- How did you end up in captivity?

This happened on January 28, 1996. We were returning from Urus-Martan after a meeting with a field commander. Father Anatoly, the rector of the church in Grozny, and I talked with this commander, wanting to achieve progress on the issue of the exchange of prisoners of war and illegally captured people. Just at this time, workers from Volgodonsk, who were repairing the Grozny thermal power plant, workers from Stavropol, and workers from Saratov, who were repairing facilities in Chechnya, were kidnapped. That's why we went to Urus-Martan. We were captured as a result of capture on the road leading to Grozny...

- And how long were you held hostage?

I spent 160 days in captivity, almost 6 months. And naturally, I experienced a whole range of feelings, a colossal range of experiences. This is very difficult to convey in a nutshell.

- Were you on equal terms with the residents?

Of course not. Even in comparison with the guards and with those Chechens whom they captured, their fellow countrymen from the opposition: the Zavgaevites, the Kantemirovites, the conditions of our detention were completely different. To make the show brighter: in the first month until mid-March, we were given a cup of corn in the evening - old, boiled, without salt, without fat, without anything - once a day for a healthy person, from whom they sometimes also required some kind of work: sawing trees, carrying water for several kilometers.

-What was the prison like?

At first it was the basement of an old school. Then - a dugout, made of logs and full of lice of enormous sizes, an incredible number of lice. It was worse, it seems to me, than any test. I often had analogies with some biblical moments. Very often I caught myself thinking that we were in the dressing room of some kind of hell. Because the degree of physical and spiritual suffering was simply prohibitive, unreal, and seemed beyond the power of man.

- What helped you?

Of course, I was helped by my faith and my conviction that everything happens according to the will and providence of God. It was very tragic to observe the terrible consequences of the atheistic period in the life of our state, when people over 40, or even 50, brought up under that government, in that school, in those universities, completely deprived of any spiritual, spirit-bearing principle, accustomed to living in the rhythm production cycle, socialist competition and similar purely material views, found themselves faced with the most difficult test, primarily spiritual. People were faced with completely unusual difficulties in life: physical suffering, humiliation, hunger (imagine, people who earned a poor living, who ate bread and meat every day, were suddenly completely deprived of basic food). There were days when we ate grass, stripped bark from trees - and this was for three, four days! That is, we really saw what it means to be swollen from hunger, when your legs expanded into incredible thickness, your faces became swollen, your eyes swollen. People were shot in front of us, two or three times we were under bombing, bombing by our aircraft. Before my eyes, 6 people died at once, who were with me in the forest under the same tree on March 15, when they began to relocate us from one place to another. I was shocked by the incredibleness of what was happening, I would even say phantasmagorical, when you really know that you came from a completely different, calm place, and this was literally yesterday, the day before yesterday. The countdown of time in prison is somehow lost: it either goes by very quickly and you don’t notice its passage, or it drags on endlessly, painfully long, and you also lose orientation. And you know that if they put you in a car now and take you away, then everything will be different, exactly the opposite. That is, there will be normal food, ordinary people, there you will not be threatened with the every second threat of death, you will not be on the brink of death, although everything happens in everyday life.

- What kind of people surrounded you?

These were mainly workers and a few military, border guards and contract soldiers who were captured. If for me it was the fourth month, then for them it was the eighth, ninth. Many of them did not survive; the contract soldiers, in my opinion, were all destroyed...

- Tell me, were there any episodes when you were forced to renounce Christ?

No. There was everything: interrogations, beatings, hunger, executions before my eyes. Of the 150 people in the camp, 47 or 42 remained, and the rest died for various reasons - either from illness, or from dystrophy, or from executions, or from our air raids, or from something else. Several people fled. Here is one of them, Andrei, whom I baptized, he ran and made it, I know. He recently got married and called me from Volgodonsk.

- Did you baptize right there?

Yes, I baptized several people in captivity using the short formula of “fear for the sake of a mortal.” These were three military men, 2 lieutenant colonels and 1 major, and this guy, Andrey, a worker from Volgodonsk. Everyone survived, although no one had any hope. The soldiers were completely weakened, in terrible physical condition, but everyone survived, thank God...

- What did they talk to you about during interrogations?

There were conversations about faith, there were even some reproaches, so to speak, your faith is not entirely correct, it does not bring anything good to a person. There were conversations with those whom we call fundamentalists, mercenaries who fought on the side of the Chechens, from Islamic countries - they spoke Russian. We talked, so to speak, about the differences in our beliefs, but in fairness it must be said that there were no calls to renounce Christ. Of course, there were other attempts: the essence of all the interrogations was that I would level some kind of slander against the hierarchy, against the Russian Church. This was a propaganda trick: they wanted to show that the Church was an accomplice of Moscow’s imperial policies. In this case, my real task in Chechnya in connection with the humanitarian mission was ignored, and attention was focused on completely incorrectly interpreted things that contradict all logic - the role and significance of the Church in the life of our society.

- How did the guards treat you?

The psychology of a person who has temporary superiority over another was at work here. The psychology is simple: I am armed, and you are without weapons, I am well-fed, you are hungry, I am stronger, you are weaker, I can kill you now and I know that there will be no consequences for me, but you cannot protest . This feeling of temporary - everything in life is temporary - superiority, it visibly disfigures and cripples a person, and the worst qualities come out. I caught myself thinking that among the guards there were a lot of flawed people who were embittered by something: some had relatives killed, some had their house destroyed, some had their car broken, some were robbed, some... then, due to physical disabilities, he has some kind of complex and tries to compensate for some imperfection by violence against another person. Here is Koni, a Russian judicial figure, who at one time spoke very well in the case of one district chief, Protopopov. He accurately noted that sometimes power just rushes to your head. That is why even this tiny, absolutely illusory, illusory power of an ordinary guard over a prisoner, be it a lieutenant colonel, a priest, a site manager, a foreman, a builder, it, of course, disfigured many. And our suffering intensified, because sometimes the attacks were very sophisticated, physically, morally, and spiritually.

- Did you feel a special attitude towards you as a priest?

Yes, but in very different ways. On the one hand, some guards treated me most carefully, because they knew that they could get a good ransom for me or exchange more of their comrades and relatives for me. Therefore, they were more correct, although they were embarrassed to express their feelings. Others mocked me precisely because I was a priest. If I were a carpenter, joiner or gas welder, maybe I would cause less hatred and irritation. Still others had a purely, so to speak, mercantile approach, like “I’m helping you today, maybe someday you’ll help me,” and so on. It's difficult to convey any one defining feeling.

These relationships with the guards, the relationships between prisoners, are they similar to those that we have read so much about, to those described by Solzhenitsyn, for example?

Yes, I think that the camp, the concentration camp, is unchanged. The passions raging within him, the suffering that accompanied his violent detention, they were all there. The same terrible, primitive conditions of detention, the same lice, the same unsanitary conditions, lack of medicine, complete lack of rights, hunger, cold, and this was also intensified by bombing and the absolute uncertainty of the situation. We did not expect the end of the war, we did not expect its continuation, we did not expect any miracle at all - I mean the majority. Because the lack of any information simply put us in a dead end. In this basement of life, in this situation of hopelessness, lack of prospects for future life, it put many in a difficult moral and psychological state. And some, I believe, died from fear, from unbelief, from lack of hope.

- How did you celebrate Easter in captivity?

Imagine the state of a priest who cannot serve not only on Good Friday, Holy Saturday, but also on the Feast of Feasts - Easter. Could I have thought over the years of seminary life and pastoral service that someday on the day of Bright Resurrection I would find myself without Easter, without Easter cake?..

We found a pan thrown into the sink, where dough was kneaded in order to bake bread for the guards. We collected the remains of this dough, scraped it off the sides of the pan - there was only enough for half a mug. Without yeast, without fat, on water, we made a kind of batch and baked Easter in this mug over a fire.

- You talked a lot about the horrors of captivity. Do you remember any manifestations of positive qualities in people?

To be honest, it is very difficult to remember any positive moments that happened even in our environment, among the prisoners. On the contrary, sometimes the most brutal and base qualities appeared - for example, the desire to survive at the expense of one's neighbor at any cost. For example, in the first month of imprisonment we had a very hard time with water (and in the second month it was no easier, not at all easier). I had a bottle like a Valocordin bottle for two and a half sips of water: that means a bucket of water per day for 50-60 people. And then one day, when they brought me in after interrogation, I was terribly thirsty: apparently, the tension of physical strength, the release of adrenaline into the blood was so strong that everything inside was burning. And I asked, addressing everyone at once, if someone would give me at least a sip or two sips of water (we were not talking about a mug of water, a jar, a cup - we were talking about sips). One said: “Yes, I can give it to you, I drink little water, and you give me your ration,” that is, this single cup of corn that was given once a day.

- But were there at least some positive manifestations?

To be honest, it's very difficult to remember now. In my opinion, there were very, very few of them.

- What did they say about the war?

Many saw the light, understood that the government had again “set up” the people, that in the conditions of so-called democracy, perestroika, the triumph of law, the constitutional field - that is, those cliches that flash day and night on television screens - we, ordinary people, simple, are still powerless. There are no levers or mechanisms to influence the authorities. They say about the media that they are the new power, that they can greatly influence. Yes, in a scandalous way they can: ruin someone’s reputation, organize a custom article, and so on. But if earlier, in party times, the appearance of a newspaper criticizing a particular district, region or official became an emergency for this region: it was discussed at meetings of regional committees, city committees, answers were given, officials worried about their status, about the consequences that could come from the center, - today, simply no one pays attention to many critical statements of the press, people laugh, make fun of this in every possible way. I don’t know what kind of power the press is talking about. About destructive? Yes, streams of violence, all these horror films that have no creative beginning, are shown day and night. The only consolation is that sometimes our retrospective films from the 50s and 60s are shown. You look at your favorite actors, you see the pure faces of people, even if they are obsessed with the illusory dream of communism, a classless society, full of material wealth, but, nevertheless, purer and more sincere than modern people.

- Tell me, Father Philip, did you feel any real help from God in prison?

Certainly. I am simply convinced and amazed at how the Lord has been ever present with me. Imagine: Maundy Thursday, Maundy Thursday of Holy Week in this log hut, which is dug into the ground, which is flooded with water, in which there is incredible cold, an incredible number of lice, where there is terrible cramped space, because instead of 30 people they squeezed in 130, so three For a month and a half it was only possible to sit on bunks a little larger than this sofa, and there were 12 people on them. And on Maundy Thursday morning I thought: “Lord, Easter is approaching.” All my personal suffering was intensified by the fact that I was deprived of the opportunity to be at the throne, next to my fellow priests. And I’ll tell you that several times I even had to cry: not from powerlessness, no, not from pain, although sometimes it was painful, because they interrogated us for 12 days in the most intense way - broken arms and ribs speak of this. That is, there was physical pain, of course, but it was experienced with clenched teeth, with colossal tension in the body. But I had to cry some, I would say, bright tears, tears of joy, although, of course, through thorns. I thought that today, on Maundy Thursday, in that distant time, Christ shared bread with his disciples, and the bread became the Body of Christ, and the wine became the Blood of Christ, shed for us for the remission of sins. And how can one today not be involved in this event, this Last Supper?

And suddenly, completely unable to believe that someone was calling me, on some kind of inspiration, I completely mechanically got up from my seat and walked. One of the guards called me over. Quite unexpectedly, he did something that could not even be hoped for. He gave me half of the flatbread the guards had just baked. You know, this cannot be put into words, because hardly any of us experienced a feeling of real hunger for 4, 5, 6 days a week. And suddenly in your hands there is a warm flatbread baked in fat. And today is the day of the Last Supper, today the Eucharistic communion of the Lord with his people is established. At some point, this literally lifted me above the ground and above this natural desire to eat this flatbread just like that, without realizing what had happened. After all, there are also hungry people nearby, who perhaps did not think about the Lord at all, who perhaps did not even know that today was Maundy Thursday. I told someone, but someone didn’t communicate with me, because there were those who shouted in the evenings: “Down with the church, down with the priests!” And, of course, half a flatbread for the seven people who happened to be next to me at that second was not enough to satisfy me, but it played a colossal spiritual role, becoming a kind of symbol, a unifying force between me and those who were nearby.

Not all of them survived, not all lived to see liberation, but I am sure that those who survived, who endured the fullness of suffering until the very end, until the moment of their liberation, will always remember this. Remember not the very fact of the goodness of this guard - what can a person do without the will of God? - not the very act of his virtue, humanism towards us, because it was impossible to saturate everyone with that half. But remember the tangible presence of God next to us and His all-strengthening power.

- Do you now communicate with your fellow prisoners?

I receive letters: the whole table is littered with letters, both from relatives of those who are no longer alive, and from those who survived. Many had problems with documents - for example, one conscript soldier who was in captivity - so I had to contact the chief military prosecutor. This soldier, Alexander Pakhomenko, always showed empathy, compassion, a desire to help someone, lend a shoulder to someone, and supported the weak. He especially helped me when moving to a new place: in March, in the terrible slush, when our legs were moving in different directions, when we, hungry, having just survived the raid, a faceless mass in the desire for life, were moving somewhere, no one knows where, driven by rifle butts , kicks.

- But has anything changed in any of them’s lives?

It's hard for me to say what has changed. Many, especially Volgodonsk residents, were released only in November, so they have not yet actively started life, as they are undergoing treatment, trying to gain weight and restore physical strength. But I remember that Maundy Thursday, I remember my repeated conversations with many who were in terrible bitterness, who tried to escape from this hell, from this captivity at any cost, even at the expense of a loved one, friend, comrade. Many of those who were eager to live, who believed that this was a misunderstanding - now it will end, and I will be a hero, I will come to my village, I have suffered, I have endured - they did not survive. The Lord thereby apparently stopped their reluctance to change, their desire to continue their old life. I am convinced that those who survived are, for the most part, people who have reconsidered both the moral criteria of their actions and their previous lives. These are people who have become closer to God...

It is known with what feeling Dostoevsky received his pardon, how deeply he experienced it. How did you perceive your release?

You know, one of the tests at the place of the last imprisonment was an escape test. I was offered to run by people who could do this. Now imagine the situation: exchange is catastrophically difficult, we don’t know whether negotiations are going on, people die every day two or three people, food is again terribly bad, air raids continue - that is, the whole set of circumstances that say that there is hope there is no salvation. And at this moment they offer escape. Tempting? Of course, especially since this is the only chance. I remembered from Sienkiewicz’s “Camo is Coming” the Apostle Peter, who listened to his disciples and left Rome, fearing torment. And so he goes and sees a ball-sun rolling towards him and says: “Lord, where are you going?” And he hears the answer: “To Rome to suffer: after all, you are leaving.” Even if you are skeptical about Sienkiewicz’s fiction, posing the question of the relationship between man and God is absolutely fair. Everyone has their own Golgotha, everyone carries their own cross, and each one is given this cross according to his strength. How can you run? Although, analyzing the ways and methods of escaping, I saw that there was a guarantee of success. Then I thought that the last escape led to the beating of the entire camp and executions. This means that someone will get hurt if I run away - and the physical condition of the people was so weakened that several blows with a club would kill a person. My desire to get rid of suffering will cost the lives of others.

- And you stayed?

Here's something else I thought about. We had one doctor there. There was little he could do without medications, without dressings, because gangrene and dysentery occurred. He also wanted to live, like everyone else. However, if they had told him: “We will free you, but these people will die because you will leave and will not be able to provide them with even basic help,” he would have stayed. After all, he is a doctor, and this feeling has already entered his flesh and blood - to help. A priest is akin. I knew that two or three more words of mine could move someone to an internal change, to a reassessment of values. Abandoning people in my situation is like a doctor abandoning a patient. What is the price of the life of a priest who left people, even if they shouted to him: “Down with the priests, down with the Church,” even if he did not bear direct moral responsibility for them? These thoughts held me back, although it was painfully difficult to refuse the opportunity to escape from captivity. I remember the last day of my stay in the camp, the next, fifth offer to escape... I gathered all my strength and said: “Lord, what should I do?” - and cried again, as if he was giving up his life, because refusing to escape was like refusing to live. And when, it would seem, something in my soul could tremble, the head of the camp comes and says: “Get ready, we are going to the village, you will be released.”

Hot afternoon. Behind the bus full of journalists and bloggers is a thick trail of dust. Suddenly - machine gun fire and screams: people in masks are blocking the road.

Without any pleasantries, men with AKs rush into the salon. Just a few moments - and frightened passengers with bags on their heads and hands tied are lying face down on the floor in the aisle. The terrorists begin to interrogate their victims, shots ring out, and “Allahu Akbar!” is heard from the attackers’ radios. To make it even more convincing, a heavy army boot is on the back: you can feel every groove on the sole with your skin.

This is how the next, already eighth “Military Discourse” - a seminar on extreme journalism, organized by the Ministry of Defense - began promisingly. Having dipped the guests of the Bereg training ground into the waters of the Ili River and only after that removed the bags from them, the “terrorists” (in fact, of course, experienced instructors and special forces soldiers) began to teach the press workers the tricks of survival.

The worst thing

The organizers set themselves a difficult but extremely important task: to teach journalists not to panic in stressful situations and to get out of them at least alive. Thirst, hunger, fear of captivity, darkness and unfamiliar terrain, an aggressive natural environment are the eternal companions of those who go to hot spots with a camera and a voice recorder.

Before the start of the hike, instructors share their training experience. So, you need to have a pair of replacement shoes, a set of warm clothes and, of course, a first aid kit.

Some wisdom: not a single strap on a backpack should stick out or “curly”, heavy things should be placed on the bottom so that they do not put pressure on the back, and it is advisable to wrap even commonplace plastic bottles in a black sock: the plastic glares in the light of the moon and in the night crossing threatens to make the unlucky owner a victim of not very good-natured terrorist murderers. Compliance with basic personal hygiene requirements is not discussed at all, even if “everything is sterile on a hike.”

After a brief briefing, journalists and bloggers are whisked away in two helicopters to a landing zone in the barren steppe. At the same time, the pilots make several turns over the terrain so that the “clients” completely lose orientation in space. After this there is a 15-kilometer march along the hills, steep climbs and equally steep descents. It is on them, by the way, that you pay tribute to the advice about the straps - any dangling piece of material clings to thorny bushes.

By the way, only one and a half liters of water are provided per person for the entire daily trek. In the heat, in the hot steppe. Perhaps this is the main test -

overcome thirst, drink in small sips and at the same time continue walking with a huge backpack

You can go without food, but not without water.

However, the problem of water shortage can still be solved: moisture from the river (in this case, Ili) can be filtered using available means. To do this, the bottom of an ordinary plastic bottle is cut off, a scarf or bandage is placed under the holed cork, and sand, burnt charcoal (or activated carbon), small stones and moss (or cotton wool or a sponge) are successively placed inside in layers. The water is filtered and seeps through the lid. Of course, it smells like smoke, but it’s quite drinkable – especially if you take the time to boil it over a fire. There is an easier way - water disinfectant tablets, which are sold in every pharmacy.

Nothing will happen to you after drinking this water: tested for yourself

Meanwhile, it is getting dark, and there is still a long way to go to the place where we will spend the night. The last part of the journey passes in darkness and alarming silence: people are exhausted and scared. A cleverly disguised ambush adds some sparkle, but this time the “terrorists” limit themselves to a few bursts of machine gun fire, hinting at their invisible constant presence. That is why during the transition, instructors strictly prohibit speaking loudly, crunching branches and turning on flashlights.

After six grueling hours, the command to set up camp is finally given. As food, by the way, army rations - canned food, biscuits and jam. Everything is quite edible and even tasty, but for some reason I don’t feel like eating at all - apparently, this is how a stressful unusual situation affects the body.

Behind the gates of the fortress

After spending the night on the bank of Ili and collecting tents, sleeping bags and other belongings, the final push begins - about another five kilometers of travel, first up a narrow gorge and then down. On the descent, a medieval oriental fortress-set, built for the filming of the film “Nomads,” appears like a mirage.

It seems that it’s just a stone’s throw away, but machine gun fire roars again. Another ambush. Masked people appear on the slopes of the gorge and with lightning speed send journalists to the already familiar position - face to the ground. Not a single chance, unlike “Discourses,” to escape. Later, in response to this remark, one of the organizers will smile and say: “We are learning too.”

Then the prisoners are loaded into an army KamAZ, along the way there are familiar “special effects” in the form of ear-tearing shots in a confined space, screams and cracks.

When armed people take you to the fortress, there is an unambiguous feeling of the Middle East with its terror, endless wars and other “color”. It seems that a little more - and something will go wrong, they will shoot you for real.

But here, after the final “stress resistance test,” you can finally exhale - to the applause of the instructors, the prisoners are given back their freedom, and the special forces soldiers who were evil terrorists five minutes ago smile and take pictures with pleasure. True, without taking off the masks.

The bottom line is two staged, but realistic captures to the point of bruises and abrasions, a serious forced march with a minimal supply of water and a lot of new survival skills. To the credit of my colleagues, none of them panicked or threw hysterics. But after the march, many looked emaciated and completely lost.

Why does the Ministry of Defense need all this? The answer is obvious: for the safety of the media workers themselves. In an extreme situation, they will have to rely only on themselves and their comrades, but the invaluable experience of army special forces soldiers will undoubtedly increase the chances of survival of everyone who has gone through the “Military Discourse”.

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Germans in Soviet captivity: “Forget that you are German.” This is how the Krauts survived

It was not customary to talk about the fate of captured Germans in the USSR. Everyone knew that they participated in the restoration of destroyed cities, worked in the countryside and other sectors of the national economy.

But that's where the information ended. Although their fate was not as terrible as that of Soviet prisoners of war in Germany, nevertheless, many of them never returned to their families and friends.

First, some numbers. According to Soviet sources, there were almost 2.5 million German prisoners of war in the USSR. Germany gives a different figure – 3.5, that is, one million more people. The discrepancies are explained by a poorly organized accounting system, as well as by the fact that some captured Germans, for one reason or another, tried to hide their nationality.

The affairs of captured military personnel of the German and allied armies were handled by a special unit of the NKVD - the Office of Prisoners of War and Internees (UPVI). In 1946, 260 UPVI camps operated on the territory of the USSR and Eastern European countries. If a serviceman's involvement in war crimes was proven, he would face either death or being sent to the Gulag.

Hell after Stalingrad

A huge number of Wehrmacht troops - about 100 thousand people - were captured after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943. Most of them were in a terrible condition: dystrophy, typhus, frostbite of the second and third degrees, gangrene.

To save the prisoners of war, it was necessary to deliver them to the nearest camp, which was located in Beketovka - a five-hour walk. The transition of the Germans from the destroyed Stalingrad to Beketovka was later called by survivors the “march of dystrophics” or the “death march.” Many died from contracted diseases, others died from hunger and cold. Soviet soldiers could not provide their clothes to the captured Germans; there were no spare sets.

Forget that you are German

The carriages in which the Germans were transported to prisoner of war camps often did not have stoves, and there was always a shortage of provisions. And this was in frosty weather, which in the last winter and first spring months reached minus 15, 20, and even below degrees. The Germans kept warm as best they could, wrapped themselves in rags and huddled closer to each other.

A harsh atmosphere reigned in the UPVI camps, hardly any inferior to the Gulag camps. It was a real struggle for survival. While the Soviet army was crushing the Nazis and their allies, all the country's resources were directed to the front. The civilian population was malnourished. And even more so there was not enough food for prisoners of war. The days when they were given 300 grams of bread and empty stew were considered good. And sometimes there was nothing to feed the prisoners at all. In such conditions, the Germans survived as best they could: according to some information, in 1943-1944, cases of cannibalism were reported in Mordovian camps.

In order to somehow alleviate their situation, former Wehrmacht soldiers tried in every possible way to hide their German origin, “registering” themselves as Austrians, Hungarians or Romanians. At the same time, prisoners among the allies did not miss the opportunity to mock the Germans; there were cases of their collective beating. Perhaps in this way they took revenge on them for some grievances at the front.

The Romanians were especially successful in humiliating their former allies: their behavior towards prisoners from the Wehrmacht can only be called “food terrorism.” The fact is that Germany’s allies were treated somewhat better in the camps, so the “Romanian mafia” soon managed to settle in the kitchens. After this, they began to ruthlessly reduce German rations in favor of their compatriots. Germans who carried food were often attacked, which is why they had to be provided with security.

Fight for survival

Medical care in the camps was extremely low due to a simple lack of qualified specialists who were needed at the front. Living conditions were sometimes inhumane. Often, prisoners were placed in unfinished premises, where even part of the roof might be missing. Constant cold, overcrowding and dirt were the usual companions of former soldiers of Hitler's army. The mortality rate in such inhumane conditions sometimes reached 70%.

As the German soldier Heinrich Eichenberg wrote in his memoirs, the problem of hunger was above all, and “they sold soul and body” for a bowl of soup. Apparently, there were cases of homosexual intercourse among prisoners of war for food. Hunger, according to Eichenberg, turned people into animals, devoid of everything human.

In turn, Luftwaffe ace Eric Hartmann, who shot down 352 enemy aircraft, recalled that in the Gryazovets camp, prisoners of war lived in barracks of 400 people each. The conditions were appalling: narrow plank beds, no washbasins, replaced by decrepit wooden troughs. Bugs, he wrote, swarmed in the barracks in hundreds and thousands.

After the war

The situation of prisoners of war improved somewhat after the end of the Great Patriotic War. They began to take an active part in the restoration of destroyed cities and villages, and even received a small salary for this. Although the nutrition situation improved, it remained difficult. At the same time, a terrible famine broke out in the USSR in 1946, killing about a million people.

In total, between 1941 and 1949, more than 580 thousand prisoners of war died in the USSR - 15 percent of their total number. Of course, the living conditions of former soldiers of the German army were extremely difficult, but still they could not be compared with what Soviet citizens had to endure in German death camps. According to statistics, 58 percent of prisoners from the USSR died behind barbed wire.

Let's make a reservation right away: we will only talk about the taking of hostages by terrorists.

Rule 1. A thief takes something that is in bad shape, and a terrorist attacks someone he can reach. Therefore, do not substitute yourself -. refrain from visiting regions with rich terrorist “traditions”. Instead of the Caucasus, spend your vacation in Crimea, and instead of Algeria or Egypt, go to Portugal. Before your trip, take a look at the map to see if there is an island near your destination where kidnappers could come from, as happened in 2000 in Malaysia, and in 2001 in the Philippines.

When purchasing a trip, ask if there have been attacks on tourists where you are going. And another important question: how is the security of a resort or, for example, a discotheque organized? It is likely that a holiday in a well-protected place will cost more. However, let us remember how incompetent the security measures turned out to be in Palawan, where in 2001 the security guard himself fell into the hands of terrorists. The kidnapping of vacationers in neighboring Malaysia a year earlier taught neither the Philippine police nor the owners of the travel company anything.

Rule 2. The most dangerous places are where people gather, especially the wealthy, for whom a much larger ransom can be obtained. The most effective and simple recommendation: avoid crowded places. Of course, if everyone unanimously follows this advice, then theaters, circuses, restaurants and stadiums will instantly be empty. However, we are now talking not about the profitability of show business or catering, but about safety.

Residents of rural areas and small towns are least at risk of captivity, although there are numerous exceptions here: the Israeli Maalot, a school and train near the Dutch Bovensmilde, our Budennovsk, Kizlyar and the village of Pervomaiskoye, the Thai Ratburi, the Philippine Lamitan, as well as a coconut plantation near Lantawan. ...

Mass gatherings of people also pose a great temptation for suicide bombers. They will “pleasure” blow themselves up at a train station and stadium, at a disco and folk festival, in a restaurant and a cinema and concert hall, in a supermarket and subway, at a fair and an international exhibition.

In the coming years, while terrorism is still very strong, one should do this: if it is possible to refrain from visiting a crowded place, one should refrain. For example, Israelis even refrain from visiting their favorite kenyons - huge shopping centers (hypermarkets).

Rule 3. If you find yourself in a crowd (station, market, metro...), do not get into the thick of it, but stay on the periphery so that in case of danger you can quickly distance yourself from what is happening.

So, on November 20, 1979, in Mecca, the pilgrims who were near the gates of the mosque complex found themselves in the most advantageous position: as soon as the shooting started, these people ran out unhindered and saved their lives. When in a crowded place, consider options for such a retreat. Most likely, you will never need these estimates in your life. However, the likelihood that you will be taken hostage will be less than that of a person who ignores this rule.

Rule 4. Prefer a personal car to using city public transport. As for long-distance communication, the likelihood of a train or plane being hijacked is low: a train is very inconvenient for terrorists to defend, and aircraft are escorted by armed guards. In the immediate vicinity of “terrorist” territory (Chechnya, the Palestinian Authority, the south of the Philippines, etc.), buses are most often stolen.

In Colombia, wealthy people generally avoid ground transport, preferring to travel even over relatively short distances by helicopter, although this, of course, can be shot down by the cocaine mafia (which positions itself as communist guerrillas).

Rule 5. Be careful when picking up “voting” hitchhikers on the highway. They may turn out to be either “ordinary” bandits or terrorists. A charming blonde with her hand raised on the side of the road can serve as bait and have accomplices in the bushes. In Israel, for example, no one even tries to drive at a tramp: this is the English word they call hitchhiking (tremp - tramp).

More than once, a compassionate driver was severely punished: as soon as he stopped, terrorists captured him and his car. There are also cases when Palestinian Arabs stole a car with yellow Israeli license plates (in the Palestinian Authority the license plates are green) and picked up a “voting” soldier at a crossroads, after which they began to blackmail the Israeli government.

Rule 6. Although “professional” hostage-taking is characterized by lengthy preparation, in the first moments of a terrorist attack there is often confusion and an opportunity to escape. However, you need to act with lightning speed before the terrorists completely take control of the situation. Let us at least remember how Aleksey Ivashchenko, co-author of Nord-Ost, escaped after breaking his leg.

It happened that desperately brave people snatched firearms from the hands of terrorists, but did not know how to use them. Terrorists tend to get rid of the bravest ones as quickly as possible. Therefore, if the hostage does not see a chance for a successful escape and does not know how to handle weapons, he should behave obediently during the capture, fulfilling the basic demands of the kidnappers.

We must not forget that injury or illness significantly reduces the hostage’s chances of being rescued: instead of treatment, it is easier for terrorists to shoot the prisoner. In 1985, in Beirut, of the four Soviet hostages captured, it was the wounded Arkady Katkov who was shot. Therefore, one should not irritate terrorists by “asking for” physical violence. On the contrary, obedience can lead to some improvement in living conditions.

Rule 7. Beatings and torture of hostages are not very typical. They happen when there is a sadist among the gang members or when the hostage, in the opinion of the kidnappers, has valuable information. However, terrorists often relieve stress with drugs and alcohol, which does not bode well for the hostage. That is why it is advisable to quickly create a psychological portrait of each of the bandits in order to know who to contact with questions and requests.

In any case, the kidnappers must see the hostage, if not an ally, then at least as someone who has a passionate interest in fulfilling their demands. If terrorists invite a hostage to write a tearful message to the authorities, this cannot be refused for fear of ruining his reputation. People on the outside understand perfectly well that such a message is not voluntary. Today no one condemns the former Nord-Ost hostages for calling for the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya.

Rule 8. The main threats to health in captivity are malnutrition, poor quality food or water, as well as cold and physical inactivity. In 1976, all hostages in Uganda were poisoned, with the exception of Orthodox Jews who refused to eat meat. It’s better to starve than to suffer from illness later, and even irritate your captors.

In 1997, North Ossetia bought Shmidt Dzoblaev, a representative of President Yeltsin, from the Chechens. This man spent eight months mostly sitting and at first could hardly walk. To prevent muscle atrophy, blood circulation, breathing and digestion are not impaired, you need to try to alternately warm up different muscle groups several times a day, at least for a few minutes. These same exercises will help you warm up and slightly distract you from gloomy thoughts.

Rule 9. Terrorists cut off the hostage from the media and often deprive him of even his wristwatch. In order not to panic or fall into apathy, you need to come up with “long-lasting” activities. Depending on the situation, this could be reading, reciting poetry, drawing, maps, solving or composing crosswords, solving mathematical problems, etc. In general, the brain should be as busy as possible.

But first of all, you cannot fall out of the context of real time: you need to maintain a calendar. If there are no windows in the room, an idea of ​​the time of day will have to be obtained indirectly, and in particular from the behavior of the kidnappers. The portion sizes of the food served will sometimes help suggest breakfast, lunch or dinner. The disappearance of noise coming from the highway may indicate the onset of night, the crow of a rooster will indicate dawn, and so on.

Rule 10. In any case, you need to believe in a quick successful outcome: they are looking for you, they will pay a ransom for you, they will definitely save you. Let us remember that in 1976, Israel managed to liberate its citizens in hostile Uganda, 4,000 km from home, with almost no losses. A little over a year later, Germany rescued its children, women and men 6,000 km from home - in far from friendly Somalia.

In addition, the reader knows about the hostage takings in Lima, Peru, and Ratburi, Thailand. Then the role of terrorists was played by inexperienced teenagers who treated their captives quite nicely and missed the assault.

Rule 11. During the period of preparation for the assault, the place where the hostage is kept is usually under surveillance. Some information will be very useful for liberators. In a conversation with the kidnappers, you can try to convey it: “There are five of you, do you really think that I will escape?” This is how the assault team finds out the size of the gang.

Or you can exclaim: “You feel good in sheepskin coats, but I’m completely cold in my coat.” This will let the victim know who should not be shot at during the assault. The phrase “You’re having fun here, but what am I feeling!” may report bandits' drunkenness and loss of vigilance. Remember the resourcefulness of Luis Giamperti: this retired Peruvian colonel, while in captivity, did not fold his arms, did not give up, but acted truly creatively, inventively.

Rule 12. Of course, every hostage dreams of escape, but you should only dare to escape if there is a very high probability of success. Otherwise, the kidnappers will not only deal harshly with the fugitive, but will also strengthen security, leaving no chance for the others.

But keeping your mind busy planning an escape is an extremely useful activity. After all, when you think a lot, thoughts appear; in other words, deep, concentrated thinking can sometimes lead to a way out of even a seemingly hopeless situation.

Rule 13. Whenever possible, food and water should be stored in captivity. Having received a ransom, bandits often simply disappear, leaving the victim to fend for itself. In a locked dungeon, you can die from thirst and hunger without waiting for liberators. We interpret ransom here broadly: it could be money, the release of militants from prison, and even the implementation of socio-political reforms in the country.

Sometimes the demands are of an anecdotal nature, although the hostages are not at all amused. Once in Argentina, the lives of hostages were saved by distributing free food to the poor, and in Colombia, terrorists once achieved an increase in wages at a single factory. One way or another, a firm promise of ransom guarantees the life of the hostages.

Rule 14. The moment of forceful release is critical for the hostage. Terrorists can finally take out the evil of failure on their captives. But it is even more dangerous if special forces confuse a hostage with a terrorist: this is certain death. The hostage is required to expose himself to the bullets as little as possible and under no circumstances pick up the kidnappers’ weapons.

When the assault begins, you need to fall face down on the floor and spread your arms to the sides with open palms so that the liberators do not suspect hidden weapons. Terrorists often try to hide among the hostages, so you need to be prepared for rather rough treatment from those releasing them - handcuffs, kicks, personal searches... At the same time, you should loudly repeat your name, but in no case protest: the nerves of the fighters during a mortally dangerous situation for them operations are strained to the limit...

Rule 15. Ladies and Gentlemen! All hostage situations described in this book were carefully prepared, thought out, and secured. Accomplices of terrorists visited the sites of future terrorist attacks in advance, and sometimes even stockpiled weapons and ammunition there. Therefore, be vigilant and observant. Pay attention to unusual behavior of strangers and all sorts of oddities in general.

In 1995 - the first Chechen war. I am Lieutenant Colonel Antony Manshin, I was the commander of the assault group, and the neighboring, second assault group was named after the hero of Russia Arthur, my friend, who died in the Grozny battles, covering a wounded soldier with himself: the soldier survived, but he died from 25 bullet wounds. In March 1995, Arthur’s assault group of 30 fighters in three BRDMs carried out a headquarters raid to block militant groups in the Vvedensky Gorge. There is a place there called Khanchelak, which translates from Chechen as a dead gorge, where an ambush awaited our group.

An ambush is certain death: the lead and trailing vehicles are knocked out, and you are methodically shot from high-rise buildings. A group that is ambushed lives for a maximum of 20-25 minutes - then what remains is a mass grave. The radio station requested air support from fire support helicopters, raised my assault group, and we arrived at the scene in 15 minutes. Air-to-ground guided missiles destroyed firing positions on high-rise buildings; to our surprise, the group survived, only Sasha Vorontsov was missing. He was a sniper and was sitting on the lead vehicle, on the BRDM, and the blast wave threw him into a gorge 40-50 meters deep. They started looking for him, but didn’t find him. It's already dark. They found blood on the stones, but he was not there. The worst happened, he was shell-shocked and captured by the Chechens. Hot on our heels, we created a search and rescue group, climbed the mountains for three days, even entered settlements controlled by militants at night, but we never found Sasha. They wrote him off as a missing person, then presented him with the Order of Courage. And can you imagine, 5 years pass. Beginning of 2000, the assault on Shatoi, in the Arthur Gorge in the Shatoi region there is a settlement called Itum-Kale, when it was blocked, civilians told us that our special forces soldier had been sitting in their zindan (in a hole) for 5 years.

I must say that 1 day in captivity of Chechen bandits is hell. And here - 5 years. We ran there, it was already getting dark. Headlights from the BMP illuminated the area. We see a hole 3 by 3 and 7 meters deep. We lowered the ladder, raised it, and there were living relics. The man staggers, falls to his knees, and I recognize Sasha Vorontsov by his eyes; I haven’t seen him for 5 years and I recognize him. He was covered in a beard, his camouflage had disintegrated, he was wearing burlap, had chewed a hole for his hands, and was warming himself in it. He defecated in this pit and lived there, slept, he was pulled out every two or three days to work, he equipped firing positions for the Chechens. On it, Chechens trained live, tested hand-to-hand combat techniques, that is, they hit you in the heart with a knife, and you have to parry the blow. Our special forces guys have good training, but he was exhausted, he had no strength, he, of course, missed - all his arms were cut up. He falls to his knees in front of us and cannot speak, he cries and laughs. Then he says: “Guys, I’ve been waiting for you for 5 years, my dears.” We grabbed him, heated a bath for him, and dressed him. And so he told us what happened to him during these 5 years.

So we sat with him for a week, we’ll get together for a meal, the provision was good, but he munch on a piece of bread for hours and eat it quietly. All his taste qualities have atrophied over 5 years. He said that he had not been fed at all for 2 years.

I ask: “How did you live?” And he: “Imagine, commander, he kissed the Cross, crossed himself, prayed, took clay, rolled it into pellets, baptized it and ate it. In winter there was snow.” "So how is it?"- I ask. And he says: “You know, these clay pellets were tastier to me than homemade pie. The blessed pellets of snow were sweeter than honey.”

He was shot 5 times on Easter. To prevent him from running away, the tendons on his legs were cut; he could not stand. They put him against the rocks, he is on his knees, and 15-20 meters from him, several people with machine guns are supposed to shoot him.

They say: “Pray to your God, if there is a God, then may He save you”. And he prayed like that, I always have his prayer in my ears, like a simple Russian soul: “Lord Jesus, my Sweetest, my Most Precious Christ, if it pleases You today, I will live a little longer.”. He closes his eyes and crosses himself. They remove the trigger - it misfires. And so twice - no shot is fired. They move the bolt frame - no shot. They change the magazines, the shot doesn’t happen again, they change the machine guns, Still no shot!

They come up and say: “Take off the cross”. They cannot shoot him, because the Cross hangs on him. And he says: “It was not I who put on this Cross, but the priest in the sacrament of Baptism. I won’t take pictures”. Their hands reach out to tear off the Cross, and half a meter from his body they are twisted by the Grace of the Holy Spirit and they are crumpled and fall to the ground. They beat him with machine gun butts and throw him into a pit. Like this, twice the bullets did not fly out of the barrel, but the rest flew out and that’s it - they flew past him. Almost they couldn't shoot at point blank range, he is only hit by pebbles from the ricochet and that’s it.

And this is how it happens in life. My last commander, hero of Russia Shadrin, said: “Life is a strange, wonderful and wonderful thing”.

A Chechen girl fell in love with Sasha, she was much younger than him, she was 16 years old, then the secret of the soul. For the third year, she brought him goat's milk into the pit at night, lowered it onto strings for him, and that's how she came out. At night, her parents caught her in the act, flogged her to death, and locked her in a closet. Her name was Assel. I was in that closet, it was terribly cold there, even in summer, there was a tiny window and a door with a barn lock. They tied her up. She managed to chew the ropes overnight, dismantle the window, climb out, milk the goat and bring him milk.

He took Assel with him. She was baptized with the name Anna, they got married, and had two children, Kirill and Mashenka. The family is wonderful. So we met him in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. We hugged, we both cried. He tells me everything. I took him to Elder Adrian, but the people there wouldn’t let him in. I tell them: “Brothers and sisters, my soldier, he spent 5 years in a pit in Chechnya. Let me go for Christ's sake". They all knelt down and said: “Go, son.”. About 40 minutes passed. Sasha comes out with a smile from Elder Adrian and says: “I don’t remember anything, as if I was talking to Sunny!”. And in his palm are the keys to the house. Father gave them a house, which was given to the monastery by an old nun.

And most importantly, Sasha told me when we parted, when I asked him how he survived all this: “For two years while I was sitting in the hole, I cried so much that all the clay under me was wet from tears. I looked at the starry Chechen sky through the funnel of the zindan and searched for my Savior. I cried like a baby, I was looking for my God.”. “What next?” I asked. “And then I bathe in His embrace”, - answered Sasha.