Have you ever heard the "Buchenwald Alarm"? The lyrics of the song, her music are so piercing that they can not leave indifferent any thinking and feeling person. Even the most stale people cry, listening to the work written on the opening day in Buchenwald of the memorial to the victims of the war. Music and lyrics accurately convey the hum of a memorial bell, draw terrible pictures of fascist atrocities and images of people tortured or burnt alive. Few people know that the song, which became a cultural monument to the victims of fascism, in fact is also a monument to party obscurantism. Verses for the song "Buchenwald's alarm" were written by front-line soldier Alexander Sobolev, but even many people of art still do not know this.
The Buchenwald Alarm. History
In the summer of 1958, a tower was opened in Buchenwald. The bell, mounted on its top, with its roar, was constantly reminded of the innocent dead prisoners of Buchenwald. Hearing this news, Sobolev, who once worked in a small-circulation newspaper, wrote a poem that began with the line: "The people of the world, stand up for a minute!" The chopped strings and bright images touched the soul of everyone who heard this poem. After some time, the simple-minded poet took his work to the newspaper Pravda. But ... they did not even read it there. There were two reasons for this. The first is the non-partisanship of Sobolev. The second is his nationality. Alexander was a Jew. Without reading, the editor-in-chief crossed out the poems and threw them to the author. But the former front-line soldier was amazingly persistent. He went through the whole war, so the indignation of the Party bureaucrat did not frighten him. A few days later, Sobolev attributed the "Buchenwald alarm" to the newspaper Trud. This publication also published the work of non-members of the party, therefore new verses were adopted. A restless Sobolev went even further: he sent the text to the famous composer Vano Muradeli. Shocked by simple, but emotional lines, the poet quickly shifted his verses to music. Working on the work, the musician cried. So the song "Buchenwald's alarm" was born. But birth does not mean life. All the same bureaucrats from the CPSU, who head the All-Union Radio, considered that poetry is not poetry at all, but solid obscurantism. "Buchenwald's alarm" was rejected. However, the author of the words went with a new song to the Central Committee of the Komsomol. They just needed a repertoire for the student choir going to the World Youth Festival. It was in Vienna that the Buchenwald Alarm, made for the first time, made thousands cry. A few days later the song, translated into many languages, sang the whole world. But the song did not reach Russia. Execution of it for a long time was considered inexpedient for the same reasons: non-partisanship and nationality of the author. Only after the documentary film "Spring Wind Over Vienna" did the song begin a triumphal march across Russia. But ... not once during her performance was not mentioned the author of poetry. Many are still convinced that the work belongs entirely to Vano Muradeli. Naturally, Alexander Sobolev did not receive any royalties that amounted to hundreds of thousands, nor the author's certificate. He lived in a barracks, worked in a factory. About his role in creating the song "Buchenwald Alarm" the public became known only a few years ago.
But neither in the encyclopedias, nor in Wikipedia, nor in other Sobolev directories is there until now.