Sergei Yesenin did not live in Angleterre. And he wasn't suicidal

I came to this conclusion St. Petersburg literary critic Viktor Kuznetsov after several years of working in secret archives. The subject of scientific interests of the historian of Russian literature Viktor Kuznetsov in previous years was the work of Alexei Koltsov and Ivan Nikitin, poets of the Narodnaya Volya and poets " silver age“... He devoted his dissertation to some, and journal publications and books to others.

In the case of Sergei Yesenin, the researcher’s attention focused not only on the features of the poet’s work, but also on the circumstances of his tragic fate. Moreover, the nature of the new work demanded from the literary critic the qualities of a meticulous and patient detective.

The result of Kuznetsov’s search in the archives of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other funds was a completely different version of the tragedy that took place 75 years ago at the Angleterre Hotel: Sergei Yesenin did not take his own life, but became a victim of a contract political murder. The scientist today introduces his hypothesis, which is based on previously unknown archival documents and facts understood in the context of that time, to the readers of The Privy Councilor.

The Tale of Angleterre

Regime object

Victor Ivanovich, let's start with a well-known event: at the end of December 1925, Yesenin comes from Moscow to Leningrad, stays at the Angleterre Hotel...

Alas, it is with this statement that the very myth about the last days of the poet’s life begins, in whose captivity we have all been for so many years. No matter how plausible the fact that Yesenin stopped at Angleterre may be, I decided to check it out and at the same time try to find out the details of his stay at the hotel. Who lived there in those days, worked there, served the rooms, was the commandant? It was embarrassing that none of the hotel guests or employees subsequently left behind memories of even a fleeting meeting with the popular and many-loved poet, who, according to the official version, had been living there since December 24.

There is no evidence of who Yesenin called in those December days, with whom he met until the evening of December 27 - after all, he had a lot of acquaintances in St. Petersburg, and he himself was considered a very sociable person. Did you really sit alone in your room on long winter evenings?

I found out that the city hotels in those years were controlled by the economic department of the GPU. He hoped to find lists of residents and work logs of the hotel in the FSB archives. However, I received an answer from this department that the archive of the economic department of that time mysteriously disappeared. The door, so to speak, slammed, and the key was thrown away somewhere...

But 1925 is, as you know, the time of the NEP era with its relative freedom of enterprise. This means that there must be some documents reflecting the income and taxation of citizens. And they were. Each resident of the country was then accompanied by the so-called “Form No. 1”, where people’s salaries, additional payments, various additional extras were recorded... Among other documents, this form required the compilation of control and financial audit lists of hotel residents twice a year with fairly extensive information about people.

Difficult and the hard way I found lists of Angleterre guests from the mid-20s and can today list about one hundred and fifty people who lived in the hotel at the end of December 1925, and about fifty employees of Angleterre, including the cleaning ladies. So, Yesenin’s name is not on these lists. In other words, he never lived in Angleterre! I was shocked when I discovered this.

- But Yesenin was a famous person, he could be accommodated in a hotel without the usual formalities, through connections...

Excluded. “Angleterre” at that time was a strictly sensitive facility, where security officers, party and Soviet officials of the district and provincial scale lived. It is no coincidence that on each floor there were so-called “duty rooms” with GPU employees who checked the documents of all guests.

False witnesses

Hotel room where Sergei Yesenin was killed

However, there are many memories... Some stayed in Yesenin’s room on the evening of the 27th, others the next morning took his body out of the noose and signed the poet’s suicide certificate...

Faced with one untruth, I became cautious in assessing every document, every person involved in this tragedy in one way or another. Well, let’s say, anyone in my place would be interested in the autopsy of Yesenin’s body. But it turned out that someone had prudently destroyed all the autopsy reports drawn up by Dr. G. Gilyarevsky before 1926.

However, the acts of the same Gilyarevsky of subsequent years have been preserved. I held them in my hands. He compared them with the death certificate of the poet, allegedly certified by the same Gilyarevsky. Completely different signature! Moreover, the style, standard, and numbering of this document absolutely do not correspond to the norms accepted at that time. It seems that the person simply had no idea how to do it. The report on the discovery of Yesenin’s body in the fifth room of the hotel, which was drawn up by the district warden Nikolai Gorbov, is also dubious.

Among the witnesses to this story were famous people- Wolf Erlich, Georgy Ustinov with his wife, Nikolai Klyuev, Pavel Medvedev, Ushakov... Their memories remain...

Let's figure it out. Nikolai Klyuev is Yesenin’s mentor at the early stage of his work, and later his “affectionate” opponent. The reasons for their divergence in the first years of Soviet power are not accidental: Klyuev in 1918-1919 was the secretary of the party organization, a propagandist of the merciless Red Terror, and in 1924 he was the first to publish a book about Lenin. This is far from the Klyuev we know from the 1930s.

Yesenin, in 1923, experienced a serious ideological shift, after which he completely moved away from his social romanticism and came closer to rejecting the February and October revolutions and Soviet power. In 1925 they were completely different people. In December of this year, Klyuev was in terrible poverty (his tearful request to the provincial authorities to be exempted from paying rent was preserved) and in complete dependence on the favor of the authorities. This can partly explain that he did not object when he found himself on Yesenin’s list of false guests. Did you lose heart under the pressure of difficult life circumstances? It is noteworthy that in the future he himself never mentioned that he was with Yesenin that evening. Accidentally?

Georgy Ustinov is a journalist and critic who allegedly lived in Angleterre in those days and looked after Yesenin. However, his name is also not on the list of hotel guests. His wife Elizaveta Alekseevna is not included in them either. I compared his original autograph with the signature on the police report on Yesenin’s death - nothing in common! The most amazing thing is that this “close friend of Yesenin,” as he is called in many sources, was not seen by anyone either during the farewell to the poet in the House of Writers, or at the farewell to his body at the station.

At all official biography Ustinova corresponds little to the facts. It is emphasized that he worked for the reputable newspapers Pravda and Izvestia, but his work in the Bundist newspaper Zvezda in Minsk is kept silent. It turns out that he was expelled from the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) for excessive drinking and loss of ties with the party, and spent his entire life trying to reinstate himself in it. His stellar years were associated with the period Civil War, along the fronts of which he accompanied the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council Leon Trotsky on the train, and then was the first to write a fiery brochure about him, “Tribune of the Revolution,” and carried out his very important personal assignments.

All this information about the key witness last days Yesenin’s life was carefully hidden from us for many decades - I collected them bit by bit from little-known publications, letters, funds. The “impeccability” of this person is also protected by the stamp of secrecy, which even today continues to accompany Georgy Ustinov’s “personal file” in one of the archives.
I managed to meet him, after which I had no doubts about the falsity and ordered nature of his memoirs, designed to falsify the true story of Yesenin’s death. I think that the inglorious end of this man, who never found a place in life, is not accidental - in 1932, his body was taken out of the noose in his own apartment.

A security officer in Russia is more than a poet

- “Poet, Yesenin’s friend in the last two years of his life.” Thus, the reference sections of Yesenin’s collected works recommend Wolf Ehrlich, one of the main figures of the tragedy. It was to him that Yesenin addressed the famous telegram dated December 7, 1925: “Immediately find two or three rooms. On the 20th I am moving to Leningrad. Telegraph.” How important was Erlich’s role in the poet’s fate?

The identity of this man was not entirely clear to me. young man, until I discovered that since 1920 (from the age of eighteen!) he had been a secret employee of the Cheka-GPU-NKVD and for this type of activity was directly subordinate to the famous security officer Ivan Leonov, in 1925 - deputy head of the Leningrad GPU.

Personally, it seems suspicious to me that almost the entire company of witnesses and witnesses who signed the documents on Yesenin’s death consists of acquaintances and friends of Wolf Ehrlich. Moreover, literary critic Pavel Medvedev, poets Ilya Sadofyev, Ivan Pribludny, journalist Lazar Berman and some others were also members of the GPU. Literature served as a very convenient screen for the informative activities of people of this type. Where is the line between their friendly, creative relationship and snitching? And what is the price of the memories they left behind?

Erlich’s voyage from Moscow to Leningrad on January 16, 1926, when within one day he bungled up a dubious certificate of Yesenin’s death, also raises questions. And he doesn’t take it from the registry office Central region, on whose territory Angleterre is located, and the Moscow-Narva region. Trifle? But not accidental: it was in this area that all the key administrative posts were then in the hands of the Trotskyists, with whose help it was easier to formalize required document. Erlich immediately returns to Moscow for the evening in memory of Yesenin...

The name of Erlich is also associated with the publication of Sergei Yesenin’s supposedly last poem, “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...”. According to him, on the evening of December 27, when saying goodbye, the poet put a piece of paper with poems in the pocket of Erlich’s jacket with a request to read them sometime later, when he was left alone. But Erlich “forgot” about these verses. I remembered only the next day, when Yesenin was no longer alive.

On December 29, the poem is published in the Leningrad “Krasnaya Gazeta”. Dated December 27th. But the original does not contain the date of its writing.

And another question: why did the original of this poem first appear only in February 1930? It was brought to the Pushkin House by a major political military official, later by the literary critic Georgy Gorbachev. There was an entry in the journal: “From Erlich.” But Erlich in 1930 was a small fry, an employee of the border guard of the GPU of Transcaucasia. And the “courier” Gorbachev is a prominent political commissar, a good friend of Trotsky. Isn't it strange? Something doesn't add up here...

After getting acquainted with the memoirs of Wolf Erlich, with his poems, I got the impression that by the nature of his creativity and by his nature he was very far from Yesenin, if not to say hostile to him. A harsh, angry, vengeful person is the complete opposite of the open, trusting, sentimental Yesenin.

I was literally discouraged by Ehrlich’s poem “The Pig,” written in 1929, which contains the following lines: “Understand, my friend, our poor age has lost the habit of celebrating your holy name days. Remember, friend, man was created not only for pork, but for execution.” They immediately recalled from my memory the silhouette of a pig’s head, drawn over the brown lines of Yesenin’s original “Goodbye...”. At first, this image was mistaken for a blot. But no, the pig’s snout with ears on that piece of paper is difficult to confuse with something else. What is behind this unexpected allegory, which received such an ominous poetic continuation? No, Wolf Erlich was very difficult in his relationship with the poet of the GPU sexton.

Thirteen criminal cases of Yesenin

The thought of a conspiracy involuntarily arises...
- I think this is close to the truth. But why then was there a need for a conspiracy? To distort and hide the true picture of what happened - the violent elimination of Yesenin, or, more simply, his murder...

-...And there were serious reasons for this?

Were. After all, Yesenin’s popularity was enormous. His lyric poetry was sharply different from the reinforced concrete verbal structures of that era and was a reproach to them. Against the background of Yesenin’s revelations, the poems of Kirillov, Poletaev, Kazin, Utkin and other adherents of algebraic international poetry faded. They were simply not accepted by the people. Yesenin did not fit into the cultural politics of his era and for this reason alone interfered with the Bolsheviks and was dangerous to them.

In addition, Yesenin, as an internally free and creatively independent person, did not really adhere to the various conventions established in the society of the proletarian dictatorship. This was manifested in his actions, which often turned into scandals, and in rather frank judgments on one issue or another.

Yesenin's killer Leiba Bronstein-Trotsky

Yesenin once said at a table in a Berlin restaurant that he would not go to Russia while the Jew Trotsky-Bronstein was ruling there, and a sexot happened to be nearby. Delivered where needed. The poet returned home with the mark of a nationalist. And also a brawler, a drunkard, a polygamist... How much trouble such an uncontrollable but popular personality caused the authorities!

- And a reason was found...

It lay on the surface - since the fall of 1925 Yesenin was on trial. In September, when he and his wife were returning from Baku to Moscow, he had a conflict on the train with a Moscow party official and a diplomatic courier. Through their efforts, the poet was detained at the Moscow station, interrogated, and soon a court case was initiated against Yesenin - already the thirteenth in a row. In an attempt to avoid trial, he goes to the psychiatric clinic of Moscow University (“crazy people are not tried”) under the tutelage of his fellow countryman, Professor Gannushkin. It was there that the “mental patient” Yesenin wrote his masterpiece “You are my fallen maple, frozen maple...” and other beautiful lyrical poems.

The People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky then stood up for the poet, who did not want any fuss about this case in the foreign press. However, someone more omnipotent rejected the People's Commissar's petition - the most obvious figure here could be Trotsky.

Defector

- And then Yesenin decides to escape to Leningrad...

But, of course, not from the court - where can you get away from bailiffs and “authorities”? - and not for permanent residence. He wanted to escape from the Soviet Union. On February 7, 1923, on his way from Europe to America, he wrote a letter to Berlin to his friend, the poet Alexander Kusikov, in which he directly stated his rejection of Soviet power, February and October, adding that “he would at least run away to Africa.”

A month before his death, on November 27, Yesenin writes from a psychiatric clinic to his friend Pyotr Chagin: “...I’ll get rid of (the scandals), settle things, send everyone... and probably go abroad. Even the dead lions there are more beautiful than our living medical dogs.”

The escape route could have been Great Britain, or, according to other assumptions, the Baltic states. The seriousness of his intentions is also evidenced by a short trip to Leningrad in early November 1925 - did he build bridges? Someone gave away his mood, it is possible that Ustinov - on that visit he hovered next to the poet, they drank together.

Poet and killers

So, let’s return to the obvious once again: on December 24, 1925, the defendant Sergei Yesenin arrives from Moscow to Leningrad...

He is immediately arrested, taken to a pre-trial detention center, interrogated, beaten to death, his body is secretly transferred to the fifth room of Angleterre, where the sacrilege known to us is carried out with the “voluntary departure of the poet from life.” Need I say that the perpetrators were unlikely to decide on such an action without having permission from above? The option of discovering the corpse of someone allegedly killed in a “tavern fight” would also look dubious. In this case, Stalin could get to the bottom of the truth and receive significant incriminating evidence against the Leningrad opposition, with which in those days he was sorting things out at the XIV Congress of the RCP (b).

In fact, you have built a contract killing scheme. In the language of our days, this begs the question: who could have ordered this murder, who was entrusted with the functions of the killer?

I think that I am already closer to the answer to the first part of the question: the order to arrest the poet, most likely, Leon Trotsky could have given. He had reasons for this, he had the authority to do so, and he had loyal people. There is no direct evidence, and probably there cannot be: all instructions were given to devoted people verbally and unofficially.

As for the direct perpetrator of the murder, the most suitable figure here could, of course, be famous Jewish terrorist Yakov Blumkin, Trotsky’s faithful squire, his personal assistant for many years. According to the recollections of Yesenin’s Tiflis friend, writer and journalist Nikolai Verzhbitsky, Blumkin may have had personal scores with Yesenin: he once in Baku in 1924 threatened the poet and even pointed a gun at him. Some saw Blumkin in Angleterre in those December days. But today I cannot point to him as Yesenin’s killer with one hundred percent certainty - there is not enough material. The protocols of interrogations of Blumkin before his execution in 1929 could clarify the truth. But I was unable to obtain these documents.

Perpetrator of the murder Blyumkin

At the end of 1925, the commandant of Angleterre was the security officer Vasily Nazarov. A drinker, he relaxed and in the afternoon on Sunday, December 27th, in the evening he blew his nose and went to bed. Late in the evening (and not in the morning, according to the official version!) the janitor called the apartment: they were calling to the hotel, to room five. Nazarov, not yet sober, left, and returned in the morning - tired, gloomy and silent. This is not my reconstruction of events, but a true story by the widow of the commandant Antonina Lvovna, which I wrote down personally. I managed to meet her shortly before her death in 1995. Despite her advanced age, she retained a clear memory - I checked the details of her memories from documents. Her husband was not verbose with her: he hanged himself, they say, a poet, they made it out... But if he really hanged himself, then, probably, there would be something to tell?

Together with Vasily Nazarov, several writers who collaborated with the GPU put their signatures as witnesses that night on the documents - Pavel Medvedev, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Froman. The false report on the discovery of Yesenin’s body in the hotel was drawn up by local police officer Nikolai Gorbov, who was trained in the active-secret department of the criminal investigation department. His high-ranking superiors were the head of the provincial police, Gerasim Egorov, and the head of the UGRO, Leonid Petrzhak. Both were arrested in 1929 as Trotskyists and major financial swindlers. Subsequently, Nikolai Gorbov, having served time in prison on a fabricated case, wrote a statement to the party organization (was it not out of resentment?), In which he pointed out the “ugly actions” of these people, as well as another high-ranking official - the deputy head of the Leningrad GPU Ivan mentioned here Leonova. There is a belief that it was he, as the executor of Trotsky’s will, who became the main organizer of this action, who distributed bloody responsibilities among his trusted subordinates. And Gorbov, having relieved his soul in 1931 with his statement to the party organization, disappeared a year later without a trace.

Archival secrets

Viktor Ivanovich, you often have to make a reservation: “there are not enough facts”, “there is no direct evidence.” Was everything really so meticulously thought out that there were no obvious traces left?

The perpetrators of this dirty deed, of course, made some mistakes, especially at the stage of covering their tracks. I will add such a detail as the alleged presence of a bath in the fifth, “Yesenin” hotel room, which was noted by some of the false memoirs. I was not lazy and found an inventory of things and furnishings in Angleterre. There was no bath in that room. A trifle, it would seem... But, as you know, it is the details that usually let liars down.

Sergei Yesenin, killed by Jewish security officers

As a result of hasty negligence, newspaper publications on Yesenin’s death are also noteworthy: the forensic examination report was not yet ready, and the newspapers had already reported that the poet had hanged himself. Did the journalists write it themselves? With the strict censorship of that time, which even controlled wall newspapers, this was impossible without a sanction from above. And those at the top did not need the results of the examination.
And how many fabricated documents with false signatures I held in my hands! And this despite the fact that the GPU had a special graphological department, where high level various kinds of fake documents were drawn up. No, I wouldn’t talk about the error-free, carefully thought-out work of these “backpack masters.” I have no doubt that not all of the poet’s contemporaries believed the hasty official myth about his suicide. On December 30, Boris Lavrenev wrote a bold and daring article in Krasnaya Gazeta entitled “Executed by degenerates.” A famous writer and supporter of the revolution, he managed to say his word of honor - perhaps due to someone’s oversight. But later he never returned to this topic. However, everyone else was silent. People had something to fear in those days.

But, of course, we can get closer to the truth in this sad story. Especially when our archives, first of all those of the FSB, are opened long ago. What state secrets can today constitute funds of documents reflecting inner life countries of the 20s - 30s?! After all, Yesenin’s tragedy is already 93 years old, and we still cannot get close to its characters only because they all served in the “authorities.” But such events are also part of our history. And without historical truth there can be no artistic truth.

Note: In the 1990s, a number of Soviet-era documents that had previously been classified as “top secret” began to be made public, but, upon realizing it, the authorities again blocked access to them. Apparently, many secrets of the USSR will remain inaccessible. In 1938, the management of all archival affairs came under the jurisdiction of the NKVD of the USSR, which classified a huge amount of information, numbering tens of thousands of files. Since 1946, the powers of this department were received by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and since 1995 - by the FSB of Russia. Since 2016, all archives have been reassigned directly to the President of Russia.

Some researchers are confident that the NKVD files will never be declassified in full. In March 2014, the interdepartmental Commission for the Protection of State Secrets extended the secrecy period for documents of the Cheka-KGB for the years 1917-1991 for the next 30 years

On the morning of December 28, 1925, Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was found hanged in his Angeleterre hotel room. Soon the investigation ruled the incident a suicide. However, there are many circumstances in Yesenin’s death that allow us to question this version. So what is it: murder or suicide? Let's look at all the theories and versions mysterious death national poet.

It's no secret that the poet for a long time suffered from alcoholism. This illness forced him, shortly before his death, to agree to treatment at the psychiatric clinic of the 1st Moscow State University. Yesenin’s treatment ended a week before his death, and three days after his discharge, the poet went to Leningrad, where he stayed at the Angeler Hotel. Friends of the author also claimed that he was deeply depressed, and scholars of his work say that there were more than 100 references to death in the last two years of his work. It is prolonged depression that is the reason for the poet’s suicide.

The day before the tragic events, his friend Wolf Elrich came to visit the poet. Yesenin complained to him that there was no ink in the hotel and gave him a poem written in his own blood, and then asked him to read it only when Elrich was left alone. It was the now famous poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...”. It can well be considered as the poet's suicide note. By the way, Yesenin’s friends noted that he often wrote in blood when there was no ink at hand. This was part of his shocking presentation, because the author would be a big fan of making an effect on the public.

And here is other evidence of this version:

• According to the results of the autopsy, the poet died precisely from oxygen starvation, that is, from the effect of suffocation.
• Before his death, he asked his receptionist not to allow anyone into his room. This is probably so that no one will stop him from killing himself.

But, in addition to signs of suffocation, numerous abrasions, cuts on the wrists and a dent on the forehead, which could only have been formed by a blow, were found on the body. Cuts on the wrists may be the first and unsuccessful attempt at suicide or the result of there being no ink in the room. But where did the rest of the damage come from? To find the answer, let's turn to the version of Yesenin's death.

Version 2. Murder

However, there are a number of oddities that indicate that official version may be wrong. The suicide was easy to stage, because neither cameras nor a fingerprint identification system existed then.

1. Firstly, Yesenin simply physically could not hang himself. He was quite short - his height was 168 centimeters, while the ceilings in his room reached a height of almost 4 meters. To tie the rope, the man had to substitute an object at least two meters high, but nothing similar was found nearby. The only things that were out of place were an overturned candelabra and a small cabinet.
2. Secondly, we are, of course, interested in the previously mentioned abrasions, cuts and dent on the forehead. Where did they come from on the poet’s body? There are two versions about the occurrence of the cuts, which were also mentioned earlier: either Yesenin made the cuts to write a poem, or it was his first and unsuccessful suicide attempt. But if the second version is true, then the poet would have to tie a rope and move objects with bleeding hands, which is very difficult to imagine, and besides, traces of blood would remain on the floor and on the furniture of the room. The beatings and dents on the forehead had to be inflicted by another person; Yesenin could not have inflicted them on himself. Then who did it? Unfortunately, the investigation never answered this question.
3. Thirdly, the poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...”, which is considered to be Yesenin’s suicide note, most likely has nothing to do with the poet’s death. Sergei Alexandrovich's mother claims that the poem was written months before the tragedy and dedicated to Yesenin's friend Alexei Ganin, who was sentenced to death.

Today it is quite difficult to reconstruct the picture of what happened and find the possible culprit. This is largely the fault of investigator Nikolai Gorbov, who was the first to arrive at the scene and incorrectly drew up the report: he did not describe important elements pictures of the crime. But if it was not suicide, then who killed Yesenin?

Yesenin did not suit the Soviet government in many ways. Nikolai Bukharin, a member of the party's Central Committee who then had considerable power, repeatedly spoke unflatteringly about him. Possible reason The government's revenge could be the poem "Land of Scoundrels", which contains an allusion to Leon Trotsky. Even then, politicians realized that the peasants were only “fellow travelers” of the party; village riots shook the entire country during the famine years.

Everyone knows that at that time total control was exercised over all spheres of the country’s life, and this did not bypass culture. The Soviet government tried to avoid counter-revolution by any means. But it is impossible to execute a national poet, people will not understand, because Yesenin was known to everyone. And the direction of his work did not outwardly contradict the interests of the party.

Indirect evidence can be considered that Yesenin was posthumously awarded the label of “kulak poet.” Propaganda attacked the author's memory with the frenzy of a hungry wolf. His poems began to be published in limited editions, this once again indicates that Yesenin had a very difficult relationship with the authorities.

Version 2.2. The poet was killed by Georgy Ustinov

There is another version. It was suggested by Dana Kurskaya (poet and literary critic). She claims that it was not just an imitation of suicide, but also an unprofessional imitation.

Yesenin had a difficult year: he realized that Sofya Tolstaya was not his woman, he was completely disillusioned with the ideas of imagism, and was in a psychiatric hospital. However, he still recovered from alcoholism.

On the evening of December 27, Yesenin called his friends: Wolf Ehrlich (to whom he gave the poem) and Elizaveta and Georgy Ustinov. They argued for a long time whether Sergei could drink, but then they brought a couple of bottles of wine.

At night, Yesenin knocked on the Ustinovs’ room, but Elizaveta answered that they were sleeping, and the poet left. But this is known only from the words of the Ustinov spouses themselves. Afterwards, the hotel commandant admitted that he heard only one sound: something heavy, like a cabinet, fell. In 1925, Georgy Ustinov began to drink a lot, while Yesenin himself stopped drinking. Found in the room empty bottles from wine, but upon autopsy it turned out that Sergei Alexandrovich hardly drank that evening. According to Dana Kurskaya, something angered George, and in a drunken stupor he attacked Yesenin. After realizing what he had done, he imitated the poet’s suicide, and his wife covered him up.

1. There are classified materials in the Yesenin case that should have become public knowledge, since most state secrets have a statute of limitations, after which they are declassified. 70 years have long passed - this is the period established by law. But so far, none of these materials have left the secret archive, and interested people just shrug their shoulders and wait.
2. Many poets of the Silver Age died a violent death, and in all cases the political situation in the country can be called an indirect reason for their decision. V. Mayakovsky shot himself, M. Tsvetaeva hanged herself, O. Mandelstam died in the camps, N. Gumilev was shot, etc.

Conclusion

It is not possible to find out what happened to Yesenin. What is known for certain is that the national poet Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin died in 1925 at the age of 30. He was buried on December 31, 1925 in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

A little later, at the poet’s grave, Galina Benislavskaya, who for many years was good friend Yesenina. But she was not the only one who yearned for the poet. His death was mourned by the entire nation. Perhaps all these theories were born precisely because many could not come to terms with Yesenin’s too early death. But we can only honor his memory and love his work.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Content

In one of the rooms of the Leningrad hotel Angleterre on the morning of December 28, 1925, the corpse of the proletarian poet Sergei Yesenin was discovered. Then the print media unanimously supported the version of suicide and named the reason - prolonged depression. Over time, a new version appeared: The cause of Sergei Yesenin's death was called a staged suicide organized by OGPU employees.

We reconstruct the events of the end of December 1925

Yesenin arrived in Leningrad on December 24. The motives for his trip are still hotly debated. Someone is sure that the poet was brought to the northern capital by questions regarding the publication of a new collection of poems. Others claim that Sergei Alexandrovich was hiding from the capital’s police. You can believe this - the poet did not widely advertise his arrival in the city on the Neva. The day before, he asked a friend to rent a three-room apartment. But he didn’t succeed and he stayed at the Angleterre Hotel, which became a fatal place.

He was given number five, where party workers and famous cultural figures of the Land of the Soviets usually stayed. These days, Wolf Ehrlich, the Ustinov couple, visited the poet. According to Wolf, he handed him the poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...” written on a piece of paper and asked him to read it in private.

Wolf was returning to his room, having forgotten his briefcase. The poet calmly wrote poetry, sitting at the table with a coat thrown over his shoulders. The next morning, Ustinova and Erlich came to the hotel, but could not get into the room - they had to call the commandant to open the door. Inside, in a loop, by the window, there was a dead Yesenin.

And now his biographers and creativity researchers are sure that it was suicide. Suicidal tendencies, too fine a nervous organization, melancholy and depressive states were characteristic of him. Everyone knew that alcoholism had recently begun to actively progress. The poet has repeatedly spoken about the feeling of approaching death - this theme has constantly appeared in the work of recent years. During this period, he was getting divorced and suffered from a creative crisis.

The autopsy showed - cause of death of Sergei Yesenin there was oxygen starvation. At the same time, cuts were found on both hands, and a huge dent was on the forehead. The forensic expert concluded that it was the result of a blow. It is known that Sergei’s last request was the desire not to let anyone in to see him.

Leningrad detectives worked in the hotel room for several days, but they did not find a single piece of evidence indicating a crime. The illiterate inspection report drawn up by Nikolai Gorbov, a local police officer, states that the poet was holding a pipe with one hand; a candelabra and a low stand were overturned in the room. According to medical report death of Sergei Yesenin came at 5 am.

A poem written in blood

A few days later, Elrich found a poem given by the poet in his coat pocket. It was written in blood. Ustinova remembered that the poet complained that it was absolutely impossible to get ink in the hotel and therefore he had to cut his hands and write in blood. This explains the cut marks on his arms. But it is difficult to call the poem a death poem - it was a dedication to a friend Alexei Ganin, who was shot in March 1925 by Lubyanka servicemen. He was charged with belonging to the “Order of Russian Fascists.”

But then no one examined the sheet and it did not help in solving this case.

Staging or murder?

Many still agree that it was a murder disguised as suicide. The fact is that with a height of 168 centimeters, Sergei Alexandrovich could not physically hang himself - the height of the ceilings in the room reached 4 meters. There was no object nearby that could be climbed on first. The cabinet and suitcase were not suitable for these purposes.

No explanation was received for the origin of the numerous abrasions on the body and bruises, a depressed scar across the bridge of the nose, which is clearly visible in the photograph taken immediately after death of Sergei Yesenin. All this leaves room for speculation and versions.

The poet's last refuge - Vagankovskoye Cemetery

The poet's body was delivered to Moscow by train. The farewell took place in the House of Printing. On December 31, 1925, Sergei Yesenin was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. At the time of his death he was 30 years old. In his short life, passionate and amorous, he managed to get married three times and have a bunch of love affairs. But there was one woman who could not live without Yesenin - Galina Benislavskaya. She was the poet's personal secretary and friend and allowed him to live in her Moscow apartment. Galina often listened to the poet’s confessions and gave advice regarding the publication of poems. Did she love him or did he become the meaning of her life? It's hard to say now. But on December 3, 1926, Benislavskaya came to the grave, smoked several cigarettes in a row and shot her in the chest with a pistol. In her suicide note, the woman indicated that she was leaving this life of her own free will.

Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin is a great Russian lyric poet. Most of his works are new peasant poetry and lyrics. Later creativity belongs to Izhanism, as it contains many used images and metaphors.

The date of birth of the literary genius is September 21, 1895. He comes from the Ryazan province, the village of Konstantinovka (Kuzminskaya volost). Therefore, many works are dedicated to love for Rus', there are a lot of new peasant lyrics. The financial condition of the future poet's family could not even be called tolerable, since his parents were quite poor.

All of them belonged to a peasant family, and therefore were forced to work a lot with physical labor. Sergei's father, Alexander Nikitich, also went through a long career. As a child, he was fond of singing in the church choir and had good vocal abilities. When he grew up, he went to work in a meat shop.

Chance helped him get a good position in Moscow. It was there that he became a clerk, and the family's income became higher. But this did not bring joy to his wife, Yesenin’s mother. She saw her husband less and less, which could not but affect their relationship.

Sergei Yesenin with his parents and sisters

Another reason for discord in the family was that after his father moved to Moscow, the boy began to live with his own Old Believer grandfather, his mother’s father. It was there that he received a male upbringing, which his three uncles did in their own way. Since they did not have time to start their own families, they tried to pay a lot of attention to the boy.

All the uncles were unmarried sons of Yesenin’s grandfather’s grandmother, who were distinguished by their cheerful disposition and, to some extent, youthful mischief. They taught the boy to ride a horse in a very unusual way: they put him on a horse, which galloped. There was also training in swimming in the river, when little Yesenin was simply thrown naked from a boat directly into the water.

As for the poet’s mother, she was affected by the separation from her husband when he was on long service in Moscow. She got a job in Ryazan, where she fell in love with Ivan Razgulyaev. The woman left Alexander Nikitich and even gave birth to a second child from her new partner. Sergei's half-brother was named Alexander. Later, the parents finally got back together, Sergei had two sisters: Katya and Alexandra.

Education

After such home education, the family decided to send Seryozha to study at the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School. He studied there from nine to fourteen years old and was distinguished not only by his abilities, but also by his bad behavior. Therefore, in one year of study, by decision of the school administrator, he was left for the second year. But still, the final grades were exceptionally high.

At this time, the parents of the future genius decided to live together again. The boy began to visit more often native home on vacation. Here he went to the local priest, who had an impressive library with books from various authors. He carefully studied many volumes, which could not but influence his creative development.

After graduating from the zemstvo school, he moved to the parish school, located in the village of Spas-Klepki. Already in 1909, after five years of study, Yesenin graduated from the Zemstvo School in Konstantinovka. His family's dream was for their grandson to become a teacher. He was able to realize it after studying at Spas-Klepiki.

It was there that he graduated from the second-class teacher's school. She also worked at the church parish, as was customary in those days. Now there is a museum dedicated to the work of this great poet. But after receiving his teaching education, Yesenin decided to go to Moscow.

In crowded Moscow, he had to work both in a butcher shop and in a printing house. His own father got him a job in the shop, since the young man had to ask him for help in finding a job. Then he got him a job in an office where Yesenin quickly became bored with the monotonous work.

When he served in the printing house as an assistant proofreader, he quickly became friends with poets who were part of Surikov’s literary and musical circle. Perhaps this influenced the fact that in 1913 he did not enter, but became a free student at the Moscow City People's University. There he attended lectures at the Faculty of History and Philosophy.

Creation

Yesenin’s passion for writing poetry was born in Spas-Klepiki, where he studied at a parish teacher’s school. Naturally, the works had a spiritual orientation and were not yet imbued with notes of lyrics. Such works include: “Stars”, “My Life”. When the poet was in Moscow (1912-1915), it was there that he began his more confident attempts at writing.

It is also very important that during this period in his works:

1. The poetic device of imagery was used. The works were replete with skillful metaphors, direct or figurative images.
2. During this period, new peasant imagery was also visible.
3. One could also notice Russian symbolism, since the genius loved creativity.

The first published work was the poem “Birch”. Historians note that when writing it, Yesenin was inspired by the works of A. Fet. Then he took the pseudonym Ariston, not daring to send the poem to print under own name. It was published in 1914 by the Mirok magazine.

The first book “Radunitsa” was published in 1916. Russian modernism could also be traced in it, since the young man moved to Petrograd and began to communicate with famous writers and poets:

• CM. Gorodetsky.
• D.V. Philosophers.
• A. A. Blok.

In “Radunitsa” there are notes of dialectism and numerous parallels drawn between the natural and the spiritual, since the name of the book is the day when the dead are venerated. At the same time, the arrival of spring occurs, in honor of which the peasants sing traditional songs. This is the connection with nature, its renewal and honoring those who have passed on.

The poet's style also changes, as he begins to dress a little more fabulously and more elegantly. This could also have been influenced by his guardian Klyuev, who supervised him from 1915 to 1917. The poems of the young genius were then listened to with attention by S.M. Gorodetsky, and great Alexander Block.

In 1915, the poem “Bird Cherry” was written, in which he endows nature and this tree with human qualities. The bird cherry seems to come to life and show its feelings. After being drafted into the war in 1916, Sergei began communicating with a group of new peasant poets.

Because of the released collection, including “Radunitsa,” Yesenin became more widely known. It even reached the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna herself. She often called Yesenin to Tsarskoe Selo so that he could read his works to her and her daughters.

In 1917, a revolution occurred, which was reflected in the works of the genius. He received a “second wind” and, inspired, decided to release a poem in 1917 called “Transfiguration.” It caused great resonance and even criticism, since it contained many slogans of the International. All of them were presented in a completely different way, in style Old Testament.

The perception of the world and commitment to the church also changed. The poet even stated this openly in one of his poems. Then he began to focus on Andrei Bely and began communicating with the poetry group “Scythians”. Works from the late twenties include:

• Petrograd book “Dove” (1918).
• Second edition “Radunitsa” (1918).
• Series of collections of 1918-1920: Transfiguration and Rural Book of Hours.

The period of Imagism began in 1919. This means the use large quantity images, metaphors. Sergei enlists the support of V.G. Shershenevich and founded his own group, which absorbed the traditions of futurism and style. An important difference was that the works were of a pop nature and involved open reading in front of the viewer.

This gave the group great fame against the backdrop of bright performances with the use. Then they wrote:

• "Sorokoust" (1920).
• Poem "Pugachev" (1921).
• Treatise “The Keys of Mary” (1919).

It is also known that in the early twenties Sergei began selling books and rented a shop to sell printed publications. It was located on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. This activity brought him income and distracted him a little from creativity.

After communicating and exchanging opinions and stylistic techniques with A. Mariengof Yesenin, the following were written:

• “Confession of a Hooligan” (1921), dedicated to the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya. Seven poems from one cycle were written in her honor.
• "The Three-Ridner" (1921).
• “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry” (1924).
• "Poems of a Brawler" (1923).
• “Moscow Tavern” (1924).
• "Letter to a Woman" (1924).
• “Letter to Mother” (1924), which is one of the best lyric poems. It was written before Yesenin’s arrival in his native village and dedicated to his mother.
• "Persian Motifs" (1924). In the collection you can see the famous poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane.”

Sergei Yesenin on the beach in Europe

After this, the poet began to travel frequently. His travel geography was not limited to Orenburg and the Urals alone, he even visited Central Asia, Tashkent and even Samarkand. In Urdy, he often visited local establishments (teahouses), traveled around the old city, and made new acquaintances. He was inspired by Uzbek poetry, oriental music, as well as the architecture of local streets.

After the marriage, numerous trips to Europe followed: Italy, France, Germany and other countries. Yesenin even lived in America for several months (1922-1923), after which notes were made with impressions of living in this country. They were published in Izvestia and called “Iron Mirgorod”.

Sergei Yesenin (center) in the Caucasus

In the mid-twenties, a trip to the Caucasus was also made. There is an assumption that it was in this area that the collection “Red East” was created. It was published in the Caucasus, after which the poem “Message to the Evangelist Demyan” was published in 1925. The period of imagism continued until the genius quarreled with A. B. Mariengof.

He was also considered a critic and well-known opponent of Yesenin. But at the same time, they did not show hostility publicly, although they were often pitted against each other. Everything was done with criticism and even respect for each other’s creativity.

After Sergei decided to break with imagism, he began to give frequent reasons for criticism of his behavior. For example, after 1924, various incriminating articles began to be published regularly about how he was seen drunk or causing rows and scandals in establishments.

But such behavior was just hooliganism. Due to the denunciations of ill-wishers, several criminal cases were immediately opened, which were later closed. The most notorious of them is the Case of the Four Poets, which included accusations of anti-Semitism. At this time, the health of the literary genius also began to deteriorate.

As for the attitude of the Soviet authorities, they were worried about the poet’s condition. There are letters indicating that Dzerzhinsky is being asked to help and save Yesenin. They say that a GPU employee should be assigned to Sergei to prevent him from drinking himself to death. Dzerzhinsky responded to the request and attracted his subordinate, who was never able to find Sergei.

Personal life

Yesenin's common-law wife was Anna Izryadnova. He met her when he worked as an assistant proofreader in a printing house. The result of this marriage was the birth of a son, Yuri. But the marriage did not last long, since already in 1917 Sergei married Zinaida Reich. During this time, they had two children at once - Konstantin and Tatyana. This union also turned out to be fleeting.

The poet entered into an official marriage with Isadora Duncan, who was a professional dancer. This love story was remembered by many, as their relationship was beautiful, romantic and partly public. The woman was a famous dancer in America, which fueled public interest in this marriage.

At the same time, Isadora was older than her husband, but the age difference did not bother them.

Sergei met Duncan in a private workshop in 1921. Then they began to travel together throughout Europe, and also lived for four months in America - the dancer’s homeland. But after returning from abroad, the marriage was dissolved. The next wife was Sofia Tolstaya, who was a relative of the famous classic; the union also broke up in less than a year.

Yesenin’s life was also connected with other women. For example, Galina Benislavskaya was his personal secretary. She was always by his side, partly dedicating her life to this man.

Illness and death

Yesenin had problems with alcohol, which were known not only to his friends, but also to Dzerzhinsky himself. In 1925, the great genius was hospitalized in a paid clinic in Moscow, specializing in psychoneurological disorders. But already on December 21, the treatment was completed or, possibly, interrupted at the request of Sergei himself.

He decided to temporarily move to Leningrad. Before this, he interrupted his work with Gosizdat and withdrew all his funds that were in government accounts. In Leningrad, he lived in a hotel and often communicated with various writers: V. I. Erlich, G. F. Ustinov, N. N. Nikitin.

Death overtook this great poet unexpectedly on December 28, 1928. The circumstances under which Yesenin passed away, as well as the cause of death itself, have not yet been clarified. This happened on December 28, 1925, and the funeral itself took place in Moscow, where the genius’s grave is still located.

On the night of December 28, an almost prophetic farewell poem was written. Therefore, some historians suggest that the genius committed suicide, but this is not a proven fact.

In 2005, the Russian film “Yesenin” was shot, in which he played the main role. Also before this, the series “The Poet” was filmed. Both works are dedicated to the great Russian genius and received positive reviews.

1. Little Sergei was unofficially an orphan for five years, as he was looked after by his maternal grandfather Titov. The woman simply sent the father funds to support his son. My father was working in Moscow at that time.
2. At the age of five the boy already knew how to read.
3. At school, Yesenin was given the nickname “the atheist,” since his grandfather once renounced the church craft.
4. In 1915, military service began, followed by a deferment. Then Sergei again found himself on military lavas, but as a nurse.