Zinaida Reich
Encyclopedia
Zinaida Nikolayevna Reich (the last name also spelled Raikh or Raih; ; , Odessa
– 15 July 1939 Moscow
) was a Russia
n actress and became one of the main stars of the Meyerhold Theatre until it was closed under Joseph Stalin
. Reich married the poet Sergey Yesenin and had two children with him. After their divorce, she married the director Vsevolod Meyerhold
. She is believed to have been murdered by the NKVD
during the time of Great Purge
.
. Her mother was Anna Ivanovna Viktorova, a Russian noblewoman and niece of a notable Russian linguist and archaeologist, Alexey Viktorov (Викторов, Алексей Егорович). Her father was a russified German, Augustus Reich, who worked as a sailor
and a railroad engineer
. In order to marry Anna, Reich (originally Roman Catholic) accepted Orthodox Christianity
and was baptised as Nikolay Andreyevich Reich. Augustus Reich was an early social democrat
and had been twice politically exiled to the North of Russia prior to meeting Anna. As he continued his activity, during the Russian Revolution of 1905
, the family was exiled from Odessa to Bendery.
Zinaida Reich considered herself to be a hereditary proletarian. She studied in a gymnasium
in Bendery but was expelled for her political activities before completing the eighth (last) grade. She enrolled in the Kiev
Higher Education Courses for Women, and in 1913 she became a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
. In a year, she was arrested and spent two months in a prison. Her mother managed to arrange a certificate of secondary education for Reich so that she could continue her studies. Kiev would not allow her to study without a "certificate of political trustworthiness". Reich enrolled in Rayevsky Women Higher Education Courses in Saint Petersburg
.
She also worked as a technical editor for Delo Naroda (People's Cause), a newspaper of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. There she met the poet Sergey Yesenin, who at that time was influenced by the Party. Yesenin deserted the Russian Army in March 1917 following the February Revolution
and settled in Saint Petersburg.
and Russian North and got married in Kiriko-Ulitovskaya Church near Vologda
on 4 August 1917. After the wedding, the couple moved to Oryol
, where her parents lived. In September 1917 the couple returned to Saint Petersburg, where Reich worked for the People's Commissariat for Food (NarkomProd). In 1918 the People's Commissariat moved to Moscow
and so did the couple. As Zinaida was pregnant, she moved to be with her parents in Oryol while Yesenin continued his literature career in Moscow.
Reich returned to Moscow when their daughter Tatiana
was one year old, but she and Yesenin quarreled. In February 1920 Reich gave birth to their son Konstantin (Есенин, Константин Сергеевич), but the couple continued to live separately. At that time Reich lived in a shelter for mothers with infants. On 5 October 1921 Zinaida Reich and Sergey Yesenin officially divorced.
The story of the couple is known from the memoir Novel without Lies (1926) (Роман без вранья) written by Yesenin's close friend, room-mate and allegedly homosexual lover Anatoly Marienhof
. Marienhof described Reich as a "crummy Jewish dame with fleshy lips on a face round as a dinner-plate". He wrote that Yesenin allegedly was upset when he saw his black-haired son, Konstantin. "No Yesenin had ever been black-haired", he allegedly said. Reich had dark hair, which is genetically dominant over light hair. Historians have doubted that Marienhof's description of Reich is accurate. She was of German-Russian ancestry and Russian Orthodox by faith.
. Meyerhold was 20 years older than she; at the time he had been married for 25 years to his wife Olga and had three daughters with her. He ended up getting a divorce, and Reich and Meyerhold married in 1922.
Yesenin and Reich had a relationship after her second marriage. The poet often broke into the house of Meyerholds demanding to see his former wife and children. Reich and Yesenin met secretly in her friend's apartment. Their relations ended with the suicide
of Yesenin on 23 December 1925.
Not everyone accepted that a young actress with no experience had become the star of the famous theatre. According to Anatoly Marienhof, when Meyerhold had suggested that he would make Reich a great actress, Marienhof said he might as well invent electric lamps. Marienhof wrote that one needed no talent to become a famous actress – only Meyerhold as the husband and idiots as the public. The actor Igor Ilyinsky
was so upset that Reich received all the major roles that he left the Meyerhold Theater. Later, he revised his opinion of her acting talent and appreciated her.
. In the early 1930s, as Joseph Stalin
repressed all avant-garde
art and experimentation, the government declared Meyerhold's work as antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people. His theatre was closed down in January 1938. The ailing Constantin Stanislavski, then the director of an opera theatre (now known as Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre), invited Meyerhold to lead his company.
Stanislavski died in August 1938. Meyerhold directed his theatre for nearly a year until he was arrested in Leningrad on June 20, 1939. Twenty-five days later, his wife Zinaida Reich was found dying in their Moscow apartment on July 15, 1939. It was believed that two unknown assailants broke into Reich-Meyerhold apartment during the night of 14–15 July. They stabbed her 17 times, including through the eyes. Reich died from loss of blood the next morning. Her last words to her doctor were, "Leave me alone, I am dying." Reich had sent both her children out of the apartment that night, and nothing was taken from the apartment. Most historians believe that the murder was organized by the NKVD
.
Zinaida Reich was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery
near the grave of her first husband Sergey Yesenin. As Meyerhold was executed by the NKVD on 2 February 1940 after a confession from torture, the location of his remains is not known. Supporters erected a memorial to him at Reich's gravesite.
The Moscow apartment was divided into two: one unit was given to Vardo Maximashvili, an NKVD
officer and an alleged lover of Lavrenty Beria, the head of the NKVD. The other was given to Beria's personal chauffeur. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the whole apartment has been restored. It is now maintained and operated as the Meyerhold Museum.
Reich's daughter Tatyana Yesenina
(1918–92) became a notable writer. Her son Konstantin Yesenin (1920–86) became a journalist
and a prominent soccer statistician
.
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
– 15 July 1939 Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n actress and became one of the main stars of the Meyerhold Theatre until it was closed under Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. Reich married the poet Sergey Yesenin and had two children with him. After their divorce, she married the director Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
. She is believed to have been murdered by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
during the time of Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
.
Family and early years
Zinaida Nikolayevna Reich was born in the village Blizhniye Melnitsy near OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. Her mother was Anna Ivanovna Viktorova, a Russian noblewoman and niece of a notable Russian linguist and archaeologist, Alexey Viktorov (Викторов, Алексей Егорович). Her father was a russified German, Augustus Reich, who worked as a sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
and a railroad engineer
Railroad engineer
A railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
. In order to marry Anna, Reich (originally Roman Catholic) accepted Orthodox Christianity
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
and was baptised as Nikolay Andreyevich Reich. Augustus Reich was an early social democrat
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
and had been twice politically exiled to the North of Russia prior to meeting Anna. As he continued his activity, during the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, the family was exiled from Odessa to Bendery.
Zinaida Reich considered herself to be a hereditary proletarian. She studied in a gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Bendery but was expelled for her political activities before completing the eighth (last) grade. She enrolled in the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
Higher Education Courses for Women, and in 1913 she became a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
. In a year, she was arrested and spent two months in a prison. Her mother managed to arrange a certificate of secondary education for Reich so that she could continue her studies. Kiev would not allow her to study without a "certificate of political trustworthiness". Reich enrolled in Rayevsky Women Higher Education Courses in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
She also worked as a technical editor for Delo Naroda (People's Cause), a newspaper of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. There she met the poet Sergey Yesenin, who at that time was influenced by the Party. Yesenin deserted the Russian Army in March 1917 following the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
and settled in Saint Petersburg.
Marriage with Sergey Yesenin
In spring 1917 when Reich met Yesenin, he appeared as a semi-literate "peasant folk poet," but was becoming one of the greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century. The young people fell in love. They travelled to the White SeaWhite Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
and Russian North and got married in Kiriko-Ulitovskaya Church near Vologda
Vologda
Vologda is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River. The city is a major transport knot of the Northwest of Russia. Vologda is among the Russian cities possessing an especially valuable historical heritage...
on 4 August 1917. After the wedding, the couple moved to Oryol
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
, where her parents lived. In September 1917 the couple returned to Saint Petersburg, where Reich worked for the People's Commissariat for Food (NarkomProd). In 1918 the People's Commissariat moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and so did the couple. As Zinaida was pregnant, she moved to be with her parents in Oryol while Yesenin continued his literature career in Moscow.
Reich returned to Moscow when their daughter Tatiana
Tatyana Yesenina
Tatyana Sergeevna Yesenina May 29, 1918 - May 6, 1992, was a Russian writer and the daughter of Sergei Yesenin and his second wife Zinaida Raikh.-Biography:...
was one year old, but she and Yesenin quarreled. In February 1920 Reich gave birth to their son Konstantin (Есенин, Константин Сергеевич), but the couple continued to live separately. At that time Reich lived in a shelter for mothers with infants. On 5 October 1921 Zinaida Reich and Sergey Yesenin officially divorced.
The story of the couple is known from the memoir Novel without Lies (1926) (Роман без вранья) written by Yesenin's close friend, room-mate and allegedly homosexual lover Anatoly Marienhof
Anatoly Marienhof
Anatoly Borisovich Marienhof or Mariengof 1897 — 24 April 1962) was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright. He was one of the leading figures of Imaginism. Now he is mostly remembered for his memoirs that depict Russian literary life of the 1920s and his friendship with Sergei Yesenin.- Biography...
. Marienhof described Reich as a "crummy Jewish dame with fleshy lips on a face round as a dinner-plate". He wrote that Yesenin allegedly was upset when he saw his black-haired son, Konstantin. "No Yesenin had ever been black-haired", he allegedly said. Reich had dark hair, which is genetically dominant over light hair. Historians have doubted that Marienhof's description of Reich is accurate. She was of German-Russian ancestry and Russian Orthodox by faith.
Marriage to Meyerhold
Reich studied at the State Experimental Theatre Workshops, headed by famous theatrical director Vsevolod MeyerholdVsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
. Meyerhold was 20 years older than she; at the time he had been married for 25 years to his wife Olga and had three daughters with her. He ended up getting a divorce, and Reich and Meyerhold married in 1922.
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of Yesenin on 23 December 1925.
Star of Meyerhold Theater
Reich worked as an actress and was featured as a star of the Meyerhold Theatre from 1923 until her death in 1939. According to the theatre critic N. Volkov:"The works of Vsevolod Meyerhold of the 1920s and 1930s cannot be understood without Zinaida Reich... In all his productions, Meyerhold was building 'mise en scenes' to feature Zinaida Reich... If he was afraid that Zinaida would not manage her part, he would create beneficial 'mise en scenes' for her... Together with Meyerhold, Reich traveled his creative path: from experiments in biomechanicsMeyerhold took the family name Meyerhold-Reich as a sign of their partnership.BiomechanicsBiomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems, such as humans, animals, plants, organs, and cells. Perhaps one of the best definitions was provided by Herbert Hatze in 1974: "Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of...
to deeper psychologism".).
Not everyone accepted that a young actress with no experience had become the star of the famous theatre. According to Anatoly Marienhof, when Meyerhold had suggested that he would make Reich a great actress, Marienhof said he might as well invent electric lamps. Marienhof wrote that one needed no talent to become a famous actress – only Meyerhold as the husband and idiots as the public. The actor Igor Ilyinsky
Igor Ilyinsky
Igor Vladimirovich Ilyinsky was a famous Russian actor and notable silent film comedian.-Early years:Igor Ilyinsky was born on 24 July 1901 in Moscow.At the age of 16 he entered the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre Studio and in half a year already debuted on the professional stage in Kommisarzhevskaya...
was so upset that Reich received all the major roles that he left the Meyerhold Theater. Later, he revised his opinion of her acting talent and appreciated her.
Murder
Meyerhold was strongly opposed to socialist realismSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
. In the early 1930s, as Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
repressed all avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
art and experimentation, the government declared Meyerhold's work as antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people. His theatre was closed down in January 1938. The ailing Constantin Stanislavski, then the director of an opera theatre (now known as Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre), invited Meyerhold to lead his company.
Stanislavski died in August 1938. Meyerhold directed his theatre for nearly a year until he was arrested in Leningrad on June 20, 1939. Twenty-five days later, his wife Zinaida Reich was found dying in their Moscow apartment on July 15, 1939. It was believed that two unknown assailants broke into Reich-Meyerhold apartment during the night of 14–15 July. They stabbed her 17 times, including through the eyes. Reich died from loss of blood the next morning. Her last words to her doctor were, "Leave me alone, I am dying." Reich had sent both her children out of the apartment that night, and nothing was taken from the apartment. Most historians believe that the murder was organized by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
.
Zinaida Reich was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery
Vagankovo Cemetery
Vagan'kovskoye Cemetery , established in 1771, is located in the Krasnaya Presnya district of Moscow...
near the grave of her first husband Sergey Yesenin. As Meyerhold was executed by the NKVD on 2 February 1940 after a confession from torture, the location of his remains is not known. Supporters erected a memorial to him at Reich's gravesite.
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
officer and an alleged lover of Lavrenty Beria, the head of the NKVD. The other was given to Beria's personal chauffeur. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the whole apartment has been restored. It is now maintained and operated as the Meyerhold Museum.
Reich's daughter Tatyana Yesenina
Tatyana Yesenina
Tatyana Sergeevna Yesenina May 29, 1918 - May 6, 1992, was a Russian writer and the daughter of Sergei Yesenin and his second wife Zinaida Raikh.-Biography:...
(1918–92) became a notable writer. Her son Konstantin Yesenin (1920–86) became a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and a prominent soccer statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
.