How Sergei Yesenin really died. Sergei Yesenin Why Sergei Yesenin hanged himself

In the 1970s, a discussion arose in the press about the death of Sergei Yesenin. It was alleged that the poet was killed by OGPU officers.
Some researchers said that he was physically unable to hang himself due to his short stature (168 centimeters, while the ceiling height in the Angleterre Hotel reached almost 4 meters). Others noted that a number of important documents disappeared during the investigation.

The poet arrived in Leningrad on December 24, 1925. Why is not known exactly. Either negotiate the publication of a new collection of poems, or hide from the capital’s police; at this time his name appeared in 13 criminal cases. According to other sources, Yesenin was supposed to settle in Leningrad for a long time - he intended to publish a literary magazine. Yesenin sought to keep his trip a secret; only close friends knew about it. He was going to rent a three-room apartment, but there was no suitable option. As a result, the poet stayed at the Angleterre Hotel in the city center, on the corner of Voznesensky Prospekt and Malaya Morskaya Street. Yesenin took 5th number. Here he wrote his last poem, “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...”. However, according to some experts, these lines were written long before Leningrad; they could have been dedicated to friend Alexei Ganin, who was shot in March on charges of belonging to the “Order of Russian Fascists.”
On December 28, 1925, Yesenin was found dead in his room. The day before he met with friends, they did not notice any strangeness in his behavior. According to the official version, the poet committed suicide. This version was supported by the fact that he was prone to depression and alcohol consumption. Yesenin’s relationships with women were not easy. This applies to Isadora Duncan, Zinaida Reich, and Sofia Tolstoy.


Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan He lived separately with Zinaida Reich almost immediately after the wedding. Yesenin complained to his close friend Anatoly Mariengof: “I can’t live with Zinaida... here’s my word, I can’t. He doesn’t want to understand... He won’t leave, that’s all. He won't leave for anything. I got it into my head: “You love me, Sergun, I know that and I don’t want to know anything else.” Tell her, Tolya (I beg you like you can’t ask anymore!) that I have another woman.” In 1925, the wedding of Yesenin and Sofia Tolstoy took place. One of the letters from Tolstoy’s mother, Olga Konstantinovna, talks about how the couple lived. It talks about drunken scandals, drunken friends who constantly stayed with the young people, and lack of money - Sophia couldn’t even buy herself new shoes.


The hotel room where the poet committed suicide
After Yesenin's death, an investigation was carried out; no signs of suicide were found. In the 1970s, rumors of a staged suicide spread after the publications of Colonel Eduard Khlystalov. He wrote: “I then worked as a senior investigator at the famous Petrovka, 38, and investigated complex crimes. Many letters were received in my name... I looked into the envelope, but there was no letter in it. The envelope contained two photographs. In the first photo, the dead Yesenin lies on a sofa or couch, upholstered in expensive velvet or silk. Apparently his body had just been taken out of the noose. The hair is tousled, the upper lip is swollen, the right hand hangs unnaturally in the air in rigor mortis. Traces of deep cuts are clearly visible on it. And no matter how much I peered at the photograph, I did not see any signs of death from strangulation with a noose. There was no characteristically protruding tongue from the mouth, giving the hanged man a terrible expression. In another photograph, the poet is depicted in a coffin... On the forehead of the corpse, just above the bridge of the nose, a lifetime injury is clearly visible. For such bodily injury, forensic experts conclude that it was caused by a blunt, hard object and is classified as dangerous to human life and health. Something was wrong."
It was assumed that the poet could not hang himself due to his short stature. A “pressed” wound on the forehead spoke in favor of the version of murder. Researchers noted that the investigation was conducted incorrectly - some protocols were never drawn up.
In 1989, the Yesenin Commission was created, on whose initiative several examinations were carried out. The verdict was clear - suicide. Regarding the short stature, it was noted that there was a travel chest in the room. In a vertical position, its height was one and a half meters, and the poet could stand on it. In 2005, Komsomolskaya Pravda published an interview with Sergei Nikitin, an expert from the Bureau of Forensic Medicine of the Moscow Department of Health. “We studied a lot of materials - a copy of the inspection report of the crime scene, a copy of the autopsy report, original photographic negatives, seven plaster death masks of S. Yesenin’s face. To examine the highest quality of them, made by the sculptor I. Zolotarevsky the day after the poet’s death and on which every wrinkle is visible, I made a special trip to St. Petersburg to the “Pushkin House”. The verdict is that he hanged himself.”
At the moment, there is no consensus on Yesenin’s death.

This year marks not only the 120th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Yesenin, but also the 90th anniversary of his tragic death. The poet died on the night of December 27-28, 1925. On the morning of December 28, Sergei Yesenin was found dead in the Leningrad Angleterre Hotel.
How did Yesenin die? Was it suicide or murder? I decided to ask residents and guests of St. Petersburg how, in their opinion, Sergei Yesenin died.

For me personally, Sergei Yesenin is a legend. Since childhood I have been reading his poems, fascinated by his life and work.

I do not claim complete biographical objectivity. I just want to understand the reasons that prompted Sergei Alexandrovich to die. And there were many of these reasons. The poet himself admitted:

I meet everything, I accept everything,
Glad and happy to take out my soul.
I came to this earth
To leave her quickly.

In the last years of his life, Yesenin thought about death especially often. “They want to kill me,” he told his friends more than once. “I feel it like an animal.”
In poetry, Sergei prophetically wrote:

And I should be hanged first
Crossing my arms behind my back
For the fact that the song is hoarse and sick
I prevented my native country from sleeping.

Yesenin was both afraid of death and desired it. Already in his early years he thought about death.

Who am I? What am I? Just a dreamer.
The blue of his eyes lost in the darkness.
I lived this life as if by the way,
Together with others on earth.

When I was at school, versions of the poet’s murder did not even arise. They explained to us that the suicide of Sergei Yesenin caused a whole wave of suicides, so his poems were banned for some time.

Sing, sing! On a fatal scale
These hands are a fatal disaster.
You just know, fuck them...
I will never die, my friend.

People first started talking about the murder version at the beginning of perestroika. In 1987, the first mass protests took place in Leningrad in connection with the demolition of the Angleterre Hotel. It was rumored that the authorities wanted to hide traces of the crime in this way. Today, only a memorial plaque on the hotel building has been preserved in memory of the fact that the poet Sergei Yesenin died here.

Snowy plain, white moon,
Our side is covered with a shroud.
And birches in white cry through the forests.
Who died here? Died? Isn't it me?

During the period of perestroika, many brochures appeared about the tragic death of Yesenin. The reasons for the murder were love revenge, conspiracy, political terror, envy of brothers in the pen, etc. The most common versions were about the murder of a poet followed by a staged suicide.

One writer said: “A writer is a special investigator important matters humanity" who is trying to "understand the common interests of earthlings."

As a criminologist lawyer who studies crime problems, I must find out, firstly, the motives for the crime, secondly, the circumstances of the death, and thirdly, the identity of the criminal or victim.
I remember taking a test in criminology and answering a question about the distinctive properties of a hanged man. A person who commits suicide by hanging has a characteristic strangulation groove from squeezing the neck with a noose. This groove has a pronounced red-violet color and does not disappear in the deceased.
On Yesenin’s corpse (judging by the photographs), the strangulation groove is almost invisible.

Was it murder or incitement to suicide?

Ancient Romans: look for someone who benefits.

Some people see the cause of death in drunkenness and nervous disorder poet.
Someone blames Yesenin’s numerous love affairs and women for everything.
Some see the reason in the poet’s creative crisis.
Someone explains Yesenin’s death as a conflict with those in power.
Someone sees in the tragic death of the poet a curse of the Yesenin family.

He's confused. Confused in his love and family ties, confused in his relationships with the authorities, with friends and enemies.
Perhaps he was not killed. But they were definitely driven to suicide.

One of the reasons for Yesenin’s early death is his suicidal sense of exclusivity, chosenness and security. Yes, he found himself a patron in Trotsky. But once, in a drunken company, Yesenin said: “I, a legitimate Russian son, am sick of being a stepson in my state... Russia is ruled by Trotsky-Bronstein... But he should not rule.”

“The poet died, died because he was not akin to the revolution,” Trotsky admitted in his speech at Yesenin’s grave. “I can’t do it anymore,” said the poet defeated by life.”

Politics ruined the poet. Writers should stay away from power and politics. You can’t outwit the authorities; in a game with the devil, the devil always wins.

It is obvious to me that Sergei Yesenin is a victim of the political regime.

Yesenin loved Rus', but did not accept the Bolshevik regime. He openly “winged” the Bolsheviks. Anyone who said a tenth of what Yesenin said would have been shot long ago.
The Bolsheviks tried for a long time to tame the poet, but came to the conclusion that it was impossible to tame Yesenin. Yesenin was a rebel and openly opposed himself to the authorities. “I won’t allow myself to be muzzled,” said the poet.

Like you, I am driven from everywhere,
I pass among iron enemies.

Like you, I'm always ready,
And even though I hear the victory horn,
But he will taste the enemy's blood
My last death leap.

To save the poet from criminal prosecution and alcohol addiction, at the end of November 1925, relatives and friends persuaded Yesenin to go for examination to a paid psychoneurological clinic at Moscow University. On November 26, 1925, Yesenin wrote to his friend Pyotr Chagin about the purpose of such a decision: “I’ll get rid of some scandals and go abroad. The marble lions there are more beautiful than our living medical dogs.”
Of course, the GPU knew about these plans.

Professor Gannushkin, discharging Yesenin from the clinic, gave his relatives a stern warning: “I must draw their attention to the fact that the attacks of melancholy, characteristic of him (Yesenin - NK), can end in suicide.”

After treatment at the clinic, Yesenin was in an unbalanced state. According to an extract from psychiatric hospital, in which Yesenin lay a month before his death, the injections given to him there brought the classic of the Silver Age to a state of monstrous depression, which he was no longer able to overcome.

On December 21, 1925, Yesenin left the clinic, canceled all powers of attorney at the State Publishing House, withdrew almost all the money from his savings book, and a day later left for Leningrad. It was an escape from imminent arrest. The poet took his manuscripts with him and wanted to work on his collected works. He had many plans, and suicide was not in these plans.

Some believe that the poet was suffering from persecution mania. However, Yesenin had very real reasons to be arrested and put on trial. At this time, 13 criminal cases were opened against the poet.

Nikolai Aseev recalled that Yesenin, “leaning across the table towards me, whispered that he was being watched, that he couldn’t be left alone for a minute, well, he’s not a mistake either,” and, hitting himself in the pocket, he began to assure , that he always has a “dog” with him, that he will not be taken alive, etc.”

In Leningrad, Yesenin asked his friends to rent two or three rooms for him. But since suitable housing was not found, the poet stayed at the Angleterre Hotel. His “friend” Georgy Ustinov (an unofficial employee of the GPU) helped him in this. That is why the names of Yesenin and Ustinov are not on the list of guests of the Angleterre Hotel.
At that time, the Angleterre Hotel was called the International and was a departmental hotel of the Leningrad GPU. The commandant was the security officer Nazarov.

The wife of the hotel commandant Nazarov testifies that on December 27, at eleven o’clock in the evening, her husband was called to the hotel, saying that an accident had happened to Yesenin. Arriving at the hotel, Nazarov met GPU workers there...

At about 10 o'clock in the evening, a secret employee of the GPU Berman allegedly came into Yesenin's room. According to Berman, he found Yesenin drunk. However, upon inspection, no alcohol was found in Yesenin’s room.

On the morning of December 28, Georgy Ustinov’s wife went to call Yesenin for breakfast, knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Yesenin’s close acquaintance, Wolf Erlich, came up. However, no one answered him from the room either. Finally they called the hotel commandant Nazarov, who opened the door with a master key, but did not enter the room himself.

According to the official version, Sergei Yesenin committed suicide. His body hung in a loop on a vertical hot heating pipe right under the ceiling at a height of almost three meters. For the noose, a rope from a foreign suitcase given to Yesenin by Maxim Gorky was used. The height of the ceiling in the room was supposedly 4–5 meters, and the size of the overturned cabinet was 1.5 meters, the height of the poet was 168 cm.

The first to be summoned to the room on the morning of December 28 were writers Rozhdestvensky and Medvedev. According to the memoirs of Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, they saw Yesenin’s body lying on the carpet. But they were forced to sign in the protocol what they did not see - Sergei Yesenin hanged from a pipe.
Pavel Medvedev and the prose writer Mikhail Borisoglebsky, who arrived later, were secret agents of the GPU.

The act of suicide was drawn up by the local warden of the 2nd department of the Leningrad city police, Nikolai Gorbov, in the presence of the manager of the International Hotel, Comrade Nazarov, and witnesses on December 28, 1925. Moreover, none of the witnesses who signed the protocol saw Yesenin hanging on the heating pipe. When they were allowed into the room, Yesenin’s corpse, already removed from the chimney, lay on the carpet. The arm bent at the elbow indicated that the poet was trying to free himself from the noose, trying to pull the rope into his throat.

The called orderly Dubrovsky recalled that on the floor there were broken dishes, shreds of manuscripts, cigarette butts, blood clots, everything was turned upside down.
According to the testimony of the artist Vasily Svarog, who was present, there were traces of a struggle in the room, broken and scattered dishes.
However, no inspection report was drawn up at the scene of the incident. An investigative experiment was not carried out.

Some of Yesenin’s manuscripts, on which the poet worked, disappeared without a trace; the poet’s jacket and shoes were not found, and the money Yesenin had withdrawn from his savings book was not found. The pistol that Yesenin always carried with him also disappeared.
But if Sergei had a gun, he could have shot himself instead of hanging himself.

The corpse was taken to the morgue of the Obukhov hospital, where forensic expert Gilyarevsky performed an autopsy and drew up a report in which he did not indicate the approximate time of death (as he did in all other cases). In the final part of the act, Gilyarevsky wrote: “Based on the autopsy data, it should be concluded that Yesenin’s death resulted from asphyxia caused by compression of the respiratory tract through hanging...”

In the report, Gilyarevsky indicated that Yesenin’s pupils and eyes were normal. However, the secretary of the funeral commission, Pavel Luknitsky, noted in his note that one of Yesenin’s eyes was bulging and the other was leaking.

Who lied? And most importantly - WHY?

According to the generally accepted version, the poet, in a state of depression (a week after finishing treatment in a psychoneurological hospital), committed suicide (hanged himself).
The version of the poet’s suicide arose even before the suicide note given to the investigator by Wolf Ehrlich was found - the poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye,” written by Yesenin allegedly on December 27 with his own blood.

Wolf Ehrlich (also a secret employee of the GPU) stated that Yesenin allegedly asked the administration on the evening of December 27 not to let anyone into his room, because he wanted to rest. However, the commandant of Angleterre, security officer Nazarov, does not mention this in his testimony.

To confirm the version of suicide, Erlich provided the investigator with Yesenin’s last poem, allegedly given to him the day before, which he wrote with his own blood.

Goodbye, my friend, goodbye.
My dear, you are in my chest.
Destined separation
Promises a meeting ahead.

Goodbye, my friend, without a hand, without a word,
Don’t be sad and don’t have sad eyebrows, -
Dying is nothing new in this life,
But life, of course, is not newer.

Yesenin complained that there was no ink in the room and he was forced to write with his own blood. Previously, Yesenin wrote poetry in blood for lack of ink - he loved spectacular scenes.

Already today, experts have established the authenticity of Yesenin’s handwriting and the fact that the poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye” was written in blood in an amount of no more than 0.02 ml. But the blood belonged to Yesenin was not established by the examination.

So in whose blood are the lines “goodbye, my friend, goodbye...” written?

The address “my friend” was familiar and did not apply personally to Wolf Ehrlich - he was not a close friend of Yesenin.
There is an opinion that this poem is not a suicide note at all, but was composed earlier on the death of the poet’s friend Alexei Ganin.

Who benefited from spreading the version of Yesenin’s suicide?

For a poet it is very important not only to live beautifully, but also to “depart gracefully” from life. Suicide is too commonplace. Although Yesenin tried to commit suicide several times.

On December 29, 1925, evening Leningrad newspapers, and the next day, newspapers throughout the country reported the suicide of Sergei Yesenin. The poet's wife Sofya Tolstaya and the husband of Ekaterina's sister Vasily Nasedkin left Moscow for Leningrad. They brought the poet's body to Moscow. On December 31, thousands of people saw off Yesenin on his last journey. The poet asked to be buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

I want at the last minute
Ask those who will be with me -
So that for all my grave sins,
For disbelief in grace
They put me in a Russian shirt
To die under icons.

The first monument to Yesenin at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow was erected in 1955, 30 years after the poet’s death. However, some relatives of the poet still doubt that Yesenin’s body was buried there.

“The poet’s coffin disappeared from the grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery,” says Nikolai Brown. “This was discovered in 1955 by Yesenin’s sister Shura, when the grave was opened to bury his mother Tatyana Fedorovna next to the remains of the poet. At the end of the 80s. an elderly witness was found, OGPU driver Snegirev, who on January 1, 1926 took part in removing the coffin from the grave. He didn’t know where the coffin was taken.”

The official version of suicide is just a smokescreen hiding the unpleasant truth. Relatives of Sergei Yesenin are convinced that the great poet of the Russian land was killed. This is what Sergei Yesenin’s own son, great-grandson and grandson think. There are many in the Yesenin family who died a terrible tragic death, like their great ancestor.

Immediately after Yesenin’s death, playwright Boris Lavrenev wrote that the poet was killed. In “Red Gazeta” Lavrenev published an article “Executed by degenerates.”

In 1989, the Yesenin Commission was created, and at its request, a series of examinations were carried out, leading to the following conclusion: “the now published “versions” of the murder of the poet with the subsequent staged hanging, despite some discrepancies ... are a vulgar, incompetent interpretation of special information, sometimes falsifying the results of the examination.”

The experiments were carried out in the presence of a prosecutor-criminologist of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. Forensic experts calculated the height of the ceiling and found that it was no more than 352 cm. They conducted an investigative experiment. An extra with Yesenin's height tied a rope to a painted oil paint pipe and unsuccessfully tried to pull the rope from the vertical. Its freely hanging end could withstand a weight load of more than 100 kg.

However, there are many versions claiming that Yesenin was killed. Some believe that in the 5th room of the hotel where the poet settled, he was first severely beaten, and only then, in an unconscious state, he was hung in a noose.
There is a version according to which they put Yesenin on the sofa, hit him on the forehead with the butt of a pistol, where a dent formed, then wrapped him in a carpet, tried to drag him out onto the balcony in order to take him down and take him out.

Retired colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Eduard Khlystalov in the book “How Sergei Yesenin was killed” writes that it is impossible to tie a rope to a vertically standing pipe: under the weight of the body it will certainly slide down. To confirm his words, he recalls an experiment conducted by students of the Literary Institute in Angleterre, when the hotel was still intact: a rope tied to a vertical pipe was pulled down with a jerk of the hand.

Most of the versions were generated by the entry in the report of the forensic expert. “In the middle of the forehead... a depressed groove 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.” Gilyarevsky himself explained it by the pressure difference in the skull during strangulation.
Proponents of the murder theory interpreted the depression as a blow with the handle of a pistol, an iron, or a blunt heavy object “with terrible force».

St. Petersburg writer Viktor Kuznetsov published the book “The Mystery of the Death of Sergei Yesenin.” V. Kuznetsov believes: “Upon arrival in Leningrad, he (Yesenin - N.K.) was arrested by Trotsky’s secret order. And they were allegedly kept in house No. 8/23 on Mayorova Avenue, where they were interrogated for four days. The point of the interrogations was that they wanted to recruit Yesenin as a secret employee of the GPU. I don’t think that Trotsky gave the order to kill the poet, but that’s what happened..."

Most likely, murder was not included in the pay of the security officers. They simply wanted to “buy” Yesenin, offering to become an informant in exchange for being spared criminal prosecution. Such recruitment of “sexts” is a common practice; The law enforcement officials even have a “recruitment plan.”

In case No. 89 about the death of Sergei Yesenin, investigators worked for 26 days and as a result the case was closed. How this happens and why, I know well from personal experience. One call from above is enough for your case to be closed or, conversely, closed for lack of corpus delicti.

They tell me: “there is no need for conspiracy theories.” But what to do if the materials of Sergei Yesenin’s case are still classified as “secret”. The archives are promised to be opened only in 10 years – in 2025.

Who benefits from maintaining secrecy?
Is the hidden truth really so terrible that it can compromise even the current security officers?

In 1997, Yesenin’s death mask and four photographs taken on the day of the poet’s death were put up for sale at auction. Someone is clearly trying to hide traces of the crime, to destroy the last remaining evidence.

Everyone who had anything to do with Yesenin’s death was either shot, disappeared, or committed suicide. The poet’s “friend” Georgy Ustinov hanged himself in 1932. Alexander Tarasov-Rodionov committed suicide. Writer Wolf Ehrlich and investigator Nikolai Gorbov were arrested and executed in the 30s. The commandant of Angleterre, security officer Nazarov, jumped out of the window (or, most likely, he was thrown out).

In order to establish the truth, it is necessary to demand a review of Yesenin’s case based on newly discovered circumstances. It is necessary to initiate a criminal case to exhume the poet’s body and conduct an examination.

Imagine if they prove that Yesenin was killed, that the poem “goodbye, my friend, goodbye,...” was not written in his blood and not the day before his death, that Yesenin was not buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, and that the order for his murder followed by staged suicide committed by one of the leaders of the party and state...

If it turns out that Yesenin’s so-called “friends” were informants of the Cheka and that they deliberately drove him to suicide, or directly committed murder, the attitude will change not only towards the classic of Russian literature, but also towards the Russian authorities.

Poets do not live long in Russia. No country destroys its geniuses with such cruelty. Pushkin was killed, Lermontov was killed, Griboyedov was killed, Nikolai Gumilyov was killed, Nikolai Klyuev was killed, Osip Mandelstam was killed...

History, as we know, repeats itself. Current situation reminiscent of a situation a hundred years ago. Poets have not yet been destroyed, but no one hears them, just as they did not hear Sergei Yesenin...

I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,
Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
Withered in gold,
I won't be young anymore.

Now you won't fight so much,
A heart touched by a chill,
And the country of birch chintz
It won't tempt you to wander around barefoot.

The wandering spirit! you are less and less often
You stir up the flame of your lips.
Oh my lost freshness,
A riot of eyes and a flood of feelings.

I have now become more stingy in my desires,
My life, did I dream about you?
As if I were a booming early spring
He rode on a pink horse.

All of us, all of us in this world are perishable,
Copper quietly pours from the maple leaves...
May you be blessed forever,
What has come to flourish and die.

Yes, autumn is leaving again...
And my heart breaks with sadness...
No one is asking me to love...
And dreams are swept away into heaps...

Everything was, was, was, was...
Will it happen? - who will tell me?
The maple leaf flies sadly
Towards the groaning earth.

I'm sick of it. Cold. Sad.
Sadness squeezes my heart. ...
Oh, how beautiful it would be to die
Having finished your journey on high!

Night is coming. The park is emptying. Quiet.
People are rushing home.
The moon rises again sadly.
Who will I give myself to in the night?

I would have sat there until dawn.
And in the morning - where to look...
I don't want an answer anymore.
If only someone loved me.

(from my true-life novel “The Wanderer (mystery)” on the New Russian Literature website)

In your opinion, HOW DID YESENIN DIED?

© Nikolay Kofirin – New Russian Literature –

1. How Yesenin died
2. Cause of Yesenin's death
3. When did Yesenin's death occur?
4. Witnesses to Yesenin's death
5. Yesenin's last poem
6. Indications for the murder of Yesenin
7. Yesenin's murder
8. Yesenin and revolution

WITH light hand among the writers of the young Soviet government, it is generally accepted that on the night or early morning of December 28, 1925, Yesenin hanged himself in the room of the Leningrad hotel with the charming name “International”, the former “Angleterre” ( England in French), however, the materials available in the case not only do not confirm Yesenin’s suicide - on the contrary, they refute it. Yesenin's death as a result of suicide is one of the currently dominant delusional ideas, i.e. unmotivated statements that seem so valid that they do not need proof. For example, many people know Yesenin’s last poem, allegedly written in the International Hotel, which allegedly irrefutably testifies to Yesenin’s intention to take his own life, but in fact, if we discard the delusional fictions of the Soviet “greyhound writers”, this poem does not at all indicate Yesenin’s intention commit suicide. It is perceived as farewell only due to subsequent events, Yesenin’s death, but in reality it does not contain Yesenin’s farewell to life:

Goodbye, my friend, goodbye.
My dear, you are in my chest.
Destined separation
Promises a meeting ahead.

Goodbye, my friend, without a hand, without a word,
Don’t be sad and don’t have sad eyebrows,—
Dying is nothing new in this life,
But life, of course, is not newer.

If we ignore the pressure of events, Yesenin’s death, then we should conclude that this poem is dedicated to some distant dying friend as parting words, farewell, encouragement; there was no opportunity to say goodbye in person: “Goodbye without a hand, without a word,” i.e. no meeting. Moreover, this poem could not have been written in the International Hotel from December 24 to 27, 1925 in blood: on Yesenin’s body, according to Soviet documents, there were no wounds from which blood could be taken - only abrasions on the skin, scratches that do not bleed at all (the blood only appears on them, and you cannot dip a pen in it, especially since it quickly coagulates).

The poet did not commit suicide at the International Hotel, but to make sure of this, let’s look at the documents of the short investigation launched into Yesenin’s death.

How Yesenin died

What is surprising is the method of Yesenin’s alleged suicide, hanging, in a room at the International Hotel, described by a police representative, unfortunately, very briefly:

On December 28, 1925, this act was drawn up by me as a local supervisor of the 2nd department. LGM N. Gorbov in the presence of the manager of the International Hotel comrade. Nazarov and witnesses. According to a telephone message from the hotel manager, citizen Vassily Mikhailovich Nazarov, about a citizen who hanged himself in a hotel room. Arriving at the place, I found a man hanging on a central heating pipe, in the following form, his neck was not tied in a loop, but only on one right side of the neck, his face was turned to the pipe, and he grabbed the pipe with his right hand, the corpse was hanging right near the ceiling , and the legs were about 1 meters from the floor, near the place where the hanged man was found there was an overturned cabinet, and the candelabra standing on it lay on the floor. When removing the corpse from the rope and examining it, a cut was found on the right arm above the elbow on the palm side, scratches on the left arm, a bruise under the left eye, dressed in gray trousers, a white nightgown, black socks and black patent leather shoes. According to the documents presented, the person who hanged himself turned out to be Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin, a writer who arrived from Moscow on December 24, 1925.

Certification [TC] No. 42-8516, and a power of attorney to receive 640 rubles in the name of Erlich.

[Manager] V. Nazarov [Witnesses] V. Rozhdestvensky, P. Medvedev, M. Froman, V. Erlikh [Policeman] [inaudible]...shinsky Academician. supervisor of the 2nd department. LGM N. Gorbov.

There is essentially no description of the scene of the incident here, but fortunately there is a photograph:

Behind the desk located in the background there are two white steam heating pipes, to one of which, it means, a rope was tied... Behind the desk you can also see a rickety white cabinet, on which the candelabra stood; in front of the table, between the table and the candelabra lying on the floor, there is probably a wastebasket for papers.

The following little things are surprising in the picture:

1. The cabinet is tied to the heating pipes (which is why it doesn’t fall).
2. There are dark stains on the carpet.
3. There is an inkstand on the desk, i.e. There was also ink, which means that writing the above poem in blood loses its meaning.
4. Desk top with right side stained with something white (unless, of course, it is glare on the polish from the photographer’s lighting fixtures or a switched-on floor lamp, or light from the window).

A messy room cannot have the slightest connection with suicide. This means that it was necessary to figure it out, and not cover up the matter...

First of all, it should be noted that in a Soviet hotel for “responsible workers” there could be neither dirty carpets nor ink utensils without ink. The last one is especially wild: what if the guest had to write an important document for the benefit of the party and the people? In addition, the decor looks rich, which means the service was at the same level. Not only in the Internationale, but also in any other hotel at any time of the day or night you could get ink by asking the receptionist. In addition, Yesenin could not help but have at least a pencil with him. Thus, the version about the writing of the above poem in blood in the Internationale is frankly false: this could not have happened.

The easiest way to explain stains on the carpet is that they are either traces food products, or blood. Since Yesenin had no wounds, only superficial abrasions, the blood could belong to one of the attackers (in the picture we see two tables, one is probably a dining table, and at the dining table there are usually knives, forks and glass objects, which can be used to injure the attacker) . Both origins of the stains indicate a struggle that took place in the room.

As for the cabinet tied to the pipes, one of the most surprising things is that there is a rope or a stiffer cord in the room. Such a long rope or cord had to be brought into the room, and this could not be done accidentally.

Since the cabinet, as comrade said. Gorbov, was lying under a hanging corpse, then it should be concluded that she was brought into the state depicted in the photograph deliberately before filming - probably in order to emphasize the presence of a rope on the pipes and its length. Therefore, this is the same rope with which Yesenin hanged himself, but its length contradicts the description of the crime scene. The fact is that the corpse was hanging right near the ceiling, as Comrade reported. Gorbov, which means that the rope on which he was hanging was short, but in the picture we see a long one... If we assume that Yesenin committed suicide, then why, if there was a long rope in the room, was it necessary to hang himself on a short one from the ceiling? Suppose there was some kind of crossbar or something else on the pipes under the ceiling to secure the rope, but why, if there was a long rope, did the suicide climb under the ceiling, onto a high and shaky pedestal, and not hang himself from a chair? The chairs in the above photo are visible. So why climb onto a high and shaky pedestal when everything could be done simply? At the same time, the presence of a long rope and the position of the body right near the ceiling indicates that the body was pulled there on a rope by a person who was on the floor (or on a raised platform, if there was not enough rope, for example on a window sill or on a table) - pulled in the course of violent strangulation of Yesenin. This is completely outright murder. The murder is confirmed by the cataleptic rigor of Yesenin’s right hand, which grabbed the pipe, as reported by Comrade. Gorbov, - therefore, the poet prevented the hanging, tried to hold his body (we will consider the medical data in detail below).

The only thing that is somewhat surprising is the fact that Yesenin acted only with his right hand, but in the circumstances under consideration this is natural and understandable. Firstly, the killers could hold his hands, this is natural, just as it is natural that he could tear out his right hand (there are no traces of holding on his hands, but they might not remain if, for example, they held him by the wrists or hands or pressed hands to body). Secondly, it should be remembered that it was winter and the steam heating pipes were very hot: steam is supplied to the pipes at a temperature of 130°C. The absence of burns on the body, or rather the lack of mention of them by the forensic physician, is surprising, but it is quite possible that only one of the two pipes was very hot - the one through which steam was supplied. The second pipe, the one through which the steam was discharged, could have a much lower temperature.

There were few signs of a struggle on Yesenin’s corpse, but they were there, they were noted by a forensic expert (we will look at his protocol below). And this also directly points to murder.

Regarding the possible white substance on the table, we note that the only white thing in the room could have been whitewash on the ceiling, lime. It is hardly possible to imagine circumstances under which lime would fall from the ceiling onto the table, especially in such large quantities.

It should also be noted that the above photograph is mirrored, since the buttons on Yesenin’s winter coat lying on the chair are located on the left side - mirrored, like on a woman’s coat. This coat is probably double-breasted, but in the photo there is a button under the collar, clearly functional, for fastening the raised collar (they used to do this, and a decorative button cannot be located under the collar, where it is not visible), and a man's coat should have this button on the right side, and not on the left, as in the picture.

Cause of Yesenin's death

Let us now consider the report of the forensic expert, which, unfortunately, is as brief as the report of a policeman, but in which the cause of Yesenin’s death is still established:

1925, December 29, in the deceased Obukhovskaya hospital, an autopsy was performed on the corpse of Mr. Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin, and it was found: The deceased is 30 years old, the corpse is properly developed, satisfactory nutrition, the general background of the integument is pale, the eyes are closed, the pupils are evenly dilated ; the nasal openings are free; the mouth is compressed; the tip of the tongue is pinched between the teeth; stomach is flat; genitals are normal; the anus is clean; The lower extremities are dark purple in color; dark red pinpoint hemorrhages are noticeable in the skin on the legs. In the middle of the forehead, above the bridge of the nose, there is a depressed furrow about 4 centimeters long. and 1 ½ centimeters wide, under the left eye there is a small superficial abrasion; on the neck above the larynx there is a red furrow running upward from the left and getting lost near the auricle in front; on the right, the groove goes slightly upward to the occipital region, where it is lost; the width of the furrow is the width of a goose feather; in the lower third of the right shoulder there is a skin wound with smooth edges, 4 centimeters long; in the lower third of the left forearm there is one wound running in a horizontal direction and 3 wounds in a vertical direction, these wounds are about 3 sant. each with smooth edges [inaudible]… do not penetrate the thickness of the skin. No other signs of damage were found. The bones of the skull are intact; there is a small bruise under the skin flap at the site of the depressed groove in the frontal region. The meninges are tense; the hard shell is cloudy; the brain weighs 1920 grams; the vessels of the base of the brain are normal; in the lateral ventricles there is a small amount of clear fluid; the brain substance shines on sections; on sections they quickly protrude blood spots. Position abdominal organs correct, the peritoneum is smooth, shiny, about 10 k.s. in the cavity. [cubic centimeters] reddish transparent liquid; loops of intestines are reddish in color. The cartilage of the larynx is intact. The tip of the tongue is bitten, there are traces of food mixture in the esophagus; in the larynx and trochea [sic!] - foamy mucus, their mucous membrane is pinkish in color. The lungs lie in chest free. The heart is as big as the fist of the deceased, in its cavities there is liquid blood; on the outer shell at the back - a significant number of pinpoint bruises; valves and orifices are normal; on the inner surface of the aorta - several grayish plaques; there are a significant number of pinpoint bruises on the pulmonary pleura; the lungs are fluffy, passable for air everywhere, a significant [amount of] bubbly bloody fluid is scraped off from the incisions. The stomach contains about 300 k.s. a semi-liquid food mixture that does not emit a strong smell of wine; its mucous membrane is reddish in color. The spleen capsule is wrinkled. The liver is dark red. Its capsule is smooth, the edge is rounded. The buds are dark red. The capsules are easily removed, the pattern on the cut is preserved. There's nothing special about the renal canal.

Court. honey. expert Gilyarevsky.

Witnesses [signatures illegible].

CONCLUSION

Based on the autopsy data, it should be concluded that Yesenin’s death resulted from asphyxia caused by compression of the respiratory tract through hanging. The depression on the forehead could have been caused by the pressure of hanging. Dark purple color lower limbs, dotted bruises on them indicate that the deceased was hanging for a long time.

Wounds on upper limbs could have been inflicted by the deceased himself, and as superficial, had no mortal impact.

Court. honey. expert

Gilyarevsky

This is the same filk letter as the previous one. This resembles a draft, a plan, but not an actual document.

Let us consider, first of all, the traces of the struggle, i.e. such injuries that Yesenin could not inflict on himself, without outside help, intentionally or not, during the hanging:

1. Small superficial abrasion under the left eye.
2. Four scratches on the lower third of the left forearm. Please note, comrade. Gorbov used exactly the word scratches.
3. In the lower third of the right shoulder there is a skin wound with smooth edges 4 cm long. This wound was located on the inside of the shoulder, as noted by Comrade. Gorbov, from the body side.
4. There is a small bruise under the skin flap at the site of the depressed groove in the frontal region.
5. Stiffness of the right hand grasping the pipe.

It is clear to everyone that an abrasion under the eye appears in a fight. It is equally impossible to inflict a wound on yourself on the inside of the shoulder.

The “witnesses” explained the four scratches in the lower third of the left forearm in such a way that Yesenin wrote the above poem in blood, which is why he scratched his hand, but a scratch that “does not penetrate the thickness of the skin” cannot cause bleeding, this is absurd. They should be regarded as traces of struggle or violence, which is incompatible with suicide.

The bruise at the site of the depressed groove where Yesenin’s forehead touched the heating pipe also looks unnatural. The fact is that if Yesenin, having thrown the pedestal with his feet, had literally thrown himself into the noose, then damage would have been expected cervical spine spine and, accordingly, death from shock, but no damage to the spine was noted, and death from asphyxia is beyond doubt. It is also impossible to assume that the bruise on the forehead was caused by convulsions, since then one would expect other injuries of the same nature, say, on the forearms, legs and knees, but there are none. Therefore, it is very likely that the bruise on the forehead arose during the struggle during the hanging - he kicked hard.

What looks most strange from the point of view of suicide is Yesenin’s numb hand, with which he grabbed the pipe before his death and which remained in that position until Comrade arrived. Gorbova. Firstly, it should be noted that this is precisely rigor, since after death the muscles relax and the hand could not naturally rest on the pipe. Secondly, this, of course, is not rigor mortis, since it cannot set in before death, and in the above photograph of Yesenin taken from the noose, it is clearly visible that his right arm is twisted, but there is no rigor in the neck, the body lies freely on a high pillow, and the head is not tilted to the right side, as it should be during rigor (the loop node was located on the left side). Rigor rigor occurs in the neck, forearms and fingers at approximately the same time and begins at the same time, i.e. The state shown in the picture is not natural, not normal.

The numbness of the hand is also confirmed by an eyewitness, Sun. Rozhdestvensky, who signed the above protocol of comrade. Gorbova as a witness:

The door to Yesenin’s room was half open. I was struck by the complete silence and absence of strangers. The news of Yesenin’s death had not yet spread throughout the city.

Directly opposite the threshold, somewhat diagonally, a convulsively elongated body lay on the carpet. The right arm was slightly raised and stiffened in an unusual bend.. The swollen face was terrible—nothing about it any longer resembled the old Sergei. Only the familiar light yellowness of her hair still covered her forehead askew. He was dressed in fashionable, recently pressed trousers. The smart jacket hung right there on the back of the chair. And what especially caught my eye were the narrow, pointed toes of the patent leather boots. On a small plush sofa, at a round table with a decanter of water, sat a policeman in a tightly belted overcoat and, moving a stub of a pencil along the paper, wrote a report.

Sun. Christmas. Sergey Yesenin.

Note that the corpse was lying normally, there was no tension in it, since it is impossible to establish “convulsive elongation” by eye - only the arm looked ossified. The face is swollen, probably from the noose (its unhealthy coloring may subside after the noose is removed, this happens).

The rigor of Yesenin’s right hand means that before his death he made extraordinary efforts with this hand to prevent strangulation. And although I have not seen a description of a single similar case in “literature,” I suspect that it was impossible to achieve rigor in the hand without outside help - the clean hands of people with a warm heart and a cold head, pulling the poet down to death. Yes, the expert didn’t say a word about rigor, but he didn’t say a lot...

It is also worth noting that the stains on Yesenin’s shirt are of unknown origin; they are shown in the picture with red arrows:

These are not shadows, since in neither case is there a source of shadow. The stain on the sleeve especially looks like blood: it looks calloused - well soaked in blood and dried out. It is also worth noting the torn sleeve of the shirt - the cuff is damaged or, in any case, very wrinkled. Also in the picture you can clearly see an abrasion in the middle third of the forearm or a blemish, which is not described in the report. This skin wound could not produce a visible amount of blood (unless, of course, there was blood on the shirt), as well as the skin wound noted by the expert in the lower third of the right forearm. The origin of the stains on the shirt in connection with the act is not clear.

What is also curious is that in other photographs taken from a different point, stains on the shirt are not visible, but stains on the trousers are visible:

A group of stains is very clearly visible on the right trouser leg, even though there are no folds on the material in this place. Unfortunately, a description of the clothing is not included in the medical examiner’s report, as if on purpose. It is also worth noting that the second lift is not visible.

Also in the above photo, pay attention to the difference in the position of the shoulders: either the right shoulder is raised due to the careful placement of the crooked arm or the rigor of the entire arm, or the left one is lowered as a result of injury. The impression is, rather, that with the left shoulder joint a mess, but perhaps this is just an impression or an unfortunate position of the body. You can also notice either blots or bruises on the hand.

The blood on the shirt is confirmed by the poems of Vasily Knyazev, who sat next to Yesenin at night in the dead:

In the little dead room by the window
Golden head on the block;
The stripe on the neck is not visible -
Only the blood turns black on the shirt.

Knyazev, of course, did not have the necessary qualifications and capabilities to distinguish blood from other stains, but in any case there were stains on the shirt. It should also be added that even if it is blood, it did not necessarily belong to Yesenin.

As for the damaged cuff, it is confirmed by a drawing by Vasily Svarog (Korochkin), made from life:

The picture clearly shows a part of the cuff separated from the right sleeve and other disarray in clothing, in particular, an unfastened suspender and unbuttoned trousers. The artist also recorded a crooked hand.

Unnatural death from mechanical asphyxia there is also foam in the trachea and larynx. Foam could be formed as a result of mixing air, mucus and a “semi-liquid food mixture,” as stated in the act, but in this case one would expect that the food mixture would still remain in the respiratory tract or lungs, which is not noted in the act. A similar picture occurs during drowning, but the described state of the lungs does not correspond to drowning. The formation of foam is also possible due to natural, so to speak, pathologies and diseases, about which, however, there is not a word in the act.

If Yesenin had a gag reflex associated with strong excitement, as a result of which the food mixture got into Airways, then this completely contradicts the version of his suicide. Well, what else could the gag reflex be associated with in the circumstances under consideration?

What is also unnatural during death from asphyxia is the tension of the brain membrane, which can be associated with Yesenin’s strong intoxication before death (one can, however, assume that the tension arose due to increased intracranial pressure, caused, in turn, by edematous phenomena, more or less normal during asphyxia, but there is not a word about edema in the act). As everyone knows, alcohol is absorbed quickly, and therefore the smell of alcohol emanating from the food mixture in the stomach noted by the expert allows us to conclude that Yesenin drank shortly before his death, and drank a lot. Alas, with whom Yesenin drank remains unclear. However, this is consistent with stains on the carpet that could have appeared in a fight - from food falling on the carpet or from blood.

Some oddities that were not included in the medical report can also be seen in photographs of Yesenin’s corpse taken in the morgue. Here is the most informative photo:

Taking into account the photograph of the body on the other side, which I do not present, please take my word for it, we see that the strangulation groove was described by Comrade. Gorbov and the expert are correct: it is not closed, it is located on the right side, but it is not on the left side (this is a normal phenomenon with a fairly tight loop, common during hanging).

The bewilderment is either a wound or a blemish approximately in the middle of the right forearm, or Comrade. Not marked by Gorbov or the expert, but noticeable in the above photograph. Even more surprising is the clearly visible mark on the thumb of his left hand - under the nail and around it, as if blood had come out... Perhaps this is evidence that Yesenin also tried to prevent the loop from being tightened with his left hand, but could not grab the pipe due to his body position or actions killers, and therefore reflexively grabbed the bare wall, and with such force that blood came out from under his nails. This, of course, does not fit in the slightest degree with suicide.

What is also surprising is the approximately equal intensity of the color of the brushes: if this is a corpse color, then due to the higher position of the right hand with which Yesenin held the pipe, this color should be different in intensity, weaker in right hand, because in the legs the cadaveric coloration has fully formed, as noted by the expert (cadaveric spots represent blood settling in the body under the influence of gravity, which is why the height of the limb would influence the cadaveric coloration in this case). However, one gets the impression that the palms are dirty with something, but confirm this or indicate possible reason... There are no apparent reasons, there is nothing to get dirty in an expensive hotel room. If, say, fingerprints were taken to compare with those taken in the room, then why dirty the nails?

In the above photograph of Yesenin taken out of the loop, the cadaveric coloring of the right hand is not visible, and the hand was fixed by rigor in such a position that it was possible to hold onto the pipe with it only at the level of the face or chest, which is contradicted by the photograph in the morgue and the intensity of the coloring of the hands. Is this really dirt that got on the brushes after taking photographs in the room? Comrade's message. Gorbov cannot be considered false, since it is confirmed by the position of the numb hand in the photograph taken in the room.

Let us note another important detail in the photograph: the cadaveric coloring of the visible part of the legs of the lying corpse is uniform above and below, i.e. formed in a vertical position of the corpse (cadaveric spots are always at the bottom, it is easy to determine the position of the body from them).

Concluding the examination of the act, we note the obvious signs of Yesenin’s death from asphyxia (suffocation) - pinpoint hemorrhages on the pleura of the lungs, the so-called. Tardieu spots, bruising on the heart and probably congestion internal organs(“dark red”); Among the external signs there are dilated pupils, a groove on the neck and pinching of the tip of the tongue between the teeth. The groove on the neck, however, may also refer to the hanging of a corpse (it cannot be distinguished by eye; additional research, of which there were none). Unfortunately, the expert did not note, among other things, the condition of the conjunctiva, the connective membrane of the eyelids and eyes, as well as Bladder, which is important for asphyxia, not to mention the condition of large blood vessels in the neck...

The act, of course, is disgusting, it can’t be worse, but maybe this is a “social order”? The expert cannot and should not conduct his own investigation, but is only obliged to answer the questions of the investigation, in particular, to establish the cause of death. The cause of death is clear from the report (I repeat, there is no doubt). At the end of the report, the expert wrote: “The wounds on the upper extremities could have been inflicted by the deceased himself,” which is the answer to the question of the investigation (these fabrications are not required in the report), i.e. Even before examining the corpse, the investigation was interested in “evidence” of suicide (this, of course, is not evidence).

It is also possible that the act was edited by an illiterate person with a cool head and a warm heart (from the point of view of pathological psychology, this is a schizophrenic, no offense to Felix Edmundovich will be said): he could delete a lot, but could not correct anything due to illiteracy. The description of Yesenin's corpse gives the impression of being genuine, but greatly abbreviated.

(Read more in the comments...)

Content

In one of the rooms of the Leningrad hotel Angleterre on the morning of December 28, 1925, the corpse of the proletarian poet Sergei Yesenin was discovered. Then the print media unanimously supported the version of suicide and named the reason - prolonged depression. Over time, a new version appeared: The cause of Sergei Yesenin’s death was called a staged suicide organized by OGPU employees.

We reconstruct the events of the end of December 1925

Yesenin arrived in Leningrad on December 24. The motives for his trip are still hotly debated. Someone is sure that the poet was brought to the northern capital by questions regarding the publication of a new collection of poems. Others claim that Sergei Alexandrovich was hiding from the capital’s police. You can believe this - the poet did not widely advertise his arrival in the city on the Neva. The day before, he asked a friend to rent a three-room apartment. But he didn’t succeed and he stayed at the Angleterre Hotel, which became a fatal place.

He was given number five, where party workers and famous cultural figures of the Land of the Soviets usually stayed. These days, Wolf Ehrlich, the Ustinov couple, visited the poet. According to Wolf, he handed him the poem “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...” written on a piece of paper and asked him to read it in private.

Wolf was returning to his room, having forgotten his briefcase. The poet calmly wrote poetry, sitting at the table with a coat thrown over his shoulders. The next morning, Ustinova and Erlich came to the hotel, but could not get into the room - they had to call the commandant to open the door. Inside, in a loop, by the window, there was a dead Yesenin.

And now his biographers and creativity researchers are sure that it was suicide. Suicidal tendencies, too fine nervous organization, melancholy and depressive states were characteristic of him. Everyone knew that in Lately Alcoholism began to actively progress. The poet has repeatedly spoken about the feeling of approaching death - this theme constantly runs through his work recent years. During this period, he was getting divorced and suffered from a creative crisis.

The autopsy showed - cause of death of Sergei Yesenin there was oxygen starvation. At the same time, cuts were found on both hands, and a huge dent was on the forehead. The forensic expert concluded that it was the result of a blow. It is known that Sergei’s last request was the desire not to let anyone in to see him.

Leningrad detectives worked in the hotel room for several days, but they did not find a single piece of evidence indicating a crime. The illiterate inspection report drawn up by Nikolai Gorbov, a local police officer, states that the poet was holding a pipe with one hand; a candelabra and a low stand were overturned in the room. According to medical report death of Sergei Yesenin came at 5 am.

A poem written in blood

A few days later, Elrich found a poem given by the poet in his coat pocket. It was written in blood. Ustinova remembered that the poet complained that it was absolutely impossible to get ink in the hotel and therefore he had to cut his hands and write in blood. This explains the cut marks on his arms. But it is difficult to call the poem a death poem - it was a dedication to a friend Alexei Ganin, who was shot in March 1925 by Lubyanka servicemen. He was charged with belonging to the “Order of Russian Fascists.”

But then no one examined the sheet and it did not help in solving this case.

Staging or murder?

Many still agree that it was a murder disguised as suicide. The fact is that with a height of 168 centimeters, Sergei Alexandrovich could not physically hang himself - the ceiling height in the room reached 4 meters. There was no object nearby that could be climbed on first. The cabinet and suitcase were not suitable for these purposes.

No explanation was received for the origin of the numerous abrasions on the body and bruises, a depressed scar across the bridge of the nose, which is clearly visible in the photograph taken immediately after death of Sergei Yesenin. All this leaves room for speculation and versions.

The poet's last refuge - Vagankovskoye Cemetery

The poet's body was transported to Moscow by train. The farewell took place in the House of Printing. On December 31, 1925, Sergei Yesenin was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. At the time of his death he was 30 years old. In his short life, passionate and amorous, he managed to get married three times and have a bunch of love affairs. But there was one woman who could not live without Yesenin - Galina Benislavskaya. She was the poet's personal secretary and friend and allowed him to live in her Moscow apartment. Galina often listened to the poet’s confessions and gave advice regarding the publication of poems. Did she love him or did he become the meaning of her life? It's hard to say now. But on December 3, 1926, Benislavskaya came to the grave, smoked several cigarettes in a row and shot her in the chest with a pistol. In her suicide note, the woman indicated that she was leaving this life of her own free will.