''Kreger’s Revelation'' () is a short story by Victor Pelevin, published in 1991. __TOC__

Plot

The story, together with the stories ''" The Reconstructor"'', ''" Weapon of Retaliation"'' and ''" Music from the Pillar"'' constitute a kind of cycle of pseudo-historical stories by Pelevin devoted to

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

, agitation and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

during World War II. It is written in a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

pseudo-historical form. In the story the author makes an attempt to fictionalize history. Formally, this work - the official correspondence (the reader sees reports, memos, minutes, transcripts of tape recordings) between the Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler, the junior imperial magician Kreger, chief restructurer Wolf and other figures of the Third Reich. The reports, memos, protocols, transcripts of tape recordings are presented in the form of a mystical beginning, which guided the highest Nazi command made the most important decisions during the World War II. The story literally interprets the title of Lenin's work "Leo Tolstoy as a mirror of the Russian Revolution". At first, Kreger sees Leo Tolstoy in the

astral Astral may refer to: Concepts of the non-physical * Astral body, a subtle body posited by many religious philosophers * Astral journey (or ''astral trip''), the same as having an ''out-of-body experience'' * Astral plane (AKA astral world), a p ...

with a medical mirror on his forehead, then it turns out that a huge reflector was built in the Yasnaya Polyana area and Tolstoy's collected works were published with varying numbers of each volume to guide and focus the spiritual-mystical mirror. From the reconstruction of Leo Tolstoy's "mirror" (an allusion to the German organization of the Third Reich - Ahnenerbe), the conclusion that Italy must attack Abyssinia follows. In Pelevin's dreamed up mystical system of Molotov and Kaganovich, on the basis of which Soviet Russia is ruled, the sacred Russian text of Lenin, which the chief magician of the Third Reich deciphers and especially its title, is given great importance in Nazi Germany. Initially Stalin (presumably Serob Nalbandian replaced him during the war) and his entourage accepted the thesis of Kaganovich, who argued that this sacred phrase of Lenin should be understood literally. This attitude entails the following conclusion: by manipulating the mirror reflecting the

Russian revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

, it is possible to move its reflection to any other state, which will lead, according to the laws of sympathetic connection, to a similar revolution in the selected country. All of the "crazy" theories set forth in the official documentation are also, to avoid an unambiguous reading, discredited by Ernst's account of Kreger and Wolfe drinking with Soviet defectors for two weeks. The story ends with the fact that for his

heroism, the management of Anenerbe asks that Kreger be awarded the Knight's Cross of the first degree with oak leaves.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreger's Revelation 1991 short stories Short stories by Victor Pelevin Existentialist short stories