Mark Bernes and the Hero City Myth

In wartime and in post-war Soviet film, one man made a name for himself portraying an Odessan and portraying him as a hero.  That man was Mark Bernes, the first great Soviet Star and the possible creator of what I like to call, the Odessa "Hero Myth".

Bernes (who was of Jewish ancestry) became famous for his character Arkady Dzubin, first in the 1943 movie "Two Soldiers".  He spent time with troops in military hospitals who were native to Odessa, and picked up that their dialect seemed quite lazy and was accompanied by much shoulder shrugging and lip pursing.  He created an archetype for "the Odessan", a vaguely jewish, musical, easy-going person who could calm his brothers with humor and then rise to any bravery needed.

In "Two Soldiers" he distracts a woman from a bombing raid by singing an ironic song about a fisherman, Konstantin, and his wife Sonya: "Shalandy Polnye Kefali":

Perhaps his most famous song as the Odessan Arkady Dzubin was "Dark Night", which became the unofficial anthem for Soviet citizens and soldiers barely surviving World War Two.  The song is about a soldier who believes no harm can come to him as long as his wife and new baby still wait for him.

"Dark night, only bullets whistling over the steppe,
Only the wind humming in the woods, dim stars twinkle.
In the dark night, darling, I know, I'm not sleeping,
And in the crib, you secretly wipe away a tear.

How I love the depth of your gentle eyes,
How do I want him to press my lips against you!
Dark Night divides us, my love,
And a disturbing, black steppe lie between us.

I believe in you
In my sweetheart,
This belief is the bullet
Dark night ...
Happily me
I am confident in mortal combat:
I know you will meet with my love
To me no matter what.

Death is not terrible.
With time it's time to meet.
Here and now
She whirls on me.
You got me waiting
And the cradle,
And so, I know, with me
Nothing will happen!"

I believe that with the influence of pop culture and Mark Bernes' character and created archetype, a myth was created that the people of Odessa were as resilient as those during the siege of Leningrad, when in reality, they played along as much as they could to stay alive.  

King, Charles. Odessa: Genius And Death In A City Of Dreams. New York: W.W. 
     Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. N. pag. Amazon Kindle. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.