“Deal with Soviet propaganda in one blow”
During the war years, Yuri Levitan went live with daily reports from the Soviet Information Bureau. As the candidate of historical sciences, professor, publisher and Nobel Prize laureate Vitaly Tepikin noted, cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy wrote in his memoirs that with Levitan’s voice even the most difficult news was conveyed with determination, which instilled in people confidence in the inevitability of victory. of the USSR.
“And the front line gunner Anany Yakovlev emphasized that people specially gathered on the plates of radio speakers to listen to reports, did not lose their sense of unity and courage in the fight against a dangerous enemy,” the journalist told socialbites.ca.
However, despite the nationwide fame, no one knew what Levitan looked like, and his photos were not published. According to the doctor of historical sciences Alexander Orishev, even Joseph Stalin (b) with whom Levitan has voiced speeches since the XVII Congress of the CPSU [1934 г. — «Газета.Ru»]first saw Yuri Borisovich only on July 3, 1941.
“During all the years of the war, Levitan was carefully guarded. He lived in deep secrecy in Moscow, and then in Sverdlovsk and Kuibyshev. And there were reasons for that. It was known that Adolf Hitler ordered his secret services to eliminate the announcer, ”explains the expert.
Levitan – a solid reward for 100 thousand Reichsmarks. The person who organized his abduction and delivered him alive to Berlin was already expecting 250 thousand Reichsmarks.
Also, the historian and author of books on the history of Soviet everyday life, Orishev, says the idea was very appealing to Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda and a big fan of radio. The USSR was expected to “deal with Soviet propaganda in one blow”.
“Levitan, who was in German captivity, was supposed to declare from Berlin the surrender of the USSR. Then Yuri Borisovich was to be executed in public – he was hanged in the square. Stalin would climb the scaffolding second. Such an ambitious plan was fueled by Goebbels, the head of the Nazi propaganda machine,” says Alexander Orishev.
That’s why the Soviet announcer was so carefully guarded, the historian adds. They even deliberately misinformed about his appearance: he allegedly had a heroic appearance, was more than two meters high, which completely contradicted reality. There were also tales of direct contrast that Levitan was an old red-haired hunchback.
Yudka Levitan and faith in victory
According to Alexander Orishev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Hitler’s hatred of Levitan stems from two reasons. First, Hitler, himself a good orator, understood the importance of the spoken word as an important propaganda tool. Levitan, on the other hand, was entrusted with the function of the main announcer of the USSR.
“Actually, he conveyed the thoughts of Stalin, who was always listened to with interest, but lacked acting and oratory skills. But due to the Levitan skill of the announcer, any text acquired a special emotional color. His unique diction always instilled in the Soviet people faith in victory, even in the most difficult times, ”the expert says.
The second reason, in his opinion, is the nationality of Levitan, who from birth bore the name Yudka, and not Yuri, as it appears in official Soviet historiography. Thus, the historian says that for Hitler, whose surname refers to the origin of his family to the Levi tribe, Levitan personified world Judaism – the main evil of world civilization in the understanding of the Führer.
“I note that Levitan’s favorite technique is to end each sentence on a high note, not peculiar to the usual intonation of a Russian person. But such a technique was often used by Jewish priests during worship. And, of course, all this together bothered the Führer, ”says the doctor of science.
How did Levitan become the “voice of the Soviet Union”?
According to the candidate of historical sciences Vitaly Tepikin, Yuri Levitan appeared on the radio by chance. After school, he moved from Vladimir to the capital to enter a film technical school and failed. He applied to radio announcer courses in order not to return with a defeat.
After them, he got into All-Union Radio, but they took him not on the air, but to deliver tea and coffee to the luminaries, says the expert. So Levitan studied for several years, while learning from his experience and improving his speech. Over time, he received the right to do night broadcasts – to read the editorial of Pravda.
“Then there was such a practice: the night announcer slowly read the main article to stenographers in the regions, recorded it on the radio and transferred it to print for the latest issues of local newspapers. One day, Stalin accidentally heard about such a technical publication. Levitan’s voice made a strong impression,” says Nobel Prize nominee Tepikin.
It was then that Stalin instructed this announcer to read his next report. Tepikin added that after that, 19-year-old Yuri Levitan became the “voice of the Soviet Union”.