Ge, Zoya Grigorievna

Zoya Ge was born in 1861 into a noble family of a court adviser and vowel of the Nikolaev City Duma Grigory Nikolaevich Ge . She was brought up in the Geneva hostel, ^[1] then studied in France , Switzerland (1875-79) and in St. Petersburg - at the Bestuzhev women's courses and courses of medical assistants (1880-82). She didn’t finish her education: she was arrested.

In early December 1878, Zoya Ge was “searched” in St. Petersburg as a result of living in the same apartment as E. Krasnokutskaya, who was arrested ^[2] . In the years 1882-83, Ge was a member of the St. Petersburg people's food circle, organized by Ivan Prozorovsky. She took part in officer circles of the city of Nikolaev, attended circle meetings in a safe house, hired by M. Ashenbrenner , and also distributed revolutionary publications.

Zoya Ge was acquainted with V. Figner , who stayed with her during her visits to Nikolaev. According to the testimony of V. Talapindov, Ghe was “in the civic” circle and in the summer of 1883 she supplied Talapindov with banned publications. Ge was arrested on August 7, 1883 and was detained. She was involved in an inquiry conducted by Major General N. A. Sereda (b.1838), on charges of belonging to the military people's groups found in Odessa and Nikolaev (case of B. Kraisky, D. Chizhov and others). She was also accused of intimacy with Figner and of harboring her.

Since November 9, 1883, Zoya Grigoryevna was kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress ; On January 9, 1884, she was transferred from the fortress to the House of Pretrial Detention . She was released from custody on April 7, 1884 on bail of 10,000 rubles (on bail of uncle - artist Nikolai Ge - on bail of his estate). At the highest command (July 30, 1884), Ge was subordinated to the vigilant police surveillance for three years in her chosen place of residence.

In the early summer of 1884, Ge met Leo Tolstoy with Pyotr Nikolayevich Ge (son of the artist). After that, she met with Tolstoy in September of the same year at the Nikolai Ge farm in the Chernigov province and in February 1901 in Moscow , in the Khamovniki Tolstoy house . She shared the worldview of Tolstoy .

Ge served vowel supervision at her father's farm in Borzen district ( Chernihiv province ). On January 22, 1885, she moved to Borzna , and from there on March 2, 1886, to the village of Konashevka (Borzen district). She was released from public supervision, after the deadline of July 30, 1887, and subordinated to the unofficial with the prohibition of residence in the capitals . In February 1899, Gee lived on the southern coast of Crimea , in Alushta . ^[3] She was released from covert surveillance according to the circular of the police department of July 7, 1890. In 1884-94, she was engaged in agriculture .

Even at the first meeting, shortly after Zoe Ruban-Ghe was released from prison, Tolstoy advised her to write her memories of the months spent in custody. In the fall of that year, Tolstoy reminded her of this. Five years later, in 1889, Tolstoy again turned to Ruban with a request to write memoirs. These memories were interesting to him in connection with the work on the Resurrection . Tolstoy's wish was satisfied and within two weeks, studying day and night, wrote memoirs, immediately sending them to Tolstoy. ^[3]

I seem to have already written to you in an open letter, but I am afraid that it has not been sent and I have lost it. I am writing to you to thank you very much for your recollections. They are so true, simple and therefore produce a very strong impression. I thank you very much for them. You can [be], they can also be printed abroad.

- from a letter from Leo Tolstoy Zoe Ruban-Ge (1899, Moscow)

In 1905, while living in Geneva , Ghe petitioned the police department to lift restrictions on her choice of residence; the petition was granted by order of the Minister of the Interior of October 15, 1905. Ge was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party . In 1910, she completed an ambulance course in Geneva, where she worked in an outpatient clinic for two years.

In the years 1912-15, Zoya Ge was the head of the vegetarian canteen of the Moscow Vegetarian Society (established in 1909); in 1925-28, she served in the Moscow Vegetarian Nutrition Artel. In 1928 she lived in Moscow .

Husbands:

• Grigory Semenovich Ruban-Shchurovsky (1857-1920 ^[4] ) - since 1884; tradesman , native of the village of Prachi; paramedic , shoemaker ; played many musical instruments.
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge (Jr., 1857-1938) - since 1895; paternal cousin; amateur artist, publisher, writer; son of the artist Nikolai Ge .

Children: Andrew (1885), Nadezhda (1887) and Sevastyan (1889).

• Tolstoy L. N. Complete works. Volume 72. Letters of 1899-1900.
• M. M. Yakovenko , Zoya Ge - Documentary novel. M., 2006.
• Leo Tolstoy and his contemporaries. Encyclopedia. Under the general ed. prof. N. I. Burnasheva. M., 2008.S. 95.
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge. 1831-1894. On the occasion of the 180th birthday. Exhibition catalog. M., 2011.
• Kapyrina S. L. Khutor N. N. Ge and its inhabitants. // Tretyakov Readings 2012. Materials of the reporting scientific conference. M., 2013.S. 47-64.
• Kapyrina S. L. Genealogy of Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge. New materials / Tretyakov Gallery, No. 3. 2011. P. 44-51.

Archives

• RGALI. F. 731; GE Archive. F.7, OR CMRI. F.3; OR Tretyakov Gallery. F. 4; OR GMT (letters from N. N. Ge, Jr. to the Tolstoys, to the daughter of Praskovye); GARF. F. 5982. D. 177 (1920) (Lists of Russian refugees in Serbia).

She was buried in the Old Columbarium of the Vvedensky Cemetery (Moscow)