Zinaida Reich: biography and personal life

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich is a theater actress who played so talentedly that she received the title of well-deserved. It is known that she was not only the wife of Vsevolod Meyerkhodd, but also the famous poet Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin met with Zinaida Reich and was even married to her.

Childhood

Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was born at the end of June 1894 in the Russian Empire. Her birthplace was the village of Near Mills, which is located in the Odessa region.

Her father, Nikolai Andreevich, was a railway engineer. It is known about his father that he was a native of Silesia and at birth received the name August Reich, which was of German origin, so in Russia he was forced to change it. The mother of the future famous actress was called Anna Ivanovna Viktorova.

Revolutionary views

Zinaida Reich, whose photo is in this article, adhered to the revolutionary views of her father. Nikolai Andreevich since 1897 was a member of the RSDPR and a Social Democrat. He actively participated in any revolutionary events, so in 1907 the whole family was expelled from Odessa.

They settled in Bendery and father got a joblocksmith in railway workshops. But neither the daughter nor the father changed their revolutionary views. Having hardly received a certificate of graduation from school, the future actress Zinaida Reich, a biography whose personal life is eventful, joins the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1913.

Education

It is known that after the family moved to Bender, Zinaida entered the women's gymnasium V. Gerasimenko, but after the eighth grade she was expelled due to her active participation in politics. The mother of the future actress hardly managed to persuade her to issue a certificate of education to her daughter.

After that, the future actress Zinaida Reich, whose biography, photo of which is in this article, entered the Higher Women's Courses in Kyiv. After that, Zinaida Nikolaevna leaves for Petrograd, and her parents went to live with her mother's older sister in Orel.

In Petrograd, Zinaida Reich, whose biography is full of events, entered the Higher Women's Historical, Literary and Law Courses of Raev. Among all the other subjects taught were foreign languages and sculpture lessons.

Meeting with Sergei Yesenin

The first meeting with the famous poet Sergei Yesenin took place after she graduated from the courses. At that time, she got a job working in the newspaper Delo Naroda, which was published by the Socialist-Revolutionaries. She was offered a job as a typist secretary.

When Sergei Yesenin met Zinaida Reich, she was barely twenty-three years old. A well-known poet in this newspaper, where Zinaida Nikolaevna worked, published hispoetry.

Wedding with Yesenin

Yesenin's wedding with Zinaida Reich took place at the end of July 1917. At that time, young people went to the homeland of a close friend of Yesenin. Alexey Ganin helped them get married in the ancient church of the village of Tolstikovo, Vologda district.

There were several witnesses from the side of the bride and groom. From Yesenin's side there were three peasants from different volosts. And from the side of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich there were two witnesses: a peasant from the Arkhangelsk volost and the son of a merchant Devyatkov. Priest Viktor Pevgov and psalmist Alexei Kratirov conducted the wedding.

To marry Sergei Yesenin, Zinaida Nikolaevna sent a telegram to her father asking him to send her a hundred rubles. The father immediately sent money to his daughter in Vologda. And the very next month, the young people arrived in Orel, where Zinaida Reich's parents lived, together with their friend Alexei Ganin, to modestly celebrate their wedding, and also introduce their husband to their parents and relatives.

But already in September, the young people returned to Petrograd, where for some time they lived separately, and at the beginning of the next year Yesenin left Petrograd.

Career

In August 1918, three months after giving birth, Zinaida Reich, whose photo is in this article, began working as an inspector at the People's Commissariat for Education. And exactly a month later she moved to work as the head of the theatrical and cinematographic section of the military commissariat of the city of Orel. From the first of June, for four months, inIn 1919, she served as the head of the subdepartment of arts in the department of public education in the city of Orel.

Interesting and tragic biography of Zinaida Reich

Zinaida Reich in the spring of 1918 arrived in Orel, where her parents lived, as she was soon to give birth to her first child. At the end of May, she gave birth to a daughter, Tatyana. She could not leave her father's house, as she needed help in caring for the child. But when Denikin's White Army left the city, and the girl grew up a little, Zinaida Nikolaevna moved to the capital.

Together with Sergei Yesenin, they live together for some time, but soon a break in relations followed again. And Zinaida and her daughter were forced to return to their parents' house again. But in order to somehow save her marriage, Zinaida makes another attempt and, leaving her daughter with her parents, returns to her husband. But this only led to another breakup.

But at the beginning of February 1920 in Moscow, Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich, a Russian actress, gave birth to a son, Konstantin. But immediately after the birth, the boy fell ill, and for his treatment, Zinaida Nikolaevna was forced to take him to Kislovodsk. The child was helped, but only after that she herself fell ill. Constant breakups with her husband, childbirth, and then the illness of her son led to the fact that she was placed in a clinic for the nervously ill.

In February 1921, Yesenin himself filed an application with the court, where he asked to divorce him from Zinaida Reich. In October of the same year, they were divorced.

Introducing Meyerhold

In the spring of 1921, Zinaida Nikolaevna again lived with her parents and taught in Orel, where her relatives lived, the history of theater and costume at special theater courses. Realizing that it is the theater that attracts and attracts her so much, the future actress Zinaida Reich, whose biography is full of events, enters the Higher Acting Courses and, having successfully passed the entrance exams, becomes a student.

Together with her, S. Yutkevich and S. Eisenstein also studied at the capital's directing courses. The acting workshop was directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold. Zinaida Nikolaevna had already known him since the days when she was free and worked in the People's Commissariat for Education. The relationship between acting teacher Meyerhold and student Reich ended in a wedding. In 1922, Zinaida Reich became the wife of her teacher.

In the summer of the same year, she and her husband took the children from their parents and moved them from Orel to Moscow. Zinaida Reich, the children and Meyerhold himself began to live in a house that was located on Novinsky Boulevard. The new husband of Zinaida Nikolaevna not only loved and cared for the children, but also adopted them. But at the same time, Vsevolod Emilievich was not at all opposed to Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin constantly visiting his children, visiting his apartment.

Soon Meyerhold insisted that the parents of Zinaida Nikolaevna also moved to the capital and settled with their daughter. This move helped the talented actress to devote more time to the theater and to realize herself on stage.

Theatrical career

ActressZinaida Reich, whose photo is in this article, made her first theater debut in mid-January 1924. Her first role was the role of Aksyusha in the play based on the play "Forest" by A. Ostrovsky, which was staged on the stage of the Meyerhold Theater.

After this performance, Zinaida Nikolaevna's theatrical career begins to flourish. So, in the thirties, she was not only the most famous and sought-after actress in the capital, but also the leading actress of the Meyerhold Theater. She appeared on the stage of this theater for thirteen years and played more than ten roles. But not only the talent of Zinaida Nikolaevna made her so famous, but also her husband, loving his wife, tried to do everything to ensure that she was the only star of his theater.

But it was really impossible not to love her. Many men fell in love with her. Zinaida was very beautiful, but her beauty was rare and refined. She was passionate and willful, but it was so beautifully combined with grace that she was simply beautiful. The brightness and efficiency of the whole appearance of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was given by her delicate facial features, which harmoniously combined with black eyes and dark hair.

This whole look was complemented by the fact that the talented actress Reich was tall and slender. Contemporaries recalled that Zinaida Nikolaevna was a very spectacular woman. The theatrical talent of the actress was also highly valued. In the play "D. E." Podgaetsky Zinaida Reich played the role of Sibylla. This performance was interesting from the point of view of the director's understanding. All the action took place in Europe, which was completelydestroyed and destroyed by the war. Only the world of Soviet Russia was alive, and the capitalist world was completely destroyed. This performance was created by Meyerhold himself based on the novel by Ehrenburg. Individual episodes in it were interconnected by characters.

In the comedy performance "Teacher Bubus" based on the play by Alexei Faiko, actress Reich plays Stefka. This performance was staged on the stage of the Meyerhold Theater in 1925, and at the same time Vsevolod Emilievich himself spoke about how it is necessary to stage music, citing "Teacher Bubus" as an example.

Zinaida Nikolaevna plays Varvara in the performance based on Nikolai Erdman's play Mandate. An everyday play about how the petty-bourgeois life of the heroes is being destroyed. In the performance based on Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Inspector General, actress Reich played the wife of a mayor. Anna Andreevna, performed by actress Reich, was very liked by the audience.

The main female role in the play "Woe from Wit" was also played by actress Zinaida Reich. In a theatrical production based on the play by Alexander Griboyedov, she played Sophia. In the performance based on the play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov "Thirty-three Fainting" Zinaida Reich plays Popova. An unusual comic performance was sure to be remembered by the viewer, and the talented actress gained popularity and success with the audience.

In 1931, the premiere of a theatrical production of the play by Yuri Karlovich Olesha took place. In the play "The List of Good Deeds" Zinaida Reich plays the main character. Elena Goncharova is also an actress, and she keeps a diary, where she daily enters both the crimes and the blessings of the revolution. Goncharova sees that a person ceases to be a value during the years of the revolution. AndElena Goncharova cannot accept the changes, but even in her former country her uniqueness was under threat. This split torments a young woman, and she writes about it in her diary.

So, in 1934, the dramatic play "The Lady with the Camellias" was also watched by Stalin. Actress Zinaida Reich played the main role in this performance. But the surprise for many, including the actress herself and her husband, was that Iosif Vissarionovich did not like the performance.

Instantly, theater critics attacked Vsevolod Meyerhold, who could even accuse him of being aesthetic. As a loving wife and an actress whose honor was offended, Zinaida Nikolaevna wrote a letter to Stalin, in which she accused him of not understanding art at all.

In 1938 Meyerhold's theater was closed, and Vsevolod Emilievich himself was arrested. On this, the theatrical career of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was over.

Death of Zinaida Reich

A talented actress, wife of Meyerhold and mother of the children of the famous poet Sergei Yesenin was brutally murdered. The murder of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich took place on the night of July 14-15, 1939. At that time, a talented theater actress lived on Bryusovsky Lane in Moscow. Unknown persons entered her apartment and inflicted seventeen stab wounds, and then fled. The actress died on the way to the hospital.

This murder happened exactly twenty-four days after her husband Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold was arrested. Initial chargein this murder, a friend of Vsevolod Emilievich was charged. It is known that Dmitry Golovin was not only a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, but also an Honored Artist of Russia. The investigation believed that his son, director Vitaly Golovin, helped him in the murder of Zinaida Nikolaevna. But the investigating authorities could not prove this. But soon the charges against Dmitry and Vitaly Golovin were dropped.

But still, the Supreme Court found the culprits. They turned out to be V. Varnakov, A. Kurnosov and A. Ogoltsev, who never knew either Zinaida Nikolaevna herself or her husband. They were shot, but the mystery of the death of a talented actress remains unsolved to this day.

Charming woman and talented actress Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow with her son Konstantin Yesenin. On this seventeenth site, there is also the grave of Sergei Yesenin.

The famous poetess Olga Berggolts in March 1941 in her diary wrote that Zinaida Reich was brutally murdered after her husband Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold was strangely and mysteriously arrested. And they buried Zinaida Nikolaevna quietly so that no one would know. According to her recollections, only one person walked behind the coffin. After the arrest of Meyerhold and the death of Zinaida Reich, her children were also evicted from their parents' apartment.