Mikhail Mikhalkov is a Soviet poet, prose writer and publicist. His works were published under pseudonyms. Basically, he signed as Mikhail Lugovoy or Mikhail Andronov. At the same time, he never won popularity, having remained in the shadow of his own brother, the famous poet Sergei Mikhalkov.
Writer Biography
Mikhail Mikhalkov was born in 1922. He was born in Moscow. At the age of 5, he moved with his parents to the Stavropol Territory. At first they lived with their whole family in Pyatigorsk, and then in Georgievsk.
Mikhail Mikhalkov, whose biography is in this article, was trained at a special school of the NKVD, and eventually became a border guard.
When the Great Patriotic War began, the hero of our article served in a special department of the Southwestern Front, which later became known as SMERSH. In September 1941, Mikhail Mikhalkov was in Kiev, where he was captured by the Nazi troops. He was transferred to a prisoner of war camp. He knew German very well, and therefore received an enviable position in the kitchen in the second SS Panzer Division. He introduced himself as an ethnic German from Ukraine.
Escape from captivity
Soon he managed to escape from captivity. Mikhail Mikhalkov moved to Hungary. There he was able to get a part-time job with a foreign businessman. During the war he worked in several countries: in Switzerland, Belgium, France, Turkey. Then he managed to cross the front line in Latvia, disguised as the murdered captain of the third SS division.
Once on the Soviet side, he was immediately suspected of having ties to the enemy.
Arrest
The Soviet authorities, the poet’s brother Sergei Mikhalkov, Mikhail Mikhalkov, was arrested. At first, due to stress and excitement, he could not even begin to speak Russian. He needed a translator to communicate with domestic law enforcement officials.
The brother of Sergei Mikhalkov, Mikhail, through an interpreter, managed to convey to the Soviet command valuable information about the location and planned movement of the German garrison. However, he claimed that in 1941 he served as a Soviet officer, being the brother of the famous Soviet poet. When his identity was officially confirmed, he was transferred to Moscow.
In the capital, he began his career in an internal state security prison, which was based on the Lubyanka. Mikhail Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, whose biography turned out to be so fascinating, was a secret agent.
He himself was in prison, but in reality only served as a prisoner. He gradually obtained valuable information from the prisoners, which he carefully transmitted to the NKVD investigators.
Espionage charge
It soon became clear that not everyone believed in the story of the miraculous salvation of Mikhalkov. He was accused of spying for Germany. He was reminded of many suspicious and strange in his biography.
For example, the fact that in the 30s, when he was studying in a Soviet school, German was so native to him that Misha could hardly speak Russian. He had to carefully study the language of local residents, only after that he was allowed to pass exams, as well as to study the general educational program.
Michael claimed that this was due to the fact that a housewife who was German by nationality served in their family. At the same time, there is very little information about his childhood. There is a version that he was not brought up in his own family. Although he left memories in which he claimed that his older brother was starving and wore one coat for several years to feed his relatives, there are other opinions.
For example, some biographers claim that in 1930 his father sent him from the Stavropol Territory to his aunt, whose name was Maria Alexandrovna Glebova. By that time, she already had five sons.
Mikhalkov himself repeatedly said that he received high-quality home primary education, so when he moved to Moscow, he was immediately sent to fourth grade. Almost all the students at the neighboring desks were two years older than him.
Such different legends
Researchers who are trying to thoroughly and scrupulously restore the biography of Mikhalkov Jr., notice that at different times he himself provided various information about how his fate developed. Because of this, there are currently many versions.
Moreover, in 1940 he managed to become a graduate of the NKVD school. After which he was sent to serve in Izmail. There is reason to believe that Mikhalkov himself surrendered to the Germans in the very first days of the war.
He briefly describes the four years of World War II that he spent on enemy territory:
"Fights … encirclement … fascist camp. Then escape, execution … Camp again, escape again and again execution. As you can see, I survived."
Miraculous salvation
But in an expanded version of his biography he talks about real miracles that he met in those years. He writes about this in detail in his autobiographical book, "In the Labyrinths of Deadly Risk."
He claims that after his first escape, he was hid by the family of Lucy Zweis. She was able to help him get documents in the name of her husband Vladimir. This allowed him to become a translator in Dnepropetrovsk, to start earning at least some money.
Going towards Kharkov, the hero of our article stumbled upon German troops. So he got into the headquarters of the SS Panzer Division called "Great Germany". He told the company commander Bersh his next legend, which he invented almost on the move. Mikhalkov claimed to be a schoolboy, a tenth grader. Moreover, the German is of original origin, who was sent from the Caucasus to his grandmother in the summer for this place.
Bersh believed in this story and instructed the young man to supply part of it with food. So Mikhalkov began to travel around the villages and exchange food for gas and other valuables from local residents. Now it’s worth recognizing that what Mikhalkov did in the occupied territory is called the word “heavi”. So designate an auxiliary employee of the Wehrmacht.
Career
As a rule, this is a mission of little honor, but Mikhalkov was soon able to go uphill. Even at a time when the tank division began to retreat to the West and reform.
Mikhalkov claims that he managed to escape on the Romanian-Hungarian border in the hope of joining the partisans. But he could not find them. His fate changed dramatically when in Budapest he met a rich man from Geneva, a millionaire, to whom Mikhalkov himself introduced himself as the son of the director of a large German concern located in Berlin. The rich man even intended to give his daughter out as a young man.
Mikhalkov says that during this time he managed to meet with a large number of famous people, even Otto Skorzeny. He claims that he participated in the French Resistance, fought with the Nazis in all kinds of territories, and often changed names.
Kill the captain of the SS
The SS officer, brother of the anthemist scribe, Mikhail Mikhalkov noted that all these years he strove to be as close to the Soviet border as possible in order to return to his own.
When the incident turned up, Mikhalkov killed the captain of the SS, who served in the division called "Dead Head". He took his uniform and weapon. The resulting uniform became a real opportunity for him to cross the front line. Being in the rank of captain of the SS, Mikhail Mikhalkov traveled around the neighboring units to find out their location. He then shared this information with the Soviet command.
When one day they demanded documents, the hero of our article did not have them. He was arrested as a deserter, until his identity was ascertained. He was in custody, but soon fled again, this time having successfully crossed the front line.
Many are sure that in 1942 he began to serve in the 3 SS divisions. Mikhail Mikhalkov, most likely, soon began to serve as a punisher. As a result, on suspicion of espionage, he was convicted and spent five years in Lefortovo prison. From there he was sent to a camp in the Far East.
Returning from prison, he eventually achieved rehabilitation. He was even awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree. Mikhalkov died in Moscow in 2006. He was 83 years old.
