Daniil Granin died...

In memory of a great man

Without knowing it, Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin played a largely decisive role in my life.

To begin with, my parents named me after him - and not only under the influence of the novel “I'm Walking into a Storm,” which came out and thundered not long before. Granin was a symbol of the City for them. This is how Daniil Granin became for me. It was he who seemed to me a person who personified the entire St. Petersburg (at that time Leningrad) memory of the 20th century - in all its greatness and tragedy. And not only because he had such a clear Leningrad biography and the unspoken status of the city’s main writer, established since the Thaw. Granin perfectly matched the city in which he lived, with his very appearance - restrained and impeccably stylish. Sad and ironic facial expression. The manner of speaking. Without affectation, without falsehood, always with a deep and at the same time sharply honed meaning. And an equally deep feeling - I would call it a feeling of proud doom...

Granin was the first in the USSR to break through the wall of official lies about the blockade. Written by him together with A. M. Adamovich and with difficulty overcoming the cordon of Soviet censorship (by the way, the full version has still not been published in sufficient circulation), the “Siege Book” for the first time conveyed to society the only truthful story - that is, mournful, and not deceitful – heroic and triumphal – the memory of the Leningrad Holocaust...

Granin has always been for me the keeper of the invisible keys to the Great City. For a long time, I - like, probably, many St. Petersburg residents - was convinced that the famous phrase said about Leningrad - “A great city with a regional destiny” - was first uttered by Daniil Granin. It fit so perfectly into Granin’s anti-Moscow protest - barely perceptible and at the same time not causing any of us the slightest doubt. And only later did I learn that the author of this beautiful and bitter line was the Moscow poet Lev Ozerov...

But for me she still remained Granin’s!

And when, in the mid-1990s, several urban romantics and I decided to create a political movement for the independence of St. Petersburg, the first person I thought of as someone who could support us was Daniil Granin.

And - today this seems to me truly a miracle, but then it seemed like something “self-evident” - Daniil Aleksandrovich, practically the only one of the “status cultural leaders”, not only supported our idea, but spoke out more than definitely already in the very first interview:

“I like the idea of St. Petersburg independence! I have already expressed it in a cautious manner several times.”

“I believe that today's Russia is... an almost uncontrollable monster. And not only practically uncontrollable, but also theoretically: too different regions, too large a territory. It is impossible to unite Russia today...”

“I am inclined... to the idea that, perhaps, Great Russia is not needed. But this must be understood somehow. But no one wants to fully comprehend this. In my opinion, we can talk about a fairly independent existence of the northwestern region: St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Pskov, Karelia. After all, any geopolitics must ultimately be determined by the well-being of the population. Will life be easier for people - or more difficult? That's the criterion. It seems to me that in this case life will be better. Both economically and politically..."

“I believe that it is necessary to grant independence to Chechnya as soon as possible! The independence of Chechnya is very important for Russia and for St. Petersburg... I think, having received the most independent status, St. Petersburg could finally realize its main potential. The fact is that the international “convertibility” of St. Petersburg is ensured not by its industry or even science, but by its culture. This is where the uniqueness of our city lies, its separateness. Sometimes they say to me: “Do you want to turn the city into a museum?” And I think that this is a direct economic calculation: the demand for culture, for art throughout the world is now such that we can live and prosper due to this demand. This is how Florence exists, this is how Paris exists, after all! This is how St. Petersburg can exist.”

“St. Petersburg residents need to try to understand the need for their political isolation from Russia. I think this is a very exciting idea! I think that both the Geographical Society and some St. Petersburg politicians could take part in the discussion. It would be good if a social movement arose in St. Petersburg that would formulate and set such a goal. I think this movement would arouse interest in Moscow among the capital’s intelligentsia. Perhaps the idea of St. Petersburg independence would make Moscow come to its senses... I repeat: not only we need St. Petersburg freedom, Russia as a whole needs it.”
"St. Petersburg Rush Hour", 12/21/1997

And when the Movement for the Autonomy of St. Petersburg, which we created in February 1998, organized together with the presidential embassy in St. Petersburg (there were such times!) a round table “St. Petersburg Independence: Pro Et Contra” - Daniil Granin, who was already 79 years old at that time, came (he walked up to the second or even third floor - unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly) to support us in the polemic with the “federals.”

And this is what he said then:

– The conversations that are happening here now are sedition. Total sedition. And in my opinion, that's good. Because what St. Petersburg lacks is an understanding of why Russia needs it. Does Russia need us - or not?.. I still think that the emergence of such an idea today is a necessity in order for the general St. Petersburg thought to somehow begin to speak, to boil, to live.

Our city administration is struck by a hereditary syndrome of timidity and cowardice in front of Moscow - ever since the days of the “Leningrad affair”. Take, for example, Saratov or Novgorod - they live and act much bolder, more independent and more interesting than us. And this feeling of shame for ourselves - we don’t have it! For some reason, we still believe that we are somewhere “in the forefront”... I think that this idea may mature not as a “capsule idea” into which St. Petersburg will have to turn, but in the form of an idea to transform the city to the center of the independent North-Western region, including Novgorod, Pskov, Petrozavodsk - in a word, all those territories that historically created St. Petersburg. After all, St. Petersburg was created not by Siberia or the Urals, but by the northwestern regions.

It would be very important for Russia to have a region that would want and demand independence and would prove its possibility. This would be important for the awakening of some Russian forces... I’m not saying that St. Petersburg should try to “unite Russia”! I don’t think it’s right at all for the existence of such a huge single state as Russia. I think that the existence of some “Russian states” or “Russian republics” may turn out to be more reasonable and useful for human existence...

The full text of the quoted statements of D. A. Granin is here .

...When he passed away, Granin continued to fight himself and help those who are fighting for St. Petersburg - against the Kremlin rudeness that destroyed our city and its culture for more than 100 years. And continues to destroy to this day...

For me, Daniil Granin was and remains first and foremost a civic symbol of the city. The man by whom I have checked my St. Petersburg watches all my life.

Now the clock has stopped...

***

In January 2014, after the presentation of the book “The Man Is Not From Here,” the three of us were traveling in a car: he and his sensitive driver Borya. Call. Some presidential aide. He said that Putin was calling Granin to Moscow to present the order.
-Whose order? Putin? Should I give it to him? Let him come...
Nina PETLYANOVA about her meetings with Daniil Alexandrovich