ล่ามสาวผู้พบศพฮิตเลอร์

by Elena Rzhevskaya, นพดล เวชสวัสดิ์ (Translator)

พาเราเข้าไปทลายรังอินทรี และล้วงลึกไปถึงข้อมูลส่วนตัวของผู้นำระดับสูง รวมถึงฉายภาพบั้นปลายสงครามในมุมที่เราไม่เคยรู้จากเอกสารชิ้นใดมาก่อน

เยเลนา รเชฟสกายา สาวอักษรชาวมอสโก เหมือนคนหนุ่มสาวมอสโกในยุคนั้น มิได้หื่นสงคราม แต่อยากออกแนวหน้าเพื่อปกป้องชาติให้พ้นจากผู้รุกราน (สงครามโลกครั้งที่ 2 ที่เยอรมันรุกรานโซเวียต คนโซเวียตเรียกว่า ‘สงครามรักชาติยิ่งใหญ่’) เธอทำงานในโรงงานยุทธภัณฑ์ ใช้เวลาว่างเรียนวิชาพยาบาล เผื่อจะได้ไปรักษาพยาบาลทหารที่ได้รับบาดเจ็บในแนวหน้า แต่แล้ว เมื่อเธอทราบข่าวว่ากองทัพขาดแคลนล่าม เธอจึงสมัครเข้าเรียนหลักสูตรล่าม โดยใช้เวลาเรียนเพียงเดือนครึ่ง

เธอสังกัดช็อกอาร์มี ที่ 3 เดินทางออกไปยังแนวหน้า

บรรยายสิ่งที่พบเห็นในสายตาของสาวอักษร ประทับใจไปกับความทรหดของแม่บ้านที่ตกอยู่กลางห่ากระสุนในแนวหน้า

กองทัพแดงภายใต้การนำของจอมพลชูคอฟ เข้าถึงใจกลางเบอร์ลินก่อนกองกำลังสัมพันธมิตรชาติอื่นๆ

สงครามสงบแล้ว ภารกิจที่เหลืออยู่จะเป็นการสืบค้นหาศพของผู้นำพรรคนาซี ไม่ว่าจะเป็นฮิตเลอร์ เกิบเบิลส์ และคนอื่นๆ

เธอเป็นประจักษ์พยานในการพบศพผู้ยิ่งใหญ่ทั้งสอง ลายเซ็นของเธออยู่ในบันทึกประวัติศาสตร์ รายงานการชันสูตรศพ อดอล์ฟ ฮิตเลอร์

สตาลินหว่านม่านลวงให้ลึกลับ เก็บเรื่องนี้ไม่ให้โลกรู้ จนกระทั่งเธอออกมาเปิดเผยข้อมูลทั้งหมด หลังจากสตาลินเสียชีวิต

ความสำคัญของหนังสือเล่มนี้จึงไม่ได้จำกัดเพียง ‘ความจริงเบื้องหลังการพบศพฮิตเลอร์และเกิบเบิลส์’

เธอเป็นนักแปล ที่ทำหน้าที่แปลเอกสารที่ยึดมาได้ และเธออยู่ในเบอร์ลินวันที่สงครามสงบ

เธอเป็น ‘ตา’ แทนคนทั้งโลก เผยให้เห็นความเป็นไปใน กองบัญชาการฮิตเลอร์ห้วงท้ายสงคราม ผ่านอนุทินของเกิบเบิลส์ อนุทินของบอร์มันน์ ผ่านการจดบันทึกข้าวของทุกชิ้นของมักดา เกิบเบิลส์

เรื่องที่ไม่เคยมีใครทราบมาก่อน รายละเอียดฟากฝ่ายเยอรมัน ในห้วงใกล้แพ้สงครามที่ไม่มีใครรู้จริงพอจะเขียนถึง บันทึกของเธอแทบจะเป็นการบรรยายนาทีต่อนาที ในชั่วโมงสุดท้ายของมหาอาณาจักรไรช์ที่สาม

เธอพาผู้อ่านไปนั่งในฟือห์เรอร์บังเกอร์ ไปนั่งฟังเสียงกรีดร้องเสียสติของฮิตเลอร์ ไปสัมผัสคณะกรรมการที่พร้อมใจกัน ฆ่าตัวตาย ไปดมกลิ่นอัลมอนด์บาดจมูกของโปแทสเซียมไซยาไนด์

นี่คือเรื่องจริงในหน้าประวัติศาสตร์ที่หาอ่านจากแหล่งข้อมูลไหนไม่ได้อีกแล้ว

และถ้าบันทึกของแอน แฟรงค์ เปิดโลกให้เราได้รับรู้เรื่องราวของครอบครัวชาวยิวที่ต้องหลบซ่อนจากการฆ่าล้างเผ่าพันธุ์นาซี

บันทึกของ รเชฟสกายา ล่ามสาวผู้พบศพฮิตเลอร์ จะพาเราเข้าไปทลายรังอินทรี และล้วงลึกไปถึงข้อมูลส่วนตัวของผู้นำระดับสูง รวมถึงฉายภาพบั้นปลายสงครามในมุมที่เราไม่เคยรู้จากเอกสารชิ้นใดมาก่อน

เป็นหนังสือที่คอประวัติศาสตร์ไม่ควรพลาด

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Memoir, War, Biography Memoir, Biography

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Elena Rzhevskaya was born in Gomel, Belarus in October 1919. She moved with her family to Moscow in 1922 where she later studied philology at Moscow State University. After serving the war effort as a munitions worker and after finishing a war interpreter's course Elena joined Gen Dmitry Lelyushenko's army of resistance in 1942. By February 1945 Elena was working in Poznan before joining the USSR's 3rd Army's attack on the Reichstag in late April. Her journey to Berlin began in Rzhev on the Volga, where millions of Red Army soldiers died fighting German forces. She adopted the surname Rzhevskaya to honour the fallen.

Rzhevskaya was the first person to read key documents related to the last days of the Reich including the personal papers of Hitler. She lived in Moscow after the war to work as a writer and won prizes for her fiction and journalism. She was the author of two acclaimed history books and six war novels. She died in April 2017.

Reviews

[Tittirossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rževskaja riesce a restituire l'orrore e la tragedia del fronte, con tutto il freddo, il gelo, la paura, la fame che hanno patito.
E' interessante questa lettura da parte dei russi a cui era proibito tenere un diario (neanche i pensieri potevano essere privati) mentre ne trovano di continuo tra i beni dei soldati tedeschi in ritirata, ma lei comunque lo tiene, forse per mantenere la lucidità nella sua funzione di interprete, che crea quindi sempre un doppio, un altro da sé.
La prima parte è compiutamente risolta, con uno stile letterario tra il collage e le memorie, e narra l'avvicinamento a Berlino, la guerra, la sopravvivenza, il confronto con i soldati tedeschi e la convivenza con i commilitoni. La tragedia della guerra non scalfisce la sua umanità, e la narrazione è sempre compartecipe, che si tratti del giovane soldato tedesco o della contadina russa che deve nutrire una famiglia col niente.
La seconda parte, con la narrazione delle vicende del cadavere di Hitler sarebbe stata interessante se non avessi già letto e visto di tutto e di più sull'argomento (su cui peraltro esiste una narrativa finto storica che ha creato misteri e dietrologie). Però l'ho letta con interesse, perché il tema della manipolazione della conoscenza e sempre attuale: Stalin, come Goebbels, sapeva bene che conoscenza è potere, e quindi decise che detenere quella specifica informazione (Hitler è morto e ne abbiamo le prove) poteva servirgli per manipolare avversari e alleati. E quindi il corpo/cadavere di Hitler rimase avvolto nella nebbia per una trentina di anni. Con buona pace dei testimoni, che furono tutti messi a tacere (alcuni convinti dal Partito, altri da un campo di concentramento).
Infine, rileggere la follia di Hitler pur perfettamente consapevole di quel che è successo, mi lascia sempre sgomenta sulla inazione dei suoi, e sulla accettazione di una tragedia che poteva avere portato ancora maggiore (Hitler non voleva lasciare neanche un tedesco superstite).

[Cristina - Athenae Noctua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un memoriale di guerra che descrive la difesa dei Russi dall'invasione tedesca e procede fino all'entrata dell'Armata rossa a Berlino, alla scoperta del corpo di Hitler e alla costruzione del mistero sulla morte del Führer a fini politici da parte del regime stalinista: Elena Rževskaja offre il suo sguardo di donna e di cittadina su una delle pagine più cupe della storia, senza tralasciare le vicende comuni di donne e uomini che hanno vissuto in guerra al suo fianco.
http://athenaenoctua2013.blogspot.it/...

[Freeread · Rating 4 out of 5]

ก่อนอ่าน
พบศพแล้วยังไง

หลังอ่าน
พบแล้วปิดไว้ สตาลินต้องการให้คนกลัวผีฮิตเลอร์ เพื่อควบคุมอำนาจ

กว่าจะเขียนอะไรได้ รัสเชียประเทศปิดตายความจริง

สงครามทำคนเจอกันจากกันในเวลาที่ไม่เหมาะ
ต้องทนรับผลที่ตามมาไปตลอดชีวิต

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker by Elena Rzhevskaya is a fascinating memoir. I didn't know about her going into the book, but I'm glad we have her account about the bunker. Wow! The only reason I'm rating this only three stars is because copy I borrowed from the library had some printing errors. It was randomly missing a page or two here and there throughout and that the entire index (which is listed in the table of contents) just wasn't there either.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rzhevskaya (Goodreads has Rzevskaja, but the American edition has Rzhevskaya) was an interpreter as part of the Soviet (or Russian if you prefer) army during World War II, serving close to the front lines to participate in interrogations of newly captured German soldiers as well as translating captured documents.

Rzhevskaya served with a unit that was first into the Nazi chancellery where Hitler spent his final days in a heavily reinforced bunker, eventually giving up plans to attempt an escape to another location, instead marrying his mistress Eva Braun and committing suicide together. Some of his remaining support group were tasked with burning his remains to ashes using gasoline but they failed to complete their task - Rzhevskaya was one of only a handful of Soviets who investigated and demonstrated that the body found was in fact Hitler, relying in particular on his teeth, dentures, and dental records, as well as interviews with German dental technicians. As it happens, their findings were suppressed since it worked more to Stalin's advantage (apparently) to let people think Hitler might have escaped.

This is a an updated version of a book Rzhevskaya eventually published about her WWII service in the 1960s in several languages including Russian. There is an added section about her communicating with General Zhukov, including a personal meeting she had to talk about her archival research that she did to support her book. This is followed by a questions and answers section with her grand-daughter, which seemed repetitive of material already covered but sometimes from a different angle or view.

Rzhevskaya was a prolific author; the Library of Congress has several dozen titles that she authored, both non-fiction and fiction including collections of short stories. It is clear she is a good author, although I sensed that the translation could have been better. Perhaps I am wrong about that.

There is a lot here - aside from her build-up to the death of Hitler and the aftermath she was involved in, you have considerable description of the anomalies of Soviet life under Stalin as contrasted with the time of serving in the military during the war. In addition, Rzhevskaya is Jewish, which was not the same burden in the USSR as it was in Nazi Germany but was still a status that created different difficulties during her life. And of course she was a woman alongside military units in wartime - another unusual circumstance of her experiences.

[Yehaskel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is THE main source of most of what we know about the last days of Herr Fucknuts. Even the book that everyone quotes from (aptly titled, The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper) is sourced from here.
But there's a lot more in the book than a Mini-Mustachioed Menace shooting himself in the face because... everyone else's fault but his own.

[Robert Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

An excellent history of WW 2 from the eye witness of the author. However no mention of the tremendous support effort of the USA. Without this the Red Army would not have been successful. Also it was a Political decision to allow the Soviets to enter Berlin first! Gen. Patton was held back on outskirts for a long period to allow the Russian 's to take Berlin!

[Phil Curme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the course of human history, interpreters have played a unique role in enabling communication between individuals who would otherwise find it difficult to converse. In wartime such skills are at a premium because of the need to derive intelligence from captured prisoners. The author of this collection of reminiscences began her career as a Red Army interpreter in 1942 when she was attached to the staff of the Soviet 21st Mechanised Corps. What makes this book particularly interesting however is that Rzevskaya was personally involved in the identification of Adolf Hitler’s remains following his suicide in 1945. Indeed, bizarrely, Rzhevskaya was entrusted with Hitler’s teeth and tracked down the assistant to his personal dentist along with a Berlin based dental technician who subsequently provided a positive identification.

The book is made up of extracts from diaries, transcripts from captured documents and post-war observations. The authors’ real name was Elena Kagan but she adopted the name ‘Rzhevskaya’ in honour of the fallen after she had witnessed the fighting around the city of Rhez in late 1942. The first two chapters provide a handful of fascinating pen portraits of German prisoners brought in for questioning during this initial period of service. The flow of the narrative is somewhat disjointed but these vivid and beguiling descriptions speak for themselves.

Oddly, the author skips a couple of years and the third chapter starts on the banks of the River Oder in 1945. By this time Rzhevskaya been seconded to a small group tasked with discovering the whereabouts of Adolf Hitler – indeed her immediate boss had resolved to personally capture Josef Goebbels. The story of Hitler’s death is well document and beyond challenge but this was not always so. For readers looking to understand why there was uncertainty about Hitler’s fate for several months after his death Rzhevskaya tells how Stalin contrived to withhold definitive proof of his death for political reasons. The rivalry between Konev and Zhukov also served to confuse the situation given the team looking for Hitler following the capture of Berlin were operating across Army Group boundaries.

There is no ‘big reveal’ in this book and there is nothing in it that contradicts Trevor-Roper’s definitive The Last Days of Hitler (Macmillan, London - 1947) however it is a fascinating read in that it describes in detail the discovery and identification of Hitler’s remains and the intrigues and denials that followed. In 1965 Rzhevskaya was approached by Zhukov who had started his memoirs having been rehabilitated by Khrushchev. Recollections of this meeting are covered in detail and this later episode provides an interesting footnote to the story insofar as Zhukov, twenty years after the end of the Second World War, was still unclear of the exact circumstances of Hitler’s death. Such ambiguity does not exist know – a point this book drives home.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Výuka a pak zkoušky trvali ještě asi týden. Cestou do jídelny jsme si ještě stále zpívaly své popěvky na rozloučenou:

Jede, jede na noční
ten válečný tlumočník,
tlumočit moc neumí -
ať nepřítel nečumí…

A big mood.
rtc

[Bob Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding to get this personal witness from the Soviet repulsion of the Wehrmacht just outside of Moscow to identifying Hitlers body outside the bunker and Stalins effort to cover up the identification for political purposes. Author later became an accomplished writer beyond this.

[Camilla Passaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un diario di guerra ben scritto e dettagliato. Alcuni tratti risultano particolarmente coinvolgenti; altri sono ripetitivi e meno interessanti. Ma nel complesso è un memoriale di qualità che aiuta a entrare nel vivo del clima di tensione e terrore del contesto storico a cui si riferisce.

[Noinar Krisdawut]

good experience

[Cj324_2000 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half seemed to drag. The last 60 pages were the best.

[James Prothero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at life for a woman in the red army during ww2.

[John Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective from a minor character in a world wide drama.

[Eva Lavrikova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vyčerpávajúca, ale veľmi informačne prínosná kniha. Vojnová tlmočníčka - často v teréne, nezriedka tiež v miestach, kde šlo o veľa a kde sa rozhodovalo o podstatných veciach - je jedno z tých povolaní, ktorých existencia spravidla človeku ani nepríde na um. A predsa sú. Zápisky válečné tlumočnice je autobiografický pohľad na druhú svetovú vojnu očami sovietskej tlmočníčky, ktorá sa súhrou náhod napokon ocitla až pri Hitlerových zuboch. Rozprávanie je to chvíľami zaujímavé, chvíľami únavné, chvíľami smutné, chvíľami až strašidelné. Kniha mi pripadá nevyvážená, akoby ju autorka poskladala z viacerých už hotových textov (čo do istej miery aj priznáva), čo však so sebou nesie aj nebezpečenstvo (zbytočného) opakovania sa. Nemožno si tiež nevšimnúť ideovo zafarbený pohľad (my sme tí záchrancovia, spasitelia, "A najednou jsem se vzrušenou jasností pochopila, co člověk vlastně ví, ale jen tak nějak naučeně: že naše armáda zachránila svět.") a celkovo pre mňa až nepochopiteľné nadšenie a túžbu "byť pri tom". Tak či onak, rozhodne som sa dozvedela niečo nové.

[Anton Hychka]

Detailed exposition of the last days of the madness and ideals of the Third Reich.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread, as it is very good information