Reich Zinaida
On June 21, 1894, Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was born in Odessa - a talented theater actress, the wife of Sergei Yesenin and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Sergei Yesenin was a great poet. Vsevolod Meyerhold was a great director. Zinaida Reich is the prima of his theater. This is enough to get an idea of their place in Russian culture. There is another story - private, personal, hidden. It is she who determines actions and destinies: love for a woman becomes the personification of love for revolution (or passion for new forms in art). This story has its own coordinates: Zinaida Reich was the wife of Sergei Yesenin and the second wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold. Behind this - love and betrayal, broken destinies, madness, rebirth to a new life. And the great performances into which everything was transformed. How talented an actress she turned out to be is no longer important. Her extraordinary life was full of secrets, her terrible death shocked her contemporaries...
Zinaida Reich's parents met by chance on a train. The Russified German August Reich was born into a Lutheran family from Silesia. He worked as a mechanic, steamship and locomotive driver. In order to marry the Orthodox Christian Anna Ivanovna Viktorova, who came from impoverished nobles, Augustus had to accept her faith and become Nikolai Andreevich. In 1892 they married and began to live on the outskirts of Odessa, in an area known as Near Mills. Here their daughter Zinochka was born. She studied in Odessa, at a girls' gymnasium.
The father passed on to his daughter not only a German surname, but also a passion for books, clubs, finding her own path, and reading revolutionary literature. For his active membership in the RSDLP, Nikolai Reich was forced to leave Odessa for Bendery, his family moved with him. Drawn into a political struggle, the girl is expelled from the 8th grade of the gymnasium, but this does not stop her.
In 1913, Zinaida joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party, a year later she was arrested and spent two months in prison. Her mother managed to obtain a certificate of secondary education for her, but the document on political reliability was refused. Conducting active propaganda work, Zinaida soon moved to Petrograd, where she entered the historical and literary department of the S.G. Higher Women's Courses. Raevsky, takes sculpture lessons, studies foreign languages. Subsequently, she will note in the questionnaire: “I know German, French and Latin.” At the same time, he works as a technical secretary in the Socialist Revolutionary newspaper Delo Naroda and in the Society for the Distribution of Socialist Revolutionary Literature and Newspapers. It is there that she meets Sergei Yesenin.
In the spring of 1917, he visited the editorial office, but the person he needed was absent. Getting ready to leave, the poet drew attention to the gentle, classically impeccable beauty of the girl. Zinaida Nikolaevna was twenty-three years old. Yesenin approached her, sat down next to her and started talking. When the editorial employee he needed came and invited him, Sergei Alexandrovich, busy with a beautiful girl, waved it off: “Okay, I’d rather sit here.” The young people met often, but always addressed each other as “you” in public; the relationship was extremely restrained. During one of the meetings, he gave Zina his photograph with the inscription: “Because you appeared to me as an awkward girl on my way. Sergey". She also developed a passion for the aspiring poet.
In July 1917, Sergei Yesenin persuades Zinaida Reich to make a trip to the White Sea. They visited Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Solovki. On the trip, Yesenin proposed to Zinaida. It was decided to get married in Vologda. There was only enough money for wedding rings and the bride’s outfit. In such cases, a bouquet of narwhal wildflowers was placed. For Yesenin it was almost a game. But for Reich, love for her first husband turned out to be lifelong. Her pride always gave way to this fatal attachment.
At the end of August 1917, the newlyweds arrived in Orel to celebrate a modest wedding and meet Reich’s parents, who had moved to the Russian outback from Bendery at the invitation of their mother’s sister Zinaida. In September, the young couple returned to Petrograd, where they rented two rooms on Liteiny. Sergei joyfully boasted to every acquaintance: “I have a wife!” He wrote poems and read them to his wife. On the draft of the poem “Inonia” the dedication “Z.N.E.” appeared.
In 1918, the People's Commissariat for Food, where Reich got a job because Yesenin's fees were not enough to live on, moved to Moscow. The couple, who were expecting their first child, also went there. Having nowhere to live, Yesenin, passionate about publishing and bohemian adventures, became a burden with his pregnant wife. Soon Zinaida Nikolaevna went to give birth to her parents in Orel. And when she returned to show one-year-old Tanyusha to her father, Sergei Alexandrovich, in order to get both of them off the hook, asked his closest friend to lie to Reich, as if he had been seriously infatuated with another woman for a long time. The offended wife left Yesenin alone. And in February 1920 she gave birth to a son, Konstantin. The blond father was not too inclined to recognize the dark-haired heir, which drew a line under the final break.
Actually, the motives for Yesenin’s behavior are quite obvious. Most of all, he wanted fame and was, as they would say now, a first-class image maker. Even in St. Petersburg, he allowed himself to be taken to the houses of famous writers, like a fair bear, prudently dressed in red boots and an embroidered jacket, which he would never have worn in the village. It is characteristic that he did not want to transport his sisters to the city, so as not to “expose” his thoughtful village image. He was a mixture of a thirst for glory, the complexes of a peasant who had recently arrived in the city, and contempt for highbrows. He was going to leave them far behind, and for the time being hid under the mask of a village simpleton. Once, having become friendly with Chaliapin’s ugly, freckled daughter, the poet thoughtfully dropped: “But how great it would be: Yesenin and Chaliapin... Eh?.. Get married, or what?..”. He already understood that he was in a hurry with the marriage, and now he was trying on more resonant brands than Reich, capable of illuminating his, not yet very well-known, name with the rays of someone else's glory. First I tried on the name Chaliapin. Soon came the turn of such names as Isadora Duncan and Sophia Tolstaya.
For some time, Reich finds shelter in a mother and child home on Ostozhenka. It was a difficult period in her life - her children were sick, but Zinaida herself miraculously survived. At first there were some attempts to improve relations with my husband, but the past never returned. Zinaida Reich and her children moved to Orel and on October 5, 1921 received an official divorce from Sergei Yesenin.
But the strong-willed woman, even left alone with two children, did not lose heart, but found her way. Soon Zinaida Reich was back in Moscow, where she became a student at the State Experimental Theater Workshops, which were then headed by one of the most famous directors, Vsevolod Meyerhold. He was called the leader of “Theatrical October”.
There were always many talented young people next to him and Zinaida, constantly being in this sweet artistic world, soon completely “thawed out her soul” and reached out to meet people.
It is not difficult to guess that the young, beautiful and capable student immediately won the master’s heart. Meyerhold was 20 years older than her, and this circumstance immediately predetermined the special nature of their relationship. Zinaida Reich became the second - along with the stage - the meaning of his existence.
Soon Meyerhold not only marries Reich, but also adopts her children. He left the woman with whom he had lived his whole life. They met as children, got married while they were students, and his wife supported him through thick and thin - and they also had three daughters. But he acted in the spirit of his ideas about duty, responsibility and masculine action: he cut off his past life and even took a new surname: now his name was Meyerhold-Reich. They became one, and he had to create her anew - she had to become a great actress. And the love and directorial genius of the Master performed a miracle. But this has to do with the history of the theater, and not with the small, private history that took its course.
Vsevolod Emilievich passionately loved his young wife and was jealous of her all his life. After all, a scandalous poet appeared in her life again. The prodigal father appeared at the Meyerholds' house and could demand to see the children in the middle of the night. But this is not enough: Yesenin began to meet with Reich on the side...
Let us beware of condemning Zinaida Nikolaevna for these meetings. Being by nature an emotional person, she simply could not control herself in relation to Yesenin. It was a chronic disease like drug addiction. In his absence, the illness barely simmered, but with the appearance of the blond cherub, it flared up with unprecedented force. And then there was December 23, 1925: a night call, the desperate hysteria of Reich, who learned about Yesenin’s suicide, and the calm efforts of Meyerhold, who brought her water and wet towels. They went to the funeral together, Yesenin’s mother shouted to her at the coffin: “You are to blame!” Reich recovered from the shock for many years.
Let us venture to assume that she loved both of them, albeit in different ways. Yesenina - dark and obsessive. Meyerhold - clear, joyful and grateful. Coming from a rehearsal, she could announce to the whole house: “Meyerhold is a god!” And then immediately reprimand your deity for a minor everyday offense. She sought to free him from household chores so that the Master could devote himself entirely to creativity. He, in turn, trusted her aesthetic sense and often consulted on sketches for performances.
On stage Meyerhold was both God and Tsar, but in the house it was the other way around - Zinaida played the main role there. In 1928, Reich and Meyerhold moved to a cooperative house built by the famous architect Rerberg in Bryusovsky Lane, near Tverskaya. It was here that famous poets, writers, composers, artists, military leaders, academics and even stars of Western culture often came for friendly and intellectual conversations and parties. Andrei Bely, Ilya Erenburg, Boris Pasternak, Yuri Olesha, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Eisenstein, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Nikolai Vavilov - this list goes on and on. Meyerhold loved to surround himself with talented people, so an atmosphere of high spirituality and artistry always reigned in their apartment, which had a positive impact on the formation of the future actress Zinaida Reich.
She made her debut on stage as an actress, performing in the role of Aksyusha in Ostrovsky’s play “The Forest”. This event took place on January 19, 1924 at GosTIM on Triumfalnaya Square. Then other roles followed, among which one of the best was the mayor from The Inspector General.
When the Meyerhold Theater went on tour to Germany and France, the public and critics unanimously noted the stage charm and skill of Zinaida Reich, who soon became the leading actress in the theater, pushing into the background the other prima donna of the troupe, Maria Babanova. Reich was beautiful, noticeable, intelligent, active and ambitious and soon took a prominent position under Meyerhold, becoming the Master’s faithful assistant. Maria Babanova also loved Meyerhold, but silently, afraid to speak openly about her feelings. She couldn’t bear to see her happy rival every day, and on August 24, 1924, newspapers reported Maria Babanova’s departure from the Meyerhold Theater.
Zinaida Reich became the prima of the theater, but this did not suit everyone and caused a wave of criticism, and abusive reviews appeared. And Moscow gossips constantly gossiped about Reich’s outfits, discussing her “fabulously expensive toiletries,” and not only stage ones, but “life ones.” In fact, Zinaida Reich dressed very modestly and inexpensively, without resorting to the services of famous tailors. She simply knew her style well and carefully thought out her outfits, especially evening ones and for diplomatic receptions. And yet, critical arrows flew at Reich from all sides and, despite her brilliant performance, soon the bright streak for Vsevolod Meyerhold’s performances ends, clouds of misunderstanding hang over the theater, the Master begins to be accused of all mortal sins, demanding repentance and self-flagellation from him. Meyerhold, the only People's Artist of Russia, was not given the title of People's Artist of the USSR. Then he was removed from the management of the construction of a new building for his theater, and this was already a harbinger of great trouble. The family sensed her approach.
Meyerhold's main service to his wife was not that he defended her professional reputation. It’s not about adopting children and providing them with a sense of home. It’s not that he turned a helpless debutante into a good actress who experienced the audience’s ardent delight. The main thing was that he gave her many years of mental health, protecting her from the disease that overtook her in her youth and the relapses of which appeared only after a decade and a half - provoked by the newspaper persecution of Meyerhold and the closure of the theater.
At the age of 26, at the beginning of 21, Reich experienced a cascade of illnesses: typhoid fever, lupus, typhus. Then symptoms of brain poisoning with typhus poison appeared. Such intoxications usually lead to violent insanity (and Zinaida Nikolaevna had an alternation of several manias). Meyerhold knew that in order to heal, it was necessary to load Reich with interesting work and protect her from anxiety. This is what he did throughout his entire life together. It is to his credit that if Reich recalled the psychiatric hospital where she visited in her youth, then... with humor.
However, in the crazy 1937, after the ban on two performances prepared for the premiere, against the backdrop of the campaign against “formalism” unfolding in the press, when there was nothing left before the closure of the Meyerhold Theater in January 1938, Zinaida Nikolaevna’s psyche could not stand it.
The first attack of darkness occurred in St. Petersburg. She struggled and screamed that the food was poisoned; forbade her loved ones to stand against the window for fear of being shot; at night she jumped up screaming: “Now there will be an explosion”; half-dressed, she rushed out into the street with superhuman strength... The doctors did not know what to do, they advised putting her in a psychiatric hospital. But Meyerhold did not give it up, and he did the right thing. Sanity has returned. But Zinaida Nikolaevna had a little more than a year to live.
On January 7, 1938, Zinaida Reich appeared on stage for the last time in the role of Marguerite Gautier in the play “The Lady of the Camellias” and... burst into tears. Next - repressions, arrests, interrogations. On June 20, Vsevolod Meyerhold was arrested in Leningrad. The future enemy of the people was put in a special carriage and, after being examined for “pollution and lice,” he was sent to Moscow under heavy escort. A few days later the interrogations began. They walked day and night. Within a week, the investigators achieved very tangible results: Meyerhold was forced to write a handwritten statement to Beria himself: “I tried to undermine the foundations of academic theaters. I directed a particularly strong blow towards the Bolshoi Theater and the Moscow Art Theater, and this despite the fact that they were taken under the protection of Lenin himself...” On February 2, 1940, Meyerhold was shot. Perhaps his life ended so tragically because of her hysteria. After the Meyerhold Theater was closed, she wrote a letter to Stalin and shouted everywhere that her husbands were being persecuted: first they persecuted Yesenin, and now they were destroying Meyerhold.
After the arrest of her husband, Zinaida Reich was left alone - her daughter Tatyana and her one-year-old son lived at that time in a dacha in the Moscow region, and her son Konstantin went to Ryazan, the homeland of Sergei Yesenin.
The day before, Zinaida Nikolaevna was extremely excited and said that she had done a great stupidity by writing a letter to Stalin. On the night of July 15, 1939, she was brutally murdered by two unknown assailants in her own apartment. All things in the house remained intact. Zinaida Nikolaevna’s last words in the car were: “Don’t touch me, doctor, I’m dying.” On the way to the hospital, Reich died from loss of blood. She was stabbed eight times in the heart and one in the neck. The actress's funeral was more than modest. An order came from “from above” not to draw attention to them, and the artist Moskvin told the father of the deceased: “The public refuses to bury your daughter.” Reich rested in the Vagankovskoe cemetery.
That's all about the fate of Odessa resident Zinaida Reich - an unusual woman who had her own special female character; an unusual actress with “talking eyes” and an inimitable ability not to walk, but to “float” across the stage; fatal girlfriend of two great Masters.
Beloved woman, muse Sergei Yesenin And Vsevolod Meyerhold, the famous Moscow actress of the 20th century Zinaida Reich never intended to work in the theater and, even more so, did not dream of such great husbands as life gave her. She was born on July 3, 1894 in the family of a railway driver, a Russified German Nikolai Andreevich Reich, and the poor noblewoman Anna Ioanova. Having received secondary education in Kyiv, the girl went to Petrograd to study at the history and literature department of the Higher Women's Courses. Zinaida was always drawn to the revolutionary movement, and she quickly joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party, going to work as a secretary-typist in the editorial office of the newspaper Delo Naroda. In this publication, her first meeting took place with her future husband, the young poet Sergei Yesenin.
Zinaida Reich. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Zinaida Reich and the “robber of the curly fields”
Zinaida Reich's contemporaries claimed that she was a talented, intelligent woman and had some kind of magnetic force that attracted men. Many fell in love with her, but Yesenin’s friend was especially interested in the girl Alexey Ganin. The poet himself was caring for Mina Svirskaya, worked in the library during publication.
One day Ganin and Reich gathered in Solovki, Alexei’s homeland, and invited Sergei and Mina on a trip. However, Svirskaya was unable to go for family reasons, but during the trip Yesenin suddenly realized that he was madly in love with Zinaida and invited her to go ashore to get married. The girl first insulted the sensitive poet, saying that she needed to think, but then sent a short telegram to her father: “Come out a hundred, I’m getting married. Zinaida." With this money, the lovers bought wedding rings and consummated their marriage in a small church near Vologda.
The newlyweds settled in Petrograd on Liteiny. Zinaida tried to create all the conditions for Sergei’s creativity. At first, a calm family life was successful, the poet even talked himself out of cheerful bachelor drinking bouts. But the happiness was short-lived. Despite the fact that Yesenin himself boasted of “Don Juan victories,” he was terribly jealous and could not forgive his beloved that he was not the first man in her life.
Every year Yesenin’s fame grew, the poet acquired many fans and even more drinking companions. After drinking, he became unbearable and made terrible scandals for his wife: first he beat her, and then he lay down at her feet, begging for forgiveness. In 1917, Zinaida became pregnant and, closer to giving birth, went to her parents in Oryol.
The married couple had a girl, who was named after Sergei’s mother - Tatyana. After the birth of the child, the new peasant poet did not visit his wife, did not call or wait for her. Zinaida herself came to her husband with her one-year-old daughter. The three of them lived together for about a year, but a break soon followed.
In February 1920, in the Mother and Child House, the young wife gave birth to a son, Konstantin, whom Sergei did not even consider it necessary to meet. Their meeting happened by chance at the station, then he did not recognize his child, saying only: “Ugh! Black!.. Yesenins are not black...”
Zinaida Reich with children, Konstantin and Tatyana Yesenin. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Little Kostya became seriously ill immediately after birth, and Zinaida was forced to go with her son to Kislovodsk for treatment. The break with Yesenin and the poor health of the baby greatly affected the young woman; she ended up in a clinic for nervous patients. Upon returning to her parents, Zinaida was in for another shock: a telegram arrived in which Sergei asked for a divorce.
The marriage of Reich and Yesenin was dissolved in 1921, and in 1924, the “robber of the curly fields” dedicated the poignant lines of the poem “Letter to a Woman” to Zinaida, where he sincerely repented of his behavior:
Sergei Yesenin, 1922. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Forgive me...
I know: you are not the same -
Do you live
With a serious, intelligent husband;
That you don’t need our toil,
And I myself to you
Not needed one bit.
Muse of the theater
After the break with Yesenin, a different life awaited Zinaida: new love and professional success. The young woman moved away from revolutionary movements and became an actress. She entered the Higher Theater Workshop, where Vsevolod Meyerhold taught. The famous director fell desperately in love with a student, despite the fact that he was 20 years older, had a wife with whom he lived all his life, and three children. For the sake of Zinaida, Meyerhold abandoned his large family and adopted her children. Before the wedding, Vsevolod even asked Yesenin for permission to marry, who remained true to his character, answering: “Do me a favor. I will be grateful to the grave.”
Along with the stage, Zinaida became the meaning of existence for Meyerhold. The skillful director dreamed of making her the only star of the theater, but the woman in the troupe was not loved or recognized, and critics openly called her untalented. Soon, the great Maria Babanova and Erast Garin left the theater because of a quarrel with Zinaida - Reich became the first actress. And with time, a good actress: love and the director’s genius performed a miracle.
Sun. Meyerhold and the portrait of Z. Reich. Photo: public domain
As soon as Zinaida became popular, Yesenin realized who he had lost. His fatherly feelings also awoke in him. The poet demanded the opportunity to communicate with the children, but most importantly, the actress began secret meetings with her ex-husband. Meyerhold knew about these meetings, but endured it. Dating was stopped by the unexpected death of the great poet, which became a real blow for Zinaida. At Yesenin’s funeral, Reich lamented: “My sun is gone...”.
After the tragic death of the poet, the Meyerhold family lived for another thirteen quiet years. But their happy life was disrupted not by a stranger, but by the state. The great director turned out to be displeasing to the authorities: in 1938 the theater was closed, and then he himself was arrested. Zinaida considered everything that was happening to be a terrible mistake and wrote a letter to Stalin, where she tried to explain that Meyerhold was a brilliant director, and the addressee understood nothing about the theater. But her note only worsened the situation: in the summer of 1939, Reich herself was brutally murdered in her own apartment.
After Zinaida’s funeral, her children were evicted, and Beria’s mistress and his driver moved into their apartment. Six months later, Meyerhold was shot as a “spy for British and Japanese intelligence.” This finally ended the difficult love story of an extraordinary woman and two men who left a deep mark in the history of Russian culture.
The wife of Sergei Yesenin, the wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold and an actress in his theater. Inaida Reich was called a femme fatale who lived two different lives: in one - poverty and personal drama, in the other - prosperity, devoted love, professional success. And - a heartbreaking cry at the end of the curtain...
Zinaida was born in 1894 into the family of a Russified German, Nikolai Reich, and a poor noblewoman, Anna Viktorova. The daughter shared the beliefs of her father, one of the first Social Democrats, for which she paid with expulsion from the gymnasium.
In 1917 - the year of her meeting with Yesenin - she lived in Petrograd and served as a typist in the editorial office of the left-wing Socialist Revolutionary newspaper Delo Naroda, and was the chairman of the Society for the Distribution of Propaganda Literature. There was also an art library, where Sergei Yesenin often visited - the books were issued by the Socialist Revolutionary Mina Svirskaya, and everyone thought that Sergei sympathized with her. And Zina was already getting ready to marry his friend, the aspiring poet Alexei Ganin. Before the engagement, we decided to go together to Solovki and further north. My friend couldn’t, but Zinaida went.
The black-haired beauty looks great on the deck of a white ship. Ganin stepped aside, admiring the bride; he did not hear what Zinaida and Sergei were talking about:
- Zina, this is very serious. Understand, I love you... at first sight. Let's get married! Immediately! If you refuse, I will commit suicide... Soon the shore... the church... Make up your mind! Yes or no?!
-Yes...
On the way, Sergei picked wildflowers. Without remembering themselves, forgetting about Ganin, the young people got married in a small church near Vologda.
They returned to Petrograd, settled in an apartment on Liteiny and lived a completely normal family life - Yesenin even dissuaded himself from bachelor drinking bouts, saying that I love my wife, we, brother, are adults. And when the struggle for survival began - it was a troubled and hungry time - he began to mope... Closer to the birth, Zina went to her parents in Orel, and Sergei went to Moscow to join the imagist poets.
I didn’t visit my wife, didn’t call or wait for her. Then she took one-year-old Tanechka and came to his room on Bogoslovsky, where he lived with Mariengof. Sergei did not express any particular joy, but he reached out to his daughter with all his heart. Soon he told her to leave, saying that all feelings had passed, that he was quite happy with the life he was leading. Zinaida didn’t want to believe: “Do you love me, Sergun, I know that and I don’t want to know anything else...” And then Yesenin... involved Mariengof. He took me out into the corridor, gently hugged him by the shoulders, looked into his eyes:
- But here’s what... I can’t live with Zinaida... Tell her, Tolya (I beg you like you can’t ask anymore!), that I have another woman...
The next day Zinaida left. After some time, I realized that I was expecting a child, I thought, maybe this is for the best, the children will bond... I discussed the name with my husband on the phone - we agreed that if it was a boy, then we would call it Konstantin. And again no news...
A little over a year later, on her way to Kislovodsk with her son, she met Mariengof on the platform of the Rostov station. Having learned that Yesenin was walking somewhere nearby, she asked: “Tell Seryozha that I’m going to Kostya. He hasn’t seen him. Let him come in and take a look... If he doesn’t want to meet me, I can leave the compartment.” The poet reluctantly came in, looked at his son and said: “Ugh... Black... Yesenin is not black.” The poor woman turned to the window, her shoulders trembled, and Yesenin turned on his heels and walked out... with a light, dancing gait.
Very soon the unknown Oryol wife will be replaced by the popular American dancer Isadora Duncan. But the time is not so far away when Sergei Yesenin will be on duty near someone else’s house, dying of longing for his children, knocking on the door and plaintively asking to be let in for one minute, just to look... Have you fallen asleep? Let them be carried out... sleeping... he wants to see them. And Zina... his wife... the famous actress, wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold.
Meyerhold, by the way, had been eyeing Zinaida Reich for a long time. Once at one of the parties I asked Yesenin:
- You know, Seryozha, I’m in love with your wife... If we get married, won’t you be angry with me?
The poet playfully bowed at the director’s feet:
- Take her, do me a favor... I will be grateful to you to death.
And yet, Sergei did not appreciate his wife, she will prove to him what she is capable of... she will become an actress. And Zinaida entered directing courses.
In the fall of 1921, she came to the studio of 48-year-old Vsevolod Meyerhold, and he immediately offered her his hand and heart. Zinaida couldn’t make up her mind for a long time, saying she’s divorced, has two children, doesn’t trust anyone... to which the famous director simply and clearly replied: “I love you, Zinochka. And I’ll adopt the children.” Before this, Vsevolod lived for a quarter of a century with his first wife Olga, whom he had known since childhood, and had three daughters with her. His legal wife almost went crazy when she returned from a trip and saw Zinaida - what did he see in this gloomy woman, how dare he bring her to their house? And then she cursed them both in front of the image: “Lord, punish them!” She did it out of despair, but took on a terrible sin - she was left with nothing, and years later the death of Vsevolod and Zinaida was brutal, monstrous...
But that’s later, but now Meyerhold is happy, he didn’t even know it was possible to love so much... However, Yesenin was hurt by this: “He got into my family, pretended to be an unrecognized genius... He stole my wife...”
Reich seemed to the director to be the living embodiment of the elements, a destroyer and a creator, with whom one could make revolutionary theater. It doesn’t matter that many considered her a mediocre actress, but her husband idolized her and was ready to give her all the roles - both female and male. When the conversation came up about staging Hamlet and Meyerhold was asked who would play the main character, he replied: “Of course, Zinochka.” Then Okhlopkov said that he would play Ophelia, and even wrote a written application for this role, after which he flew out of the theater.
They said about Zina that she moved around the stage like a “cow”. Having heard the gossip, Vsevolod Emilievich fires the audience's favorite Maria Babanova from the theater - thin, flexible, with a crystal voice (she gets more clapping). Favorite student Erast Garin leaves the theater - Zinochka quarreled with him. Meyerhold specially comes up with such mise-en-scenes for her that there is no need to move - the action unfolds around the heroine.
Next to Meyerhold, Zina truly blossomed. She felt love and care. The husband even took her last name as his second name and signed it as Meyerhold-Reich. The parents moved from Orel to Moscow, the children have everything they need: the best doctors, teachers, expensive toys, separate rooms. Soon the family moved to a hundred-meter apartment. Zinaida is one of the first ladies of Moscow; she attends diplomatic and government receptions and receives the most eminent guests in her home.
After America, after the break with Isadora Duncan, after Zinaida became an actress of the most avant-garde theater, the beautiful and prosperous wife of a popular director, Yesenin fell in love with his ex-wife again...
Zinaida Reich secretly met with him in the room of her friend Zinaida Gaiman. But Gaiman didn’t tell her that Meyerhold knew everything, that one evening he looked disgustedly into the eyes of the pimp: “I know that you are helping Zinaida meet with Yesenin. Please stop this: if they get back together, she will be unhappy...” The friend hid her eyes, shrugged, saying that this was jealousy... fantasies of a fevered imagination...
And Sergei Yesenin suffered without children, was jealous and desired Zinaida, whose success in Moscow and St. Petersburg overshadowed the success of Isadora Duncan. But... on one of the dates, Reich told her ex-husband that “parallels do not cross,” that’s enough, that’s enough, she won’t leave Vsevolod. ...After the death of the poet, Reich gave Gaiman a photograph with the inscription: “To you, Zinushka, as a memory of the most important and most terrible thing in my life - about Sergei...”
Meyerhold had reason to worry. Zinaida couldn’t even control herself on stage. While playing the mayor, she pinched her daughter so much that she really screamed. At a reception in the Kremlin, she furiously attacked Kalinin himself: “Everyone knows that you are a womanizer!” She took any mocking glance in her direction with hostility, she could immediately throw a hysteria... Therefore, Meyerhold’s health worried Meyerhold more than the connection with Yesenin - after all, after America, he was also not himself, they say his epileptic attacks became more frequent...
...The Meyerholds were informed about Yesenin’s death by telephone. Zinaida, with a distorted face, rushed into the hallway:
- I'm going to see him!
- Zinochka, think...
- I'm going to see him!
- I'm going with you...
Vsevolod Emilievich supported Zina near Yesenin’s coffin when she shouted: “My fairy tale, where are you going?”, closed his back to his former mother-in-law when she said in public: “It’s all your fault!” Accompanied everywhere, did not take his eyes off - as long as there was no breakdown, as long as everything worked out...
In the 30s, the Meyerhold house was considered one of the most prosperous and hospitable in Moscow. They said that Zinaida again fed her with all sorts of goodies, and how good she is: a famous actress, a beautiful woman, her husband simply idolizes her.
The time came when there were only “enemies” all around. In 1938, articles about “Meyerholdism” appeared. This implied the director's secret passion for bourgeois art. Meyerhold was not given the title of People's Artist of the USSR, and the theater was closed. And the city had long been shaking at night from the sharp sound of approaching cars - endless arrests were being made. Vsevolod Emilievich became very gray and aged.
They had not touched him yet, but something else was depressing... In 1939, his wife’s illness worsened. Zina shouted through the window to the police guard that she loved Soviet power, that they had closed the theater in vain, then wrote a furious letter to Stalin. She threw herself at her children and husband, saying that she didn’t know them, let them go away. I had to tie her to the bed with ropes. But Meyerhold did not send his wife to an insane asylum: he spoon-fed her, washed her, talked to her, held her hand until she fell asleep. A few weeks later, she calmly woke up, looked at her hands and said in surprise: “What dirt, what dirt...” Zinaida returned to normal life again - her husband saved her again... But there were several weeks left before the tragic ending...
Meyerhold was taken in St. Petersburg. At the same time, a search was carried out in the Moscow apartment. Zinaida understands that the world has collapsed, that she will no longer see her husband - the only true and true friend of life - but does not yet know that there is a night ahead that will become fatal for her. From July 14 to July 15, 1939. ...The body of the actress with numerous stab wounds was found in the office, and in the corridor a housekeeper was lying with a broken head, hurrying to hear the cry of the mistress.
Vsevolod Meyerhold was shot as a “spy of British and Japanese intelligence”, kept in prison for several months and beaten beyond recognition. Where his body lies is still unknown, but fate wanted Yesenin, Reich and Meyerhold to be together in another life. Zinaida was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, not far from Yesenin’s grave. After some time, another inscription appeared on the Reich monument - Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold. Meyerhold's burial exists in the mass grave of the Donskoy Monastery. Cenotaph at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. Vsevolod's soul found its Love, and Zinaida's soul made its choice.
From an article by T. Shamankova.
« Zinaida Reich Since her school years, she has been distinguished by her penchant for rebellion.
After the eighth grade she was expelled “for political reasons” and already at the age of 19 she became a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. With difficulty, her parents “managed to obtain” a certificate of secondary education, after which Zinaida left for Petrograd, where she entered the Higher Women’s Courses, studied sculpture, and studied foreign languages. Then she worked as a secretary-typist in the editorial office of the Socialist Revolutionary newspaper Delo Naroda, where she met Sergei Yesenin, who was published there.
The wedding took place in the building of the Passage Hotel, but the first wedding night disappointed the poet. According to A. Mariengofa(“A novel without lies”), “Zinaida told him that he was her first. And she lied. Yesenin could never forgive her for this... “Why did you lie, you bastard?”..." Returning to Petrograd, they live separately for some time... The break with Yesenin and her son’s illness had a negative impact on her mental state. The treatment took place in a clinic for nervous patients.
The eccentric, or, more simply put, hysterical character, often so attractive to men, deteriorated even more after the divorce from Yesenin.
In the fall of 1921, Zinaida Reich became a student at the Higher Theater Workshops in Moscow, where she studied in the directing department, which was headed by V.E. Meyerhold.
And a year later she married the famous director.
During her marriage to Meyerhold, she suffered several acute attacks of hysterical disorder, which required her hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital.
In the theater, Reich also behaved like a complete hysteric: she commanded the troupe, weaved intrigues. If an actress played her role well and earned long applause from the audience, this was a firm guarantee that the director would soon fire her, so as not to cause his wife to have another fit of hysteria based on envy.
Meyerhold, who was 20 years older, endlessly indulged her ambitions.
In 1938, the theater was closed and Meyerhold was arrested.
Without him, Reich's artistic activity immediately ceased. And she wrote a letter Stalin, in which she reported that he was poorly versed in theater, that her husband was a genius, and frivolously invited the “Leader and Teacher” to her home to talk about this topic (More precisely, it was written 2
letters - Approx. I.L. Vikentyev).
After such a letter, her fate was decided.
On the night of July 15, 1939, Zinaida Reich was brutally murdered by unknown assailants who entered the apartment at night. The attackers stabbed her 17 times and fled.
The actress died on the way to the hospital.
The mystery of her death remains unsolved.
Since the main criterion for hysterical personality disorder is theatrical behavior and/or exaggerated expression of one’s feelings, it is not surprising that the vast majority of talented (and not so talented) actresses exhibit this mental disorder.
The presence of such a diagnosis in no way diminishes their glory and merit; Moreover, it is safe to assume that the hysterical personality structure helped the manifestation of artistic abilities.
There are different opinions regarding Reich's talent. But hardly such an outstanding director as Meyerhold, would have kept a completely mediocre actress in the lead roles.
However, a loving man is capable of great nonsense. Undoubtedly, Zinaida Reich’s hysterical personality disorder naturally determined her fate.”
Giatsintova S.V., Alone with memory, M., “Art”, 1989, p. 308.
Great love stories: Sergei Yesenin and Zinaida Reich
Sergei Yesenin's wife, Zinaida Reich, was called a femme fatale who lived two different lives: in one - poverty and personal drama, in the other - prosperity, devoted love, professional success. And - a heartbreaking cry at the end... Zinaida was born in 1894 into the family of a Russified German, Nikolai Reich, and a poor noblewoman, Anna Viktorova. The daughter shared the beliefs of her father, one of the first Social Democrats, for which she paid with expulsion from the gymnasium. In 1917 - the year of her meeting with Yesenin - she lived in Petrograd and served as a typist in the editorial office of the Left Socialist Revolutionary newspaper Delo Naroda.
She was also the chairman of the Society for the Distribution of Propaganda Literature. There was also an art library, where Sergei Yesenin often visited - the books were issued by the Socialist Revolutionary Mina Svirskaya, and everyone thought that Sergei sympathized with her. And Zina was already getting ready to marry his friend, the aspiring poet Alexei Ganin.
Before the engagement, we decided to go together to Solovki and further north. My friend couldn’t, but Zinaida went.
Alexey Ganin, Zinaida's supposed fiancé
Down the aisle like a fire....The black-haired beauty looks great on the deck of a white ship. Ganin stepped aside, admiring the bride; he did not hear what Zinaida and Sergei were talking about:
Zina, this is very serious. Understand, I love you... at first sight. Let's get married! Immediately! If you refuse, I will commit suicide... Soon the shore... the church... Make up your mind! Yes or no?!
On the way, Sergei picked wildflowers. Without remembering themselves, forgetting about Ganin, the young people got married in a small church near Vologda.
Sergei Yesenin and Zinaida Reich. They originally loved each other
...Now there could be no question of further travel. They returned to Petrograd, settled in an apartment on Liteiny and lived a completely normal family life - Yesenin even dissuaded himself from bachelor drinking bouts: they say, I love my wife, we, brother, are adults. And when the struggle for survival began - it was a troubled and hungry time - he began to mope... Closer to the birth, Zina went to her parents in Orel, and Sergei went to Moscow to join the imagist poets.
Yesenin and Reich
In the family feuds, the very point that haunted Yesenin also surfaced - after all, like a peasant, he could not forgive the fact that he was not the first to win the marriage doge. When I cried to my friend Anatoly Mariengof, my face was cramped, my eyes turned purple, my hands clenched into fists: “Why did you lie, you reptile?!” However, this did not stop him from boasting about the “Don Juan victories” of those years: “Not 400, but there were probably 40 already.”
Sergei Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof. They were very friendly then
Is this life? I didn’t visit my wife, didn’t call or wait for her. Then she took one-year-old Tanechka and came to his room on Bogoslovsky, where he lived with Mariengof. Sergei did not show much joy, but he reached out to his daughter with all his heart. But the child's darling felt something was wrong...
The “little girl” did not sit still, climbed onto the laps of her mother, nanny and strangers, but avoided her father. “And they resorted to cunning,” Mariengof wrote in his memoirs, “and to flattery, and to bribery, and to severity - all in vain.” Zinaida bit her lips so as not to cry, and Yesenin became very angry, deciding that this was her “intrigue.” Soon he told her to leave, saying that all feelings had passed, that he was quite happy with the life he was leading. Zinaida did not want to believe: “You love me, Sergun, I know that and I don’t want to know anything else...”.
Zinaida Reich with children from Sergei Yesenin
And then Yesenin... involved Mariengof. He took me out into the corridor, gently hugged him by the shoulders, looked into his eyes:
Do you love me, Anatoly? Are you really my friend or not?
What are you talking about!
But here’s what... I can’t live with Zinaida... Tell her, Tolya (I’m asking you like you can’t ask anymore!) that I have another woman.
What are you saying, Seryozha... How can you?
Are you a friend to me or not a friend?.. Her love is a noose to me... Tolyuk, dear, I’m like... I’ll walk along the boulevards to the Moscow River... and you say (she will certainly ask) that I’m with a woman.. .they say, I’m confused and deeply in love... Let me kiss you...
More - Zinaida Reich with children
He did not recognize his own son....The next day Zinaida left. After some time, I realized that I was expecting a child, I thought, maybe this is for the best, the children will bond... I discussed the name with my husband on the phone - we agreed that if it was a boy, then we would call it Konstantin. And again no news...
A little over a year later, on her way to Kislovodsk with her son, she met Mariengof on the platform of the Rostov station. Having learned that Yesenin was walking somewhere nearby, she asked: “Tell Seryozha that I’m going to Kostya. He didn't see him. Let him come in and have a look... If he doesn’t want to meet me, I can leave the compartment.”
The poet reluctantly came in, looked at his son and said: “Ugh... Black... Yesenins are not black.” The poor woman turned to the window, her shoulders trembled, and Yesenin turned on his heels and walked out... with a light, dancing gait.
Isadora Duncan. Yesenin fell madly in love with her
Very soon the unknown Oryol wife will be replaced by the popular American dancer Isadora Duncan. But the time is not so far away when Sergei Yesenin will be on duty near someone else’s house, dying of longing for his children, knocking on the door and plaintively asking to be let in for one minute, just to look... Have you fallen asleep? Let them be carried out... sleeping... he wants to see them.
And Zina... his wife... the famous actress, wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold. How will Zinaida behave? More on this later. In the meantime, let's return to Yesenin and Mariengof. Tatyana Yesenina writes in her memoirs that her father left her mother because of her growing closeness with Mariengof.
Sergei Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof
Sergey+Anatoly=? Indeed, a question mark. Both traveled with lectures throughout Russia, believing that they were creating new poetry - hence their partnership and a certain fanaticism. But it was noticeable that they did a lot of strange things.
In winter, the temperature in their room was below freezing, so they laid a mattress in the bathtub and slept together, throwing old books into the water pump to warm the water. This was their “promised bath.” Until the residents of the communal apartment kicked them out, everyone liked the idea, and everyone wanted to warm up. In the room they also slept together on the same bed, covering themselves with several blankets and fur coats.
Sergei Yesenin, Anatoly Mariengof, Velemir Khlebnikov
Then they came up with a game: on even days Mariengof, and on odd days Yesenin writhed on a cold sheet to warm it with his body. When one poetess asked Yesenin to help her get a job, he offered her a typist’s salary only for her to come to them at one in the morning for 15 minutes. The condition was this: they turn away, don’t look, and she undresses, warms the bed, then gets dressed and leaves. Three days later, the poetess could not stand it:
I do not intend to continue my service!
What's the matter?.. We religiously observed the conditions.
Exactly!.. But I didn’t hire myself to warm the sheets of the saints.
Friends had common money, ate and drank together, dressed alike, usually in white jackets, blue trousers and white canvas shoes, and wore the same hats. But Yesenin could not stand loneliness.
Anatoly Mariengof, Dmitry Shostakovich and Anna Nikritina
When Anatoly Mariengof became seriously interested in actress Anna Nikritina and once came at 10 am, Sergei raised his heavy red eyelids at him:
Yes. Drank. And every day I will... if you start hanging around at night... With whomever you want to dance there, but to spend the night at home.
Did they sleep “tightly hugged”? Who will admit this? Mariengof in “A Novel Without Lies” boasts that Sergei called him a “berry”, that he was so attached to him that he was jealous of women, or rather, suffered from a lack of attention to himself.
Were Sergei Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof more than attached to each other?
Anna Nikritina, Mariengof’s wife, was subsequently outraged by the writers’ assumptions about her friends’ bisexuality and completely rejected these speculations. And Nabokov... wrote in his later memoirs about Yesenin’s homosexuality arising from time to time and his sudden aversion to it, thereby explaining the reason for his drunkenness and cruel treatment of women.
Vladimir Nabokov suspected the poet of many bad things...
Many contemporaries knew about Yesenin’s habit of sharing a bed with men from his close circle, but no one stated unequivocally whether there was something more hidden behind this than overnight stays due to late gatherings. Perhaps the fact itself is also an image...
But the “dear friends” laughed at Zinaida in an unmanly way. Mariengof called her “a plump Jewish lady” with crooked legs, with “sensual lips on a face as round as a plate.” The poet Vadim Shershenevich joked: “Oh, how tired I am of looking at rickety legs!” But director Vsevolod Meyerhold believed that there is no woman more beautiful and slender than Zinaida Reich.
Anatoly Mariengof, Sergey Yesenin, Alexander Kusikov, Vadim Shershenevich. 1919
She will force herself to be respected. Meyerhold, by the way, had been eyeing Zinaida Reich for a long time. Once at one of the parties I asked Yesenin:
You know, Seryozha, I’m in love with your wife... If we get married, won’t you be angry with me?
The poet playfully bowed at the director’s feet:
Take her, do me a favor... I will be grateful to you to the grave.
Zinaida Reich and Vsevolod Meyerhold
Whether it’s long or short, life, terrible for its uncertainty and suffering, the loss of both revolutionary and family ideals, filled with humiliation and the hardships of everyday life, a complete lack of love and mercy, has reached the point beyond which either complete oblivion and collapse, or ... Something must happen, otherwise... it’s simply unbearable.
And yet, Sergei did not appreciate his wife, she will prove to him what she is capable of... She will become an actress. And Zinaida entered directing courses.
Yesenin, Reich, Meyerhold - the “semi-criminal” trinity
“...And I will adopt children.” In the fall of 1921, she came to the studio of 48-year-old Vsevolod Meyerhold, and he immediately offered her his hand and heart. Zinaida couldn’t make up her mind for a long time: they say, she’s divorced, she has two children, I don’t trust anyone... To which the famous director simply and clearly replied: “I love you, Zinochka. And I will adopt children.” Before this, Vsevolod lived for a quarter of a century with his first wife Olga, whom he had known since childhood, and had three daughters with her.
Olga Mikhailovna Munt, first wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold
His legal wife almost went crazy when she returned from a trip and saw Zinaida: what did he see in this gloomy woman, how dare he bring her into their house? And then she cursed them both in front of the image: “Lord, punish them!”
She did it out of despair, but took on a terrible sin - she was left with nothing, and years later the death of Vsevolod and Zinaida was brutal, monstrous... But that came later, and now Meyerhold is happy, he didn’t even know it was possible to love so much ... However, Yesenin was offended by this: “He got into my family, portrayed an unrecognized genius... He took my wife away...”.
Vsevolod Meyerhold and Zinaida Reich
All roles - Zinochka. Reich seemed to the director to be the living embodiment of the elements, a destroyer and a creator, with whom one could make revolutionary theater. It doesn’t matter that many considered her a mediocre actress, but her husband idolized her and was ready to give her all the roles - both female and male.
When the conversation came up about staging Hamlet and Meyerhold was asked who would play the main character, he replied: “Of course, Zinochka.” Then actor Nikolai Okhlopkov said that he would play Ophelia, and even wrote a written application for this role, after which he flew out of the theater.
They said about Zina that she moved around the stage like a “cow”.
Maria Babanova - former prima of the Meyerhold theater, who was replaced by Zinaida
Having heard the gossip, Vsevolod Emilievich fires the audience's favorite Maria Babanova from the theater - thin, flexible, with a crystal voice (she gets more clapping). His favorite student, actor Erast Garin, leaves the theater - Zinochka quarreled with him.
Scene from The Inspector General. Khlestakov - Erast Garin, Anna Andreevna - Zinaida Reich
Meyerhold specially comes up with such mise-en-scenes for her that there is no need to move - the action unfolds around the heroine. The light falls on her beautiful face and white shoulders, the audience watches sudden outbursts of frantic anger - this is something that the actress mastered to perfection.
Vsevolod Meyerhold with a portrait of Reich
Next to Meyerhold, Zina truly blossomed. She felt love and care. The husband even took her last name as his second name and signed it as Meyerhold-Reich. The parents moved from Orel to Moscow, the children have everything they need: the best doctors, teachers, expensive toys, separate rooms. Soon the family moved to a hundred-meter apartment. Zinaida is one of the first ladies of Moscow; she attends diplomatic and government receptions and receives the most eminent guests in her home.
Professional success. Immediately after the wedding, Vsevolod Emilievich asked Mariengof whether Zinaida would be a great actress, to which the “evil genius” replied, not without malice: “Why not the inventor of the light bulb!?” That is, no one believed in her success on stage, the actors hated her, critics wrote that “Zinaida Reich played the worst,” the imagists from Yesenin’s entourage gloated...
Zinaida Reich. They envied her beauty and success
But the love and talent of the great director created a miracle - Zinaida Reich became a great actress. She beautifully played Aksyusha (“The Forest” by Alexander Ostrovsky), Varka (“The Mandate” by Nikolai Erdman), Anna Andreevna (“The Inspector General” by Nikolai Gogol), the Phosphoric Woman (“The Bathhouse” by Vladimir Mayakovsky), Margarita (“The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas -son) etc.
The play “Lady with Camellias” was the last one played by Zinaida Reich on the stage of the Theater. Meyerhold on January 7, 1938. Having played the final scene - the death of Marguerite Gautier, the actress lost consciousness and was carried backstage in her arms. This was also facilitated by the fact that the Committee on Arts Affairs adopted a resolution to liquidate the theater...
Portrait of Zinaida Reich as Marguerite Gautier
It’s just that one day there was a spectator in the hall who not only appreciated the beauty of the French aristocratic court, but also “understood” the idea of the performance - the desire for a prosperous life, free from ideology and class prejudices.
It was Joseph Stalin. Meyerhold was accused of switching to petty bourgeoisism - in Soviet life there is no place for what Dumas the son talks about. And people flocked to the performance in droves, yearning for true human feelings. We went to Zinaida Reich. From the silence of the hall came sobbing and blowing noses. Critics noted that “there was an unusually elegant, sophisticated French beauty on stage.”
Zinaida Reich became a talented actress
She was torn between feeling and morality, between passion and morality. And even the beautiful Arman (actor Mikhail Tsarev) “was simple-minded” next to this “absolute femininity.” He lacked the natural relaxedness of a true aristocrat.
And only Meyerhold knew that he was right. Despite the harsh times, he had to stage Dumas in order to give Zinaida the opportunity to survive and release her former passion for Yesenin...
Zinaida Reich and Mikhail Tsarev played together
Secret dates. After America, after the break with Isadora Duncan, after Zinaida became an actress of the most avant-garde theater, the beautiful and prosperous wife of a popular director, Yesenin fell in love with his ex-wife again...
Zinaida Reich secretly met with him in the room of her friend Zinaida Gaiman. But Gaiman didn’t tell her that Meyerhold knew everything, that one evening he looked disgustedly into the eyes of the pimp: “I know that you are helping Zinaida meet with Yesenin. Please stop this: if they get back together, she will be unhappy...” The friend hid her eyes, shrugged, saying that it was jealousy, the fantasies of a fevered imagination...
Yesenin and Duncan
And Sergei Yesenin suffered without children, was jealous and desired Zinaida, whose success in Moscow and St. Petersburg overshadowed the success of Isadora Duncan. But... on one of the dates, Reich told her ex-husband that “parallels do not cross,” that’s enough, that’s enough, she won’t leave Vsevolod. Although some people slandered her pathological dependence on Yesenin, that if she called, she would run barefoot in winter. It was difficult to fight this addiction...
After the death of the poet, Reich gave Gaiman a photograph with the inscription: “To you, Zinushka, as a memory of the most important and most terrible thing in my life - about Sergei”...
Sergei Yesenin fell in love with his ex-wife again
The soul suffered in its own way. Meyerhold had reason to worry. Zinaida couldn’t even control herself on stage. While playing the mayor, she pinched her daughter so much that she really screamed. At a reception in the Kremlin, she furiously attacked Mikhail Kalinin himself: “Everyone knows that you are a womanizer!” She took any mocking glance in her direction with hostility, and could immediately throw a tantrum...
Therefore, Meyerhold was more concerned about his wife’s health than about his connection with Yesenin - after all, after America, he was also not himself, they say that his epileptic attacks became more frequent...
...The Meyerholds were informed about Yesenin’s death by telephone. Zinaida, with a distorted face, rushed into the hallway:
I'm going to him!
Zinochka, think...
I'm going to him!
I'm going with you...
Zinaida Reich and Vsevolod Meyerhold at the tomb of Sergei Yesenin
Vsevolod Emilievich supported Zina near Yesenin’s coffin when she shouted: “My fairy tale, where are you going?”, He turned his back on his former mother-in-law when she said in public: “It’s all your fault!” Accompanied everywhere, did not take his eyes off - as long as there was no breakdown, as long as everything worked out...
Zinaid Reich and Vsevolod Meyerhold survived. But not for long...
Before the storm. In the 30s, the Meyerhold house was considered one of the most prosperous and hospitable in Moscow. They said that Zinaida again fed her with all sorts of goodies, and how good she is: a famous actress, a beautiful woman, her husband simply idolizes her.
True, son Kostya made me worry a little - he organized a “Justice League” at school, wrote the “Charter”, “Program”, published the newspaper “Alliance” - so that there were no favorites, so that teachers deservedly gave grades, so that parents did not influence grades with their position children... In general, Meyerhold, with difficulty, but still defended his stepson, settled the “rebellion against the party”...
But the comrades from Lubyanka decided not to take risks and took note of the director...
Zinaida Reich reigned
Parallels do not cross. The time came when there were only “enemies” all around. In 1938, articles about “Meyerholdism” appeared. This implied the director's secret passion for bourgeois art. Meyerhold was not given the title of People's Artist of the USSR, and the theater was closed. And the city had long been shaking at night from the sharp sound of approaching cars - endless arrests were being made. Vsevolod Emilievich has turned very gray and aged...
They had not touched him yet, but something else was depressing... In 1939, his wife’s illness worsened. Zina shouted through the window to the police guard that she loved Soviet power, that they had closed the theater in vain, then wrote a furious letter to Stalin. She threw herself at her children and husband, saying that she didn’t know them, let them go away. I had to tie her to the bed with ropes. But Meyerhold did not send his wife to an insane asylum: he spoon-fed her, washed her, talked to her, held her hand until she fell asleep.
Vsevolod Meyerhold with Yesenin’s children Kostya and Tanya
A few weeks later, she calmly woke up, looked at her hands and said in surprise: “What dirt, what dirt...”. Zinaida returned to normal life again - her husband saved her again... But there were several weeks left before the tragic ending...
Meyerhold was taken in St. Petersburg. At the same time, a search was carried out in the Moscow apartment. Zinaida understands that the world has collapsed, that she will no longer see her husband - the only true and true friend of life - but does not yet know that the night ahead is ahead, which will become fatal for her - from July 14 to 15, 1939.
The body of the actress with numerous stab wounds was found in the office, and in the corridor a housekeeper was lying with a broken head, rushing to hear the mistress’s scream.
Meyerhold's burial in the mass grave of the Donskoy Monastery. Cenotaph at the Vagankovskoye cemetery
Vsevolod Meyerhold was shot as a “spy of British and Japanese intelligence”, kept in prison for several months and beaten beyond recognition. Where his body lies is still unknown, but fate wanted Yesenin, Reich and Meyerhold to be together in another life.
Zinaida was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, not far from Yesenin’s grave. After some time, another inscription appeared on the Reich monument - Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold.
Yesenin's grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery
Grave of Zinaida Reich
...The soul of Vsevolod found its Love, and the soul of Zinaida made its choice...
Tamara SHAMANKOVA, Privet.Ru
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