Sinister fuss is going on in the imperialist general staffs, plans are being developed for a military attack on the Soviet state using its closest neighbors.
Awl in a bag. Picture without words.
The Soviet Union opposes to these aggressive plans a firm policy of peace and, in particular, takes every measure to strengthen normal, good-neighborly relations with Germany and Poland.
It is not surprising that GV Chicherin's trips to Berlin and Warsaw cause such anxiety and displeasure in the West. It is not surprising that the gentleman with the monocle, already well known to us, became so worried about the peace-loving mission of the Soviet Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
In London they are anxiously following the trip of Comrade. Chicherin.
British Empire Model 1926. Everything seems to be in place, but the terms of its existence are already expiring. Sir Stanley Baldwin is currently in charge of the English Cabinet. He will leave the political arena in 1937, but he will already see how the empire is spreading.
Model of the British Empire. Visual aid for schools.
In 1926, the conservative government of England went even further along the path of worsening relations with the Soviet Union. Clearly losing his famous British composure, Sir Austen Chamberlain never stopped sending
The countries of the Soviets curses and threats, both verbally and in writing (in the form of diplomatic notes). The Soviet press had to remind the enraged diplomat that in the eight years of its existence the Red Army had learned something...
Red Army. 1918 - 1926.
Note Bor. Efimov. England's foreign policy leaders are encouraged to carve this pattern and decorate their offices with it.
Where a horse with a hoof, there goes ... Pan Pilsudsky with his tooth against the USSR.
Back in 1919, he declared that "an attack on the Bolsheviks at any time and in any place" was his cherished dream.
It would seem that after the lessons taught by the cavalry blades, it was possible to calm down. But the militant Pan Marshal is still saber-rattling to the delight of his English boss.
"Poland must not and cannot remain within its present borders, but must seek to expand its possessions to the East."
(From Pilsudski's papers).
Zoological hatred of communism once again united the two friends in a stormy expression of joy over the brutal reprisals against the Lithuanian communists.
By the way, Sir Austin reacted very painfully to this cartoon in Izvestia, loudly telling about his offense in an official note that preceded the rupture of diplomatic relations with the USSR.
Public favourite.

The year 1927 went down in history under the "revolving bark" of political assassinations and anti-Soviet provocations. Plenipotentiary of the USSR in Poland P. L. Voikov fell from a bullet of a White Guard bandit. Calls for a new intervention against the Soviet country did not stop. The atmosphere heated up. It is not surprising that in this setting
the repeatedly beaten White Guards, as well as the fragments of the monarchy, became extremely emboldened and stirred. Competing with each other, the most august "guardians of the royal throne" intensively dug up evidence of their rights to the Russian crown in family archives.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the February Revolution, "Now prosperous" august persons.
Meanwhile, Austin Chamberlain, awarded just at that time the Nobel Prize ... for peace (!!!), tirelessly creates military tension. As befits a pure-blooded lord, he prefers to do this dirty work with someone else's hands: on April 6, the Peking dictator, General Chang Tso-ling, organizes a hooligan raid on the Soviet embassy. The emblem of the Nobel Prize and the bow of the Order of the Garter under the left knee quite transparently hint from whom the raiding general takes an example and who stands behind him ...
In the same year, Chiang Kai-shek, a traitor to the Chinese people, began his counter-revolutionary career. Having seized leadership in the Kuomintang, the party created by the great Sun Yat-sen, he trampled on his teacher's precepts of friendship with the Soviet Union. Chan is here
young For more than forty years, he, of course, will grow old a lot, change his place of residence (moves to Taiwan), as well as patrons: he will prefer the American 7th Fleet to English gunboats. But he will not change his habits as an imperialist servant and lackey.
Imitating his idol, Chamberlain, Chiang Kai-shek, of course, also took up arms against the Soviet caricaturists. It is good that the satirists of Pravda and Izvestia have found themselves beyond the reach of the Chiang Kai-shek police. Otherwise, perhaps, they will not escape the sad fate depicted in the figure ... And the reference to the winged proverb would hardly have helped them: “There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked.” We see that neither the English lords nor the Kuomintang generals take this folk wisdom into account...
Band... Mr. Chamb...
Zuo-ling, Peking raider.
On guard of public safety.
In Harbin, the police confiscated all issues of Izvestia and Pravda, which contained cartoons on Chinese themes.
Anti-Soviet provocations continue. From Asia they spread to Europe. After the Beijing rehearsal, the action is transferred to the London stage: the representative of the most reactionary wing of the Conservatives, the so-called "diehards", is the Minister of the Interior
Affairs Joynson Hicks organizes the wild defeat of ARCOS - the Anglo-Russian Cooperative Society, created to conduct trade operations between the USSR and England. And two weeks after the attack on ARCOS, a “Chamberlain note” of sad memory was sent to Moscow about the severance of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. In Europe again
smelled like gunpowder. Once again, all those waiting and thirsting for anti-Soviet intervention revived and stirred. Karl Kautsky invariably and necessarily figures among them.
“Mediocre, narrow-minded person. Presumptuous,” said Karl Marx about him. “A pedant and a scholastic who, instead of unraveling complex issues, confuses simple ones,” said Friedrich Engels about him.
Having traveled the inglorious tortuous path of a social renegade, Karl Kautsky served everyone who opposed the October Revolution, against the Land of Soviets.
Savages in London Old anti-Soviet inkwell.
In the context of the impending conspiracy of the imperialist states, the Soviet Union is waging an even more resolute struggle in defense of peace, exposing the political machinations of the enemies, which are fraught with war. For the first time in the history of mankind, specific proposals for general and complete disarmament were heard from the rostrum of the Council of the League of Nations. They were proclaimed by the head of the Soviet delegation Maxim
Maksimovich Litvinov. In vain were the attempts of Western diplomats to weaken the impression made by these proposals and to disrupt their discussion. And a particularly zealous opponent, the English representative, Lord Keshendan, received from Litvinov such a head-washer, which, as they said then in Geneva, "even the old-timers will not remember" ...
Last preparations for the arrival of the Soviet delegation.
Lord Keshenden received a lengthy response to his speech.
"Everything is in the same position..."
In February 1930, His Holiness Father Pius XI cheerfully joined the anti-Soviet campaign, calling his flock to nothing more than a "crusade" against the godless Soviet state. Despite some subtle differences in church views, the Vatican received
in this matter the fullest support of the Anglican clergy.
And the London Morning Post, with an anathema to the Soviet Izvestia, demonstrated that it wants to be "more Catholic than the pope himself."
Crusade.
The Morning Post claimed that Izvestia's editorials bear the stamp of the Antichrist.
The latest issue of Izvestia in the editorial office of the Morning Post.
During this period, the demand for products of the White Guard cuisine increased sharply. This foul-smelling product was snatched out of the hands of the bourgeois press. Is it a joke, the former minister of the provisional government Milyukov and the head
of this government, Kerensky (who, apparently, did not have time to take off the ladies' outfit in which, as they say, he fled from the Red Guards) brought their heated anti-Soviet concoction to the market.
Trade revived!
Miliukov and Kerensky are selling thieves' goods.
In response to all this pandemonium, in response to the cries and howls of the Nazis, social traitors, church obscurantists, militarists, White Guards and other sworn enemies, the Soviet people under
reliable protection of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army successfully completed its first five-year plan. And not only fulfilled, but also exceeded. At four.
The reptile bares its rotten teeth.
Intimate talk. Imperialists without makeup.
Running for speed.

At that very time, the capitalist world was engulfed in a severe economic crisis, which exacerbated the already heated social contradictions. Capitalism saw a way out of this crisis in a new redistribution of the world, in wars of conquest, in huge military profits, in a frenzied arms race.
In February 1932, an international conference on disarmament opened. The Soviet Union did everything in its power to move this issue off the ground, to prevent the outbreak of a military fire. He resolutely exposed the true intentions of the imperialists, who, indulging in casuistic rhetoric about disarmament, were thinking primarily about the benefits of the military business, about the dividends of arms factories.
The arms race continued. The world was heading irresistibly towards a military catastrophe. She was approaching: in Germany, Adolf Hitler came to power.
Adolf Hitler, aka Alois Schicklgrubber, was a rogue with a dark past. He had an "Iron Cross" for unknown military merit, served as a police spy-informer, had the ability to orate for five or six hours in a row, took part in the Munich "beer putsch" and wrote a delusional misanthropic book called "Mein Kampf" ( "My struggle"). With the money of Krupp and other German financial magnates, he organized detachments of stormtroopers and SS men - a whole army of thugs and murderers who terrorized Germany.
This vile type was as if born to the needs of the capitalist monopolies, who dreamed of "destroying communism" and enslaving the peoples. It was these "good fairies" that stood at the cradle of the fascist dictator. They gave him power, which he would have for twelve whole years, until he died under the thunder of Soviet guns in the dungeon of his Reich Chancellery.
"Good Fairies" by Adolf Hitler.
The very first steps of the Nazis were directed against Marxism. They well understood that it was the Marxist-Leninists who were the most implacable and consistent enemies of fascism. They knew that it was the communists who would be at the forefront of the anti-fascist struggle.
In 1933, the Nazis were only forbidding and cursing Marxist teaching in the same discordant choir with renegades and churchmen. But in a year, bonfires made of books will already blaze on the squares, and in nine years, Majdanek will smoke with stoves ...
Racism, anti-Semitism, obscurantism become the state doctrine of the German Reich.
Karl and the dwarfs.
Alfred Rosenberg Mr. - Pa-prash present documents!
Einstein head bounty
Fash and with t. - And for such a person only one thousand marks! Oh exploiters!
One of the first and, perhaps, the largest provocations directed against the communists was the burning of the Reichstag, which caught fire on February 27, 1933. It was clear to the whole world that this was the work of the Nazis themselves, who used for this purpose an underground passage that connected the Reichstag building with the residence of Hermann Goering, who put the provocateur Van der Lubbe into action.
The Reichstag fire was the signal for a frenzied anti-communist campaign and unbridled terror in Germany.
In September of the same year, the famous trial began in Leipzig. In the dock, in addition to the drugged and dumb Van der Lubbe, there were communists, and among them, in the foreground, the heroic son of the Bulgarian people, Georgy Dimitrov. From the main accused, Dimitrov became the main prosecutor. He brilliantly exposed Hitler's falsification, angrily branded before the whole world the obscurantism and barbarism of fascism. The Leipzig court staging disgracefully failed. On December 23, 1933, the court was forced to acquit all the defendants, with the exception of Van der Lubbe.
Currently, the building of the Leipzig court houses the historical museum of Georgy Dimitrov, organized by decision of the government of the German Democratic Republic.
provocation signal.
Improved interrogation of the defendant.
Achievements of fascist justice
Leipzig masquerade.
Dimitrov accuses.
Enraged by the Leipzig failure, the Nazis are even more intensifying their provocative policy, moving on to open terror on an international scale. They commit a whole series of arrogant and cynical political assassinations.
Year 1934. The world is sliding further and further towards the abyss of war. The Soviet Union continues to fight with all its might to preserve peace, exposes the fascist warmongers, and warns against connivance and concessions to the aggressors. In Europe, this is Hitler's Germany, which rapidly switched to the rails of revanchism and proclaimed the slogan of "living space in the East", in Asia, this is Japanese militarism, which has already openly begun an aggressive war in China.
Humanity is watching with increasing anxiety the proliferation of dangerous military bacilli. Meanwhile, the leading figures of the Western powers adhere to the notorious "ostrich policy", hiding their heads from the fascist military threat.
War salesman.
Fascist geography of Europe
Heavy atmosphere
E v r o p a. - Kar-raul! Nothing to breathe!
Blood test
Batcippas of military unrest have been discovered.
A special breed of European ostriches.

Fascism did not fail to take advantage of the cowardice and pliability of the Western European "ostriches".
On July 18, 1936, according to a prearranged radio signal “Fine weather over all of Spain,” a fascist rebellion of the Spanish reactionary military, led by General Francisco Franco, began. All the honest people of the world were convinced that the democratic forces of Spain would crush a handful of counter-revolutionary conspirators and defend the People's Republic. And so it would certainly have been if Hitler and Mussolini had not rushed to the aid of Franco, openly and brazenly supporting him with troops, aircraft, and all types of weapons. Franco's "government" was officially recognized by Germany and Italy, which gave the rebel general the audacity to declare himself a full-fledged "belligerent."
The Nazis were counting on a quick success. However, in the battles near Madrid, where the fighters of the international brigades were already fighting next to the Spanish Republicans, the first misfire awaited them.
Condoning the fascist intervention in favor of the rebels against the legitimate government of the Spanish Republic, England and France agreed at the same time to create in London an international "Committee for non-intervention" in Spanish affairs. Lord Plymouth became its chairman, who saw the task of the "non-intervention policy" in hindering as little as possible Hitler and Mussolini, who carried out a real intervention against the Spanish people.
The more the impudence and arrogance of the Nazis manifested itself, the more polite, patient and compliant the British and French diplomats became.
As for the Soviet Union, true to its duty of international proletarian solidarity, it abandoned the headquarters of the useless London Committee and provided practical assistance to the struggling Republican Spain. From the Soviet ports went transports with weapons and food, and on the side of the Spanish people fought a lot of Soviet people - pilots, tankers, political workers, sailors. At that time, it was not customary to talk about this openly, but one could easily guess. The five fingers imprinted on Hitler's physiognomy after the battles near Madrid are quite expressive...
Hey, let's go!
Through Pli... cloudy glasses. 1936
Lord Plimu T. - I don't see any German troops. I only see volunteers!
Clear position.
- Firstly, there are no Italo-German troops in Spain, secondly, they went there voluntarily, and, thirdly, they will not leave from there!
"Mistress of the Seas" Mediterranean Sea
Lush flowering in favorable soil.
Frank o. - Here you are, my Fuhrer, get acquainted with the Republicans ...
In 1937, fascist Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, concluded the year before between Germany and Japan. Thus, an aggressive military-political alliance, or the so-called Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, finally took shape.
This association of predators could arise without hindrance only as a result of the indecisive, unprincipled, and sometimes even provocative policy of the Western states, and above all England.
In an effort to preserve his colonial possessions at any cost, the once proud British lion did not refuse to tenderly and obediently put his head into the greedy mouth of the fascist "Duce". What can you do to save your skin! (By the way, it was this year that Sir Stanley Baldwin retired from political activity. The one with the model of the British Empire cracked ten years ago.)
The security "guarantees" that Chamberlain (Neville this time) procured from Hitler and Mussolini resembled just such a circus attraction depicted here.
The poor lion was so successful in training that he resignedly
harnessed to the chariot of fascist dictators. This unhonorable role of horse-drawn traction is performed by the regal beast under the supervision of Lord Irwin Halifax, the British Foreign Minister, in the near future an active participant in the infamous Munich conspiracy.
Hitler and Mussolini no longer make any secrets of their predatory plans. German fascism is feverishly arming, flouting all sorts of treaties. The cloudy wave of Nazi chauvinism and racist obscurantism is rising higher and higher. The hysterical cries of Hitler about the campaign to the East for "living space" ("Drang nah Osten!") are heard louder and louder. In the meantime, Mussolini attacked the poorly armed Ethiopia.
Still, it was not too late to stop the fateful course of events. The Soviet Union persistently puts forward proposals for collective security measures as the only alternative to war. “The world is indivisible,” said M. M. Litvinov, calling on the combined efforts of all peace-loving states to curb the aggressors. But it was all in vain.
The fascist beasts freely entered the main European road ...
Training success.
The British lion has become completely tame: he has already learned to put his head in the tamer's mouth.
Lion and axis. Closely related relationship.
Unstable equilibrium.
From the height of non-intervention
Animals on the loose.
Western diplomacy cherishes the idea of ​​buying off Hitler and pushing him against the USSR. And here is the crown of this "cunning policy" - Munich, September 1938. Chamberlain and Daladier (French Prime Minister) gave Czechoslovakia to be torn to pieces by Hitler. Rather, they sold it for an empty piece of paper with "peace guarantees" signed by the Fuhrer. Descending at the London airfield, Chamberlain theatrically brandished the text of the agreement and, ending his eulogy (“I have brought peace for our generation!”), quoted Shakespeare’s “Henry IV”:
“From the nettles of danger we will draw the flowers of salvation.”
Izvestia at the same time reminded the eloquent premier of the words following this quote:
“The undertaking you have undertaken is dangerous. The friends you listed are unreliable, the moment is chosen poorly ... "
But the "Munichians" rejoiced. They imagined that the "genie" of fascist aggression released from the bottle, heeding their spells, would immediately rush not to the West, but to the East.
They did not yet know that in just a year and a half a bloody flag with a fascist swastika would fly over Paris, and the most beautiful buildings in London would be bombed by Nazi aircraft.
On the big European road
Anglo-French "regulators".
Ha/iodx Daladier chvmverlen
Released Spirit Spell.

Less than a year after the Munich Agreement, Hitler invaded Poland. Bound with it by certain obligations, England and France were forced, albeit very reluctantly, to declare war on fascist Germany. The world has entered the Second World War. However, it is no coincidence that its initial period went down in history under the name "strange war". It really looked very strange: the warring parties did not conduct any military operations among themselves. The German and French armies quietly "coexisted", separated by the French "Maginot Line" and the German "Siegfried Line". England and France coolly watched how the fascist invaders cracked down on Poland, and were in no hurry to help her. But how the Parisian and London bosses became more active when the Soviet Union was drawn into a military conflict with Finland! Here the British and French strategists completely forgot about their German enemy and turned all their energy against ... the USSR. From now on, all their thoughts were occupied with waging a fierce anti-Soviet campaign, belligerent threats against the Soviet country, discussing the question of sending an auxiliary expeditionary force to Finland, and even a plan to bombard Baku.
military activity.
Meanwhile, the “strange war” in Western Europe lasted about eight months, which was quite enough for Hitler to have time to prepare the defeat of many European countries. In May 1940, it was France's turn. She was defeated in 35 days.
On June 22, 1940, the old pro-fascist, former ambassador to the government of General Franco, 84-year-old Marshal Petain signed a shameful surrender on behalf of the French government. Intoxicated with victory, Hitler "generously" declared part of French territory a "free zone" with its capital in the resort town of Vichy. Petain became the head of this scanty puppet state, and the experienced
traitor Pierre Laval. There is no need to explain that "Vichy" France was in fact, like the occupied part of the country, under the rule of the Nazis.
Liberated France paid tribute to both high-ranking collaborators (employees of the occupiers). In 1945, Laval was executed, and Petain was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Here, perhaps, it would be appropriate to recall the Honorable Neville Chamberlain. What was the fate of this appeaser of fascism? He died quietly in 1940, having managed to see London lit by Nazi bombs. Here are the "flowers of salvation" for you...
In Neville Chamberlain's personal bomb shelter.
On the memorable night of the summer equinox, June 22, 1941, the huge, mobilized and fattened, armed with the latest military technology, intoxicated with easy victories in Europe and believing in its invincibility, the Nazi army collapsed on the Soviet borders. The “Barbarossa plan”, carefully developed at the Nazi headquarters, provided for a three-week lightning war - “blitzkrieg”. Hitler announced to the whole world that in July his standards would be in Moscow.
Hitler's banners really got to Moscow, but a little later and as trophies of Soviet weapons. At the Victory Parade on May 24, 1945, they were thrown to the foot of the Mausoleum.
Already in the summer and autumn months of 1941, the Nazi war machine began to slip, and in December, near Moscow, the Nazi horde received a crushing blow. Hitler suffered his first serious defeat. The myth of the invincibility of the fascist army turned out to be ... a myth.
The immediate consequence of the defeat near Moscow was the purge of the Nazi generals. Some of the generals, for various and not always clear reasons, went to the next world. Field Marshal Brauchitsch was removed from his duties as commander in chief, which Hitler himself became.
Having come to his senses after the Moscow defeat, Hitler expects to improve things in the summer of 1942. Almost the entire industry of Europe, captured by fascist Germany, works to supply and arm the Nazi army in the East. All economic and human resources are mercilessly squeezed out of the satellites of the Third Reich.
By the summer campaign of 1942, Hitler brings the number of his divisions on the Soviet-German front to almost three hundred. Moreover, a lot of troops are taken away from the "Fuhrer" and the fight against the partisans, who disorganize the Nazi rear, do not give the invaders peace day or night.
Performed - had fun!
Counted - wept ...
Blitz... scream. Stuck.
Funeral near Moscow.
At the Fuhrer's headquarters.
After the Battle of Moscow, Hitler carried out a series of successful operations with his generals...
Increasing incidence in Hitler's headquarters.
- How are you, field marshal!
- I do not know. I haven't read the latest official announcements yet.
Who is next!
Funeral at public expense!
Gestapo: Wreaths the Fuhrer sent you to choose from, General!
Some of the most unsuccessful German ersatz (substitutes]
Ersatz boots.
Ersatz sausage.
Ersatz culture.
Ersatz Commander-in-Chief
"Early little bird sang ..."
Baron von Bilderling came from Germany to the state farm named after Volodarsky Luzhsky district and announced the transfer of the land and property of the state farm to his property. The baron did not manage to manage on Russian soil for long. He was killed by partisans.
The landowner Herr Baron von Bilderling took over...
..the land allotted to him.
Behind Hitler's lines
Word and deed
and off your shoulders!
ORDER
Preparing for the "winter campaign".
Additional removal of wool.
Blood Tax Collector.
Romania
What, after all, made it possible for Hitler to assemble such large military forces against the Soviet Army? First of all, of course, the absence of a second front in Europe.
Despite their solemn promise to open a second front in 1942, the United States and Britain shied away from fulfilling their allied duty in every possible way. So it was in the days of the deadly battle on the Volga, when the fate of mankind was decided in the Battle of Stalingrad, when the active help of the Allies could quickly turn the tide of the struggle in favor of the anti-Hitler coalition in all military theaters. The Anglo-American leaders not only did not open a second front, but also carried out their obligations to deliver military equipment to the Soviet Army very sluggishly and sparingly.
The widely known energy of Sir Winston Churchill manifested itself chiefly
way in that he personally arrived in Moscow to inform the Soviet government that the second front would not be opened immediately, but at the "opportune time" ...
And yet, at the very beginning of 1943, the back of the fascist beast was broken. The Battle of Stalingrad ended with a great historical victory for Soviet weapons.
Here is what Adolf Hitler said then: "The possibility of ending the war in the East through an offensive no longer exists." This time the "Fuhrer" did not lie.
The turning point came in World War II.
And nothing could save the position of the fascist army: neither the super-powerful Tiger and Panther tanks, nor the hysterical cries of the Reich Minister of Propaganda Dr. Goebbels, nor the term “elastic defense” he invented.
Under the broom...
Hitler collects, Churchill watches.
Discussing the opening of a second front.
Sewing on the last button.
Urgent program change.
Two calendars
The German is lying, the Soviet is beating.
In the summer of 1943, after the "second Stalingrad" - the defeat of the Nazis on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, the "Rome-Berlin axis" deafeningly cracked. In Italy, they realized that it was time to get out of a lost game. By decree of the king, Mussolini was removed from his post as head of government and Marshal Badoglio was appointed instead, who immediately signed the act of surrender. Italy as an ally of Germany was lost. The only thing that Hitler managed to save was the most battered Duce, who was stolen by a special detachment of SS saboteurs and taken to Hitler's headquarters. Mussolini still bore for some time the title of head of the puppet "Italian Social Republic", but he did not have long before his fateful meeting with the Italian partisans.
New, 1944, came under volleys of artillery salutes in commemoration
nie new and new victories of the Soviet Army. Retribution is inexorably approaching the borders of Germany. And no total and super-total mobilizations, no propaganda tricks to raise the spirit of the German soldiers can delay the formidable wave of the advancing Soviet armies.
At the headquarters of the "Fuhrer" there is an attempt on Hitler, who is shell-shocked by the explosion of a bomb planted by the conspirators. A wave of massacres and executions follows. The fascist ship is wrecked, and the most prudent "rats" are preparing to flee.
The "living space" of the Hitlerite Reich is narrowing to the extreme. Hitler and Goebbels, like scorpions, destroy themselves in the dungeons of the Reich Chancellery. Their corpses were burned by the SS. Hitler's empire collapsed in blood and shame. The Great Banner of Victory is raised over the Reichstag.
Under the Eagle came back to haunt - in Rome responded.
Decadal balance.
Amputation.
Liberation of Mussolini. Together again.
End of blockade!
... Victory over the enemy Russia triumphs again
(A. S. Pushkin. "The Bronze Horseman")
A new total mobilization has been announced in Germany. Goebbels was appointed imperial plenipotentiary for its implementation.
Goebbels takes out...
German Christmas grandfather model 1944
“Do not listen, do not read, do not notice - this is our slogan ...”
(From the Nazi press)
New "secret weapon".
Out of hand bad...
Goebbels is already dropping his hands. "Strengthening the spirit" of the Germans takes over Himmler ...
H i m m l e r. Radical measures have been taken against the conspirators, my Fuhrer: I have increased the number of doubles.
The German press raised a great fuss about the visit of the front line on the Oder by Hitler and Goebbels.
Performance of visiting vocal-acrobatic duo.
According to the German radio, "Hitler's Chief of Staff Guderian declared" that he was "feverishly looking forward" to the reconquest of Germany's eastern provinces.
Guderian is shaking...
German newspapers report that the speech of Gauleiter Hanke from the besieged Breslau "was the most amazing speech of all that has recently been broadcast on the air ..."
Radio call from boilers.
Pipe!
Where to go!! Trying on camouflage suits.
Nimble "dead". Thrust to the West.
"Living space". May 1945.
Banner of Victory.
This is not a chronological error. The drawing, marked 1942, recalls that even at that harsh time, when the Nazi hordes stood on the Volga and besieged Leningrad, the Soviet government ominously warned the fascist leaders that the hour of retribution for their vile atrocities would inevitably come, that they would not leave from the answer.
True, the closer the collapse of the Nazi Reich approached, the more often there were such compassionate gentlemen who advocated a “humane attitude” towards the SS murderers, “gentlemen” who would like to ward off just retribution from these executioners.
But the will of the peoples was adamant - the Nazi gang to the dock!
Terrible warning (1942).
Compassionate Gentleman:
Poor Hitlerites! How hot they must have been near those stoves...
The front end of the dock.
in Nuremberg.
Reliable protection frames...
And now the leaders of the Nazi beast were caught, neutralized and brought before the court of the peoples in Nuremberg. They are almost all here, with the exception of Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler. Let's name these disgusting inhabitants of the fascist jungle, who for so long reveled in human grief and blood with impunity.
The fat bloated python is Hermann Goering, Hitler's "faithful paladin",
as he called himself. Already in 1918, his name appeared on the list of war criminals of the First World War. Four years later, he met Hitler for the first time and since then has become No. 2 person in the fascist hierarchy, and No. 1 grabber and robber No. 1. In the dock, he took first place, in the absence of Hitler, and even this flattered his monstrous arrogance.
This is humanoid - Rudolf Hess, the party deputy "Fuhrer", served with Hitler in the same regiment during the First World War. In the 1920s, chance brought them together again - they were in the same prison cell. There, on the bunk, Rudolph took stenographics under Adolf's dictation of the book that became the bible of Nazism - Mein Kampf. Under the same dictation, Hess subsequently drafted and signed the notorious Nuremberg racial laws - the quintessence of obscurantism. Before the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, Hess, on behalf of the Nazis-
the elite, made his "unauthorized" flight to England in order to enlist the support of the British reactionary clique.
This shabby hyena is the once brilliant veil and elegant diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, the former Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, a champagne merchant by profession. He won Hitler's favor with his outstanding mastery of international intrigue, provocation and blackmail, for which he was awarded the honorary robber title - SS Obergruppenführer.

One of the most disgusting Gestapo vultures is Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Himmler's deputy chief executioner and head of the SD (security service) - the so-called "Gestapo within the Gestapo". The organizer of the most terrible death camps - Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Treblinka ...
Hardened fascist wolf Wilhelm Keitel. Not so long ago, sparkling feld-
marshal's regalia, he, along with Hitler, posed for photographers, accepting the surrender of France. And in May 1945, in Karlshorst, he had to put the field marshal's baton on the table and sign the act of the complete and unconditional surrender of Germany. It is deeply symbolic that it was this constant co-author of all Hitler's military adventures that signed the collapse of the fascist strategy.
Cowardly and vicious jackal - Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's assistant in terms of the "ideology" and "philosophy" of Nazism, the author of a number of "writings" that preached the "cult of Wotan", "Aryan purity of the race" and similar misanthropic nonsense, which he, unfortunately , had the opportunity to turn into reality at the post of Reich Minister "for the affairs of the Eastern occupied territories."
A ferocious and poisonous reptile - Hans Frank, the governor and executioner of the Polish "governor general", who destroyed millions of Poles.
Perhaps there is no need to show other Nazi criminals sitting on the dock - no less vile and bloody fascist beasts. I would only like to note that the Soviet cartoonists had a rare success: they were able to sketch models of their anti-fascist cartoons from nature. And they did it in Nuremberg - the very city that the Nazis proclaimed the "sacred capital" of Nazism and which during the days of the Nuremberg trials became the place for the Court of Nations and severe retribution for criminals.

The International Military Tribunal finished its work at the end of September 1946. Despite the sophisticated casuistry of the lawyers of fascism, despite the shameless lies and cowardly evasions of the accused, the judges - representatives of the four powers: the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France - irrefutably established the crimes against peace, humanity, morality and international law committed by the Nazi brigands, and 12 of them were sentenced to death.
This verdict was met with a feeling of deep satisfaction by all honest people of the earth, who saw in it not only a merciless punishment for what the fascists had done, but also a formidable warning to all future warmongers, to all organizers of aggression against freedom-loving peoples.
Such a warning was far from redundant.
After all, although the world had just breathed a sigh after the experienced military tragedy, although the burnt cities still lay in countless ruins and the infernal furnaces of Majdanek and Auschwitz had not cooled down, although the mental and physical wounds of millions had not yet healed, and children had not yet got used to the peaceful sky above their heads - and politicians have already appeared who have begun to unite the forces of reaction and counter-revolution, who have sat down to work out plans for a new anti-Soviet imperialist war.

Twelfth hour of fascist criminals.
Happy New [and last for them) year!
The Hitlerite aggressors were still sitting in the dock in Nuremberg, and the world had already resounded with hysterical cries of the "communist danger", of the "Soviet threat", of a new "crusade" against the USSR, of the "rejection" of socialism.
These militant appeals were made on March 5, 1946 by none other than Sir Winston Churchill, our old acquaintance from the "fourteen powers campaign". The declaration of a cold war against the Soviet Union came from the lips of a seasoned British imperialist in the American town of Fulton and symbolized a kind of transfer of the anti-Soviet baton into the hands of a senior Washington partner, who from now on assumed the functions of the chief international gendarme. The then US President Truman, who brought Churchill to Fulton, was delighted. Still would!
Fattened by war profits, big American business was irresistibly rushing into war-ravaged Europe. He hoped that a dollar handout to the Old World would not only allow the weakened Western European countries to be enslaved under the flag of their "protection against Bolshevism", but would also turn into huge profits. Direct use
The executor of this plan was the US Secretary of State, General George Marshall, and the plan named after him became synonymous with unceremonious economic expansion and strangulation of the national independence of countries reaching out for American "aid".
It will take almost twenty years before, for example, the French Marianne breaks out of the tenacious embrace of Uncle Sam.
The economic diktat of the United States was reinforced by the military-political:
NATO was created - the North Atlantic Pact, the aggressive sting of which is directed against the USSR and other socialist countries. Soon there will be many more blocs and pacts aimed against social progress, freedom and independence of peoples.
The US secretaries of state were replaced - after Marshall came Acheson, John Foster Dulles and others, but the US imperialist course of aggravating international tension remained unchanged. The principle of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council, the so-called "right of veto", is being attacked especially fiercely (albeit fruitlessly).
They scare the faint hearted...
Noise concert of Anglo-American blackmailers.
Dollar order...
The path of some European politicians.
Surface and deep...
Anti-Soviet awl in a "defensive" bag.

Forrestal is a somewhat tragicomic figure. As US Secretary of Defense, he diligently fanned the war psychosis. But before he overdid it, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital. Once, having heard the siren of the fire brigade from the street, Forrestal lost all peace of mind and shouted: “Russian tanks
are coming!" - jumped out of the window of a multi-storey building. Apparently, in this case, the absence of a straitjacket played a fatal role.
Doesn't this remind of the usefulness of the straitjacket for warmongers, and, so to speak, on a wider scale?
In pursuing its aggressive policy, American imperialism made the main
new bet on the monopoly possession of the atomic bomb. Heralds of aggression hysterically shouted about their atomic power, identifying it with international lawlessness and arbitrariness.
One fine day (one might say more precisely - September 25, 1949) the American atomic blackmail burst like a soap bubble: TASS reported that the Soviet Union possesses atomic weapons, which from now on protect the gains of October, the interests of world peace, democracy and socialism.
At the same time, the Soviet country is launching a broad, worldwide campaign for the preservation and consolidation of peace. Millions of people all over the world are adding their signatures to the Stockholm Appeal of the supporters of peace.
Forrest L. - Who's next, gentlemen!
Keep it up!
Sculpted blackmail.
- Somewhere I have already seen these signatures.
- In my opinion, at the Reichstag ...
In the year 1950, the Korean people became a victim of imperialist intervention. For three consecutive years, under the cover of the UN blue flag, the American aggressors will try to enslave this people and destroy the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. For three years in a row, Korean dwellings will burn with napalm, and human blood will flow. And at the same time from the rostrum of the UN, the mellifluous speeches of Washington diplomats and the yapping of the Taiwanese puppet will be heard.
Apparently, not everyone is going to benefit from the lessons of history ...
Indeed: as if there was no Hitler and fascist intervention in Spain, Munich and Pearl Harbor, Maidaneck and Nuremberg! American imperialism is again feeding the German militarists, it is again nurturing, repairing and mending the Wehrmacht generals hung with Iron Crosses, training them against the Land of the Soviets.
The inhabitants of the White House and the Pentagon have a short memory...
It is not surprising that revanchist language was openly spoken in Bonn. At the forefront of international politics, the "cold war chancellor" Konrad Adenauer rants. The motley enemies of peace and socialism, united by the slogan of anti-communism, are moving along common rails - Pentagon nuclear generals, "mad" congressmen, unfinished Nazis, West German revanchists, all kinds of counter-revolutionary evil spirits.
Ghosts that return...

On the eve of May Day 1960, Soviet missilemen shot down an American U-2 spy plane piloted by pilot Powers with the first shot in the Sverdlovsk region. The Washington organizers of this provocative flight appeared before the whole world as the perpetrators of the most dangerous adventure, and the open trial of Powers did not at all contribute to raising the prestige of the United States.
Before us is a review of the events of the week, typical for a certain period in the life of the Washington White House. As usual, it is restless in various parts of the world and, as usual, very calm on the lawns of the presidential residence. Dwight Eisenhower is busy with his main business - playing golf. This innocent passion of the aged president sometimes costs the American people dearly.
The adventurism and recklessness of American bosses again throw the world
to the brink of war. This time, the hottest spot on the planet is the Caribbean. The object of aggression is free Cuba. However, the landing of counter-revolutionaries abandoned from the USA found their grave in the "Bay of Pigs" - Cochinos near Playa Giron.
More than once or twice the Soviet Union suggested that we move from talk to concrete constructive disarmament measures, which the peoples who bear the burden of military budgets are eagerly waiting for. But this in no way suits the imperialists and arms manufacturers. They use all sorts of excuses, speculate in every possible way on the issue of control, and most of all they like to retell the “tale of the white bull”. In the performance of bourgeois diplomacy, this work of folklore has long surpassed the classic "Tales of 1001 Nights" in duration.
Got in a bind.
Pentabonne torpedo provocative apparatus.
On the conference at the top, on international cooperation and friendship—please!
International Games
- Look, Uncle Sam, how high our prestige has risen!
Uncle Sam. - I'm afraid you guys are looking at him upside down.
Cuba on guard.
Memory sticks...
Megillah
"Darling" is recognized by his gait.
Western proposals (with tricks).
Soviet proposal (without tricks).

This drawing was made in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Its theme is dictated by the atmosphere of an independent policy of peace and neutrality, which the Khmer state adheres to. Ancient Cambodia continues to be the object of threats and blackmail from the United States. But ... the eye sees, but the tooth is numb.
The consistent and firm foreign policy of the Soviet Union upheld peace among the peoples and prevented the cold war from escalating into a hot one. But imperialism does not intend to part with its predatory designs; it is not to its advantage to ease international tension. Here and there centers of armed conflicts, sabotage, bloody conspiracies and military coups perpetrated in the interests of the colonialists and monopolies arise on the globe. Nets of intrigue are being woven against the young African states that have recently won their independence, and the sinister activity of the imperialist agents in the countries of Asia does not stop for a moment.
In the center of Europe, the generals of the Bundeswehr dream of nuclear weapons, by all possible methods and means they are making their way to mastering them, using their participation in NATO for this. Appear and disappear from the political scene specific representatives of revanchist
trends. Speidel and Erhard, Heusinger and Seebohm, various other Bonn politicians and generals flashed before us. The names are different, but the essence remains the same - this is overt indulgence of neo-Nazis, patronage of yesterday's war criminals, stubborn unwillingness to reckon with the existence of an ever stronger peace-loving state of German workers and peasants - the German Democratic Republic, brazen claims to West Berlin, provocative demands for the borders of 1937 and admission to atomic weapons. And all this - "within the framework of NATO."
Yes, it is "within the framework of NATO" that American imperialism is doing everything to revive German militarism and use it as a strike force against the socialist countries, and above all against the USSR.
And in this situation fraught with danger to the world, the British lion again appears in its already familiar subordinate role. It’s a pitiful sight: not only the foot of the “senior American partner” and the boots of the Bundeswehr soldier, but also the heel of the “loyal subject” of the British crown, the Southern Rhodesian racist Ian Smith, unceremoniously steps on the lion’s tail.
Predatory paws of the "free world".
Colonialists, get out of Africa!
Bonn bell ringer.
twenty years later
Mission accomplished, my Fuhrer!
Ready to push the button...
Nuclear tete-a-tete.
The Bundeswehr generals are losing their heads.
"Integration" of Latin America according to the plan of the Pentagon.
Modern facilities for old architecture.
Besheny e. - What is he, mad, or something !!
Armament and business. Speakers in the US Senate.
The second half of the 20th century will echo in history as the pain of the bleeding wound of Vietnam. Armed to the teeth, brutalized by failures, Yankee imperialism is unable to break the heroic resistance of a small freedom-loving people. Thousands of American aircraft and American soldiers are being sacrificed in the insane "escalation" of the Pentagon, which is trying in vain to find a way out of the impasse of its aggressive adventure on Vietnamese soil. Nor do the endless shuffles and "reorganizations" of the Saigon marionette
More specifically, clicks. No matter what barbaric methods of warfare the American aggressors resort to, no matter how they expand their bloody "escalation", the criminal intervention in Vietnam is doomed to an inglorious failure.
Do not contribute to the good mood of Washington and the troubles in NATO. The position of France, which delicately escorted the headquarters of the North Atlantic bloc from its territory, speaks of a serious crisis in this aggressive organization.
The "freedom" they would like to impose on the world...
American "bumps of support" in South Vietnam.
Consultations continue in Saigon on the reorganization of the government.
From step to step (Washington "escalator" in Vietnam].
Manila meeting at my high level.
"Seeing" the overstayed guest.
Birds that were not discussed at the Poultry Congress.
The Pentagon Vulture is circling over Vietnam.
Roaring revanchist capercaillie.
Noisy GOOSE pawed, a worthy successor to McCarthy - Senator Navel.
A wet CHICKEN is held up by a British lion in front of a racist TURKEY Smith.
Crazy, crazy, crazy, free world...
Picture for memory.
On the left, a drawing published in Izvestia in 1941 is reproduced.
Our historical review comes to an end.
Inspired by the light of Lenin's ideas, in the consciousness of its invincible strength, full of inexhaustible creative energy, the multinational Soviet people, a hero people, a working people, came to the fiftieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution.
And may those who, for their part, can “celebrate” the fiftieth anniversary of the furious
many unsuccessful attempts to destroy or at least weaken the Soviet state, let them once again reflect on the unenviable fate of all those who, at different times and at different stages of our history, raised their hands against the Power of the Soviets.
And let the unlucky, repeatedly beaten and shamefully sunk into oblivion enemies and spiteful critics of the Soviet people for the last time be remembered with contemptuous mockery by the caricatures collected here.
I have never met a person who is indifferent to satirical graphics - caricature, caricature, humorous drawing. Whether printed in a newspaper or pasted on a stand, a caricature always and everywhere attracts attention. You can skip this or that note, article, even a photograph, but it is impossible not to notice the caricature.
And not only because a satirical drawing among the text is in itself an eye-catching visual spot. Caricature (I mean, first of all, journalistic caricature) at all times and epochs has aroused increased interest as a peculiar, bizarre and sharp form of art, carrying a civic, purposeful meaning in its cheerful and mischievous form.
The cradle of Soviet political caricature was Lenin's Pravda. And after it, Izvestia and other Soviet newspapers made a satirical drawing as an integral and indispensable element of a newspaper page as an editorial or a feuilleton. And no wonder: by its very nature, caricature is organically connected with the press, with journalism, being the most mobile, operational genre of fine art, capable of immediately, immediately responding to events, capable of keeping pace with the topic of the day.
There is no greater joy and pride for an artist than the feeling of a close connection between his work and the life of society. That is why the political cartoonist experiences deep inner satisfaction, having the happy opportunity to express the feelings and thoughts of the people immediately, without delay, in the hot pursuit of events.
For the time being, easel painting, graphics, and even a printed poster will still be in motion, and a newspaper drawing already carries throughout the country the emotion expressed by the artist of many millions of people - their mockery or contempt, indignation or joy.
It is not for nothing that the newspaper caricature is compared to combat intelligence, to the dashing cavalry of art, always ready for action, the first to come into contact with the latest events.
These valuable features of the topical caricature, however, dictate to the newspaper artist and special, sometimes very difficult, working conditions, very far from those that exist, say, in a satirical magazine.
How is a magazine cartoon made? The theme of the drawing, as a rule, is born at special editorial meetings (“dark”) in a rather hot atmosphere of either serious or cheerful disputes and bickering. satirical themes and
plots are proposed by the artists themselves or satirists-iterators who are skilled in this matter, called "themists", each topic is subjected to a collective discussion, after which it is accepted or rejected. In many cases, the proposed topic is supplemented during the discussion with new details, finalized, or, as they say, “achieves”. Sometimes the theme doesn't work. Then they return to it at the next meeting, again “finish off” and “reach out” until they find an acceptable solution by common efforts.
After the theme is approved, the next stage begins: the theme goes into the hands of one of the magazine's artists who has expressed a desire to work on it.
A few days later, the finished drawing is submitted to the editorial board, which considers the work of artists together with the entire staff of the magazine. Different opinions, wishes, advice are expressed. The caricature is more or less enthusiastically accepted or returned to the author for alterations and corrections. There is, of course, an obvious marriage.
The drawing, which has successfully passed through all these creative tests, goes into production and ten days later appears on the pages of the magazine.
Apollo, god of arts. Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Hermes, messenger god.
Speaking of mods
Fashion show in Newark Fashion show Fashion established in Bonn, Munich
Detroit and other US cities. in Greece. and other cities in Germany.
Musical key of the Athenian junta
NATO escalator.
Neo-Nazi campaign against Bonn... seven castles.
Mutual attraction between Bonn and London.
Thus, from the appearance of a topic to the publication of a cartoon, at least two or three weeks pass.
Work on a caricature for a newspaper is of a completely different nature. Here, the creative and production process is calculated not in days and weeks, but in hours and minutes. There are no meetings, discussions and advice at all. The newspaper caricaturist is both a "themist" and a consultant in his own right. We urgently need a drawing for the current issue, and now everything depends on the artist’s ability to quickly and independently navigate the political situation, choose the right topic, find an interesting plot interpretation for it, a funny and intelligible satirical solution.
The artist draws while looking at his watch: after all, the newspaper page is signed for printing at the exact time, and you also need to take into account the time required to make the cliche. Often you have to finish the work in a feverish hurry, in the presence of a courier sent for a caricature. You also have to draw in the editorial office itself, when before your eyes lies a teletype tape with the latest information or a still wet typographical print of a telegram, next to which a caricature should be on the strip.
As a rule, the artist of a newspaper operates, speaking in chess terms, under conditions of acute time pressure, when only the most accurate and correct solutions are needed, and mistakes are already irreparable.
And it happens that with great chagrin and annoyance, a cartoonist considers his work in a published issue of a newspaper, if one or another successful detail came to his mind too late, if he did not have time to correct one or another error that was not noticed in time. At such a moment, he thinks, not without envy, of his graphic colleagues working on an easel drawing or book illustration, on which you can work slowly, calmly, gradually, letting your work “rest in bed” in order to look at it with a fresh eye after some time. , consult with friends, see shortcomings, correct, improve, “hold out”, “finish off” ...
But, alas, this is only a dream. The pace and specificity of journalistic satire does not allow (and thank God!) to work with "coolness", with academic slowness.
... A call from the editorial office: a drawing is needed for the issue. Glance at the clock. The artist has about an hour and a half at his disposal. It's not bad. A blank sheet of paper is laid on the desktop, and the plot solution of the caricature and the approximate composition of the picture begin to take shape in the head.
First strokes in pencil.
- What if we do this... Hm... No, let's try to rearrange the pieces. What if... Yeah, that's probably more interesting. Stop. It's not a bad idea. No, it doesn't fit. But there is something here. Come on...
From the chaos of lines, a draft caricature emerges. Now the pencil is shading the reverse side of the paper, the main contours of the draft are transferred to another, blank sheet, the drawing is refined, overgrown with additional de-
hoists, the excess is removed, the pencil is replaced with a thin brush, and the ink stroke begins.
Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick inexorably, and the hands rotate on the dial, and again the call from the editorial office is heard:
- Dove! What are you?!
- Yes Yes! I'm finishing. Send.
And at that moment, when the editorial courier rings the doorbell, the eraser cleans off the last traces of the pencil from the caricature and the drawing is put into the envelope. There is no time to look at it again...

Cartoonist Boris Efimovich Efimov passed away quite recently, two years before his 110th birthday. Until the last days, he continued to work - he drew cartoons, wrote memoirs. He found three revolutions, one civil and two world wars. I found the Cold War, Khrushchev's thaw, Gorbachev's perestroika, Yeltsin's liberalization. And for almost his entire long life, he painted. According to his cartoons, one can study the history of our country in the twentieth century.

The future famous cartoonist was born on September 15 (28), 1900 in Kyiv in the family of an artisan shoemaker Efim Moiseevich Fridland. The pseudonym under which he became known first to the whole country, and then to the whole world, he took in honor of his father. He began to draw at the age of five, but according to his own words, he did not think of a career as an artist and never studied as an artist. Drawing was just a hobby, and he painted mostly funny people.

At the beginning of the new century, the Friedland family moved to Bialystok (now in Poland), where the future artist entered a real school. His older brother Mikhail also studied there - the future famous publicist Mikhail Koltsov, the author of the famous "Spanish Diary". In August 1914, the First World War began, and in the summer of 1915 the front was rapidly approaching Bialystok - the strategic retreat of the Russian army was going on, which went down in history as the Great Retreat of 1915. Residents of Bialystok learned what aerial bombardment is - German airplanes and zeppelins regularly appeared over the city. Following the Russian army, Bialystok was also abandoned by those of its inhabitants who did not want to live under the Germans. The Fridland family was divided - the parents returned to Kyiv, Mikhail left for Petrograd, and Boris moved to Kharkov, where he was enrolled as a refugee in the 5th grade of the local real school.

Back in Bialystok, Mikhail and Boris published a handwritten school magazine - Mikhail wrote texts, Boris drew illustrations. Boris did not give up his hobby in Kharkov either. He sent his drawings to his brother in Petrograd. Mikhail studied at the Psychoneurological Institute and at the same time made a career as a journalist - his feuilletons and essays were published in the capital's newspapers. In addition, he himself edits the progressive magazine The Student Way. Boris, of course, did not really hope to see his drawings - caricatures and caricatures on the pages of the capital's press, but in 1916, leafing through the popular magazine "The Sun of Russia", he finds his drawing there - a caricature of the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko occupies half of one of the pages . Under the picture is the signature "Bor. Yefimov".

The year 1917 has come. The fact that the February Revolution took place in the capital, Boris learned in the theater - someone from the theater administration came on stage and read out the text about the abdication of the Sovereign from a piece of paper. Both the audience and the actors greeted this news with a standing ovation and the performance of the Marseillaise.

In the summer, having received documents on the completion of the next class of a real school, Boris goes to his parents in Kyiv. At the same time, the elder brother also comes to Kyiv. In February, he was in the thick of things. As part of the student militia, he even took part in the arrest of a number of royal dignitaries. But the summer ended, his brother returned to the capital, and Boris remained in Kyiv and entered the third real school. After graduating, he entered the Kyiv Institute of National Economy, from where he transferred to the law faculty of Kyiv University. However, young people at that time had no time for studying - the authorities in the city were constantly changing - the German invaders, Petliura, Skoropadsky, Rada, the Directory, the Hetmanate ... But such a frequent change of power does not prevent Boris from doing what he loves - painting. In 1918, a selection of Efimov's caricatures appeared in the Kiev magazine Spectator. A series of caricatures "The Conquerors" dates back to the same time - a kind of sketches from nature, a kind of graphic report on the recent history of Kyiv.

When Soviet power was established in Kyiv in the spring of 1919, the young artist accepted it unconditionally. He goes to work as secretary of the editorial and publishing department of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of Soviet Ukraine. Boris Efimov manages the production of newspapers, posters, leaflets. But his brother, an employee of the Krasnaya Armiya newspaper, who arrived in Kyiv, asks him to draw a caricature for this newspaper. The first caricature was followed by the second, the third... According to his own recollections, it was then that Boris Efimov realized that the ability to draw funny is not pampering or a "hobby", it is a weapon that the revolution needed.
Since 1920, Boris Efimov has been working as a cartoonist in the newspapers Kommunar, Bolshevik, and Visti. He is in charge of the pictorial propaganda department of YugROSTA (ROSTA - Russian Telegraph Agency) in Odessa. Kyiv, meanwhile, is in the hands of the White Poles and Petliurists. But Boris did not believe that his hometown would remain in the hands of the enemy for a long time and asked for a transfer from YugROSTA to the political department of the 12th Army, stationed not far from Kyiv. He hoped to work in the newspaper of this army, but instead he is appointed as an instructor in pictorial agitation of the Office of Railway Agitation Centers. In this position, he tries himself in a new genre for himself - he takes part in the creation of a large propaganda panel at the station in Kharkov. Returning to the liberated Kyiv, he became the head of the art and poster department of the Kyiv branch of UkrROSTA and led the propaganda of the Kyiv railway junction.
At the same time, he publishes his cartoons in popular newspapers in Kyiv.
And in 1922, Boris Efimov moved to Moscow and became the youngest employee of the Izvestia newspaper. His main genre is political satire. His works are also published in other metropolitan newspapers, including the main party newspaper Pravda. The heroes of his cartoons are leading Western politicians. Already in 1924, the publishing house of the Izvestia newspaper published the first collection of his works. By the way, the preface to this collection and an enthusiastic review of it was written by Lev Davydovich Trotsky, at that time still a member of the Central Committee, a hero of the Civil War, one of the leaders.

Efimov also draws leaders. But he draws, of course, not caricatures, but friendly caricatures. True, these cartoons had to be shown to the leaders themselves before being published. Efimov's caricature of Stalin has been preserved, but according to the artist's recollection, Stalin did not approve it - he did not like the fact that he was painted in huge soldier's boots. However, this unsuccessful caricature subsequently had no consequences for the artist - everything was in order with Stalin's sense of humor.

In the same 1924, Efimov's first foreign business trip took place. The first trip was followed by others. For example, in 1929, together with his brother Mikhail, he took part in the European tour of the Wings of the Soviets aircraft (ANT-9, one of the first Soviet-made passenger aircraft). The artist had the opportunity to see the heroes of his caricatures "live". For example, he ended up in the Soviet delegation, which was received by Benito Mussolini.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the artist created a gallery of vivid and memorable images of European politicians - Mussolini the thug, Hitler the clown, Goebbels the monkey, Goering the boar. These characters were drawn by many Soviet cartoonists, but Efimov's works, thanks to his unique style, were among the most successful. Sometimes so successful that they became the cause of notes of protest. Efimov's collections of cartoons "Face of the Enemy" (1931), "Caricature in the Defense Service of the USSR" (1931), "Political Cartoons" (1931), "A Way Out Will Be Found" (1932), "Political Cartoons" (1935) are published one after another. , "Fascism is the enemy of peoples" (1937), "Warmongers" (1938), "Fascist interventionists in Spain" (1938).

In December 1938, Mikhail Koltsov, the artist's brother, was arrested. He was recalled from Spain, where he was officially listed as a correspondent for Pravda, and unofficially was a political adviser, a representative of the Soviet Union under the republican government. And, of course, he also performed all sorts of "unofficial" tasks. The republican government consisted of representatives of all varieties of the left currents of Europe, and directing the activities of this government in the right direction was one of Koltsov's duties. But he also coped brilliantly with correspondent work - his "Spanish Diary" was one of the most popular books in our country. He was charged with espionage, standard for the period of the Great Terror, and on February 2, 1940, he was shot.

Boris Efimov, as the brother of an enemy of the people, was waiting for his own arrest. But no one was in a hurry to accuse him of having links with the enemies of the people or espionage. True, in the first days of 1939, the editor-in-chief of Izvestia, Yakov Grigoryevich Selikh, declared that no one was firing Efimov, but no one would publish his work in the newspaper either. And Boris Efimov wrote a statement "of his own free will." It was impossible to find a job in the specialty. The only work he found was the creation of a series of illustrations for the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin commissioned by the State Literary Museum of V. D. Bonch-Bruyevich. But in February 1940, a call came from the editorial office of the Trud newspaper - Efimov was offered to work in this newspaper. His cartoons returned to the pages of Soviet newspapers.
And then it was June 22, 1941. Already on the sixth day of the war, Boris Efimov takes part in the creation of the TASS Windows, the direct successor to the legendary ROSTA Windows of the Civil War. Posters for "Windows" are drawn in hot pursuit immediately after receiving the next front-line report and immediately go into circulation. In addition to posters, Yefimov continues to draw cartoons for leading newspapers. In search of stories, he often goes on business trips to the front.

The artist's archive contains numerous reviews of the most demanding critics - fighters from the front line. Here are some of those reviews:

Dear comrade. Efimov! Draw more ... Caricatures are a weapon that can not only make you laugh, but also cause ardent hatred, contempt for the enemy and forcing you to fight even harder and destroy the damned Nazis. Dukelsky Ilya. Field mail 68242.

Your weapon, the weapon of a Soviet artist, is a great force in the fight against the Nazi invaders. If you only knew with what impatience we expect each new issue of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper... P/n 24595. V. Ya. Kornienko.

Happy New Year, dear comrade Efimov! A group of veterans of the N-th unit sends you greetings and wishes you a Happy New Year. We wish you success in your fruitful and great work. It is difficult to convey with what impatience we look forward to each of your caricatures of those who will soon fall under our blows. The day is not far off when we will see the leaders of Nazi Germany hanged on the German Christmas tree. With greetings and good wishes, front-line soldiers Leontiev, Evseev, Tleshov and others. P / n 18868.

During the war years, there were works by Efimov that caused an international outcry - his cartoons about the second front were also published in British newspapers. Moreover, the content of these cartoons was retold over the radio. However, with the opening of the second front, the allies still dragged on until June 5, 1944, that is, until the moment when the outcome of the war was already obvious to everyone.

Efimov's caricature, published in the Manchester Guardian

The famous collection of cartoons "Hitler and his pack" was also recognized in the Allied countries (we talked about him in more detail). The well-known British cartoonist David Low (with whom Yefimov knew personally) spoke of these works in the following way:

"Efimov's cartoons, collected in the album, reveal a feature that should be paid special attention to: their imagination and creative method do not present any difficulties for the British perception. Apparently, the Russian sense of humor is very close to the British ... Russians love laughter, and besides, laughter understandable to us Britons.
It is possible that Efimov's collection will hasten this discovery, which in the end will have a deeper influence on the mutual understanding of the British and Russian peoples than a whole load of diplomatic notes.

To look at those representatives of Hitler's pack who did not commit suicide following the example of their Fuhrer, Efimov had a chance in Nuremberg at the famous trial. Efimov saw Hitler only once, in the early thirties, briefly, when he was returning through Berlin from Paris to Moscow. He happened to be at the Hindenburg Palace (at that time he was still alive) just at the moment when the Fuhrer left the palace and hurriedly walked to his limousine. And now, Efimov, one of the accredited Soviet correspondents at the trial, had the opportunity to draw his "favorite" heroes from nature.

"Hitler. Sketch from nature." Efimov saw Hitler briefly in Berlin in 1933

Here, for example, is Yefimov's impression of Hermann Goering, one of the main defendants in the trial:

During one of the short breaks, when the defendants were not taken out of the hall, it happened to go up to the very barrier and, standing one and a half meters from Goering (you can reach it with your hand ...), stare at him intently. So in the terrarium of the zoo you closely and intently study the fat boa constrictor moving its disgusting rings, which, by the way, Goering very much resembled with his cold, evil eyes of a reptile, a frog mouth, and the sliding movements of a heavy torso.
At first Goering pretends not to pay any attention to the importunate staring. Then it begins to irritate him, and he nervously turns away, throwing a furious look from under his brows. Our eyes meet for a fraction of a second, and for some reason the captured Field Marshal Trebon from Feuchtwanger's "False Nero" comes to mind.

Zhdanov continued:
- Comrade Stalin roughly imagines this picture this way: General Eisenhower with a huge army is rushing into the Arctic, and right next to him is a simple American and asks: "What's the matter, General? Why such violent military activity in this deserted area?" And Eisenhower replies: "How? Can't you see that we're in a Russian danger from here?" Or something like that.
- No no. Why anything else, I said hastily. - I think it's very cool. Allow me, Andrey Alexandrovich, I'll draw it like that.
- Well, please, - said Zhdanov. - I'll pass it on to Comrade Stalin.
- Excuse me, Andrei Alexandrovich, just one question.
- Please.
- When is it needed?
- When? Zhdanov thought for a second. - Well, we're not rushing you. But there is no need to delay.
Already on the way home, I began to ponder over this vague answer. “We are not rushing you” means that if I draw a caricature in a day or two, they might say: “I was in a hurry. I was not serious about the task of Comrade Stalin. I cheated ...”. This is oh so dangerous. And if you bring a drawing in four or five days, they can say: "Delayed ... Tightened. Did not take into account the promptness of the task of Comrade Stalin ...". It's even more dangerous.
I decided to choose the "golden mean": start work tomorrow, finish in a day and on the third day call Zhdanov's secretariat that everything is ready.
So I did. The next morning I laid down a large sheet of whatman paper (I used to make the usual drawings for a newspaper on a quarter sheet, but in this case ...) and, slowly, set to work. It was not difficult to depict General Eisenhower on a "jeep" at a stereo tube, leading a formidable armada of tanks, guns and aircraft, as well as a "simple American" next to him. But how to portray in a funny way ("... This thing should be beaten with laughter ...") the mythical "Russian danger" - a pretext for an invasion? Thinking about it, I drew a small yurt, near which stands a lone Eskimo, staring in surprise at the approaching army. Next to him is a small Eskimo holding a chocolate ice cream popular at that time on a stick, the so-called popsicle. Two bear cubs, a deer, a walrus and ... a penguin, which, as you know, are not found in the Arctic, look at Eisenhower and his army with the same surprise.
After completing this whole sketch in pencil, I decided that this was enough for me for today. I put the drawing aside, stretched sweetly and ... at that moment the phone rang:
- Comrade Efimov? Wait by the phone. Comrade Stalin will speak with you.
I wake up. After a rather long pause, I heard a slight cough and a voice familiar to millions of people:
- Comrade Zhdanov spoke to you yesterday about a satire. Do you understand what I am talking about?
- I understand, Comrade Stalin.
- You are portraying one person there. Do you understand what I'm talking about?
- I understand, Comrade Stalin.
- So, this person must be portrayed in such a way that she was, as they say, armed to the teeth. There are all sorts of planes, tanks, guns. Do you understand?
For a fraction of a second, an absurd mischievous flashed through the distant convolutions of the brain: "Comrade Stalin! I already drew it like that! I guessed it myself!" But out loud, of course, I answered:
“Understood, Comrade Stalin.
- When can we get this thing?
- Uh ... Comrade Zhdanov said that there was no need to rush ...
- We'd like to have it by six o'clock today.
- All right, Comrade Stalin.
- At six o'clock they will come to you, - said the Boss and hung up.
I looked at my watch - half past four, then looked with horror at the drawing. It was necessary to clarify various details, so far only outlined in pencil, then circle this entire complex multi-figure drawing with ink, erase traces of the pencil, write the text - work, at least for the whole day. And I felt myself in the shoes of a chess player who has fallen into the most severe time trouble, when there is not a single extra second for thinking, searching for options, correcting mistakes, and only the most accurate, single, error-free moves have to be made. But the chess player still has the opportunity to win back in another game. I didn't have that opportunity. I knew that the Master did not like it when his instructions were not followed. When he is informed that the drawing has not been received by the deadline, he will most likely instruct Comrade Beria to "figure it out." And it will take Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria no more than forty minutes to knock out of me a confession that I thwarted the task of Comrade Stalin on the instructions of American intelligence, in whose service I have been for many years. Moreover, with a phenomenal memory, or rather vindictiveness, of Stalin, he knew very well that I was the brother of Mikhail Koltsov, who, on his instructions, was arrested and shot as an "enemy of the people" even before the war. Who could have known what this terrible, unpredictably capricious person would do in this or that case ... But, apparently, it was so written to me that by some miracle I managed to finish the drawing and hand it to the courier who arrived at exactly six o'clock.
The next day passed without any events, but the next morning the telephone rang: "Comrade Zhdanov asks to come to him at the Central Committee by one in the afternoon."
“Why would I be needed?” I thought. “If you didn’t like the drawing, then why would they call me? To inform about it? Such ceremonies are hardly possible. They would just call another artist, most likely the Kukryniksy. "Then, in the best case, they would have notified through the secretary by telephone. No, here we can clearly talk about some kind of amendments. Which ones? We can assume two options. First: Stalin found that Eisenhower, whom I recently saw, is not very similar - that "I came to Moscow and stood next to the Boss at the parade of athletes. Second: the northern lights I depicted in the drawing are not similar. I carefully redrawn it from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, but Stalin personally contemplated it in Turukhansk exile."
Zhdanov kindly walked towards me from the depths of his huge office and, amiably holding my waist, led me to a long conference table, standing perpendicular to the monumental desk. It was on the boardroom table that I saw my drawing.
- Well, here, - he said, - have been considered and discussed. There are amendments. They were made by the hand of Comrade Stalin,” Zhdanov added, looking at me meaningfully. I silently bowed my head.
“By the way,” he continued, “half an hour ago, Comrade Stalin called and asked if you had already arrived. I said that you are already here and waiting in my waiting room.
"A phantasmagoria," I thought.
Looking again at my drawing, I said:
- Andrei Alexandrovich! As far as I can see, the corrections, in general, relate more to the text, but according to the drawing, as if ...
- Yes, yes, - said Zhdanov, - in general, there are no objections to the drawing. True, some members of the Politburo expressed the opinion that Eisenhower's ass was too accentuated. But Comrade Stalin did not attach any importance to this. Yes, the picture is fine.
What amendments were made to my drawing "by the hand of Comrade Stalin"? First of all, at the top of the sheet was inscribed in red pencil "Eisenhower DEFENDS" and underlined with a light wavy line. Below, somewhere under the feet of the surprised Eskimo, "Se" is written in the same red pencil ... But then the red pencil, apparently, broke, then it was already simple (black) - "... the right pole", and lower, along the edges drawing, - "Alaska" and "Canada".
- Comrade Stalin said, - Zhdanov explained to me, - it is necessary that it be absolutely clear that this is the Arctic, not the Antarctic.
Then the Boss took up the text I had written under the drawing. He replaced the words "violent activity" with "combat activity" and "in this peaceful area" with "in this deserted area." In what I wrote, "... what enemy forces are concentrated here," he, like a real literary editor, rearranged the words with one decisive stroke, so that it turned out - "... what enemy forces are concentrated here."
The phrase "One of the opponents has already waved a grenade at us" (by this I wanted to humorously "beat" a chocolate popsicle in the hand of an Eskimo), the Leader crossed out entirely and instead wrote: "This is where the threat to American freedom comes from." The Leader and Teacher, however, was not satisfied with this: when he called Zhdanov and asked about me, he at the same time ordered in the last sentence to cross out the initial words “just” and write “exactly” instead of them, which Zhdanov did.
With these amendments, the cartoon "Eisenhower is on the defensive" was published two days later in Pravda. I must say that the penguin depicted among the inhabitants of the Arctic did not escape the attention of readers. Snide remarks rained down, but when it became known that the drawing was approved by the Boss, the critics bit their tongues and the presence of penguins in the North Pole region was thus highly legitimized. And the cartoon went down in the history of the many years of the Cold War as one of the first satirical arrows fired at the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

After the Great Patriotic War, Boris Efimov worked fruitfully for more than half a century. Listing the titles and awards that this artist was awarded will take up too much space - State Prizes, and the Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, and three Orders of Lenin, and three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor ... One of the last awards of the artist was the Order of Peter the Great, I degree . After his 107th (!) birthday, he was appointed the chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper.

Yes, he also had numerous critics - he was reproached for serving the authorities all his life. For example, he was friends with Bukharin, and then exposed him in his cartoons, was one of those who saw Trotsky into exile, and then exposed him too. And during the years of perestroika, he drew caricatures already of Stalin. But, read the responses of the front-line soldiers given above. In our opinion, they "outweigh" any criticism. In addition, his cartoons are a vivid chronicle, reflecting all the main events in the history of our country for almost a whole century.
He died at the age of 109 on October 1, 2008. He happened to catch the last days of the nineteenth century, live the entire twentieth century and catch the new millennium.

Today the Soviet artist Boris Efimovich Efimov would have turned 115 years old. Such a formulation may seem unusual - where has it been seen that a living person turns so many years old! - if not for the fact that Boris Efimovich passed away, celebrating his 108th birthday. So what could come true, why not? - but, alas, it did not happen.
I happened to meet Boris Efimovich several times. These were quite business meetings, it was about the publication of a dozen and a half of his cartoons in one historical book. Then he was "only" 95 years old. But, frankly, I was interested in talking with a person who seemed to me to be living history. After all, his first caricature - of the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko - was published back in 1916 in the illustrated magazine Sun of Russia, which was popular in those years. When I was listing the cartoons that I had selected for publication, one of the first ones I came across was an old caricature of A.F. Kerensky - "Kerensky's attack ... on the workers" from the magazine "Crocodile" for 1922.

It is quite possible that Efimov had not seen her since then, that is, for more than 70 years - and he had drawn more than 40 thousand drawings, caricatures, posters during this time ... - but then he instantly recognized her and nodded his head:
- Yes, this is in connection with the June offensive of 1917 ...
During the Civil War, Efimov drew and published caricatures of Lenin and Trotsky in the Kyiv White Guard newspapers. One of them - he himself told about this - was this: Lenin asks Trotsky - "How many devoted people do we have in our country?" "All!" Trotsky answers. The meaning of the pun is clear: these two traitors, Ilyich and Davidich, betrayed every single one ... :)
Then, in the 1920s, Yefimov managed to make friends with Trotsky, who even wrote a laudatory preface to his first book of drawings. Efimov, in turn, drew friendly cartoons on the leader of the Red Army, like this:

He met with the already expelled, disgraced Trotsky at his home - it was definitely a bold act (Efimov himself was non-party). If you look from the point of view of our knowledge - so directly recklessly bold (although then, perhaps, it did not seem so). It turned out that I now know Lev Davidovich "through one handshake" - which was also amusing. At that meeting, Trotsky said to Efimov:
- And your brother seems to have joined the Thermidorians.
It was about the journalist Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov, the artist's brother.
“I kept silent,” Yefimov wrote about this later. “I thought that it was hardly the time and place to express to the defeated and exiled Trotsky that Koltsov joined the Thermidorians not out of fear or servility, but because, like most members of the party, he believed that the so-called general line of Stalin is more reasonable and necessary for the country than his, Trotsky's, permanent revolution.
By the way, above the desk in Efimov's home office, I was struck by a large oil-painted portrait of Mikhail Koltsov, who, as you know, was shot in 1940 as a "Trotskyite". Strange: while Trotsky considered Koltsov a Thermidorian, Stalin continued to consider him a Trotskyist...
That meeting between Yefimov and Trotsky ended like this: “We went out into the hallway, and then something happened that became a fact of my biography. Trotsky took off his coat and handed it to me. I gasped: “What are you, Lev Davydovich!” - “No, no, put it on." I, worried, barely get my hands into the sleeves, and then, I will not hide, I said: "Have a nice trip, Lev Davydovich!". We hugged and kissed. "
Later, in the 1930s, Boris Efimovich, as he himself wrote, "drew vile caricatures of Bukharin and Trotsky, whom he sincerely respected." He was also well acquainted with Bukharin through his work at Izvestia...
About what already in the years of perestroika he published a note in Ogonyok under the heading "I'm sorry." And then in an interview he returned to this topic more than once: "I am even now ashamed of them ... [For] the drawings where I depicted Trotsky, Bukharin, people whom I deeply respected." “Until now, this is my pain. He [Trotsky] favored me, but I could not refuse to draw him, they would have dealt with me right away. I did it reluctantly and imagined Lev Davidovich looking at these caricatures and thinking: well what a bastard!"
I knew all this, but at the same time I really wanted to include a caricature of Bukharin in the form of a "cursed cross between a fox and a pig," according to Vyshinsky, in a book. And I carefully started talking about it, suggested placing it, if necessary, along with a short excerpt from the article "I'm sorry," but Boris Efimovich said, as he cut it off: "No, no! .." (By the way, in the conversation Efimov succinctly remarked : "If this caricature did not exist, then I would not exist").

Then I tried to quickly scroll through the famous drawing from among those selected for publication, where, if you look closely, the same acquaintances of Boris Efimovich - Lev Davidovich and Nikolai Ivanovich writhed in the "Stalin's hedgehog gauntlet" of People's Commissar Yezhov. :)


I thought that, after all, "Steel Hedgehogs" had long since become a fact of history, and it would be strange to hush them up. And for the publication of this laudatory drawing of 1933 - "The Captain of the Land of the Soviets leads us from victory to victory" - Efimov agreed, good-naturedly, albeit with some annoyance, laughing at his sight:
- Well, what happened, happened.

Then I asked Efimov to sign the published book (which I usually never did, but in this case I decided to make an exception for such a "historical" person), and he composed a long inscription in which he listed all his Soviet regalia and titles. What in 1996 looked, to be honest, somewhat lonely - just like a magnificent, loud and fearful title of nobility after the abolition of the aristocracy ...
P.S. Here is what he wrote to me then, indicating at the beginning my first and last name: "... to the editor of this volume with a feeling of sincere admiration for the enormous and excellent work that enables our young generation to get a vivid and expressive idea of ​​Russia's past, of the complex and unforgettable events in our history.. Many, many thanks on behalf of the older and oldest generation.
Boris Efimov,
contemporary of the twentieth century, People's Artist of the RSFSR and the USSR, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Hero of Socialist Labor.
January 25, 1996."