For whom does Hemingway's bell toll?

Vladimir Shakhbaz, Ph.D. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

These words of John Donne, the 16th c. English poet, are known by everyone, even by those who have not read Hemingway's novel and don't remember its epigraph, but have still heard the phrase "For whom the bell tolls."

When I was young, this book captivated my imagination. One would probably not find a boy who did not try to impersonate Robert Jordan - a brave commando, with lofty ideals of freedom, a sense of duty and justice.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a work of art, but it's still very truthful. It is based on real events and documentary evidence, albeit modified, dressed by the brilliant literary talent of the author. Hemingway collected material for his novel in Spain in the midst of the Civil War. He worked as a correspondent for several American newspapers. He met Jordan in Madrid. The prototype of the hero of the novel was not an American, but a Macedonian volunteer. We must assume that the reading public at home would have hardly appreciated Hemingway's novel if its protagonist were not a citizen of the United States. The Macedonian's name was Xanthi. Colonel Xanthi. He, like Jordan, supported the Republicans.

For Madrid, which Franco unsuccessfully tried to capture several times, the Colonel was a legendary personality. Some said that he had come from Turkey, where he was engaged in commerce, and that he had actually directed the defense of the city and personally prepared Spanish guerrillas. And that, not knowing Spanish, he had moved freely in the rear of the enemy and had always come back. And that after such visits the adversary's military arsenal had been blown up, as well as airplanes and echelons of military equipment.

Who he was, no one knew. Hemingway searched in vain for a meeting with him. He had no such chance. In the besieged Spanish capital the writer lived at the "Florida". Other journalists stayed in this hotel as well. Hemingway was familiar with many of them. An offer to meet with the legend of the International Brigades came from the Soviet war reporters Mikhail Koltsov and Ilya Orenburg. Hemingway did not give up. For two evenings they met with Xanthi in the bar "Florida". Later the writer even visited a training camp and was able to personally monitor the progress of an undercover operation in the mountains of Guadarrama, where the bridge was blown up, which had strategic importance. With no doubt, it was this diversion by the Republicans on which the famous novel was based.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" was published in 1940, the Republicans had already been defeated, and another, far more bloody war was starting in Europe. The novel was successful for Hemingway. The book was appreciated by readers and Hollywood almost immediately bought the rights to produce a film based on the plot of the novel. The stars of that time, Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper, played the lead roles in the movie. Hemingway received a lump sum and was able to move from the Havana hotel "Ambos Mundos",  in which he actually wrote the novel, to the marvellous villa "Finca Vigia". The writer lived there for 20 years, and it was there he created a significant part of his works, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Nobel Prize-winning story "The Old Man and the Sea." On the threshold of the house Hemingway hung a bell, by ringing which he welcomed his dearest guests.

Hemingway did not find out who the prototype of Robert Jordan actually was. Under the martial pseudonym of Xanthi, the Ossetian Soviet spy Major Haji Umar Mamsurov (1903-1968) was hiding.

Behind him the Major had a civil war, in front of him was the Soviet-Finnish and the Great Patriotic War. In 1945, already a general, Mamsurov became a Hero of the Soviet Union. A talented military man, he finished his career with the rank of colonel and the first deputy head of the GRU of the General Staff of the USSR.

It is clear that in the Soviet Union no one dared to say that the Soviet officer was the prototype of the hero of the American novel. This story became public only in 1990. I learned about it at the same time, and it was entirely coincidental. Fate brought me to the family of Mamsurov.

Haji Umar Dzhiorovich joined the Red Army at the age of 14. His choice was affected by his uncle and guardian, a staunch Bolshevik, Sahandzheri Mamsurov, a colleague of Sergei Kirov, Ordzhonikidze and Joseph Dzhugashvili. Mamsurov's old acquaintance with Stalin, his ability to talk openly and honestly with the leader, eventually played against him. Sahandzheri was recognized as an "enemy of the people" and was shot in 1937. He had a 10-year-old son Marat. Despite the "stigma", his older cousin - Major Haji Umar - did not leave him.

My supervisor at the Department of Romance Philology of Moscow State University was Yevgenia Mamsurova, the wife of Marat Sahanovich Mamsurov, the son of the famous revolutionary.

As a student and then a graduate student, I often went to the Mamsurovs. For hours we sat in the kitchen with Yevgenia examining particular lexical borrowings in the languages ​​of Western Europe. Between linguistic discussions, we were sometimes joined by Marat Sahanovich, who usually worked in his study. The story about Colonel Xanthi and Hemingway I heard from them.

Mamsurov-Xanthi was originally against the meeting with the writer. He was engaged in a dangerous business, and on the number of people who could identify him, depended not only his personal safety, but also the safety of his people. However, Mikhail Koltsov, a correspondent of "Pravda", persuaded Mamsurov that the Soviet authorities were interested in Hemingway as an American reporter and writer, who could describe how selflessly the Republicans fight against fascism. Mamsurov agreed reluctantly. However, the first meeting with the American was generally unsuccessful and only confirmed the fears of the agent. Hemingway did not seem reliable to Xanthi. Therefore, Mamsurov answered his questions reluctantly and in a monotonous manner. After the meeting he described Hemingway as a very talkative, unserious person. Moreover, in Spain the writer got addicted to red wine and during the conversation he drank a whole pitcher. Mamsurov did not accept alcohol, and did not like such behavior. Hemingway was asking to visit the training camp for saboteurs. Mamsurov could not allow such a person in a secret facility. Mikhail Koltsov insisted on a second meeting. During it Hemingway managed to find a common language with the Soviet spy. He even tried not to drink a lot.

In the Soviet Union Hemingway's novel was not published at once. It is said that Stalin personally forbade it to be printed. Soviet critics called "For Whom the Bell Tolls" a parody of the events of the Civil War in Spain. The novel became available to readers in our country only in 1968, 28 years after its publication in the United States. Hemingway was no longer alive. In the same year, Haji Umar Mamsurov passed away. But he had a chance to read the novel. He was asked whether he saw himself in Robert Jordan. Mamsurov replied, "yes and no". He was sure that the image of Jordan was collective and probably reflected several heroes of the anti-fascist movement. However, much of what he said and showed Hemingway in Spain was reflected in the book.

The family of Mamsurov one of the oldest in South Ossetia. It is more than 500 years old. Mamsurov has always served his country faithfully. And not only with weapons in their hands (although there were a lot of commanders holding the name of Mamsurov). To their family belonged the first Ossetian poet, Temirbolat Mamsurov, and the prominent writer Dabe Mamsurov. And, of course, the current President of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Teimuraz Mamsurov.

Several years ago Marat Sahanovich Mamsurov died. He was a man of great courage, like all Mamsurovs, crystal honesty, directness and a bright mind, with a booming voice and an iron handshake. Public information about Marat Mamsurov is very scarce. An eminent scientist and nuclear physicist who devoted his life to the defense of our country and, of course, was classified. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a naval officer, captain of the first rank, engineer, professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Honoured Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He was engaged in management systems of so-called "special" ammunition, he created and managed a secret laboratory that addressed the issues of ammunition of the Navy. He was almost eighty years old when he began to learn English, required for the job. And in a short time he mastered it almost perfectly. He was engaged in scientific work until his last day.

His wife - Yevgenia Mamsurova - was an associate professor of romance linguistics at Moscow State University. They were together for 53 years. Throughout his life, Yevgenia dedicated herself to the education of philologists, first at Leningrad State University and then in Moscow. Under her supervision, dozens of master's theses and diplomas have successfully been written. She possesses a command of brilliant classical Spanish. Yevgenia is perhaps the only specialist in Russia in so-called "minor" Romance languages​​, such as Asturias, León, Friulian, Romansh in Switzerland and some others. Yevgenia Nikolayevna was the first person in our country and at the university who began to teach Catalan. The University of León (Spain) recently awarded her with the academic degree «honoris causae» - an honorary doctorate. Congratulations to my favourite supervisor!