The lists did not include a summary

A very brief retelling of the plot of the novel by B. L. Vasiliev “Not on the lists”

This is a book about the defenders of the Brest Fortress, who were the first to take a terrible blow on June 22, 1941 in the pre-dawn hour. Kolya Pluzhnikov has just graduated from college. The command aims for a capable guy to continue his studies, but he asks for active service in order to first “smell gunpowder.”

The newly made lieutenant ends up in the Brest Fortress, but does not have time to arrive at the disposal of his superiors, since early in the morning, the moment he appears in the fortress, the war begins.

Pluzhnikov finds himself in the thick of it. The Germans are well prepared, they fight competently, and they are well equipped. But the Soviet soldiers, including Pluzhnikov, were confused only in the first days. Many of them die immediately or almost immediately, but the rest, after the first shock, gather all their strength and enter into an unequal battle.

There are fewer and fewer defenders, but they do not give up, despite the entreaties of the invaders. There is no food, water, medicine, ammunition is running out, but the surviving defenders take refuge in the dungeons and continue the battle. Pluzhnikov, by chance, finds himself in the same dungeon with those people who treated him to tea on the night of his appearance in the fortress.

Now he is an experienced, seasoned and hardened-hearted fighter. His comrades die one after another, finally the lieutenant is left alone with the young girl Mirra, he is warmed by her love. But they kill her too. Left alone, Pluzhnikov does not stop resisting, now he lives only for one goal - to destroy as many enemies as possible, but not to surrender the fortress. He is no longer waiting for help.

The final scene before the epilogue - the Nazis force the last defender to leave the shelter. Amazed by his courage, his enemies give him the highest military honors. Pluzhnikov dies: he never surrendered, only death could force him to stop the battle. The young lieutenant lasted almost 10 months.

Epilogue of the work: the author brings onto the stage an elderly woman who every year on the same day (June 22) comes to the station in Brest and places flowers at the sign with a memorial inscription about the soldier Nikolai, whose last name is unknown.

List and brief description of the characters in the novel by B. L. Vasiliev “Not on the lists”

The main characters of the novel “Not on the Lists”:

• Mirra is a young girl for whom life seems to have nothing but trouble in store. Mirra is Jewish, fragile, small, limping on one leg (she has had a wooden prosthesis since childhood). She became independent early, grew up in a large family, where her mother took special care of her, but sadly inspired her daughter that she would never have personal happiness, and she would have to find joy only in helping others. Mirra works in the fortress, preparing lunches for the soldiers. She is simple and sincere, many see her as a defenseless child and feel sorry for her.
• Nikolai Pluzhnikov is a nineteen-year-old graduate of a military school. At the beginning of the book, life opens up the most brilliant prospects for him: service in a garrison near the border, study at the academy, career growth, the love of a beautiful girl. But all this ended in an instant on June 22, 1941. The still “green” lieutenant had come a long way during 10 months of the war. Having entered it as a slightly naive, cocky boy, Pluzhnikov ends his war as a tough, confident soldier, clearly knowing what his duty is both as a military man and simply as a person, and who did not deviate from fulfilling his duty until his very last second.

Minor characters of the novel “Not on the Lists”:

• Fedorchuk is an experienced warrior, but in reality he turned out to be simply a coward, hoping to sit out in a dungeon and not believing in the possibility of resistance. Fedorchuk was ready to do anything to save himself. When Pluzhnikov was organizing forays from the cleared warehouse to conduct reconnaissance and beat the enemy, Fedorchuk escaped and tried to surrender. Pluzhnikov shot him, not giving him the opportunity to complete what he started and commit betrayal.
• Valya is Pluzhnikov’s sister’s girlfriend, a beautiful girl with whom Kolya fell passionately and instantly in love during his short visit to his mother in Moscow. She promised to wait for Nikolai and gave him his first kiss.
• Salnikov is one of Pluzhnikov’s most loyal friends, who met him in his first battle. A country boy, distinguished by his dexterity and ingenuity. Just like the lieutenant, he quickly accepted the new living conditions and fought to the last, lending his shoulder to his comrades. At the cost of his life, he saved Pluzhnikov from the Germans.
• Semishny is the last of the fortress fighters whom Pluzhnikov had a chance to see alive. Semishny took part in the battles until he fell ill from a serious wound: his legs were broken. He had been lying alone for three weeks when the lieutenant discovered him. The body refused to serve the fighter, but his spirit remained indestructible: he supported Nikolai as long as he was able to breathe. Dying, Semishny gave the banner to the lieutenant and bequeathed never to betray him.
• Svitsky is a violinist, a very talented person, a Jew by nationality, Mirra’s uncle. Nikolai listens to his music when he arrives in Brest, and by a terrible irony of fate he meets him in his last hour. After the occupation of the city by the Germans and ending up in the ghetto, the former violinist no longer feels like a musician, or even a human being at all: he is completely broken. He responds to the imperious German “Jude!”, never raises his eyes and expects a blow at any moment.
• Vasya Volkov is a conscript, simple-minded, stupid, accustomed to obeying his elders or superiors. His mind cannot withstand the nightmares falling from all sides. After Pluzhnikov’s murder of Fedorchuk, Volkov finally goes crazy and runs away from his own people. The ending of his life is sad: he was shot by the Nazis.
• Vera is the sister of Kolya Pluzhnikov. Arriving in Moscow before being sent to the Brest Fortress, Kolya no longer sees her as a child, as she was 2 years ago, on his previous visit, but as an adult girl. Vera selflessly loves her mother and brother, finishes school, dreams of a great future.
• Stepan Matveevich is another inhabitant of the dungeon, Pluzhnikov’s involuntary neighbor. A strong man, thorough, he helps Pluzhnikov and Mirra with all his might, and when he realizes that his strength is running out, he decides to sell his life dearly: he rushes at the enemy, blowing him up and himself.
• Aunt Khristya is a warehouse worker in the fortress, a lonely middle-aged woman, her fate was sad: having lost her husband and all her relatives at one time, having lost her home for debts, she would have been forced to become a beggar, but Soviet power came, and Aunt Khristya got a job and housing at the Brest Fortress. This is a woman with a very kind heart, she helped Mirra and protected her as long as she could.
• Anna Petrovna is another woman, also middle-aged, whom Kolya met on the night of her arrival at the fortress. She also works in the canteen; her family lives in the fortress - children. From some hints from the author, one can guess that she is having an affair with Stepan Matveevich. Anna Petrovna was worried about the fate of her children until the last moment and died, hit by a machine gun fire, when she went to look for them.
• The border guard is an unnamed soldier whose feat shocked Kolya Pluzhnikov to the core. The border guard dies on the very first day of the war, when Nicholas was given soldiers and orders to occupy the church and not leave it, no matter what happens. Due to his inexperience, the lieutenant rushed to run, deciding that the situation was hopeless. But the border guard did not leave - and the next day Kolya found him on the gun with a hole in his back.
• Vladimir Denishchik is a simple soldier, one of the border guards; the very first battles brought them together with Pluzhnikov. Denishchik is from Gomel. There, in peacetime, he left behind a wife who was about to give birth. In one of these battles, Denishchik covered Nikolai with himself, receiving a serious wound. Nikolai and his comrades take him to the hospital, but the wound is fatal, and there is nothing to treat. Risking his life, Pluzhnikov brings his faithful comrade some water, helps him go out into the sun, into the air, where Denishchik dies.

Boris Vasiliev

Didn't appear on the lists. Meeting engagement

Not on the lists

Part one

1

In his entire life, Kolya Pluzhnikov has never encountered as many pleasant surprises as he has experienced in the last three weeks. He had been waiting for the order to confer a military rank on him, Nikolai Petrovich Pluzhnikov, for a long time, but following the order, pleasant surprises rained down in such abundance that Kolya woke up at night from his own laughter.

After the morning formation, at which the order was read out, they were immediately taken to the clothing warehouse. No, not the general cadet one, but the cherished one, where chrome boots of unimaginable beauty, crisp sword belts, stiff holsters, commander bags with smooth lacquer tablets, overcoats with buttons and strict diagonal tunics were issued. And then everyone, the entire graduating class, rushed to the school tailors to have the uniform adjusted to both height and waist, to blend into it as if into their own skin. And there they jostled, fussed and laughed so much that the official enamel lampshade began to sway under the ceiling.

In the evening, the head of the school himself congratulated everyone on graduation and presented them with the “Red Army Commander’s Identity Card” and a weighty TT. The beardless lieutenants loudly shouted the pistol number and squeezed the general's dry palm with all their might. And at the banquet the commanders of the training platoons were enthusiastically rocking and trying to settle scores with the foreman. However, everything turned out well, and this evening - the most beautiful of all evenings - began and ended solemnly and beautifully.

For some reason, it was on the night after the banquet that Lieutenant Pluzhnikov discovered that he was crunching. It crunches pleasantly, loudly and courageously. It crunches with fresh leather sword belts, uncrumpled uniforms, and shining boots. The whole thing crunches like a brand new ruble, which the boys of those years easily called “crunch” for this feature.

Actually, it all started a little earlier. Yesterday's cadets came with their girls to the ball that followed the banquet. But Kolya didn’t have a girlfriend, and he, hesitatingly, invited the librarian Zoya. Zoya pursed her lips in concern and said thoughtfully: “I don’t know, I don’t know...”, but she came. They danced, and Kolya, out of burning shyness, kept talking and talking, and since Zoya worked in the library, he talked about Russian literature. Zoya at first assented, and in the end, her clumsily painted lips stuck out resentfully:

“You’re crunching too hard, Comrade Lieutenant.” In school language, this meant that Lieutenant Pluzhnikov was wondering. Then Kolya understood this, and when he arrived at the barracks, he discovered that he was crunching in the most natural and pleasant way.

“I’m crunching,” he told his friend and bunkmate, not without pride.

They were sitting on the windowsill in the second floor corridor. It was the beginning of June, and the nights at the school smelled of lilacs, which no one was allowed to break.

“Crunch for your health,” said the friend. “But, you know, not in front of Zoya: she’s a fool, Kolka.” She is a terrible fool and is married to a sergeant major from the ammunition platoon.

But Kolka listened with half an ear because he was studying the crunch. And he really liked this crunch.

The next day the guys began to leave: everyone was entitled to leave. They said goodbye noisily, exchanged addresses, promised to write, and one after another disappeared behind the barred gates of the school.

But for some reason, Kolya was not given travel documents (though the journey was nothing at all: to Moscow). Kolya waited two days and was just about to go find out when the orderly shouted from afar:

- Lieutenant Pluzhnikov to the commissar!..

The commissioner, who looked very much like the suddenly aged artist Chirkov, listened to the report, shook hands, indicated where to sit, and silently offered cigarettes.

“I don’t smoke,” said Kolya and began to blush: he was generally thrown into a fever with extraordinary ease.

“Well done,” said the commissioner. “But, you know, I still can’t quit, I don’t have enough willpower.”

And he lit a cigarette. Kolya wanted to give advice on how to strengthen his will, but the commissar spoke again.

- We know you, Lieutenant, as an extremely conscientious and efficient person. We also know that you have a mother and sister in Moscow, that you haven’t seen them for two years and miss them. And you are entitled to vacation. “He paused, got out from behind the table, walked around, looking intently at his feet. - We know all this, and yet we decided to make a request to you... This is not an order, this is a request, please note, Pluzhnikov. We no longer have the right to order you...

“I’m listening, Comrade Regimental Commissar.” - Kolya suddenly decided that he would be offered to go to work in intelligence, and he tensed up, ready to scream deafeningly: “Yes!..”

Brief summary of the novel by B. L. Vasiliev “Not on the lists” in detail in parts and chapters

Part one.

Chapter 1

The novel begins with a description of the happy moment of Kolya Pluzhnikov’s graduation from college. He, like his comrades, had to go on vacation before starting service. However, he fulfills the request of his superiors to stay at the school for a short time - to accept new property.

Then the management wants to send him to the academy, after which they take him in - the young man has great abilities, he will be a good teacher and commander. But Kolya wants to “smell gunpowder” first, and he is given an appointment to the Brest Fortress, for a year of military practice, and then back to school, to the position of commander of a training platoon.

Chapter 2

Kolya is on his way to his duty station, having previously stopped in Moscow for a few hours to see his mother and younger sister. Here he manages to fall in love with his sister’s friend Valya, promises her to return, and she promises to wait for him. To spend more time with his family, he changes his ticket to the latest train. Having said goodbye to the world of childhood that was so dear to him, to his mother and sister Vera, Kolya leaves to serve.

Chapter 3

Nikolai comes to Brest, gets acquainted with the city, has lunch at a restaurant and listens there to the wonderful performance of the violinist - the Jew Reuben Svitsky. The city is restless, everyone is talking about the war, including Svitsky’s niece, the lame girl Mirra. Kolya needs to get to the fortress, and the violinist helps him - he offers to get there in a cab, where Mirra is already sitting. The girl works in the fortress in the canteen for commanders. Svitsky asks his niece to accompany Nikolai.

Chapter 4

Mirra and Nikolai go to the fortress, pass the checkpoint, the newly arrived lieutenant does not have time to “surrender” to the command and receive orders regarding further actions. Mirra decides to give him tea first and takes him to the warehouse, where she introduces him to other warehouse workers - Fedorchuk, foreman Stepan Matveevich, Aunt Khristya, Vasya Volkov, Anna Petrovna. The first explosion thunders - the heroes initially decide that it is a thunderstorm. But this is the beginning of the war.

Part two

Chapter 1

Pluzhnikov runs to look for one of his colleagues, leadership, in order to receive a command to act. He was not on the lists, as he had just arrived at his duty station. He has to act on his own, according to his own understanding. There is commotion in the fortress. There are constant explosions and shelling. Many, including commanders, were killed immediately. Pluzhnikov meets soldier Salnikov and others, and receives orders to fight for a combat point - a church.

Chapter 2

The church defends itself for a long time, but at some point it seems to Pluzhnikov and his colleagues that nothing can be done - they leave the battlefield, where only the border guard remains. He dies the death of a hero, without throwing away the machine gun, right on the combat weapon. Pluzhnikov is accused of cowardice, he decides to atone for his guilt at all costs. The church is knocking down.

Chapter 3

There are endless unequal battles. Days and nights merge in a series of forays. There is no water, no medicine. There are many wounded, they are dying, children and women are dying, of those who did not surrender, but stayed with their own. In one of the rooms of the fortress, the paramedic set up a medical aid station, but could not provide any assistance - he had nothing except a small amount of vodka.

About time one of the soldiers brings water - for the heaviest, a tablespoon. The paramedic does not drink water, he slowly dies at his combat post, continuing his work - saving lives. Although no one can be saved. People are doomed. Pluzhnikov's comrade-in-arms, Vladimir Denishchik, dies; his wounds were received in battle, where he covered Pluzhnikov with himself. Pluzhnikov helps him go out into the air so that he can see the sun for the last time.

He dies in an unequal battle, saving his commander, Salnikov. The Germans beat him to death with rifle butts. One day, a blast wave throws Pluzhnikov into the warehouse where he began his service in the fortress.

Part three

Chapter 1

Mirra, Aunt Khristya, Stepan Matveevich - Nikolai saw these people on the morning of June 22, 1941, when the world turned upside down. Pluzhnikov listens to their stories about why they stayed in the warehouse (the warehouse was falling asleep), tries to start forays to beat the enemy, but then, broken by severe moral suffering (he blames himself for the death of each of his comrades, it seems to him that if he acted otherwise, they would have remained alive), he decides to take his own life.

Mirra watches him closely - when Pluzhnikov gets out at night closer to the exit to shoot himself, she forces him to abandon his suicide attempt. To stop Pluzhnikov, Mirra is ready to do anything - she takes his hand with a revolver and presses it to her chest. This is how a fragile girl with a steel core in her character saves a young lieutenant. From that moment on, Pluzhnikov decides to fight to the end.

Chapter 2

Pluzhnikov assembles 2 teams from his colleagues, they make forays. In one of them, Stepan Matveevich was wounded. In another, Fedorchuk disappears. Pluzhnikov and Vasya Volkov are looking for him and find him heading to the Germans to surrender. Pluzhnikov shoots the traitor. He is tormented by thoughts that he killed a man with whom he recently sat at a common table, but he drives them away. No choice. Then the small team loses one more person - Pluzhnikov, fleeing persecution, loses Volkov. He just disappears.

Chapter 3

Pluzhnikov takes the German prisoner. He leads the “tongue” into the basement, to his own people, and then the feeling that the enemy is nearby disappears somewhere. A German trembling with fear is the same person. He still has children in his homeland. Pluzhnikov is going to shoot him, but, realizing that he cannot kill an unarmed man, he lets the German go, and only Mirra will know about this. Both keep this secret.

Meanwhile, Stepan Matveevich's wound becomes inflamed and blood poisoning begins. Realizing that his wound is still fatal, Stepan Matveevich blows himself up along with the Nazis. Aunt Christia dies. She also feels that her health is undermined, her legs are giving out. She wants to go out into the air in order to upset her people less and die there, but she doesn’t have time: an explosion thunders, Aunt Khristya burns alive.

Part four

Chapter 1

Nikolai and Mirra are left alone in the dungeon. A feeling flares up between them. One day Pluzhnikov meets 2 soldiers making their way to the exit from the fortress, they invite him to go with them. One of these soldiers is known to Mirra, and at first both are happy. Mirra brings to the table all that is left of the food supplies.

Then the soldiers call Nikolai aside to “talk.” They invite him with them alone, offer to leave Mirra, arguing that the lame girl will not make it and will only let everyone down. Pluzhnikov is outraged. He orders the soldiers to leave, and finally gives them ammunition. Mirra heard the whole conversation, she cries and kisses Nikolai.

Chapter 2

Mirra and Pluzhnikov are happy amid the horror happening around them; there is love in their hearts. In a sense, they even managed to improve their everyday life - Pluzhnikov goes “to work,” tracks down and shoots the Nazis, and Mirra prepares food and looks after Pluzhnikov. In the evenings, young people dream, have long conversations, and plan to get married after peacetime comes. Mirra tells Nikolai about her family, and he tells about his mother and sister.

One day, while continuing his forays, Pluzhnikov finds a warehouse with food. Another time he meets Volkov, who has gone crazy. He walks through the territory occupied by the enemy, singing songs. Recognizing Pluzhnikov, he rushes to run away from him, overcome with horror. At the sound of voices and footsteps, the Nazis come out and kill Volkov.

Chapter 3

Mirra tells Pluzhnikov about her pregnancy. She needs to leave - both understand that it will not be possible to carry a child in damp dungeons. Pluzhnikov is at first categorically against her leaving, but agrees with her arguments. Decision is made. Mirra secretly sneaks out of the basement and tries to quietly join the women who have been driven out of the city to work. All day she and the women collect bricks, they feel sorry for the “lame leg”.

But in the evening, during formation, the guards realize that a stranger has infiltrated and beat her to death. Among the killers is a German who was once saved by Pluzhnikov. Without hesitation, he gives the order to kill the one who once saved his life.

Even dying a terrible death under the blows of the fascists and their assistants, Mirra does not think about herself. In her last moment, she wants only one thing: so that her beloved does not see her death, never knows about it. Mirra fearlessly accepts the fate that was destined for her and dies, having managed to know the smallest fraction of happiness among the horrors of war.

Part five

Chapter 1

Pluzhnikov remains alone. At first he becomes seriously ill and rests in the basement. Despite the lack of medicine, youth takes its toll: the lieutenant recovers. He goes outside and is surprised to find snow: winter has already come. Pluzhnikov decides to return his pistol - he remembers that he lost it in the church, and goes there, encountering eerie silence and corpses everywhere. He hears the Germans and, fleeing from them, takes refuge in the stable, in the manure. He is wounded, but survives again. He continues to fight, but during one of his forays his “hole” is blown up.

Chapter 2

While exploring the premises of the fortress, Pluzhnikov discovers Semishny dying from a wound. He can no longer walk, but does gymnastics every day in order to maintain strength and a clear mind until the end. Until Semishny's death, the heroes are together.

Every day Pluzhnikov goes into battle, and Semishny waits for him and encourages him. But Semishny’s strength is running out. Just before his death, Semishny gives Pluzhnikov his battle flag. He kept it on his chest. From now on, the banner is on the chest of Lieutenant Pluzhnikov. Nikolai understands: as long as at least someone is alive, the battle is not over. Continues to shoot fascists. Now he is the only defender - in the entire fortress.

Chapter 3

Former musician Svitsky was brought by an important German general to the fortress, where the last Russian soldier had recently been discovered. Now he is no longer the talented violinist whose performance everyone admired. He is driven by fear. He is completely broken, there is no strength left in him to resist. The Nazis can give him any order - he will carry it out, just to live a little longer. The Nazis give Svitsky the task of luring the soldier out of the dungeon alive. The former violinist goes down into the dark basement.

There he hears a voice - the last defender of the fortress speaks to him. Svitsky doesn’t have to be persuaded. Pluzhnikov is interested in one thing: how is Moscow? Has Moscow been surrendered? Svitsky says that Moscow did not surrender, the Germans were defeated near Moscow. Pluzhnikov understands: the Nazis will never be able to win. He goes outside on his own.

Amazed by the courage of the defender of the fortress, who defended it for 10 months without any help, the Germans give him the highest military honors: they raise their hands in greeting and make way for him. Even the general does this. Pluzhnikov goes to the ambulance that was sent for him. He is using his last strength: he is thin, like a skeleton, almost blind, and there is a trail of blood behind him. Having reached the car, he falls and dies. His journey is over, his task completed. He did not surrender the fortress.

Epilogue

Epilogue of the novel - many years after the war, every year on June 22, an old woman comes to the station in Brest and stands for a long time near a sign with an inscription that indicates the name of the station's defender - Nikolai - and no surname. He was not on the lists.

The lists did not include a summary

The novel “Not on the Lists” by Vasiliev, written in 1974, is dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Through the prism of the development of the main character, the writer managed to accurately and succinctly describe all the horrors of the hard times of war. For better preparation for the literature lesson and for the reading diary, we recommend reading online a summary of “Not on the lists” chapter by chapter .

The main characters Kolya Pluzhnikov is a nineteen-year-old junior lieutenant, a courageous and determined guy, a patriot of his homeland. Mirra is a Jewish girl, disabled, forced to move with the help of a prosthesis, Kolya’s first and only love. Other characters Vera is Kolya's sixteen-year-old sister. Valya is Vera’s friend, who has been in love with Kolya since childhood. Salnikov is a brave, cunning, intelligent fighter, Kolya’s loyal friend. Vasya Volkov is a young Red Army soldier who lost his mind after the horrors he experienced. Fedorchuk is a sergeant, an adult man who, in order to save his life, prefers to surrender to the Germans. Stepan Matveevich is a foreman who, after being wounded in the leg and the wound becoming infected, blows himself up along with the Germans. Semishny is a paralyzed foreman, Kolya’s last surviving comrade-in-arms. Summary

Part one

Chapter I Nineteen-year-old Kolya Pluzhnikov graduates from military school with the rank of junior lieutenant. The general calls him and Fr. He offers the young man to stay at the school as a training platoon commander with the prospect of continuing his studies at the Military Academy. However, Kolya refuses the flattering offer and asks to be transferred to “any unit and any position.”

Chapter II Kolya is sent to a new duty station through Moscow, where his mother and sixteen-year-old sister Vera live. The young man finds a few hours to see his family. At home he meets his sister's friend, who has been in love with him for a long time. In a conversation with Kolya, the girl shares her fears “that the situation is very serious” and war cannot be avoided, but he reassures her. Dancing with Valya, Kolya acutely senses that this is love, “which he has read so much about and which he still has not met.” Valya promises to visit the young man at his new duty station.

Chapter III In Brest, Kolya, together with his fellow travelers, goes to a restaurant, where he sees a German gendarme - a man “from that world, from Germany enslaved by Hitler.” Brest is restless: every night you can hear the noise of tractors, tanks, and the roar of cars in the distance. After a hearty dinner, Kolya parts with his fellow travelers. He stays in the restaurant, where he meets the lame niece of the violinist, Mirra. The girl undertakes to accompany the lieutenant to the Brest Fortress.

Chapter IV At the checkpoint, Kolya receives a direction to the barracks for business travelers. Mirra, who works in the fortress, accompanies Kolya to the barracks. He seems suspicious of the “provocative conversations” that his new acquaintance starts, as well as the amazing “awareness of this lame woman.” Mirra brings Kolya to the warehouse, where he drinks tea. Meanwhile, dawn breaks on June 22, 1941. The roar of exploding shells is heard. Realizing that the war has begun, Pluzhnikov rushes to the exit, since he is still not on the lists.

Part two

Chapter I Once on the street, the lieutenant sees that everything is on fire: “cars in the parking lots, booths and temporary buildings, shops, warehouses, vegetable stores.” From an unfamiliar soldier, Kolya learns that the Germans have broken into the fortress and war has been declared with Germany. Having found his own, Kolya takes command of the deputy political instructor, but in terrible panic he does not accept his travel allowances. He orders poorly armed soldiers to recapture the church occupied by the Germans, threatening that “whoever remains is a deserter.” Soviet soldiers count every cartridge, and they save water to cool their machine guns. Each of them hopes “that the army units will break through to their rescue in the morning,” and they need to somehow hold out until this moment.

Chapter II The next day “the earth groaned again, the walls of the church shook, plaster and broken bricks fell down.” The Germans break into the church, and Kolya, together with Salnikov, runs to another place, where he finds a small detachment led by a senior lieutenant. Pluzhnikov realizes that “succumbing to panic, he abandoned the fighters and cowardly fled from the position.” Endless attacks, bombings and shelling follow each other in a continuous sequence. Kolya, Salnikov and the border guard, breaking through under fire, try to hide in the basement compartment. They soon find out that this is a dead end from which there is no way out.

Chapter III Kolya “clearly remembered only the first three days of defense,” then the days and nights merged for him into an incessant series of bombings and shelling. The consciousness becomes clouded from extreme thirst, and even in sleep all thoughts are only about water. From continuous machine gun fire, Salnikov and Pluzhnikov take refuge in a crater, where they are discovered by a “young, well-fed, clean-shaven” German. Salnikov knocks the German down and orders Kolya to run. The lieutenant notices a narrow hole under the brick wall and crawls into it “as fast as he could.” In the dungeon, Pluzhnikov discovers Mirra and her comrades. In hysterical convulsions, he begins to accuse them of cowardice and betrayal. But soon, tired, he calms down.

Part three

Chapter I Kolya finds out that the warehouse in which he drank tea on the eve of the war was covered by “a heavy shell in the first minutes of artillery preparation.” Senior Sergeant Fedorchuk, Sergeant Major Stepan Matveevich, Red Army soldier Vasya Volkov and three women were buried alive under the rubble. The whole war for them was going on at the top, and they “were cut off from their own people and from the whole world.” They had a decent supply of food, and they got water from a dug well. The men hammered at the walls at random, trying to find a loophole to the top. Through a “tangled labyrinth of underground corridors, dead ends and blind casemates,” they made their way to the armory, which had the only exit - a narrow hole through which Pluzhnikov escaped from certain death. Seeing the untouched ammunition depot, he “could hardly hold back his tears” and ordered everyone to prepare their weapons for battle. Kolya tries to get to the remnants of the garrison, but at this moment the Germans undermine the wall and destroy the last soldiers remaining alive. Now only miraculously surviving loners remain in the ruins of the fortress. Pluzhnikov returns to the dungeon and, completely devastated, lies “without words, thoughts or movement.” He remembers all those who covered him with their bodies during the battles, thanks to which he remained alive. Fedorchuk, thinking that the lieutenant has moved, bricks a hole that connects them with the world above. He just wants to “live while there is food and this remote dungeon, unknown to the Germans.” Pluzhnikov tries to commit suicide, but Mirra stops him at the last moment.

Chapter II Kolya again takes command and orders the passage to the top to be dismantled. In search of his own, he regularly makes forays, and during one of them he starts a shootout with the Germans. Suddenly Fedorchuk disappears, and Kolya, together with Vasya Volkov, goes in search of the “senior sergeant who disappeared to God knows where.” They notice Fedorchuk, who is about to surrender to the Germans. Without a shadow of a doubt, the lieutenant shoots him in the back and kills the traitor. He “felt no remorse in shooting a man with whom he had sat at a common table more than once.” Fleeing from persecution, Pluzhnikov and Vasya stumble upon prisoners and notice their “strange passivity and strange obedience.” Noticing a Red Army soldier he knows, Kolya learns from him that Salnikov is in the infirmary. He orders the pistol to be handed over to him, but the captured Red Army soldier, fearing for his own life, reveals Pluzhnikov’s location to the Germans. Fleeing from persecution, Kolya loses sight of Volkov. He understands that the fortress is occupied not by “assault Germans” - determined and self-confident, but by much less warlike soldiers...

Chapter III During the next foray, Kolya stumbles upon two Germans: he kills one, and takes the second prisoner and brings him to the dungeon. Having learned that his captive is a recently mobilized worker, he is no longer able to kill him and sets him free. Stepan Matveevich, suffering from a rotting wound on his leg, realizes that he will not last long. He decides to sell his own life at a higher price and blows himself up along with a large group of Germans.

Part four

Chapter I In the dungeon, only Kolya and Mirra remain alive. The lieutenant understands that he needs to “slip through, break out of the fortress, get to the first people and leave the girl with them.” Mirra doesn’t even think about surrendering to the Germans - she, a cripple and a Jew, will be killed immediately. While exploring the basement labyrinths, Pluzhnikov unexpectedly stumbles upon two Soviet soldiers. They share their plan with the lieutenant - “to rush to Belovezhskaya Pushcha” and invite him with them. But they don’t intend to take the lame Mirra. Hearing how Kolya stands up for her, Mirra, out of an excess of feelings, confesses her love to the young man and he reciprocates her feelings.

Chapter II Young people, inspired by a new feeling, begin to dream about what they will do in Moscow after the end of the war. During the next patrol of the dungeon, Pluzhnikov discovers Vasya Volkov, who has gone crazy, unable to withstand all the horrors of the war. Seeing Kolya, he runs away in fear, stumbles upon the Germans and dies. Kolya witnesses the ceremonial parade that the Germans organize on the occasion of the arrival of important guests. Pluzhnikov “sees in front of him the Fuhrer of Germany Adolf Hitler and the Duce of the Italian fascists Benito Mussolini,” but does not even realize it.

Chapter III With the onset of autumn, “collective farmers driven from neighboring villages” appear in the fortress to clear the territory of rubble and decomposed corpses. In search of a warehouse with provisions, Pluzhnikov digs tunnels every day, “choking, breaking his nails, breaking his fingers into blood.” He stumbles upon a bag of army biscuits and cries with happiness. Mirra tells Kolya that she is expecting a child, and to save him she must get out of the dungeon. The lieutenant takes Mirra to a group of women who are clearing away the rubble, hoping that no one will notice the new girl in the crowd. However, the Germans quickly find out that Mirra is superfluous. The girl is brutally beaten and then stabbed twice with a bayonet. In her last moments, Mirra acutely feels “that she will never have a baby, a husband, or life itself.” Kolya does not see how the girl is killed, and is fully confident that Mirra managed to escape to the city.

Part five

Chapter I Kolya gets sick and is half-oblivious all the time. Feeling relieved, he climbs out and sees that the ruins of the fortress are covered with snow. The Germans understand that Kolya is the only survivor in the ruins. They begin to methodically catch him, but Pluzhnikov manages to break through the cordon. All he has left is “a furious desire to survive, a dead fortress and hatred.”

Chapter II Kolya goes to the cellars, which he has not yet been to. He meets there the only surviving soldier - Sergeant Major Semishny, wounded in the spine and therefore unable to move. However, the foreman did not “want to give up, fighting to give up every millimeter of his body to death.” He no longer has any strength, but he forces Pluzhnikov to go upstairs every day and shoot the invaders, “so that his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be ordered to meddle in Russia.” Before his death, Semishny hands over the regimental banner, which he always wore under his clothes.

Chapter III In April 1942, the Germans brought a Jewish violinist to the fortress as a translator. They force him to go down into the dungeon and persuade the fighter to voluntarily surrender. By that time, Kolya was already practically blind, and was driven by the Germans into a trap from which there was no way out. From the violinist he learns that the Nazis were defeated near Moscow. Pluzhnikov asks him to spread the news that “the fortress did not fall: it simply bled to death.” Leaning on the violinist, the lieutenant barely emerges from his hiding place. An incredibly emaciated blind man without age with swollen frostbitten feet is greeted by all those present with deathly silence. Amazed by what he saw, the German general orders the soldiers to salute the hero. With his arms outstretched, Pluzhnikov falls to the ground and dies.

Epilogue In the far west of Belarus stands the Brest Fortress, which took the first blow on the morning of June 22, 1941. Tourists come here from different parts of the world to honor the memory of fallen soldiers. The guides will certainly tell them the legend of an unknown warrior who managed to fight the invaders alone for ten months. Among the numerous exhibits of the museum is a miraculously preserved regimental banner, and “a small wooden prosthesis with the remnant of a woman’s shoe.”

Conclusion In his book, Boris Vasiliev with amazing simplicity demonstrated the full power of the heroic feat of a young fighter who managed to prove to everyone that he alone is a warrior in the field.

After reading the brief retelling of “Not on the Lists,” we recommend reading the novel in its full version.

Briefly about the history of the creation of the work “Not on the lists”

The plot of the novel, published in 1974, is taken from life: Boris Vasiliev really met this woman at the station. She stood at the sign for hours, read the inscription, and remembered. Nearby lay fresh flowers she had brought. In addition, there is still a legend about the unknown defender of the Brest Fortress, who held out from June 1941 until April 1942. This book is not about the wonders and power of the art of war. It is about courage, perseverance and true heroism, about the fact that a person can be killed, but he cannot be broken if he does not want it.