Russia (bbabo.net), - Sincerely, S.A. Repushkin, Bronnitsy, Moscow Region

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

WHY BECOME BANDERA BANDERA?

Dear comrade. Repushkin!

In references to the war years, there are two spellings: the correct one is "Bandera" and the wrong one is "Bendera". Front-line clerks and typists were by no means always able to boast of high literacy. In the documents of those years, including award lists, we often see both a violation of the rules of spelling and punctuation, and the incorrect spelling of names, patronymics and surnames that are unusual for hearing. In 1944, Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis, was little known outside the region and was not perceived as the leader of the entire Ukrainian nationalist movement. His last name was not yet on everyone's lips. Therefore, the error that has crept into the official document is understandable and excusable. She turned out to have a long life: even in the relatively recently filmed film "Brother-2", the killer Tatarin, the hero of actor Viktor Sukhorukov, commemorates the "Benderites" ...

The nature of the error in 1944, however, is very likely due to the fact that an unfamiliar surname was associated with the city of Bendery in Transnistria. There, in 1709, after the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, hetman Ivan Mazepa, who had betrayed Tsar Peter, hid with the Swedish king Charles XII. Mazepa's Cossacks, who hunted for robberies, were labeled "Benderites".

As you can see, the difference between Bandera and Bendera is not so great - a synonym for both of them is the shameful word "traitors".

Semyon Ekshtut, Doctor of Philosophy

RESONANCE

The adventures of the tarantass continue

Excerpts from the amazing diary of the Swiss governess Olympia Rittener, who made an extreme trip to the east in the fall of 1883 and lived in a Siberian family for about seven years ("Tarantas Moscow - Krasnoyarsk" "Rodina" No. 10, 2019), Nadezhda Gavrilova, a senior researcher at the Krasnoyarsk Museum of Local Lore, suggested the editors. It was she who translated the diary of a Swiss woman into Russian.

The publication received an unexpected continuation. About this in a new letter from Nadezhda Fedorovna:

- In autumn Krasnoyarsk hosted a festival of Swiss cinematography. And it opened with the presentation of Charlotte Hermann's book "From Payern to Krasnoyarsk", published in our city. This was largely facilitated by the publication in Rodina, which allowed the author to receive a grant from the Book Krasnoyarsk program. Young artists from the theater-studio "Open Hearts" enlivened the presentation with stage sketches from the diary of Olympia Rittener. Together with the Krasnoyarsk residents, they were applauded by their compatriots Olympia Rittener, who came to us, and employees of the Swiss Embassy in Russia.

Nadezhda Gavrilova, Krasnoyarsk

bbabo.Net