The Tempering of Russia Quotes

“The population aids the army. Recently Porkhov schoolboys caught three parachutists. A bearded old villager, armed with a stake, brought in a diversionist, disguised in the green uniform of a pre-revolutionary forester. The peasants drive off the cattle. Grain fields are burning. This year the stalks are almost as tall as an average man. There was not enough time to harvest the grain. Attacks and counterattacks continue. On both sides the losses are heavy. Yesterday one of our tanks caught fire. The driver rushed his burning tank at a German machine.”
― Ilya Ehrenburg, The Tempering of Russia

“Like every great love, patriotism broadens one’s conscience. A true patriot loves the whole world. Having discovered the greatness of one’s native land, it is impossible to conceive hatred for the world. People devoid of love are poor patriots. The pseudo-patriotism of the fascists rests on contempt for other peoples; it narrows down the world to the limits of one language, one type of people, one breed.”
― Ilya Ehrenburg, The Tempering of Russia

“JULY 24 The alarm found me in the Foreign Office after a press conference. In the shelter I was surrounded by foreign correspondents. Among them was the American author Erskine Caldwell. I remember his stories—cruel and humane. There is much of the clay and of the master about him. At two a.m. he put on a helmet and went off to broadcast for America. Werth had been in Paris and in London, another Englishman had been in Spain; these are specialists on war and bombs. Some of them are in a skeptical mood: they fear a “lightning” denouement. In the theaters the actors take turns as watchmen in anti-air defense. An air-alarm, and lo, Lope de Vega Spaniards run up the roof with a hose.”
― Ilya Ehrenburg, The Tempering of Russia

“Now Moscow too has experienced an air raid. This happened last night at ten. An incendiary bomb fell in our courtyard. In the nick of time a youngster threw it into a barrel of water. It was the first time he had seen a bomb, but he kept his poise. An old woman wanted to sprinkle the bomb with sand, but they drove her into the shelter. At five in the morning—there had been a very long alarm—Moscow streets were animated as in the daytime: people emerged from shelters, inspected the damage done. One hour later panes were being put into windows and craters filled in. In peace-time you had to wait long for the glazier, but now he came immediately, looking important, like a commander. If the Germans thought they would arouse a panic, they were mistaken.”
― Ilya Ehrenburg, The Tempering of Russia