Trubetskoy, Vladimir Sergeevich

Family and Childhood

Vladimir Sergeevich Trubetskoy was born into the family of the owners of the Akhtyrka estate, combining the best traditions of an enlightened Russian nobility and the Russian liberal intelligentsia. His father, Sergey Nikolaevich (1862-1905), was a professor and the first elected rector of Moscow University ; his mother, Praskovya Vladimirovna (1860-1914), nee Princess Obolenskaya, was a well-educated person.

As a child, Trubetskoy early discovered an interest in theater and music. Unlike his older brother, the philologist N. S. Trubetskoy ( 1890 - 1938 ), Trubetskoy did not follow in his father’s footsteps, preferring the career of a military man to the career of a scientist.

Fleet and Guard

Without having studied half a year at the Physics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University , where he entered after graduating from gymnasium, Trubetskoy got a job as a cabin boy on the destroyer Rider , which was an escort of the imperial yacht Standard . Although Trubetskoy was passionately devoted to the sea and navy , his whole life changed his love for Princess Elizabeth Vladimirovna Golitsyna , daughter of the Moscow mayor of Prince V. M. Golitsyn . As Trubetskoy himself recalled,

I had to decide on one thing and put my beloved girl and beloved sea on the scales. There could be no compromise solution. However, the very idea of ​​some scales in this matter seemed to me something mean-spirited. It was impossible to hesitate: our feeling went too far - we were too friendly with the bride - and I refused the sea .

On the advice of his uncle, Count A.P. Kapnist, Trubetskoy decided to leave the fleet for the sake of the army and in 1911 entered as a volunteer guards , where he later became an officer of the Life Guard of the Cuirassier Her Majesty Regiment . The period of preparation for the production of officers is described by Trubetskoy in the remaining chapters of his autobiography "Notes of the cuirassier."

In 1912, Vladimir Sergeevich married Elizabeth Vladimirovna Golitsyna (1889–1943), the daughter of Vladimir Mikhailovich Golitsyn . Children: Barbara, Gregory, Andrei, Alexandra, Vladimir, Irina, Sergey, Georgy.

World War I

At the very beginning of World War I , for the courage shown in the battle of Gumbinnene (see also the Battle of Gumbinnene ), Trubetskoy was awarded the Cross of St. George . He was wounded, in 1915 entered the service of the headquarters of the South-Western Front to General Brusilov . From Brusilov Trubetskoy receives the appointment of the commander of the first in Russia a separate automotive unit. In this position, Trubetskoy led the rescue of the treasury of the Romanian allies, when the German troops were already entering Bucharest .

Revolution

After the revolution of 1917 , he was a member of a conspiratorial monarchical organization, and participated in one of the first attempts to liberate the king.

In 1920, Trubetskoy was drafted into the Red Army . Under the patronage of Brusilov, he was assigned to the Southern Front Headquarters in Orel . On the way to the place of service, Trubetskoy drove to the family, who then lived in Bogoroditsk with relatives of the Bobrinsky , to give his ration. In Bogoroditsk, Trubetskoy was arrested, but the tuberculosis that had opened up in prison contributed first to liberation and then demobilization.

Literary debut. "The Adventures of Bochonkin and Horsetail"

To feed his family, Trubetskoy hunts and tries his hand at the theatrical field: he enjoyed the success of the audience of the Bogkaccio operetta written by him based on the stories. Popular in the late 20s, the "hunting and humorous" stories of Trubetskoy will be based on the events of this period in the life of the author.

In 1923 , the Trubetskoye moved to Sergiev Posad , where by that time a peculiar colony of “deprived people” had already formed. In 1926, Trubetskoy met Mikhail Prishvin , with whom he was brought together by a common love of hunting (disguised as “musician T.” Trubetskoy was launched in Prishvina’s “Crane Homeland”). Prishvin encouraged the literary talent of his new acquaintance; in 1927 Trubetsky's debut story, The Precious Jackdaw , was published in the 4th issue of the World Pathfinder magazine. Since the brother-in-law of Trubetskoy, the artist Prince Vladimir Mikhailovich Golitsyn, already actively cooperated with the World Tracker, the story of Trubetskoy was published under the pseudonym “V. Vetov ", formed from the diminutive form of the name of the wife of the writer.

The “Precious Galka” marked the beginning of both Trubetskoy’s writing career and his collaboration with the World Pathfinder magazine edited by V.A. Popov . The stories, stories and travel sketches of Trubetskoy did not lose at all from the neighborhood with the works of such adventure genre masters as A. Belyaev , A. Green , L. Gumilevsky , M. Prishvin , V. Yang and others. The debut publication in the World Pathfinder inspired Trubetskoy to create a whole series of humorous stories, which began to go under the general title "The Extraordinary Adventures of Bochonkin and Horsetail". The popularity of the stories and essays of Vetov is undoubtedly due to the fact that they were published in the design of the permanent employee of the “World Pathfinder” V. M. Golitsyn.

In 1932, the “World Pathfinder” was closed “for a harmful adventure orientation”, and in 1934 , Trubetskoy, the brother of one of the ideologists of the “Eurasianism”, the emigrant N.S. Trubetskoy, was arrested on charges in connection with the leaders of the “back-to-back center” of a certain “national fascist organization” (the Slavic case ). Together with Trubetskoy, his daughter Varvara ( 1917 - 1937 ) was also arrested; both father and daughter were sentenced to five years of exile, after which Trubetskoy, his wife and six children were forced to move to Andijan , the Uzbek SSR .

Link to Uzbekistan. Cuirassier's Notes

In Andijan, Trubetskoy works as a musician in a ballet studio and works as a tapper in a cafe-restaurant. The published correspondence with V. M. Golitsyn testifies to both the nostalgia of the exile and his optimism. Yielding to the persuasion of Golitsyn, Trubetskoy began to work on the memories. As the author of the preface and editor of Trubetskoy’s memoirs, V.P. Polykovskaya,

he conceived them in four parts - childhood, notes of cuirassiers, war of 1914 (trench seat) and notes of the Soviet musician. But he began immediately with Trubetskoy with memories of serving in the guard. Perhaps he had a premonition that he would not have time to accomplish everything he had planned, and it seemed to him easier to describe this part of his life than the others . ^[2]

Published in 1991 by the magazine “ Our Heritage ”, “Notes of the cuirassier” by Trubetskoy is a vivid work of Russian military memoirs. Trubetskoy's memories are distinguished by spontaneity, a sense of humor, attention to detail and high information content.

In 2006 , “Notes of the cuirassier,” “The Adventures of Bochenkin and Horsetail,” as well as the epistolary heritage of V. S. Trubetskoy, were published in English . ^[3]

Arrest and execution

Trubetsky was not destined to finish the work on "Notes of the cuirassier". July 29, 1937 Trubetskoy and his three older children were arrested. During the search, the children of the writer managed to hide the remaining fragment of the “Notes” - the eldest son, who was arrested with his father, during the search imperceptibly took several father's notebooks from the table and put them into the trousers of his younger brother. So "Notes" without beginning and end reached us. The rest of the writer's archive was irretrievably lost.

October 30, 1937 Vladimir Sergeevich Trubetskoy was shot, the same fate befell his daughter Varvara. Ten years in the camp spent his son Gregory ( 1912 - 1975 ); Alexander's daughter died in the camp ( 1919 - 1943 ). The writer's widow Elizaveta Vladimirovna Trubetskaya was arrested in 1943 and died in the Butyrka prison a month after the arrest.

In 1964, the case was reviewed, Vladimir Sergeevich Trubetskoy rehabilitated.

“The ways are inscrutable” - vivid memories of the camp and military experience of the writer's son, Andrei Vladimirovich ( 1920–2002 ).

• "Notes cuirassier" V. S. Trubetskoy on the website "Military Literature" (Verified December 16, 2009)
• The page of V. S. Trubetskoy - the author of the almanac “Hunting spaces”
• English-language review of the American monochrome collection of works by V. S. Trubetskoy (Stanislav Shvabrin) (inaccessible link)