Poet and executioners

January 15 - Birthday of the poet Osip Mandelstam

Once upon a time, the poet Wilhelm Kuchelbeker wrote: “Gorky is the fate of the poets of all tribes; Fate executes Russia heavier. ” The life of Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938) is fully consistent with the thoughts of the famous decabrist writer.

At one time, the Mandelstam society (Moscow) has published a book on the persecution and death of the poet*, collecting and commenting on documents from the special department of the police department, counterintelligence of the Russian army, the investigative cases of the OGPU, and then the NKVD ...

It seems that the poet had a special gift to attract misfortunes in the person of any special services. And it seems he felt it himself. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Mandelstam was panicky (before the half -fainting state) was afraid of police officers, and then policemen (even guide controllers). And if Mandelstam never found out about the interest in his own person by the police (there was a collection of information in connection with suspicion of anti -government activity), then the arrest was quite natural: Mandelstam arrived in Crimea from the territory occupied by the Reds. Again there was only a suspicion, this time, however, in "belonging to the party of the Bolshevik-communists and in his participation in the activities of the Extraordinary Commission of this party in Feodosia." How logical and release is: "This is not a suspicion of investigations and surveys in the case."

Under the Communists, such “vegetarianism” could not be. Dzerzhinets Yakov Agranov, a second person in the OGPU, personally oversaw the intelligentsia. It was his conscience that was the execution of Nikolai Gumilyov. Actually, the arrest was carried out by the operative Sergey Veprintsev, who would subsequently arrest Boris Pilnyak (the latter did not help cooperation with the Chekists and the implementation of some “delicate” instructions). The first investigation against Osip Mandelstam in 1934 was led by Nikolai Shivarov, a genuine “literary critic in uniform”. At different times, he conducted the affairs of such “seasoned enemies of the people” as Nikolai Erdman, Nikolai Klyuyev, Pavel Vasiliev, and also made up the dossier at Maxim Gorky and Andrei Platonov.

What was the poet accused of? Naturally, he was persecuted for poems that recorded the state of society and the feelings of the poet (“My age, my beast, who will be able to look into your pupils”), for the satire on the “Kremlin highlander”. For a totalitarian society, by the seven -mini steps approaching Orwell described in “1984”, the ships over “thought -crushing”, composed (and read) lines were enough.

It is interesting that if Mandelstam found himself guilty in 1934 (if you can seriously consider such “confessions”), then when repeated in 1937 he did not sign any confession (however, at that time they were no longer needed).

The book also discusses the rehabilitation process. The executioners and their victims were rehabilitated almost simultaneously: both Agranov and Shivarov and Mandelstam with Pilnyak ... of course, “in the absence of a crime” ...

At one time, Alexander Solzhenitsyn rhetorically reasoned that "there are many ways to kill the poet." The fate of Mandelstam offers several options for execution of the poet. To choose from ...

First published in NT No. 42 of December 13, 2010

* Pavel Nerlaler, "Word and" Delo "Osip Mandelstam." M., 2010