""Devyatayev" - a trailer for a Russian feature film" Topic

The film is dedicated to the Soviet pilot, Mikhail Devyatayev, who, together with several compatriots, managed to escape from a Nazi concentration camp in a German bomber.
More details here: link

YouTube link

A son of gun!

From hell into the fire.

I see he had friends like Sergei Korolev that saved him from the crazyness of stalinist serfs.
Thank god, otherwise we probably wouldn't ever have heard about him here.
In the West, even in Germany, most people barely know who Wernher von Braun was, not to say know about his career in the USA after that in Peenemünde.
So its rather refreshing from my perspective to hear the story about some real hero of the war our ancestors fought.

Thank you, it is an honor.

…
Oh, the English Wikipedia doesn't mention it and the German one just barely notices it, he met with Günter Hobohm, the Pilot of the Ju 88 that should intercept the escape, in 1999 at the Memorial in Karlshagen, Peenemünde, Usedom

You may find an image of their meeting here:
Förderverein Peenemünde

I used deepl.com/translator to translate the text beside the image:
"On 04.06.1999 there was a meeting of the former enemies in front of the memorial in Karlshagen, which moved both deeply. Also with the former test pilot Max Meyer, who observed the flight at that time, it came to a cordial meeting on the next day on the airfield Peenemünde. Some 54 years after the dramatic events of February 1945, the former opponents spoke out in favor of peaceful coexistence among peoples so that similar situations could not be repeated. Especially in today's world, with increasing confrontation between states and religions, these admonishing words take on a special meaning."

Translated with deepl.com/translator (free version)

The madness of the Stalinist serfs? This is the madness of Western (and some Russian))) authors. More precisely, this is the usual anti-Soviet propaganda)))
If you turn to the Russian article in Wikipedia, then you will find out that neither Devyatayev nor his comrades were convicted.
Former rank-and-file soldiers who participated in the escape did not end up in the penal battalion, as indicated in the English version of the article – they were drafted into ordinary rifle units. But before that, they had to spend almost two months in a filtration camp, where they were treated and checked. Do not confuse the filtration camp with the penitentiary institution)))
The attitude towards the officers who were captured was much stricter. Devyatayev and two more of his fellow escapees – prisoners of the Red Army officers – were at the check longer, and after passing it were dismissed from the army. According to the recollections of his wife and daughter, already in 1945, Mikhail worked in the Kazan river port. He was not convicted and did not sit in any Stalinist camps.
Here is the Russian Wikipedia article in automatic translation. She, by the way, is much more detailed:

link

And here you will find details of the fate of the people who participated in this unique escape:

link

I love the air combat clips. P-39 vs Bf 109, great stuff. Bailing out the side door, nice touch.

I did notice that many scenes have this type of event.

YouTube link

@Cuprum2

And how do I know the Russian Wikipedia isn't the version to let the Soviets look better than they were?
Especially since it is the one that highlights the sometimes uncertain information situation regarding his life after 1945?
Or better said, it claims there is an uncertain situation regarding this.
I may cite the google translation:
"In their memoirs, the daughter and son of Mikhail Devyatayev claim that in December 1945 [13] [14] he returned to Kazan (according to other sources, he returned only in the early 1950s) [7]"
It may be a translation problem, but as I understand it, the Russian Wikipedia claims the memoirs of Mikhail Devyatayevs children maybe are not reliable because other sources exist that 'claim' different.
Well, I have to say I stay with my anti-Soviet bias that stalinist methods of that time could be quite deadly for reasons that were more founded in paranoia and fear.
Fear of repression lacking rationality not because it did get out of hand, but lack of rationality as a tool in a system of oppression.

If you want to suppress the truth you don't tell lies.
You make the truth unreliable.
Uncertainty is the key to decay.
We know that, don't we?

"Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth."
George Orwell, 1984

I stand my ground.
Mikhail Petrowitsch Devyatayev was a great man and you can be proud of him as a Russian hero.
And I envy you for this.
I don't do that for the Soviets and Stalinism.

That does not mean that I haven't read you have great knowlegde regarding topics here discussed.
And of course Russia and its history and customs.
I appreciate that.

Wikipedia usually provides links to the source of information. If two sources contradict each other, you can either choose the one that is close to your beliefs, or the one that deserves more trust.
So: his wife and daughter claim that Devyatayev in 1945 already worked in the river port (and they gave both interviews a lot after the collapse of the USSR). But the second link is quite interesting. She refers to the book of Mikhail Devyatayev himself. Moreover, for the edition released in 2015. I do not have this book. But I have an earlier edition of this book, and there Mikhail himself writes that he arrived in Kazan in 1945 and there he writes only about keeping him in a filtration camp, from which the Soviet designer Korolev requested him.
Strange enough, don't you think? Perhaps the new edition contains some kind of annotation, written by an unknown person, and there this unknown person writes that Devyatayev arrived in Kazan in 1957. But who should I believe – Devyatayev, his family, or no one knows who?

I do not excuse the Soviets and Stalinism. I'm looking for grains of truth in a pile of propaganda dung)))

@Cuprum2

I'm looking for grains of truth in a pile of propaganda dung

And that's great!

I put the life of Mikhail Petrowitsch Devyatayev on my study list.
And if you want to read western style propaganda about him you may translate this short article from the Museum of Peenemünde website with an online translation service.
As always I recommend DeepL

Mikhail Petrowitsch Devyatayev on Museum of Peenemünde
I can assure you, the tone of it in German is somewhat derogatory.
I don't know if a translation will still include the subtle undertone, but I think the title says it all:

"Der Heldenmythos um Dewjatajew"
"The heroic myth about Dewyataev"
Heldenmythos/heroic myth in Germany has a slightly negative connotation implying a certain kind of fabricated propaganda.
And we both probably are of the same opinion here:
He was a real hero.

Hmm. In general – the same information as in Wikipedia.
There is one nuance here. Former prisoners of war really had some limitation in their rights. They were forbidden to join the Communist Party, serve in the army as an officer, work in the defense industry, and also hold positions in government. But, for one reason or another, such a ban could be lifted. This is exactly what happened to Devyatayev in 1957. However, even after the restrictions were lifted, he remained to work in the river fleet. And he joined the communist party)))
A myth … Myths always surround heroes. The very fact of a unique and outstanding act was and no one denies it.