| In memory of Alexander Batchan
On April 8, famous journalist Alexander Batchan died suddenly in Prague. We are printing a transcript of the program dedicated to the memory of Alexander Batchan, which took place on April 10 on the Ekho Moskvy radio station. The famous journalist Maria Slonim and presenters Olga Severskaya and Sergei Korzun were live.
O. Severskaya - Today our program will be dedicated to the memory of the editor of the Prague Bureau of Radio Liberty, journalist and critic Alexander Batchan. He died suddenly on April 8 in Prague, having completed his last report in his life, on the way home. In our studio, Maria Slonim, Sergey Korzun is also here to remember Alik Batchan. I think you called him exactly that, as did Sergei Buntman, who was also one of the first to respond to this sad news. Masha, I have already heard your response on our broadcast and I understand how difficult it is to tell you in the past tense about what happened.
M. Slonim - Impossible. This is always difficult, and Alik and I broke up 3 days ago. He was here, he had just come here to cover the presidential elections, he worked a lot, intensely and somehow also managed to communicate, go to visits, theaters and exhibitions. We have crossed paths with him quite often over the past month. He stayed here for 18 days. I said in my first spontaneous response that he was a unique person, a unique journalist. Maybe it sounds corny, and that’s what I want to say about everyone when they leave, but it’s true. He was truly unique in his nobility, decency and journalistic honesty. I have some explanation for why he became such a journalist, in any case (he was born such a person). In my opinion, in some sense it helped him that he lived and loved several countries at the same time. He was born in the Soviet Union, in Odessa. He loved Russia and Moscow very much, worked and studied here. Then he went to America, lived there, worked for the Voice of America, and also fell in love with this country. He has American children there. Then he began to come to Russia again and work here. He had some kind of unclouded view of all the countries in which he seemed to live, and not quite lived. He was an observer of this life with wide eyes, a slightly surprised observer.
S. Korzun - You’re right, Masha, “observer.” Let me remind you of one discussion. Alik came to the studio, I said: “I will defend Russia’s position, and you will defend America’s position.” He says: "How, why?" - “Well, you’re a former employee of the Voice of America, why don’t you defend it?” He approached this so seriously, he said: “You understand, I cannot defend this position, I am a journalist.” That is, even at the level of provocation it was not possible to promote him to this. That is, there was more humanity in him than acting. This is certain. He is a completely sincere person in life.
M. Slonim - Yes, and in his profession he was so sincere. This surprise, which so many of us lack, he had all along. I don’t remember a single cynical remark of his, which happens to us journalists.
S. Korzun - Yes, absolutely. In my opinion, this is a person completely devoid of cynicism, unlike most of his colleagues who have it, because you acquire so much cynicism in this profession." How he managed to save himself from this is completely incomprehensible.
M. Slonim - Or maybe because he lived between three countries. In recent periods, Prague, the Czech Republic has already joined. He managed to fall in love with Prague, although he worked there for about six months. And he really wanted to destroy Radio Liberty’s tradition of talking mainly about what was happening in Russia. When he worked in America, he made programs about the theater, about the theatrical and cultural life of America. He also wanted to tell the audience that Prague is also a very interesting city and the Czech Republic is a very interesting country. Did not have time. He did not get bogged down in any of the countries: neither in Russia, nor in America, nor in the Czech Republic. He somehow always looked at everything a little from the outside.
S. Korzun - A very precise remark. While discussing various statements and other things, he took some time, an internal process took place. Seryozha Buntman already recalled at the charter, when we adopted moral principles... And one of the last statements regarding Andrei Babitsky. That is, everything is correct, but he called: “It seems to me that this phrase would be more accurate.” That's it, even the train has already left. “Everything is clear, Alik, yes, of course, I agree, it would be more accurate.” That is, such meticulousness, or something, in French “I can’t even find a correspondence in Russian.
O. Severskaya - Closeness, scrupulousness"
M. Slonim - Yes, there was some kind of absolute rumor of falsehood, untruth, hypocrisy and hypocrisy. He worked here for two terms as a correspondent for the Voice of America, and then he had to go back. And I remember how sad I was when he left, that, among other things, that we, the charter of journalists, were losing some kind of tuning fork, or something. It was possible to measure our reactions by it, it had absolute accuracy, moral and professional, and what you, Seryozha, tried to define in French. Subtlety and precision, plus the naivety that we all lack. Cleanliness, probably. Even during his lifetime, there were a lot of jokes about Alik about his attitude to life. I remember in October 1993 he drove up to the White House (October 3 or 4, there was shooting there) in his official car. And he says: “What’s going on here, why is it impossible to park the car?” This surprised him. Things surprised him. He absolutely boldly drove into the face of this shooting, but the fact that the car could not be parked and could not drive up to the White House surprised him.
O. Severskaya - Many people on our air today remembered Alexander Batchan. Among them was Natalya Gevorkyan. By the way, we have already touched upon the issue of creating a Moscow charter for journalists. Alexander Batchan was directly involved in this event. Mikhail Berger emphasized on our broadcast that the most accurate, most important formulations for the journalistic profession were born precisely with his participation. It seems to me that the review of Natalia Gevorkyan, a columnist for the Kommersant newspaper, is one of those that gives an idea of what kind of person he was. I suggest you listen to it.
" N. Gevorkyan - I never thought... When living people are nearby, you never realize what they mean to you. And recently at a press conference I had to sit in a different place in the hall where they always sit journalists, and where those who are being asked questions sit. It was a rather difficult press conference for me, because I generally don’t like such things, I don’t like answering questions, I prefer to ask them. And suddenly Alik entered the hall, and he did not sit in the hall, as all journalists usually do, but sat on the window sill, which was on my right hand. I was sitting at a table in the Interfax press conference room, and Alik came in and sat on the window. He sat next to me , as if lending my shoulder. I noticed that during the entire press conference I kept turning to him, talking to him. I saw absolutely familiar eyes, and it was much simpler and easier for me. So, Alik will probably remain with me memory: sitting next to me, lending his shoulder, wonderful. I also remember my first impression of Alik. At first I saw his hands. He had absolutely speaking hands, such thin fingers." They were an absolutely necessary accompaniment to his image. Like these thin fingers, just as thin, absolutely remarkably always self-possessed, calm against the background of our usually raging brethren, was Alik himself. And when we gathered at the charter, Alik always brought some absolutely calm, intelligent air, as if with one word extinguishing all disputes and unnecessary emotions. To be honest, I just don’t understand that we will gather there, for example, today, and he doesn’t it will be, and we will talk about it without him."
O. Severskaya - It turns out that we are talking about him without him. Natalya Gevorkyan noted this property: to be subtle, graceful in absolutely everything. I would like to remind our listeners of two points in the biography of Alexander Batchan. He graduated from one of the universities with a degree in psychology. He was also a subtle psychologist. In addition, he was a professional film critic. He graduated from the New York Film School. As Sergei Buntman spoke about him today, he considered art not a reflection of our life, but some kind of special life. Masha, what do you think?
M. Slonim - Awestruck. Of course, he was most interested in theater and cinema. Life just happened that way that I had to get involved in politics. But he brought some kind of cultural attitude to all this too. When he was a student at Columbia University, he took Joseph Brodsky's course. After that they became very good friends. He truly became Joseph's personal friend. Joseph always spoke very warmly about him. It was real friendship.
O. Severskaya - We have already named many features that make us talk about Alexander as a completely unique person. And his amazing accuracy in very important formulations, and his complete and absolute lack of cynicism, and naive in a good sense, direct perception of life, scrupulousness in his approach to everything he saw, the grace that distinguished everything he did, the ability to make friends. Today, when I was reading many words about him, I came across the words spoken by Sergei Buntman. I will quote again: the main trait for him was fearlessness. Fearlessness was manifested not in the fact that he got into some troubles, exposed himself to bullets, but in the fact that he said only what he knew and was sure of. I don’t know if anything can be added to this; it’s unlikely that we are accustomed to thinking about fearlessness in precisely these terms: saying what you know, being absolutely confident in what you know, and this is precisely why you feel your weapon most strongly.
M. Slonim - Yes, of course. And then, he knew the value of words. He knew that they could both hurt and kill. He treated people very tenderly and reverently. Natasha talked about the fact that he offered his shoulder. He also had an amazing quality. I don't think this is a result of him being trained as a psychologist."
O. Severskaya - No, of course. You need to be human, first of all.
M. Slonim - He felt other people’s pain, and not only felt it, but took it upon himself. I think he took on too much pain and unhappiness. My heart probably couldn't stand it. I remember at moments when I felt bad, he came, although I didn’t call him, just when he lived here in Moscow. He just sat and was silent, I felt that he understood everything, and there was no need for words, no need to speak. I think of Alik (and when he was alive, I thought of him like that) as a sad knight. He really was a knight, and he was sad, because he really saw and felt life and people. Probably all our affairs make a sad impression.
S. Korzun - Sadness and goodwill are probably two sides of the coin. Because he is a more benevolent person." I saw him several times while performing professional duties. He is quite tenacious, you can’t get away from him when it comes to questions, but at the same time he has an absolutely charming smile, logic in which it was not he who was trying to prove something to his interlocutor, but logic ", which he built primarily for his listener. It was clear how he built that he needed to give the full picture, that is, absolutely professionally. Just a fantastic person.
M. Slonim - This could also be an American school of journalism. For him, the fact was very important, really pure information and no speculation.
O. Severskaya - By the way, Sergei Parkhomenko, editor-in-chief of the Itogi magazine, spoke about this. Let's listen.
" S. Parkhomenko - The fact is that he has been involved in this business for quite a long time, much longer than many of the current stars of Russian journalism. And amazingly he managed to maintain a very sincere, very respectful and very dignified attitude towards his profession. This is very rare. The fact is that in general in the Russian journalistic environment recently it has somehow become customary to treat their work with a great deal of cynicism and even disdain. Alik treated the work that he did with great respect. He was a man who was at the same time a Russian journalist and a world journalist in the best sense of the word. He brought here, to Russia, some elements of the best American school, with its rules, with its professional taboos. He did his professional, very precise, very responsible job, and understood “that he actually has great power and great weapons in his hands, and this must be used with understanding and dignity.”
O. Severskaya - The program, hosted by Alexander Batchan, was called “Freedom Live”. It seems to me that the name is very telling for him. Masha, do you know what the last report was about?
M. Slonim - Unfortunately, I don’t know, I haven’t heard him. We agreed that he would arrive in May, and didn’t even really say goodbye. He felt bad here in the last days in Moscow, literally the last 3 days. He was diagnosed with stomach flu, or a pre-ulcer condition. He said: “Come on, just in case, I won’t kiss you goodbye, because I don’t want to give you this flu.” And there was some feeling of unsaidness that always remains. I don’t know what” It was Saturday...
O. Severskaya - Is there any report that you remember? Maybe a report for a textbook.
M. Slonim - We must watch. Nobody thought about anything. I remember when in 1993 everyone tried as best they could to cover this terrible event at the White House, he then did it for the Voice of America. To be honest, I didn’t listen to Voice of America then, I listened more to Echo of Moscow. But I remember my mother, who lives in England, said: “It somehow became clear to me what was happening there through the reports (she didn’t even know that I knew Alik Batchan) of this Alexander Batchan. Don’t you know him? " She, sitting in distant England, listened to the Voice of America and learned about what was happening in 1993 near the White House.
O. Severskaya - In general, of course, a fantastic picture. Sitting in England, listening to the Voice of America. Batchan came to Radio Liberty from Voice of America. I heard people say on the sidelines that he immediately understood what needed to be done with Radio Liberty. Did he really understand what needed to be done, did he somehow organize it?
M. Slonim - Yes, he took what he did very seriously. He left Voice of America because something didn’t suit him. He thought there was too much democracy and they weren't really interested in the listener. That's what he thought. He worked for the listener, he was not interested in anything else. When he came, he told me: “They are too only about Russia, we need to broaden our horizons a little,” and he really wanted to talk about the Czech Republic, about culture, about something that was very important to him, about what was important to him share with listeners. He earned his living so informally, he took every report, every story, every topic so close to his heart that he absolutely needed it to be what he thought the listener needed, and not what the administration of any radio station or television company needed (there are some more convenient things and formats). But he wasn’t going to change anything or blow anything up. He really wanted to somehow quietly introduce what he considered necessary. He shared all the time, he wanted to share his joy, his surprise with people. That's what a journalist is really for.
O. Severskaya - Sharing joy?
M. Slonim - Sharing joy.
O. Severskaya - Well, we hope that the journalists who worked next to Alexander Batchan learned this absolutely wonderful principle. I don’t know if it will be possible to repeat it, simply due to the characteristics of human temperament, just like him. But perhaps we have learned some lessons today. Happy memory to Alexander Batchan, our condolences to all his loved ones.
April 10, 2000
The famous journalist Maria Slonim was live on the radio station "Echo of Moscow". The broadcast was hosted by Olga Severskaya and Sergey Korzun. |
