Mikhoels, Solomon Mikhailovich

The house on Postoyalaya street in Dvinsk (now 4 Mikhoelsa street in Daugavpils ), in which Mikhoels was born

He was born on March 4 (16), 1890 in Dinaburg (now Daugavpils , Latvia ) in the family of logger Michel Idel-Zeliković Vovsi and his wife Eti Meerovna (Leibovna) Vovsi ^[2] . Father was the son of a merchant of the second guild Idel-Zelik Michelevich Vovsi (1817—?). The family lived in house number 107 on Postoyalnaya Street.

In 1903 he graduated from the Heder (Jewish elementary religious school for boys). According to the actor himself, he "only at the age of thirteen began to study systematically secular sciences and the Russian language." In 1905 - 1908 he studied at the Riga Real School. Participated in amateur performances, gave concerts in gymnasiums. In 1909 - 1910 he was a tutor in Riga ^[3] . In 1911 - 1913 he studied at the Kiev Commercial Institute (now Vadim Getman Kiev National Economic University ), but could not finish it - he was expelled for participating in student unrest. From 1915 to 1918 he studied at the Law Faculty of Petrograd University .

In 1918 - 1919 he studied at the A.M. Granovsky Jewish School of Performing Arts organized in Petrograd . Since 1919 - on the stage of the Jewish Theater Studio (Jewish Chamber Theater). He played in the plays The Blind by Meterlink (staged by A. Granovsky), Amnon and Tomor by S. Asha , Uriel Acosta by K. Gutskov , in his own play The Builder.

In 1920, he moved to Moscow with the studio. In 1925, the studio was transformed into the Moscow State Jewish Theater (Moscow GOSET ). In 1928 he toured with GOSET in Germany , France , Belgium , the Netherlands and Austria . After A. Granovskiy’s non-return from abroad, since 1929 he was the artistic director and chief director of this theater.

Since 1931, along with theatrical work, he taught at the theater school (later - Moscow State Jewish Theater School (MGETU)) (since 1941 - professor ^[4] ).

Since 1939 - a member of the Art Council of the Committee on Arts at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR .

During the war, together with the GOSET Theater, in 1941 went to evacuate to Tashkent , where he participated in the work of not only the Jewish Theater, but also the Uzbek Drama Theater. Khamza , as well as the Uzbek State Opera and Ballet Theater .

In February 1942 , when the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) was created at the initiative of the Soviet leadership to "engage the Jewish people around the world in the fight against fascism," he became the first chairman of this committee. In 1943, he traveled from the JAC to the United States , Canada , Mexico and the United Kingdom with propaganda tasks for organizing financial support for the military operations of the USSR.

In February 1944, together with I. Fefer and S. Epstein wrote a letter to I. Stalin with a request to organize Jewish autonomy in Crimea .

He was a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Theater Society and the Central Committee of the Union of Art Workers.

Doom

According to the version released to the public immediately after his death, S. Mikhoels on the night of January 12 to 13, 1948 , during a business trip to Minsk , together with his colleague, theater expert V. I. Golubov (Potapov), was hit by a truck as a result of an accident and died. S. Mikhoels was given a state funeral and collections of his memory were issued. GOSET was given his name (at the beginning of 1949 the name was removed).

However, in early April 1953, after the arrest of the former USSR Minister of State Security V. Abakumov in 1951, an investigation was conducted at the initiative of the Minister of the Interior L. Beria ^[5] , which revealed that S. Mikhoels, as well as his companion (formerly secret MGB informant) were deliberately killed by a group of MGB officers led by Lieutenant General S. Ogoltsov and L. Tsanava (head of the MSS of the BSSR ) and Colonel F. Shubnyakov. According to the testimony of V. Abakumov, this happened on the direct personal instructions of I. Stalin ^[5] . The murder was committed at the cottage of L. Tsanava (in Stepyanka ), after which the bodies were left on one of the uninhabited streets of the city. ^[6]

From the memoirs of the Honored Artist of the BSSR Yu. Aronchik :

Solomon Mikhailovich stayed with us until half past seven in the morning. They talked, talked, talked. Whether from fatigue, from some bitter foreboding at parting, he suddenly suppressed uttered: “I will probably die soon ...” I began to reproach him with confusion for these words. Although something itself flinched. We said goodbye only until the evening. Who would have thought that this goodbye was forever!

The testimony of L. Tsanava, according to the statement in the Note by L. Beria ^[5] :

At about 10 o’clock in the evening, MIKHOELSA and GOLUBOV were brought into the yard of the dacha (we are talking about the TsANAVA cottage on the outskirts of Minsk). They were immediately removed from the car and crushed by a truck. At about 12 o’clock in the morning, when the public traffic in the city of Minsk was reduced, the corpses of MIKHOELS and GOLUBOV were loaded onto a lorry, taken and thrown into one of the deaf streets of the city. In the morning they were discovered by workers who reported this to the police.

From a note addressed to the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Colonel General I. Serov ^[7] :

The forensic investigation of the corpses, carried out on January 13 by the chief forensic expert of the Ministry of Health of the BSSR Prilutsky and the expert doctors Naumovich and Karelina, found that the death of Mikhoels and Golubov-Potapov resulted from a heavy truck collision with them. In the deceased, all ribs with a rupture of lung tissue were broken, in Mikhoels a fracture of the vertebra, and in Golubov-Potapov of the pelvic bones. All damage caused was intravital.

In the same 1948, the JAC was dissolved, and most of its members were soon subjected to repression . In July 1949, the GOSET Theater was also closed.

Solomon Mikhoels was buried at the Don cemetery in Moscow.

During the “ doctors' case ” in early 1953, a cousin of S. Mikhoels, a military doctor M. Vovsi , was arrested, and he himself was posthumously declared in the newspaper Pravda a participant in a conspiracy of doctors. From the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU received instructions to remove from the libraries all books and albums about S. Mikhoels. Due to the death of I. Stalin that followed a month later and the release of those arrested in the case, S. Mikhoels’s name could not be banned, but the GOSET theater was never restored.

Family

• Twin brother - Efim Mikhailovich Vovsi (1890-1959), lawyer, legal adviser of the Moscow Circus .
• The elder brothers are Moses (Moyshe) (1882—?) And Leo (Leib), actor (stage name Lev Nevolin ).
• Second cousin - Miron Semenovich Vovsi (1897-1960), therapist, major general of the medical service (1943), academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1948).
• The first wife is Sarah L. Kantor (1900-1932), daughter of the journalist and public figure Lev Osipovich Kantor (1849-1915).
  • Daughter - Nina Solomonovna Mikhoels (1925-2014), director, teacher of GITIS .
  • Daughter - Natalia Solomonovna Vovsi-Mikhoels (1921–2014), theater expert, author of the book “My Father Solomon Mikhoels” (1997).
• Son-in-law - Moses Samuilovich Vainberg (1919-1996), composer, pianist, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1980).
• The second wife is Anastasia Pavlovna Pototskaya (1907-1981), a biologist.

• Honored Artist of the Republic ( 1926 )
• People's Artist of the RSFSR ( 1935 )
• People's Artist of the USSR ( 1939 )
• Stalin Prize of the second degree ( 1946 ) - for the production of the play “Freilehs” by Z. Schneier
• Order of Lenin ( 1939 ) ^[8]
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" ( 1946 )

Actor

• 1919 , 1921 - Uriel Acosta by K. Gutskova - Uriel Acosta
• 1921 - Mazlt Sholom Aleichem - reb Alter
• 1921 , 1927 - “Agents” of Sholom Aleichem - Menachem Mendel
• 1922 - “The Witch” of A. Goldfaden - Gotzmach
• 1923 - “200 thousand” Sholom Aleichem - Simele Soroker
• 1925 - “Night at the Old Market” IL. Pepper - Badchen
• 1922 - “The Witch” of A. Goldfaden - Gotzmach
• 1923 - “200 thousand” Sholom Aleichem - Simele Soroker
• 1927 - “The Journey of Benjamin III” by M. Moyher-Sforima - Benjamin III
• 1930 - The Deaf by D. Bergelson - The Deaf
• 1931 - "Four Days" by M. Daniel - Julis
• 1931 - " King Lear " by W. Shakespeare - Lear
• 1934 - "Millionaire, dentist and poor man" E. Labisha - dentist Gredan
• 1937 - The Ovadis Family by P. Markish - Zavel Ovadis
• 1938 - " Tevye the Milkman " by Sholom Aleichem - Tevye the Milkman

Director

• 1931 - The Nit Gadayget by P. Markish
• 1931 - “Four Days” by M. Daniel (together with S. Radlov )
• 1936 - The Robber Boytre by M. Kulback
• 1927 - The Ovadis Family by P. Markish
• 1937 - “Sulamith” by S. Galkin
• 1938 - “ Tevye the Milkman ” by Sholom Aleichem (1938 - GOSET , 1940 - Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theater named after T. Shevchenko )
• 1940 - “Solomon Maimon” by M.N. Daniel
• 1941 - " Wandering Stars " by Sholom Aleichem
• 1943 - “Mukanna” by H. Alimjan (Uzbek Drama Theater named after Khamza)
• 1944 - “A Wonderful Story” by I. Dobrushin
• 1945 - Freilehs by Z. Schneier
• 1946 - “The Sun Does Not Set" by I. Fefer
• 1946 - “Forests make noise” by A. Brother and G. Linkov

• 1925 - Jewish Happiness - Menachem Mendel
• 1932 - The Return of Nathan Becker - Tsale Becker
• 1935 - Moonstone ("Pamir") - conductor
• 1936 - Circus - a spectator in the circus, performing a lullaby
• 1938 - Oppenheim Family - Jacobi, Ophthalmologist

Archive footage

• 1989 - Jewish cemetery (documentary)
• 1990 - Solomon Mikhoels. Scenes from the tragedy (documentary)
• 1997 - The personal enemy of Stalin. 1948 (from the series "XX Century: Russian Secrets") (documentary)
• 2008 - Shards of the slain theater (documentary)

• On February 12, 1989, the Solomon Mikhoels International Cultural Center was opened in Moscow. Streets in Tel Aviv and Daugavpils are named after him.
• In the 1990s , film director M. Averbukh made the film “Stalin’s Personal Enemy” dedicated to the memory of S. Mikhoels.
• In 2001, N. Boltyanskaya’s CD entitled “Warning” was released, which included the song “Dedication to Solomon Mikhoels”.
• A. and G. Weiners wrote the novel “A Loop and a Stone in the Green Grass” based on the murder of S. Mikhoels.
• A. Galich dedicated the song “Train” to the memory of S. Mikhoels.
• S. Mikhoels is dedicated to M. Merman’s song “The Death of King Lear,” played in the play “The Weltmeister Accordion” (“World War II”; staged by the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater in Minsk) ^[9] .
• In 1998, Resolution No. 332 of the Council of Ministers of Belarus was adopted on perpetuating the memory of People's Artist of the USSR Mikhoels Solomon Mikhailovich. It was envisaged the appearance of a plaque on the building of the State Academic Russian Drama Theater named after M. Gorky in Minsk ^[10] . As of January 12, 2018, the resolution was not implemented ^[9] .

• Mikhoels: Articles, conversations, speeches. Articles and memories of Mikhoels / Ed. K. L. Rudnitsky. - 2nd ed. corrected and add. - M .: Art, 1981. - 557 p.
• Greenwald, J. B. Michoels. - M.: State Publishing House " Der Emes ", 1948. - 96 p.
• Kotlyarova M. E. The shoulder of Mikhoels: Memoirs of the actress GOSET. - M .: Library of the newspaper Tarbut, 2003. - 240 p.
• Levashov V.V. Murder of Mikhoels: Roman. - M.: Agency "KRPA" Olympus "", 2002.
• Vovsi-Mikhoels N. S. My father, Solomon Mikhoels: Memories of life and death. - M .: Return, 1997.
• Geyser M. M. Mikhoels: Life and Death. - M.: Journalism Agency "Glasnost" of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, 1998.
• Geyser M.M. Solomon Mikhoels. - M .: ed. "Prometheus" MGPI them. V.I. Lenin, 1990. - ISBN 5-7042-0197-0
• Zagorsky M. Mikhoels. - M .; L., 1927.
• Ivanov V.V. GOSET: politics and art. 1919-1928 . - M .: RATI / GITIS, 2007 .-- 464 p., Ill. ISBN 978-5-91328-019-0
• “I was envious that people could laugh”: Letters from S. M. Mikhoels and S. E. Radlov (1929-1934) . Publ. Art. and comment. V.V. Ivanova // Mnemosyne. Documents and facts from the history of domestic theater of the XX century. - Vol. 4 / Ed. V.V. Ivanov. - M .: Indrik, 2009. - P. 506-532. ISBN 978-5-91674-027-1
• "... The fiery wheel of mental anguish." M. I. Sizova. In memory of Solomon Mikhailovich Mikhoels. Appendix: Letter from S. E. Radlov M. I. Sizova (1933) / Publ., Entry. article and comment. V.V. Ivanova // Mnemosyne. Documents and facts from the history of domestic theater of the XX century. Vol. 5 / Ed. V.V. Ivanov. - M.: Indrik, 2014.S. 821-832. ISBN 978-5-91674-321-0
• Lobkov E. Frank conversation. - Chelyabinsk, 2012 .-- S. 151-172.
• Evtushenko E.A. Shakespeare on Mikhoels // New Century. - 2002. No. 2. - S. 329-330.

• A selection of materials about Mikhoels with GOSET
• Mikhoels Solomon Mikhailovich
• Medvedev J. The assassination of Solomon Mikhoels // Stalin and the Jewish problem. New analysis
• Gennady Kostyrchenko. The Mikhoels Case: A New Look
• Sagalov Z. JOINT CASE, or FURTHER'S FUR COAT
• Fresinsky B. Ya. General Trofimenko and actor Mikhoels. Minsk. 1948 // People of the Book in the world of books. 2003. No. 48.
• Mikhoels, GOSET, memory