Video: The first Soviet yogi or ingenious swindler: Hypnosis of a chicken, action "Down with shame!" and other oddities of Vladimir Goltschmidt
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
A photo of a decently dressed man staring at a chicken with bulging eyes made netizens all over the world very amused a few years ago. The caption says that the photo is the first Soviet yogi. His name is also known, however, in history this man remained not as a researcher of eastern spiritual practices, but as a clever swindler who knows how to seize the moment and create an image literally from scratch (however, today half of the modern “stars” can boast of the same).
Researchers believe that the famous chicken photo was taken no later than 1923. During this period of his life, Vladimir Goltschmidt was special, very famous in the circles of the creative intelligentsia. He managed to create an image of an unusual, as they would say now, shocking person literally in a few years on the eve of the revolution. He constantly traveled and in every new city showed himself in all his glory - he walked the streets in the minimum clothing allowed for the weather (sometimes half naked), showered his hair with gold powder, and wore massive bracelets on his hands. In combination with a muscular figure and tall stature, he produced a stunning effect on ordinary people.
The "yogi" himself called himself the first "futurist of life", whatever that means, and was mainly engaged in educational activities - he gave lectures on obscure pseudo-scientific topics. Even the newspapers wrote that he was talking nonsense, but the interest of the listeners from this, perhaps, only increased. The lecture halls were overcrowded, and the strange preacher's fame grew. The global changes that took place in Russia did not affect Holtzschmidt's “work”. After the revolution, he somehow fit in well with the new ideology.
At his "speeches", the first Soviet yogi talked about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, urged everyone not to wear hats, even in cold weather, and to be tempered. He also read poetry, his own and others', lifted weights, bent horseshoes and iron rods, swallowed whole hot baked potatoes and smashed boards on his head, showing the capabilities of his heroic body. The audience was delighted.
In the spring of 1918, a new monument was discovered opposite the Bolshoi Theater. A small sculpture in the height of a man, as it turned out, depicts Holtzschmidt, and he put this creation for himself. The monument was demolished on the same day, but the "futurist" did not lose heart. True, for the next outrageous trick he was expelled from Moscow - the "yogi" held the action "Down with shame!", And within its framework he can also be considered the first Soviet nudist.
The fact that he was deprived of the opportunity to speak in the capital did not upset the adventurer either, he went to carry the light of the teachings throughout Russia. In the hinterland, the bodybuilder, yogi, and hypnotist continued to enjoy success, being invited to perform at private evenings and considered an "outcast." True, after concerts, jewelry sometimes disappeared from houses, but the “enlightener” was never caught by the hand. It is known that Holtzschmidt died in 1954 "in old age, illness and poverty."
Despite the obviously frivolous "teachings" and adventurous character, the "first Soviet yogi" managed to leave a mark on the culture of the 20th century. He was a member of one of the leading groups of Russian futurism and was closely acquainted with David Burliuk, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Velimir Khlebnikov, and then he also became the organizer and co-owner of the famous Moscow Poets Cafe. As a result, almost all famous writers, poets and artists knew the strange and eccentric lecturer, but they did not appreciate him highly.
Sergei Yesenin called Goltzschmidt's “creations” “verbalists”, and Ilya Ehrenburg made this strange person one of the characters in the novel “The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Students”. He described it like this:. Alexei Tolstoy repeatedly mentioned this strange man, but Goltzschmidt, like all futurists, disgusted him. However, he singled out the "first yogi" separately:
(A. Tolstoy, "Triumphant Art")
This is how the shocking adventurer managed to leave about himself, though not too good, but a trace in Russian literature. In addition to mentions on the pages of novels and articles, a lot of his photographs have survived to this day. Proud of his body, Holtzschmidt considered himself a bodybuilder and fashion model, and actively sold photographs after each performance. The famous picture with a chicken was really not a joke staging, but quite a serious experiment of the "enlightener". However, judging by the photo, the assistant "hypnotist" was impressed by his attempts much more than the experimental bird.
Another famous adventurer who is known as an impostor doctor, saved thousands of children's lives and changed the course of medical science
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