ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION VLADIMIR PUTIN

Transcript:

Question: Did your father sense that war was coming in 1941?

Vladimir Putin: I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he did. My parents led a quiet life. As they told me later, they had received a flat in St Petersburg just before the war after their second child was born. They didn’t give the war much thought.

Question: When and under what circumstances did your father join the army?

Vladimir Putin: He volunteered a few days after the beginning of the war. He worked at a factory – I don’t remember its name – whose personnel were exempted from active duty, but he volunteered and went to the front.

Question: Did he tell you about his most difficult experience during the war?

Vladimir Putin: I think there were several really dramatic episodes. The first happened during his time in a guerrilla force behind enemy lines. This was the first unit he fought in. Germans spotted them in a forest and chased them. Only four of the 28 men in the unit made it out alive. Father was one of them. He hid in a swamp, breathing through a reed. That was the first time he faced mortal danger.

Another time he was almost killed was on the Neva Bridgehead at Nevskaya Dubrovka in the Leningrad Region – a site of heavy fighting. Father was sent there after his force crossed back over the frontline. Father was badly wounded and could get proper treatment only on the opposite bank of the Neva. Crossing a river under fire is very risky. A neighbour of his, who was in the same unit, carried Father across the river despite the danger and went back to his unit as soon as he took Father to hospital. Father would not have survived if he hadn’t been taken to the hospital immediately.

In his third wartime tragedy, Father’s life was not in danger. Mother was not allowed to enter the hospital anymore after she had visited him several times, so he walked home on his crutches to see her. When he approached the entrance, he saw dead bodies being removed from the house. Mother was among them. He came closer and saw she was alive. “What are you doing? She’s alive!” he said to the paramedics carrying the stretcher. “She’s dying. She’ll die on the way,” was the answer. Father pummelled the men with his crutches, forcing them to carry her back home, and Mother recovered.

Question: Did your father have any military awards? If he did, what were they, and how did he win them?

Vladimir Putin: He didn’t like to talk about the war. He never made a point of talking about the war. He mentioned it in talks with friends when they visited us on Victory Day. But he took pride in his awards. Sorry, I don’t remember which he received. I only remember that he was especially proud of the Medal For Valour.

Question: Which wartime songs did you sing at home?

Vladimir Putin: My parents sang very rarely, only when they had guests. I don’t remember what they sang.

Question: You spent many years in Germany. Did you ever hear German accounts of the war?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, occasionally, when I lived in East Germany. Germans today, both in the country’s east and west, denounce Nazism, war and aggression. They bear special grudges against war. Incidentally, the first victims of Nazism were Germans themselves – all antifascists, not only Communists but also members of other parties, particularly Christian Democrats and Socialists, to say nothing of the clergy. They were sent to concentration camps from the start. When the war began, they were treated even worse. That was logical: Nazis needed a reliable rear. So we should by no means think that all Germans were Nazis.

I socialised a lot in Germany. There were many simple people who were far removed from politics. I remember an acquaintance of mine, a man older than me. He was conscripted in the last months of the war, when Nazis recruited boys as young as 14 and 15. He was 15 or 16 at that time. He told me that when their unit got into position on the forward line, it confronted a Soviet unit, and both came to a standstill. The boys were triumphant – they stopped the Soviet advance! It turned out to be just a reconnaissance unit. A major force followed quite soon, and opened fire. “It was hell!” the man said. The boys ran like mad, dropping their weapons and ammunition. He escaped by a hair’s breadth. I don’t think there was an army in the world stronger than the Soviet Army at the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Question: How did you celebrate Victory Day at home in Soviet times, and how does your family celebrate it now?

Vladimir Putin: Like a great many people in this country, I think it is one of our main holidays, mainly because it’s the day to remember the heroes who saved our nation’s freedom and independence, and created the conditions for Russia’s further development. On that day, we have every right to think about Russia’s greatness. To me, it is one of the most cherished red-letter days in our country today and in our history.

Question: What did you tell your daughters about the war, and what are you telling them about it now?

Vladimir Putin: They are educated girls who can look up everything on their own, but I do tell them some things, all the same. I tell them, not in a pushy way, about what their grandmother and grandfather endured. See, it’s one thing when you know it from history classes, books and movies, and it’s quite different when you feel it as part of your family history. It makes it come alive. So I tell them things on occasion, but I never make a big show of it when I talk about it.

Question: Which of your father’s war stories left the greatest impression on you?

Vladimir Putin: I think it was how he saw Mother among the dead. I think it left an impression on you, too. That’s what life was like at that time.

I would like to balance it out with a more optimistic story. After Father’s neighbour brought him to hospital across the Neva, he said as he left: “You’ll surely recover, and I’m going back. I don’t think I’ll return, so this is our farewell.” There was very heavy fighting, with tremendous loss of life, at the Neva Bridgehead. Father never heard from the man again, but one day in the 1960s they ran into each other while shopping in Leningrad. That was unforgettable!

Interviewer: Thank you very much for this interview. The story about your father will be a great addition to our film archive.

Vladimir Putin: Sorry to interrupt you. I would like it to be a film not about my father personally but about him as exemplifying his generation. Local people have built a small chapel on the Neva bank, where he fought, with a list of all Red Army soldiers who fought there. I would like you to see it. My father’s name – which is also mine – is just one of the many there, and these are all names of heroes.

Interviewer: We have made more than 10,000 episodes so far and we will continue making them till we film all the veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

In conclusion, could I ask you to autograph our questionnaire?

Vladimir Putin: Here you are.

Interviewer: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

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