Brezhnev's famous kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR. Who did Brezhnev kiss in the caricature painted on the Berlin Wall?

Everyone who witnessed the USSR also remembers the eternal kisses of the members of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, foreign guests with the head of the USSR, the chairman of this presidium, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.

The most famous kiss of our loving CPSU Secretary General L.I. Brezhnev was reflected in world photography thanks to the German photojournalist Barbara Klemm. In 1979, she filmed Brezhnev’s visit in honor of the 30th anniversary of the GDR. There L.I. captured the famous government kiss. Brezhnev and Eric Honecker - leader of the GDR.

The photographer didn’t even think that “The Kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker” would later be redrawn by D. Vrubel, a Russian artist, and the graffiti would end up on a fragment of the surviving Berlin Wall and would become one of the visual symbols of the 20th century. "God! Help me survive among this mortal love” or otherwise called “Brotherly Kiss”. One of the most famous graffiti in the world.

Who did L.I. kiss? Brezhnev? Eric Honecker. Yes, and many, he was friends from the heart - with Fidel Castro, and with Woyzeck Jaruzelski, and with Gustav Husak, and with Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter - and he kissed everyone when they met and parted. It went like this - first on both cheeks, and then on the mouth. Go dodge and refuse.

The kiss of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev is the main trend of the USSR during all 18 years of his reign as the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. One of the famous names for such a kiss is Triple Brezhnev.

Will be restored! This picture will be painted anew on the Berlin Wall. Like many other graffiti, it was destroyed. But dozens of artists, whose murals decorated the symbol of the division of Germany 20 years ago, will soon flock to Berlin to update their creations for the anniversary of the fall of the wall.

“Lord, help me survive” is all that remains. It was still “among this mortal love,” and Brezhnev kissed Honecker. The famous photograph, transferred to the Berlin Wall in 1990 by the artist Dmitry Vrubel, suddenly and irrevocably disappeared from it. This portrait, like other drawings, was mixed with concrete dust. “We approached, and there was only a piece of the inscription left. The vulgar word is “shock,” but at that moment I understood what shock is,” admits Dmitry Vrubel.

This is called "rehabilitation" or "recovery". While some workers are filling up the cracks, others are making new holes. The longest surviving section of the wall is run by an organization called the East Side Gallery. Artist Kani Alavi curates the work. He also painted on the wall and put his painting under the sandblasting machine. “The wall is in very poor condition. We fought for a long time for the right to complete reconstruction,” says the artist. “This is exactly what we are doing now. Everything will be ready by October 3.”

In 1979, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev came to Berlin to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the GDR. Barbara Klemm, a journalist for the West German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, attended the event because someone got confused and thought that she was from the GDR Frankfurt on the Oder. The next day, a masterpiece of political eroticism made headlines around the world. Those who came up with the idea of repairing the wall promise to restore everything as it was.
“I am responsible for getting the artists to gather around the wall again and paint it again,” says artist Jörg Weber. “That’s almost a hundred people. They need to be provided with special paints that are more durable and resistant to the environment.”

Throughout the 19 years that have passed since the wall was painted, someone was constantly painting something on it. The paintings were restored 10 years ago, but by the time of the current renovation they had lost their appearance again. Now, they say, there will be sensors: if someone comes to draw at night, a polite voice will ask him not to do so. There will be no warning that the police are already on their way.

Money at the Berlin Wall is lying underfoot today. For a piece of it in the souvenir shop they ask for 5 euros. The wall is dilapidated - that's a fact. And, perhaps, in order to save the drawings, they first had to be destroyed. But in 1990, when artists were allowed here, it was special moment inspiration - ending cold war. Now the original of this sentiment is lost. And, in best case scenario, only a copy of it will appear here.

The historical kiss is already 33 years old this year. Ten years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in October 1979, general secretary The CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev and the General Secretary of the SED Central Committee Erich Honecker cemented the brotherly love between the USSR and the GDR with a long and strong kiss.

Since then among the leaders different nations it has become fashionable to kiss each other because of rapprochement political courses. Although the idea is not new: already in Ancient Rome the owner gave the guest wine from his own lips, showing that it was not poisoned.

"Lord! Help me survive among this mortal love"

The kiss between Brezhnev and Honecker became famous throughout the world thanks to Dmitry Vrubel's graffiti on the Berlin Wall. The artist copied the “story” from a photograph taken by Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper correspondent Barbara Klemm at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the GDR. She, a representative of the Western (!) press, would never have been allowed to attend the anniversary, where socialist leaders were kissing, but... a happy accident helped.

Inspired by the preparations for the celebration, the organizers did not specify in which Frankfurt the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper was published, deciding that we were talking about Frankfurt an der Oder. And the irreparable happened: a Western photojournalist from Frankfurt am Main penetrated the holy of holies of the socialist camp. When the mistake was discovered, it was already too late: Barbara Klemm’s photograph instantly became a symbol of the era.

Graffiti for memory

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when Brezhnev was no longer among the living, and the Honecker regime was ordered to live a long time, the artist Dmitry Vrubel began creating his most famous creation - “Brotherly Kiss”. This wall “canvas”, framed by the inscription “Lord! Help me survive among this mortal love,” can still be admired in the German capital. A piece of the wall stands in its old place, within the city, so to speak, as a good memory of the vicissitudes of political fate.

On the eve of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we decided to capture the background famous work Vrubel of kissing people. Two couples, having kissed a lot against the backdrop of socialist brotherhood, agreed to tell us their love stories.

Anetta Rakhmanko (Russia) and Mikkel Sommerfeld (Denmark)

“We met at a concert of The Maccabees in 2009 in Berlin,” says Anetta. “I was doing an internship in Germany at the time and was hastily writing a thesis for my St. Petersburg university, and for the night I decided to get away from all my problems. He came from Denmark for the concert, just for one evening."

“We began to correspond, and two weeks later I bought a ticket to Copenhagen with my last money, without even thinking that he was studying in another city. And I sent him (as if by chance) a message that, supposedly, if he had time for a cup tea, then I’ll be glad. I was traveling without money, without any acquaintances and without prospects of finding housing. I almost slept through the plane because I was dreaming and preening all night,” recalls Anetta. “He met me and brought me to some place.” then a friend who left him an apartment for the weekend. At first it was awkward. In principle, I already understood that I was in love like a mouse! We walked around summer Copenhagen all day, and I became more and more aware of how different he was from other Danes, bearded and blond. And when we kissed for the first time, it started! As he saw me off to the plane, he said that if he had a choice of never seeing me again or marrying me and having children with me, he would marry without hesitation... I was scared.

Context

Then there were parties, hitchhiking together to Paris. Soon my visa expired, and meetings began once a month in “saving” countries of the world, where I, a Russian, did not need a visa. Mikkel arrived at one of these meetings wearing a T-shirt on which “Be my wife” was written in Russian. This couldn’t go on for long, so we made up our minds. I went to university in Berlin, left my friends, my job, and my beloved city. He left his design school in Denmark. We found an apartment on the canal and brought our things: one suitcase and one backpack. The first months we slept on the floor. We had two spoons and one saucepan. But it was summer. And terrible romance!

Soon my dad planned to fly from Siberia to Berlin to visit us, and then Mikkel asked me more persistently about the wedding. We dreamed of children. Marriage was not the goal. But somehow everything worked out, we submitted an application in Copenhagen. We had two months to prepare. At the same time, I did an internship in the Bundestag, and there was nothing to do. I bought the dress by chance on Ebay; they found a suit made in the GDR for him in a second-hand store. They called those closest to us and found a wonderful punk chef.

There were some adventures. My passport was at the British Embassy with a visa application at the time and it was delayed for four months. I went to the wedding as an illegal immigrant on a bus, begging the drivers to take me. This is still the happiest day of my life! After the honeymoon, we constantly had to separate again. But since March of this year we have been constantly living in Berlin and are waiting for a very long-awaited addition. I don’t know where we will end up next. Mikkel is diligently learning Russian and dreams of living in Russia, and I “gnaw” Danish so that I can understand what my husband with my huge belly is talking about.”

Fanny Dietel (Germany) and Mikhail Akkent (Russia)

“We are studying psychology at the Humboldt University,” says Mikhail. “Until our second year, we didn’t pay attention to each other, but one day we ended up in the library together. When we were leaving, Fanny (Fanny Dietel) called me by name and offered to drink coffee. Why she decided to do this, she still cannot explain. There are some moments when it’s not us who decide what to do, but something from the outside.”

“Instead of the planned fifteen minutes, we sat for coffee for two hours. And now we’ve been together for three years,” Mikhail continues the story. “She didn’t know that I was Russian, although now this plays an important role, because Fanny’s parents studied in Tver for five years to doctors, and when she was little, sometimes the family switched to Russian.

I was born in the ancient city of Belozersk, in Vologda region. Only at the age of nine did I find out that my mother was German. She, of course, speaks perfect Russian, and family history was rarely mentioned in conversations. Our ancestors moved to Russia with Catherine II. What’s most amazing is that when we emigrated to Germany in 1998, we were settled in the same city of Zerbst, where Catherine had left at the age of 16 to marry the future Emperor Peter III. I found this out later, discovering the family history. So we have international families, and I, for example, feel that I carry both cultures within me.

We moved to Germany when I was 10 years old. Of course, at first I felt out of place. An adult can adapt to the situation; it is more difficult for a child to feel like a “stranger.” This was a good incentive to learn the language perfectly. When I speak German today, people rarely guess where I'm from. Native language I kept it according to my mother's will. It was not difficult, since in the family we only spoke Russian."

Hi all! The trip to Berlin left many unforgettable emotions in our hearts. Today I want to talk about something significant in history German people memorial Berlin Wall. There will be a lot of photos and interesting facts, stay with us.

The content of the article:

The Berlin Wall left an unforgettable impression in our memory. Now decorated with colorful graffiti, it does not give the slightest hint of its dark past, but for the inhabitants of Germany the Berlin Wall will forever remain in memory as a symbol of the Cold War. This place definitely needs to be on the list. What to see in Berlin.

We left the last day of our independent route Kyiv-Warsaw-Berlin to see this significant attraction. After yesterday's trip to Dresden, we are full of inspiration and energy and ready for new adventures.)

History of the Berlin Wall

1. Construction of the Berlin Wall

Until 1961, the border between the eastern and western parts of Berlin was open, residents were able to freely leave the country. Mass departures of citizens were a protest against the socialist regime of the GDR. In those years eastern part Berlin left many young and promising personnel. Every year there were more and more emigrants. In this regard, the demographic and economic situation of the GDR worsened.

Against the backdrop of an escalation of the conflict between two military-political blocs - NATO and countries Warsaw Pact, the leadership of the socialist camp decided to build the Berlin Wall.

The construction of the Berlin Wall began unexpectedly on the night of August 13, 1961. A concrete wall and barbed wire divided the city into two parts - West and East Berlin. On this day, residents of both parts of Berlin woke up to find the dividing line cordoned off and full swing Preparations are underway for the construction of a permanent structure. People in the east looked at all this in confusion and realized that they would no longer be able to escape.

On the morning of August 14, tens of thousands of people gathered near the Brandenburg Gate on both sides of the border, but all attempts to cross it were suppressed by the GDR police. People could not go to work, from guests home, the Berlin Wall ran through the streets and houses. Overnight, the wall divided the Germans for decades.

The total length of the Berlin Wall was 155 kilometers, of which 45 kilometers ran within the city, sometimes dividing one street into two parts. Barbed wire was laid along the entire perimeter, a 3.6-meter high concrete wall and 302 observation towers stopped mass emigration to Germany. Thus, the East German government closed the borders between East and West Berlin, which made it possible to stop the outflow of people and funds to another Germany, regain control over its territory, its population and economy, strengthen its position and create the basis for the independent development of its republic.

Despite the wall and many restrictions, there were several checkpoints along the fence that made it possible to move around Berlin. The most famous of them is Checkpoint Charlie, which allowed people from West and East Berlin to pass through.

However, escape attempts continued. They required a more thoughtful approach, since a person’s life already depended on it. As control tightened, the fugitives came up with new plans to cross the impenetrable wall. They hid in music speakers, secret car compartments, and rose into the sky on balloons and homemade trikes, swam across rivers and canals. The most memorable and massive escape was the escape through a dug tunnel, the length of which was 140 meters. 57 people were able to cross it.

2.The Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall lasted until November 9, 1989. No one could have predicted that it would cease to exist at this time, but when Hungary opened its borders with Austria, the wall lost its meaning. People didn’t know how it would all end, everything happened spontaneously!

Hundreds of thousands of residents of East Berlin, having heard the news that access control was being simplified, went to the Berlin Wall. The border guards, who had not received orders on how to behave, first tried to push the crowd back, but then, yielding to the massive pressure, they were forced to open the border. Thousands of West Berliners came out to greet the guests from the east.

What was happening was reminiscent folk holiday. Happiness filled their hearts, because this was not only the unification of the country. But also the reunification of families that were separated by the borders of Germany and the GDR.

Berlin Wall now

After the border between western and eastern part Berlin was opened, the wall began to be dismantled piece by piece. Everyone wanted to keep a souvenir as a souvenir, some fans modern history They even removed entire blocks of the wall. Now the remains of the Berlin Wall are a historical monument that is under state protection.

Today, only a few original sections of the wall remain on the streets of Berlin. One of them was turned into the largest piece of street art in the world. 1.3 km long. We went with great interest to see what the Berlin Wall looks like now.

Bright graffiti decorates the tall concrete wall. Now there is a whole memorial complex “East Side Gallery”. It is located on the street on the street. Mühlenstraße in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain, along which the border between the GDR and West Berlin passed. It was created by 118 artists from 21 countries in 1990, painting the Berlin Wall with a brush and graffiti cans. To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the East-Side-Gallery was carefully restored.

Until then, you can admire the famous graffiti of the Berlin Wall, which was created by Dmitry Vrubel “Brotherly Kiss” by Brezhnev and Honecker. After the fall of the wall, when Brezhnev was not among the living, the artist Vrubel began work on the creation of this famous creation. At the bottom of the “picture” is framed by the inscription “Lord! Help me survive among this mortal love”.

The historic kiss turns 36 this year. Ten years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in October 1979, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev and General Secretary of the SED Central Committee Eric Honecker cemented the brotherly love between the USSR and the GDR with a long and strong kiss. After this, it became fashionable for leaders to kiss each other as a sign of rapprochement in political relations.

After the destruction of the wall, many fragments were sold to lovers of modern art. They can be seen at the CIA headquarters in Langley, at the office of Microsoft Corporation, and at the Ronald Reagan Museum. In addition, many Germans stocked up on pieces of the wall for personal collection or future enrichment. After all, in a couple of hundred years they can be sold for an impressive amount. In Kyiv, near the German Embassy, there is also a fragment of the Berlin Wall.

Before the construction of the Berlin Wall, approximately 3.5 million East Germans fled to Western Germany.
During its existence from 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall stopped almost all emigration and separated the eastern and western parts of Germany for almost 30 years.
Before the fall of the "concrete border" in 1989, the length of the wall was 155 km, of which 127.5 km were with electrical or audible alarms. The structure had 302 observation towers, 259 dog parks, 20 bunkers, which were guarded by more than 11 thousand soldiers.
In those places where the border was divided by houses, doors and windows on the lower floors were walled up.
After the wall was built, about 5,000 people tried to escape. As a result, between 98 and 200 people died.

The mayor of Berlin and future Chancellor of Germany, Social Democrat Willy Brandt, dubbed the structure the “Wall of Shame,” which was quickly picked up by Western media.
The “death strip”, which was laid across East Berlin, ranged from 30 to 150 meters in width, was equipped with searchlights and was guarded by soldiers with dogs. Signal wires, barbed wire, and spikes were used as obstacles. Next came a trench and anti-tank hedgehogs, which were installed in case armed conflict. There were also strips of sand along which no one could pass unnoticed.
It is estimated that during the existence of the wall, approximately 10,000 people tried to escape and about half succeeded.
What people did not do to get to the West. Currently, there is a Museum of the Berlin Wall, which tells what tricks people went to in order to overcome it.
Today, only a few original sections of the wall remain on the streets of Berlin. One of them was turned into the largest piece of street art in the world.

A piece of the Berlin Wall is now the most popular souvenir from Germany; it can be purchased in any souvenir shop for a couple of euros.

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Lenin and Stalin did not like to kiss, at least not in public. There was, however, a case when the legendary Chkalov hugged Joseph Vissarionovich out of excess of feelings, but this does not count.

The emergence of party fashion for kissing

The fashion for government kisses was introduced by N. S. Khrushchev. His rise to power marked a certain warming in the domestic political situation. Obviously, like any spring phenomenon, it caused a surge of positive emotions, expressed in this gesture, meaning a manifestation of love for one’s neighbor, including in the Christian understanding of this word. After the asceticism of the Stalin years, the kisses of the leaders of the party and government looked soulful and quite natural. They were readily accepted as a norm of behavior along with the words “our dear”, which came into use at the turn of the sixties.

However, it is impossible to attribute the First Secretary’s display of affection to Easter kisses; he did not like the church, and tried by all means to limit its activities. Nikita Sergeevich received his last official kiss in October 1964 from Klim Voroshilov, whom the participants in his removal did not inform in advance of their serious intentions. None of the members of the Central Committee wanted to hug him anymore, although they had done so before. Everyone kissed Khrushchev during his reign: Brezhnev, Semichastny, Mikoyan, and Kosygin. In fairness, it should be noted that he showed his feelings timidly, somehow like a pioneer, and did not abuse this deeply intimate gesture, showing voluntarism in other matters.

"Triple Brezhnev"

After the embarrassment, a plenum took place at the airport, at which Leonid Brezhnev was elected secretary general. The kiss quickly became part of the party ritual, demonstrating to the Soviet people and the entire world community, the deeply humane essence of our native government. It was impossible to suspect the head of state of any perverted inclinations, and not because anyone was afraid of the all-powerful KGB. For him, dear, the fame of not just a “walker”, but a famous amateur, was firmly established beautiful women, and he could afford to behave as he saw fit, and express his feelings as he pleased.

Brezhnev's first kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR, made a huge impression on the citizens of Czechoslovakia. was kissed three times, quite Orthodox-style, on the cheeks and lips. Perhaps representatives of the fraternal Slavic peoples, who inhabited the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, would have treated this act more tolerantly, if not for the preceding events of 1968, after which they developed an excess of sarcasm and causticity. Showing reactionary thinking, they called this kiss “triple Brezhnev,” apparently hinting that a definition with a larger numeral is possible.

Refuseniks

The Romanian communist leader turned out to be less tolerant. He suffered from bacteriophobia, was terribly afraid of infection by pathogens, and therefore avoided contact with all possible sources of bacilli. Brezhnev's kiss, he believed, could cause an infection, because no one wiped the Soviet leader with alcohol, and he was not sterile. History is silent about exactly what words the head of the CPR expressed his disagreement, but he still managed to avoid kissing.

Brezhnev's famous kisses caused serious concern to the British Foreign Office in anticipation of the government visit being prepared in 1971. " The Iron Lady", having gone through a harsh school in political struggle, was faced with a situation the parliament of Foggy Albion had no analogues with. Thatcher, like the intractable Romanian, managed to avoid the friendly embrace, which at that moment she perhaps feared more than all the Soviet ones combined.

Fidel Castro made a witty comeback, he simply lit a cigarette on the gangway, and so, with a cigarette clenched in his teeth, he went to say hello. The matter was settled with a firm handshake and a hug, which is quite acceptable on Liberty Island. But kissing is not customary among Cuban men.

Brezhnev's every kiss was captured by lenses

But a young American woman, who came as part of a delegation to Moscow in 1973, received Brezhnev’s kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR and the USA at the same time. Every normal man will understand dear Leonid Ilyich: a pretty girl gives flowers, how can you resist? Annie Hollman, the dance teacher, immediately became a celebrity, which she apparently didn't mind. Few Americans could boast of such an event in their lives, except perhaps Jimmy Carter, the president. He got it too.

Not sparing the suffering lips

Indira Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, many other leaders of the socialist world, rulers and dictators of developing countries, Latin American liberators fighting neo-colonialism, African leaders and other representatives of progressive humanity were received in Moscow as dear guests. And the magnificent receptions were invariably complemented by Brezhnev’s legendary kiss. Perhaps not all guests liked it, but for political and economic reasons they tolerated it. Joseph, according to unverified rumors, suffered more than others; he even injured his lip.

Brezhnev's most famous kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR and the whole world

But Brezhnev’s most famous and widely publicized kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR, the GDR and all of Europe, happened in 1971. The artist redrawn it from a photo using graffiti shortly before her fall, immortalizing the epoch-making moment of unprecedented unity of the leaders of the countries of the socialist commonwealth. Eric Honecker is almost invisible, recognizable only by his glasses and hairstyle. Why is this moment so eventful? Soviet history became so famous, it’s hard to explain. The meeting with the GDR in the early seventies was an ordinary matter, its protocol was also not original. L.I. Brezhnev's kiss expressed only sincere respect for the elderly communist and anti-fascist. There was no hypocrisy in him, such was the party ethics that had been formed over decades. In general, nothing special.

When M. S. Gorbachev tried to do the same thing, everything looked completely different...