A school student from Yamal became the center of a big scandal after his speech in the Bundestag. Telling the German deputies about World War II, he called the soldiers of the fascist army, I quote, "innocent victims that didn't want to go to war." Andrey Grigoriev reports why such words were spoken in the German Parliament by a Russian high school student.
A gymnasium student from Novy Urengoy, Nikolay Desyatnichenko, in his 2-minute speech, in the Bundestag, without any intention of doing so, caused an emotional reaction in his home country.
Quote: Georg was one of 250 000 German soldiers trapped by the Soviet Army in the so-called Stalingrad Cauldron.
The central figure of the student’s story was a corporal of the German fascist army Georg Johann Raus. First, the so-called Stalingrad Cauldron and later, "the innocently killed Wehrmacht soldiers": I saw the tombs of innocently killed people, among which many wanted to live peacefully and didn't want to go to war”.
The deputies of the German Parliament keep their heads down.
Fascism is condemned in the whole world, there is no second opinion on the issue.
Vladimir Bortko, Duma Deputy and famous film director: "It means that nobody told him anything about what had really happened. The German army didn't arrive in Stalingrad in warm train compartments, but these people came to conquer our homeland".
Here is the gymnasium in Novy Urengoy, where Desyatnichenko studied. He was awarded a trip to Berlin for being a straight-A student and having exemplary manners.
Ekaterina Kashnikova, Gymnasium Director: "Nikolay conducted serious work in search of historical facts and documents. He is a long-time winner of academic historical competitions".
And the adults that sent the students to Berlin saw this research, of course.
Mikhail Tereshenko, Educational Department Head in Novy Urengoy: "Upon condensing the text, because we were asked to give a 2-minute speech, the main points were blurred".
Elena Kukushkina, Head of Communist Party Unit: "If we continue to blur the points and show regret, the results of World War II could be reconsidered. I'm sorry, but Kaliningrad is a Russian city".
Nikolay's parents said that it was an accident.
Most of the research was dedicated to his grandfather, who fought in the war, but the kid was confused after having been told to reduce the speech to 2 minutes and wasn't able to deliver the pacifist message he had in mind.
Oksana, Nikolay's mother: "The goal of this mission was to commemorate what the war taught us in order not to let this horror happen again".
The writer Daniil Granin spoke from this tribune several years ago. Being a war veteran himself, he spoke about the Siege of Leningrad, carried out by ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers, just like Georg Johann Raus.
Daniil Granin, writer: "The soldiers should fight with soldiers. War is a purely soldiers' matter. But here hunger was sent to fight instead of the soldiers".
The deputies kept silent for a long time, but then they applauded while standing.
Andrey Grigoriev, Yaroslav Krasienko, Anna Kol, Vesti
