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history of life and death of the Gestapo chief,
Heinrich Müller, still raises a lot of
questions. He always preferred to remain in the
shadows. It has been established that on 28 April
1945 he was present at Hitler's bunker in Berlin.
After that date he disappeared without trace. Yet
years past, German prisoners of war started
returning from the USSR, and more and more often
sensational gossips came to life - they maintained
that the Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller had
been seen in Moscow, in the uniform of a Soviet
Colonel. The
more so, he reportedly took part in
interrogations, and meticulously checked the
translations for correctness... Finally,
Wiesenthal received a hint that Müller
reportedly had moved to the German Democratic Republic,
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where he met his wife on regular basis. |
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Meanwhile,
to most of the Soviet people the name of
Heinrich Müller did not become known until
1973, when the state television aired a
12-episode serial titled Seventeen Moments of
Spring, directed by a former KGB officer, Tamara
Lioznova. The success of the serial was preceded
by similar success of the original novel (which
became the basis for its script), written by
Yulian Semenov, also a former intelligence and
KGB officer. Interestingly enough, before the
serial was aired in the USSR, it was first aired
in the GDR, where it became an overnight
success. But what is really sensational, is the
way it portrays one of the main, and beyond any
doubts most bloody, war criminals. The Gestapo
chief looks there like a quite humane, if not a
sympathetic, person. Strange enough too, that
with the obsessive tendency to observe a strict
historic accuracy, typical to the Soviet cinema,
and the serial's characters in particular, the
character of Heinrich Müller demonstrates a
number of historical errors.
All the actors playing roles of the historic
characters had a striking resemblance to the
persons they played: Nikolai Prokopovich to
Heinrich Himmler, Mikhail Zharkovskiy to Ernst
Kaltenbrunner, etc. The role of the
unforgettable Schellenberg was given to Oleg
Tabakov, previously known mostly from comedies.
For the rather episodic role of Hitler was
invited the German actor Fritz Ditz. The role of
Martin Bormann was played by a singer, not an
actor, the late Yuri Vizbor. And a lot of effort
was put to recreate the image of the little
known SS-Gruppenführer Karl Wolff,
eventually played by Vasiliy Lanovoy.
For short, everything was there as it should be
in the professional cinema. The only character
that had nothing in common with the original was
the Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller in a
brilliant interpretation of Leonid Bronevoy.
Moreover, anybody, who had a chance to see a
photograph of the real Müller, could not
help experiencing a shock after figuring out
whom it resembled and whom it did not. The
historic Müller had a beautiful hair
without a trace of gray colour, while Müller/Bronevoy
seems to rub in audience's face his bald head
with the remnants of snow-white hair. Also the
Gestapo chief is the only character, who
constantly stresses his old age. In the final
scenes of the film he even complains with
regret: In 1965 you, Stirlitz, will be less than
70, and I will be older than 80! In fact
Heinrich Müller was born in 1900, so in the
beginning of 1945, when the action of the
Seventeen Moments is placed, he was 44. Too
early to consider anybody old. Would it be the
age of the actor? Not at all.
At the time when the film was shot, Vyacheslav
Tikhonov - Max von Stirlitz - was 44. Exactly as
old as the real Müller in 1945. And this is
how he is portrayed: a tall, masculine and
handsome man in his prime. And Leonid Bronevoy,
also 44 years old, looks like a grumpy old
grandpa, with puffy cheeks and big bags under
his eyes, tired of the war, of life and
generally of everything. He does not hesitate to
demonstrate his hatred for the top of the Nazi
leadership. He hates Himmler, he abhores the
once powerful Göring, he cannot stand Göbbels,
and even about Bormann, the second figure of the
Nazi system, he speaks with contempt (although
very carefully). But Hitler is whom he hates
most! Hitler is a dickhead. He has brought
Germany to disaster, says Müller in the
beginning of his final monologue. Look, who is
talking! Is it an ardent anti-fascist? No, it is
Heinrich Müller, who in 1920's and
1930's used to scatter the Nazi scum in the
streets and pubs of Munich.
Perhaps it is not by chance that Müller in
the Seventeen Moments looks like some dissident
loner, since long bracing for the inevitable
Germany's defeat and refusing to compromise with
the top leaders of the Third Reich. The only man
in whom he looks for, and seemingly finds an
ally is Stirlitz - an agent of the Soviet
intelligence, Colonel Maxim Maximovich Isayev.
It is absolutely impossible that Semenov and
Lioznova, who had access to the top secret
archives, could not know how old was one of the
key figures of their captivating story, and what
he looked like. Yet to someone it was extremely
important to alter the image of this particular
character. There is a saying that if the stars
are lit up that means someone needs it. Who
needed to alter the image of the Gestapo chief
Heinrich Müller beyond recognition?
And first of all - why?
Before offering you an explanation, I will take
the liberty to make yet another volte-face and
quote... Who, do you think? A notorious
distorter of the historic truth, the journalist
Eugene Kiselev. In the program devoted to
smearing of the 30th anniversary of the
Seventeen Moments he stated with autority: Alas,
a spy, who would penetrate the Reich's Chief
Security Office of the fascist Germany so high,
didn't exist! On the other hand we know beyond
doubts that the Soviet leadership did know about
a Nazis' attempt to open peace talks with the
Americans. It is mentioned in the memoirs of
Georgiy Zhukov, Sergei Shtemenko, Ivan Maisky,
Kim Philby, Harold MacMillan and many others.
Such an information could be leaked only from
Berlin, and only from its top élite. So,
who did it? Kiselev claims that such an agent
did not exist. Schellenberg was convinced that
Müller, at least at the end of the
war, was a Soviet agent. If that was so, then
the mysterious radio-signals from the Gestapo,
as well as the information about Wolf's mission,
were sent not by the fictitious Stirlitz, but
his prototype - Müller. That would
explain why Bronevoy does not resemble the real
Müller at all, while Stirlitz/Isayev is, or
at least looks like, his exact copy. He is even
in the same age. And he has the same rank.
Radio-transmissions, Berlin, Moscow, Stirlitz, Müller,
Isayev, Schellenberg... Are these matching
pieces of a sensational puzzle?
It is hard to say whether we will ever have the
answer, whether will ever be declassified any
documents that will shed light on this, in my
opinion, quite a logical story. Most likely not.
Legends have it that they live longer than
reality. The evil Müller will never replace
the handsome Stirlitz.
Say impossible? Not at all. Why would the
intelligence service of any country refuse to
collaborate with the Gestapo chief? For
ideology? As a professional and sinister figure,
Müller was admired, and he himself admired
his rivals too. For moral reasons? No shit! It
was pure interest. And mutual too. Müller
bet on would-be winners, and they in their turn
were acquiring priceless information directly
from the Gestapo chief. That simply leaves no
room for ideology. During the Second World War
Stalin walked over many an ideological barriers,
just to beat the enemy - why not walk over yet
another one and turn an enemy into a friend?
Having recruited Müller as his agent,
Stalin immediately subscribed for exclusive and
unique information of strategic importance, and
acquired a professional and influential mole in
the enemy country. The more so, a controllable
mole, which had a lot of reasons to fear the
outcome of the war. And here comes to mind Müller's
revelation from the conversation with Stirlitz,
which Semenov places at the end of March 1945:
There is no need to hurry to move to a little
farm with a swimming pool. Many a Führer's
stooges will do it soon and meet their fate. But
when the Russian canonade roars in the streets
of Berlin, and our soldiers fight for every
single house, then will be time to leave without
slamming the door. To leave and to take the
secret with us...
Regardless of whether Müller was or was not
a Soviet agent, nobody can deny that the real
Heinrich Müller did exactly that. He left.
And he took the secret with him.
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Leonid
Bronevoy as
Heinrich Müller was the only
character that had nothing common with his
real prototype. |
On
the other hand, Vyacheslav
Tikhonov displayed
striking resemblance to the real Müller
in the role of the fictitious Stirlitz. |
LEONID
BRONEVOY: I PLAYED MÜLLER IN THE SEVENTEEN
MOMENTS OF SPRING
Igor
Tufeld
Leonid
Bronevoy as Heinrich Müller (left) was the
only character that had nothing common with his
real prototype. On the other hand, Vyacheslav
Tikhonov (right) displayed striking resemblance to
the real Müller in the role of the fictitious
Stirlitz. |
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Excerpt
from Leonid Bronevoy's interview on the 30th
anniversary of the Seventeen
Moments of Spring.
Ogonyok
magazine. Moscow, 16 March 1998
Tatyana
Lioznova, the chief director of that film,
completely surprised me when she suggested I
could try the role of Müller. But actually
a regular rehearsal was never staged. The
deadlines were very tough. (...)
I was never shown an archive portrait of my
character. I still have no clue what he looked
like. Amidst the fuss of the shootings,
rehearsals, costume fittings and travels, it
simply did not come to my mind to ask anybody:
find and show me a photograph of the real Müller.
I played my role by the script, as it was in the
screen-play, purely intuitively. I never heard
before that my character, Heinrich Müller,
resembled Vyacheslav Tikhonov's Stirlitz. To me
that's news. I just read the screen-play written
by Yulian Semenov, and that was the end of my
work with the documentary material, because
nobody introduced us into the archive materials,
and I don't even know how much I or anybody of
my colleagues outwardly matched the image of
their characters.
Yulian Semenov himself showed up several times
at the film-studios, but he practically did not
socialize with us, the actors. As a rule, he
limited his contacts to several gray-clad men
from the KGB, who were constantly present at the
studios.
Our team was already ready for shooting, but
Lioznova till the last moment hesitated to
confirm my assignment to the role of Müller.
They even suggested I would play Hitler. But
then they found a good German actor Fritz Ditz.
According to Lioznova, Müller should have
been outwardly stiffer, not as charming as, she
said, I was. There were more than enough
volunteers to play the role of Heinrich Müller.
And they all were quite famous actors. And
suddenly there I came. An actor like me, not
quite famous, had to play one of the key roles.
Originally I even wanted to give up. But after
all, what does it matter? The audience has been
watching the film since long, and perceiving its
characters the way they see them in this film.
In
general, I am not disappointed with my
performance in the Seventeen Moments. And I am
glad that even today people watch it with
interest, and they know Heinrich Müller the
way I have played him.
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| Heinrich
Himmler (left) got berserk when Müller
was not admitted to the Nazi party.
Nikolai Prokopovich (right) displayed a
striking resemblance to Himmler. |
Martin
Bormann (left) did not show resemblance
to any Soviet actor, so eventually a
singer, Yuri Vizbor (right), was taken
to play his role.
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Walter Schellenberg (left) was the
youngest and the brightest German General.
Since long he suspected that Müller was a
Soviet spy. His role was played by Oleg
Tabakov (right). |
Karl Wolf (left) was a little known figure
of the Second World War, so it cost a lot
of effort to match his image with Vasiliy
Lanovoy (right) |
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M.
Arushev |
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