Yesenin's mysterious death. How old was Yesenin at the time of death? Yesenin hanged himself

On December 28, 1925, Yesenin was found dead in the Angleterre Hotel in Leningrad by his friend G. F. Ustinov and his wife. His last poem - "Goodbye, my friend, goodbye ..." - according to Wolf Erlich, was handed to him the day before: Yesenin complained that there was no ink in the room, and he was forced to write with his own blood

According to the version that is now generally accepted among academic researchers of Yesenin's life, the poet, in a state of depression (a week after the end of treatment in a psychoneurological hospital), committed suicide (hanged himself).

After a civil memorial service at the Union of Poets in Leningrad, Yesenin's body was taken by train to Moscow, where a farewell was also arranged at the Press House with the participation of relatives and friends of the deceased. He was buried on December 31, 1925 in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Murder version

In the 1970s and 1980s, versions arose about the murder of the poet, followed by a staged suicide of Yesenin (as a rule, members of the OGPU are accused of organizing the murder). A contribution to the development of this version was made by the investigator of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, retired colonel Eduard Khlystalov. The version of Yesenin's murder has penetrated into popular culture: in particular, it is presented in artistic form in the television series Yesenin (2005). Proponents of this version argue that if we examine in detail the high-resolution posthumous photos of the poet, we can safely assume that the poet was severely beaten before his death. In their opinion, a well-known fact speaks in favor of this version: Sergei Yesenin, who was fond of fisticuffs from his youth, was, according to his contemporaries, a strong enough fighter who could actively resist the killers who attacked him.

In 1989, under the auspices of the Gorky IMLI, the Yesenin Commission was established under the chairmanship of the Soviet and Russian Yesenin scholar Yu. L. Prokushev; at his request, a number of examinations were carried out, which, in his opinion, led to the following conclusion: the published "versions" about the murder of the poet, followed by a staged hanging, despite some discrepancies ... are a vulgar, incompetent interpretation of special information, sometimes falsifying the results of the examination”(from the official response of the professor at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Doctor of Medical Sciences B. S. Svadkovsky to the request of the chairman of the commission Yu. L. Prokushev). Versions of Yesenin’s murder are considered late fiction or unconvincing and other biographers of the poet.

“It’s so easy to leave this life,
Burn mindlessly and painlessly.
But not given to the Russian poet
Such a bright death to die.

Just lead lead to the winged soul
Heaven will open the frontiers,
Or hoarse horror with a shaggy paw
From the heart, like from a sponge, life will be squeezed out.
Anna Akhmatova's poem "In Memory of Sergei Yesenin"

Biography

The biography of Sergei Yesenin is a controversial life story of the great Russian poet. It is difficult to find another person who would write about Russia with such love and at the same time pain. The difficult nature of the poet, his rebelliousness, restlessness, propensity for outrageousness and conflicts created considerable difficulties in Yesenin's life. But even after his tragic departure, the “street rake”, “mischievous reveler” and “scandalist” Yesenin, as he called himself, could forever remain in the hearts of those who once heard his poetry and fell in love with it.

Sergei Yesenin was born in the Ryazan region in a simple peasant family. As a child, he loved to read, having special feelings for Russian folklore, fairy tales, epics, ditties and Russian poetry. Pushkin, Lermontov, Koltsov were Esenin's favorite writers. As a young man, he moved to Moscow, where he worked in a printing house, and was soon accepted into the literary and musical circles of the capital and began to publish his poems. First, Moscow, and then Petrograd met Yesenin with open arms, he was considered "the messenger of the Russian village." Yesenin's personality also played a big role - he read his poems with such ardor, with such expression and sincerity that everyone - from ordinary people to eminent writers - fell in love with the golden-haired peasant poet.

Yesenin met the coming of power of workers and peasants with enthusiasm. But over time, delight was replaced by disappointment, fear, indignation. Because of his directness, the poet often became the object of observation by the authorities, especially during the relationship of Sergei Yesenin with Isadora Duncan, an American dancer. When, finally, Yesenin openly expressed his sharp condemnation of the actions of the Soviet authorities in the poem "Country of Scoundrels", a real persecution of the poet began. The poet, already quick-tempered and addicted to alcohol, was often provoked. Each scandalous episode of his biography was described in the newspapers. Yesenin was forced to hide - he lived in the Caucasus, in Leningrad, in Konstantinovo, where he was born. Yesenin's last wife, Sofya Tolstaya, in an attempt to save her husband from alcohol addiction and persecution, hospitalized him in a neurological clinic. Which Yesenin secretly left, allegedly in an attempt to escape from the authorities, and went to Leningrad, where he stayed at the Angleterre Hotel. Five days later, his body was found in the room of the Angleterre. The cause of Yesenin's death was suicide - the poet committed suicide by hanging himself on a pipe. His last words were a poem written in blood instead of ink:

"Goodbye, my friend, goodbye,
My dear, you are in my chest.
Destined parting
Promises to meet in the future.

Goodbye, my friend, without a hand and without a word,
Do not be sad and do not sadness of the eyebrows, -
In this life, dying is not new,
But to live, of course, is not newer.

Yesenin's funeral took place on the last day of 1925 - December 31. Not a single Russian poet was seen off with such honors and scope - about two hundred thousand people came to Yesenin's funeral. Yesenin's death was a huge loss and shock for Russia.

life line

October 3, 1895 Date of birth of Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin.
1904 Admission to the zemstvo school in Konstantinovo.
1909 Graduation from college, admission to the church teacher's school.
1912 Finishing school with a diploma of a literacy teacher, moving to Moscow.
1913 Marriage with Anna Izryadnova.
1914 The birth of the son of Sergei Yesenin, Yuri.
1915 Acquaintance with Alexander Blok, admission to the service in the hospital train.
1916 Release of the first collection of poems "Radunitsa".
1917 Marriage with Zinaida Reich.
1918 Birth of daughter Tatyana.
1920 Birth of son Constantine.
1921 Divorce from Zinaida Reich, acquaintance with Isadora Duncan, release of the collections "Treryadnitsa", "Confessions of a Hooligan".
May 2, 1922 Marriage to Isadora Duncan.
1923 Release of the collection "Poems of a Brawler".
1924 Divorce from Isadora Duncan, the release of the poem "Pugachev", the collection "Moscow Tavern", the birth of an illegitimate son from the translator and poetess Nadezhda Volpin.
September 18, 1925 Marriage with Sophia Tolstoy.
December 28, 1925 Date of Yesenin's death.
December 31, 1925 Yesenin's funeral.

Memorable places

1. The village of Konstantinovo, where Yesenin was born and where the Yesenin Museum-Reserve is located today.
2. Yesenin Museum (former church teacher's school, which Yesenin graduated from) in Spas-Klepiki.
3. Tsarskoye Selo, where Yesenin's regiment was quartered and where the poet spoke to Empress Alexandra.
4. Yesenin and Duncan's house in Moscow, where the couple lived and where Isadora's dance school was located.
5. Moscow State Museum of S. A. Yesenin.
6. Yesenin's house in Mardakan (now a memorial house-museum on the territory of the arboretum), where the poet lived in 1924-1925.
7. House-Museum of Sergei Yesenin in Tashkent, where he stayed in 1921.
8. Monument to Yesenin in Moscow on Yeseninsky Boulevard.
9. Monument to Yesenin in Moscow on Tverskoy Boulevard.
10. Angleterre Hotel, where Yesenin's body was found.
11. Vagankovsky cemetery, where Yesenin is buried.

Episodes of life

Despite the fact that the last years of his life Yesenin abused alcohol, he did not write poetry while drunk. The poet's memoirists also talk about this. Once Yesenin confessed to his friend: “The desperate fame of a drunkard and a bully follows me, but these are just words, and not such a terrible reality.”

Dancer Duncan fell in love with Yesenin almost at first sight. He, too, was very interested in her, despite the tangible difference in age. Isadora dreamed of glorifying her Russian husband and took him with her on a tour - through Europe and America. Yesenin explained his scandalous behavior during the trip in his usual manner: “Yes, I made a row. I needed them to know me, so they would remember me. What, I'm going to read poetry to them? Poems for Americans? I would only become ridiculous in their eyes. But to drag the tablecloth with all the dishes from the table, to whistle in the theater, to violate the traffic order - this is clear to them. If I do this, I am a millionaire. I mean, I can. So respect is ready, and glory and honor! Oh, they remember me better than Duncan!” In fact, Yesenin quickly realized that abroad he was only "Duncan's husband" for everyone, broke off relations with the dancer and returned home.

Assumptions that the death of Sergei Yesenin was violent appeared many years after the death of the poet. The author of the version of the murder and its popularization was the Moscow investigator Eduard Khlystalov - his point of view on what happened to the poet is shown in the serial film Yesenin. Other researchers found it unconvincing.

Covenant

"In thunderstorms, in storms, in the coldness of life,
With heavy losses and when you are sad,
To seem smiling and simple -
The highest art in the world."

A plot from the cycle "Historical Chronicles" dedicated to Sergei Yesenin

condolences

“Let's not blame him alone. All of us - his contemporaries - are more or less to blame. This was a precious person. I should have fought harder for him. We should have helped him more brotherly.”
Anatoly Lunacharsky, revolutionary, statesman

“The end of Yesenin upset, upset usually, humanly. But immediately this end seemed completely natural and logical. I found out about this at night, grief, it must have remained grief, it must have dissipated by morning, but in the morning the newspapers brought dying lines: “In this life, dying is not new, but living, of course, is not newer” . After these lines, Yesenin's death became a literary fact.
Vladimir Mayakovsky, poet

"He lived terribly and died terribly."
Anna Akhmatova, poetess

For many years we believed that Sergei Yesenin killed himself. But then the carefully woven veil was torn, and the light of truth about the last days of the great poet poured into random, at first small holes. And before us began to rise the terrible fate of the objectionable ruling elite, a poet dangerous to her. persecuted and
persecuted, he did not for a moment renounce either his poetic or human self. Politicians alien to the people could not forgive him for this. The bright light of his personality hurt their eyes, made them doubt their own greatness, infallibility and omnipotence. The first publications that the great Russian poet Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was killed, and the fact of suicide was inspired, took place in the Soviet press in 1989. One of the authors of these publications was Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Eduard Khlystalov, unknown in literary circles, whose new article we bring to the attention of our readers.
This photograph of Sergei Yesenin is published for the first time. In 1925, the poet presented it to his maternal brother Alexander Razgulyaev. As a two-month-old child, Tatyana Fedorovna Yesenina gave Sasha to be raised by Ekaterina Petrovna Razgulyaeva, who at that time lived in the village of Petrovichi. Soon the Razgulyavs' house burned down, and they left for Altai. Only in 1924, at the age of 22, Alexander first came to Konstantinovo, where he met his brother, already a famous poet. Alexander at that time worked as a switchman on an iron fence. The brothers became friends and met often. Once, on the banks of the Oka, Alexander sang to his brother the folk song "Linden Age". Sergei was empathetic. Tears ran down his cheeks. Ask me what you want! he said to his brother. Give me your photo, - Alexander asked. So this portrait appeared in the Razgulyaev family. Literary critics for a long time hushed up the very fact of the existence of Yesenin's younger brother. He has already passed away. The heirs gave us three photographs: a portrait of Sergei Yesenin. Alexander at the fresh grave of his brother - he was late for the funeral and Alexander Razgulyaev with his mother Tatyana Fedorovna Yesenina.

Eduard KHLISTALOV Senior Investigator.

HOW THEY KILLED SERGEY YESENIN.

About ten years ago I worked as a senior investigator at the once famous Petrovka, 38. One day the secretary of the department put an envelope on my desk. The letter was addressed to me, but there was no letter in the envelope. It contained two photographs of a dead man. On one card, a man was lying on a rich couch, on the second - in a coffin. At first I could not understand what these photographs had to do with my criminal cases. At that time, I was investigating three cases on charges of several groups of embezzlers of state property on an especially large scale, but my defendants did not commit any murder. Then I thought that someone decided to play a trick on me. However, after looking. near the coffin I recognized the first wife of Sergei Yesenin - Zinaida Reich, her husband Meyerhold, mother, sisters of the poet. These were Yesenin's posthumous photographs unknown to me. Who and why sent me these pictures remains a mystery. Busy with current affairs. I threw the photos in my desk drawer and forgot about them. When, two or three years later, I again stumbled upon these pictures, I suddenly noticed that the right hand of the dead Yesenin was not stretched along the body, as it should be with the hanged man, but raised up. On the forehead of the corpse, between the eyebrows, one could see a wide and deep dent. Taking a magnifying glass, I found under the right eyebrow a dark round spot, very similar to a penetrating wound. At the same time, there were no signs that corpses almost always have during hanging. And although I realized that something was wrong in Yesenin’s death, I didn’t sound the alarm here either. It was hard to imagine that Yesenin's case was investigated poorly. After all, the great poet died. At that time, the XIV Party Congress was taking place, law enforcement officials were on high alert, and the investigators gave convincing explanations to all unclear questions. I had no doubt that the necessary examinations had been carried out in the case, including a forensic medical examination, which gave a categorical conclusion about the cause of the poet's death. How I now regret that I did not immediately take up the investigation of the death of Yesenin; at that time there were still several people who knew a lot about the death of the poet ... With a great delay, but I nevertheless took up Yesenin's case. The investigation was carried out as a private person, overcoming the inevitable bureaucratic barriers and barricades. If it were not for my official position, the certificate of a police colonel, it would hardly have been possible to establish anything, except for what everyone knew. From childhood, we were inspired that the rural lyric poet Sergei Yesenin lived in Rus'. He wrote poems about birch trees, dogs, homeless children. He was undoubtedly a talented man, but a drunkard and a hooligan. He also got confused in his love affairs, and he had no choice but to hang himself. We are accustomed to seeing in drawings, paintings, in sculpture a young poet in a commoner's shirt, against the backdrop of a village.
... On December 29, 1925, the evening newspapers of Leningrad, and the next day the newspapers of the whole country reported that the poet Sergei Yesenin had committed suicide in the International Hotel (formerly the Angleterre). The poet's wife Sofya Tolstaya and the husband of Catherine's sister Vasily Nasedkin left Moscow for Leningrad. They brought the body to Moscow, and on December 31, thousands of people saw Yesenin on his last journey. The poet had a premonition of death and asked to be buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Soon, in newspapers, magazines, and collections, memories of Yesenin's acquaintances and friends appeared, in which they regretted the death of the poet, recalled how he drank, hooligans, and deceived women. The hands of critics were untied: in Yesenin's poems, everyone saw the proximity of death, disappointment in life. Yesenin's suicide letter was published, written in blood before throwing a noose around his throat.
Goodbye my friend
Goodbye. My dear, you are in my chest. Destined parting Promises a meeting ahead. Goodbye my friend
without a hand or a word. Do not be sad and do not sadness of the eyebrows, In this life, dying is not new, But living, of course, is not newer.
Yesenin's poetry was banned, his name was ordered to be forgotten. For reading the poet's poems, the 58th article relied. And they received it. The decadent poetry is harmful to the revolutionary people - the campaign against "Yeseninism" lasted for more than a decade. After the death of Yesenin, the state did not take care of the safety of his property, documents, manuscripts, notebooks. The Union of Writers did not take the necessary measures to preserve the creative heritage of the poet. A detailed inventory of the remaining things and papers was not compiled. All Yesenin's property fell into private and sometimes unscrupulous hands, much was lost, sailed away to distant shores. The miraculously preserved documents are scattered in various archives and cities, some have fallen into disrepair, the sheets are torn, not all of them can be read. Most of the documents have not been studied by handwriting experts, and there is no complete certainty that they are authentic or written by those persons whose names are indicated on them. Many materials are still in secret archives and are not given to researchers. Convinced that the situation with archival data is very difficult, I decided to start the investigation with the available materials. He began to study the memoirs of Yesenin's contemporaries, his relatives and relatives. About Yesenin, I used to read everything or almost everything that appeared. Having begun to study everything again with passion, I suddenly discovered that I did not know the biography of the poet. It is well known, for example, that Yesenin joyfully met the revolution, tried several times to join the Bolshevik Party (this was enthusiastically testified by his friends). And suddenly I stumble upon his letter dated December 4, 1920 to his friend Ivanov-Razumnik:
"Dear Razumnik Vasilyevich!
Forgive me, for God's sake, for not being able to answer your letter and postcard. So it all happened unexpectedly and stupidly. I already got ready for 25 Oct. to leave, and suddenly instead of Petersburg I had to find myself in a prison of the Cheka. This somehow stunned me, offended me, and I had to weather for a long time. A lot has accumulated during these 2 1/2 years, in which we did not see each other. I try to write to you very many times, but our careless Russian life, like an inn, each time knocked the pen out of my hands. I wonder how else I could write so many poems and poems during this time. Of course, the internal restructuring was great. I am grateful for everything that stretched my gut, put it into shape and gave it a tongue. But I lost everything that pleased me before from my health. I became rotten. Probably, you have already heard something about this ... "(Collected works of Yesenin, 1970; 3 vols.; 243 p.)
Yesenin does not indicate in the letter how long he was kept in the most terrible prison in the country, and possibly the whole world. He does not write, and why he was kept in prison, but this "stunned, offended" him. Instead of joy from the achievements of the revolution, the mood is the opposite... Judging by the letter, on October 25, 1920, he was already in the Lubyanka. The letter is dated December 4th. Was the poet really in custody for two and a half months? As a lawyer, I began to ask other questions. If Yesenin was arrested, then there was a criminal case. And since there was a case, it means that he should have been judged. Perhaps the case was closed, but then the investigator, who unreasonably kept the great poet in custody, had to bear the punishment himself ... Questions, questions ... In the Ogonyok magazine (No. the loud title "Roman without lies" + "Zoyka's apartment". The author, admiring his decisive actions, tells how he arrested Yesenin and his companions and sent them to Lubyanka, where he even ordered a group photo of the detainees. As they say, without blinking an eye, the valiant Chekist admits to millions of readers that he kept men and women in the same cell. I analyze the collected materials. Turns out. Samsonov arrested Yesenin in 1921. This means that this was already the second "visit" of the poet to the Lubyanka. What did he do? Could it be his drunkenness? But then what does the Cheka, which was engaged in the fight against counter-revolution, have to do with it?! I study all the materials about Yesenin, not a word about the arrests. Maybe the answer is in these verses of his?
... I ran away from Moscow for a long time: I get along with the police I'm not good, For every beer scandal they kept me In Tigulevka ...
No, here we are talking about the detention by the police. Usually, the more you investigate the case, the less unresolved problems remain. In Yesenin's case, everything is reversed, riddles multiply in arithmetic progression. Questions, questions, questions... For the tenth time I read the famous poem by V. Mayakovsky "To Sergei Yesenin": "Well, what about the class, does he drink kvass when he's thirsty? Cool, he's not a fool to drink either... turn out to be ink in Angleterre." there would be no reason to cut the veins ... "So Yesenin cut the veins in order to write a suicide letter. In Yesenin studies, this is an axiom. But, to be honest, I have no idea how such an operation can be performed. After all, the blood in the vessels is under pressure, and the cut vein must be clamped with the other hand. How about dipping a pen? While you write a line, you will bleed... Nevertheless, the letter exists and is kept in the Pushkin House in Leningrad. Has addressed there with inquiry, whether it was investigated by criminologists? Is the letter really written in human blood and Yesenin's hand ... Several months of red tape and replies, then a short answer - NO, no research was conducted. But without this procedure, not a single document can be considered authentic. Immediately after the death of the poet, his friend V. Knyazev wrote a poem that begins with the following stanza:
In a small mortuary by the window A golden head on the chopping block: The stripe on the neck is not visible Only the blood turns black on the shirt...
Very accurate words were said by V. Knyazev about the untimely death of the great poet: "The golden head on the chopping block ..." This is the bitter truth of life: in the morgue, not only dashing, but also golden heads are placed on a wooden stand. But why is the strangulation furrow not visible in the late Yesenin? It does not disappear on the neck of the hanged man, it has a pronounced red-violet color. What is it, V. Knyazev's poetic technique or direct observation? Could he see the corpse of the poet? After a thorough check of archival documents, he established that V. Knyazev not only saw the corpse in the morgue, but also performed the unpleasant duty of loved ones to receive the deceased's belongings there. But why did an observant person not notice the "stripes"? Perhaps she was light in color?! During my many years of investigative practice, I have often had to deal with staged suicides. There were such facts when criminals killed a person, and then, in order to hide the atrocity, they put a noose around the neck and hung the body, hoping to deceive investigators and forensic experts. It was easy to expose them: the strangulation furrow had a lighter color or was completely absent. Some contemporaries, including those who were in the hotel room. they claimed that Yesenin first cut his veins, intending to commit suicide, but then "he did not have enough character" and he hanged himself. These messages did not inspire confidence. After all, in order to do so, he had to look for a rope with cut veins and pour blood on himself and everything around. There is no blood visible in the photo. There are other questions as well. Could a man with severed veins and partially muscle use his hands, move around the room, untie the rope, then tie it? Could the rope bear the weight of the body? The poet A. Zharov, in hot pursuit, wrote the following lines:
It's still a little weird. Here, try it here, don't be surprised: On a simple cord from a suitcase, your crazy
life...
Some called a belt the subject of suicide, others a rope, others a cord. According to my calculations, its minimum length should have been two meters. Probably, no one has met a suitcase that would be tied in this way. In addition, Yesenin was too respectful of himself to have such a suitcase. But where did he get the two-meter cord? It is not at all clear why Yesenin went to Leningrad to rent a room there and kill himself. If he decided to end his life, he could do it in Moscow... Collecting material about the death of Yesenin, getting acquainted with many publications about the poet, I discovered one sad pattern: in all the photographs published until recently there were no signs of injuries on his face. Only those photographs were printed in which the injuries were not visible or were carefully retouched. Stereotypes of consciousness are strong. I still could not give up the idea that Yesenin, intoxicated, did something that put him in a hopeless situation, and he committed suicide. But when I established that Yesenin had no conflict, he did not drink and did not write a suicide letter, I was amazed. I could no longer live in peace. I began to look for a case to investigate the death of the poet Sergei Yesenin. I had to go around the archives of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor's Office, the State Security Committee, the case was nowhere to be found. He turned to the public for help through Moscow and Leningrad newspapers, but faced cold indifference. Neither Esenin scholars, nor museum workers, nor collectors helped me in any way. It turned out that no investigation into the causes of the tragic death of the poet was carried out. There is a folder with documents in the archive of the Gorky Institute of World Literature. They were preserved for posterity by Yesenin's wife, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, who carefully collected every piece of paper that had to do with the poet. How she managed to get these materials from the police and why they survived at all, we will probably never know this secret. I cite documents with the preservation of style and punctuation marks.

On December 28, 1925, this act was drawn up by my accountant. warden 2nd from. L.G.M. N. Gorbov in the presence of the manager of the hotel International Comrade. Nazarov and witnesses. According to the telephone message of the manager of the hotel grazh. Nazarova V. Mikh, about a citizen hanging himself in a hotel room. Arriving at the place, I found a man hanging on the central heating pipe in the following form, the neck was tightened not with a dead loop, but only on the right side of the neck, his face was turned to the pipe, and with his right hand he grabbed the pipe, the corpse hung under the very ceiling and his legs were about 1 1/2 meters, near the place where the hanged man was found, there was an overturned pedestal, and the chandelier standing on it lay on the floor. When removing the corpse from the rope and when examining it, it was found on the right arm above the elbow on the palm side of the cut on the left arm on the hand, scratches, a bruise under the left eye, dressed in gray trousers, a nightgown, black socks and black patent leather shoes. According to the documents presented, Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich, a writer who arrived from Moscow on December 24, 1925, turned out to hang himself.

Below this text, the act is supplemented: "Certificate No. 42-8516 and a power of attorney to receive 640 rubles in the name of Erlich." The poet Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, the critic P. Medvedev, and the writer M. Froman signed as witnesses. Below is the signature of V. Erlich, which, apparently, was executed later than everyone else, when he presented his certificate and power of attorney to the district warden. From a professional point of view, the document is bewildering. Firstly. N. Gorbov was obliged to draw up not an act, but a protocol for examining the scene. Secondly, be sure to indicate the time of the inspection, the names and addresses of witnesses. It had to be started without fail in the presence of attesting witnesses, so that they would later confirm the correctness of the entry in the protocol. N. Gorbov was obliged to examine the corpse with the participation of a forensic medical expert or, in extreme cases, a doctor. There is not a word about either in the protocol. The district warden did not actually examine the scene of the incident: he did not record the presence of blood on the floor and the desk, did not find out what was used to cut the right hand of the corpse, where the rope was taken from for hanging, did not describe the state of the deceased’s belongings, the presence of money, did not attach material to the case evidence (rope, razor, other items). N. Gorbov did not note a very important circumstance: was the electric light on when the deceased was found? The warden did not find out the condition of the locks and locks on the front door and windows; did not write about how the people who discovered the corpse got into the hotel room ... The face of the dead Yesenin was disfigured, burned, there was a bruise under his left eye. All this required an explanation and the adoption of immediate investigative actions. Apparently, suspicion immediately arose in the murder of the poet, because the agent of the criminal investigation department of the 1st brigade F. Ivanov came to the hotel. This brigade investigated criminal cases of the gravest crimes against the person. However, what this detective was doing at the scene, what investigative or operational actions he carried out, has not yet been found out. I examined N. Gorbov's act with special care. Since the persons indicated there are no longer alive, I had to turn to archival sources, the memories of the participants in the events of that gloomy winter morning. Poet Sun. The Christmas and literary critic P. Medvedev wrote that for them the message about the death of Yesenin in Leningrad was a complete surprise. That morning it was cold in the city, a blizzard was blowing, in the Union of Poets people were sitting in their clothes. P. Medvedev picked up the phone and Sun. Rozhdestvensky saw how his face was distorted by the terrible news. Who called the Union of Poets is still unknown. Rozhdestvensky and Medvedev ran to the International Hotel and were among the first to appear there (P. Medvedev was destroyed in the 1930s as an enemy of the people). “Directly opposite the threshold, somewhat obliquely, a convulsively stretched body lay on the carpet. The right arm was slightly raised and ossified in an unusual bend. The swollen face was terrible - nothing in it resembled the former Sergey. forehead. He was dressed in fashionable, freshly ironed trousers. A dandy jacket hung right there, on the back of a chair. And I was especially struck by the narrow toes of patent leather boots, parted at an angle. On a small plush sofa, at a round table with a decanter of water, sat a policeman in tightly belted greatcoat, running a pencil stub over paper, he wrote a protocol. He seemed to be delighted at our arrival and immediately forced us to sign as witnesses. In this dry document, everything was said briefly and precisely, and this made the senseless fact of suicide seem to me even more absurd and terrible "(Sun. Rozhdestvensky). Sun. Rozhdestvensky could point out the brevity of the document (act) drawn up by N. Gorbov, but he had no right to judge its accuracy. He, Medvedev and Froman came to the hotel room when Yesenin's corpse was lying on the floor. Whether he hung in a noose, they did not see. It's too late to blame Vs. Rozhdestvensky and the rest in the rashness with which they signed the ill-fated act. Apparently, what happened shocked them so much that they forgot about the legal side of the event... Sun. Rozhdestvensky highly appreciated S. A. Yesenin, left wonderful memories of him, made us think again about the bitter fate of the Russian poet when he wrote: "a policeman in a tightly belted overcoat sat, and, driving a pencil stub over paper, wrote a protocol." The district warden N. Gorbov did not even take off his overcoat at the scene. Criminalists have the concept of "professional deformation". Gorbov also has social deformation. He doesn't care whose body lies at his feet: a criminal or a great Russian poet. The information I have collected bit by bit allows me to introduce in general terms the personality of the district warden. Gorbov Nikolai Mikhailovich, born in 1885, a native of Leningrad, worked in the police for only five months as an ordinary policeman. An order to enroll him in the post of warden was not found. On June 15, 1929, he was arrested and disappeared. Here is the picture. The only official document from the place of Yesenin's death could not be taken as evidence not only of suicide, but even of the fact of hanging. Three attesting witnesses did not see the corpse in the noose, while the district police officer could well write anything in the act. I completely rule out the possibility of a careless attitude of the authorities towards the death of an ambiguous figure like Yesenin, which means that a set of oversights and inconsistencies during the interrogation was deliberately inspired. For what? There is only one answer: to hide the cause and circumstances of the death of the poet. When the investigator suspects a murder, he begins to study the case again. Only he usually does it more or less in hot pursuit, but I had to conduct an inquest more than half a century later, when most of the participants were not alive. ... As you know, the work of S. A. Yesenin fell on a tragic period in the history of Russia: the imperialist war, then the February Revolution and the October Revolution, an unheard-of cruelty civil war and a terrible famine, the Red Terror and complete economic devastation, the looting of museums, private collections, churches, libraries, archives and export of national values ​​abroad. Was it before poetry for the unfortunate, tormented people? This is on the one hand, and on the other hand, in order to print poetry, it was necessary to obtain two visas - from the State Publishing House and from military censorship, or rather, from the GPU in Lubyanka. Yesenin did not write pleasurable poems in honor of the proletarian leaders, which is why they did not publish him. And it was necessary to live on something. Yesenin had to go to a variety of tricks to release a book of poems. For example, at the request of Yesenin, the workers of the printing house set up another city of publication. This prevented the authorities from checking where the book was printed and from "taking action" against those publishers that avoided censorship. The poet did not see the results of the October coup from the Kremlin offices. Possessing a heightened sense of justice, how could he internally agree with the destruction of the Russian intelligentsia, including his close friends - writers, artists, musicians, artists? Was he really so naive as to believe in the need for daily executions of people in greater numbers than in all the years of the reign of Nicholas II? Did he really approve of the brutal reprisals against all members of the royal family and the innocent young daughters of the tsar, with whom he had a touching friendship in 1916? No, it was not so simple as not to figure out where people are being led by people who have lived on other people's money abroad for more than ten years and do not know the aspirations of ordinary people. Sometimes the poet broke down:

That's the country! What the hell am I yelling in verse,

A contemporary of S. A. Yesenin, V. Shershenevich, recalled this period: "When our paths were cut off, Yesenin says:" If the State Publishing House does not allow us to publish, let's write on the walls. "About the episode when Yesenin with a group of poet friends, Armed with paint and brushes at night on the walls of houses, he "gave" names to the streets in honor of himself and his friends, our literature is described as another of his hooligan tricks. names of persons alien to the people (In 1921-1922 alone, about five hundred streets and squares were renamed in the capital.) It was a terrible time for creative people. and the greedy rushed to seek their fortune in literature and art.Lacking elementary talent, having poor command of the Russian language, they covered up their creative helplessness in art with new avant-garde forms. Their poems with equal success could be read from the end, and picturesque paintings looked upside down. It was these people who arrived from abroad after the February Revolution and seized all the creative unions, editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, and publishing houses. In hours of impotent rage, not knowing how to help himself and his people, Yesenin wrote:

Protect me, tender moisture. May is my blue, June is blue, Overcome by visiting people. And they are not allowed to go home.

I know, if not in the cast-iron distances, A stranger's shelter and a bag on his shoulders, Only pity those foolish, young, Who ruined themselves in a rush.

It's a pity. that someone could disperse us And no one's fault is clear. You are Russia, my Russia, the Asian side.

(TsGALI, f. 190, on. 1)

On October 3, 1921, Yesenin met the world-famous dancer Isadora Duncan, who came to Soviet Russia to teach children a new direction in dance art. The forty-year-old dancer fell in love with the poet with a passionate, selfless love. They merried. Duncan tried to take Yesenin abroad. Formally, Yesenin was allowed to leave for three months to publish his poems. He stayed abroad for over a year. Duncan did everything so that he would not return home, but the poet grievously yearned away from his homeland. "... I took Yesenin away from Russia, where living conditions are still difficult. I wanted to save him for the world. Now he is returning to Russia to save his mind, because he cannot live without Russia. I know that a lot hearts will pray that this great poet be saved in order to continue to create Beauty ... ", she wrote in the newspapers. But Yesenin's decision to return was not easy. “It’s sickening for me, a legitimate son of Russia, to be a stepson in my state. I’m tired of this b ... condescending attitude of those in power, and even more sickening to endure the sycophancy of my own brethren towards them. I can’t, by God, I can’t! or take a knife and stand on the high road." And yet he returned. He came back different, as no one else knew him. He carried with him the poem "Country of Scoundrels." It has already been heard, even friends were outraged by the content:

Empty fun, Some talk. Well, well, what did you take in return? The same crooks came, The same thieves And the law of the revolution They took everyone prisoner.

Mary Desty, Duncan's biographer, accompanied them to Moscow. She wrote in her book: “When the train that was taking Isadora and Sergei to Moscow started off from the platform of the Paris station, they stood with pale faces, like two little lost souls ...” Yesenin had to live for two years and a little. They will be the most difficult for him, but they will also become for the poet a runway to immortality. Upon returning to Moscow, Yesenin developed a stormy activity, began to fuss about the formation of a publishing house where the works of Russian writers and poets would be printed, signed collective letters to the government, and united peasant poets around him. Quite naturally, he came under close scrutiny by the GPU staff. Starting in September 1923, Yesenin began to be detained by police officers every now and then, taken to the emergency room of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, charged with hooliganism and incitement to pogroms. Studying previously unknown archival materials, I discovered an interesting pattern. People "injured" by Yesenin came to the nearest police station or called a police officer and demanded that the poet be brought to justice, showing good legal training. They even named the articles of the Criminal Code, according to which Yesenin should have been judged. And one more pattern: in all cases, the detention followed the same scenario - Yesenin always found himself in a state of intoxication. As if someone was waiting for the hour when he would go out into the street after the feast. As a rule, the incident began with a trifle. Someone made a remark to Yesenin, he exploded, the policeman was called. The guardian of order, with the help of janitors, dragged Yesenin to the department by force. The detainee resisted, called the law enforcement officers bribe takers, corrupt skins, etc. Later, reports of the authorities appeared in the file about threats from the poet, about insulting the worker-peasant police by him. In all cases, there were other people with Yesenin (poet A. Ganin, I. Pribludny, A. Mariengof, etc.), but they were not only not detained, but also not interrogated. A decree was in force in the country on the severe reprisal against rioters and anti-Semites, signed by V. I. Lenin as early as July 25, 1918. At the same time, there was no criminal legislation, and the legal concept of an anti-Semite and a pogromist did not exist. Many writers of the new wave did not hide their hatred for the Russian poet Yesenin, openly persecuted, weaved skillful intrigues against him, spread gossip, anecdotes, and fables. He was repeatedly beaten and declared an anti-Semite. - Well, what an anti-Semite I am! - he tearfully complained to his constant adherents, who loved to cling to his fame and at the same time drink and eat tightly at his expense. - I love Jews, they love me too. I have Jewish children. I am the same - an anti-Georgian ... Yesenin allowed himself to have an opinion on any issue, and it was not always flattering for party apparatchiks. Unlike many, he spoke out loud. Soon he was labeled an enemy of Soviet power. - You what? Do you really think I'm a counterrevolutionary? - he asked his friend poet V. Erlich. - Drop it! If I were a counter-revolutionary, I would behave differently! I'm just at home. Understand? At home! And if I don't like something, I scream! It is my right. Just because I'm at home. I will not allow a White Guard to say about Soviet Russia what I say myself. This is mine, and I am the judge of this! On November 20, 1923, the poets Yesenin, A. Ganin, S. Klychkov and P. Oreshin entered the dining room on Myasnitskaya Street, bought beer and discussed publishing matters and the upcoming evening meeting in the Union of Poets. If Yesenin still had some means of subsistence, then Ganin, Klychkov and Oreshin dragged out a beggarly lifestyle. And, of course, they could not rejoice about this. Suddenly, a stranger (M. V. Rodkin) sitting at the next table ran out into the street, called the police officers and accused the poets of anti-Semitic conversations and insulting the leader Trotsky. The poets were arrested, the well-known "case of four" appeared. Despite the slanderous campaign launched by the newspapers against Yesenin demanding severe punishment for the poet, a few days later all four were released, and the case ended in a friendly court. On December 17, Yesenin was forced to hide from unbridled slander and slander in a dispensary (Polyanka, 52). One after another, several more criminal cases are initiated against the poet. They try to judge him, but he is not at the meetings. The judge of the Krasnopresnensky Court Komissarov (the real name could not be established) issues an arrest warrant. Employees of the GPU and the police throughout Moscow are looking for Yesenin. He, not having his own room, spends the night with various friends. However, the GPU officers could not arrest Yesenin. On February 13, 1924, he was taken by ambulance to the surgical department of the Sheremetyevo hospital (now the Sklifosovsky Institute). For many years there was a version that Yesenin opened his veins, wanting to commit suicide. There is another: the poet was walking or riding in a cab, his hat flew off. He wanted to catch her, slipped, fell on the window pane and cut his hand deeply. I managed to find documents from which it is clear that Yesenin had a lacerated wound of his left forearm. He didn't have any cut wounds. He himself explained in the hospital that he fell on the glass. It must be remembered that Yesenin never complained about anyone, although he was attacked and beaten repeatedly. I assume that Yesenin was stabbed, but he did not name his offender. It is no coincidence that it was here, in a hospital bed, that he wrote his famous "Letter to Mother". And the words: "They write to me that you, concealing anxiety, ..", were written by him because the first days the state of the poet caused fear among the doctors, and they did not let anyone see him. Relatives and friends who came to the hospital wrote notes to him. Yesenin learned a secret from the attending physician: the GPU and police officers came for him, there is a warrant for arrest. An obligation was received from the doctor that he would inform the police about the time of the poet's discharge. Something had to be done. In order not to let the doctor down, Yesenin was transferred to the Kremlin hospital, from where he was discharged three days later and went into an illegal position. Under the then existing system of informing and espionage, finding Yesenin in Moscow was not a big deal for the valiant knights of the revolution. This time the poet was saved by P. B. Gannushkin, a well-known psychiatrist who treated some proletarian leaders and therefore had great authority in society. Having no formal right to do so, he gave Yesenin a certificate that he was suffering from a serious mental illness, and the poet was left alone for a while. Until September 1924, Yesenin traveled around the cities of the country, appearing in Moscow for several days and disappearing again. Sergei Yesenin, by all accounts, was a brave man who risked his life more than once. And at the same time he was terribly afraid of the GPU and police officers. Almost all of his contemporaries recalled the "unreasonable suspicion" of the poet, which extended not only to strangers, but even to friends and close women. But I can now say with certainty that this constant vigilance averted many troubles from him for the time being. Reading the studies of individual Yesenin scholars, I repeatedly met with statements that S. A. Yesenin sought to the Caucasus and Central Asia in order to study ancient oriental poetry and philosophy there. To some extent, one can agree with this statement. But the main reason for the poet's trips to the Caucasus in 1924-1925 was the desire to hide from the persecution of the authorities. On September 3, 1924, Yesenin, unexpectedly for everyone, even the closest and dearest, leaves Moscow for Baku. Goes there without prior arrangement with anyone. For what? Why so hasty? It is quite clear to me that he fled from the mortal danger that was approaching him. True, he did not have peace in the Caucasus either. Arriving in Baku around September 6-7, he ran into Blumkin, a well-known provocateur, the murderer of the German ambassador Mirbach. After this monstrous action, Blumkin was in the shadows for some time, but then he again found himself in a responsible job in the GPU and headed the department for influencing Asian countries. Using the patronage of Trotsky and other leaders, Blumkin could commit any atrocity. Here he threatened Yesenin with a pistol. There was a version that Blumkin was jealous of the poet for his wife. This version is untenable, since she lived in Moscow at that time. The poet, leaving his things, left for Tiflis. On September 20, he returned to Baku, acquiring a pistol. The editor-in-chief of the Baku Rabochiy newspaper and the secretary of the Bolshevik Party of Azerbaijan P. I. Chagin took the poet under his protection. Yesenin was constantly under guard. He stayed in the Caucasus until the end of February and returned to Moscow on March 1, 1925, having stayed in the south for six months, on March 27, Yesenin, unexpectedly for everyone, "drove off to Baku." What made Yesenin again leave the capital, where he had a lot to do with the publication of new poems? As it has now become known, the GPU organized a major provocation against a group of writers, artists and artists. "Friendly" feasts were arranged through figureheads, where wine flowed like water and talk began about the perfidy of the Bolsheviks. At one such meeting, the poet Alexei Ganin, instigated by a GPU agent, even wrote a proposed list of ministers of the new government and named Sergei Yesenin Minister of Education. Upon learning of this, Yesenin flared up, demanded to cross out his last name and advised not to do such things. Ganin immediately, on a table in a cafe, instead entered the 18-year-old poet Ivan Pribludny. It all felt like child's play. According to his personal qualities, Alexei Ganin could not organize a meeting of friends, let alone create a political association. But he hated the leaders of the Bolshevik Party. He was not forgiven either for this or for the "case of the four poets." In August 1924, the Chekists launched a secret operation against Ganin and his friends. It was necessary to prepare the exposure of the underground counter-revolutionary organization, which set as its goal the overthrow of Soviet power through terror and sabotage. With exceptional meanness, the employees of the GPU collected anonymous denunciations of their informants, carried out combinations, planted incriminating documents. Ganin's poems were not published. He got a typographic font somewhere (perhaps the GPU officers had specially planted it on him) and printed several brochures with his works. The presence of the font was interpreted as a preparation for the printing of leaflets and appeals. All this was done in order to accuse Ganin and his friends of creating the nucleus of the "Order of Russian Fascists" organization. 14 people were involved in the case. Among them, undoubtedly, were provocateurs, who were subsequently taken away from responsibility. The fifteenth was missing. Did someone warn Yesenin, or did he himself see the danger and hide in the Caucasus? It will be possible to answer this question when it becomes possible to get acquainted with the so far top secret files in the KGB archive. There is an affidavit that Yesenin was summoned to the GPU in the Ganin case. On November 11, 1924, Ganin was arrested in Moscow, in Starokonyushenny lane, building 33, apartment 3. During interrogations, he did not deny meetings, conversations with friends, but claimed that they had no criminal nature. During the investigation, Ganin lost his mind and was placed for examination at the Serbsky Institute. On March 27, 1925, a meeting of the collegium of the GPU on the case of A. Ganin and his friends was scheduled. Psychiatrists recognized the poet Alexei Ganin as mentally ill, insane. However, he was sentenced to death, and on March 30 the sentence was carried out. Yesenin had every reason to stay away from Moscow. In early April, he was attacked by unknown persons in Batumi. In his letters to Benislavskaya, he wrote: "I didn't write in Baku because I was sick... We were robbed by bandits (at Vardin)... When I found myself without a coat, I caught a very cold." In the second letter, he writes that his illness is "the result of the Batumi cold." In June, Yesenin returned to Moscow, but lived in the capital a little, constantly leaving for his homeland in Konstantinov, to his friends and acquaintances in the Moscow region. There was a break with Benislavskaya, he became close to Sophia Tolstaya and left for Baku with her on July 25, where he wrote a lot. On September 6, he was returning by train to Moscow. The diplomatic courier A. Roga, who was riding in the car, made a remark to Yesenin. The poet flared up, rudely answered. Another passenger entered the conflict - Y. Levit. A criminal case was initiated against Yesenin and a trial was being prepared. The intervention of Lunacharsky and other party leaders with the aim of terminating the case did not bring a positive result, Judge Lipkin was preparing the process. Yesenin got drunk. On November 26, on the recommendation of his relatives, he agreed to be admitted to a psychiatric clinic (“they don’t judge crazy people”). According to the condition, the poet had to be treated for two months. However, he soon felt the danger to his life and decided to leave the hospital at an opportunity. After 60 years, I found archival documents of this clinic. I visited the ward where the humiliated and insulted national poet of Russia once languished. On December 21, Yesenin was able to leave the clinic and never returned to it. The attending physician Aronson visited relatives and acquaintances and asked them to persuade the poet to return. On December 22 and 23, Yesenin went to publishing houses, visited A. R. Izryadnova and his son George (Yuri), daughter Tatyana and ex-wife Zinaida Reich, left for Leningrad at night. On December 24, he checked into the International Hotel in room five. The room was on the second floor and was furnished with expensive furniture. Only a few people knew about Yesenin's arrival in Leningrad. He always carefully concealed from everyone where he was leaving. This time I trusted only Vasily Nasedkin, whom I knew from joint studies before the revolution at the Shanyavsky People's University. In addition, Nasedkin became his relative by marrying his sister, Ekaterina Yesenina. Before the trip, Yesenin did not have time to receive a fee and asked Nasedkin to send him money to the address of the Leningrad poet V. Erlich. Arriving at the hotel, Yesenin immediately gathered friends and acquaintances. The Ustinovs lived in the hotel. He knew Georgy Ustinov for a long time, he worked in the Leningrad "Vechernyaya Gazeta", his wife Elizaveta was 10 years younger and did not work. Yesenin always had 8-10 people. He read new poems, talked about his creative and life plans. He did not hide that he was in a psychiatric clinic. He intended to start publishing a literary magazine in Leningrad, and asked to find him an apartment. He talked about the fact that he broke up with Tolstoy, decided to break off close relations with his relatives. By this time, Yesenin was receiving 1,000 rubles a month from the State Publishing House for a collection of poems. Then it was a lot of money. Fees came from other editorial offices and publishing houses, that is, the poet was financially provided with prosperity. He did not see any tragedy in the break with Sophia Tolstaya. In Leningrad, he led a sober lifestyle. Upon arrival, he delivered two half-bottles of champagne to his friends, and in the future there is no information that Yesenin was drunk. The samovar was constantly boiling on the table. The poet widely treated his friends with delicacies bought in the store. It should be noted that December 27 was Christmas, then still celebrated in Russian families. On the occasion of this holiday, alcoholic drinks were not sold, and I managed to find out only one case of a janitor buying five or six bottles of beer for Yesenin and his company. In recent months, Yesenin was afraid of murder and constantly kept someone near him. In the book "The Right to the Song" V. Ehrlich wrote:

"Yesenin stands in the middle of the room, legs apart, and crumples a cigarette. - I can't! Do you understand? Are you my friend or not? Friend? So! I want us to sleep in the same room. Don't you understand? Lord! I say for the hundredth time that they want to kill me! I feel it like a beast! Well, say it! Do you agree? - I agree. - Well, okay! - He's completely sober. ...Two-seater coupe. Getting ready for bed. - Yes "I forgot to tell you! But I was right!" came to your room! Your happiness is that you were not alone, otherwise he would have stabbed you!" - Yes, why is he you? - Oh, so! Nonsense! Well, sleep well. "

Wolf Erlich stayed at the hotel for the first two nights. Perhaps spent the night and the third. December 27, Sunday, Yesenin took a bath in the morning. In the presence of E. Ustinova, he gave V. Erlich a piece of paper. When Ustinova asked permission to read, Yesenin did not allow it. According to Elizabeth and according to Erlich, the poem "Goodbye, my friend, goodbye ..." Ustinova Yesenin said that there was no ink in the room and he wrote the poems in blood. He showed her the hand where she saw fresh scratches. From about two o'clock a festive table was organized in Yesenin's room. They ate a cooked goose, drank tea. There were no alcoholic drinks. The room was attended by: Erlich, Ushakovs, writer Izmailov, Ustinovs, artist Mansurov. The poet Ivan Pribludny came in for a short time, and no one noticed any mental abnormalities in Yesenin. capable of inciting him to commit suicide. By six o'clock in the evening there were three left: Yesenin, Ushakov and Erlich. According to Erlich, at about eight o'clock he went home (Nekrasova street, house 29, apt. 8). Having reached Nevsky Prospekt, he remembered that he had forgotten his briefcase, and returned. Ushakov was gone. Yesenin, calm, sat at the table and looked through manuscripts with poems. Erlich took the briefcase and left. On the morning of December 28, E. Ustinova came to Yesenin's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. She began to knock persistently, no one responded. After some time, V. Erlich came up. The two of them started knocking. Feeling unkind, Elizabeth turned to the hotel manager V. M. Nazarov. He, pretty tinkering, opened the lock and, without looking into the room, left. Ustinova and Erlich entered without noticing anything suspicious. Ustinova walked across the room. Wolf laid his coat on the couch. Ustinova raised her head and saw the hanging corpse of the poet... They quickly left. Nazarov called the police department. Very soon, the district warden N. Gorbov appeared at the scene of the incident, and he drew up the act cited earlier. Now, knowing how Yesenin lived in recent years and days, let's look for answers to all the same questions, which now cannot be avoided. When did death come? Why did the policeman decide that Yesenin had committed suicide? What evidence did he have in order not to assume that the poet was killed and then hanged? After all, the warden saw that "the neck was tightened was not a dead loop" ... Probably, he should have immediately found out who hit the deceased in the face ("a bruise under his left eye") before hanging, why it was burned and much more. .. From the numerous recollections of eyewitnesses, newspaper publications, documents, it can be concluded that all Yesenin's belongings were scattered on the floor, the drawers were open, there were blood stains on the table and in other places. And the clothes on the dead were in disarray, which also testified to the possibility of violence. What did N. Gorbov do? He handed out blank forms of interrogation protocols to V. Erlich. E. Ustinova. G. Ustinov and V. Nazarov, and they wrote whatever they wanted. True, I believe that the testimony of V. Erlich was recorded by the agent of the criminal investigation department F. Ivanov. (Ivanov Fedor Ivanovich, born in 1887, an alcoholic, was dismissed from the police, then reinstated. Later he was sentenced to 8 years in prison and died in camps.) The protocol of V. Erlich's interrogation indicates that he knew Yesenin for about a year and visited him in the room for all four days that the lock in Yesenin's room was opened by a hotel employee, that the key stuck out from the inside of the lock. The question arises, how did Nazarov open the door to the room? Judging by the photographs, the lock on the door was a mortise. In her memoirs, written a few days later, Ustinova indicated that Nazarov opened the door with a master key. It is impossible to open a mortise lock with a key inserted from the inside with a master key. If Nazarov (Nazarov Vasily Mikhailovich, 29 years old, a member of the Russian Communist Party, from the workers, a native of the Tula province) opened the lock with a master key, therefore, there was no key in the lock. Otherwise, Nazarov could unlock the door with a makeshift device. It resembles pliers with sharpened ends to capture the tip of the key. With such devices, apartment thieves open locks closed from the inside with keys left in them. It is even easier to close the lock from the side of the corridor in this way than to open it. In this case, the key will be from the side of the room. If there was no key in the lock, then it is not difficult for the “specialist” to open and close the door with a master key. Nazarov behaves at least strangely. The fifth room belonged to a high category, wealthy people who had expensive things stayed in it. The hotel manager opens the door to strangers and leaves, not caring about the safety of the property, nor about how they will close the room if there is no guest there. This circumstance is also perplexing. The body hung just opposite the door, and it was possible not to notice it only under one condition: the room was dark. Then it becomes clear why Ustinova and Erlich entered the room as if nothing had happened and did not immediately notice the hanged man. To solve the riddle of the Angleterre Hotel, this is a decisive circumstance. In complete darkness, Yesenin would hardly have been able to hang himself. It must have been someone else who turned off the light. (In the course of my research, I received written testimony from the Hermitage researcher V. A. Golovko. They say that before the war he studied at a technical school and their teacher V. V. Shilov confidentially told him the following story. The day before Yesenin's death Shilov agreed with him to meet at the hotel. Shilov knocked for a long time, but no one opened it. He began to wait in the lobby and saw that two men came out of Yesenin's room, closed the door behind them and headed for the exit. Shilov saw how they sat down into the car that was waiting for them and left. And the next day everyone found out about the poet's suicide. Shilov claimed that Yesenin was killed. It is impossible to verify Shilov's allegations, he died at the front.) Immediately after the tragic event, the newspapers reported that there was a doctor at the scene, who named the time of the poet's death: according to some statements, 5-6 hours, according to others - 6-7 hours before the discovery of the corpse. But not a single document or memoir, not a single newspaper gives the name of the doctor or any other information about him. However, it is this statement of the mythical doctor that is accepted as the truth, and all the people of the world believe that the death of the poet occurred at about five o'clock in the morning on December 28, 1925. By the way, this time is very convenient for reinforcing the version of suicide. V. Ehrlich's statement written into the police report that the key to the castle was from inside, coupled with the hour of death, create a certain picture of what HAPPENED in the room, the work of his lonely tenant. And everyone tried to forget that the forensic expert did not confirm this hour of death. Another important point remains unclear. Judging by the act, the dead Yesenin grabbed the pipe. A living person, of course, can keep his arm raised, but when death occurs, it will certainly fall along the body under its own weight. It is logical to assume that death caught the poet in a different, non-vertical position and rigor mortis occurred just then, and only then the body was hung up. It is also completely incomprehensible why the rope tied to a vertical pipe did not move down with the body ... Questions, questions ... Ten years of tireless searches, closing one, multiplied the number of unresolved ones. Here is one of the riddles. Novaya Vechernaya Gazeta wrote: “The poet hung in a noose with a ‘wax face.’ I have seen hundreds of hangmen, but not one of them had a pale face. indicating death from asphyxia. And here's another one. In his memoirs, G. Ustinov cites the words that he heard from the medical examiner: "They say that an autopsy established his instantaneous death from a rupture of the vertebrae." E. Naumov in his monograph noted: "Yesenin died not from suffocation, but from a rupture of the cervical vertebrae." A rupture of the cervical vertebrae in a person can occur from an injury, a careless fall, etc. and not necessarily from hanging. But in the "Memo about Sergei Yesenin", printed in hot pursuit, no longer talks about the rupture of the cervical vertebrae. “It has been established that Yesenin died of asphyxiation, and the loss of blood due to incisions in the veins could, in turn, contribute to fainting. Bloody swelling on the legs indicates that Yesenin hung in a noose for a long time. there was no Yesenin in the brain. According to the experts, Yesenin's corpse hung for about 6-7 hours. " The author of the Memo undoubtedly copied the text from the act of autopsy of the poet's corpse. But why is he talking about several experts? And then the act does not say about 6-7 hours. In Yesenin's case, there is only one act, which served as the basis for the refusal to initiate a criminal case. The signature under the act is Gilyarevsky. (Gilyarovsky Alexander Grigorievich, born in 1870, graduated from the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. After 1925, his fate is unknown, his wife, Vera Dmitrievna, was repressed and also disappeared.) In conclusion about the causes of Yesenin’s death, Gilyarevsky wrote: “On the basis autopsy data, it should be concluded that Yesenin's death was caused by asphyxia produced by squeezing the airways through hanging.Indentation on the forehead could have occurred from pressure during hanging.The dark purple color of the lower extremities, dotted bruises on them indicate that the deceased was in a hanging state for a long time. Wounds on the upper limbs could have been inflicted by the deceased themselves and, as superficial ones, had no effect on death. " There is not a word in the act about the rupture of the vertebrae. Without taking upon ourselves the right to judge the quality of Gilyarevsky's conclusions, one cannot but express doubts that the act was written by Gilyarevsky's hand. (At present, the deed is partly torn to shreds in the most important place, so that each researcher can reconstruct it at his own discretion.) In any case, the identification of the handwriting was not carried out. Doubt about the authenticity of the act is caused by the following. 1) The act is written on a plain sheet of paper without any details confirming that the document belongs to a medical institution. It does not have a registration number, a corner stamp, an official seal, a signature of the head of a hospital department or an expert bureau. 2) The act was written by hand, hastily, with smeared ink that did not have time to dry. Such an important document (concerning not only such a famous person as Yesenin, but also any person), the medical examiner was obliged to draw up in two or more copies. The original is usually sent to the interrogating officer, and a copy must remain in the files of the hospital. 3) The expert was obliged to examine the corpse, indicate the presence of bodily injuries and establish their causal relationship with the onset of death. Yesenin had numerous traces of previous falls. Confirming the presence of a small abrasion under the eye, Gilyarevsky did not indicate the mechanism of its formation. He noted the presence on the forehead of a depressed furrow about 4 centimeters long and one and a half centimeters wide, but did not describe the condition of the skull bones. He said that "the pressure on the forehead could have come from the pressure of hanging," but did not establish whether this injury was intravital or post-mortem. And most importantly, he did not indicate whether this "indentation" could cause the death of the poet or contribute to it, and whether it was formed from a blow with a hard object ... 4) The conclusions in the act do not take into account the full picture of what happened, in particular, nothing is said about the loss of blood dead. 5) The medical examiner notes that "the deceased was hanging for a long time", but does not indicate how many hours. According to the conclusion of Gilyarevsky, the death of the poet could have occurred both two days and one day before the discovery of the corpse. How not to recall again the statement of the imaginary "doctor" about the recent onset of death, by which he misled the participants in the examination. It is possible that if the police knew about the possibility of Yesenin's death, say, 10 hours before the discovery of the corpse, they would have reacted more critically to the testimony of G. Ustinov and V. Erlich. Therefore, the statement that Yesenin died on December 28, 1925, has not been proven by anyone and should not be taken as the truth. 6) The act does not say a word about the burns on the poet's face and the mechanism of their formation.

One gets the impression that the act was written by Gilyarevsky under someone's pressure, without a thorough analysis of what happened. In the materials of the inquiry (in the case of Yesenin) there is a curious document that says little to an outsider, but explains a lot to a practical law enforcement officer.

"Court. medical expert Gilyarevsky. At the same time, a copy of the telephone message No. 374 on the case of the suicide of Count Sergei Yesenin is forwarded to be attached to the case. Appendix: mentioned. Head of the 2nd department of the LGM Khokhlov, head of the inquiry Vergei."

This document, printed on a typewriter, has a pencil inscription: "4p5STUPK", which should be deciphered as follows: "point 5, article 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR". Under this article, at that time, criminal cases were terminated due to the lack of corpus delicti, and based on the materials of the inquiry, they refused to initiate and investigate criminal cases. There is no doubt that the police officers in a veiled form informed A.G. Gilyarevsky that no one would be prosecuted in this case and that he should take their opinion into account. Doubt about the authenticity of the act arises also because I found in the archives an extract on the registration of the death of S. A. Yesenin, issued on December 29, 1925 in the registry office of the Moscow-Narva Soviet. (This information was confirmed by the leadership of the registry office archive in Leningrad.) It contains the documents that served as the basis for issuing a death certificate. In the column "cause of death" it is indicated: "suicide, hanging", and in the column "surname of the doctor" it is written: "forensic doctor Gilyarevsky No. 1017". Consequently, on December 29, Gilyarevsky's medical report under the number 1017 was presented to the registry office, and not what was attached to the case - without a number and other attributions. It should be borne in mind that the registry office will not issue a certificate without the proper execution of the death certificate. Therefore, it can be categorically stated that there was another medical report on the causes of the tragic death of S. A. Yesenin, signed by more than one Gilyarevsky. The well-known version of the conclusion was much more convenient for refusing to initiate criminal proceedings against the murderers. From archival documents it can be seen that the death certificate of S. A. Yesenin was received by V, Erlich. But who represented conclusion No. 1017 in the registry office is unknown. To my inquiry, the administration of the registry office archive of Leningrad replied that they did not have Gilyarevsky's act No. 1017. ("The medical certificate, on the basis of which the record of death was drawn up, was not attached to the act record.") I consider this answer a formal reply. Much can be clarified if the archive workers spare no time and effort and try to find this act. For readers who are poorly informed about the intricacies of criminal procedure, I will explain: only a police officer, investigator, prosecutor or court has the right to conclude what happened at the Angleterre Hotel, the suicide or murder of Yesenin. Whatever conclusions the forensic experts make, the law enforcement agencies have the last word. By the way, the medical examiner Gilyarevsky did not indicate that Yesenin committed suicide. In act No. 1017 of the medical examiner Gilyarevsky, there is an undoubted key to disclosing the death of Yesenin. I received a letter from Gilyarevsky's niece (unfortunately, she hid her last name), in which she says that he was a man of exceptional decency, a real Russian nobleman in the highest sense of the word, and could not go against his conscience in any case. In the descriptive part of the act, he left for us a number of information that allows us to doubt the poet's suicide. "In the stomach (of the deceased. - E. X.) there are about 300 k.s. of a semi-liquid food mixture that emits a mild smell of wine." After analyzing all the data we have about the fateful day of Yesenin's life, we can state that the last time the poet ate food was from 14 to 18 hours. He drank beer, ate bread, pistachio nuts, and other fast-digesting foods. There was no vodka or wine. Based on modern scientific data, forensic experts say that Yesenin's death occurred no later than 3-4 hours after eating, therefore, on the evening of December 27, 1925.

Gilyarevsky also wrote: "...the loops of the intestines are red", "...the lower limbs are dark purple, dark red petechial hemorrhages are visible on the shins in the skin." Both details, according to modern forensic experts, indicate that the body was in an upright position for at least a day. Despite the time distance, it would be possible to conduct an investigative experiment even now. But the former leadership of Leningrad came up with an extravagant (or quite conscious?) idea to demolish the building of the former Angleterre hotel. Despite the protests of the residents, in broad daylight, the authorities razed the historic building from the face of the earth. Let Petersburg hide one more bad deed in memory. Who, in this case, established Yesenin's suicide? As sad as it is to admit, the newspapermen did it. The death of the poet could be reported in the evening newspapers, but this was not done. Devoting a lot of space on their pages to incidents and court chronicles, neither the evening newspapers of December 28 nor the morning newspapers of December 29 took the tragedy in Angleterre, although all of Leningrad was talking about what had happened. But on the other hand, already in the evening newspapers of that day, without yet having Gilyarevsky's conclusions, the journalists announced the poet's suicide. Apparently, they were waiting for the command of the authorities, and when they received the "go-ahead", they vied with each other to come up with the details of Yesenin's death. The memoirs of friends, acquaintances, eyewitnesses, in which they enthusiastically spoke about Yesenin's drunken courage, previous suicide attempts, about his humiliation of his wife, about treatment in psychiatric hospitals, enjoyed special attention of editors and publishers. Persistently and methodically formed among the people the belief that he was a drunkard, rowdy, schizophrenic, who had no choice but to hang himself. Shortly before his death, Yesenin wrote an article “Russians”, which was never published: “There was no more disgusting and foul time in literary life than the time in which we live. the arena of literature of revolutionary sergeants who have services to the proletariat, but not at all to art ... "Wishing to explain the reason for his suicide, the poet's enemies took the simplest path and began to look for an answer in his own poems, that is, they replaced the everyday biography with a poetic biography, which are not always identical. The words about death in Yesenin's poems were used as evidence against him. In contrast to the newsmen, the employees of the 2nd police department of Leningrad behaved more restrainedly and prudently. They waited for the end of the XIV Party Congress, the reaction of the public, friends, relatives of the poet, and only after that they made a decision on Yesenin's case. Without carrying out any investigative actions, at the inquiry table, Vergei only wrote a conclusion on January 20, 1926, in which he did not provide any evidence confirming Yesenin's suicide. Here's how he got out:

“Based on the foregoing, without seeing the elements of a crime in the causes of death of Count Yesenin, I would think: The material of the inquiry in the order of paragraph 5 of article 4 of the Criminal Code should be sent to the successor of the 2nd department of the city of Leningrad - for termination due to the absence of corpus delicti. 20 January 1926. At the interrogation table Vergei, I agree: head of the 2nd department LGM (Khokhlov)." Investigator Brodsky, also without conducting any investigation, agreed with the conclusion of Vergei and Khokhlov. Let us pay attention to the fact that the resolution does not indicate that Yesenin committed suicide. Therefore, it is appropriate to ask the question: in the actions of which persons or persons there is no corpus delicti? All criminal cases provoked against Yesenin were terminated, and the decision to arrest was canceled only after his death - on December 30, 1925. This is how the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin was procured. The poet was arrested ten times and prosecuted. Only in Lubyanka he was illegally detained five times. Provocateurs from the Cheka, and then the GPU, did everything to destroy the poet "legitimately", One by one, his friends were killed in the cellars of the Lubyanka ... And on December 28, 1925, he himself was found hanged in the Angleterre Hotel. The trace from the rope on the neck was only under the chin, which indicated that they were strangling from behind. There were intravital injuries on the body and face. A crime was committed against the great poet of Russia, and no one has yet been punished for him.

From the Editor: In connection with the recent anniversary - the 65th anniversary of the death of Sergei Yesenin - a lot of publications dedicated to the poet were published in the press and on television. Some provided indirect evidence of the violent death of the poet. But none of them claimed that he committed suicide. So, in two or three years, a version burst that no one questioned for more than six decades. However, all attempts by Eduard Khlystalov to bring the investigation of the crime to the end are met with resistance from the relevant departments so far he is not given access to archival materials. The veil of secrecy over the tragic events has not been completely dispelled.

On December 28, 1925, a terrible tragedy occurred in snowy Leningrad. In the prime of life, Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin, a poetic icon of those times, a golden-haired thief of women's hearts, a writer from God, passed away. He was called the best poet of the still young Soviet Republic. Arriving from the village, being a native of peasants, he became the "singer" of the Russian village. With the direct participation of Yesenin, a new literary movement, Imagism, saw the light, and the "Order of Imagists" was subsequently founded.

Yesenin's body was found 3 days before the New Year 1926 in the Angleterre Hotel, in the very center of Leningrad. He died at the age of 30, having not really seen life, but having done a lot. Until today, Russian and foreign historians and literary biographers cannot agree on the main question - did Yesenin commit suicide or was he killed? There are several versions of this, which we will consider.

The first, of course, is suicide. Many are sure that Yesenin hanged himself, unable to withstand the hardships of life and failures in his personal life. Creative people are generally depressed, the poet was no exception. According to contemporaries, his own works sometimes seemed faded to him, he suffered from an existential crisis, did not see his own path in life. In addition, Sergei was clearly unlucky in love. Or maybe numerous "loves" were unlucky with him. He was married three times and all marriages eventually fell apart.

On July 30, 1917, Yesenin married his first wife, the beautiful Zinaida Reich. However, already on October 5, 1921, the poet himself took the initiative to terminate the union. Zinaida bore Sergey two children - Tatyana and Konstantin.

The second marriage between Yesenin and Isadora Duncan is the most famous. A bright couple, two strong personalities - such unions are often doomed to failure. This is what happened in this case as well. In addition, Isadora was 18 years older than Sergei. The partners were seized with passion, the relationship was like a volcanic eruption. Their acquaintances recalled the couple's constant scandals and a stormy showdown. The American dancer was temperamental, Yesenin also did not differ in complaisance. In addition, he abused alcohol and a riotous lifestyle. Having married in 1922, the couple divorced in 1924. For Yesenin, this was a severe blow.

The last wife of the poet was the granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy Sofya Tolstaya. Initially, there was tenderness between them, but after the wedding in the summer of 1925, Sergei takes up the old: constant drinking, spree, leaving home. In the autumn of 1925, a couple of months after the wedding, Yesenin went on a long binge, which ended in a psychiatric hospital.

It is impossible not to say that the poet was from that "breed" of men who cannot remain faithful to one lady of the heart for a long time. Yesenin was often seen in the company of girls of easy virtue, he called them "roses". There are also rumors that the poet was bisexual, entering into intimate relationships with men. Adherents of the version of the poet's suicide all of the above and call the reason to climb into the noose. However, there are irrefutable facts that cross out suicide.

It is enough to look at the posthumous photos of the poet and read the conclusions of the forensic medical examination. The MUR investigator, Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Eduard Aleksandrovich Khlystalov, took up the investigation into the death of Sergei Yesenin. With his filing in the Soviet press in 1989, the first publications appeared that the great Russian poet Yesenin was killed, and the fact of suicide was inspired. Here are some excerpts from Khlystalov's articles. Someone sent the colonel two posthumous photographs of Yesenin. Since this all started.

Who and why sent me these pictures remains a mystery. Busy with current affairs, I threw the photos in my desk drawer and forgot about them. When, two or three years later, I again stumbled upon these pictures, I suddenly noticed that the right hand of the dead Yesenin was not stretched along the body, as it should be with the hanged man, but raised up. On the forehead of the corpse, between the eyebrows, one could see a wide and deep dent. Taking a magnifying glass, I found under the right eyebrow a dark round spot, very similar to a penetrating wound. At the same time, there were no signs that corpses almost always have during hanging. Why is the strangulation furrow not visible in the late Yesenin? It does not disappear on the neck of the hanged man, it has a pronounced red-violet color.

Forensic experts recorded deep cuts on the poet's right hand. The accepted explanation is that the poet cut his veins in order to write with blood the last poem (Goodbye, my friend), which was immediately dubbed dying. Khlystalov doubted whether a man could inflict such deep cuts on himself. Yesenin was right-handed, why did he cut his right hand? At the same time, it has not been scientifically proven that the last poem was written in blood (this was said by the poet Erlich, who was the last to see Yesenin alive). Perhaps he is related to the death of the poet?

With the help of his official position, Khlystalov "raised" facts previously unknown to the general public.

The chronicle of Yesenin's life testifies that the last time before the death of the poet was not left alone by the Chekists: Yesenin's contemporaries wrote in their memoirs that they often had to run around the doorways with the poet in order to break away.

13 criminal cases were fabricated against Yesenin. According to one version, the poet ended up in a mental hospital not because of problems with alcohol or his last wife Sofya Tolstaya, but friends helped him in this in order to hide from the persecution of the Cheka.

Khlystalov names specific names.

There was a version that the murder of Yesenin was committed by the alleged killers - Chekist Blumkin (a friend of the poet), and the customer - Trotsky.

Perhaps the murder was not planned and happened by accident. Perhaps they wanted to scare him, but they killed him.

Two at once fell on one Yesenin, sat him on a chair, threw a noose around his neck. Yesenin grabbed the rope with his right hand. Blyumkin with a revolver from the whole swing of the handle in the face ... So the causes of post-mortem injuries in the photo emerge.

However, be that as it may, the version of suicide is considered official. It is followed by most people who are not indifferent to the poet. But it's impossible to say anything 100%. The events of that distant day, December 28, 1925, are long in the past, there are no material evidence, no witnesses, nor the state of the USSR itself.

By the way, the fate of the beloved women of Sergei Yesenin also developed in a tragic way.

The first wife, Zinaida Reich, was brutally murdered on the night of July 15, 1939 by unknown people. They entered her Moscow apartment in Bryusov Lane at night, attacked and inflicted seventeen stab wounds on her. The criminals remained incognito - they were not found.

Yesenin's second wife, his passionate love Isadora Duncan, died in 1927. Death was stupid and unjustified, they say about this - fate. The woman tied a scarf around her neck and decided to take a ride in a car. Starting, the car suddenly stopped, as did Isadora's breathing. The scarf caught in the axle of the wheel and, dragging on, broke her neck.

Another beloved and, not least, Yesenin's madly loving journalist Galina Benislavskaya shot herself at the poet's grave at the Vagankovsky cemetery in December 1926, a year after his death. Galina left a note: “December 3, 1926. I killed myself here, although I know that after that even more dogs will hang on Yesenin ... But it doesn’t matter to him or me. In this grave for me all the most precious .... ". Yesenin lived with Galina Benislavskaya until he met Isadora Duncan.

The last, dying verse of Sergei Yesenin:

Goodbye my friend, goodbye.

My dear, you are in my chest.

Destined parting

Promises to meet in the future.

Goodbye, my friend, without a hand, without a word,

Do not be sad and do not sadness of the eyebrows, -

In this life, dying is not new,

But to live, of course, is not newer.

Photos used in the material: aif.ru, BigPicture, epochtimes.ru, esenin.ru, liveinternet.ru, myslo.ru, playcast.ru, ruspekh.ru.

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Sergey Yesenin. The name of the great Russian poet - a connoisseur of the people's soul, a singer of peasant Rus', is familiar to every person, poems have long become Russian classics, and admirers of his work gather on Sergei Yesenin's birthday.

early years

September 21, 1895, in the village of Konstantinovo, Ryazan province, Sergey Alexandrovich Yesenin, an outstanding Russian poet with a tragic, but very eventful fate, was born. Three days later he was baptized in the local church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Father and mother were of peasant origin. From the very beginning, their marriage union was, to put it mildly, not very good, more precisely, they were completely different people.

Almost immediately after the wedding, Alexander Yesenin (father of the poet) returned to Moscow, where he began working in a butcher's shop. Sergei's mother, in turn, not getting along with her husband's relatives, returned to her father's house, in which he spent the first years of his life. It was his maternal grandfather and grandmother who pushed him to write his first poems, because after his father, the young poet was left by his mother, who went to work in Ryazan. Yesenin's grandfather was a well-read and educated person, he knew many church books, and his grandmother had extensive knowledge in the field of folklore, which had a beneficial effect on the young man's early education.

Education

In September 1904, Sergei entered the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School, where he studied for 5 years, although the training was supposed to last a year less. This was due to the bad behavior of young Seryozha in the third grade. During training, he returns to his father's house with his mother. At the end of the college, the future poet receives a commendation sheet.

In the same year, he successfully passed the exams for admission to the parochial teacher's school in the village of Spas-Klepiki in his native province. For the duration of his studies, Sergei settled there, coming to Konstantinovskoye only during the holidays. It was at the school for the training of rural teachers that Sergei Alexandrovich began to write poetry regularly. The first works date back to the beginning of December 1910. In a week there are: "The onset of spring", "Autumn", "Winter", "To friends". Before the end of the year, Yesenin manages to write a whole series of poems.

In 1912 he graduated from school and received a diploma in the specialty "school teacher of literacy."

Moving to Moscow

After graduation, Sergei Alexandrovich leaves his native land and moves to Moscow. There he gets a job in Krylov's butcher's shop. He begins to live in the same house as his father, on Bolshoy Strochenovsky Lane, now the Yesenin Museum is located here. At first, Yesenin's father was glad for his son's arrival, sincerely hoping that he would become a support for him and help him in everything, but after working for some time in the shop, Sergei told his father that he wanted to become a poet and began to look for a job to his liking.

First, he distributes the social-democratic magazine "Lights", with the intention of being published in it, but these plans were not destined to come true, since the magazine was soon closed. After that, he gets a job as an assistant proofreader in the printing house of I.D. Sytin. It was here that Yesenin met Anna Izryadnova, who would later become his first civilian wife. Almost simultaneously with this, he enters the student at the Moscow City People's University. Shanyavsky for the historical and philological cycle, but almost immediately abandons him. Work in the printing house allowed the young poet to read many books, made it possible to become a member of the literary and musical Surikov circle.

The first civil wife of the poet, Anna Izryadnova, describes Yesenin of those years as follows:

He was known as a leader, attended meetings, distributed illegal literature. He pounced on books, read all his free time, spent all his salary on books, magazines, did not at all think about how to live ...

The heyday of a poet's career

At the beginning of the 14th year, the first known material of Yesenin was published in the Mirok magazine. The verse "Birch" was printed. In February, the magazine publishes a number of his poems. In May of the same year, Yesenin began to print the Bolshevik newspaper "The Way of Truth".

In September, the poet again changes his job, this time becoming a proofreader in the Chernyshev and Kobelkov trading house. In October, the Protalinka magazine publishes the poem "Mother's Prayer" dedicated to the First World War. At the end of the year, Yesenin and Izryadnova give birth to their first and only child, Yuri.

Unfortunately, his life will end early enough, in 1937 Yuri will be shot, and as it turns out later, on false charges brought against him.

After the birth of his son, Sergei Alexandrovich leaves work in a trading house.

At the beginning of the 15th year, Yesenin continues to be actively published in the magazines "Friend of the People", "Mirok", etc. He works free of charge as a secretary in a literary and musical circle, after which he becomes a member of the editorial commission, but leaves it due to disagreements with other members of the commission on the selection of materials for the magazine "Friend of the People". In February, his first well-known article on the literary theme "Yaroslavna cry" is published in the journal "Women's Life".

In March of the same year, during a trip to Petrograd, Yesenin met Alexander Blok, to whom he read his poems in his apartment. After that, he actively acquaints many famous and respected people of that time with his work, along the way making profitable acquaintances with them, among them Dobrovolsky A.A., Rozhdestvensky V.A. Sologub F.K. and many others. As a result, Yesenin's poems were published in a number of magazines, which contributed to the growth of his popularity.

In 1916, Sergei entered the military service and in the same year published a collection of poems "Radunitsa", which made him famous. The poet began to be invited to speak before the Empress in Tsarskoye Selo. At one of these performances, she gives him a gold watch with a chain, on which the state coat of arms was depicted.

Zinaida Reich

In 1917, while in the editorial office of Delo Naroda, Yesenin met the assistant secretary, Zinaida Reich, a woman of a very good mind who spoke several languages ​​and typescript. The love between them did not arise at first sight. It all started with walks around Petrograd with their mutual friend Alexei Ganin. Initially, they were competitors and at some point a friend was even considered a favorite, until Yesenin confessed his love to Zinaida, after a short hesitation, she reciprocated, it was immediately decided to get married.

At that moment, young people experienced serious financial problems. They solved the problem of money with the help of Reich's parents, sending them a telegram asking them to send them funds for the wedding. No questions asked, the money was received. The young people got married in a small church, Yesenin picked wild flowers and made a wedding bouquet out of them. Their friend Ganin acted as a witness.

However, from the very beginning, their marriage went wrong, on their wedding night, Yesenin learns that his beloved wife was not innocent, and had already shared a bed with someone before him. This touched the poet deeply. At that moment, blood surged in Sergey, and a deep resentment settled in his heart. After returning to Petrograd, they began to live separately, and only two weeks later, after a trip to her parents, they begin to live together.

Perhaps, being reinsured, Yesenin forces his wife to leave work from the editorial office, and like any woman of that time, she had to obey, since by that time the financial situation of the family had improved, because Sergei Alexandrovich had already become a famous poet with good fees. And Zinaida decided to get a job as a typist in the People's Commissariat.

For some time, a family idyll was established between the spouses. There were many guests in their house, Sergei arranged receptions for them, he really liked the role of a respectable host. But it was at this moment that problems began to appear that greatly changed the poet. He was overcome by jealousy, to this were added problems with alcohol. Once, having discovered a gift from an unknown admirer, he made a scandal, while obscenely insulting Zinaida, they later reconciled, but they could not return to their previous relationship. Their quarrels began to occur more and more often, with mutual insults.

After the family moved to Moscow, the problems did not go away, but, on the contrary, intensified, that homely comfort, friends who supported, disappeared, instead, the four walls of a seedy hotel room. To all this was added a quarrel with his wife about the birth of children, after which she decided to leave the capital and go to Orel to her parents. Yesenin drowned out the bitterness of parting with alcohol.

In the summer of 1918, their daughter was born, who was named Tatyana. But the birth of a child did not help strengthen the relationship between Yesenin and Reich. Due to rare meetings, the girl did not become attached to her father at all, and in this he saw the “intrigues” of his mother. Sergei Aleksandrovich himself believed that his marriage had already ended then, but officially it lasted for several more years. In 1919, the poet made attempts to renew relations and even sent money to Zinaida.

Reich decided to return to the capital, but the relationship again did not stick. Then Zinaida decided to take everything into her own hands and, without the consent of her husband, give birth to a second child. This became a fatal mistake. In February 1920, their son is born, but not at the birth, nor after them, the poet is not present. The name of the boy is chosen during a telephone conversation, they stop at Konstantin. Yesenin met his son on the train when he and Reich accidentally crossed paths in one of the cities. In 1921, their marriage was officially annulled.

Imagism

In 1918, Yesenin met Anatoly Mariengof, one of the founders of Imagism. Over time, the poet will join this movement. During the period of passion for this direction, he will write a number of collections, including Treryadnitsa, Poems of a Brawler, Confessions of a Hooligan, Moscow Tavern, and the poem Pugachev.

Yesenin greatly helped the formation of Imagism in the literature of the Silver Age. Due to participation in the actions of the Imagists, he was arrested. At the same time, he had a conflict with Lunacharsky, who was dissatisfied with his work.

Isadora Duncan

Two days before receiving an official divorce from Zinaida Reich, at one of the evenings in the house of the artist Yakulov, Yesenin met the famous dancer Isadora Duncan, who came to open her dance school in our country. She did not know Russian, her vocabulary consisted of only a couple of dozen words, but this did not prevent the poet from falling in love with the dancer at first sight and receiving a passionate kiss from her on the same day.

By the way, Duncan was 18 years older than her boyfriend. But neither the language barrier nor the age difference prevented Yesenin from moving to the mansion on Prechistenka, where the dancer lived.

Soon Duncan was no longer satisfied with the way her career was developing in the Soviet Union, and she decided to return to her homeland - to the United States. Isadora wanted Sergei to follow her, but bureaucratic procedures prevented this. Yesenin had problems getting a visa, and in order to get it, they decided to get married.

The very process of marriage took place in the Khamovnichesky registry office of the city of Moscow. On the eve of this, Isadora asked to correct the year of her birth, so as not to embarrass her future husband, he agreed.

On May 2, the marriage ceremony took place, in the same month the couple left the Soviet Union and went on tour Yesenina-Duncan (both spouses took this surname) first to Western Europe, after which they were supposed to go to the USA.

The relationship of the newlyweds did not develop from the very beginning of the trip. Yesenin got used to a special attitude in Russia and to his popularity, they immediately perceived him as the wife of the great dancer Duncan.

In Europe, the poet again has problems with alcohol and jealousy. Quite drunk, Sergei began to insult his wife, roughly grabbing, sometimes beating. Once Isadora even had to call the police to calm down the raging Yesenin. Each time, after quarrels and beatings, Duncan forgave Yesenin, but this not only did not cool his ardor, but, on the contrary, warmed him up. The poet began to speak contemptuously about his wife among friends.

In August 1923, Yesenin and his wife returned to Moscow, but even here their relationship did not go well. And already in October, he sends a telegram to Duncan about the final break in their relationship.

Final years and death

After parting with Isadora Duncan, Yesenin's life slowly rolled downhill. Regular alcohol consumption, nervous breakdowns caused by the poet's public persecution in the press, constant arrests and interrogations, all this greatly undermined the poet's health.

In November 1925, he was even admitted to the Moscow State University clinic for patients with nervous disorders. Over the past 5 years of his life, 13 criminal cases were brought against Sergei Yesenin, some of which were fabricated, for example, charges of anti-Semitism, and the other part was related to hooliganism on alcohol grounds.

Yesenin's work during this period of his life became more philosophical, he rethinks many things. The poems of this time are filled with musicality and light. The death of his friend Alexander Shiryaevts in 1924 encourages him to see the good in simple things. Such changes help the poet to resolve the intrapersonal conflict.

Personal life was also far from ideal. After parting with Duncan, Yesenin settled with Galina Benislavskaya, who had feelings for the poet. Galina loved Sergey very much, but he did not appreciate this, he constantly drank, made scenes. Benislavskaya, on the other hand, forgave everything, every day she was nearby, pulled him out of various taverns, where drinking companions soldered the poet at his own expense. But this union did not last long. Having left for the Caucasus, Yesenin marries Tolstoy's granddaughter, Sophia. Having learned this, Benislavskaya goes to the physio-dietary sanatorium named after. Semashko with a nervous breakdown. Later, after the death of the poet, she committed suicide on his grave. In her suicide note, she wrote that Yesenin's grave contains all the most precious things in her life.

In March 1925, Yesenin met Sofya Tolstaya (Leo Tolstoy's granddaughter) at one of the evenings in the house of Galina Benislavskaya, where many poets gathered. Sofya came along with Boris Pilnyak and stayed there until late in the evening. Yesenin volunteered to see her off, but instead they walked for a long time around Moscow at night. After Sophia admitted that this meeting decided her fate and gave the greatest love of her life. She fell in love with him at first sight.

After this walk, Yesenin often began to appear in the Tolstoy house, and already in June 1925 he moved to Pomerantsevy Lane to Sofya. Once, walking along one of the boulevards, they met a gypsy with a parrot, who predicted their wedding, while the parrot took out a copper ring during fortune-telling, Yesenin immediately presented it to Sofya. She was extremely happy with this ring and wore it for the rest of her life.

On September 18, 1925, Sergei Alexandrovich enters into his last marriage, which will not last very long. Sophia was glad, like a little girl, Yesenin was also glad, boasting that he had married the granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy. But the relatives of Sofya Andreevna were not very happy with her choice. Immediately after the wedding, the poet's constant binges, leaving home, spree and hospitals continued, but Sophia fought to the last for her beloved.

In the autumn of the same year, a long binge ended with Yesenin's hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital, where he spent a month. After his release, Tolstaya wrote to her relatives so that they would not condemn him, because in spite of everything she loves him, and he makes her happy.

After leaving the psychiatric hospital, Sergei leaves Moscow for Leningrad, where he settles in the Angleterre Hotel. He meets with a number of writers, including Klyuev, Ustinov, Pribludny and others. And on the night of December 27-28, according to the official version of the investigation, he commits suicide by hanging himself on a central heating pipe with a rope. His suicide note read: "Goodbye my friend, goodbye."

The investigating authorities refused to open a criminal case, citing the depressive state of the poet. However, many experts, both of that time and contemporaries, are inclined to the version of Yesenin's violent death. These doubts arose because of an incorrectly drawn up act of examining the place of suicide. Independent experts found traces of violent death on the body: scratches and cuts that were not taken into account.

When analyzing the documents of those years, other inconsistencies were also discovered, for example, that one cannot hang oneself on a vertical pipe. The commission created in 1989, after conducting a serious investigation, came to the conclusion that the poet's death was natural - from strangulation, refuting all the speculation that was very popular in the 70s in the Soviet Union.

After the autopsy, Yesenin's body was taken by train from Leningrad to Moscow, where on December 31, 1925 the poet was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. At the time of his death, he was only 30 years old. They said goodbye to Yesenin in the Moscow Press House, thousands of people came there, despite the December frosts. The grave is still there, and anyone can visit it.