Mieczysław Weinberg (born 8th December 1919) is a composer and the protégé of Dmitri Shostakovich, leader of the Humanists salon in Tomsk. He succeeds Shostakovich upon the latter's retirement and can go on to unify Russia.
Biography[]
Early-life[]
Mieczysław Weinberg was born on December 8, 1919 to a Jewish family in Warsaw. His father, Shmil Weinberg, a well-known conductor and composer of the Yiddish theater, moved to Warsaw from Kishinev (at that time a part of the Russian Empire) in 1916 and worked as a violinist and conductor for the Yiddish theatre Scala in Warsaw, where the future composer joined him as pianist at the age of 10 and later as a musical director of several performances. The family had already been the victim of antisemitic violence in Bessarabia – some members of his family were killed during the Kishinev pogrom. Little could that persuade Weinberg into not following his passion, and at the age of twelve, he entered the Warsaw Conservatory, studying the piano under Józef Turczyński, and graduated in 1939.
Composing career and World War II[]
During the beginning of his career, two works (his first string quartet and a berceuse for piano) were composed before he fled from his homeland of Poland to the Soviet Union at the outbreak of World War II. His parents and younger sister Esther, who remained behind, were interned at the Lodz ghetto and subsequently perished in the Trawniki concentration camp. It didn't stop there though, as the Third Reich wanted to expand eastwards towards the territories of the Soviet Union. Due to overall incompetence of the Soviet administration, as well as lack of solid industry that would prepare the Red Army against the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS, Weinberg was forced to watch again as the Germans took over the land he was in, forcing him to flee again.
Political career and Siberian War[]
He would not be seen again until he appeared as one of the politicians in the Central Siberian Republic, specifically the Humanist faction. During his time spent in the CSR, he met Dmitri Shostakovich, and became friends ever since as they shared vision of Russia free from poverty and slavery that the most of the world has unfortunately found themselves into. All this was not meant to last as Genrikh Yagoda, in his desperate attempt to secure the revolution from 1917, was able to launch a grand scale invasion on a new founded republic, beginning the Siberian War. Despite all the odds, they managed to fight off Yagoda, at the cost of certain regions of the republic seceding from it. This included Novosibirsk, the Siberian Black Army, Krasnoyarsk and Kemerovo.
Present-day[]
What characterizes the world in 1962 for Weinberg is not only vile tyranny that encompasses most of the globe, but rampant antisemitism from his new homeland, that Poland had suffered from. Seeing the suffering of not only his people, but everyone else who were deemed as a "lesser race" by the Third Reich, he is determined to fight for a world, free from injustice and demagogues. It is only a matter of time if their vision of a utopian society will live on, especially with the possibility of President Boris Pasternak dying from his failing health. One can wonder if he and Shostakovich will be able to implement their ideas in practice.
In-game[]
Weinberg can first run in Tomsk's second election, after succeeding Shostakovich as leader of the Humanists. Depending on what path the player chooses first, Weinberg will either finish the economic or military reforms, both of which give solid boosts, especially the military reforms. Of course, he will inevitably be at war with anyone by 1969 in the Far East, who does not practice any form of democratic ideology.
At the super-regional stage, Weinberg will expand his reforms onto the new conquered territories, with certain focuses, such as "Uprooting Dogmatic Marxism" being focused on removing Marxist Leninist ideology from the general population. At this stage, while being neutral towards the Japanese-led Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, he will in the near future join the Organization of Free Nations. Weinberg will also start, like the other Tomsk unifiers, his own plan, and that would involve building large metropolitan areas connected with railroads and highway infrastructure. Upon completion of this task, the player will receive a large boost to their party's popularity.
Generally speaking, as a democratic unifier, he can unify with any democratic warlord, with the exception of Pavel Batov's Sverdlovsk.
Quote upon unification[]
"The war brought great sorrow and made life very very hard. But it had been even harder before the war, because then everyone was alone in his sorrow."
—Dmitry Shostakovich
Trivia[]
Out of all the possible unifiers, ironically enough, Weinberg is one of the only warlords to actually be able to reform their military to the Spartan level of discipline, most likely due to the military buffs, that when combined with constant reforms of the military sector in the regional stage, can turn his military to the same level of discipline as Tukhachevsky's or Yazov's militaries.