Yuri Levitan

Who was Yuri Levitan?

Yuri Borisovich Levitan was a Soviet radio announcer famous for his wartime reports of the battles, which usually began with "Attention, Moscow is speaking." His voice announced battlefield victories, air raid warnings, and the surrender of Germany to the Soviets on May 9, 1945. He also announced the first public acknowledgment of Stalin's death, and the first manned space flight. His voice was instantly recognizable by the Soviet public.

Levitan was Jewish and was born in Vladimir, his father Boris Levitan was a tailor, and his mother Maria was a housewife.

At the onset of the Second World War in Russia, Levitan was evacuated to Sverdlovsk in the autumn of 1941, because Muscovite radio stations were taken down in order to avoid German bombardment. At the time, he lived in a secret location, due to his importance as the nation's foremost radio personality. In March 1943, he was secretly transported to Kuibyshev, where the Soviet radio committee met.

After the war, he reported on events on Red Square, and state proclamations. Between 1978 and 1983, he announced the annual "Minute of Silence" to commemorate V-E Day in Russia. In 1980, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. He is buried in the famed Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.