Punishment without guilt: 10 Soviet celebrities who were undeservedly convicted

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The truth of the popular proverb that one cannot renounce prison and the bag is often confirmed. In the era of the USSR, one could get a prison sentence not only for real crimes, but also on trumped-up charges. Representatives of the intelligentsia, actors, scientists, and politicians were sent to camps. We propose to recall today those celebrities who served an undeserved sentence in prison or in camps.

Peter Velyaminov

The famous Soviet actor spent 9 years and 9 days in prison. Pyotr Velyaminov was not yet 17 years old when he was arrested on charges of belonging to the anti-Soviet organization Revival of Russia. Thirteen years earlier, the actor's father, Sergei Petrovich Velyaminov, who was a member of the high command of the Red Army, was arrested.

Already in the camp, Pyotr Sergeevich learned about the arrest of his mother and tried to commit suicide, but he was saved. The future actor was released in 1952, and rehabilitated only 32 years later, removing all charges against Pyotr Velyaminov.

READ ALSO: Peter Velyaminov and his Tatyana: A chance meeting that united two hearts for life >>

Olga Berggolts

The Soviet poetess, who would later be called the "blockade Madonna", also fell under the ice rink of political repression. She was arrested in December 1938, accused of having links with enemies of the people and conspiracy against Voroshilov and Zhdanov. The beatings and torture led to the fact that the poet, who was in the last stages of her pregnancy, gave birth to a dead child in prison. A year earlier, after being interrogated in the case where Olga Berggolts was a witness, she also lost her unborn baby.

The poet spent 171 days in a prison cell, but she categorically denied all accusations and did not testify against other defendants in the fabricated case of the Literary Group. After her release in July 1939, Olga Berggolts was fully rehabilitated. However, her health was completely undermined, and her soul was trampled.

READ ALSO: Muse of besieged Leningrad: the tragic fate of the poetess Olga Berggolts >>

Evgeniya Garkusha

Actress Evgenia Garkusha, wife of People's Commissar Pyotr Shirshov, was arrested in July 1946. A year and a half later, she was convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to eight years in the labor camps. The real reason for the arrest of the actress was a slap in the face, which Evgenia Alexandrovna responded to the indecent proposal of Lavrenty Beria. In August 1948, the actress committed suicide in a camp in the village of Omchak, Magadan Region. Evgeny Garkusha was rehabilitated in 1956.

READ ALSO: Fatal slap in the face of Beria: Why did the life of actress Evgenia Garkusha end at 33 >>

Maria Kapnist

The famous actress, who starred in 74 films, spent almost 17 years in the camps. The first time she was arrested in 1941, she was sentenced to eight years in the camps, accused of espionage. She served her sentence in Karlag, and then in Steplag. In 1950, she gave birth to a daughter, whose father was a Polish engineer Jan Volkonsky (later he was shot). Maria Kapnist, shortly after her release, was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years for alleged anti-Soviet agitation. The actress was released in 1956, and in 1958 she was completely rehabilitated.

READ ALSO: Blue blood: after going through the horrors of the camps and repressions, Countess Kapnist retained her self-esteem and faith in people >>

Georgy Zhzhonov

For the first time, the actor Georgy Zhzhonov was arrested in 1937, when the whole family was expelled from Leningrad to Kazakhstan after the arrest of the elder brother of the actor Boris. Georgy Zhzhonov refused to leave for exile, for which he was detained. However, he was saved from prison by the petition of Sergei Gerasimov. But already in 1938 Zhzhonov was arrested, taking advantage of the fact that during a trip to Komsomolsk-on-Amur on the set he met an American diplomat on the train. The consequence was an accusation of espionage and 5 years in the camps. Shortly before his release, he was given almost two more years, without any explanation of the reasons.

After his release in 1945, he remained at large for 4 years, after which he was exiled to Norilsk, where he served in the theater until 1953. Two years after Stalin's death, the actor was fully rehabilitated.

READ ALSO: Bad fate in the fate of Georgy Zhzhenov: Why the famous actor spent 17 years in the camps >>

Zoya Fedorova

The actress was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to 25 years in high security camps on charges of espionage. In this case, the whole family of the actress suffered: everyone was sentenced to exile, and the property was confiscated. The reason for the arrest was the affair of Zoya Fedorova with Jackson Tate, who held a diplomatic post. The daughter of the actress and American diplomat Victoria lived in exile with the actress's relatives.

Zoya Fedorova was released in 1955, Victoria left for the United States in 1975 for permanent residence. Zoya Fedorova was found murdered in her apartment in 1981.

READ ALSO: The mystery of the death of Zoya Fedorova: the Soviet actress survived in prison, but did not escape a shot in the back of the head >>

Maria Lisitsian

Today, Maria Lisitsian is called one of the founders of the Soviet school of rhythmic gymnastics, and in 1938 she was sentenced to eight years in prison camps without the right to correspond as the wife of a traitor to the motherland. Her husband Yevgeny Alibegov, a railroad electrification specialist, was shot on charges of sabotage. Maria Lisitsian spent two and a half years in total, first in Butyrka, then in a special camp for the wives of traitors to the motherland. The review of the case took place thanks to the petition of her uncle Stepan Lisitsian, a famous ethnographer and philologist.

Evdokia (Eda) Urusova

The star of the Yermolova Theater, the actress who played the mother-in-law of Kisa Vorobyaninov in Gaidaev's Twelve Chairs, was first arrested in 1938, accused of having links with the Nazis and sentenced to 10 years in the camps. The real reason would later be called the refusal of Eda Urusova to sign a denunciation against one of the actors of the Yermolova Theater. She was released ahead of schedule, but was arrested again in 1949 right on the stage of the Uglich Theater, where the actress served. She was rehabilitated in 1955. The parents of Eda Urusova, her husband Mikhail Unkovsky and sister Elena Raevskaya, died in the camps.

READ ALSO: The disgraced princess of Soviet theater and cinema: How Eda Urusova survived repression, prison and exile >>

Tatiana Okunevskaya

The famous Soviet actress was accused of anti-Soviet agitation and sentenced to 10 years in labor camps in 1948. The daughter of Tatyana Okunevskaya, Inga Sukhodrev, claims that the real reason was the mother's relationship with a foreigner, while she does not name the name of the person with whom the actress was in a relationship. In 1954, the actress was released and she was able to return to Moscow.

READ ALSO: Beauty and the monsters: the magnificent Tatiana Okunevskaya, before whom the "big leaders" could not resist >>

Valentina Tokarskaya

In the 1930s, the music hall actress Valentina Tokarskaya enjoyed incredible success. She was loved by the audience, admired by famous writers. When the war began, Valentina Tokarskaya was one of the first to go to the front line with concerts as part of the front-line brigades. The brigade with which the actress performed was captured and was forced to give concerts, including in front of Russian prisoners of war. The actress returned to her homeland in 1945 and was immediately sent into exile. At first she worked in the medical unit, then she was transferred to the Vorkuta camp theater. She was released in 1953.

“Do not exclude yourself from prison and money,” says popular wisdom. Indeed, fate sometimes brings not the most pleasant surprises, and even an innocent person may end up behind bars. Talented Russian writers are by no means an exception in this case, they were also arrested. At the same time, some even in dungeons managed to improve their literary skills.