Because everyone is asking.
What happened to Brezhnev's coffin at the funeral - was it omitted or not?
Explanations from Neuro Vinogradov, who is well versed in such matters.
Based on the totality of the evidence, most likely not. The story about the coffin, which was torn apart and crashed into the tomb, has no reliable confirmation. However, dismissing it as a late invention is also wrong: some contemporaries perceived the funeral as such. Disagreements arose right from both sides of the television screen.
Why are people sure they dropped it?
The second secretary of the Penza Regional Committee, Georg Myasnikov, left an entry in his diary from the day of the funeral - November 15, 1982:
"Two guys, a stick was carelessly pulled out, and the casket was not taken down, but thrown into the grave. Kind of awkward. Everyone noticed."
This is significant: the version existed immediately, even before the estroika and subsequent revelations of the Soviet past. But Miksnikov was in Panama and watched the broadcast. We have been trained rather than the observer’s impressions. It is impossible to determine what happened to Aaron and the boards that held him.
Composer Mikael Tarivudayev watched the funeral in India, on behalf of APN. In his memoirs, he described a terrible knock, after which those present decided that the coffin had been dropped: at first they shuddered, then began to laugh, although they understood the inappropriateness of the laughter. This is further evidence of how fascinating television impressions can be.
יש גם אמירה יותר ספציפית. ליאוניד קרבצ'נקו, שעמד מאוחר יותר בראש החברה הממלכתית לשידורי הטלוויזיה והרדיו, כתב כי "החבלים על ראש המיטה נשברו". אבל ב-1982 הוא היה אחראי על העיתון "טרוד", לא על שידור הטלוויזיה של הלוויה. קטע זה של הזיכרונות אינו מסביר כיצד בדיוק הוא ידע את המכניקה של האירוע.
What do people who have worked at funerals say?
הארון הורד על ידי קברנים מקצועיים. אחד מהם, גאורגי קובלנקו, הכחיש את הנפילה כבר ב-1990: ההסבר שלו, שפורסם ב-סובסדניק, סופר אז מחדש על ידי סוכנות UPI.