The prototype of Grigory Melekhov from the quiet. Who really was the prototype of Grigory Melekhov from "The Quiet Flows the Don" & nbsp

Kharlampy Ermakov, from whom Sholokhov wrote Grigory Melekhov, was shot by the Chekists in 1927.

In January 1928, the publication of the first two books of The Quiet Flows the Don began in the October magazine. And six months before that, on June 17, 1927, by order of the PG OGPU SNK of June 15 of the same year, No. 0314147, a death sentence was carried out against Ermakov Kharlampy Vasilyevich, from whom Mikhail Sholokhov wrote Grigory Melekhov.

There is no doubt that the Veshenskaya Cossack, Kharlampiy Yermakov, Knight of the Four Georgievs, red cavalry commander of Budyonny and leader of the anti-Soviet insurgents in the Donetsk district in 1919, is the prototype of Melekhov. This is evidenced by numerous studies, and the Sholokhov scholars themselves for the most part agree that it is the vivid prototype of the protagonist that is the core of the novel, which is not inferior in importance to Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace".

In Soviet times, especially during the years of Stalinism, Sholokhov denied any connection between Melekhov and Yermakov, however, over the years, answering journalists' questions about the novel Quiet Flows the Flowston, he spoke more and more often about Kharlampy Yermakov as a prototype of the protagonist. “Ermakov is more suited to my plan, what Grigory should be,” Sholokhov admitted in 1974 to journalist Konstantin Priyma. - His ancestors - a Turkish grandmother, - four St. George's crosses for courage, service in the Red Guard, participation in the uprising, then surrender to the Reds and a trip to the Polish front - all this fascinated me in the fate of Yermakov. It was difficult for him to choose a path in life, very difficult. Ermakov revealed to me a lot about the battles with the Germans, which I did not know from literature ... So, Grigory's experiences after the murder of the first Austrian by him - this came from the stories of Ermakov.

The novel ends with the return of the Cossack home. In this regard, the end of the fourth book of the novel looks logical, seemingly broken, despite the strong final chords: “Kneeling down, kissing his son’s pink cold little hands, he repeated only one word in a strangled voice: - Sonny ... sonny ...

It was all that remained in his life, which still made him related to the earth and to all this huge world shining under the cold sun. Sholokhov succeeded in putting the last end of the novel on disturbing intonations prophesying a tragic and inevitable end.

However , it could not be otherwise . The continuation of The Quiet Don was already written in the OKPU, and so carefully that the investigation file No. 45529 Kharlampiy Ermakov, which is currently in the KGB and FSB Museum of the Rostov Region, consists of three volumes.

The Don Cossacks developed a special style of internal democracy and love of freedom over the course of several centuries, so the Leninist government did not have to wait for obedience. Of particular danger was the military training of the Cossacks. Boys from the age of five cut sedge with checkers, mastering the merciless Baklanovsky blow, and to coming of age could cut the enemy in half on a gallop. At the same time, they were excellent riders, they shot accurately, they fought well, they were brave, but stupidly did not climb under the bullets, coming up with cunning and sudden attacks. In this vein, Yermakov's assessment is noteworthy given by Semyon Budyonny, who, according to Sholokhov, "remembered him from the 1st Cavalry Army and spoke of him as an excellent grunt, equal in strength to Oka Gorodovikov's saber strike." There were a majority of such fighters among the Don people.

Realizing this, the Orgburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) issues a circular letter dated January 24, 1919, which says: "Given the experience of the civil war with the Cossacks, recognize the only right thing is the most merciless struggle against all the tops of the Cossacks by their total extermination". Bolshevik punitive operations begin on the Don, in response to which a Cossack uprising breaks out, in which Yermakov participates.

This was imputed by investigator Donobsud Stakler to him when he was arrested on April 21, 1923: “with the advent of the Whites, ataman Bagaevsky promoted Yermakov to the rank of centurion for an active struggle against the revolutionary movement, and after a while - yesaul. At the time of the uprising, Yermakov personally hacked to death 18 captured sailors.” The accusation is based on the testimony of 8 witnesses.

Meanwhile, in the same criminal case there are documents demonstrating Ermakov's philanthropy. "I, undersigned citizen of the village of Bazki, a former member of the party and a former Red Army soldier Kondratyev Vasily Vasiliev, voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1918, and my family remained in Bazki, Vyoshenskaya volost. During the uprising, they wanted to exterminate or beat my family, but Mr. Ermakov did not allow it. There are dozens of such letters, as well as petitions for release, and hundreds of people who signed them.

It just so happened that Kharlampy Yermakov was not a convinced monarchist and understood the need for reforms. According to him, "In January 1918, I voluntarily joined the Red Army, held command positions all the time and in 1919 was the head of the artillery depot of the 15th Inzen division." He explains his participation in the Upper Don uprising circumstances captured by the Whites, who forced him to fight against the Petrograd and Moscow regiments. Perhaps so, but most likely his insurgency was a meaningful reaction to terror. “There is no smallest village, wherever the Cossacks suffered from the Bolsheviks,” local newspapers wrote at that time.

On August 14, 1919, Lenin makes a political maneuver and addresses the Cossacks: " ... Worker-peasant the government is not going to dekulakize anyone, does not go against the Cossack life, leaving the Cossacks their villages and farms ... ". Unable to defeat the Cossacks, but mastering the art of propaganda to perfection, the Bolsheviks re-recruit them to your side. Ermakov "in 1920 again voluntarily enters the Red Army, bringing with him a detachment of 250 sabers." He participates in battles on the Polish and Southern fronts, as well as against the gangs of Makhno, Yushchenko and Belov. But , having hardly returned home , he is arrested under Art . 58 paragraphs 11 and 18 of the Criminal Code.

Ermakov's first imprisonment in the Rostov Correctional House lasted a little over two years. In the summer of 1924, Kharlampy Vasilyevich, 33 years old, was released on bail, and a year later his “case” was terminated, with a strange wording for “inexpediency”. This was the personal merit of Ermakov, who competently, no worse than a professional lawyer, built his defense and accurately counter-argued all the points of the accusation.

On January 20, 1927, Yermakov's second arrest took place. The Chekists did not manage to gain a legislative basis for prosecution, and even more so to knock out their Kharlampy Vasilyevich "testimonies" against anyone. The Cossack did not slander himself, as the investigators of the Rostov OGPU wanted. By this time, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the Decree of the Presidium of May 26, 1927 on the out-of-court procedure for considering cases, on the basis of which the OGPU continuation of The Quiet Don ended with two short sentences: “Ermakov - shoot. File the case."

Alexander Sitnikov

According to svpressa.ru

According to Mikhail Sholokhov, the author of the epic novel Quiet Flows the Don, his favorite character in the book was Grigory Melekhov. The image of this hero, his fate and even appearance were written off from a real person - Kharlampy Vasilyevich Ermakov.

Sholokhov was personally acquainted with the prototype of the protagonist of his novel, they often met and talked in 1926, when the writer was collecting materials for his work. The author came to the village of Veshenskaya, and he and Ermakov talked, smoked and argued for long nights. One of the archives contains a letter in which the writer addresses Yermakov with a request to meet. Sholokhov was then very interested in the events of 1919 related to the fate of the Don Cossacks during the Veshensky uprising.

It is no coincidence that the author turned to Kharlampy Ermakov. The fate of this legendary man was not easy. He was born on the Antipov farm in the Veshenskaya village, now it is the Rostov region. He grew up in an ordinary Cossack family, graduated from the local parochial school. Ermakov's childhood and youth did not differ in anything special, they passed like most of his fellow countrymen.

Kharlampiy Vasilyevich Ermakov (February 7, 1891, the village of Antipov of the village of the Vyoshenskaya Region of the Don Cossacks (now the Sholokhov district of the Rostov region) - June 17, 1927, Millerovo of the North Caucasus Territory (now the Rostov region) - a participant in the Civil War, one of the prototypes of Grigory Melekhov in the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don".

Born in the village of Antipov in the village of Vyoshenskaya Oblast of the Don Cossacks, in the family of a Don Cossack. At the age of two, he was given to be brought up in the family of relatives Arkhip Gerasimovich and Ekaterina Ivanovna Soldatov, who lived on the Bazki farm of the same village. The reason for this decision was the loss of his father's ability to work due to the loss of his right hand. He was educated at the Vyoshenskaya two-year parish school. At the age of 19 he married a Cossack woman Praskovya Ilyinichna. In 1911 they had a daughter, Pelageya, and in 1913, a son, Joseph.

In January 1913 he was called up for active service in the 12th Don Cossack Regiment. April 25, 1914 he graduated from the training team and was appointed platoon officer. With the outbreak of World War I, he ended up on the Southwestern Front, where he fought until the fall of 1916. Then he gets to the Romanian front. For 2.5 years of the war he was awarded four St. George's crosses and four St. George's medals. Was wounded twice. The first time - September 21, 1915 near Kovel; and until November 26 he was treated in a hospital in the city of Sarny. On November 20, 1916, he was wounded in Romania, in the battle for height 1467. After this injury, he was sent for treatment to the Rostov hospital. After being cured, on January 25, 1917, he received a two-month leave to improve his health and returned to his native farm. Then - in connection with the expiration of the four-year term of active service - he receives a three-month "preferential" leave.

In May 1917, fellow countrymen elected Kharlampy Ermakov (by this time he had the rank of constable) as a deputy from the Vyoshenskaya village to the Great Military Circle, who elected Ataman Kaledin. In June, he was again mobilized into the army, in the 2nd Don Cossack reserve regiment, located in the village of Kamenskaya. From his regiment, he is elected to the Regional Military Committee - a self-governing body of military units, formed on July 14, 1917 at the regional congress of representatives of the infantry and Cossack units in Novocherkassk. In the summer he completes general education courses at the Novocherkassk cadet school.

With the outbreak of the Civil War on the Don, he supported the Don Military Revolutionary Committee, headed by F. Podtelkov and N. M. Golubev. He fought against the Chernetsov detachment, was wounded near the Likhaya station, and at the end of January 1918 returned home again. Soviet power is established on the Don, and Ermakov is elected chairman of the Vyoshensky stanitsa Council. He holds this position until the beginning of the anti-Bolshevik uprising in the Verkhne-Donskoy district, which took place on April 16-20. Later, the Don press called him one of the organizers of the coup. For participation in this uprising, he receives the title of coroner. With the restoration of the ataman rule, Kh. Ermakov was elected ataman of the Vyoshenskaya village. However, the service of the Reds causes distrust in him - and at the stanitsa meeting held on May 14, he was re-elected as the second assistant to the ataman.

In the summer and autumn of 1918, Kh. Yermakov, as a platoon commander of the 1st Vyoshensky regiment of the Don Army, fought against the Red Army in the Tsaritsyn and Balashov directions. When at the end of December, tired of the war and promoted by the Reds, the Cossacks abandoned the front, he returned home. A month later, fulfilling the instructions of the circular letter of the Orgburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) “on decossackization” dated January 24, 1919, the Red Army began terror on the Upper Don. February 25 p. Art. an uprising broke out in the village of Kazanskaya. On February 26, the rebels liberated Migulinskaya, and on the 27th - Vyoshenskaya village. On the same day, the cornet Kh. Ermakov begins the formation of an insurgent detachment of the right-bank farms. Two days later, Ermakov's detachment marched on the village of Karginskaya, where they defeated Likhachev's punitive detachment and captured the artillery depots of the Reds. On March 5, the old men of the Bazka farm handed him the command of the Bazkov Hundred. A few days later, the commander of the rebel forces, P. Kudinov, appointed him commander of the 1st Upper Don Division instead of Yesaul Alferov. For 3 months, Ermakov's division has been successfully fighting in the southern sector of the rebel front against units of the 9th Army of the Southern Front of the Red Army, advancing on Novocherkassk. In May, under pressure from new enemy reinforcements, the rebels retreat to the left bank of the Don. But a day later, a group of General Secretev breaks through the red front and joins the rebel army. The Red Army leaves the Upper Don District.

After connecting with the Don Army, the rebel army is gradually disbanded, the rebel commanders are replaced by career officers of the Don Army. Kh. Ermakov remains in his former position longer than others. He commands the 1st Upper Don Division (renamed the 1st Upper Don Brigade) until 1 (14) July. On this day, the Ermakov brigade joins the 5th cavalry brigade. Ermakov himself receives the post of commander of a hundred of the 20th Vyoshensky regiment. Some time later, Kh. Ermakov was appointed an officer for assignments at the headquarters of the Semiletov group. In August, he was wounded near the village of Filonovskaya. In October, upon returning from the hospital, he was appointed assistant regiment commander for the economic part. In December, ataman A. Bogaevsky is promoted to centurion, in January - to sub-sauls, in February - to captains, and is transferred to the post of assistant regiment commander for combat units.

At the end of February, the Don army retreated to the Kuban. March 3rd Art., near the village of Georgie-Afipskaya, Kh. Ermakov, together with his part, surrendered to the Red-Green, and on March 15 he transferred to the Red Army. Received under his command the 3rd separate cavalry. Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Army, formed from the Cossacks who joined the Red Army. He commanded them on the Polish front. Then he was appointed commander of the 82nd regiment and sent to the Wrangel Front. After the capture of the Crimea, Ermakov is sent to the Don to fight the "gangs" of Makhno, Popov and Andreyanov. In the middle of 1921, he was appointed head of the Kraskom school of the 14th kav. divisions in Maykop. He was awarded a saber and a nominal watch. M. A. Sholokhov wrote in 1974 to the literary critic K. I. Priima:

In January 1923, Kh. Ermakov was dismissed from the army on indefinite leave "as a former white man." A month later he returned home. And on February 23, 1923, he was arrested by the GPU. Ermakov was accused of organizing the Vyoshensky uprising in 1919 under Article 58 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The investigation lasted almost a year and a half, however, they could not prove his guilt: most of the witnesses testified during the investigation that Yermakov was forcibly mobilized into the rebel army by P. Kudinov and other leaders of the uprising; remembered how he saved captured Red Army soldiers from execution. The villagers made a collective petition in his defense. Thanks to this, on July 19, 1924, Kh. Ermakov was released on bail. The investigation lasted another 10 months, and perhaps would have continued longer, but in April a plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) took place, which decided on the partial rehabilitation of the Cossacks. As a result, on May 15, 1925, the visiting session of the North Caucasian Court in the city of Millerovo decided to dismiss the case "for expediency."

After his release, Ermakov served in the stanitsa Council and cooperation. During these years, he often visited the parents of M. A. Sholokhov, who lived in Karginskaya, who makes acquaintance with him. In the last investigative file of Ermakov, a letter to him from Sholokhov dated April 6, 1926 was preserved, in which the young writer asks for some information about the Upper Don uprising of 1919. Subsequently, many details of the biography of Kh. Ermakov were used by Sholokhov for the biography of Grigory Melekhov.

On January 20, 1927, Ermakov was arrested again. This time, the investigation found witnesses who claimed that he voluntarily took command of the rebels, personally participated in the execution of the Red Army, and that he is currently conducting anti-Soviet agitation. On June 6, 1927, the judicial board of the OGPU, having considered the case out of court under Articles 58/11 and 58/18 of the Criminal Code, decided: Ermakov Kharlampy Vasilyevich should be “shooted”. On June 17, the sentence was carried out.

At present, when the Cossacks are being revived, there are not so many scientific biographies of the recognized Cossack leaders of the times of the revolution and civil war. Publicistic works dedicated to I. A. Kochubey were published (which, however, did not prevent the author of one serious monograph from claiming that Kochubey was shot in 1937). There is a voluminous collection of documents dedicated to F. K. Mironov, based on which, one can recreate in detail the features of the civil war on the Don. But it's all about the reds.

Undoubtedly, it was also written about A. M. Kaledin. But in general, with the "white" leaders" of the Cossacks, who fought with the Bolsheviks in 1918-1920, everything remains at the level of timid attempts. The exception is the work of A. A. Smirnov "Cossack chieftains" about Krasnov and Semyonov. Some leaders themselves wrote more about themselves than their unlucky descendants could have done (memoirs of P. N. Krasnov, notes of A. G. Shkuro). There are no biographies of the commanders of the Don Army, Generals S. Denisov and V. Sidorin, the “completely victorious general” A. Guselshchikov (despite the excellent biographical material dedicated to his native village of Gundorovskaya).

A happy exception is Kharlampy Yermakov (1891-1927), one of the leaders of the Vyoshensky uprising of 1919, who became so famous due to the fact that Sholokhov himself called him one of the prototypes of Grigory Melekhov, the hero of The Quiet Don.

The debate about the authorship of the novel is far from over, and more recently Zeev Bar-Sella added fuel to the fire with his work Literary Pit. Project "Writer Sholokhov" (M., 2006). And once again attracted the attention of Kharlampy Ermakov.

In 1989, the Rostov Regional Court rehabilitated Yermakov, who was shot by the OGPU Collegium in 1927. In 1990, journalist O. Nikitina published excerpts from his criminal case.

But then we still lived "under the Soviet regime." Therefore, rehabilitation meant that the person was not to blame for anything before her.

It was an interesting time... The authorities were losing their power, repenting of old sins. Conversations among historians and publicists were conducted in the style of "Well, isn't it terrible?" and "How many innocent people suffered!". Or: “The authorities are good, but Stalin perverted everything!”.

In the same vein - "he is innocent before the Soviet authorities" - a biography of Yermakov, written by A. I. Kozlov, "according to the archives of the FSB" came out.

I don’t know how it used to be, but in the 1970s and 1980s, the layman believed that our competent authorities knew everything. The KGB in those years, against the background of the growing mafia, was indeed the least corrupt organization in the country and had a powerful extensive network of informants. The image of the omniscient organization was supported by fiction, films, TV series.

Alas... Materials from other archives show that Yermakov's biography, compiled on the basis of only his criminal case, is at least incomplete and, on the whole, distorted.

It should not be forgotten that Yermakov, being under investigation, described much of his biography in the way he needed. And besides, the authorities that “seized and punished” him in the 20s were unlikely to have a competence comparable to that of the current authorities.

So, the biography written by A.I. Kozlov is based on Ermakov's own track record and on the testimony of witnesses.

We confine ourselves to the main points connected with the revolution and the civil war.

Kharlampiy Vasilievich Ermakov, a Cossack of the Vyoshenskaya village, at the beginning of 1913 arrived at the service in the 12th Don Regiment, graduated from the training team, participated in the 1st World War, earned four St. George's crosses and four medals. Wounded in 1916 in Romania.

Ermakov presented his participation in the revolution and the civil war as follows. On January 25, 1917, he was sent home for two months to recover after being wounded; on April 25, after four years from the start of his service, he received a three-month leave ("benefits"). However, already on May 5, he was called up to the 2nd reserve regiment, located in the village of Kamenskaya. There, on October 5, he was promoted to cornet “according to the St. George Statute” and appointed platoon commander.

During the notorious "initial stage of the civil war" Yermakov fought on the side of the Donrevkom. From January 20, 1918, he commanded a hundred in the battles against Chernetsov, on January 28 he was wounded in the leg near the Likhaya station, sent to the Voronezh hospital. On February 15, after recovering, he left for Vyoshenskaya, where he presided over the village council until July 5.

Under the Whites, he was tried by a field court, mobilized and sent to the 1st Vyoshensky Regiment on August 18 with a warning: the family remains hostage. In the regiment until October 25 he commanded a platoon.

After the collapse of the White Front in the winter of 1918-1919, from February 10 to March 3, he was in charge of the artillery transport of the Inza Red Division. Since March 3, he participated in the Vyoshensky uprising.

What was it expressed in? On the instructions of the head of the combat section of the right side of the Don, Yesaul Alferov, Yermakov conducted reconnaissance in the farms, went into battle on March 5 (as a result of which the rebels were defeated). Returning to his native farm Bazkovsky, he became the commander of the Bazkovsky hundred, participated in the attack on Karginsky, where up to 150 Red Army prisoners and 6-7 guns were taken. After the departure of Alferov, he replaced him, commanding a detachment, and then the troops of the Karginsky district.

In May-June, the cavalry group of General Secretev breaks through to help the rebels. Ermakov's detachment joins it, and the commander himself receives an appointment as an officer for assignments at the headquarters of the group of General Semiletov. Wounded in August 1919, until October - in the hospital. And in October he became an assistant to the regiment commander for the economic part. Ataman A.P. Bogaevsky, who arrived at the front, raises all the wounded officers in rank; Ermakov becomes a centurion. Before Christmas, he is promoted to podesauly, in early February 1920 - to esauly (in one of the questionnaires, Yermakov writes that the last promotion is timed to coincide with the regimental holiday). Then he became assistant commander of the 20th Don Regiment in combat.

In early March 1920, near the village of Georgie-Afipskaya, Ermakov passes to the red-greens, and from them he gets to the reds. As part of the 1st Cavalry, he fights on the Polish and Wrangel fronts, fights gangs in the South of Russia, "grows up" to the commander of the regiment, to the head of the divisional school of the 14th cavalry division. In February 1923, he was demobilized. It turns out that he served in the Red Army longer than in the Don.

And two months later, Ermakov was arrested with participants in both the Vyoshensky uprising and the execution of the Podtelkovskaya expedition. The investigation and court proceedings lasted more than two years. During this time, Ermakov told and wrote about himself everything that formed the basis of his biography. It should be remembered that the Don land was depopulated by that time, the Cossacks suffered terrible losses, many emigrated, the court had no witnesses to the felling of prisoners and other terrible cases at hand. The survivors (including Komsomol members) wrote petitions: Yermakov is not guilty. And he blamed the organization of the uprising on his elder brother Yemelyan, who died in June 1919, he said: he was captured by the whites, and they forced him to serve by force.

In 1925, Ermakov was released, the case was closed "for expediency." A major role in this was played by the "zigzags" of domestic policy, the flirtation of the authorities with the Cossacks.

In 1927, Ermakov was arrested again. But for now, let's turn to the facts of the biography, as Ermakov interpreted them.

Before us is an officer who received shoulder straps under Kerensky ("on the wave of democracy") and held the rank of cornet (lieutenant) for two years - 1918 and most of 1919. During this time, the Vyoshensky Cossacks rebelled twice, and Ermakov, who is accused of leading the rebels, remained as a cornet. And he served with the Whites for two years, with the Reds for three.

Ermakov built a line of defense competently. Judges and investigators did not differ in special knowledge, and office work was not up to par. They questioned Ermakov himself, the witnesses, and nothing more. The archival business was still getting better, and the surviving White Guards took their documents abroad.

However, to a professional, or at least a regular military man, much in Yermakov's testimony would seem suspicious. Firstly, according to the St. George statute, Ermakov in 1917 could be promoted to cadet, and if the educational qualification allowed - to ensign, they could be promoted; but not in the cornet. Secondly, why was he called back from vacation so early? Thirdly, all the regiments of the old Russian army, indeed, had their own holidays, but what kind of regimental holiday can the 20th Donskoy have in 1919, if it was formed less than a year ago from the 1st rebel regiment of the Vyoshenskaya village?

Ermakov's life in 1917 was somewhat different ... In May, the village elected him a deputy to the Great Military Circle; in the electoral list he is listed as a constable. Yermakov was actively involved in politics, he was a member of the Regional Military Committee (out of 30 representatives from the Cossack units and 30 from non-Cossack units). Together with him, the lists of the committee include the military foreman Golubov, a well-known adventurer, and army officers, the future military leaders of the Bolshevik uprising in Rostov.

Golubov led the Cossack units of the Donrevkom against Kaledin, Golubov defeated Kaledin's last hope - Chernetsov's partisan detachment and captured Colonel Chernetsov himself. And Ermakov indicates that he participated in the battles against Chernetsov. But Golubov betrayed the Soviet government... And Yermakov does not talk about joint work with him in the Regional Military Committee. Moreover, he does not talk about his participation in the work of the Great Military Circle - on the contrary, for an alibi, he comes up with a date for mobilization in the 2nd reserve regiment (May 2, 1917): in May, Vyoshenskaya elected deputies to the Circle, and Ermakov allegedly was in Kamenskaya at that time in the reserve regiment.

After being wounded, Ermakov really presided over the Vyoshensky village council. The GARO stores the mandates of the deputies of the 1st Don Congress of Soviets from the Vyoshenskaya village, signed by him.

After the anti-Bolshevik coup in the Upper-Don district on April 16-20, 1918, Ermakov turned from the chairman of the Council into a stanitsa ataman and was such until May 14. The white press noted that he was one of the initiators of the coup. “Here, the stanitsa ataman Likhovidov ... together with Yesaul Kargin and constable Yermakov, was the first to rally the Cossack force against the vile enemy.”

For participation in this coup, he, apparently, was promoted to cadet, since on May 14 he presides over the village meeting for the election of a new ataman already in the rank of cadet.

When Ermakov was arrested for the first time, he was still lucky that the investigation did not ask the arrested and witnesses about the capture and destruction of Podtelkov's expedition - according to eyewitnesses, he also took part here.

However, serving with the Bolsheviks along with Golubov and chairmanship of the stanitsa Soviet under the Bolsheviks made Yermakov too odious a figure. He was not elected ataman, he was left only as a second assistant. They remembered him when the White Northern Front began to fall apart. His name pops up in a white seal when P. N. Krasnov with officers of the allied forces leaves in January 1919 to the north of the region to save the day. Together with the ataman of the Karginsky village, Likhovidov, Krasnov and the delegation of the allies are met by sergeant-major Yermakov. Then, apparently, he became a cornet, since Krasnov gave the order to make all the Cossacks-cavaliers of the 4th degree into the cornet.

Thus, Ermakov was indeed promoted to cornet according to the statute of St. George, but according to the statute amended by Krasnov, and, of course, this did not happen under Kerensky.

The fact that Yermakov, after the collapse of the Northern Front of the Whites, was in charge of the artillery transport of the Inza Division for a short time, has not yet been confirmed by documents. But, according to the recollections of the rebel commander P. N. Kudinov, he formed rebel detachments on March 12-13 on the right bank of the Don, opposite Vyoshenskaya.

Speaking at the investigation about participation in the uprising, Yermakov stubbornly does not call the troops he leads a “division”, but speaks of a “detachment”, about the “troops of the Karginsky region”. However, both the red reconnaissance reports and the operational reports of the whites call him the commander or head of the division. "May 15. The commander of the 1st division, citizen (azhdanin) Ermakov, gave an order ... ”- this is a Soviet intelligence report. “All these units belong to the 1st Upper-Don Division of the cornet Yermakov, and they were transferred to the right bank on May 27 near the village of Vyoshenskaya” - this is from a report from a white officer sent to communicate with the rebels.

Emelyan Vasilievich Ermakov, a senior officer, was also one of the organizers of the uprising, but he acted on the left bank of the Don, stormed Vyoshenskaya and, with the new “Soviet power” preserved by the rebels, became a deputy chairman of the district council. After the rebels united with the Whites, he was lowered, put in command of hundreds, and in the very first battle with the Reds near the village of Slashchevskaya, he died.

Kharlampy Ermakov, after the establishment of communication between the rebels and the Don army, was promoted to centurion, and soon to podsauls. On July 7, 1919, Grigory Kramskov from the Ermakov division, taken prisoner by the Reds near Tirsa, testified that the division was commanded by the podsaul Ermakov, who used to be "a simple Cossack."

In November 1919, already being Yesaul, Ermakov was again elected as a deputy to the Great Military Circle, but not from the village of Vyoshenskaya, but from the 20th cavalry regiment. However, the credentials committee did not approve it: the 1918 elections were considered official, and by-elections were not recognized.

At the beginning of 1920, Ermakov really went over to the Reds, showed himself well, commanded a regiment and a divisional school. When demobilization began in 1922, it was decided to demobilize him as a “former white man” in the first place. Ermakov resisted: there was nowhere to go, only home, to Vyoshenskaya, where there are many witnesses of his participation in the uprisings and service with the whites. Budyonny himself wanted to leave him in the army, but the political department of the North Caucasian Military District insisted on the opposite.

From the book of A. I. Kozlov it is clear that Yermakov was being followed. The data of Ermakov's agents are stored in an envelope numbered "sheet 44". The pages themselves do not appear to be numbered. The records are anonymous, and Kozlov cites them: Yermakov “during the elections to the council led a group of agitators who opposed the Soviet regime, communists, united kulaks, tried to get people deprived of voting rights into the council, commanded a division in the White Army, in 1917 a member of the Donskoy military circle, in 1918, as chairman of the Vyoshensky Stanispolkom, campaigned for an uprising against the Soviet authorities, organized the Vyoshensky uprising on his own initiative, assumed command, was promoted to the rank of cornet for military distinctions, mercilessly dealt with the Red Army. "Yermakov can only cling to himself and carry on anti-Soviet work." In 1925 he was brought to justice as the leader of the uprising, the case was dismissed due to the prescription of his crime.

I don't know about Yermakov's behavior during the recent Soviet elections, but everything about his activities in 1917 and 1918 is correct. Only it was for the uprising of 1918, and not 1919, that Yermakov (albeit belatedly) received a cornet. The fact that he, being the chairman of the Vyoshensky stanitsa council in 1918, organized an anti-Soviet uprising is confirmed by archival documents and articles in the White Guard press. Here the agency worked professionally. Moreover, she showed that she is better versed in jurisprudence than the commissioners and prosecutors conducting the case.

In 1925, Ermakov was tried for the 1919 uprising. About the uprising of 1918 - in the same district - there was no question. Ermakov convinced everyone that in 1918 he served with the Whites under pain of execution, and his family was taken hostage.

But the commissioner in charge of the case did not understand anything. And the witnesses stubbornly talked about 1919. And the indictment was drawn up on the same events for which Yermakov had already been brought. In 1989, relying, among other things, on this violation of the law, Yermakov was rehabilitated.

And qualified agents, it turns out, made it possible to shoot Ermakov "in accordance with all the rules", without violating the law. That's the agency!

What does this new reading of the biography of Kharlampy Ermakov give us?

Firstly, it is now obvious that the military and political biography of the literary hero Grigory Melekhov has more features than the biography of Yermakov, which consists of an investigative case.

Secondly, the fate of Ermakov against the background of the fate of the majority of the Don Cossacks - participants in the civil war - is more an exception than a rule.

He came from a poor family, and such families on the Don among the Cossacks represented a minority. Contrary to the established legend, in Yermakov there was an admixture of gypsy blood, but by no means Turkish or Circassian. After his birth, he was given "as children" to a strange family that lived on the other side of the Don (albeit within the same village).

The traditional community brings forward such people when it is necessary to lead a venture. So Stepan Razin, nicknamed Tuma (half-breed), moved to the Don, who was later betrayed by his own relative. Thus, the Don cornet Yemelyan Pugachev was promoted to Yaik, as if among the local Cossacks there was no adventurer capable of declaring himself Emperor Peter.

If you follow the class approach - a native of the Cossack poor, Ermakov lay a direct road to the Reds. But…

He ended up in the "Bolshevik dungeons" for the first time - he was released "for expediency." In the second - still shot. Then - again, "for expediency" - rehabilitated. But in general, of course, sorry for the person ...

SOURCES AND LITERATURE

1. Philip Mironov. Quiet Don in 1917-1921 M., 1997.
2. White generals. Rostov n / a, 1998.
3. Smirnov A. A. Cossack chieftains. SPb., 2002.
4. Spoloh S. The history of one Cossack village. M., 2005.
5. Kozlov A. I. M. A. Sholokhov: times and creativity. FSB archives. Rostov n/a, 2005
6. Free Don. 1917. July 18.
7. Mitropolsky Iv. On the Northern Front // Sentry. Jan 16, 1919
8. Sivovolov G. Ya. "Quiet Flows the Don": stories about prototypes. Rostov n / D, 1991. S. 69.
9. Mitropolsky Iv. On the Northern Front // Sentry. Jan 17, 1919
10. TsGVA. F. 100. Op. 3. D. 331. L. 265.
11. There. D. 192. L. 148.
12. GARO. F. 46 Op. 2. D. 55. L. 245.
13. TsGVA F. 1304. Op. 1. D. 244. L. 25.
14. Venkov A.V. New materials about the life of the Sholokhov hero // Don. temporary. Year 1995. Rostov n/a. 1995.
15. Kozlov A. I. Decree. op. S. 122.
16. Sidorchenko A. Moscow - Kremlin - Putin. Slavyansk. 2004, p. 140.

The film adaptation of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov's novel The Quiet Flows the Don directed by Sergei Ursulyak brought new readers to our blog, and we also wanted to talk a little about the new version of the film adaptation of the book. For example, to draw the attention of those who believe that “Grishka is not the same in the new film, Glebov is yes!” To one detail that the creators of the new version of “The Quiet Flows the Don” probably relied on when thinking through the make-up of the protagonist. Let's talk about the prototype of Grigory Melekhov - Kharlampy Vasilyevich Ermakov. Compare photos of Ermakov and Evgeny Tkachuk in makeup. Doesn't it look like it did?

Sholokhov, starting in the 1920s, was constantly asked about his heroes (Grigory, Aksinya and other characters in The Quiet Flows the Don) - whether they were based on real people or invented. Many found prototypes in life and tried to get confirmation of their guesses from the author. For many years, the writer answered approximately the following:« Do not look for exactly the same people around you, with the same names and surnames that you meet in my books. My characters are typical people, these are several traits, collected in one image.

"Quiet Flows the Don" was received ambiguously by both critics and readers. Sholokhov was accused of counter-revolutionary propaganda. The times were difficult and troubling. I had to hide a lot so as not to harm myself or others.

However, after Mikhail Alexandrovich was awarded the Nobel Prize (which became a kind of defense against some attacks), at meetings with readers and when communicating with literary critics, the author of The Quiet Flows the Don began to name Kharlampy Ermakov, recognizing that it was he who gave him a lot to create the image Grigory Melekhov.

On the relationship between Mikhail Sholokhov and Kharlampiy Ermakov, we find in Felix Kuznetsov in his book "Quiet Flows the Don": The fate and truth of the great novel» :

1. “Obviously, the main time of M.A. Sholokhov’s communication with Ermakov fell on the time when he [Ermakov - M.U.] was released from prison, starting from July 1924 and until the end of 1926, since January 20, 1927 Ermakov was arrested again.

There is also documentary evidence of this - Sholokhov's letter to Kharlampy Yermakov, the same letter on the photocopy of which Sholokhov wrote lines about Budyonny's attitude towards Kharlampy Yermakov. And its original is kept in that "Case".

A letter from M. A. Sholokhov to Kharlampy Yermakov, confiscated during the last arrest and search in his house, is stored in the “Case” as material evidence in a special, separate package, along with documents that are especially important for the investigation: “Record” of Kharlampy Yermakov and “ Minutes" of the assignment session of the North Caucasian Regional Court dated May 29, 1925, terminating the previous "Case" of Ermakov "for inexpediency".

We do not know whether Sholokhov knew that his letter to Yermakov fell into the hands of the OGPU and appears in the "Case" as material evidence of Yermakov's participation in the Upper Don uprising. But he could not help but know about the arrest and execution of the prototype of his hero. It was this circumstance that made him take such a cautious position on the issue of the prototype of Grigory Melekhov for many years.

2. With all the partiality, the investigation could not find anything serious enough for the court in addition to what was discovered in 1923-1924. Apparently, therefore, the Rostov OGPU abandoned the trial of Kharlampy Yermakov and turned to Moscow for permission to decide his fate by issuing an “extrajudicial sentence”, which could be only one: to shoot him.

It took many decades for the good name of Kharlampiy Ermakov, an amazing person, whose phenomenal energy and tragic biography predetermined the immortal character of Grigory Melekhov, to be finally restored.

On August 18, 1989, “by the Resolution of the Presidium of the Rostov Regional Court”, the case was terminated “due to the absence of corpus delicti in the act of Ermakov Kh.V. Ermakov Kharlampy Vasilyevich was posthumously rehabilitated.

Despite all the difficulties and tragic circumstances of Ermakov's life, Sholokhov was not afraid to meet him, talk for hours, and although he kept silent about him for a long time as a prototype of Grigory Melekhov, he brought him out under his own name in his novel.

What was he like - Kharlampy Ermakov? The book of Felix Kuznetsov cites the memoirs of contemporaries, but the most valuable memory was left by the daughter of Kharlampy Vasilyevich (the prototype of Polyushka in The Quiet Don) - Pelageya Kharlampevna Ermakova (Shevchenko):

Back in 1939, in a conversation with I. Lezhnev, the Bazkovo teacher Pelageya Ermakova, Shevchenko by her husband, recalled her father like this:

“My father was a very violent citizen. I don't even want to think about it!

But then, gradually brightening up, she began to speak:

- He was a very good man. The Cossacks loved him. For a friend, he was ready to take off his last shirt. He was cheerful, cheerful. He advanced not by education (he only finished three classes), but

by courage. In battle, he was like a whirlwind, chopping right and left. He was tall, fit, slightly stooped.< ... >

In 1912 he was called up for military service, the imperialist war in 1914 found him in the army< ... > Father returned here from the army only in 1917, with a full bow of St. George's crosses and medals. This was before the October Revolution. Then he worked in Veshki with the Reds. But in 1918 the whites came. Soviet power has ceased to exist in our country since the spring. In 1919, my father was not the organizer of the Vyoshensky uprising. He was dragged in, and he ended up on the side of the whites. They made him an officer< ... >

When the whites rolled to the Black Sea, my father was with them. In Novorossiysk, before his eyes, the barons boarded a steamer and sailed abroad. He made sure they were using his darkness. Then he went to serve in the Budyonnovsk cavalry. He confessed, repented, he was accepted into the First Cavalry, he was a commander, received awards ... He was demobilized from Budyonny's army only in 1924, and worked here in the Mutual Assistance Committee until 1927.

“Pelageya Kharlampyevna pulled out a chest of drawers, took out a yellowed, worn photograph of those years.

"That's all that's left of my father," she said, holding out the photograph.

A young, hook-nosed, forelocked Cossack with a weary squint of eyes looked from her, a man who had experienced a lot in his life, who more than once looked into the face of death. Apparently, it was not easy for Yermakov to get three St. George's crosses pinned to a soldier's overcoat: fourteen times he was wounded, shell-shocked. To the left, at the very hilt of the saber, a portly woman, covered with a checkered woolen shawl with tassels, was holding his elbow. This is Praskovya Ilyinichna, Yermakov's wife.

- From the German front, - said P. Kh. Ermakova, - my father returned as a hero - with a full bow of St. George's crosses, in the rank of a cornet, later on his misfortune ... Cursed. The Cossack was risky. He was left-handed, but he also worked with might and main with his right hand. In battle, I heard from people, he was terrible. He joined the Reds in 1918, and then the Whites lured him to him, he was their commander. Our mother died in 1918. He arrived from positions when she was already buried. Thin ... utterly gloomy. And not a tear in my eye. Only longing ... But when he lost his horse, he cried ... I remember it was on the road, during our retreat to Veshki, his horse - Orel - was seriously wounded by a shell fragment. The horse - white-fronted, fell to the ground, raises its head and neighs terribly - screams! Father rushed to the horse, buried himself in the mane: “My eagle, winged bird! I didn’t save you, I’m sorry, I didn’t save you!” And his tears rolled down ... Father retreated to Novorossiysk with the Whites, and there he surrendered to the Red Army and served at Budyonny, went to the commanders ...

< ... > After demobilization, my father lived here in Bazki, with us. In 1926, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov - then young, with a forelock, blue eyes - often came to Bazki to visit his father. It used to be that Kharlamov’s daughter, Verochka, and I were playing or learning lessons, and Mikhail Alexandrovich would come and say to me: “Come on, dark-haired, on one leg hit the road for your father!” Father came to Sholokhov, and they chatted for a long time at the open window in front of the Don - and until dawn, it happened ... And about what - you can ask Mikhail Alexandrovich on occasion ... »

“Coming home, my father usually didn’t drive through the gate,” she recalls, “but jumped over it. As usual, sitting down at the table, my father sat me and my brother on his knees, caressed, gave gifts.