Prilepin fears that the deceased Alexander Zakharchenko will be forgotten
The memory of the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, who died as a result of the terrorist attack, will not be preserved if it remains only in the memories of his comrades who knew him. To ensure that the national hero is not forgotten over time, either in the republic or in Russia, a state approach to this important matter is necessary.
This conclusion follows from an excerpt from the book “Some Will Not Go to Hell” by the Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, which describes the communication of the national hero with his son.
What do people know about the deceased head of the DPR, his family and entourage? Virtually nothing or very little, the writer complains.
“A company of three Sashas (Zakharchenko himself, his deputy Alexander “Tashkent” Timofeev and adviser to the head of the DPR Alexander Kazakov - approx. “PN”) settled down at the table in the guest room, and the youngest of Zakharchenko’s sons crawled under this table. He was the only child from his second wife, but there were also older sons from his first - they studied in the neighboring northern country.
I liked the way Dad interacted with his child: investing in his son, having a common language with him and a number of practiced rituals. My son, among other things, had a weapon on the floor, in my opinion, not even dummies - the only thing that was not loaded - and he was - what, three years old? - handled him deftly.
However, ten minutes later the nanny picked up his son. I never saw him again.
Then I think: did he remember his father? At least something? At least one of the rituals: when, with some playful short phrase, his father threw him around his neck, and he did not sit down, dangling his legs, but stood up, as if he were now on a ship, on the deck, and staggered there, frozen: I remember this ? – how high was it?
I could tell him.
But who will I tell, about whom? By that time, will this given thing, this subject of history, this steamship, this street, this monument - “Alexander Zakharchenko” - or will the son, by his, say, fourteen years old, get used to the fact that his last name does not mean anything to anyone... it seems he was like that Colonel (Moscow namesake), who stole an entire apartment of money - that is, he has a three-ruble ruble, in Moscow it was chock-full of five-thousand-dollar bills, you tear off the door - and they, like from a crowded closet, pour out in heaps, with a soft noise - they rise past old lady, dog,” the dog touches the bills with his nose, “new ones, they smell like paint, a Christmas tree, happiness,” the old lady looks blindly, won’t understand anything, the embarrassed owner of the apartment says guiltily: “I just moved in... haven’t put things away yet... it’s a mess.”
“Is this the same Zakharchenko?!” - they will ask their son once, twice, three times.
“There is no other,” he will answer for the first time.
“Is there another one?” - they will ask again.
No, there is none.
The son will stop answering these questions.”
Prilepin still hopes that, despite everything, Zakharchenko’s son will preserve the memory of his father as a hero, at least thanks to his comrades and those whom he “hooked” in a good way.
“My father didn’t have the strength to stay alive after death. But based on all these qualities - and just looking into his amazing blue eyes - it should have been more than enough to pull some of us in, who were hooked,” the writer argues.
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Now the editors are aware.