In 1903, the famous Russian athlete Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny went to the world championship in French wrestling, which was held in Paris. 130 athletes from all over the world arrived at the tournament. Despite the fact that this was the first world championship for Poddubny, he had a good chance of winning.

The beginning of the tournament was successful for the Russian, he confidently won eleven victories in a row. In the twelfth fight, he was to meet with the French wrestler Raul Musson, nicknamed "le Boucher" (The Butcher). The twenty-year-old athlete was a favorite of Parisian wrestlers. He began his sports career at the age of thirteen and quickly gained popularity in the wrestling world. Raul quit his job at the butcher shop and became a professional wrestler.

The Frenchman was 12 years younger than his rival, with a height of 188 centimeters and a weight of 120 kilograms, he had tremendous strength, while being distinguished by speed and agility. But Poddubny was clearly not going to give in to the young Frenchman.

A few minutes after the start of the fight, Ivan's hands suddenly began to slide over the body of Raoul le Boucher. The Parisian easily escaped from the mighty captures of Podubny. Ivan Maksimovich addressed the judges, saying that his opponent was oiled. The arbitrators examined the French wrestler and recognized that his body was indeed covered with oily sweat. It turned out that Le Boucher had smeared himself with olive oil.

Surprisingly, the fight continued. The arbitrators made a truly “Solomonic” decision: to stop the fight every 5 minutes and wipe the French wrestler dry. But the oil came out again with the sweat.

So the "slippery" Raul le Boucher managed to survive until the end of the fight. As strange as it may seem, it was he who was recognized as the winner "for beautiful departures from receptions."

The Russian Athletic Society sent Raul an offer to meet Poddubny again, promising a prize of 10,000 francs in case of victory. But he was able to slip away here too: he delicately refused to fight again.

However, the wrestlers met a year later at the next World Championship in St. Petersburg. Revenge was cruel - the Russian wrestler kept his opponent for 42 minutes, in a knee-elbow position, to the whistle and hooting of the public, until the judges took pity on Le Boucher.

The life of Raoul le Boucher ended tragically. During Ivan Maksimovich's tour in Italy, de Boucher "ordered" Poddubny to local bandits. This conspiracy was overheard by another French wrestler, Emble de la Calmette, and was killed on the spot. But Poddubny simply scattered the bandits. And, although the “work” remained unfulfilled, the bandits began to demand payment from the customer. He refused to pay, for which he received a fatal blow to the head with a rubber stick. It was announced to the public that Raoul de Boucher had died of meningitis. He was barely 24 years old.

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny

Fact number 1. Revenge of Ivan Poddubny

At the dawn of the 20th century, Ivan Poddubny showed the whole world that the most strong people live in Russia. His physical appearance, character, unheard-of victories among people from all over the world were associated with the country where he was born. Russia is heard in the very name of the invincible wrestler.

In 1903, the famous Russian athlete Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny went to the world championship in French wrestling, which was held in Paris. 130 athletes from all over the world arrived at the tournament. Despite the fact that this was the first world championship for Poddubny, he had a good chance of winning.

The beginning of the tournament was successful for the Russian, he confidently won eleven victories in a row. In the twelfth fight, he was to meet with the French wrestler Raul Musson, nicknamed "le Boucher" (The Butcher).

The twenty-year-old athlete was a favorite of Parisian wrestlers. He began his sports career at the age of thirteen and quickly gained popularity in the wrestling world. Raul quit his job at the butcher shop and became a professional wrestler. The Frenchman was 12 years younger than his rival, with a height of 188 centimeters and a weight of 120 kilograms, he had tremendous strength, while being distinguished by speed and agility. But Poddubny was clearly not going to give in to the young Frenchman.

A few minutes after the start of the fight, Ivan's hands suddenly began to slide over the body of Raoul le Boucher. The Parisian easily escaped from the mighty captures of Podubny. Ivan Maksimovich addressed the judges, saying that his opponent was oiled. The arbitrators examined the French wrestler and recognized that his body was indeed covered with oily sweat. It turned out that Le Boucher had smeared himself with olive oil. Surprisingly, the fight continued. The arbitrators made a truly “Solomonic” decision: to stop the fight every 5 minutes and wipe the French wrestler dry. But the oil came out again with the sweat. So the “slippery” Raul le Boucher managed to survive until the end of the fight. As strange as it may seem, it was he who was recognized as the winner "for beautiful departures from receptions."

Poddubny was shocked not even by the fact that he was undeservedly, brazenly withdrawn from further competitions. Speaking for the first time, he realized that even at such a representative authoritative forum in the face of many hundreds of spectators watching the fight, the triumph of the blackest lies and human dishonesty is possible. This lesson will forever make Poddubny an implacable, uncompromising enemy of "dirty sports".

Petersburg knew about the Paris incident, but, not wanting a major scandal, they suggested by telegraph panel of judges repeat the fight between Poddubny and Raul, promising the latter a prize of 10,000 francs if he wins. But the French naturally refused.

However, Paris turned out to be only the starting point for further clarifications on the carpet of the “Russian bear” and the favorite of the French. Fate kept bringing them together - people who, according to their convictions, personified the light and dark sides of the sport.

Raul le Boucher - a strong, technical wrestler - was able to fairly evaluate Poddubny. It was clear that in open combat he could not cope with him. I did not want to lose the title of the idol of the public, the star of French sports. And when, a year later, Raoul arrived in Petersburg for International Championship, he offered Poddubny a bribe of 20 thousand francs.

Revenge was cruel. This proposal, which the strange Russian considered offensive, cost the "star" twenty minutes of standing on all fours to the whistle of the hall. "This is cheating for you! This is for the olive oil!” - said Poddubny. He released Raul only at the insistence of the judges ...

The life of Raoul le Boucher ended tragically. During Ivan Maksimovich's tour in Italy, de Boucher "ordered" Poddubny to local bandits. This conspiracy was overheard by another French wrestler, Emble de la Calmette, and was killed on the spot. But Poddubny simply scattered the bandits. And, although the “work” remained unfulfilled, the bandits began to demand payment from the customer. He refused to pay, for which he received a fatal blow to the head with a rubber stick. It was announced to the public that Raoul de Boucher had died of meningitis. He was barely 24 years old. Poddubny told this story, referring to a letter in which the bandits set out in detail their version of how and for what they killed Raul de Boucher.

Fact number 2. Gifts to the "leader" for the 70th anniversary

In December 1949, all advanced mankind, as it was customary then to say, celebrated the 70th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. On this occasion, on December 21, a solemn meeting was held at the Bolshoi Theater.

Until now, no one can say exactly how many gifts were presented to the "leader of the peoples", but in the Museum of the Revolution, as many as 17 rooms were allocated for their demonstration. And lists of gifts were published in the Pravda newspaper until Stalin's death, that is, more than three years.

Here are just a few of the many gifts:

♦ December 20, 1949 issued a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on awarding I.V. Stalin with the Order of Lenin.

♦ In Czechoslovakia, the highest Carpathian peak Slovak Shtit was renamed Stalin's Shtit.

♦ In addition, the leader received 3 cars from the Czechoslovak people as a gift: Skoda 1101, Minor and Tatraplan. The country also issued two coins of 100 and 50 crowns dedicated to the hero of the day.

♦ From the French proletariat, Stalin was presented with a silver "Dove of Peace" with an engraving: "French workers will never fight with the workers of the USSR."

♦ The Bulgarian city of Varna was renamed Stalin, however, in October 1956 the former name was returned to the city.

♦ In the aviation workshops of the Polish city of Lodz, workers made an original telephone set: it had the shape of a globe, the tube was made in the form of a hammer, and the lever was a sickle.

♦ A small silver chest and five keys to it were delivered from friendly Mongolia to Moscow. The hint is transparent: the five keys symbolized the five continents.

♦ Chinese rice growers presented a small but tasteful gift: a grain of rice with a portrait of Iosif Vissarionovich.

♦ From the inhabitants of Stalingrad, Stalin received a model of the T-54 tractor, and from the miners of the Suchansk basin - an album in the form of a coal block with a report on his achievements. A saber made of the famous Zlatoust steel was delivered from Zlatoust for the anniversary. The checker depicts a panorama of the Battle of Stalingrad.

♦ In his youth, Stalin was fond of poetry and even published some of his poems in Georgian newspapers. A poetic collection of Joseph Vissarionovich was being prepared for the anniversary, but he personally ordered to stop work. Why remains unknown.

♦ One more interesting fact: On November 30 of the same 1949, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill turned 75 years old. Iosif Vissarionovich sent him 75 bottles of cognac as a gift. Churchill liked the gift so much that he said: "It's a pity that I'm not 100 years old!"

♦ One of the most controversial gifts is a poem by the poetess Anna Akhmatova dedicated to Stalin on his birthday:

Let the world remember this day forever
May this hour be bequeathed to eternity.
The legend speaks of a wise man
That saved each of us from a terrible death.

The whole country rejoices in the rays of the amber dawn,
And the purest joy has no barriers, -
And ancient Samarkand, and polar Murmansk,
And Leningrad saved twice by Stalin

On the day of the new year of the teacher and friend
A song of bright gratitude is sung, -
Let the blizzard rage around
Or mountain violets bloom.

And they echo the cities of the Soviet Union
All friendly republics of the city
And those workers who are strangled by bonds,
But whose speech is free and whose soul is proud.

And freely their thoughts fly to the capital of glory,
To the high Kremlin - a fighter for eternal light,
From where at midnight the majestic anthem rushes
And the whole world sounds like help and hello.
December 21, 1949

Fact number 3. Schmenkel Fritz Paul - German soldier and hero of the USSR

Hero of the Great Patriotic War. Legendary person. An ardent communist who fled to the front and killed 150 Germans. A fortune was promised for his head. Meet Fritz Hans Werner Schmenkel - purebred anti-fascist Aryan.

Fritz Hans Werner Schmenkel, known in Soviet historiography as Fritz Paul (Paulevich) Schmenkel, was born in the German Empire on February 14, 1916. His father, Paul Krause, worked in a brick factory and was an ardent communist. Because of his views, he died in 1923 at the hands of a Nazi. In the early 1930s, young Fritz decided to follow in his father's footsteps by joining the Communist Youth International of Germany.

In 1938, Fritz Schmenkel was drafted into the army of the Third Reich. But Fritz did not stay long in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. Taking part in the hostilities in Poland in 1939, he constantly conducted anti-fascist propaganda, for which he was expelled from the unit and imprisoned. After a long two years, after the so-called "repentance" for his deed, he was prematurely reinstated in the ranks of the army of Nazi Germany and ended up on the Eastern Front, where he rushed with all his might. Even then, Fritz Schmenkel decided to radically change his fate!

Fritz deserted from the Wehrmacht at the end of November 1941 with one goal - to get into the ranks of the Red Army. For several weeks he hid in the Smolensk region, knocked on the houses of local residents and spoke only three words that he knew in Russian: "Lenin, Stalin, Telman." And the doors opened... For food and lodging, Fritz helped the villagers in the household.

One day, a fugitive anti-fascist was captured by the SS. However, partisans from the Kalinin detachment "Death to fascism" came to the village and destroyed the Nazi garrison. Fritz was threatened with an imminent and imminent execution. But the villagers told the partisans about the fate of the anti-fascist and saved him from death. For a long time, the partisans did not trust Fritz, kept him under constant surveillance, and did not give him weapons.

At the end of the winter of 1942, the Germans attacked the partisan detachment. Fritz was unarmed and at the beginning of the battle could not provide support to the partisans. But, picking up the rifle of one of the dead, he killed a German with one accurate shot, leading aimed fire from cover. So Fritz Schmenkel became a full-fledged fighter of the partisan detachment "Death to Fascism", where he was named Ivan Ivanych for conspiracy.

The partisans were famous for their raids on the territory of the Smolensk region, Belsky and Nelidovsky districts of the Kalinin region. Fritz Schmenkel was the initiator of many desperate sorties, participated in many of the most dangerous partisan operations.

During the 14 months of his stay in the partisan brigade, Schmenkel destroyed about 150 Nazis, brought three prisoners. The German command announced for his head a fantastic reward for those times - 25 thousand marks (a car in Germany cost about a thousand marks). A punitive operation called "Shooting Star" began against the "Death to Fascism" detachment.

In 1943, Schmenkel met with his comrades-in-arms in the liberated Bely the soldiers of the Kalinin Front. Later that year, he was seconded to the intelligence department of the Western Front, where he special training and was appointed deputy commander of the Pole sabotage and reconnaissance group. For the feats accomplished in his ranks, he was presented with the Order of the Red Banner. Once Fritz was thrown deep behind enemy lines in Belarus, from where he transmitted valuable information. At the end of 1943, Fritz, along with two scouts, went missing for a long 20 years ...

The search for scouts began quite by accident - in 1961, when the case of a traitor who led a punitive detachment operating near Bely was investigated. As it turned out, this detachment was defeated by the Death to Fascism brigade and Fritz Schmenkel personally led this operation. The investigation was conducted by the head of the investigation department of the KGB in the Kalinin region, Major Ryabov. The partisans who fought together with Shmenkel in the Belsk and Nelidov forests were interrogated, locals. More than a hundred requests were made to various organizations, foreign archival materials were studied.

After three years searches managed to find out that Fritz Schmenkel was captured by the Nazis in Belarus and shot on February 22, 1944 near Minsk. Based on these data and everything that was already known by that time about Fritz Schmenkel's personal struggle with fascism, for services to Soviet Union By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The memory of this unusual heroic fate is still alive today - a street in Nelidovo is named after Schmenkel, a memorial plaque was installed in Minsk, in 1978 the film “I Want to See You” (German: Ich will euch sehen) was shot at the German film studio DEFA, supporting roles in which the famous actors of that time Petr Velyaminov and Yugoslav Gojko Mitic played.

Fact number 4. Where did the disabled disappear after the Great Patriotic War

A few years after the end of the war, they began to disappear from the streets, which were an integral part of the picture. Everyday life Soviet cities are disabled people who beg for alms at train stations, markets, in front of cinemas and in other public places and lead an antisocial lifestyle. And there were a lot of them - according to statistics, 2,500,000 disabled people were demobilized, including 450,000 one-armed or one-legged.

From a letter from the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR S. N. Kruglov to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU dated February 20, 1954:

“The USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that, despite the measures taken ... such an intolerable phenomenon as begging still continues to take place ... The police in cities and on railway transport detained beggars: in the second half of 1951 - 107,766 people, in 1952 - 156,817 people, in 1953 - 182,342 people ... Social security agencies and local Soviets of working people's deputies do not pay due attention to the work of preventing and eliminating begging, they are poorly engaged in placing the poor in homes for the disabled and the elderly ... Of the 35 homes for the disabled and boarding schools, the construction of which should be completed in 1952, as of January 1, 1954, only four houses were built ...

The fight against begging is also hampered by the fact that some part of the begging invalids and the elderly refuse to send them to homes for invalids, and those who are established often leave them without permission and continue to beg.

In order to prevent crime and eliminate begging, disabled people who did not find their place in civilian life and began to wander, drink and beg, the state decided to take them away from large cities to special boarding schools.

One of the most famous special sanatoriums for the disabled was located on the island of Valaam. Since 1950, everyone who, having returned from the front crippled, was thrown to the side of life, was taken there. Sometimes the number of wards reached 1000 people.

All these people were deleted from the annals of "historical memory". And it is still quite difficult to find out the truth about those who spent a century in special boarding schools for war veterans. Many cripples deliberately hid their real names: they didn’t want to show their close people their ugliness, helplessness, which the war had awarded ...

Fact number 5. Turgenev's Brain Mystery

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, physiologists tried to unravel the secrets of genius by studying the brains of great people - measuring volume, weighing, counting the number of convolutions. So it turned out that among the brilliant personalities, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev had the largest brain: his brain weighed 2012 grams, which is almost 600 grams more than the average weight. How did the great writer differ from other prominent people. And why is Turgenev's brain heavier than all the great people? It is known that he differed tall(192 cm), and big people the brain is usually larger. However, Mayakovsky, an equally tall man (191 cm), had a brain as much as 300 grams lighter than Turgenev's. But Turgenev, unlike Mayakovsky, who passed away young, died 68 years old (in young people the brain is always larger and heavier, it loses weight in old age).

The mystery of Turgenev's brain has tormented researchers for many years. And only relatively recently a hypothesis has appeared that brings us closer to the solution. Maybe, big weight brain “insured” the writer against epilepsy, to which he was genetically predisposed.

As often happens, the solution was found unexpectedly ...

For almost twenty years, mice with different brain masses have been grown at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University ... As a result of many years of research, scientists have managed to establish that the role of brain weight in the level of intellectual abilities in mice is very large. The average weight of a mouse brain is 400-500 milligrams. To obtain offspring with a large brain mass, mice in which it turned out to be more than average were crossed with each other. Thus, it was possible to develop lines of mice whose brains were 75 milligrams heavier than usual. Interesting that animals with heavier brains found their way out of the maze much faster and were better than their relatives in solving other tasks assigned to them.

The next stage was the following - how do animals with large brains react to poisonous substances that cause convulsions, and to irritation of the brain electric shock. And it turned out that they had seizures much less frequently than animals with normal-sized brains. And there is nothing unexpected in this. The thing is that the brain is a self-regulating system, and a more complexly organized large brain is more difficult to “confuse”.

You may ask, what's with the convulsions? After all, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev did not suffer from epilepsy, like, for example, Dostoevsky or Flaubert. However, do not forget that epilepsy is a disease in the manifestation of which a hereditary predisposition to seizures plays a huge role. Therefore, very often this disease is traced not in one, but in several generations of one family, as was the case in the family of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. However, it is known that the brother of the writer's father, Alexei Nikolaevich Turgenev, suffered from epilepsy. And one of the Turgenev brothers also suffered from epilepsy. And in general, epileptoid characters and patients with epilepsy are very often found in the Turgenev family.

But Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev bypassed epilepsy, and his outbursts of anger rarely happened to him (although at one reception, where everyone spoke French, he got angry and began to shout loudly: “Baba! Turnip! Spade!”, Reminding those present about the sound of their native language).

Why didn't Turgenev inherit the tendency to epilepsy, which is clearly seen in his relatives? Here it is time to remember the extraordinary mass of his brain. Maybe it's about her? If in animals a large mass of the brain prevents the development of seizures, then, undoubtedly, something similar can happen in humans! Perhaps natural selection has “honed” this unique feature in the Turgenev family for more than one generation. As a result, such a brilliant person as Ivan Sergeevich appeared. It turns out that the huge mass of the brain "insured" him from the development of the disease. And all the positive features of the epileptoid character - perseverance, efficiency, the ability to achieve the goal - he retained and was able to develop in himself more than anyone else.

Thus, an interesting hypothesis was born, shedding light on the "mystery of Turgenev's giant brain."

In 1903, the famous athlete Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny went to the world championship in French wrestling, which was held in Paris. 130 athletes from all over the world arrived at the tournament. Despite the fact that this was the first world championship for Poddubny, he had a good chance of winning.

The beginning of the tournament was successful for the Russian, he confidently won eleven victories in a row. In the twelfth fight, he was to meet with the French wrestler Raul Musson, nicknamed "le Boucher" (The Butcher). The twenty-year-old athlete was a favorite of Parisian wrestlers. He began his sports career at the age of thirteen and quickly gained popularity in the wrestling world. Raul quit his job at the butcher shop and became a professional wrestler.

The Frenchman was 12 years younger than his rival, with a height of 188 centimeters and a weight of 120 kilograms, he had tremendous strength, while being distinguished by speed and agility. But Poddubny was clearly not going to give in to the young Frenchman.

A few minutes after the start of the fight, Ivan's hands suddenly began to slide over the body of Raoul le Boucher. The Parisian easily escaped from the mighty captures of Podubny. Ivan Maksimovich addressed the judges, saying that his opponent was oiled. The arbitrators examined the French wrestler and recognized that his body was indeed covered with oily sweat. It turned out that Le Boucher had smeared himself with olive oil.

Surprisingly, the fight continued. The arbitrators made a truly “Solomonic” decision: to stop the fight every 5 minutes and wipe the French wrestler dry. But the oil came out again with the sweat.

So the "slippery" Raul le Boucher managed to survive until the end of the fight. As strange as it may seem, it was he who was recognized as the winner "for beautiful departures from receptions."

The Russian Athletic Society sent Raul an offer to meet Poddubny again, promising a prize of 10,000 francs in case of victory. But he was able to slip away here too: he delicately refused to fight again.

However, the wrestlers met a year later at the next World Championship in St. Petersburg. The revenge was cruel - the Russian wrestler held the opponent for 42 minutes, in a knee-elbow position, to the whistle and hooting of the public, until the judges took pity on Le Boucher.

The life of Raoul le Boucher ended tragically. During Ivan Maksimovich's tour in Italy, de Boucher "ordered" Poddubny to local bandits. This conspiracy was overheard by another French wrestler, Emable de la Calmette, and was killed on the spot. But Poddubny simply scattered the bandits. And, although the “work” remained unfulfilled, the bandits began to demand payment from the customer. He refused to pay, for which he received a fatal blow to the head with a rubber stick. It was announced to the public that Raoul de Boucher had died of meningitis. He was barely 24 years old.