Voice of the era: why Hitler appointed a bounty for the head of Yuri Levitan, and where did the announcer disappear in the 1970s

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

His voice was well known to everyone, and the phrase “Attention! Moscow is speaking! recognizable even by those who were born after the collapse of the USSR. Yuri Levitan was the most famous Soviet radio announcer, it was his voice that announced the beginning of the Second World War, about the victory over the Nazis, about the first flight into space, etc. In the 1970s. he suddenly disappeared from the air, although at one time he was famous even outside the USSR, and Hitler appointed a reward of 250 thousand marks for his head.

Yuri (Yudka) Levitan was born on October 2 (according to the old style - September 19) 1914 in the family of a tailor. Since childhood, he was distinguished by a strong and beautiful voice, unique in timbre and expressiveness. After the 9th grade, the boy decided to enter the State Film Institute in Moscow, as he dreamed of the fame of the artist, but he was too young for admission. Then he accidentally saw an advertisement for a competitive recruitment of announcers on the radio, and unexpectedly for himself was accepted as a trainee. Soon he was even allowed to read small messages at night.

Once the voice of Levitan on the night air was heard by Stalin, who often worked at night. The young announcer was instructed to read on the radio a report prepared for the 17th Party Congress. The young man read the 5-hour report without a single mistake or reservation. After that, Stalin ordered that all the most important documents henceforth be voiced only by this announcer. So at the age of 19, Yuri Levitan became the main announcer of Soviet radio.

The flawlessly sounding text on the air was given to Levitan at the cost of many hours of training and exercises to improve diction. But the result was worth it: soon his voice began to be recognized in every home. It was he who announced to the country about the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, and during the Second World War he read the reports of the Soviet Information Bureau on the radio.

The offensive in the first days of the war took place so rapidly that the Nazis did not doubt an imminent victory over the USSR. Goebbels came up with the idea that the message about the victory of Germany should be read on the radio by Yuri Levitan. Then a plan was developed to kidnap the speaker, for whose head a considerable price was set - 250 thousand marks. Soon they had to forget about the blitz-krieg, and Hitler promised a reward not for the capture, but for the destruction of the announcer. But even the bombings of the Radio Committee were unsuccessful, and in 1945 Levitan's voice became the voice of the USSR's victory: “This is Moscow speaking! Fascist Germany is completely defeated ….

After the war, the voice of Yuri Levitan sounded less and less on the radio - it was believed that he could not read the usual news, since everyone was already used to hearing from him information only about the most important events. But when Yuri Gagarin flew into Space, Levitan was, of course, instructed to report this. In addition, the announcer often spoke to veterans, students, and labor collectives. He was the first of the Soviet announcers to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. In total, at that time, Levitan conducted 60 thousand programs on the radio, most of them live.

In the 1970s. Levitan took part in several television programs, but practically disappeared from the radio air - the leadership considered that his voice was associated with the audience only with tragic events and did not correspond to a peaceful era. The outstanding announcer had to confine himself to work in the field of speech art with young radio trainees.

1978-1983 Levitan read the text in the TV show "Minute of Silence". In August 1983 he was invited to speak at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk. After speaking at the rally, Levitan had a heart attack, and on August 4 he passed away.

Actor R. Plyatt talked about Levitan: “When Levitan's" From the Soviet Information Bureau "began on the radio, it sounded wide, chased and powerful, and aroused in the listeners elation and faith in our victory. He was a speaker-tribune, and we are unlikely to find such a thing again."

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