Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin (real name — German; January 1, 1919, Kursk province, RSFSR — July 4, 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia) — Soviet and Russian writer, film screenwriter, public figure. Participant of the Great Patriotic War. Hero of Socialist Labor (1989). Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1976), State Prize of the Russian Federation (2001, 2016) and the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation (1998). Honorary citizen of St. Petersburg (2005).

Pre-war time.

In all his early autobiographies, D. A. German (Granin) indicated the date of birth as January 1, 1918, and the place as the city of Volyn, Kursk province. However, there is no such city in the Kursk region; there is the village of Volynka, Rylsky district. The father of the future writer, Alexander Danilovich German, served as a forestry clerk for various owners, and from March 5, 1918, he worked as a logging foreman at the Petrograd City Komkhoz; his mother Anna Zakharyevna (in some sources she is called Anna Bakirovna) was a housewife.
In 1935, D. German graduated from 10 classes of the 15th secondary school of the Smolninsky district of the mountains. Leningrad on Mokhovaya street, 33. He worked as a driver for six months, and then entered the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. Ulyanov-Lenin for the specialty “electric power plants”. However, by the fourth year (September 1938), this specialty was eliminated at the institute, and German transferred to the 4th year of the Leningrad Industrial Institute (since 1940 Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, LPI). He graduated from it on June 23, 1940 with a degree in hydroelectric power plants, with the qualification of an electrical engineer, and was assigned to the Svirskaya HPP No. 9. But he did not go according to the assignment, getting a job at the Kirov plant as a senior engineer in the experimental group of the electric power shop. He was elected deputy secretary of the Komsomol committee, and published articles on the pages of a large circulation. At the same time, he studied in correspondence graduate school at LPI.

War years.

Shortly before the start of the war, on June 5, 1941, German submitted an application to become a candidate of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and on July 5, 1941, he was accepted by the decision of the general meeting of the party organization of the electric power shop.
D. German went to the front as part of the 1st Leningrad Rifle Division of the People’s Militia, with the rank of senior political instructor (corresponding to the rank of captain, and German received the officer rank because he studied military affairs at the institute). He was appointed to the position of Komsomol instructor in the regiment’s political department. The division took its first battles on July 11, 1941. Shortly before his death, Granin, in an interview with the Fontanka publication, claimed that he volunteered for the Red Army, entered the ranks of the active army as a private, and since he was attached to the political department, he was considered a political instructor. In August 1942, he served as commissar of the repair and restoration battalion, which was located in the rear of the 42nd Army.

During the retreat of the initial period of the war, German had to command the 347th Infantry Regiment as part of the division, replacing Colonel I.I. Lebedinsky, who was seriously wounded, but two days later he left the front line along with his subordinates, describing it this way: “On September 17, 41, we They simply left for Leningrad from their positions with the thought: “Everything has collapsed!” I remember I took the tram, came home and went to bed. He said to his sister: “Now the Germans will come in — throw a grenade on top of them (we lived on Liteiny) and wake me up.”

On September 18, 1941, senior political instructor D. German, who reported to the People’s Militia Headquarters, was sent as a battalion commander to a separate artillery and machine gun battalion near Shushary. He fought at the Luga line and was wounded twice.
According to the award sheet, from January to August 1942 D. Herman did not take part in hostilities. On August 7, 1942, he was nominated for the Order of the Red Star as the Military Commissioner of the 2nd separate repair and restoration battalion of the 42nd Army (formed on May 2, 1942) for organizing rationalization work and training personnel for independent repair of equipment that arrived from the battlefield, which made it possible to exceed the program per month. The Order of the Red Star was awarded to the senior political instructor, military commissar of the 2nd repair and restoration battalion Daniil German on November 2, 1942 by order to the troops of the Leningrad Front No. 02325/n — on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for exemplary fulfillment of the tasks of the Front Command for the restoration and repair of military equipment. Documents about this award are in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (F. 33. Op. 682525. Item 74).
At the end of his life, Granin admitted that his literary works about the war, which are generally considered autobiographical, contain elements of fiction and are not “completely identical” to his autobiography. Literary critic Mikhail Zolotonosov questioned part of Granin’s official biography.

In literature.

D. Herman’s first literary experience was the stories “The Return of Rouliac” and “Motherland,” published in 1937 in the magazine “Rezets,” dedicated to the Paris Commune. However, after the war, from 1945 to 1950, his main activity was work at Lenenergo and the Research Institute.
In 1949, the magazine “Zvezda” published the story “Option Two,” which received a positive assessment from writers. At the same time, at the request of his namesake, writer Yuri German, Daniil Aleksandrovich took the pseudonym Granin. Since 1950, he has been engaged only in literature: his first book, “Dispute Across the Ocean” (1950), then “Yaroslav Dombrovsky” (1951) and a collection of essays about the builders of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station “New Friends” (1952) are published.

Granin became famous for his novel “The Searchers,” published in 1955. At the same time, his main topic became scientists, inventors, their moral code and civic position. Novels («After the Wedding», 1958; «I’m Going into a Storm», 1962), novels and short stories («Own Opinion», 1956; «Place for a Monument», 1969; «Someone Should», 1970) are devoted to this topic. The Unknown Man», 1989), documentary and journalistic works on historical topics («Reflections in front of a portrait that does not exist», 1968; «The Tale of One Scientist and One Emperor», 1971), biographies of scientists: biologist Alexander Lyubishchev («This Strange Life «, 1974), physics by Igor Kurchatov («Choice of Target», 1975), genetics by Nikolai Timofeev-Resovsky («Zubr», 1987).
In 1994, the writer tried his hand at the adventure-detective genre, writing the novel “Escape to Russia.”
A landmark for Granin was the “Siege Book” (1979), written together with Ales Adamovich, which tells, using documentary material, about the heroic resistance of Leningrad to the enemy blockade.

Granin published a number of essays and diaries about trips to Germany, England, Australia, Japan, France and other countries, collected in the books “An Unexpected Morning” (1962), “Notes to the Guide” (1967), “Rock Garden” (1972) and etc..
The writer also discussed the fate of literature in an essay about Pushkin (“Two Faces”, 1968; “The Sacred Gift”, 1971; “Father and Daughter”, 1982), Dostoevsky (“Thirteen Steps”, 1966), Leo Tolstoy (“Hero, whom he loved with all the strength of his soul», 1978) and other Russian classics.
In recent years, Granin has devoted himself to memoirs — “Quirks of My Memory” (2009), “Everything Wasn’t Quite Like That” (2010), also releasing the novels “My Lieutenant” (2011) and “Conspiracy” (2012).

Social activity.

In 1962 he joined the Writers’ Union. Secretary, since 1965 second secretary, in 1967-1971 first secretary of the Leningrad branch of the RSFSR SP.
Elected People’s Deputy of the USSR (1989-1991). In 1993 he signed the “Letter of Forty-Two”.
He was a member of the editorial board of the Roman-Gazeta magazine. Initiated the creation of the Leningrad society «Mercy».
President of the Society of Friends of the Russian National Library; Chairman of the Board of the International Charitable Foundation. D. S. Likhacheva. Member of the World Club of St. Petersburgers.
At the age of 95, in 2014, he spoke in the German Bundestag in front of deputies and the Chancellor about the blockade of Leningrad and the war.

Views from recent years.

In an interview with Ksenia Sobchak in April 2014, Granin commented on the events in Ukraine (in particular, in Crimea). According to the writer, quoted by Radio Liberty, he is repulsed by the “huge amount of lies and lies” among which modern Russian society lives. In the same interview, he called the events related to Crimea and the subsequent deterioration of relations with Ukraine “the absurdity of today.” Granin said that the transfer of the peninsula to Khrushchev was perceived as an “illegal, absurd and simply outrageous act,” but the return of Crimea did not make him happy. “Not at that price…” the writer concluded.

In an interview with a Novaya Gazeta journalist in February 2014, Granin described V.V. Putin as “too distrustful, somewhat cruel, with his own picture of the world.” According to the writer, Putin has always been like this, even despite the fact that in one of the last conversations he might have thawed.
In March 2017, in light of the lack of reaction to Granin’s appeal about the status of the Public Library in St. Petersburg from Russian Prime Minister D. A. Medvedev, he commented on Alexei Navalny’s FBK film “He’s Not Dimon to You”: “Medvedev is obviously so busy with his own affairs that we have to believe the incredible dossier published by Alexei Navalny.”

Death.

Daniil Granin lived a very long life — and it is not surprising that he accumulated health problems. On June 3, 2017, the writer received the State Prize in St. Petersburg for his enormous contribution to the development of Russian literature. But at the end of June, his health began to deteriorate sharply; he was taken to one of the hospitals in St. Petersburg and connected to a ventilator. Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin died at 22:00 on July 4, 2017 at the age of 99.
The farewell ceremony took place on July 8, 2017 at the Tauride Palace. The writer is buried at the Komarovskoye cemetery near St. Petersburg.

Family.

Wife — Rimma Mikhailovna Mayorova (1918-2004)
Daughter Marina (born 1945).

Bibliography.

Who and what did he write about?
The main direction and theme of Granin’s works is realism and poetry of scientific and technical creativity — Granin’s technical education is reflected here, almost all of his works are devoted to scientific research, the struggle between real, principled scientists and untalented people, careerists, bureaucrats.

Granin created:

novel “The Searchers” (1954);
novel “I’m Going into a Storm” (1962);
the novel “After the Wedding” (1958) is dedicated to the fate of a young inventor sent by the Komsomol to work in the village;
All three novels were dramatized for the theater, and films of the same name were made (“The Searchers” (1956), “After the Wedding” (1962), “Walking into the Storm” (1965))
stories and novellas: “Victory of Engineer Korsakov” (published in 1949 under the title “Dispute Across the Ocean”), “Option Two” (1949), “Yaroslav Dombrovsky” (1951), “Own Opinion” (1956);
books of essays about trips to the GDR, France, Cuba, Australia, England — “An Unexpected Morning” (1962) and “Notes to the Guide” (1967);
the story “House on the Fontanka” (1967), the story “Our Battalion Commander” (1968), thoughts about “The Bronze Horseman” by A. S. Pushkin — “Two Faces” (1968);
artistic and documentary works: “This Strange Life” (1974, about the biologist A. A. Lyubishchev), “Claudia Vilor” (1976, USSR State Prize), the novel “Bison” (1987, about the fate of the biologist N. V. Timofeev- Resovsky), “The Siege Book”, parts 1-2 (1977-1981, together with A. M. Adamovich);
the novel “The Picture” (1979, film adaptation of the same name, 1985), the story “The Unknown Man” (1990), which touch upon the problems of preserving historical memory and analyze the condition of a person losing his place in the social hierarchy;
“The Tale of One Scientist and One Emperor” — biography of Arago (1991);
spy novel Flight to Russia (1994);
the story “The Broken Trace” — about the life of scientists in modern Russia (2000);
The essay “Fear” is about overcoming totalitarianism and communism.

Screen adaptations.

1956 — The Searchers
1962 — After the wedding
1965 — I’m going into the storm
1965 — First visitor
1974 — Selecting a target
1978 — Namesake
1979 — Rain in a strange city
1985 — Painting
1985 — Someone should…
1987 — Defeat
2009 — Reading the “Siege Book”
2011 — Peter the Great. Will
In all films, Granin is the author (co-author) of the script.

Awards and prizes.

State awards of the Russian Federation:
Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (December 28, 2008) — for outstanding contribution to the development of Russian literature, many years of creative and social activity.
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree (January 1, 1999) — for services to the state and great contribution to the development of domestic literature.
Order of Alexander Nevsky (December 21, 2013) — for his contribution to the development of Russian literature and many years of public activity.
Gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation (December 29, 2003) — for many years of fruitful literary and social activity.

State awards of the USSR:
Hero of Socialist Labor (March 1, 1989)
Two Orders of Lenin (November 16, 1984; March 1, 1989),
Order of the Patriotic War, II degree (March 11, 1985) — for bravery, fortitude and courage shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, and in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945),
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (October 28, 1967),
Order of Friendship of Peoples (January 2, 1979),
Order of the Red Star (November 2, 1942) — for exemplary performance of combat missions of the front command for the restoration and repair of military equipment
medals.

Foreign awards:
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, officer grade (Germany, 2000).
Medal “Marshal Bagramyan” (Armenia, 2013).
Confessional awards:
Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, II degree (2009).
Ranks:
Honorary Doctor of St. Petersburg State University since 1997
Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts
Honorary citizen of St. Petersburg (May 19, 2005).
Awards:
USSR State Prize 1978 in the field of literature, art and architecture (October 19, 1978) — for the story “Claudia Vilor”
Prize of the Government of St. Petersburg for outstanding achievements in the field of literature, art and architecture for 1997 (June 1, 1998) — for contribution to modern literature
State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art 2001 June 10, 2002) — for the novel “Evenings with Peter the Great”
International award for the development and strengthening of humanitarian ties in the countries of the Baltic region “Baltic Star” (2008) (the award was established in 2004 by the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation, the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg, the World Club of St. Petersburgers and the Baltic International Festival Center Foundation)
Literary Bunin Prize 2011 (2012) — for faithful service to the Fatherland, outstanding contribution to the development of Russian literature, for the courage to “go into the storm”
Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize (2012) — for the books “Conspiracy”, “Everything Wasn’t Quite So” and “Quirks of My Memory”
First «Big Book» Prize (2012) — for the book «My Lieutenant»
Award “Best Novel of the Year” (2013, China), for the book “My Lieutenant”
Dr. Friedrich Joseph Haas Prize — for special contribution to strengthening German-Russian relations (2016)
Prize of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art
Heine Prize
Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation 2014 in the field of culture (December 17, 2014) — for the cultural and educational program “International Congresses of Peter’s Cities.”
Prize of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the field of culture and art (2017) in the category “Literary Art”.
Prize of the Government of St. Petersburg in the field of culture and art for 2016 (for achievements in the field of literature) (May 23, 2017) — for the creation of the books “She and Everything Else”, “My Lieutenant”
State Prize of the Russian Federation for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activities in 2016 (June 3, 2017).

Others:
Minor planet of the solar system number 3120 is named after Granin.

Criticism.

Publicist Oleg Kashin, commenting on the information about D. Granin’s manipulation of facts from his own biography, noted that attempts by public opinion to attribute moral authority to people from the Soviet party nomenklatura are doomed to failure. Daniil Granin, who was the head of the Leningrad branch of the Writers’ Union of the RSFSR, a people’s deputy of the USSR, a member of the bureau of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU and a Hero of Socialist Labor, can also be included in this group.

According to Soviet party leader Grigory Romanov, Granin’s statements about the activities of the USSR leadership during the blockade are “wrong and biased.”
The editor of the magazine “Noise” P. Smolyak, paying tribute to Granin’s actions in a number of difficult situations (for example, his refusal to support the expulsion of Solzhenitsyn, despite pressure from the authorities), mentioned in his article the following “social and literary episode”: Granin “…was present at the fateful meeting of the Secretariat of the Leningrad branch of the Writers’ Union, where the writers eventually asked to initiate a criminal case against Brodsky. Granin also acted as secretary, but… the transcript of the scandalous meeting was not preserved. There is a version that it was destroyed intentionally, and the protocol was rewritten after a while… A few months later… the leader of the Leningrad writers, poet Alexander Prokofiev, lost his position and in his place… Granin was installed.” In this regard, Anna Akhmatova uttered the phrase: “And they will no longer say about Granin: “this is the one who wrote such and such books,” but “this is the one who ruined Brodsky.” Later, the St. Petersburg writer M. N. Zolotonosov also condemned Granin for his behavior in the case of Brodsky.