"Not on the Lists" by Boris Vasiliev, summary Automatic translate

This book, written in 1974, is a tribute to the defenders of the Brest Fortress in the early days of the Great Patriotic War. It is based on a true story: the protagonist was not listed in the garrison’s records, becoming a nameless symbol of military duty and courage. The story has been adapted for the screen twice: in 1995, as "I Am a Russian Soldier," directed by Andrei Malyukov, and in 2025, as "Not Listed," directed by Sergei Korotayev, premiered.

Peaceful days

In June 1941, nineteen-year-old Nikolai Pluzhnikov graduated from military academy. He was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the Western Special Military District. En route to his duty station, Nikolai stopped in Moscow. He visited his mother and younger sister, Vera. At home, Pluzhnikov met his neighbor, Valya. Valya spoke anxiously of the possibility of war. Nikolai confidently declared that the Red Army would quickly launch a powerful attack on enemy territory. That evening, he boarded a train to Minsk.

Pluzhnikov arrives in Brest late in the evening of June 21st. Nikolai dines at a local restaurant with two lieutenants. The patrons discuss the buildup of German troops beyond the Bug River, but Nikolai dismisses the alarmist rumors. A talented local violinist, Ruvim Svitsky, plays for the officers. After the restaurant, the violinist’s niece, a lame girl named Mirra, accompanies the lieutenant to his post. They walk through the nighttime city and cross the bridge over the Mukhavets River. At the entrance to the fortress, Nikolai accidentally reaches for his pistol holster, startling a guard. The misunderstanding is quickly resolved. Mirra takes the lieutenant to the basement of the Brest Fortress food warehouse. Sitting there are Sergeant Major Stepan Matveyevich, Senior Sergeant Fedorchuk, Red Army soldier Vasya Volkov, Aunt Khristya, and Anna Petrovna. At 4:15 a.m., a powerful explosion rocks the vaults of the casemate.

The beginning of the war

Pluzhnikov runs out of the basement. The fortress is engulfed in flames, brick buildings are collapsing, and wounded men are screaming. Nikolai tries to find his regiment’s command. Under artillery fire, the lieutenant meets a young soldier, Pyotr Salnikov. Together, they make their way to the ruins of the White Palace, where border guards are holding out. The deputy political officer orders an attack on the former church, occupied by German machine gunners. Pluzhnikov bursts into the building. A brutal hand-to-hand fight ensues in the smoke and dust. An enemy soldier, his jaw shattered, knocks the lieutenant to the floor and begins to strangle him. Salnikov saves the commander with a powerful blow from a sapper shovel. Pluzhnikov loses his school-issued pistol in the fight.

The soldiers organize a perimeter defense of the church. The Germans regularly carry out air raids and artillery shelling, followed by an assault. Nikolai fires a heavy machine gun, burning his hands on the red-hot barrel. The defenders suffer heavy losses, suffering from lack of ammunition and thirst. A few days later, the survivors attempt to break through to their own. During the retreat, Salnikov is captured after shielding the commander, and Pluzhnikov miraculously escapes.

Life underground

The basement of the food warehouse where Mirra and the sergeant major were hiding was filled with earth during the first shelling. Cut off from the outside world, the men forced their way into the adjacent section and reunited with the lieutenant. Pluzhnikov found the weapons depot. He brought machine guns and boxes of ammunition to the shelter. Life underground became unbearable due to the dampness and constant hunger. Anna Petrovna came to the surface to look for her children and was immediately killed by a bullet. Pluzhnikov and the men regularly made combat sorties. During one such reconnaissance mission, Fedorchuk approached the Germans with his hands raised, clutching white gauze rags. Pluzhnikov killed the traitor with shots to the back. The quiet Red Army soldier Volkov went mad with fear. He escaped the dungeon with a meaningless children’s song on his lips and perished under fire from a patrol.

Later, the lieutenant captures a German worker mobilized into the security unit. The German, in tears, pulls photographs of his children from his pocket. Nikolai takes the prisoner upstairs to shoot him, but lets him go after failing to kill him. The next morning, the released German leads a squad of flamethrowers to the breach. A stream of flame bursts through the hole and burns Aunt Khristya alive. Stepan Matveyevich, suffering from gangrene, realizes his death is imminent. He takes bundles of grenades, climbs out of the dungeon, and throws himself from the shattered tower onto the fascist column marching below.

Love and separation

Nikolai and Mirra are left alone. Pluzhnikov continues to wage guerrilla warfare, foraging for provisions and killing patrolmen. During his raids, he observes German formations and one day witnesses the arrival of senior enemy leaders.

A strong feeling blossoms between the young people. Mirra, who had suffered all her life due to her disability, finds true happiness as a woman. Over time, the girl realizes she is expecting a child. Realizing the baby will die in the damp dungeon without proper food, she persuades the lieutenant to break up. She plans to go up and disappear among the captive workers the Germans are bringing to the fortress to clear the rubble.

They say goodbye in the dark basement of the White Palace. Pluzhnikov watches her from hiding. Mirra comes outside and begins laying bricks with the women. That evening, a guard notices a limping stranger and calls over a corporal. This corporal turns out to be the same prisoner Nikolai spared. The German recognizes the girl and, shouting "Jude! Bunker!", beats her with the butt of his rifle. The guards bayonet Mirra and bury her in a deep crater under bricks. Nikolai doesn’t witness the scene of the massacre.

The Last Defender

Left completely alone, Pluzhnikov loses track of time. He weakens from hunger and gradually goes blind, but continues his war. During a firefight, the lieutenant is wounded and narrowly escapes death by hiding in a pile of dry manure in the stable. In one of the rear compartments, Nikolai finds the paralyzed sergeant major Semishny. He fanatically encourages the lieutenant’s will to resist. Before dying, Semishny forces Nikolai to unbutton his quilted jacket. Hidden beneath the jacket is the regimental flag. Pluzhnikov kneels and vows never to surrender the flag to the enemy. After Semishny’s death, Nikolai wraps the flag around his body.

It’s April 1942. The lieutenant fires his last bullets. The Germans blockade his hideout. Violinist Ruvim Svitsky, wearing yellow ghetto stars, is brought to the dungeon for negotiations. The violinist descends into the darkness with a lantern and asks Nikolai to come out. Otherwise, the Germans will use flamethrowers and execute Ruvim. Pluzhnikov asks about Moscow’s fate. Upon learning of the Nazi defeat in the battle for the capital, Nikolai agrees to come out into the light.

Leaning on the violinist’s shoulder, a thin, gray-haired, completely blind man in decayed uniform emerges from the basement. Through an interpreter, the German general demands his rank and last name. Pluzhnikov replies, "I am a Russian soldier," and asks, "Well, General, do you now know how many steps there are in a Russian verst?" Nikolai refuses a stretcher and walks alone to the ambulance. The German soldiers and officers render him the highest military honors. The privates stand at attention, and the general places his hand on his cap. Pluzhnikov falls backwards next to the ambulance.

Decades later, an elderly woman comes to Brestsky Station every year on June 22nd. She approaches the memorial plaque to the station’s defenders. She spends a long time reading one name carved into the plaque: Nikolai.