Who dropped the sword of Stalingrad?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.23.2.10Keywords:
interpreting studies, sword of Stalingrad, Tehran conference, autobiographical subjectivityAbstract
On November 29, 1943, at a ceremony at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran in the presence of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill presented Marshal Stalin with a Sword of Honour as a gift from King George VI to the 'steel-hearted citizens of Stalingrad'. According to an ‘enduring legend’ (Higgins, 1993), Stalin was surprised by the sword’s weight and dropped it on the floor after he took it from Churchill. This article investigates this ‘legend’ to see whether the sword was dropped and, if yes, who dropped it. In doing so, available memoirs, visuals, and newspaper sources are used. Autobiographical subjectivity is discussed in view of the conflicting accounts from the people who were at the center of the ceremony and close to it, i.e. Winston Churchill, the British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb, Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and the interpreters Arthur Birse (UK), Hugh Lunghi (UK), Charles Bohlen (USA), and Valentin Berezhkov (USSR). An unambiguous answer to the research question is given by two items of video footage taken during the ceremony, despite the obvious efforts to edit out the embarrassing moment.
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