“Our family drank good coffee every day,

to which the Pope became addicted in captivity "

From an interview with Peter Yushchenko

The biography of Andrey Yushchenko, father of the current President of Ukraine, has become one of the most discussed topics in Ukraine in recent years. This is quite understandable if we take into account the severity of the political struggle, in the course of which real and invented “compromising evidence” against opponents and their family members plays an important role.

From the very beginning of his public political career, Viktor Yushchenko declared a special view of the history of World War II, did not hide his sympathy for the nationalist formations of the OUN-UPA and did not make much difference between Soviet soldiers and the Nazis. Some of his opponents regarded Yushchenko's "revisionism" as a consequence of his upbringing in the family, and therefore their particular attention was drawn to the figure of Viktor Yushchenko's father, Andrei Yushchenko, who was known to have spent most of the war in captivity.

In order to forestall opponents, the campaign headquarters of Viktor Yushchenko in February 2004 published the article "Prisoner No. 11367" as an advertisement in many Ukrainian publications. In this complimentary article, Andrei Yushchenko appeared as a courageous prisoner of Nazi camps, who steadfastly endured all the horrors of fascist captivity and even made several escapes. The purpose of the publication was simple - in advance to deprive opponents of Viktor Yushchenko of the opportunity to use the thesis that the presidential candidate is "the son of a traitor." In addition, the heroic and tragic version of the biography of Andrei Yushchenko, set out in the article "Prisoner No. 11367", gave his son an additional charm in the eyes of voters. Viktor Yushchenko began to position himself as the “son of a prisoner,” and this allowed him to more confidently fend off accusations of nationalism.

The image of the “son of a prisoner” was more favorably received by our Western partners as well. However, exploiting the "prisoner" theme, Yushchenko and his team got carried away. Many of the "details" with which they tried to develop the topic looked implausible, and sometimes even worked against the version of the "feat of prisoner of war Yushchenko." For example, the eldest son of Andrei Yushchenko - Peter - in an interview with the Israeli weekly "Vremya" said that "dad is addicted to good coffee in captivity." Viktor Yushchenko himself, in his frequent speeches, was constantly confused about the details of his father's biography, creating the basis for growing mistrust.

As a result, vague suspicions of the inaccuracy of the version about "prisoner No. 11367" were replaced by the desire to seriously understand the biography of Andrei Yushchenko. After some of the genuine materials from the "filtration case" of Andrei Yushchenko got into the media, the journalists were able to independently deal with the facts of the biography of the president's father. During 2005-2007. a lot of materials on this topic have appeared in the Ukrainian media. The authors of the most serious of them are M. Berdnik and S. Burlachenko.

Unfortunately, Ukrainian journalists limited themselves to analyzing the documents, assessing only the reliability of the information contained in them, as well as the compliance of the documents with the versions that were voiced by Viktor Yushchenko and his supporters. Having proved that in most cases Andrei Yushchenko lied about his biography, Ukrainian journalists, however, did not try to find out who the father of the current president of Ukraine really was.

But if we examine the documents on the biography of Andrei Yushchenko, comparing them with each other, as well as with the available information from an array of other sources, one can make reasonable assumptions about the real fate of Andrei Yushchenko.

There are several documents on which the biographers of Andrei Yushchenko rely. Andrei Yushchenko was personally involved in the creation of at least three of these documents. Here are some of these documents in full (preserving the spelling and stylistics of the author):

1st document- the autobiography of Andrei Yushchenko, written by him in the framework of the filtration case on August 17, 1945 (hereinafter - "autobiography (1945)")

Autobiography

I am Andrey Yushchenko

1919 the people are the son of a collective farmer

1934 p. skinny Khoruzhivsku n / a secondary school and then enrolled for a year of training at the Institute in Kharkov.

1935 p. skinny and enrolled in the Kharkov State Pedagogical Institute

1937 p. under bad material conditions I am forced to look for another mist and give up the old one.

Therefore, I entered the port of Baku at the "Caspian Shipping Company" as a mechanic locksmith.

Having violated passport registration, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

After working for a year and a half, minya is released by the Presidium of the Supreme Council with the removal of a criminal record.

1939 in the spring I go to Rostov and enter the "Manychvodstroy" de work until the autumn of this year, de and enter the ranks of the red army.

The first service is the 11th Cossack cavalry division, the cavalry of the 35th regiment, and after graduating from the junior school. commanders.

1940 year aspen our division was promoted and I got 29th motorized division again sfomiruvan, the position of foreman.

In 1941, they were awarded the rank of foreman, and then I went to the front.

On June 28, our division behind Bilostok was defeated, Kom Div. and the chief of staff left in an unknown direction.

The first big camp is Mozovets Island in Poland.

In germany 304 and 4B from where the mine is being taken (crossed out: "I'm going" - Auth.) To Meissen, Kamenny Kar'er to work.

In the spring of 1942, minya was transported to the city of Leipzig to a farm plant. machines.

In the autumn of this year, they are taken to the big Camp 4 B.

From where they are taken to the penalty area Camp Stolp at the airport - preparing an earthen area

In the summer of 1943, I kill, they catch a mine and take me to the central punishment cell and the Gestapo for prisoners of war in Wolf, where, having made an unsuccessful escape, they catch a mine a kilometer from the camp, and I still sit.

November 1943 they are taking the town of Nurerberg Lager 13, from where I leave, run away and fish in Lvov in December 1943.

They are taken to the penalty area of ​​Camp 318, after spending 3 months, they are being taken to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Osin 1944 for banditry in the camps (beat the policemen) to take us to the Flesemburg concentration camp.

On the way, we will bim 25 people. Minya fishing in Prague.

I am bypassing my surname, putting me in jail in the city of Eger - Karsbad-Eger.

Unmasked and taken to Buchenwald where I sit for one week.

Since that time, I have not dash for a single minute how to get to my homeland. Having passed the filtration camp, where they took to work in the city of Steenau to evacuate the plant, after finishing dismantling, I received permission to go home to which I attach a certificate.

Yushchenko's father Andr. Yves. was on the defense of Leningrad and in its direction demobilized so much more relatives there.

Rospis

17 VIII-1945.

2nd document- a copy of Andrey Yushchenko's autobiography, certified by the MGB officer, written by September 7, 1946, (hereinafter - "autobiography (1946a)")

Autobiography

I, Yushchenko Andrey Andreevich, was born in 1919 in the village of Khoruzhytsy, Nedrigailovsky district of Sumy region in the family of a peasant, now a collective farmer.

In 1934 he graduated from the Khoruzhyi incomplete secondary school. After the end of the 7th grade. entered the robotic faculty of the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute

Where he graduated from two courses, but from the 3rd year he was mobilized in Kr. Army.

He took part in the Patriotic War, in 1945 from Kr. The army was demobilized as a teacher.

From 1 serpen 1945 to 31 chest 1945 he worked as a teacher of history and geography at the Vilshan secondary school.

From 1 / I- 46 to 31 / VIII-46 he worked as the director of the Kozelyanskaya NSSH.

Since 1935 I have been a correspondence student at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute.

7 / IX-46 Yushchenko

Correct: the operative of the 3rd department. 2 departments K-n (Signature)

YURI VILNER

ANDREY YUSHCHENKO: CHARACTER AND "LEGEND"

Title: Buy the book "Andrey Yushchenko: character and legend": feed_id: 5296 pattern_id: 2266 book_author: Vilner Yuri book_name: Andrey Yushchenko: character and "legend"

Aron Schneer, a historian and humanist, who revealed to the world the truth about captivity and betrayal.

CONFUSION AND SUSPECT

“Our family drank good coffee every day,

to which the Pope became addicted in captivity "

The biography of Andrey Yushchenko, father of the current President of Ukraine, has become one of the most discussed topics in Ukraine in recent years. This is quite understandable if we take into account the severity of the political struggle, in the course of which real and invented “compromising evidence” against opponents and their family members plays an important role.

From the very beginning of his public political career, Viktor Yushchenko declared a special view of the history of World War II, did not hide his sympathy for the nationalist formations of the OUN-UPA and did not make much difference between Soviet soldiers and the Nazis. Some of his opponents regarded Yushchenko's "revisionism" as a consequence of his upbringing in the family, and therefore their particular attention was drawn to the figure of Viktor Yushchenko's father, Andrei Yushchenko, who was known to have spent most of the war in captivity.

In order to forestall opponents, the campaign headquarters of Viktor Yushchenko in February 2004 published the article "Prisoner No. 11367" as an advertisement in many Ukrainian publications. In this complimentary article, Andrei Yushchenko appeared as a courageous prisoner of Nazi camps, who steadfastly endured all the horrors of fascist captivity and even made several escapes. The purpose of the publication was simple - in advance to deprive opponents of Viktor Yushchenko of the opportunity to use the thesis that the presidential candidate is "the son of a traitor." In addition, the heroic and tragic version of the biography of Andrei Yushchenko, set out in the article "Prisoner No. 11367", gave his son an additional charm in the eyes of voters. Viktor Yushchenko began to position himself as the “son of a prisoner,” and this allowed him to more confidently fend off accusations of nationalism.

The image of the “son of a prisoner” was more favorably received by our Western partners as well. However, exploiting the "prisoner" theme, Yushchenko and his team got carried away. Many of the "details" with which they tried to develop the topic looked implausible, and sometimes even worked against the version of the "feat of prisoner of war Yushchenko." For example, the eldest son of Andrei Yushchenko - Peter - in an interview with the Israeli weekly "Vremya" said that "dad is addicted to good coffee in captivity." Viktor Yushchenko himself, in his frequent speeches, was constantly confused about the details of his father's biography, creating the basis for growing mistrust.

As a result, vague suspicions of the inaccuracy of the version about "prisoner No. 11367" were replaced by the desire to seriously understand the biography of Andrei Yushchenko. After some of the genuine materials from the "filtration case" of Andrei Yushchenko got into the media, the journalists were able to independently deal with the facts of the biography of the president's father. During 2005-2007. a lot of materials on this topic have appeared in the Ukrainian media. The authors of the most serious of them are M. Berdnik and S. Burlachenko.

Unfortunately, Ukrainian journalists limited themselves to analyzing the documents, assessing only the reliability of the information contained in them, as well as the compliance of the documents with the versions that were voiced by Viktor Yushchenko and his supporters. Having proved that in most cases Andrei Yushchenko lied about his biography, Ukrainian journalists, however, did not try to find out who the father of the current president of Ukraine really was.

But if we examine the documents on the biography of Andrei Yushchenko, comparing them with each other, as well as with the available information from an array of other sources, one can make reasonable assumptions about the real fate of Andrei Yushchenko.

THE DOCUMENTS

There are several documents on which the biographers of Andrei Yushchenko rely. Andrei Yushchenko was personally involved in the creation of at least three of these documents. Here are some of these documents in full (preserving the spelling and stylistics of the author):

1st document- the autobiography of Andrei Yushchenko, written by him in the framework of the filtration case on August 17, 1945 (hereinafter - "autobiography (1945)")

Autobiography

I am Andrey Yushchenko

1919 the people are the son of a collective farmer

1934 p. skinny Khoruzhivsku n / a secondary school and then enrolled for a year of training at the Institute in Kharkov.

1935 p. skinny and enrolled in the Kharkov State Pedagogical Institute

1937 p. under bad material conditions I am forced to look for another mist and give up the old one.

Therefore, I entered the port of Baku at the "Caspian Shipping Company" as a mechanic locksmith.

Having violated passport registration, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

After working for a year and a half, minya is released by the Presidium of the Supreme Council with the removal of a criminal record.

1939 in the spring I go to Rostov and enter the "Manychvodstroy" de work until the autumn of this year, de and enter the ranks of the red army.

The first service is the 11th Cossack cavalry division, the cavalry of the 35th regiment, and after graduating from the junior school. commanders.

1940 year aspen our division was promoted and I got 29th motorized division again sfomiruvan, the position of foreman.

In 1941, they were awarded the rank of foreman, and then I went to the front.

On June 28, our division behind Bilostok was defeated, Kom Div. and the chief of staff left in an unknown direction.

The first big camp is Mozovets Island in Poland.

In germany 304 and 4B from where the mine is being taken (crossed out: "I'm going" - Auth.) To Meissen, Kamenny Kar'er to work.

In the spring of 1942, minya was transported to the city of Leipzig to a farm plant. machines.

In the autumn of this year, they are taken to the big Camp 4 B.

From where they are taken to the penalty area Camp Stolp at the airport - preparing an earthen area

In the summer of 1943, I kill, they catch a mine and take me to the central punishment cell and the Gestapo for prisoners of war in Wolf, where, having made an unsuccessful escape, they catch a mine a kilometer from the camp, and I still sit.

November 1943 they are taking the town of Nurerberg Lager 13, from where I leave, run away and fish in Lvov in December 1943.

They are taken to the penalty area of ​​Camp 318, after spending 3 months, they are being taken to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Osin 1944 for banditry in the camps (beat the policemen) to take us to the Flesemburg concentration camp.

On the way, we will bim 25 people. Minya fishing in Prague.

I am bypassing my surname, putting me in jail in the city of Eger - Karsbad-Eger.

Unmasked and taken to Buchenwald where I sit for one week.

Since that time, I have not dash for a single minute how to get to my homeland. Having passed the filtration camp, where they took to work in the city of Steenau to evacuate the plant, after finishing dismantling, I received permission to go home to which I attach a certificate.

Yushchenko's father Andr. Yves. was in the defense of Leningrad and in its direction demobilized sochas<нрзбр>no more relatives.

2nd document- a copy of Andrey Yushchenko's autobiography, certified by the MGB officer, written by September 7, 1946, (hereinafter - "autobiography (1946a)")

Autobiography

I, Yushchenko Andrey Andreevich, was born in 1919 in the village of Khoruzhytsy, Nedrigailovsky district of Sumy region in the family of a peasant, now a collective farmer.

In 1934 he graduated from the Khoruzhyi incomplete secondary school. After the end of the 7th grade. entered the robotic faculty of the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute

Where he graduated from two courses, but from the 3rd year he was mobilized in Kr. Army.

He took part in the Patriotic War, in 1945 from Kr. The army was demobilized as a teacher.

From 1 serpen 1945 to 31 chest 1945 he worked as a teacher of history and geography at the Vilshan secondary school.

From 1 / I- 46 to 31 / VIII-46 he worked as the director of the Kozelyanskaya NSSH.

Since 1935 I have been a correspondence student at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute.

3rd document- the autobiography of Andrey Yushchenko, written by him November 31, 1946(hereinafter - "autobiography (1946)")

Autobiography

I, Yushchenko Andriy Andryuvich, was born in 1919 rotsi in the village. Horuzhivtsi, Nedrigailivskyi district, Sumy region in the seven peasant-colleague.

In 1935 I graduated from Horuzhivska NSSh.

Pisle ending 7th grade joining the workers' faculty at the Kharkiv Sovereign Pedagogical Institute, having finished in 1939 p. umisti with the institute.

In 1939 rotsi, i pratsyuyu vicladach istorii i geographerii in the Rostov region. Vesolovskiy district 3vidki i buv vocations in the ranks of the Chervonoi armii.

On the cob of Vitchizna Viyni, I am on the border cordon of the town of Sloim.

28 worm our motodiviziyu mayzhe smashed i XI-41 rock me piranilo, I-1942 p. pick me up in full.

Zpochatka is found at the hospital, then they send me to work in Leipzig. I was caught i was put in the central ash colony in the city of Wolf, I know how to catch it i close the prison in Nyurenberzka, I know how I catch it from Franzii, I know how to catch it and send it to the concentration camp. to catch other stigmas i send to the concentration camp in Phlosembourg, de 25 people (the carriage of the railroad) we know well, catching and imprisoning us Prague - Carlsbad, Jaeger i Phlosembourg.

In Flosemburzi I am waiting for the trial, after waiting for the trial (hanging), I know I will go to the zone of America.

I-1945 rock I go to my side; I go to III-45 rock I work as a clerk at the commandant's office in Steinau, along with the head of dismantling and dismantling the factories on the Radianska side.

8-1945 I work with Vikladach Istorii I Geographer under the Bilshak State University since 1946. on VIII - 46 p. in with. Kozelnie.

3 VIII-1946 by the director of the V-Kamenskaya NSSH

I don’t have any kind of reprisals abroad.

Pid hour okupatsii there are no one on any landings not buv.

Friendship.

31-XI-46 p. Signature

4th document- Yushchenko's own personal questionnaire in the filtration case No. 81376, written October 31, 1946(hereinafter - "questionnaire")

5th document- Record card of the Wehrmacht Archive and Reference Directorate October 1943 year on the transfer of Yushchenko from the Luftwaffe POW camp No. 5 (Wolfen) to Stalag No. 13 (Nuremberg) (hereinafter - "card (1943)")

6th document- Yushchenko's personal card on the letterhead of the Auschwitz POW camp, completed on October 20, 1944 (and its translation, dated January 5, 1950) (hereinafter - "card (1944)")

These documents are contradictory, the information they contain does not agree well with each other, and in some episodes they refute each other. In the documents that Andrei Yushchenko was directly involved in drafting (autobiography and questionnaire), there is an obvious desire not to present the truth, but to silence it or distort it, offering instead a false, “convenient” version. Therefore, in order to establish at least in general terms the biography of Andrei Yushchenko, it is necessary to consider all the documents as a whole.

The biography of Andrei Yushchenko can be divided into three periods: pre-war, war and post-war. And in each of them, judging by the documents, Andrei Yushchenko committed such acts and found himself in such situations, reliable information about which could seriously damage him during the period of drawing up the document.

THE PRE-WAR PERIOD

Andrey Andreevich Yushchenko was born on April 10, 1919 in the village of Khoruzhevka, Nedrigailovsky district, Sumy region. Parents - Andrey and Maria, peasants.

In 1934, Yushchenko graduated from an incomplete secondary (7 grade) school in the village of Khoruzhevka.

In the same 1934 he entered the preparatory courses (workers' faculty) of the Kharkov State Pedagogical Institute, after graduating from which in 1935 he became a student of the said institute (the faculty is indicated in the questionnaire - "history faculty").

Until 1937, there were no special discrepancies in the versions of the biography of Andrei Yushchenko. A young village guy from a poor family becomes a student of the history (?) Faculty of one of the leading universities in Ukraine. Higher education in the 1930s was highly regarded. For a specialist with a higher education and with a "correct" social origin, broad career prospects were opened. In addition, the history faculties recreated in 1934 were “ideological faculties,” and their graduates were considered not only as specialists in one of the humanitarian disciplines, but also as a serious personnel reserve for replenishing the party and Soviet apparatus.

In the presentation of events before 1937, all documents are consistent with each other, do not contain contradictions, and even on the contrary - they complement each other. However, at the beginning of 1937, a certain event took place in Yushchenko's life that dramatically changes his life. And this is reflected in the documents: omissions, contradictions and outright lies appear.

So, in his early autobiography (1945) Yushchenko writes that in 1937 "Under poor material conditions, I am forced to look for another place and leave the old one"... He suddenly leaves the institute and moves to Baku, where he starts working as a mechanic in the port of the Caspian Shipping Company.

And in the 1946 questionnaire, he claims that from February to November 1939 he - "Teacher of the NSS(junior high school) in Vesolovsky district " Rostov region, from where he was drafted into the army. In his autobiography (1946), he also reports that he studied at the Kharkov State Institute until graduation in 1939: “Having finished in 1939 p. umisti with the institute. In 1939 he was rotsi pratsyuyu vikladachom istorii i geographerii in the Rostov region. Vesolvsky district ".

Meanwhile, in his autobiography (1946a), written in September 1946, Yushchenko claims that before being drafted into the army, he studied at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute: "From the third year he was mobilized into the Red Army".

It is obvious that Yushchenko in at least two out of three versions is deliberately lying. The inconsistency of different versions in the documents written by Yushchenko with a difference of one year cannot be explained by forgetfulness: such bright events in life as the termination of studies at a university or the circumstances of conscription into the army are remembered for life.

It seems that the first version, according to which Yushchenko leaves the institute and moves to Baku, is closer to the truth. What could have prompted a student of the Kharkov Institute to suddenly quit his studies, without even completing the academic year? What made a history student travel thousands of miles in search of a locksmith job? Material interests and the search for a better paid job do not seem to be a convincing explanation for this rather adventurous act. Kharkov, from where Yushchenko unexpectedly leaves in 1937, is a large industrial center, a few years ago the capital of Ukraine. Huge factories and combines are being built here, workers are in great demand, and getting a job as a "mechanic" is not a big deal. In addition, it is not very far from home and native Khoruzhevka.

However, Yushchenko leaves Kharkov for Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It seems that the motive for the act was not the search for a vacancy for a "mechanic", but the desire to leave Kharkov and Ukraine. It is safe to assume that Andrei Yushchenko found himself in a certain situation when his stay in Kharkov and Ukraine was not possible for him. He does not move to Baku, he runs away there to hide and, most likely, from the police. He moves to another republic, where it is much more difficult for the internal affairs bodies of Ukraine to find him.

The following fact indicates the desire to avoid contact with the police. Yushchenko, who lived in Kharkov, is the legal holder of a Soviet passport. Kharkov, along with Moscow and Leningrad, became one of the first cities where, back in 1933, mandatory certification with registration was introduced. He moved to Baku in 1937, where by that time a passport system was also carried out with the same compulsory registration.

Almost immediately he was arrested by the NKVD organs of the city of Baku. Yushchenko in his autobiography (1945) writes: "Having violated passport registration, I was sentenced to three years in prison".

What was this violation of the passport regime? Most likely, the fact that he did not register at the new place of residence on time. Why should the holder of a legal passport violate the passport regime? This makes sense if the person seeks to avoid contact with the police.

So, according to Yushchenko, he gets three years. Obviously, speaking about three years "for violation of passport registration", Yushchenko is not saying something. His version clearly does not agree with what is known about the administrative and criminal practice of those years.

According to the CEC decree of July 1, 1934, "On Amendments to the Criminal Code," persons who did not have passports and lived in places where a passport was required were punished with a fine of 100 rubles and were escorted by the police to their place of residence. And only in case of a relapse, passportless violators were punished with a maximum term of 2 years. In addition, this period applied to those who did not have a passport, while Yushchenko, who arrived from the passports of Kharkov, had a passport.

He himself writes in his autobiography (1945) that he was punished "For violation of passport registration", and in the questionnaire (1946) indicates that the Baku NKVD was brought to justice "For non-registration at the passport office"... That is, he did not register at the new place of residence on time.

This violation was punishable by a fine, and only in the event of a relapse - corrective labor for a maximum period of 6 months. Let's say the Baku police considered Yushchenko a repeat offender (perhaps, in their opinion, he violated the rules of passport registration twice - without registering in Baku, and before that - without being discharged from Kharkov), but in this case, the maximum sentence was 6 months. Yushchenko, according to him, was sentenced to three years.

The obvious contradiction between the offense and the punishment received for it, however, has its own logical explanation, if we turn to other documents. So in the German registration card (1944), clearly from the words of Yushchenko himself, it is indicated that he was convicted 2 times - for a total of 3.5 years. His autobiography (1945) mentions one conviction with a term of 3 years. According to Soviet laws, a shorter period was "swallowed up" by a longer one, and not "added" to it (as in Germany or now in the USA). Most likely, Yushchenko was convicted under two articles - one (for a period of 6 months) for violating the passport regime and the other (for a period of 3 years) for another crime. The question arises - for what crime did Yushchenko receive 3 years?

It is currently impossible to establish exactly what crime Andrei Yushchenko committed on the basis of the available documents. It is likely that this crime was committed by Yushchenko when he was still a student at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute. This, incidentally, explains the reason for his sudden departure from Kharkov and from Ukraine in general, reminiscent of flight. And, most likely, we are talking about an ordinary criminal offense, while not the most serious one. Obviously, Yushchenko was sentenced to corrective labor, but he did not complete his term until the end. As Yushchenko himself writes in his autobiography (1945), “after working for a year and a half, he frees the Presidium of the Supreme Council with the removal of a criminal record” (researchers have repeatedly turned their attention to this “having worked out”). It is unlikely that it was about "clearing a criminal record" and even more so rehabilitation. Most likely, Yushchenko was amnestied (the amnesty was just announced in the spring of 1939) or was released on parole after serving half of the term or for a good job.

Yushchenko was clearly convicted under a criminal article, and his case could not be political for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is evidenced by such an insignificant period under the conditions of 1937. Secondly, leniency in the form of early release for political prisoners was not practiced in the late 1930s. And, finally, if it were about “anti-Soviet” activities, then in the 1990s Andrei Yushchenko would certainly have received the status of a repressed person, however, as you know, he did not have this status.

Nevertheless, his son, Viktor Yushchenko, who has got used to the image of “the son of a prisoner of Nazi concentration camps,” is trying to try on the image of “the son of a prisoner of the GULAG”. Thus, according to Viktor Yushchenko, the media disseminated information that his father allegedly worked on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Viktor Yushchenko even contributed personal funds ($ 2,000) for the installation in Karelia of a monument to the Ukrainians who suffered in the Karelian camps. And Ukrainian television (TSN, 1 +1) reported in one of the newscasts that a book about political prisoners of Karelian camps was being republished in Karelia. And supposedly the name of Andrei Yushchenko will be included in the new edition.

However, the information given by Viktor Yushchenko that his father is a “victim of political repression” and the builder of the White Sea-Baltic Canal does not correspond to reality. The fact is that the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal was completed already in 1933, when Andrei Yushchenko was still attending the Khoruzhivskaya junior high school.

Nevertheless, Viktor Yushchenko could well have heard the story of his work on the construction of the canal from his father. However, if there was a channel, then it was not at all the White Sea-Baltic. So what channel could Andrey Yushchenko tell his son about? It could only be about those corrective labor to which Andrei Yushchenko was sentenced for committing a criminal offense. And he did not work at Belbaltlag in Karelia, but at Manychvodstroy in the Rostov region.

It is about Manychvodstroy that Andrei Yushchenko says in his autobiography (1945): "Manychvodstroy" I work until the fall of this year, and I enter the ranks of the red army "... Recall, however, that in the questionnaire (1946) and autobiography (1946) Yushchenko writes that from February to March 1939 he did not work on the construction of canals, but worked as “a teacher at the NSS (incomplete secondary school) "Rostov region. Vesolovskiy r. "... And this is another example of a blatant lie.

Most likely, the situation was as follows. After “having worked” on corrective labor for a year and a half at Manychvodstroy, Yushchenko was released (on parole or under an amnesty), but as a convict he was impaired in his rights. And, most likely, he was assigned to a settlement near the enterprise, where he had previously served corrective labor, that is, in the same Rostov region. This explains the fact that after his parole, Yushchenko does not return either to Baku, where he so recently struggled “for his financial situation,” or to Kharkov, or, finally, to his home in Khoruzhevka.

Therefore, in his autobiography (1945), Yushchenko, trying to assure the auditors that his criminal record has been cleared, points to Manychvodstroy not as a place of serving his sentence, but as a place of “work”. At the same time, he deliberately, purposefully shifts the dates of his stay in "Manychvodstroy" to a later date - the time after his release. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that manychvodstroy is not mentioned at all in his autobiographies (1946 and 1946a), where Yushchenko is silent about his previous convictions.

Yushchenko’s stay in the army is described in the same way in all documents. And this period does not pose a problem for researchers.

It is worth noting that Yushchenko is being drafted into the army, despite his conviction. This is due to the fact that the crime he committed did not belong to the category of serious ones. In addition, the fall of 1939 was a time of rapid growth in the size of the Red Army. The fighting on Khalkin-Gol had recently ended, the campaign against Western Ukraine and Western Belarus had ended, and a war with Finland was brewing. It is known that during this period even reserve men were called in, who had already served. And keeping a 20-year-old healthy guy "in civilian life", even if he had problems with the law, did not make sense. In addition, Yushchenko's conscript completed several courses at the university, which means he is literate. He is called up and immediately sent to the junior commanders' school.

In his autobiography (1945) Yushchenko reports: "First service is11 cossack cavalry division , kav 35 regiment de and graduated from the school of junior commanders "... In a questionnaire (1946), Yushchenko speaks of another connection - from December 1939 to June 1940 he - “Cadet of the regimental school.35 kav divizia » v "G. Pruzhani BSRR " .

In the fall of 1940, the 11th cavalry division was disbanded, and some units and subunits were merged into the newly formed 29th motorized division, where Andrei Yushchenko was also assigned to the post of foreman. In his autobiography (1945) it is indicated that he himself received the military rank of "sergeant major" later - only in 1941, on the eve of the war (it is worth noting that different ranks of Yushchenko are indicated in German military documents - "non-commissioned officer", "Oberleutnant / senior lieutenant "And" soldier "- see below).

Thus, the pre-war period of the biography of Andrei Yushchenko can be restored based on the questionnaires and autobiographies written by him. These documents contain contradictions, in some of them certain episodes are silent. But, despite this, the comparison and analysis of documents makes it possible to recreate an integral biography of Andrei Yushchenko.

WAR

The situation is much more complicated with his biography of the war period. The versions contained in different autobiographies, questionnaires and German records of a prisoner of war are so contradictory to each other, so do not coincide with each other, that one gets the impression that we are talking about different people, about different destinies, about different wars. Some of the documents, authored by Yushchenko himself, contain blatantly implausible statements that raise serious suspicions about his behavior in captivity.

It should be borne in mind that autobiographies and questionnaires that are in filtration files and written at the request of the security agencies are a special kind of documents. When writing or filling them out, a person was well aware that his future fate would largely depend on the data indicated by him. Therefore, it is understandable the desire of the person being tested to create a favorable impression of himself, to arouse sympathy, to shield himself, to keep silent about dubious episodes or actions, or at least to give them an acceptable interpretation. The questionnaires and autobiographies written for the security agencies are not memoirs, they are documents that contain versions (sometimes false) that, in the opinion of their author, allow avoiding serious consequences.

In the documents relating to the war period of Yushchenko's biography, three topics are of interest: 1) the circumstances under which Yushchenko was captured, 2) his stay in captivity, 3) the circumstances of his release from captivity.

Therefore, it is worth considering how these three topics are reflected in each document separately, and then contrasting them.

YUSHCHENKO GETS Captured

This is what the documents say about the time and circumstances of Yushchenko's capture.

Let us note right away that in his autobiography (1946a), dated September 7, 1946, Yushchenko is generally silent about his captivity. It says briefly: “Took part in the Patriotic War, in 1945 from Kr. Army was demobilized as a teacher "... NB! There is not a word more about the war in the document!

German prisoner of war card (1944) filled in by the Germans in the name of Yushchenko informs that he was taken prisoner 5.7.1941 years under Bialystok .

In his autobiography (1945) Yushchenko states: “ On June 28, our division behind Bilostok was defeated, Kom. Div. and Early. headquarters left in an unknown direction.On July 30, minya was taken prisoner in the Minsk region » .

In his autobiography (1946), Yushchenko gives other information: “28 worms our motorbike mayzhe got smashed i XI-41 rock me piranilo, I-1942 p. take me full » .

He says the same in the questionnaire (1946): "Buv (in captivity - A.) sI-1942 .. Having got to the river near the Column m. » .

So, in four documents, there are three different dates of captivity (July 5, 1941, July 30 (June?) 1941 and January 1942) and three Belarusian settlements, next to which this happened (Bialystok, Minsk, Stolbtsy).

An analysis of the hostilities on the Bialystok salient suggests that Yushchenko was captured in late June - early July 1941. The date of July 5, 1941 is indicated on the German card. In the questionnaire (1945), Yushchenko indicates the date of July 30, however, if we assume that Yushchenko has a mistake in the questionnaire, and in reality it is not about July, but about June, then June 30 fits well into the logic of real events.

After the war, when checking former prisoners of war, special attention was paid to the circumstances under which the soldier was captured. Injury or other force majeure circumstances that did not allow the fight to continue served as a "mitigating" circumstance in the eyes of the inspectors. The absence of indications of compelling circumstances could give rise to the suspicion that the person was not captured, and he himself surrendered or, even worse, went over to the side of the enemy.

Yushchenko in his autobiography (1945) says that his "Taken prisoner" without indicating that he was injured. German index cards also do not report any injuries. In the card (1944) in a separate column "special signs" it is indicated "does not have". If Yushchenko had any injuries, then the presence of scars or other injuries would most likely be noted on the registration card. Thus, there is every reason to believe that Yushchenko was captured without being wounded.

Talking about the first days of the war in his autobiography (1945), Yushchenko uses other explanations for his capture. He considers it necessary to declare the allegedly unsightly behavior of the division commander and chief of staff. Most likely, Yushchenko is precisely information about the flight ("Left in an unknown direction") the division commander and chief of staff regarded as a "mitigating" circumstance. But already in 1946, in the questionnaire (1946) and in his autobiography (1946), Yushchenko did not report the allegedly unworthy behavior of the commanders.

The autobiography (1946) and the questionnaire (1946) attract attention clearly inaccurate information that Yushchenko reports about the time and circumstances of the capture... Namely: he claims that he was captured only in January 1942, and before that - in November 1941, he was allegedly wounded near Slonim. It remains to be guessed about the reasons for Yushchenko's change of his previous testimony, but two most likely versions can be considered.

Yushchenko, trying to assure the inspectors that he did not surrender in the first days of the war, but fought for six months, counted on leniency and trust. Therefore, in the questionnaire (1946) and autobiography (1946), Yushchenko declares about the battles that he allegedly fought at that time and the injuries that he allegedly received at the same time. So, in a questionnaire (1946), he says: “ May I get hurt. XI-1941 p. M. Slonim", And his autobiography (1946) says:" XI-41 rock mene piranilo, I-1942 p. take me full". However, this statement by Yushchenko is obviously not true. The liquidation of the remnants of the Soviet troops surrounded in the summer in Western Belarus was completed by the Germans in early August 1941, and in November 1941, when Yushchenko allegedly “ piranilo"Near Slonim, German troops were already at Moscow.

It would seem that Yushchenko could declare to the inspectors that at that time he was partisan. At that time, a partisan movement was developing in Belarus, and most of the partisans were then Red Army servicemen who could not get out of the encirclement. But Yushchenko explicitly states in his questionnaire (1946) that did not take part in the partisan struggle and the underground movement... He most likely understood that it would be difficult, almost impossible for him to prove his participation in the partisan movement. He would have to name the partisan detachments, the names of the commanders, the places of deployment, and indicate the details of the combat operations. All this in 1946 was easy to verify, especially since the partisan movement was largely organized and coordinated by the state security agencies. And Yushchenko did not lie, posing as a partisan or an underground fighter.

This, however, did not prevent his son Viktor Yushchenko from stating in a TV interview on May 12, 2005: “I saw myself as blue in the Radianskoy army, which6 months wandering , for that, yak nimtsi on yogo zastavi crossed the cordon, through the Volinsky swamps, leadinga partisan pidpilnu robot » ... Yushchenko Jr., seeking to give a more reliable interpretation of his father's biography, only made matters worse. His statement about his father's wanderings for 6 months "through the Volinsky swamps" raised many more questions than answered.

Why did Andrei Yushchenko, who denies his involvement in the partisan and underground movement, suddenly go south to wander through the Volyn swamps for six months? Why did he not partisan in Belarus, but moved to Volhynia (where the formations of Ukrainian nationalists operated)? Why didn't he try to fight his way east to cross the front line and unite with his own? Finally, why didn't he try to make his way to his native Khoruzhevka using “partisan paths”, which was even easier to reach, since there was no need to cross the front line (since October 1941, Khoruzhevka was already in the German rear)? In addition, in 1941, Yushchenko's native Sumy region, there were 35 partisan detachments, including the famous detachment of S. Kovpak.

But these are, rather, rhetorical questions, to which it makes no sense to answer. Because it has been reliably established that Andrei Yushchenko was neither a partisan nor an underground fighter in the fall of 1941. And at that time he did not fight the Germans near Slonim either alone or as part of the Red Army. German documents indicate that already in August 1941, Yushchenko was in Saxony in the Stalag IVB camp in the city of Mühlberg an der Elbe.

It can be assumed that Andrei Yushchenko, assuring the security agencies after the war that he was in Belarus until January 1942 (fighting in the ranks of the Red Army), is trying to divert the attention of the inspectors from the place where he was in reality at that time and from those events in which he was really involved. With his inventions about his battles in the fall of 1941 in Belarus, he tries create a kind of alibi... And this version seems to be the most convincing, especially taking into account the information that we have about what happened to Yushchenko after he was taken prisoner at the very beginning of the war.

YUSHCHENKO IN CAP

From the moment Yushchenko was captured, the most confusing, most difficult period of his biography begins. All available documents contain different versions of the captivity, some of which look fantastic.

Autobiography (1945), according to which, we recall, Yushchenko was captured on July 30 (or June) 1941, is quite detailed:

“The first big camp is Mozovets Island in Poland. In germany 304 and 4B from where the mine is being taken (crossed out: "I'm going" - Auth.) To Meissen, Kamenny Kar'er to work. In the spring of 1942, minya was transported to the city of Leipzig to a farm plant. machines. In the autumn of this year, for preparing for the escape they are taken to the large Camp 4 B. From where they are taken to the penalty area Camp Stolp at the airport - prepares an earthen area. In the summer of 1943, I kill, they catch a mine and take me to the central punishment cell and the Gestapo for prisoners of war in Wolf, where, having made an unsuccessful escape, they catch a mine a kilometer from the camp, and I still sit. November 1943 they are driving to Nurerberg Lager 13, from where I leave, run away and fish in Lvov in December 1943. They are taken to the penalty area of ​​Lager 318 after spending 3 months, passing by to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Osin 1944 for banditry in the camps (beat the policemen) to take us to the Flesemburg concentration camp. On the way, we will bim 25 people. Minya fishing in Prague. I am bypassing my surname, putting me in jail in the city of Eger - Karsbad-Eger. Unmasked and taken to Buchenwald where I sit for one week. Minya was taken to the Flesemburg concentration camp, where the Americans were liberated on April 23 in 1945.

Autobiography (1946), dated November 31, 1946, according to which Yushchenko was captured in January 1942, reports:

“When I’m at the hospital, they’ll send me to work in Leipzig. They caught me and put me in the central isolation ward in the city of Wolf, knowing how to catch and zakryvayut prison in Nyurenberzka. I know I catch at Franzii. I know how to catch it and send it to the Auschwitz concentration camp. I know how to break the stigma on the lion's chest No. 11367. Here I know how to catch and ruin the other stigma. Send us to the concentration camp Phlosembourg, de 25 people (tsil wagon) know us well by the way, we can be caught and put in prison Prague - Carlsbad, Jaeger and Phlosemburg. In Flosemburzi I am waiting for the trial, after waiting for the trial (hanging) I know I will go to the zone of America. "

In the questionnaire (1946), in accordance with the indication of a different time of capture - January 1942 - Yushchenko reports: “Having spent time in poloni: in Concentration camps. Leipzig, Auschwitz, Flosemburg, Buchenwald ... In VI-1944 I killed "... In the period from June 1944 to January 1945, Yushchenko, in his words: "A rank-and-file in the Russian detachment at the American Army, m. Verdun"... January 1945 to March 1945: " Filtration camp of the NKVD in Meissen "

"Personal card" filled with germans April 30, 1943 addressed to Yushchenko in Stalag IVB: The personal number of Yushchenko is indicated - "117 654", which was assigned to him in Stalag IVB when he was taken prisoner. The nationality is marked - "Ukrainian". Military rank - "non-commissioned officer". It is noted that in the period from 12 to 28 February 1942 he earned 1.4 marks. In the column "employer" is - "204". It is indicated that he was sent to base camp on April 30, 1943.

"Registration card", completed in October 1943 in the name of Yushchenko in Stalag XIII D (Nuremberg): The personal number of prisoner of war Yushchenko is "117 654". Military rank - "Ober-leutnant / st (arshy) lieutenant". It is noted that he was delivered to the camp on October 23, 1943 from Stalag 5 Luft (Wolfen). (there is a stamp of Stalag 5 Luft on the map, and there is another date next to it - "October 29, 1943").

"Personal card" No. 11367 on POW camp letterhead Auschwitz filled out in the name of Yushchenko October 20, 1944: It is indicated that Yushchenko was taken prisoner on 5.7.1941, registered in Stalag IVB under No. 117 654. Military rank - "private". 2 convictions are indicated: “3 years and 6 months. imprisonment for political activity ”. Entered the camp on 2/24/1944. Left the camp - 10/20/1944 in Flossenburg.

So, the autobiography (1945), despite all its contradictions, is of particular value due to its detail. Attention is drawn to the listing of camps, which are known for their highest mortality.

"Mozovets Island in Poland"- the infamous "Stalag 324 Ostrov-Mazowiecki". This POW camp was established on the eve of the war in accordance with the order of the Chief of the Security Police and SD No. 8 dated June 17, 1941. In the camp, prisoners were sorted, communists, NKVD officers, political workers, Soviet activists, Jews, and other "enemies" and "suspicious" were identified. The "hostile elements" were sent to the SS camps, the rest to the POW camps. Despite the fact that the camp was not subordinate to the SS, but to the Wehrmacht, it was one of the most terrible in terms of mortality statistics. The camp was dominated by widespread hunger, thirst and disease. The peak of deaths fell on the first months of the war, that is, during the period when Andrei Yushchenko was there. During the period from June to December 1941, from 80 to 100 thousand Soviet prisoners of war passed through the camp, of which 41,592 people died in the camp.

Then, according to Yushchenko, he ends up in Germany, in the camps " 304 and 4B". Camp 304 is the equally famous Stalag IVH in Zeithain. The camp served as a central distribution camp for prisoners of war arriving in Military District IV. The camp was an area surrounded by barbed wire, there were no rooms for the prisoners, and the prisoners slept in the open air. Massive epidemics and famine claimed thousands of lives. From December 1941 to March 1942, Camp IVH was under quarantine due to the typhus epidemic. If before the beginning of the quarantine there were 10,677 prisoners in the camp, then after it was lifted in April 1942 there were only 3,729 of them left. During the quarantine there were no new prisoners in the camp. Soon Stalag IVH (Zeithain) became a subsidiary of Stalag IVB in neighboring Mühlberg an der Elbe. And this is the very camp " 4 B", Which Andrei Yushchenko reports in his autobiography (1945).

POW number 117 654, indicates that Yushchenko ended up in Stalag IVB (Mühlberg) in August 1941. However, the question arises - why was he not registered in Stalag IVH, where, according to him, he ended up earlier? Perhaps this is due to the "filial" relations of the two neighboring camps (as a result, Stalag IVH finally became a branch of Stalag IVB). This, in the end, could be connected with a certain confusion - the Germans were organizationally not ready for such a number of prisoners of war, and those sent to one camp could be redirected to a neighboring one. The question of the circumstances of the registration of the prisoner of war Yushchenko does not play a significant role, since his stay in Stalag IVB is beyond doubt.

When comparing documents, another question requires an answer - why in Yushchenko's autobiography (1946) and questionnaire (1946) is silent about Stalag 324 (Ostrow Mazowiecki) and Stalag IVB (Mühlberg)?

As already indicated, Yushchenko's invention about battles in the Red Army and being wounded at the end of 1941 in Western Belarus was most likely intended to hide the circumstances of his real biography in the period from July 1941 to January 1942. Namely at this time he was in Stalag 324 and Stalag IVB. That is, he, most likely, at this time, being in these camps (or in one of them), did something (or got into such a situation) that could very seriously harm him in the eyes of the inspectors and have the most serious consequences for him. ... And, creating an alibi for himself with stories about "battles in Belarus", Yushchenko tried to divert attention from the circumstances of his stay in Stalags 324 and IVB. It can be assumed what circumstances Yushchenko could conceal in 1946. There can be several explanations.

For example, after Yushchenko arrived at Stalag IVB and was registered there, he could simply ... be released. In accordance with the order of the Quartermaster General of the High Command of the German Ground Forces No. 11/4590 of July 25, 1941, Soviet prisoners of war were released from captivity from among the Ukrainians, Soviet Germans, Balts, and others. On July 27, 1941, the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, General Halder, writes in his diary: "Ukrainians and natives of the Baltic states will be released from captivity." Until November 1941 alone, the Germans released 318,770 people, of which 277,761 were Ukrainians. Interestingly, in Yushchenko's autobiography (1945), talking about what happened to him after Stalag IVB, before writing “ Minya is being taken to Meissen", First writes" I'm going to Meissen". And only then crosses out the unusual for a prisoner of war " i'm going". Thus, Yushchenko could well have been one of those Ukrainians who were freed by the Germans.

Moreover, the Germans hardly viewed Sergeant Major Yushchenko as a threat. On the contrary, given the biography of Yushchenko, they most likely sought to persuade him to cooperate:

Yushchenko is convicted, which means he is "offended by the Soviet regime." There is no doubt that the Germans knew about his convictions. In the Auschwitz card (1944), clearly from the words of Yushchenko himself, two of his convictions with a total term of 3.5 years are indicated. for political activity;

Yushchenko is a trained foreman, not a recruit or militia;

Yushchenko is literate, he has several courses at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute under his belt, this also distinguishes him from the general mass of captured soldiers;

Yushchenko is an ideological Ukrainian (as all members of his family now testify to).

If this was the case and the Germans released Yushchenko at the end of the summer - beginning of the fall of 1941, then he most likely understood that this fact could give rise to suspicions among those checking in with the Germans. And this explains why in 1946 (neither in his questionnaire, nor in his autobiographies) Yushchenko does not indicate his first two camps, thereby freeing himself from the need to answer the question of how he got out of there.

There is also a second explanation. During this period, the Germans actively recruited anti-Soviet citizens to serve in police and auxiliary formations and structures, including prisoners who took the path of betrayal. Among such institutions, replenished by traitors, was the so-called "camp police".

Even before the start of the war, on June 16, 1941, the German command (OKW) issued an order to the OKW, which ordered to select from among Soviet prisoners of war those with whom it was possible to cooperate. This order also dealt with the creation of a "camp police". The regulation on the "camp police" was approved on September 8, 1941. It said: "From trustworthy Soviet prisoners of war, it is necessary to create a police force in the camps and large work teams, which will be used by the commandant to establish order and maintain discipline."

When forming the "camp police" by the Germans, the national factor was taken into account. So, according to the memoirs of the former prisoner of war I. Ya. Getman, "In the Ostrov-Mazovetsky camp(the same one that Andrey Yushchenko got into! - Auth.) only Ukrainians were policemen. "The first call to the prisoners was:" Who is Ukrainian, go to the service of the Germans! " .

The camp police officers did not formally cease to remain prisoners, but they were in a privileged position. They had the best rations, were well dressed, and lived in separate rooms. Their number ranged from two to three dozen per 500-1000 people to several hundred in a large camp. The "policemen" not only maintained camp discipline, but also identified among the prisoners communists, commissars, Jews - all "undesirable elements".

The "policemen" carried out death sentences. So, in the "Order of the OKW headquarters on the procedure for carrying out the death sentence of Soviet prisoners of war" of December 29, 1941, it was said: for this they must receive some kind of reward (money, products, etc.). There can be no question of sentencing by German servicemen. "

Many "camp policemen" continued their careers in the camps over the years. The Germans practiced moving the "policemen" who showed themselves in the service from one camp to another. Some of the "policemen" continued to serve in the armed and police forces of Germany. In addition to the "camp policemen", there was a layer of "sexots" in the camp - secret informants from among the prisoners of war who, for a fee or privileges, informed the camp administration about the behavior of the prisoners.

There is every reason to believe that Andrei Yushchenko could have been one of those who agreed to such cooperation with the camp administration:

1) "Camp police" in the same Stalag 324 (Ostrov-Mazovetsky) consisted only of Ukrainians;

2) Yushchenko, who reported his pre-war convictions for alleged political activity, is in the eyes of the Germans an ideal object for attracting to cooperation;

3) Yushchenko in his autobiography (1946) and questionnaire (1946) tries to hide from the state security authorities his stay in 1941 in Stalag 324 and Stalag IV.

The latter suggests that it was in these camps that Yushchenko could have shown himself especially "actively".

1942 YEAR

In his autobiography (1945), speaking about what he did after he ended up in Stalag IVB, Yushchenko says that he is “being taken” (or he is “going”) to the city of Meissen to a stone quarry. In the "Personal card" Stalag IVB (1943) it is noted that Yushchenko received 1.4 marks for some work in the period from 11 to 28 February 1942. The mysterious "204" is indicated as the employer. Then his " transported to the city of Leipzig to the plant with-households. machines».

An autobiography (1946) states that he is "sent to work in Leipzig." Leipzig is also mentioned in the questionnaire (1946).

It should be noted that there was no special "camp" in Leipzig. Leipzig is a large industrial center in Saxony, around which there were several large POW camps and their branches. Usually teams of prisoners of war were sent from nearby camps to German factories. The plant, as a rule, was not a "camp", but only a place of labor for prisoners of war. Sometimes the prisoners not only worked at the enterprise, but also lived there in special rooms, continuing to be listed in their camp. At the same time, together with the prisoners of war workers, employees of the "camp police" were sent to the enterprises, whose task was to keep order.

In the fall of 1942, Yushchenko (possibly together with a team of prisoners of war) was recalled from the factory to the Stalag IVB base camp. Yushchenko himself claims that "For preparation for escape they are taken to the large Camp 4 B from where they are taken to the penalty area. Camp Stolp at the aerodrome - preparing an earthen area"... The fact is that Meissen, Leipzig, and Stolpen (for Yushchenko - Stolp) - all these are the settlements of Saxony in the immediate vicinity of Stalag IVB (Mühlberg). Most likely, there was a routine transfer of prisoners of war from one place to another within the responsibility of one camp or between its branches. This is confirmed by the fact that in the German records of Yushchenko, until the spring of 1943, Stalag IVB was listed as a prisoner of war.

“Preparations for an escape” also hardly took place, since in the same German documents there is no mention of any escape of Yushchenko during this period. Perhaps speaking of the "escape" and the "penalty" character of a certain " Stolp camps", Yushchenko tried to make himself heroic in the eyes of the state security. Actually, the "normal" conditions in Stalag IVB put the prisoners on the brink of survival. Former prisoner of this camp Boris Tcherezov recalled (we are talking about the summer and autumn of 1942 - the time when Andrei Yushchenko was there): “ Hunger. Meals: one big and one small boiled potatoes, it was so divided. Brought in buckets for several people. Green spinach or brown potato soup ("Pork"). Bread - half a kilogram loaf for 8 people. The bread is divided on a match scale, and then one is unscrewed and shouted: "To whom?" If a crust hits, this is happiness» .

It is noteworthy that in the autobiography (1946) and the questionnaire (1946) Meissen and Stolpen are not mentioned at all. Of the entire period associated with Yushchenko's stay in Stalag IVB, he only mentions Leipzig, where he stayed for several months. At the same time, Stalag himself, in which Yushchenko was listed for almost two years, is not even named.

The most likely explanation for this "forgetfulness" after the war may be Yushchenko's desire not to draw the attention of the security forces to Stalag IVB. Which looks quite logical if he was a "policeman" in this camp. The fear that, upon additional verification, former prisoners might identify him, explains Yushchenko's silence and lies about this period of his biography.

According to the recollections of the prisoners, the "policemen" of Stalag IVB were particularly cruel. For example, a former prisoner of this camp Boris Tcherezov recalled: “ On the territory of the camppolicemen like dogs , hit for a reason and for no reason,I've never seen anyone like that (highlighted Auth.)» .

1943 YEAR

In 1943, when there was a turning point in the war, the situation in the POW camps underwent serious changes. First, the influx of new prisoners has decreased. Secondly, the prisoners themselves have changed. If at the beginning of the war, a significant part of them were demoralized, suppressed by the defeats suffered by the Red Army at the beginning of the war, then in 1943 those who knew well about the victories at Stalingrad and Kursk, as well as those who were directly involved in these battles, were captured. Prisoners of war from among those who were taken prisoner at the beginning of the war also received information about the victories of the Red Army. As Peter Paliy recalled, captured back in 1941: “ We knew about the complete defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad and the death of Paulus's army, we knew that in fact now the Germans switched to a defensive strategy and were retreating along the entire front line under the ever-increasing onslaught of the Red Army».

All this led to the fact that scattered acts of protest in the camps of Soviet prisoners of war began to turn into organized resistance. Large underground organizations arose, which sometimes included representatives of different camps, for example, "Brotherly Cooperation of Prisoners of War".

The Germans took these changes into account and, whenever possible, tried not to mix the "new" prisoners with the "old" ones. The same P. Paliy recalled that “ the new prisoners have completely different moods, it is undesirable for the Germans to mix them with us, for many understandable reasons". In addition, the Germans strengthened their control over the mood and behavior of prisoners of war, introducing into their ranks agents from among the prisoners of war who took the path of betrayal. In the POW camps, this was done by the Abwehr, in the concentration camps - by the Gestapo. The same "Fraternal Cooperation" was liquidated by the Germans after the introduction of an agent provocateur from among the traitors.

In 1943, changes took place in the fate of Andrei Yushchenko - he left Stalag IVB. In his autobiography (1945) Yushchenko says: “ In the summer of 1943, I kill, they catch a mine and take it to the central punishment cell and the Gestapo for prisoners of war in Wolf, where, having made an unsuccessful escape, they catch a mine a kilometer from the camp, I still sit". In his autobiography (1946) it is said about this as follows: “ I was tinkling I was caught I was put in the central isolation ward in Wolf».

The German documents at our disposal do not contain data on any escapes during this period of Yushchenko, so the version of the escape as the reason for the camp change seems unlikely. In addition, in the "prisoner of war registration card" filled in 1943 in Stalag XIIID, it is indicated that in October 1943 Yushchenko was not in " the central punishment cell and the Gestapo ("isolation ward") in Wolf”, And in Stalag 5 Luft Wolfen.

Yushchenko himself explains almost all of his movements from camp to camp by another "escape" (in his autobiographies and the questionnaire, he speaks of seven escapes from 1941 to 1945). One gets the impression that Yushchenko tried to explain the obvious illogicality and strangeness of his movements between the camps, which differed in their specifics, with the versions of “escapes” and “punishments”.

So, Stalag 5 Luft, where Yushchenko was transferred, was a camp for prisoners from the air force. It is noteworthy that Yushchenko, who had nothing to do with the Air Force, ended up in a camp for pilot officers. Another notable feature is the rank of "senior lieutenant", under which he is listed in Stalag 5 Luft. Let us remind you that in the Red Army Yushchenko was a “sergeant major”, and it was with this rank that he was taken prisoner. This camp was not some kind of "penalty" camp, on the contrary - the prisoners worked in factories together with German workers. It also testifies against Yushchenko's assertion that in Wolfen he was allegedly in a "prison and isolation ward" for his escape.

In Stalag 5 Luft one of the branches of the underground organization "Brotherly Cooperation of Prisoners of War" operated. And precisely at the end of 1943, that is, during Yushchenko's stay in this camp, one of the first major failures of the underground organization took place there, which subsequently became the reason for its liquidation by the German counterintelligence and the Gestapo. On the denunciation of the agent provocateur, the program documents of the underground organization were seized from some of the prisoners of war, then the entire camp was searched and some of its members were detained. As a result, the organization "Fraternal Cooperation of Prisoners of War" was defeated, and the leaders were shot in Dachau.

It cannot be said unequivocally that it was Yushchenko who was involved in the story of the failure of Brotherhood. But Yushchenko's strange stay coincides in time with this failure. And the obvious inaccuracy of the information presented by Yushchenko leads to certain reflections.

On October 29, 1943, Yushchenko was transferred to another POW camp. Yushchenko himself in his autobiography (1946) says about “ Nuremberg prison”, Meanwhile, German documents clearly indicate that“ senior lieutenant ”Yushchenko was transferred from Stalag 5 Luft (Wolfen) to Stalag XIIID (Nuremberg). This camp was also unusual. Prisoners of particular interest to the Germans were held there. A former prisoner of the camp, chemist Igor Vlodavets, recalling the history of his captivity, wrote: "during the retreat, I was captured by the Germans ... They took me for an important bird, sent to ... Stalag XIIID." Yushchenko did not stay in this camp for a long time and was soon transferred to another camp.

In his autobiography (1945), Yushchenko says that in Nuremberg he escapes (another), and in December 1943 he is caught in Lvov. This statement looks implausible: to get from Bavaria to Ukraine, it was necessary to cross not only Germany, but also Poland and / or Czechoslovakia, which in the conditions of 1943 was almost impossible for an escaped prisoner of war without documents.

Further Yushchenko reports that after being caught in December 1943 in Lviv his " taken into the penalty area Lager 318", Where he then stays for three months. This statement is of particular interest. First, "Camp 318 »- Stalag VIIIF (318) more summer 1943 was reorganized, and a camp was created on its basis 344 (Stalag VIIIE). Secondly, and this is the main thing, it is known that the so-called “Zeppelin penalty camp” operated under the name “penalty camp 318”. "Enterprise" Zeppelin "" - a reconnaissance and sabotage agency, created in 1942 by the General Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA) of Germany for operations against the USSR. "Zeppelin" was involved in sending trained agents to the Soviet rear to collect information about the political situation in the country, conduct anti-Soviet and nationalist propaganda, organize an insurrectionary movement, and carry out terrorist attacks against the highest party, Soviet and military leadership. The selection and recruitment of agents was carried out mainly in prisoner-of-war camps. "Zeppelin" was subordinated to the VI management of the RSHA as a special unit and acted in close contact with the Abwehr and the command of the Wehrmacht, as well as with the imperial ministry for the occupied eastern regions.

According to Sergei Chuev, “the Zeppelin penalty camp, hiding under the guise of a“ Stalag 318 branch ”, was not limited to training saboteurs and radio operators. So, “A special platoon trained counterintelligence agents, overseers and police officers. This category of agents was dressed up in civilian clothes and sent to the factories where the shipbuilders worked. January 1944(that is, when Andrei Yushchenko, in his own words, was in "camp 318" - Auth.) the special platoon was reorganized and became known as "Sonderkommando-108" or "108th working battalion". In total, it consisted of 150 people, divided into 4 departments: 1st and 2nd trained police officers and overseers, 4th - counterintelligence agents, 3rd - agents for returning to the Zeppelin authorities " .

In his autobiography (1946), Yushchenko does not mention a word "penalty camp 318", in which, judging by his autobiography (1945), he spent "three months". At the same time, a week-long stay in " Nuremberg prison”(Stalag XIIID) is reflected in his autobiography (1946). If in 1945 Yushchenko claims that he fled from Nuremberg to Lvov, then in 1946 he claims that he fled from Nuremberg in a completely different direction - to France. Taking into account the fact that in German documents there is no indication of the fact of the next "escape" of Yushchenko during this period, it should be admitted that the information about the escape (escapes) does not correspond to reality.

Taking into account the foregoing, it can be assumed that in 1943 Yushchenko may have already been an agent of "Zeppelin" or the Abwehr, engaged in counterintelligence among Soviet prisoners of war. Such agents-provocateurs from among the prisoners of war (or under the guise of such) infiltrated the camps to collect information, spy, fight the underground, identify both "suspicious persons" (commissars, Jews, NKVD officers, etc.) and those who could would become a promising target for recruitment. Since the agents did not formally cease to be listed as prisoners of war, the very introduction of them into another camp did not present much difficulty. As a "legend" the agent could well use the facts of his own biography, sometimes with minor changes. For example, for the introduction into the environment of captured officers, an agent could be “assigned” a rank that he did not have in reality. This can explain the unexpected "promotion" of Sergeant Major Yushchenko to "senior lieutenant" during his stay in Stalag 5 Luft (Wolfen) and Stalag XIIID (Nuremberg).

Agents and "camp police" were rewarded for their work. In addition to financial support, they were sometimes even awarded with German awards. So, for example, in Dulag 126 "camp policeman" was awarded the Iron Cross of the II degree. Agents and camp police officers were sometimes given short leave as incentives.

It is the vacation “home” that can explain Yushchenko’s stay in Lviv in December 1943. And, most likely, it is the fear that witnesses may report that Yushchenko was not a fugitive in Lviv, but was there on vacation, that makes him keep silent about Lvov in his autobiography (1946).

Taking into account the fact that the camp underground often had its own people among the staff of the chancellery and even in the "camp police", the introduction of an agent provocateur was hedged with the necessary bureaucratic formalities, in particular - all the necessary set of documents was entered on the agent, as well as on any other prisoner of war.

In his autobiography (1945), Yushchenko reports that after a three-month stay in the "camp 318" his " taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp". The German registration card indicates that he is in Auschwitz (Auschwitz) from February 24 to October 20, 1944.

However, the "Auschwitz concentration camp" and the "Auschwitz POW camp" should be distinguished. Auschwitz was a whole camp complex, which included several camps. The German registration card clearly shows that Yushchenko was not in a concentration camp ( Konzentrationslager Auschwitz), namely in the POW camp ( Kriegsgefangenenlager Auschwitz) in the rank of "private". The card also contains Yushchenko's registration number - 11367. In his autobiography (1946), he says that in Auschwitz he is given a new stamp with this same number. Considering the difference between a concentration camp and a prisoner of war camp, the answer to the question asked by Ukrainian researchers becomes clear: why does Yushchenko, who entered Auschwitz at the beginning of 1944, have such a “small” number? Most likely, the fact is that each camp in Auschwitz had its own registration of prisoners and prisoners with its own numbering system, and Yushchenko received his "little" number in the Auschwitz prisoner of war camp.

In the "prisoner of war camp Auschwitz" there was another of the "Zeppelin" camps, where agents recruited from among the prisoners of war were trained and tested, who were supposed to be thrown into the Soviet rear. The training of agents in this camp was massive, and the Germans could not ensure proper control over their agents. As a result, agents - graduates of the Auschwitz camp often went over to the Soviet side. Such a case, for example, occurred in January 1943 in the “Zeppelin Special Command under the Operational Group D”, when during the retreat of the Germans from the Caucasus, out of 150 agents - graduates of the Auschwitz camp, a significant part fled along the way. Therefore, the Germans had to undertake additional counterintelligence efforts in order to identify those "cadets" from among the recruited agents who aroused suspicion. For this purpose, the introduction of counterintelligence agents to the "cadets" was often practiced. Yushchenko spent almost eight months in the "Auschwitz POW camp" - until October 1944.

In his autobiography (1945), he reports that from Auschwitz he was sent as part of a group of 300 people to Flossenburg as punishment for “ banditry (beatings of policemen) "... The story about the "beatings of the policemen" may contain an unwitting hint of real events. The fact is that on October 7, 1944 in Auschwitz there was a riot of one of the Sonderkommandos, consisting of Jewish prisoners. According to a researcher at the Ukrainian Center for the Study of the History of the Holocaust, Professor Ster Elisavetsky, according to one version, there was a clash between the "Sonderkommando", consisting of Polish Jews, with the guards, during which several Nazis were killed, but none of the group of rebellious prisoners survived. According to another version, the uprising was raised by the "Sonderkommando", which consisted of Greek Jews. The rebels killed two SS men and tried to get out of the camp, but the camp staff quickly dealt with them. The number of revolted Jews is also named - 451 people, most of them were killed during the battle, the rest (about 200 people) were publicly executed.

If we assume that Yushchenko was really involved in these events, then, rather, he was not among the rebels, but among those who suppressed this uprising. It was quite logical for the camp administration to involve in the suppression of the riot, first of all, the units deployed in the immediate vicinity. And it is unlikely that the "cadets" of the agent training camp located in Auschwitz itself were not involved in this operation.

Shortly after this riot, the Germans began dismantling the concentration camp equipment and the evacuation of the Auschwitz camps, which ended in January 1945. The team in which Yushchenko was, on October 20, 1944, one of the first sent from the Auschwitz prisoner of war camp to the Flossenburg camp. In his autobiography (1945), he writes: “On the way, we will bim 25 people. Catching a mine in Prague, I pass my surname, planting in a prison in Eger - Karsbad-Eger. Unmasked and taken to Buchenwald where I sit for one week. Take Minya to the Flesemburg concentration camp ".

In his autobiography (1946), Yushchenko describes these events as follows: "Send us to the concentration camp Phlosembourg, de 25 cholovzh (cilium wagon) we know how to duck us and put us in prison Prague - Carlsbad, Jaeger i Phlosembourg".

In general, the versions coincide, the only difference is that the first contains an interesting detail about the change of surname and Buchenwald is indicated, who is not mentioned in his autobiography (1946). In the questionnaire (1946), Buchenwald is also listed among the four places where Yushchenko, according to him, was in captivity.

The version that the prisoner of war, who escaped, was caught, exposed and sent to the camp at his destination, seems unlikely. The escape of a prisoner of war is one of the gravest violations. As the former prisoner of war P. Paliy recalled, “the escape of a Soviet serviceman from the internment camps usually ends with his death” (what could have expected for his numerous “escapes” of Yushchenko, if they really were ?!). At Auschwitz, ten other prisoners were executed as punishment for the escape of one prisoner. And, for example, in the same Flossenburg, on the way to which Yushchenko allegedly fled, for try escaping, Major General Ivan Shepetov, Hero of the Soviet Union, was executed.

If Yushchenko was caught as an escaped prisoner of war, then most likely he would not have been taken to prisons and camps in the Czech Republic and Germany for a month and a half, but would have been executed immediately after being caught or in a nearby camp. However, if we assume that Yushchenko was an unspoken employee of the German counterintelligence service or a “camp policeman” who lagged behind the echelon, then after being detained and checked, he could well have been sent to his destination.

In this regard, mentions of the city of Jaeger, as well as of Buchenwald, where he visited on the way to Flussenburg, are also noteworthy. In the fall of 1944, one of the special camps for training Zeppelin agents was transferred to the city of Jaeger (Bohemia), and one of the Zeppelin prefabricated camps was in Buchenwald, mentioned by Yushchenko in his autobiography (1945).

Yushchenko arrives in Flossenburg on December 1, 1944. Flossenburg was a very strict regime camp. At the beginning of the war, a "Russian sector" was created in the camp, where Soviet prisoners of war were sent. It is interesting that the first batch of prisoners arrived in 1941 from Stalag IVB (Mühlberg), where Andrei Yushchenko was then. In 1941, the "Russian sector" was liquidated (also due to the high mortality rate of Soviet prisoners of war, who were mainly employed in granite quarries). The remaining Soviet prisoners were assigned to other camps.

During the war, "political criminals" and especially important prisoners fell into the camp. For example, at one time Lieutenant General Dmitry Karbyshev was a prisoner of the camp, in 1943 in Flossenburg Major General of Aviation Grigory Tkhor and the aforementioned Major General Ivan Shepetov were executed. And during Yushchenko's stay in the camp, such important prisoners as the former chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, and the leader of the Slovak national uprising, General Golian, were held and executed there.

In his autobiography (1945) Yushchenko, without giving any details about his stay in Flossenburg, reports that April 23, 1945 year was liberated by American troops.

Autobiography (1946) contains a different version. In accordance with it, Yushchenko is awaiting a verdict in Flossenburg - “ having waited for the trial (hanging), I know and will go to the zone of America". And further informs that in January (!) 1945 he " goes to his side". This version does not stand up to criticism. First, the Germans, having sentenced Yushchenko to death, are unlikely to postpone the execution of the sentence. For example, the Germans hanged the same Canaris in Flossenburg a few hours after the sentencing. And secondly, in January 1945, Yushchenko could not get to his side from the "zone of America", since the Soviet and American troops met only on April 25, 1945.

In February 2007, during President Yushchenko’s visit to Germany, specialists from the Flossenburg memorial prepared, on the basis of the documents they had, a certificate for journalists about Andrei Yushchenko’s stay in the camp. In it, in particular, it is reported that “ Yushchenko has been in Flossenburg during the last war months. He manages to avoid the deadly mining of granite in the quarry. As a qualified mechanic, he works on the assembly of aircraft. Messerschmitt ". This information also does not in any way agree with Yushchenko's words about the death sentence, to which he was allegedly sentenced.

As an explanation for the contradictions in Yushchenko's autobiographies, it can be assumed that in Flossenburg he continues to cooperate with the Germans as an embedded agent provocateur, or a “camp policeman”. And this is precisely why Yushchenko in his autobiography (1946) "shortens" his five-month stay in Flossenburg to one month. He seems to be creating an "alibi", trying to assure that he allegedly had nothing to do with the events that took place in the camp since January 1945.

END OF THE CAP. EXAMINATION

Autobiography (1945) contains an indication of the exact date of the end of Yushchenko's stay in the camp - “ 1945, April 23 liberated by the Americans". In his autobiography (1946), Yushchenko says that he left the camp in January 1945, having escaped. In the questionnaire (1946) Yushchenko reported the third date - “ in VI-1944 p. I ran away". The discrepancy in the dates of release from captivity gives rise to different versions in the description of what Yushchenko was doing right after the camp.

In a questionnaire (1946), Yushchenko reports that after escaping from the camp (in the questionnaire, Buchenwald is indicated as the last camp) in the period from June 1944 to January 1945, he - “ Rows in the Russian detachment at the American army m. Verdun". The version seems to be frankly false - both because of the unlikely likelihood of such a development of events, and because it does not correspond to the real events of World War II.

Firstly, escaping from a camp in Germany in June 1944, Yushchenko should have moved eastward to meet the Red Army, which was closer. Instead, for some reason, he allegedly goes west, quickly makes his way through Germany and France (!), Deceiving the Gestapo, as well as the German and French police, and then crosses the front line. And all this in a very short period of time - both the escape and the enrollment in the "Russian detachment under the American Army" allegedly take place, according to Yushchenko, in June 1944.

Secondly, in June 1944, the Allies continued to fight in Normandy, trying to break out of the occupied bridgeheads into the operational space. The city of Verdun, where, as Yushchenko assures in a questionnaire (1946), he fought in the American army since June, was taken by the Americans only on September 1, 1944. Interestingly, the city was taken by the same 3rd Army, whose soldiers then liberated the Flossenburg camp in April 1945.

And, finally, according to the questionnaire (1946) Yushchenko from the "Russian detachment under the American army" in January 1945 falls into the " NKVD filter camp m. Meissen "", Where it is checked until March. But Soviet and American troops met only on April 25, 1945 on the Elbe, and the city of Meissen was occupied by Soviet troops only on May 7 during the Prague operation.

However, it should be noted that in September 1944, the first Soviet citizens liberated by the allies in Western Europe arrived from France and Great Britain. But until the meeting of Soviet and American troops on the Elbe, the repatriates returned by sea through Odessa and Murmansk, and it was there that they passed the filtration check. And if the Americans had handed Yushchenko over to the Soviet authorities in January 1945, then he, like the others, would have been sent by sea to one of the Soviet ports, and he would have been tested on the territory of the USSR, and not in Germany.

Since the autobiography (1946), as well as the questionnaire (1946), contains an indication that Yushchenko had already in January 1945 moved from the territory occupied by the Americans to the location of Soviet troops in Germany, where he allegedly subsequently underwent a check, it is safe to claim that this document also presents a false version of events.

Thus, the version of his autobiography (1945) is more true, according to which the captivity for Yushchenko ended on April 23, 1945 after the liberation of Flossenburg by American troops, after which he was handed over to Soviet representatives.

The inspection of former Soviet servicemen was carried out by the bodies of the Main Directorate of Military Counterintelligence "Smersh" in several stages. The primary inspection took place in the army collection and transit (SPP) and front-line inspection and filtration points (PFP). This stage lasted 5-10 days. After that, the former prisoners ended up in the front-line verification and filtration camps (PFL), where the verification was completed within one and a half to two months. Those who passed the check were sent to military units or to workers' battalions, some were demobilized for health reasons. Those in relation to whom there were serious suspicions that they served in the German army, SS, police, in the formations of collaborationists or collaborated with the German special services, were sent to the special camps of the NKVD. Some of the exposed traitors were given the opportunity to soften their guilt: they were recruited by the Soviet counterintelligence and collaborated with it as identification agents, identifying accomplices of the enemy they knew among former prisoners undergoing filtration.

In his autobiography (1945), Yushchenko reports that after the filtration camp he worked in the city of Steinau, where he was engaged in dismantling and preparing for the evacuation of German factories to the USSR. And further: “ After finishing the dismantling, I received permission to go home to which I attach a certificate».

In his autobiography (1946a), in which there is no indication at all of being in captivity, Yushchenko says that “ in 1945 from Kr. Army was demobilized as a teacher”, And since August 1945 he worked as a teacher in the Ukrainian SSR.

And in his autobiography (1946) and a questionnaire (1946), Yushchenko says that he was tested in the NKVD camp. And this gives grounds to assume that certain suspicions arose with regard to Yushchenko even then. From the camp he is first sent to the city of Steinau, where he allegedly works. clerk at the military commandant's office, and then engaged in the dismantling of German factories (exported to the USSR as reparations).

The autobiography (1946) and the questionnaire (1946) do not contain information about the basis on which he was already in August 1945 ended up at home.

The situation when Yushchenko finds himself in his homeland already in August 1945 seems strange. He could not already at that time be demobilized from the army or the workers' battalion, either by age or as a teacher. The fact is that the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces on the demobilization of "teachers" was signed only on September 25, 1945, and the Decree on the demobilization of servicemen born in 1919 was signed only on March 20, 1946.

A possible explanation is the story told in the article "Prisoner No. 11367" prepared by the election headquarters of Viktor Yushchenko. From the article, prepared, among other things, on the basis of the stories of Andrei Yushchenko's family members, it follows that in 1945 he did not receive permission to return to his homeland after the dismantling of the German plant and was not demobilized as a "teacher": “... the train on which Andrey was traveling had to pass through Ukraine without stopping - it went to Siberia, where the German plant was taken out. Andrey was also sent there.(Yushchenko - Auth.)… It is very possible that he would again be a prisoner in the camps of the NKVD(this was hardly possible only due to the fact of the physical escort of the train with equipment - Auth.). Andrey decided on the last escape in his life. Forty kilometers before his native Khoruzhevka, he jumped off the train and went to the village» .

Judging by the documents, upon returning to his homeland, Yushchenko in August 1945 went to work as a history and geography teacher at a school in the village of Vilshany, Sumy region. In January 1946, he moved to another place - to the village of Kozelne, where he got a job as the director of a rural school. There he also did not stay for a long time and already in August 1946 went to Western Ukraine - to Stanislavskaya (now Ivano-Frankovskaya) region in the village of Bolshaya Kamenka. But already in the next year, 1947, Yushchenko left this school as well.

Thus, despite the contradictory testimony of Yushchenko about the circumstances of his inspection by the state security authorities, the following version can be assumed.

Yushchenko passed a filtration check during the spring and summer of 1945. And even then, certain suspicions arose in relation to him, as evidenced by the fact that Yushchenko was in the NKVD camp, and not in the front-line test camp. " Working as a clerk at the Steinau military commandant's office", Yushchenko had access to documents and forms of documents. And, probably, he could somehow get the forms or forge the necessary documents, in particular, a certificate of demobilization ("permission to go home"). Upon Yushchenko's arrival in the USSR, apparently, it was supposed to complete the verification of the circumstances of his stay in captivity. But Yushchenko escaped.

Having on hand forged documents (including “ permission to go home”), He got a job at a rural school. It was then, on August 17, 1945, that Yushchenko, at the request of the state security organs, wrote his autobiography (1945), to which he attached the very documents from Steinau (“ permission to go home"). Yushchenko almost immediately becomes the object of close scrutiny by the security forces. They summon him, begin to take an interest in the circumstances of his stay in captivity and return to his homeland. Yushchenko, most likely, was not sure that he would be able to pass a new test, and a month later he urgently moved to another place. Urgency is also indicated by the fact that Yushchenko's teacher suddenly leaves school in the middle of the school year. In January 1946 he moved to another village of the same Sumy region, but he did not stay there for a long time either. Probably, the security organs were interested in him there too. As if covering up his tracks, Yushchenko moved to another region - to Western Ukraine. In order to avoid the attention of local security agencies, Yushchenko, in his autobiography (1946a), completed on September 7, 1946, when he was hired, does not say a word about the fact that he was in captivity. There is also no indication of a pre-war conviction. The autobiography (1946a) says that he studied at the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute and in 1939, from the third year, was drafted into the army. And he was allegedly demobilized from the army " as a teacher" in 1945.

However, Yushchenko's hopes that he would be able to escape the scrutiny of the security forces did not materialize. This autobiography attracted the attention of counterintelligence officers - in the filtration case there is a handwritten copy of this document, certified by a state security officer. It is possible that it was handed over to the authorities by some vigilant personnel officer from the department of public education, who drew attention to the contradictory nature of the document - according to this autobiography, Yushchenko was drafted into the army as a student, and was demobilized as a “teacher”. This gave rise to a well-founded suspicion that the author of the autobiography was an impostor who, having neither education nor pedagogical experience, was fraudulently holding the post of headmaster. And the state security agencies again took up Yushchenko.

Already on October 31, 1946, Yushchenko answered a questionnaire (1946), in which he had to answer in detail questions regarding his biography. In the questionnaire, Yushchenko says that he was in captivity from January 1942 to June 1944. That is, it actually hides half a year of captivity at the beginning of the war and almost a whole year at the end. (Above, we pointed out that the most logical explanation for this may be the desire to hide the real facts of cooperation with the Germans during this period.) NKVD camp in Meissen ". Obviously, this version interested the state security bodies even more, and a month later, on November 31, 1946, Yushchenko was again forced to write his autobiography. This time, Yushchenko points out that in 1939 he graduated from the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute, after which he works as a teacher in the Rostov region, right up to being drafted into the army. The time spent in captivity in captivity - from January 1941 to January 1945. Some camps are not indicated in his autobiography, in particular, Stalag IVB and "camp 318", where he spent about 2 years in total. It can be assumed that Yushchenko tried not to indicate exactly those camps, the former prisoners and staff of which could identify him as a traitor.

However, Yushchenko failed to dispel suspicions about him. And after the activity of counterintelligence officers intensified, he again changed his place of work. In November 1947, Yushchenko suddenly quit the Kamensk school, left the Carpathian region and moved to the Sumy region.

It is difficult to understand what Yushchenko was counting on when he described his biography in a new way each time. Perhaps he hoped that all the versions he wrote for various regional departments of state security would never end up together, and he would be able to convince the counterintelligence officers of his innocence.

Perhaps, often moving from place to place, he hoped that he could get lost, and as a result, the state security authorities would lose sight of him.

This, however, did not happen. In relation to Yushchenko, operational investigative actions continued for several years. From the documents of the filtration case that we have at our disposal, the last one is dated January 5, 1950. All his autobiographies and questionnaires were brought together into one common business.

However, we do not know what conclusions the investigation came to, and how it affected the fate of Yushchenko. It is clear that the investigators did not doubt for a minute that Yushchenko was lying - he exposed himself by giving different versions of his biography. Obviously, serious suspicions arose in relation to Yushchenko. Obviously, in order to verify Yushchenko's testimony, requests were sent to the archives. This is how some documents from the German camps appear in the filtration case.

But the state security bodies could not establish exactly the guilt of Yushchenko. Most likely, no specific charges were brought against him due to insufficient evidence. It should be noted that identifying traitors who openly served in various formations on the side of Germany was much easier than exposing intelligence and counterintelligence agents.

Collaboration militia members, police officers and employees of the German administration during their service on the side of Germany were clearly aiding the enemy. They wore German uniforms, openly received their salaries, signed the lists, their names were preserved in the lists of the personnel of those formations and organizations in which they served the enemy. And even in this case, there are many examples when traitors escaped responsibility, and some of them were punished by deserved punishment only many years later. So, the executioner Khatyn, the chief of staff of the 118th police battalion, Vasyura, was exposed and convicted only in 1986. Until that moment, he was respected in the Soviet Union as a front-line hero, his name was even included in the list of honorary cadets of one of the Kiev military schools. And Ivan Demjanjuk, who emigrated to the United States, just like Yushchenko, said that during the war years he was a prisoner of Nazi concentration camps, including Flossenburg... And only relatively recently it was established that during the war Demjanjuk was an employee of the "camp police" and a guard in Sobibor, Treblinka and in that very Flossenburg, where he was distinguished by particular cruelty.

The situation with the exposure of recruited agents was much more complicated. Their work for the enemy and during the war was carried out in secret. The very meaning of the activities of the embedded agents is to be taken “for their own”. For example, agents who infiltrated the environment of prisoners of war themselves, according to the documents, passed as prisoners of war. They in every possible way hid their affiliation with the agents of the German special services, they were specially trained in conspiracy methods. A narrow circle of knowledgeable persons knew about their real activities; in correspondence they appeared under code names and pseudonyms. Lists of agents, as a rule, were not duplicated, and in the event of a threat, these documents were destroyed first. Exposing such traitors required a lot of work, professionalism, perseverance on the part of the state security officers, and even luck. Their efforts did not always lead to results. Therefore, if we assume that during the war Yushchenko collaborated with the Germans as an embedded agent, then it is not surprising that the state security organs, with all suspicions, could not expose him.

The so-called "human factor" could have played a role as well. For example, Yushchenko could have been helped by one of the familiar security officials. It is known that the Yushchenko family was on good terms with the family of Boris Shulzhenko, who later became Deputy Chairman of the KGB of Ukraine. Andrei Yushchenko's wife, Varvara, recalled that Shulzhenko was a childhood friend (and Boris) Shulzhenko and Andrei Yushchenko - peers, both born in 1919), often came to Khoruzhevka and attended the school where the Yushchenko spouses worked. Shulzhenko could well have been the one who helped close the case against his old friend Yushchenko.

Finally, the case against Yushchenko could have been closed also because he agreed to covert work at the MGB. The authorities had reason to distrust Yushchenko and even suspect him. But they had no direct evidence against Yushchenko. In these circumstances, the termination of the investigation in exchange for recruitment could well suit both parties.

These are the most likely explanations for the fact that Yushchenko, in relation to whom there were serious and well-grounded suspicions, was not punished in the end, but quietly worked up to retirement in the Khoruzhiv secondary school, and then died in 1992 in his native village.

CONCLUSIONS. RESEARCH PROSPECTS

From the foregoing, the following conclusions can be drawn.

It is an indisputable fact that Andrei Yushchenko has repeatedly lied about his biography. In particular, he lied about the real events of his pre-war life, about the circumstances under which he was captured, as well as about what he did during the war.

The indisputable fact is that with this lie, Andrei Yushchenko wanted to hide the real facts of his biography relating to the period of his captivity. He made special efforts to hide his being in captivity at the beginning and at the end of the war. In addition, he clearly sought to hide the facts of his presence in some camps, where, according to the documents, he was listed as a prisoner of war.

An analysis of the available documents allows us to assume with a high degree of confidence that Yushchenko collaborated with the Germans during the war, first as a “camp policeman,” and then as an infiltrated agent-informant. It is precisely the desire to hide the fact of cooperation with the Germans that explains Yushchenko's attempts to keep silent or distort the real facts of his biography of the war period.

Further investigation of the biography of Andrei Yushchenko could bring final clarity to the issue of Yushchenko's cooperation with the enemy and the forms of this cooperation.

It is obvious that the Security Service of Ukraine is unlikely to provide assistance in establishing the truth, since Andrei Yushchenko is the father of the current president of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of the archives of the POW camps and concentration camps associated with the name of Andrei Yushchenko are kept outside Ukraine - mainly in Russia.

A significant part of the archives of the secret services of the Third Reich is also located in Russia. Finally, in Russia there are copies, as well as extracts from many filtration cases, which were conducted by the state security bodies of the Soviet republics in relation to suspects in cooperation with the enemy. In addition, the archives of the Russian special services contain copies of documents from the correspondence that was carried out in the framework of filtration cases,

Some of the archives are located in Germany and the USA. And purposeful work in these archives can also contribute to the investigation of the "Yushchenko case" provided that the authorities of Germany and the United States do not classify the circumstances of the true biography of the father of the current president of Ukraine.

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Victor is the youngest son of Andrey Yushchenko

NB. And although anyone can find out in five minutes that the "famous Israeli historian" Yuri Vilner does not exist in nature, everyone understands that this is a rather murky business. The epic of the family of his wife, Katerina Claire Chumachenko, is by no means more transparent. I don’t know where exactly, and it’s not very interesting, but probably somewhere there is buried a pathological love for the fascists of the orange president ...

Notes (edit)

On the official website of V. Yushchenko (http://www.yuschenko.com.ua/rus/Past/Unknown_pages_of_history/440) his words are quoted: “The Ukrainians fought in different uniforms, there were many who had the courage to start the liberation struggle under their own flags. In fact, the place in the world war for humanity against totalitarianism was determined not by a trident or an asterisk on a cap. On one side in it are Soviet soldiers, partisans and rebel warriors who fought against the German invaders. On the other side are those who destroyed prisoners in death camps and drowned refugees from Konigsberg in the sea. "

See, for example, http://gazeta.sebastopol.ua/2004/09/uznik.shtml,

http://www.hryvna.kherson.ua/arhiv/text.php?id=6106&PHPSESSID=f003533b0b5e70654ffd3d60cb0ff2f4,

http://www.svitlytsia.Crimea.ua/index.php?section=article&artlD=1769.

A typical example is the speech of Viktor Yushchenko in Donetsk in February 2005: “Here some guys let the philosophy that there is a fascist, a Nazi in front of you ... Let's start with fascism. I remember how Donetsk met me in October 2003 with posters where I was in SS uniform ... I don't want to forgive that. Because my father spent four years in Buchenwald and Dachau for you and eight months in Auschwitz ... Repeat his feat, repeat his life, so that you have the right to point your finger to the city and the public like that. "

See: http://www.ua-pravda.com/portret_bez_ramki/m._berdnik_otets_uschenko_sredi_mifovj_rifov!!!.html

See http://2000.net.ua/print/svobodaslova/654380479.html

Most likely, we are talking about a slip of the tongue or an error - the regiment number is clearly confused with the division number.

Yushchenko's assertion that allegedly "the division commander and chief of staff left in an unknown direction" does not correspond to reality. 29th motorized division named after. The Finnish proletariat, among others, took upon itself the first strongest blow of the German fascist troops, suffered heavy losses and was surrounded. Commanders and soldiers tried to leave the encirclement in separate groups. The division commander, Major General Bikzhanov, was captured on July 17, 1941, and behaved with dignity in captivity. After the war he was reinstated in the army and continued to serve. In 1946, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner, including for the courage he showed as commander of the 29th motorized division and for his dignified behavior in captivity. The chief of staff of the division, Colonel Gudimenko, died of his wounds in August 1941.

It can be assumed that in 1946, after Major General Bikzhanov was awarded orders (which Yushchenko could learn from the newspapers), the unfounded accusation of the division commander in flight could no longer serve as a mitigating circumstance.

This is just one example of how attempts to “attribute” fictional events and facts to the biography of Andrei Yushchenko in order to heroize his image only exacerbate mistrust of his personality and give rise to reasonable suspicions about what he did after he was captured.

POW camps and concentration camps are not the same thing. The concentration camps were subordinate to the SS. POW camps differed in their subordination - to the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe or Navy. POW camps included "Dulag" - transit camps, "Oflag" - camps for POW officers and "Stalag" (in the Luftwaffe - "Stalag (Luft)", in the Navy - "Marlag") - camps for prisoners from among the private and non-commissioned officers. In addition, there were internment camps ("Lad") and others.

In accordance with Appendix No. 1 to Order No. 8 of the Chief of the SD Security Police of July 17, 1941, even in filtration camps, prisoners of war were brought into national groups and, upon arrival at the place of detention, were placed in separate blocks.

Aron Schneer. In the same place.

Aron Schneer. In the same place.

Boris Tcherezov. In the same place.

P. N. Paliy. Notes of a captured officer, http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/ paliy_pn / index.html

"Fraternal Cooperation of Prisoners of War" ("Fraternal Union of Prisoners of War") is an underground organization of Soviet prisoners of war, created in 1943. Operated in Bavaria, Silesia, Saxony, Hanover, Austria, Czech Republic and others. The main forms of activity are sabotage at German enterprises, organization of escapes, anti-fascist and "anti-vas" propaganda. The organization has established links with German anti-fascists. At the end of 1943, after a series of failures, the organization was defeated by the German military counterintelligence and the Gestapo. Leaders and activists (about 400 people) were arrested and executed in 1944.

Unfortunately, only fragments of the filtration case were leaked to the press. We have neither the protocols of interrogations, nor the results of operational and investigative measures at our disposal.

Viktor Yushchenko was born in 1954. Graduated from the Ternopil Institute of Finance and Economics and postgraduate studies at the Ukrainian Research Institute of Economics and Organization of Agriculture. He began his political career in 1999. On January 10, 2005 he won the presidential elections in Ukraine.

From 1987 to 1989 he was the head of the economic planning department, in 1989-1990 he was the deputy chairman of the board - the head of the economic planning department of the Ukrainian Republican Bank of the USSR Agroprombank (Kiev).

In 1990-1992 he was Deputy Chairman of the Board, in 1992-1993 - First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Joint-Stock Commercial Agro-Industrial Bank "Ukraine" (former Agroprombank of the USSR).

From January 1993 to December 1999 he worked as the chairman of the board of the National Bank of Ukraine.

From December 1999 to April 2001, Viktor Yushchenko was the prime minister of Ukraine. On April 26, 2001, he was dismissed in connection with a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the cabinet of ministers.

In 2001-2002 - Director of the Ukrainian-Russian Institute of Management and Business named after I. B. Yeltsin.

In November-December 2001, Yushchenko formed and headed the Our Ukraine electoral bloc, which included RUKH, KUN and a number of small right-wing parties.

In the parliamentary elections in March 2002, the bloc won 23.52% of the vote in a multi-member state district.

From 2002 to January 2005, Viktor Yushchenko was a People's Deputy of Ukraine, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations. Head of the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

From 2003 to January 2005 - Chairman of the Board of the All-Ukrainian public organization "Our Ukraine". Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Fund (V. Yushchenko Foundation).

He ran for the presidency of Ukraine in the 2004 elections. In the first round of elections, held on October 31, 2004, he won 39.87% of the votes (11 million 125 thousand people), in the second round (November 21) - 46.61%.

On December 3, the Supreme Court invalidated the results of the second round of the presidential elections on November 21 and scheduled a second round vote for December 26.

On January 10, 2005, the CEC of Ukraine declared Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the presidential elections. Received 51.99% (15 million 115 thousand 712 votes).