Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich is a theater artist 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 Andreyevich, was a railway engineer. It is known about his father that he came from 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. Since 1897, Nikolai Andreevich 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 Bender, and my father got a job as a mechanic in the railway workshops. But neither daughter nor father did not change their revolutionary views. Having hardly received a school graduation certificate, the future actress Zinaida Reich, a biography whose personal life is eventful, enters the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1913.
Education
It is known that after the family moved to Bender, Zinaida entered the girls’ gymnasium of V. Gerasimenko, but after the eighth grade she was expelled because of her active participation in politics. The mother of the future actress hardly managed to persuade her daughter to give a certificate of education.
After that, the future actress Zinaida Reich, a biography, the photo of which is in this article, entered the Higher Women's Courses in Kiev. After that, Zinaida Nikolaevna left for Petrograd, and her parents went to live with her mother’s elder sister in Orel.
In Petrograd, Zinaida Reich, whose biography is eventful, entered the Higher Women's Historical, Literary and Legal Courses of Raev. Among all the other subjects taught there were foreign languages and sculpture lessons.
Meeting with Sergey 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 in the newspaper “Delo Naroda”, which was published by the Social Revolutionaries. She was offered the job of secretary-typist.
When a meeting between Sergei Yesenin and Zinaida Reich, she was barely twenty-three years old. The famous poet in this newspaper, where Zinaida Nikolaevna worked, published his poetic works.
Wedding with Yesenin
Yesenin's wedding with Zinaida Reich took place at the end of July 1917. At that time, young people traveled 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 bride and groom. On the side of Yesenin 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 the merchant Devyatkov. The wedding was held by the priest Victor Pevgov and the psalmist Alexei Kratirov.
To marry Sergei Yesenin, Zinaida Nikolaevna sent a telegram to her father, where she asked to send her a hundred rubles. The father immediately sent his daughter's money to Vologda. And as early as next month, the young arrived in Orel, where Zinaida Reich's parents lived, together with their friend Alexei Ganin, to modestly celebrate their wedding, as well as to introduce their husband to their parents and relatives.
But already in September, the young returned to Petrograd, where for some time they lived separately, and at the beginning of next year Yesenin left their Petrograd.
Career
In August 1918, three months after the birth, Zinaida Reich, whose photo is in this article, began to work as an inspector of the People's Commissariat of Education. And exactly one month later she transferred to the work of the head of the theater and cinema section of the military commissariat of the city of Orel. From the first of June, for four months, in 1919, she acted as the head of the arts department in the public education department of the city of Orel.
An interesting and tragic biography of Zinaida Reich
Zinaida Reich arrived in Orel in the spring of 1918, where her parents lived, since she was soon to give birth to her first child. In late May, she gave birth to a daughter, Tatyana. She could not leave her father’s home, as she needed help in caring for her child. But when the White Army of Denikin left the city, and the girl grew up a bit, Zinaida Nikolaevna moved to the capital.
Together with Sergei Yesenin, they live together for some time, but soon a break in relations soon followed. And Zinaida with her daughter was forced to return again to her parental home. 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 in early 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. They helped the child, but only after that she got sick herself. Constant breaks with her husband, childbirth, and then the illness of her son led to the fact that she was placed in a clinic for nervous patients.
In February 1921, Yesenin himself filed an application with the court, where he asked to divorce him from Zinaida Reich. In October of that year, they were divorced.
Meet Meyerhold
In the spring of 1921, Zinaida Nikolaevna again lived with her parents and taught in Orel, where her relatives lived, the history of the theater and costume at special theater courses. Realizing that it is the theater that attracts and attracts her, the future actress Zinaida Reich, whose biography is eventful, 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 director's courses in the capital. Supervised the acting studio Vsevolod Meyerhold. Zinaida Nikolaevna already knew him from the time when she was free, and worked at the People's Commissariat for Education. The relationship of the acting teacher Meyerhold and student Reich ended in a wedding. In 1922, Zinaida Reich became the wife of her teacher.
In the summer of that year, she and her husband took the children from their parents and transported them from Orel to Moscow. Zinaida Reich, children and Meyerhold himself began to live in a house located on Novinsky Boulevard. The new husband of Zinaida Nikolaevna not only loved and cared for children, but also adopted them. But at the same time, Vsevolod Emilievich was not at all against the fact that Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin constantly visited his children, visiting his apartment.
Soon Meyerhold insisted that Zinaida Nikolaevna's parents also move to the capital and settle with their daughter. This move helped the talented actress give more time to the theater and realize herself on stage.
Theatrical career
Actress Zinaida Reich, whose photo is in this article, first debuted in the theater 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 at the Meyerhold Theater.
After this performance, the flowering of the theatrical career of Zinaida Nikolaevna begins. So, in the thirties, she was not only the most famous and sought-after actress of the capital, but also the leading actress of the Meyerhold Theater. She went 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 make her the only star of his theater.
But she really could not help but love. Many men fell in love with her. Zinaida was very beautiful, but her beauty was rare and sophisticated. She was passionate and wayward, but it combined so beautifully with grace that she was just beautiful. Brightness and effectiveness of the whole appearance of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich gave her delicate facial features, which harmoniously combined with black eyes and dark hair.
All this appearance 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 theater talent of the actress was also highly appreciated. In the play “D.E.” Podgaetsky Zinaida Reich played the role of Sibylla. This performance was interesting from the point of view of directorial understanding. All the action took place in Europe, which was completely destroyed and ruined by the war. Only the world of Soviet Russia was alive, and the capitalist was completely destroyed. This performance was created by Meyerhold himself based on the Ehrenburg novel. Separate episodes in it were interconnected by characters.
In the comedy performance “Teacher Bubus” based on the play by Alexei Fayko, actress Reich plays Stefka. This performance was staged on the stage of the Meyerhold Theater in 1925, and then Vsevolod Emilievich himself talked about how to make performances in music, citing "Teacher Bubus" as an example.
In the play based on the play “The Mandate” by Nikolai Erdman, Zinaida Nikolaevna plays Varvara. A household play about how the philistine life of heroes is destroyed. In the play based on the comedy of Nikolai Gogol "The Examiner", actress Reich played the wife of a city official. Anna Andreevna performed by actress Reich really liked the audience.
The main female role in the play "Woe from Wit" was also performed by actress Zinaida Reich. In a theatrical production based on the play of Alexander Griboedov, she played Sophia. In the play based on the play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov “Thirty-three swooning” Zinaida Reich plays Popova. The unusual comic performance was surely remembered by the viewer, and the talented actress gained popularity and success with the audience.
In 1931, the premiere of a theatrical production of a play by Yuri Karlovich Olesha took place. In the play “List of Benefits” Zinaida Reich plays the main character. Elena Goncharova is also an actress, and she keeps a diary, where she daily brings in both crimes and the good deeds of revolution. Goncharova sees that man ceases to be a value during the years of the revolution. And Elena Goncharova cannot accept the changes, but in the former country her uniqueness was in jeopardy. This bifurcation torments the young woman, and she writes about it in her diary.
So, in 1934, the dramatic performance “Lady with Camellias” was also watched by Stalin. Actress Zinaida Reich played a major role in this performance. But a surprise for many, including the actress herself and her husband, was that Joseph Vissarionovich did not like the performance.
Theatrical critics immediately fell upon Vsevolod Meyerhold, who even could accuse him of aesthetics. As a loving wife and actress, whose honor was hurt, 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 and the theatrical career of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was over.
The death of Zinaida Reich
A talented actress, the wife of Meyerhold and the mother of the children of the famous poet Sergei Yesenin, was brutally murdered. The murder of Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich occurred on the night of the fourteenth to the fifteenth of July 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 disappeared. The actress died on the way to the hospital.
This murder occurred exactly twenty-four days after her husband Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold was arrested. Initially, the charge of this murder was brought against a friend of Vsevolod Emilievich. It is known that Dmitry Golovin was not only a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, but also an honored artist of Russia. The investigation considered that the son, director Vitaly Golovin, helped him in the murder of Zinaida Nikolaevna. But the investigating authorities failed to prove this. But soon the charges against Dmitry and Vitaly Golovin were dropped.
But still, the Supreme Court found the perpetrators. 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 secret of the death of a talented actress to this day remains unsolved.
A charming woman and talented actress Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow with her son Konstantin Yesenin. On this seventeenth site is not far and the grave of Sergei Yesenin.
The famous poetess Olga Berggoltz wrote in her diary in March 1941 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 was walking behind the coffin. After the arrest of Meyerhold and the death of Zinaida Reich, her children were also evicted from their parental apartment.