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Seventeen Moments of Spring (Template:Lang-ru also Seventeen Instants of Spring) is a 1973 Soviet TV miniseries. It was filmed at Gorky Film Studio, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the book of the same title by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. The series comprises 12 episodes of 70 minutes each. It received the national RSFSR award in 1976.

The series portrays the life of a Soviet spy Maksim Isaev operating in Nazi Germany under the name Max Otto von Stirlitz, played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Other leading roles were played by Leonid Bronevoy, Oleg Tabakov, Yuri Vizbor, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev, Rostislav Plyatt, Vasily Lanovoy, and Mikhail Zharkovsky.

In 2009 remastered version in color was released.

Plot

The plot is driven by Stirlitz's—ultimately successful—attempts at thwarting negotiations between SS General Karl Wolff, representing Walter Schellenberg and Heinrich Himmler, and American intelligence operative Allen Dulles in Bern, Switzerland during the final months of World War II. Dulles, portrayed in the show as acting without the authorization of the president, is interested in reaching a peace agreement with Nazi Germany that would leave many Nazi institutions in place to prevent the rise of Bolshevism in Western Europe. The negotiations are conducted in secret and behind the back of Hitler and, more importantly for Stirlitz, the Soviet Union.

Stirlitz's position is aggravated by the fact that right from the very beginning of the series, Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner instructs Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller to launch an investigation of Stirlitz, having become suspicious of Stirlitz's apparent connection to the failed destruction of Krakow, the delays the German atomic research program and his almost-too-impeccable record of loyalty and devotion to Hitler, even as other German officers had begun to grumble in private about the course of the war. While Müller (Bronevoy) is initially dismissive of his boss' suspicions, he soon develops doubts of his own and quickly turns into Stirlitz's arch-nemesis.

Near the end of the 12-part miniseries, Stirlitz's reports on the secret talks lead Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Martin Bormann to recall Karl Wolff back to Berlin and to order his arrest upon landing. However, Wolff is saved in the nick of time when Schellenberg intervenes proceeds with his backup plan of passing the negotiations for a "masterful misinformation of the Soviets intended to disrupt the trust between the Allied forces".

Cast

• Vyacheslav Tikhonov — Max Otto von Stierlitz
• Rostislav Plyatt — Father Fritz Schlag.
• Svetlana Svetlichnaya — Gabi Nabel.
• Oleg Tabakov — Walter Schellenberg.
• Yuri Vizbor — Martin Bormann.
• Yekaterina Gradova — Katherin Kinn.
• Nikolai Gritsenko — General in the train.
• Lev Durov — Klaus.
• Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev — Professor Pleischner.
• Vladimir Kenigson - Krause.
• Leonid Kuravlyov — Kurt Eismann.
• Alexei Safonov - Jürgen Rolf.
• Konstantin Zheldin - Wilhelm Holthoff.
• Lavrenty Masokha - Scholz.
• Fritz Diez — Adolf Hitler.
• Andro Kobaladze — Joseph Stalin.
• Vasily Lanovoy — Karl Wolff
• Leonid Bronevoy — Heinrich Müller.
• Wilhelm Burmeier — Hermann Göring.
• Vyacheslav Salevich — Allen Dulles.
• Valentin Gaft — Gero von Schulze-Gaevernitz.
• Nikolai Propkovich — Heinrich Himmler.
• Yevgenyi Kuznetsov — Friedrich Krüger.
• Mikhail Zharkovsky — Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
• Vladimir Emelyanov — Wilhelm Keitel.

Historical background

The negotiations between Dulles and Wolff did take place in reality on March 8, 1945, codenamed both Operation Sunrise and Operation Crossword ("Sunrise Crossword" in the film) and Soviet agents supplied information on them to the USSR. One of them was Kim Philby. Another agent of the Soviet Military Intelligence, dubbed as "a fantastic source, who received the first-class information from Germany" by Allen Dulles, was Rudolph Rassler, working in Switzerland during secret negotiations.

Inventing the image of Isaev-Stirlitz, Yulian Semyonov worked with the biographies of well-known Soviet intelligence officers: Lev Manevich, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Sandor Radó. But no one of them became a prototype of the film's main character. Stirlitz is the collective image, in which the author embodied all the best features of the intelligence officer.

Stirlitz is sometimes referred to as a Russian James Bond, even if the comparison is not entirely warranted. Although the show contains some relatively unbelievable elements (e.g., a Russian passing for a German for 20 years) and it may even have served a somewhat similar ideological role as the James Bond films did in the West, Seventeen Moments of Spring is based, even if only loosely, on actual historical events. Moreover, the show also strives for a much more realistic version of foreign espionage than the James Bond films do, with Stirlitz carefully playing on rivalries within the SD and SS, cautiously seeking out friendly contacts, prudently developing alibis for his covert activities and very rarely resorting to force or gadgetry. It is notable that one hardly gets the impression that many of the Nazis were the incarnation of evil: While the show does remind the viewer of the horror of Nazi death camps through the use of some original footage, one nonetheless finds it hard not to take something of a liking for Heinrich Müller and some of Stirlitz' other adversaries. This is a contrast to the Bond films, where the Russian generals and leaders are either brute vodka-guzzling stereotypes, calculating evil geniuses, or just greedy people involved in schemes for money.

The music for the movie was written by Armenian-born composer Mikael Tariverdiev.

Broadcasts

The series was immensely popular in the Soviet Union - West German author Klaus Mehnert, who investigated Soviet popular culture in the 1970s, reported that each episode was watched by between 50 and 80 million viewers on television, making it the most successful program of its time. It originated many popular phrases as well as an entire genre of anecdotes, the latter having seemingly taken a life of its own. The show is still frequently aired on Russian television. Plans were discussed to build a monument to Stirlitz in the city of Gorokhovets, his birthplace in the series. It's been said that "for older generations, the series is little more than a factual retelling of an actual historical event — a behind-the-scenes look at a war painful to remember." "But for younger people raised from childhood on yearly showings — the film was shown one hour-long serial at a time, 12 days in a row — "Spring" became more famous for its quirky lines and surreal shots than its cinematic whole." "But "Spring's" most lasting claim to fame is the legion of anecdotes that have entered Stirlitz, Isayev and Tikhonov in the permanent annals of Russian folklore."

A Polish television series with a very similar theme, More Than Life at Stake (Template:Lang-pl) (with Captain Kloss being the analogous character to Stirlitz) was made in 1967-1968.

Technical data

Seventeen Moments of Spring was filmed in black and white. It consists of 12 episodes, each between 65 and 79 minutes in length. The film uses a large amount of clips from war archives.

Inaccuracies in the movie

This section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. (December 2010)

The historian K. Zalessky proposes that the image of Nazi Germany as portrayed in the film is in fact more similar to the USSR. In his opinion, "this is a myth, the shown in this movie, it did not exist... The spirit, all the interactions between characters, they have nothing in common with reality. The Third Reich was different. It was, so to say, not worse, not better, it was just different. And here, repeating once more, this is more similar to our country." His 2006 book Seventeen Moments of Spring: The Curved Mirror of the Third Reich (Russian: Семнадцать мгновений весны. Кривое зеркало Третьего рейха) is dedicated to the analysis of all possible historical inaccuracies in the film. Regardless of the close attention to historical details by the directors and actors of the film, Zalessky had different personal opinions of the film, which cannot be corroborated or disproved by the late author of the novel, Y. Semenov.

Historical inaccuracies and anachronisms

• In the personal files on Goebbels, Goering, and Himmler, it is said that they each have a "secondary education." In reality:
  • Goebbels was a Doctor of Philosophy at Heidelberg University. During his education, owing to the sponsorship of the Catholic society of A. Magnus, he attended lecture series from the best German professors at the universities at Bonn, Freiburg, Wurzburg, Cologne, and Munich.
  • Goering graduated from the Army academy in Karlsruhe and later from the Prussian Military Academy in Lichterfield, Berlin with the highest possible grades, for which he was personally congratulated by Kaiser Wilhelm.
  • Himmler studied at the agricultural department of the Munich Polytechnical Institute with a specialty in "agrarian economy."
• Goebbels was appointed as Gauleiter of Berlin not in 1944, as said in the film, but in 1926. He did not have the rank of Obergruppenführer. In the second episode it is said that "the Führer visited Goebbels's home in January 1945 for a birthday party." However, Goebbels was born on October 29, and his wife on November 11; none of Goebbels's six children were born in January either.
• On his trip with Pastor Schlag, Stirlitz listens to "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf, written in the 1950s.
• Women did not serve in the SS, with the exception of so-called Women's Auxiliary Divisions, which had their own system of ranks. Thus, Unterscharführer could not have had a real-life prototype.
• Stirlitz (as well as many of his colleagues) smokes at work, which contradicts the Third Reich's anti-smoking policies. In 1939 the NSDAP issued a ban on smoking in all of its facilities, and Himmler forbade SS officers and police to smoke during work hours (see Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany).
• In the first episode, when listing the countries under German control in February 1945, Hitler speaks of Austria, Germany, and the Czech and Bohemian Protectorates. But Hitler could not have spoken of Austria as a country separate from the Reich, and the "Czech and Bohemian Protectorate" is nonsense, since it was actually called the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. (This mistake was present in the novel as well as the film.)
• In the information on Himmler it is said that he worked for Robert Ley. However, the photo shown is of Julius Streicher.
• In the 12th episode, Stirlitz sends three telegrams from Bern, naming the city of destination as "Constantinopole," which had been renamed to Istanbul in 1930.
• In the first episode, Kaltenbrunner reprimands Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger for the failure of the operation to destroy Krakow. Krüger was in fact the director of the SS and police, but only until 1943; thus, he could not have had anything to do with destroying Krakow.

Plot inconsistencies

• The Gestapo officers went to Stirlitz's home to set up an ambush arrive openly, without disguise, leaving their cars by the entrance.
• Rolf, when speaking on the telephone in the ninth episode, introduces himself as Kühn. The same last name is mentioned in the seventh episode by Barbara Krein, when Stirlitz visits: "...Obersturmbannführer Kühn has brought some nice tea..."
• Schlag is called a "Catholic priest", despite being a "pastor" (i.e., from a Lutheran church); he also dresses as a Protestant priest and is the minister of a Kirche (a Lutheran, not a Catholic, church).
• When in the ninth episode Rolf tries to get Kat to state the name of the spy, a car with SS observer is standing in front of the building. Rolf's conversation with Kat is recorded on a tape recorder also operated by a SS officer. But after Rolf and Barbara are killed, Kat and Hellmut leave the building without interference from the Gestapo agents, nor was Müller notified. Müller realized that something had happened only after he was told that nobody was answering the phone in the apartment.
• Müller makes a connection between his intercepted message and the coded message taken from Pleischner based on identical numbers at the beginning and of the message. If the code can have such similarities between messages, its security is quite low and it can be cracked by frequency analysis. Nevertheless, not a single one of Stirlitz's coded reports were deciphered by the Germans.

Technical and animation errors

• When Stirlitz is sending telegrams, it can be seen that they are written on "USSR International Telegram" blanks with the seal blotted out with ink. In the corner the Russian words "Paid: __ rubles __ kopecks" are clearly visible. The text of the telegram is written in Russian (Cyrillic), but the city of origin is written by the operator as "Bern," in the Latin script.
• The courier pilot sent by General Wolff gets into a Soviet Yakovlev Yak-12, which looks quite similar to a German Fieseler Fi 156. But then, a clip is shown of a completely different fighter plane taking off: the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Furthermore, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 is shown taking off. The Swastika on the Yak-12 is different form the standard form used in Nazi Germany.
• When Schellenberg meets Wolff at the airport, an Antonov An-2 is shown, but that airplane was only produced starting in 1947.
• The Siemens dictophone used by Stirlitz is actually a Soviet "Electron 52D" from 1969; even further, it is a transistor device; the first transistor was made on 1947. It cannot record more than 10 minutes and does not have a built-in speaker.
• In the Dulles's Bern headquarters, there is an Italian Geloso magnetophone made in the early 1960s. On the walls, Soviet power outlets can be seen, and a Soviet-made fan is shown being turned on.
• The plumbing briefly shown in the film is obviously made after 1945 and not in Germany.
• In Müller's office is a Soviet "Slava" clock, produced in the 1970s.
• When Stirlitz takes Kat to the train in Bern, the writing on the train car reads "38 Platze," which should be written with an umlaut ("38 Plätze"). The Russian "TAPA 58 T" is quite poorly blotted out. The train cars themselves, though produced in Germany, were used only in the USSR and never in Switzerland. They were made at the Amendorf factory in Galle, DDR between 1948 and 1996. The cars shown in the film were made no later than the end of the 1960s.
• Two different cars with small, but noticeable, discrepancies are portrayed as Stirlitz's Mercedes-Benz in the film: the differences are in the color of the steering wheel and a transparent protrusion on the front side window trim.
• Stirlitz sketches the Nazi leaders with a marker. Markers were invented in Germany, but only in 1960.
• The marble gourami in Müller's aquarium appeared only in 1956.
• Stirlitz places Klaus's letter in a Soviet-type envelope (a 4-pointed star), not the "pocket" type used in Germany.
• The handcuffs placed on Kat and several others in the Film are "Vopo" handcuffs used by the East German police in the 1950s.
• When Müller inspects the cases from Hellmut's gun, Gestapo expert declares, "Parabellum." The case is bottle-shaped, not cylindrical, and are noticeably longer than the 9x19mm Parabellum.
• When Stirlitz throws his gun in the lake after killing Klaus, he is not actually throwing anything. The object that falls in the water does not at all resemble a pistol.
• When in the Gestapo underground torture chamber, Stirlitz makes a lion's head out of matches, using 94 matches and leaving 4 unused next to empty matchbox. But that type of matchbox at the time held no more than 60 matches.
• There is a "Saratov" refrigerator in Stirlitz's kitchen, produced in Russia only from 1952 onwards.

Costumes

• Gestapo and SD employees wear black SS uniforms of the 1934 type; this uniform was out of use by 1939 and was replaced with green-gray Wehrmacht-type uniforms.
• The stripes on Sturmbannführer Rolf's uniform indicate the rank of Obersturmbannführer.
• In many episodes, Stirlitz and other RSHA members wear Soviet-made boots and were used only by the RSHA higher command.
• Müller and Stirlitz have chevrons on their right sleeves. This is a sign worn by people who were members of the NSDAP before 1933 (Honour Chevron for the Old Guard); however, Müller joined the party only in 1939.
• General Wolff wears a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, an award which he did not actually have; however, he did have First and Second Order Iron Crosses. (see Karl Wolff)
• Though Hellmut was seriously wounded near Vitebsk, he does not have a corresponding mark on his uniform.

Geography

• When the insurance agent asks Kat where her property was insured, she replies, "On the corner of Kurfürstendamm and Kantstrasse." These streets do not intersect; if extended, they would meet at the place were the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands.
• There is not and never was a Blümenstrasse (Flower Street) in Bern. Even if there were, it would be spelled Blumenstraße, without the umlaut. The filming in this street took place at Jauniela in the old town of Riga. Also, the Eszett had not been used in Switzerland since 1906. However, this is a common street name in Germany.
• The employees of the RSHA 4th and 6th divisions (Gestapo and SD, respectively) could not have met, as their headquarters were in different parts of Berlin; also, the Gestapo building at Prinz-Albrechtstrasse 8 was bombed by the British in early 1945.
• To reach Erwin&Kinn, Stirlitz drove on Köpenickerstrasse via Bayreutherstrasse. In reality the streets are not even close to each other.

Other mistakes

• In the scene where Stirlitz sketches the Nazi leaders, light pencil sketches can be seen on the paper.
• A Soviet ZIL-130 truck and a Zhiguli can be seen when Stirlitz is sitting on the grass in the 12th episode. When Stirlitz is sleeping in his car, a ZIL 130 also drives by.
• When exiting the train that is taking Pleischner to Bern, Stirlitz goes to a kiosk with the sign "Zeitschrifte" (magazines), while the correct plural would be "Zeitschriften."
• In the 9th episode a box of bird food is labeled as "Fögel" rather than "Vögel."
• In the 12th episode, Stirlitz is seen walking at night around Bern, but he is actually being filmed in Riga: he passes the store "Centrs," in the window of which is the sign in Latvian: "Apavi katram gadalaikam" ("Shoes for every season"). In the next window is a Russian sign.
• In the fifth episode, when Stirlitz exits the cafe, the camera operator and assistant can be seen in the car window: a woman wearing a sweater with a large bracelet on the right hand.
• When Stirlitz meets his wife, the time shown on the clock on the wall does not match the time in the plot.
• In the tenth episode, as soon as Hellmut fires his first shot, three holes appear in the windshield of the Gestapo car.
• In the fourth episode, when Stirlitz decides to take a day off because of the Soviet holiday of February 23 (which only became a public holiday in post-Soviet Russia in 2002), Eismann is seen closing the window blinds for some reason—but outside it is dark.
• When Stirlitz visits the museum before meeting Bormann, modern cars and buses are seen out the window, clearly on the first floor. Later in the same scene, Stirlitz looks out the window from a height of at least the second floor.
• In the scene where Stirlitz takes Klaus to Schlag's church, a cache-nez suddenly appears on Stirlitz.
• The sign on the doors of the Elefant cafe is written as to be read from the inside, for the viewer of the film, though the sign would have been written to be read by passers-by.
• In the fifth episode, when escaping a car following his own, Stirlitz turns the steering wheel to the left, and the objects in the window can be seen moving to the right. However, his car turns to the left in the next frames.
• When Rolf and Barbara are killed, "16 March 1945, 13:45," the clock on the wall shows 15:53. 95 seconds later, the time has not changed.
• In the fifth episode, Wolff comments to Dulles that the aria from The Marriage of Figaro playing is an "excellent contralto." However, the music is sung in soprano.
• In the first episode, Hitler's secretary is blonde and is waiting for Hitler to begin speaking. In the close-up frames that follow, she has dark hair and is writing quickly. Later, her hair turns light again.
• Stirlitz could not have left his fingerprints on the suitcase with Kat's radio equipment because he was wearing gloves the whole time while handling the suitcase.
• He also could not have left his fingerprints on the suitcases and stroller of the woman he used as alibi, since the SS winter uniform included leather gloves.
• When Müller and Stirlitz enter the Gestapo basement, Müller gives his pistol to the guard. When he leaves, the pistol cannot be seen on him.
• In the sixth episode, Stirlitz presents his identification to an SS officer, who looks Asian and would not have been permitted to be a member of the SS.
• The heading of Holtoff's file reads "Reichssicherheitshauptumt," which is correctly spelled Reichssicherheitshauptamt.

Soundtrack

The main musical theme to the movie, titled "Mgnovenia" ("Moments"), was composed by Mikael Tariverdiev and performed by Joseph Kobzon.

References

1. "Biography of Tihonov V.V." (in Russian). Retrieved May 31, 2011.
2. "Analysis of the Name File of Guido Zimmer". Records of the Central Intelligence Agency - Records of the Directorate of Operations. Retrieved September 10, 2006.
3. "Superagent nicknamed "Little Son"". SVR (in Russian). Retrieved September 10, 2006.
4. "They Are Honest and Modest People..." SVR (in Russian). Retrieved September 10, 2006.
5. "Yulian Semyonov's "Moments"". Voice of Russia (in Russian). Retrieved September 11, 2006.
6. Klaus Mehnert. The Russians and their Favorite Books. Hoover Institution Press (1983). ISBN 978-0817978211. Page 47.
7. ^ "Stirlitz: A War Hero for All Times." Daisy Sindelar. The Moscow Times. May 11, 1995.
8. Источник: Каталог Гостелерадиофонда России
9. длительность серии указана по фактическому времени эфира первой трансляции, без учёта рекламы
10. «17 мгновений весны: где правда и где вымысел» Интервью с историком К. Залесским
11. Залесский К. А. НСДАП. Власть в Третьем рейхе. — М.: Эксмо, 2005
12. See also К. А. Залесский. "Семнадцать мгновений весны. Кривое зеркало Третьего рейха. Глава «Кто Вы, пастор Шлаг?» (М., 2006, СС. 185—204)
13. http://rw6ase.narod.ru/ej/elektron/elektron52d.html
14. Первые магнитофоны
15. http://www.soundtapewereld.nl/Bandrecorders/Merken/Geloso/Types/G%20257/GelosoG257index.html
16. http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/geloso_g257_g_257.html
17. К. А. Залесский. Семнадцать мгновений весны. Кривое зеркало Третьего рейха. М., 2006. С. 113
18. Цена победы // Эхо Москвы, 21 января 2008

External links

• Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny at IMDb

• Soviet films
• 1973 films
• Russian-language films
• Gorky Film Studio films
• World War II films
• Films set in Nazi Germany
• World War II films based on actual events
• World War II television drama series
• 1973 in the Soviet Union
• Black-and-white films
• Soviet television miniseries