Her amazing career in the diplomatic service began in 1944, when, on a Komsomol ticket, the slender and tall (184 centimeters!) student of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies Galina Petukhova was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And she began working in the secretariat of, no less than, V.M. Molotov, who combined the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, which was then headed by Stalin. His office, reception room and Secretariat were located one floor below…
Decades of work in the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs included many events and meetings. And two long trips abroad. To Lebanon. To the Arab-Israeli war. Galina Pavlovna shared her memories with the readers of “Rodina”.
Galina Petukhova during a reception of the foreign ministers of the four victorious countries. Moscow. 1948. Photo: from personal archive
About Stalin
“The Kremlin, the high mezzanine, the corner of the Senate building, the apartments of Stalin’s Secretariat. And from there the stairs to the second floor. I walk along the corridor from the assistants’ room with documents to my secretariat (usually they called us by a bell: one ring – it was us, the secretaries, two rings – it was the stenographer with a notebook). And suddenly a group comes towards me: in the middle Stalin, “such” a height (against her 1.84 – Auth.), there was security all around. I pressed myself against the wall. He looked – a tall woman, pressed against the wall (and he was small), chuckled, laughed and walked on.
After that, I lay on our sofa in the assistants’ room – I swear! – for 15 minutes in delight! Not everyone gets to see the “leader of the people” “live”, and especially so close!
About husband
“Volodya went through the entire war as a tank driver. He was two years older than me – from the generation of 1921-1923 wiped out by the war. He was lucky – he wasn’t even wounded. He recalled not tank battles as the most difficult war episode, but how during the retreat to Stalingrad in the summer of 1942 they had to drown their tanks in the river themselves, since all the crossings had been bombed. And for tank technicians, tanks are like their own children…
With husband. Far East. 1950s. Photo: from personal archive
But there were also funny episodes, as always happens in war. Volodin’s 34th Tank Brigade was liberating Estonia and entered some city. There were no detailed maps. There was no one to ask. They saw a huge beautiful brick building with a spire and thought it was a town hall. And they hoisted a red flag on it. It turned out to be a beer factory. Since then, its tank crews have been joked about: “Ah, that’s the famous 34th, which hung a flag on a beer factory!!!”
In 1972, my husband died on Spitsbergen, where the country had a coal concession, and his institute had a “million-dollar subject.” A second heart attack. Volodya, having recently suffered his first, could not help but fly there. Although I begged him not to do it (there is nothing to breathe there).”
About the first business trip abroad
“In Lebanon, I worked as the head of the Embassy chancery (the country is small, the staff is small, only two people in the chancery – the head of the chancery and a stenographer-typist). This was the time when internal Lebanese clashes began, in which Palestinians who were in Lebanon were also drawn in. A post-shooter there, a post-shooter here, all the families were evacuated. And there was no shelter, there was a basement – a long cellar: three steps down and that’s it. The shelling started, the alarm was sounded – everyone went down. I was nervous, and one of the guys said: “Why are you freaking out – light up.” That’s when I lit up. This was 1975. And I stayed in my first Lebanese war until 1977.”
First Secretary of the Embassy V.I. Kolotusha: “Together with G.P. we decided to take a risk and try to get some fresh bread for lunch. We got into the car, and I started driving around the area looking for a working bakery. We found one. I stood in line, and Galina Pavlovna, as a lady, remained sitting in the car (“I’ll have a smoke for now”). And then a furious shootout broke out in the square where the bakery faced…
I went cold with horror, but not for myself: I was inside the bakery, invisible from the street, but Galina Pavlovna… I stuck my head out of the bakery door and tried to gesture to Galina to keep quiet. But she seemed to have turned to stone – sitting in the car, motionless, and looking straight ahead…
After a while, the shooting died down. Just as suddenly as it had started. I ran up to the car, jerked the door open and, turning to Galina, exhaled: “How are you?” Galina, blue-pale, smiled a forced smile and said: “Vasya, you know, the whole time they were shooting, I was praying to God – if a bullet flies, then please don’t let it hit my face! I don’t want to be buried in a closed coffin!..”
On the seizure of the Embassy in Lebanon
“It happened on August 15-16, 1982. Two armored personnel carriers approached the embassy, forced the gates, crushed all the cars that were parked there, and Israeli soldiers entered. They captured our school, club, consulate. They settled there. We took refuge in the basement of the main building. The Israeli officers and soldiers spoke excellent Russian, that is, they were from the USSR. The head of the consular department (V.V. Kostikov) went to negotiate with them seven times – they didn’t even want to talk. Dirty, angry – war.
Galina Pavlovna Petukhova. 2018 year. Photo: from personal archive
They knew it was the Soviet embassy, they knew where they were entering. They set up an open toilet in front of the main working building. We were, so to speak, hostages. The only thing they allowed us was to fill up the diesel engine. There was no electricity there. The seizure of the embassy lasted almost two days. They left as quietly as they had entered.”
The editorial staff of Rodina sincerely congratulates Galina Pavlovna on her anniversary!
Source: rodina-history.ru
