A dish that is served cold: how Countess Yakovleva-Turner took revenge on the Bolsheviks for the shot groom
A dish that is served cold: how Countess Yakovleva-Turner took revenge on the Bolsheviks for the shot groom

Video: A dish that is served cold: how Countess Yakovleva-Turner took revenge on the Bolsheviks for the shot groom

Video: A dish that is served cold: how Countess Yakovleva-Turner took revenge on the Bolsheviks for the shot groom
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Armed patrol. Petrograd, February 1917
Armed patrol. Petrograd, February 1917

Hardly anyone could have assumed that the daughter of a privat-docent of Moscow University, a girl with an excellent education, a clever Irina Yakovleva will become a criminal. But in November 1917, at one of the railway stations, drunken Bolsheviks shot her fiancé in front of her eyes. Then they did not even suspect that with this murder they signed their own death warrant, carried out Countess Turner after 9 years.

Irina Yakovleva-Turner, who became a murderer because of revenge
Irina Yakovleva-Turner, who became a murderer because of revenge

In 1915, assistant professor, lawyer, homeowner Yakovlev died, leaving his wife and daughter such an inheritance that allowed them to live comfortably. Irina received a good education, spoke several languages, played the violin, went in for equestrian sports, easily solved logic puzzles and surprised everyone with her ability to remember such details that others did not pay attention to. And her existence could well have been as cloudless as that of other girls from good families, but then the year 1917 came.

Red Guard patrol
Red Guard patrol

At the beginning of 1917, Irina met a young lawyer Nikolai Arakelov, in the summer they got engaged. The lawyer became A. Kerensky's assistant in the Provisional Government. He sent him on an assignment to the central Russian provinces, and Irina decided to go with her fiancé. On the way back to Petrograd, in November 1917, they were detained by patrolmen who checked the passengers' documents. Arakelov was removed from the train, and at the railway station, the heavily drunk Bolsheviks shot the lawyer in front of Irina's eyes.

Patrol at Smolny
Patrol at Smolny

And then Yakovleva repeated the path of most emigrants of the first wave: flight to Odessa, from there to Constantinople, and then Berlin and Paris. In France, Irina met Count Franz Turner and married him in 1923. Together with her husband, she often attended official receptions. On one of them, the girl unexpectedly met a certain Sergeev, a technical officer of the Soviet diplomatic mission. In him Irina recognized one of the murderers of her fiancé. Obviously, then she had a plan for revenge.

Checking documents at the entrance to Smolny, November 1917
Checking documents at the entrance to Smolny, November 1917

Countess Turner could not destroy the offender at once - first it was necessary to find out from him the names of accomplices. Irene even became his mistress to get the information she needed. She once told him that she admires courageous and cruel heroes who can kill anyone. The flattered young man boasted that in 1917 he had shot a counter-revolutionary. Irina, allegedly out of curiosity, found out the details of this story, including the names and surnames of the other killers.

The shelling of the workers and city militia of police officers who remained faithful to the oath and resisted the 1917 rebels
The shelling of the workers and city militia of police officers who remained faithful to the oath and resisted the 1917 rebels

After that, she told her husband that she was going to Russia to look for hidden family jewels. Using a fake passport, she returned to her homeland, found the murderers and brutally avenged them. One of them, ironically the namesake of the murdered groom - Stepan Arakelov - became a Chekist chief, but after a stroke he was paralyzed. Irina came to him in a sanatorium near Moscow and, posing as a niece, treated her "uncle" to poisoned marshmallow. The doctors decided that the patient's heart could not stand the excessive excitement due to the meeting with a relative.

The bourgeoisie is serving labor service. 1918 g
The bourgeoisie is serving labor service. 1918 g

The girl invited two more - Tushkevich and Maltsev - for an interview at a restaurant, under the pretext of writing a book about the civil war. There, she poured poison into their glasses, and when they lost consciousness, she portrayed an acute attack of stomach pain and fainting - food poisoning sometimes happens in restaurants.

Presentation of the pass and inspection of the car at the entrance to the Tavricheskiy Palace. Petrograd, 1917
Presentation of the pass and inspection of the car at the entrance to the Tavricheskiy Palace. Petrograd, 1917

She left the country that night. Returning to Paris, Irene immediately went to Sergeev. After giving the man sleeping pills, she tied him up and, with a revolver in her hands, awaited his awakening. When her lover woke up, the girl confessed who she was. Fear Sergeev wet himself. He looked so pathetic that she didn't even kill him. After the countess left, the man freed himself from the ropes and ran out into the street. And again the irony of fate - there he was hit by a taxi.

Flying patrol for the protection of order. Petrograd, 1917
Flying patrol for the protection of order. Petrograd, 1917

Having learned about Sergeev's death from the newspapers, Irene went to a cafe, ordered a glass of wine and, having emptied it, put a bullet in her temple. In her purse they found a note: "I myself." Irene Turner-Yakovleva was only 26 years old. It became a matter of honor for her to avenge the events. in revolutionary Petrograd in 1917

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