The famous writer Vadim Nikitin flies to Hamburg at the invitation of Frau Herbert and recognizes in her the girl whom he loved during the war ...

On the other side

47-year-old famous writer Vadim Nikitin and his friend Platon Samsonov, also a writer, but less popular, flew to Germany at the invitation of Frau Herbert, a fan of Nikitin's talent. She invited him to a meeting of the German literary circle to exchange views on modern culture, and discussions on the topic "Writer and modern civilization." Vadim took Samsonov with him as a translator, since he himself did not speak German very well. On the plane, they discussed the last letter to Frau Herbert, in which she admired Nikitin's talent and compared it with the great Russian writers. Samsonov feared that his beloved friend would not be corrupted by this glory.

Mrs. Herbert herself met them at the airport. She is not what they imagined her to be. A slender, elegant, wealthy woman, on a Mercedes that was gorgeous at the time, met them very warmly, took them to the hotel and invited them for breakfast. To her question whether Nikitin had ever been to Germany, he replied that in the forty-fifth he had besieged a small town. After breakfast, friends went for a walk in Hamburg. We examined the monument to those killed in the Second World War, then got to Reeperban Street, where they unsuccessfully visited one eatery, watched French porn and barely fought off prostitutes attached to them. They were lucky that they were mistaken for the British, otherwise they would certainly have received in full from the guards.

Nikitin remembered his first fee of three thousand rubles, which he spent in taverns with the poet Vikhrov, ran into a fight with the youths in the gateway and thundered into the police for allegedly starting this fight himself. Of the money left only seven hundred rubles, which were not even enough to pay for the apartment.

Visiting Madam Herbert Nikitin and Samsonov met with a journalist, editor-in-chief of Weber Publishing House Dietzman, publisher Weber and his wife, famous singer Lota Tittel. They talked about politics, about the current relations between Germany and Russia. They talked about the past war, how it influenced the development of Germany, how Russian soldiers raped Germans, and concluded that Nazism was not unique to Germans. Tittel scolded Hitler’s policies and claimed that he dishonored the German nation. Mr. Weber told how he went to the concentration camp and how the Americans freed them. But soon their conversation came to an end and everyone was going home.

Samsonov left for the hotel, and Mrs. Herbert asked Nikitina to stay. She showed Nikitin her old album, where there was a photograph of a young girl against the background of a country house. "You will learn?" She asked. And Nikitin recalled that 26 years ago in May 1945 his battery was located in this house in Königsdorf, and that this girl, and now Madame Herbert, was his lover.

Madness

May 2, 1945. Berlin was half occupied by Russian troops. Germany was retreating. The battery, in which Nikitin commanded a platoon, occupied Könogsdorf. After a difficult battle, everyone was asleep, Nikitin also basked in bed, no orders were received. Senior Lieutenant Granautov was in the hospital. The soldiers enjoyed the delightful feeling of the approaching Victory. Sergeant Mezhenin came into the room to Nikitin, a broad-shouldered, somewhat plump, thirty-year-old, self-confident man. He found a nearby wrecked German car, and in it a safe with money and a clock. He managed to carry some things away, hid the rest.

Mezhenin showed Nikitin a bag with watches and packs of money, asked if they could be worth anything. Nikitin replied that the watch was cheap, and advised Mezhenin to give them to the soldiers and throw out the money. Mezhenin refused.

Nikitin goes down to breakfast. Mezhenin told the soldiers about the find, they began to decide what to do with it. Nikitin ordered Mezhenin to give the soldiers a watch, and hand over the money to him. Mezhenin obeyed. Lieutenant Knyazhko, the commander of a neighboring platoon, came to them and brought a German cat, which Ushatikov, the youngest soldier, began to feed with porridge. Knyazhko and Nikitin went for a walk in a small town, came across a drunken German who claimed that all Russians were good and that Russian vodka was even better.

We returned home in the evening. There, the battalion commander Granaturov and Galya, an officer of the medical battalion, played cards. It turned out that Galya is in love with Knyazhko, and Knyazhko, by virtue of his intelligence, cannot reciprocate. In parallel, Galya is taken care of by the Granauts, doing this openly so that Knyazhko will notice. Soon, Galya decided to leave, Granautov offered to conduct her, but Knyazhko said that this was not necessary. Galya refuses his offer. Galya was led to the gate by Nikitin, she complained to him that Knyazhko was ignoring her, but she still loved him.

When Nikitin returned, he felt uneasy from the silence that came, and he ordered Mezhenin to check how the sentry was there. Mezhenin was gone for a long time, then there was some noise on the second floor in Nikitin’s room. Rising to his room, he saw that Mezhenin was going to rape a young red-haired German woman. Nikitin ordered to leave the German alone. Mezhenin refused, then Nikitin threatened to shoot him.

The German woman, Emma, ​​was taken to the ground floor, into the living room. There the sentinel brought a young boy, about fifteen years old, puny in glasses. Granautov ordered Knyazhko to interrogate him. The German woman cried and asked Kurt to tell everything. It turned out that they were brother and sister, came to pick up their things and go to Hamburg to grandfather. Kurt escaped from a German partisan detachment. This detachment consisted of the same boys as he. The squad commander, corporal, recently killed a wounded boy so that he would not give them away. Granautov wanted to torture the boy so that he would tell more, but Knyazhko, as the senior in rank, ordered them to be released. Granautov had to agree.

In the morning, Nikitin woke up with a knock on the door; it was Emma who brought him coffee. She began to pester him, he tried to refuse, but Emma insisted on her. Nikitin recalled how he had it for the first time with a medical officer Eugene. They did not know what it was, but obeyed the call of the heart. Then the Germans attacked the village, they fled, but Zhenya was wounded, and two days later she died.

Ushatikov brought Nikitin shaving water, Emma managed to leave. After some time, Mezhenin entered the room, saying that he knew about Nikitin’s connection with the German, and began to threaten that he would tell everything to the authorities. Nikitin reminded him that in Zhitomir Mezhenin refused to comply with Nikitin’s order, committing adultery with two nurses from the medical unit.

After breakfast, two German self-propelled guns attacked their unit, they decided to accept the battle. Knyazhko and Nikitin drove the soldiers forward, but they refused to go. Mezhenin said that soldiers could die because of their desire with Knyazhko to replenish their collection of medals. Nikitin ordered him to remain silent and to go into battle with dignity. The Germans blew up the bridge, it was impossible to further pursue self-propelled guns, the Russians retreated.

But then Lieutenant Perlin burst into the unit with a request to help remove the Germans from the forestry. The prince agreed. On the way, they stumbled upon the corpse of a German, very young, sixteen years old. Approaching the forestry, they joined the battle. Mezhenin threw two bombs into the house, there was an explosion, followed by weeping. Knyazhko guessed that there were not soldiers in the house, but those youths that Kurt had talked about, they were scared and did not know what to do. Knyazhko left his weapon, went to the house and invited the Germans to surrender. They raised a white flag, and because of it they killed Knyazhko with a machine gun burst. At the cost of the life of Lieutenant Knyazhko, the Russians managed to occupy the forestry and capture German boys.

It turned out that the German corporal killed Knyazhko. Mezhenin in a fit of anger shot him, but Knyazhko could not be returned. Galya sobbed inconsolably over his corpse. In the evening at the commemoration, heated by vodka, Nikitin said that they were all guilty of the death of Knyazhko, that he had committed a bold and noble act, and they were all cowards, then he took the things of Knyazhko, his letter to Gala and left for his room. Knyazhko wrote to Gale that there can be nothing between them, since this is a war, and castles cannot be built in war.

In the morning, Nikitin woke up in Emma's arms. Between them again there was a love rush. They admired a butterfly flying towards them and taught each other new unfamiliar words. After some time, Ushatikov told Nikitin that he was being called by the battalion commander. Granautov demanded a letter from Nikitin for Gali, who was sitting here. Nikitin said he did not know about any letter. Granautov began to threaten Nikitin, who would tell the headquarters about his relationship with a German woman, about how he had almost raped her, and now has a connection with her. Nikitin did not answer anything. Galya furiously ordered them to shut up and told Granautov that she never liked him, and she had relations with him only in spite of Knyazhko.

Nikitin demanded from Mezhenin that he would voluntarily go to the tribunal. Mezhenin furiously threw a chair at him, Nikitin shot him. Nikitin was arrested, Mezhenin was sent to the medical unit. At night, when Nikitina was guarded by Ushatikov, he asked him to meet with Emma. Having met, they confessed to each other in love and spent the night together. In the morning they broke up. Granautov released Nikitin from custody to go to the last battle against the Germans. Nikitin was threatened with only ten days for his crime. During this battle, Mezhenin survived, but soon died under fire in a car. Of the four people, he died alone.

Nostalgia

In the dead of night, Nikitin returned to the hotel, but he could not sleep, he called Samsonov, who came to him. Nikitin talked about what happened. Samsonov did not understand him. Then Nikitin sent him to bed and went to bed himself. The next day, Nikitin participated in the discussion, where he and Dietzman argued about issues of politics, art, and how the Germans are treated in Russia now. They talked about the personality cult of Stalin and Hitler.

After the discussion, the whole company went to the street of prostitutes, then to the Merry Owl tavern owned by a former prisoner of the concentration camp. Here Herbert and Nikitin danced and talked. She soon became ill, and they decided to leave for a quieter place. In a quiet restaurant, they talked about life after the war, about their fate.

Nikitin was married. Recently, his son died. Herbert has a husband who has died; his daughter lives in Canada. She admitted to him that she still loves him; for her he is a hero from a fairy tale, a Russian butterfly. Then they sat in the car, he warmed her hands. At the airport, she threw herself on his neck, shouting his name, he reassured her. On the plane, he felt that his heart was aching badly, he decided that it was from cognac. Memories overwhelmed him. He remembered how his son died, how his wife nearly lost her mind, remembered how he hunted for squirrels in the forest, remembered the shore from childhood, so dear and distant. Then he felt very bad, Samsonov began to fuss, but it was too late, he was sailing to a distant home shore.