Sniper Vasily Zaitsev: how a legend is created
The sniper Vasily Zaitsev, an icon of the Great Patriotic War, is sometimes considered a mere product of Soviet propaganda. Like anyone who successfully fought in the Stalingrad inferno, Zaitsev deserves respect and admiration. It was the politruks and propagandists who politically exploited his name and fighting prowess. Half-truths and outright fabrications about Vasily Zaitsev have taken on a life of their own, and individual authors of historical and fiction publications have taken them over and copied them from each other. The crown of all this was put on by Annaud's film "The Enemy at the Gates". The name Vasily Zaitsev has thus become synonymous with the term "Soviet sniper", although there were dozens of Soviet snipers with more successful hits during World War II.