Zigzags of life and the mystery of the death of Zinaida Reich, Yesenin's first wife

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

Zinaida Reich was the wife and muse of two prominent personalities of the early twentieth century. - poet Sergei Yesenin and directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, however, it is unfair to present her exclusively in the role of wife and muse. She was an independent figure - one of the most famous theater actresses in Moscow in the 1930s. Her fate has repeatedly made unexpected turns, and the mystery of death remains unsolved until now.

They said that she managed to live two different lives - in one she was a poor typist, a deceived wife and an unhappy single mother, in the other she lived in abundance, was a famous actress, adored by her husband and adored by fans. And it all ended in a bloody drama - eight knife wounds inflicted by unknown persons in her apartment were the cause of death, but did not become a reason to open a criminal case.

At 23, Zinaida Reich shared the views of the Social Democrats, served as a typist in the Left Socialist-Revolutionary newspaper, was chairman of the Society for the Distribution of Propaganda Literature, and was going to marry the poet Alexei Ganin. But unexpectedly for everyone and even for herself, she married someone else. During a boat trip, Ganin's friend Sergei Yesenin invited her to get off at the nearest pier and get married. They returned to Petrograd as husband and wife.

But family life very soon bored Yesenin. He began to drink often and was not at home for a long time. The marriage was not saved by the birth of a daughter and a son. Yesenin rarely saw the children, and did not recognize his son at all, saying that there could be no black-haired in their family. She went to her parents, and Yesenin went to Moscow.

Once Zinaida Reich was wandering around the city and saw an announcement that director V. Meyerhold was recruiting students for theater courses. So she became an actress and the wife of a famous director. He adopted her children and made the prima of his theater. They said different things about her talent - the director's wife rarely hears compliments in her address from other actresses. Nevertheless, she was recognized as gifted and charismatic. Among the admirers of her talent were B. Pasternak and A. Bely.

When she was already married and managed to become a fairly famous actress, Yesenin again appeared in her life, after the completion of the romance with Isadora Duncan. They began dating secretly. It was at this time, in 1924, that the poet wrote the famous "Letter to a woman" dedicated to Reich, in which there were the following lines: Forgive me … I know: you are not the same - you live with a serious, intelligent husband; You don't need me, And you don't need a drop myself. Live as the star leads you, Under the tabernacle of a renewed canopy. Greetings, you always remember your familiar Sergei Yesenin.

In 1925 the poet was found hanged. And in the 1930s. a series of arrests and executions began. This fate did not escape her husband. Meyerhold was arrested in 1939. Zinaida Reich, in her hearts, wrote a letter to Stalin stating that he did not understand theatrical art and that there was nothing to blame her husband for.

A month later, two unknown assailants attacked the actress at her home and brutally killed her. She was stabbed 8 times, but no one answered for this crime. In 1940 V. Meyerhold was shot as a spy of British and Japanese intelligence services. After Reich's funeral, Beria's mistress moved into their apartment. A death masks of great Russian writers still keep the terrible secrets of their death.