Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Konstantin Simonov - biography, photo, personal life, wives and children of the poet Konstantin Simonov personal life children

Life and work of K.M. Simonova

In our country there were and are many remarkable poets and writers who devoted their work to military subjects. True, they are becoming less and less. But our knowledge of those tragic and great days is still not complete and complete.

The work of Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov (1915-1979) occupies a special place in Russian literature.

His birth name was Kirill, but in the 30s of the 20th century he chose the pseudonym Konstantin Simonov, because he did not pronounce either the “r” or “l” sound in his own name.

Konstantin (Kirill) Mikhailovich Simonov was born in 1915 in Petrograd. Mother, Alexandra Leonidovna, is the real Obolenskaya, from a famous princely family. In "Autobiography", written in 1978, Simonov does not mention his physical father, he was brought up by his stepfather, Alexander Ivanovich Ivanishchev, a participant in the Japanese and German wars, a teacher at a military school, whom he loved and respected very much.

He spent his childhood in Ryazan and Saratov. The family was military, lived in commander's dormitories. Habits taken out of military service - accuracy, exactingness to oneself and others, discipline, restraint - formed a special family atmosphere: “Discipline in the family was strict, purely military. There was a fixed daily routine, everything was done by the hour, at zero-zero, it was impossible to be late, it was not supposed to object, the word given to anyone had to be kept, any, even the smallest lie, was despised. The military will forever remain for Simonov people of a special fold and dressing - they will always want to imitate.

After graduating from a seven-year school in 1930, K. Simonov studied at the FZU as a turner. In 1931, the family moved to Moscow, and Simonov, after graduating from the faculty of precision mechanics here, goes to work at the factory. Simonov explained his choice in Autobiography for two reasons: “The first and main one is the five-year plan, a tractor factory just built not far from us, in Stalingrad, and the general atmosphere of the romance of construction, which captured me already in the sixth grade of school. The second reason is the desire to earn money on your own.” In the same years he began to write poetry. He began publishing in 1934.

Worked until 1935.

In 1936, K. Simonov's poems were published in the magazines Young Guard and October. The first poem - "Pavel Cherny" (1938), glorified the builders of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. In the Autobiography, the poem is mentioned as the first difficult experience that crowned with literary success: its publication in the collection Review of Forces.

From 1934 to 1938 he studied at the Literary Institute. Gorky, after graduation he entered the IFLI (Institute of History, Philosophy, Literature) graduate school, but in 1939 he was sent as a war correspondent to Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia and never returned to the institute.

During these years he published a book of poems "Real People" (1938), poems "Battle on the Ice" (1938), "Suvorov" (1939). Soon he acted as a playwright (plays "The Story of a Love" (1940), "A Guy from Our City" (1941)).

During the Finnish war, he completed two-month courses for war correspondents at the Frunze Military Academy, from the autumn of 1940 to July 1941, another course at the Military-Political Academy; receives the military rank of quartermaster of the second rank.

During the Great Patriotic War, he worked as a correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, constantly being in the army. In "Autobiography" Simonov admitted: "Almost all the material - for books written during the war, and for most of the post-war ones - was given to me by work as a correspondent at the front." In 1942 he joined the CPSU(b). In the same year he was awarded the rank of senior battalion commissar, in 1943 - the rank of lieutenant colonel, and after the war - colonel.

But nevertheless, nationwide fame was brought to the writer by the publication in January 1942 in the Pravda newspaper of the poem “Wait for me”.

K.M. Simonov was one of the first who began after the war a thorough study of the captured documents of the Nazi army. He had long and detailed conversations with marshals Zhukov, Konev and other people who fought a lot.

Konstantin Simonov, through his essays, poems and military prose, showed what he saw and experienced both by himself and by thousands of other participants in the war. He did a gigantic job of studying and deeply comprehending the experience of the war precisely from this point of view. He did not embellish the war, vividly and figuratively showed its stern face. Simonov's front-line notes "Different days of the war" are unique from the point of view of truthful reproduction of the war. Reading such deeply penetrating testimonies, even front-line soldiers enrich themselves with new observations and more deeply comprehend many seemingly well-known events.

During the war years, he also wrote the plays "Russian People", "So It Will Be", the story "Days and Nights", two books of poems "With You and Without You" and "War".

The study of Simonov's work and his social and political activities is relevant for history today, since the main thing in the work of Konstantin Simonov was the assertion both in literature and in life of the ideas of defending the Fatherland and a deep understanding of patriotic and military duty. The work of K. Simonov makes us think every time under what circumstances, in what way our army and people, who won the Great Patriotic War, were brought up. Our literature and art, including Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov, also contributed to this work.

In 1942, N. Tikhonov called Simonov "the voice of his generation." L. Fink considers such a definition to be insufficiently broad; in his book on K. Simonov, he writes: “K. Simonov was a tribune and agitator, he expressed and inspired his generation. Then he became its chronicler.” So, history in the fate and work of K. Simonov was reflected with all its fullness and obviousness.

In his work, Simonov does not bypass many other complex problems that one has to face during the war, and which continue to excite our public in the post-war years, and especially in connection with the events in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Books about K. Simonov were published by I. Vishnevskaya, S. Fradkina, L. Fink, D.A. Berman, B.M. Tolochinskaya, many articles and chapters devoted to him in books about the military theme in literature. Such well-known researchers as A. Abramov, G. Belaya, A. Bocharov, Z. Kedrina, G. Lomidze, V. Novikov, A. Makarov, V. Piskunov, P. Toper wrote deeply and seriously about K. Simonov.

A large number of articles about the life and work of K. Simonov were published and are still being published in the journals where K. Simonov worked - Znamya and Novy Mir.

Large monographic studies about K. Simonov are not numerous, however, for the researcher, great material is provided by the memories of contemporaries about Konstantin Simonov, about different stages of his personal and creative path.

The book is interesting primarily for its honest, truthful story about K. Simonov, his generation, his era. A. Simonov does not claim to be comprehensive in his testimonies. But just the particularity stated in the title of the book (“these are not them, the heroes of this book, I remember them like that or love them like that”) is much more attractive than the pressure of “ultimate truth”. It is well said about the "writer's puritanism" of Simonov, who (although he was listed among his peers as progressive and even pro-Western) was humanly, masculinely turned away by "unbridledness", self-digging on the verge of self-flagellation. Simonov the son turns out to be capable of realizing Simonov the father as a characteristic phenomenon, typical of his time.

In the postwar years, K. Simonov, a poet and warrior, journalist and public figure, wrote a book of poems “Friends and Enemies” (1948), the story “The Smoke of the Fatherland” based on the impressions of trips abroad, worked a lot in dramaturgy, created an epic narrative in prose about Patriotic War - the novels The Living and the Dead (1959) and Soldiers Are Not Born (1964).

In the post-war years, Simonov's social activities developed in the following way: in 1946-50 he was the editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir magazine. In 1946-54, deputy. General Secretary of the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1946-54 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1952-56 he was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1954-58 he again headed the "New World". At the same time in 1954-59 and 1967-79 Secretary of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR. In 1956-61 and since 1976 he was a member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU.

In 1974 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. K. Simonov died in 1979 in Moscow.

Konstantin was born on November 15 (28), 1915 in Petrograd. But the first years of his life Simonov lived in Saratov, Ryazan. He was named Cyril by his parents, but then changed his name and took a pseudonym - Konstantin Simonov. He was brought up by his stepfather, who was a military specialist and taught at military schools.

Education

If we consider a short biography of Simonov, it is important to note that after graduating from seven years of school, the writer studied as a turner. Then in the life of Konstantin Simonov in 1931 there was a move to Moscow, after which he worked at the plant until 1935.

Around the same time, Simonov's first poems were written, and his works were published for the first time in 1936.

After receiving higher education at the Gorky Literary Institute (1938) and graduating from graduate school, he went to the front in Mongolia.

Creativity and military career

In 1940, Simonov's first play, The Story of One Love, was written, and in 1941, the second, A Guy from Our City.

Konstantin Simonov studied at the courses of war correspondents, then, with the outbreak of war, he wrote for the newspapers "Battle Banner", "Red Star".

Throughout his life, Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov received several military ranks, the highest of which was the rank of colonel, awarded to the writer after the end of the war.

Some of the famous military works of Simonov were: "Wait for me", "War", "Russian people". After the war, a period of business trips began in the biography of Konstantin Simonov: he traveled to the USA, Japan, China, and lived in Tashkent for two years. He worked as the editor-in-chief of Literaturnaya Gazeta, Novy Mir magazine, and was a member of the Writers' Union. Films were made based on many of Simonov's works.

Death and legacy

The writer died on August 28, 1979 in Moscow, and his ashes were scattered, according to the will, over the Buinichsky field (Belarus). Streets in Moscow and Mogilev, Volgograd, Kazan, Krivoy Rog and the Krasnodar Territory are named after him. Also, a library in Moscow was named in his honor, memorial plaques were installed in Ryazan and Moscow, a ship and an asteroid were named after him.

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On November 28 (November 15 according to the old style), 1915, the future famous Russian writer, poet, screenwriter, playwright, journalist, public figure Konstantin (Kirill) Mikhailovich Simonov was born in Petrograd. The main directions of his work were: military prose, socialist realism, lyrics. As a military journalist, he took part in the battles at Khalkhin Gol (1939) and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), rose to the rank of colonel in the Soviet Army, also served as Deputy Secretary General of the Union of Writers of the USSR, was the owner of numerous state awards and prizes.

As a legacy to his descendants, this writer left his memory of the war, which he passed on through numerous poems, essays, plays and novels. One of the most famous major works of the writer is the novel in three parts, The Living and the Dead. In the literary field, Konstantin Simonov had few competitors, because it is one thing to invent and fantasize, and quite another to write about what he saw with his own eyes. In the minds of living people, Konstantin Simonov is associated precisely with his works dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, with the poems “Wait for me” and “The gunner’s son”, familiar from school.

Konstantin Simonov was born in 1915 in Petrograd into a real aristocratic family. His father was a military man, and his mother belonged to a princely family. The writer's father, Mikhail Agafangelovich Simonov, was a graduate of the Imperial Nikolaev Academy, he was awarded the St. George nominal. Participated in the First World War, managed to rise to the rank of major general (assigned December 6, 1915). Apparently, during the revolution, he emigrated from Russia, the latest data about him refer to 1920-1922 and speak of his emigration to Poland. Simonov himself, in his official biography, indicated that his father went missing during the First World War. The mother of the Soviet writer was the real Princess Alexandra Leonidovna Obolenskaya. The Obolenskys are an old Russian princely family, related to Rurik. The ancestor of this family name was Prince Obolensky Ivan Mikhailovich.

In 1919, the mother, together with the boy, moved to Ryazan, where she married a military specialist, a teacher of military affairs, a former colonel of the Russian Imperial Army, Alexander Grigoryevich Ivanishev. The boy was raised by his stepfather, who first taught tactics in military schools, and then became the commander of the Red Army. All the childhood of the future writer was spent traveling around military camps and commander's dormitories. After graduating from the 7th grade, he enters the FZU - a factory school, after which he worked as a turner in Saratov, and then in Moscow, where his family moved in 1931. In Moscow, earning seniority, he continues to work for another two years, after which he enters the A. M. Gorky Literary Institute. Interest and love for literature was transferred to him by his mother, who read a lot and composed poetry herself.

Simonov wrote his first poems at the age of 7. In them, he described the studies and life of cadets of military schools, which flowed before his eyes. In 1934, in the second collection of young writers, which was called "Review of Forces", after finishing and rewriting, according to the comments of a number of literary critics, Konstantin Simonov's poem, which was called "Belomorians", was published, she talked about the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. And Simonov's impressions from a trip to the construction site of the White Sea Canal will then be included in his cycle of poems in 1935 called "White Sea Poems". Beginning in 1936, Simonov's poems began to be published in newspapers and magazines, at first rarely, but then more and more often.

In 1938, Konstantin Simonov graduated from the A. M. Gorky Literary Institute. By that time, the writer had already managed to prepare and publish several major works. His poems were published by the magazines "October" and "Young Guard". Also in 1938, he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR and entered the IFLI graduate school, published his poem "Pavel Cherny". At the same time, Simonov never completed his postgraduate studies.

In 1939, Simonov, as a promising author of military subjects, was sent as a war correspondent to Khalkhin Gol and did not return to study after that. Shortly before being sent to the front, the writer finally changed his name. Instead of his native Cyril, as he was called at birth, he took the pseudonym Konstantin Simonov. The reason for the name change was problems with diction. The writer simply did not pronounce the letter “r” and the solid “l”, for this reason it was tritely difficult for him to pronounce the name Cyril. The writer's pseudonym very quickly became a literary fact, and he himself very quickly gained all-Union fame precisely as Konstantin Simonov.

The war for the famous Soviet writer did not begin in the forty-first year, but earlier, even at Khalkhin Gol, and it was this trip that set many accents for his subsequent work. In addition to reports and essays from the theater of operations, Konstantin Simonov brought a whole cycle of his poems, which became very popular in the USSR. One of the most poignant poems of that time was his "Doll", in which the author raised the problem of a soldier's duty to his people and Motherland. Immediately before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Konstantin Simonov managed to complete the courses of war correspondents at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze (1939-1940) and the Military-Political Academy (1940-1941). By the time the war began, he managed to get a military rank - quartermaster of the second rank.

Konstantin Simonov was in the active army from the first days of the war. During the Great Patriotic War, he was his own correspondent for many army newspapers. At the beginning of the war, the writer was sent to the Western Front. On July 13, 1941, Simonov ended up near Mogilev at the location of the 338th Infantry Regiment of the 172nd Infantry Division, parts of which stubbornly defended the city, for a long time chaining significant German forces to themselves. These first most difficult days of the war and the defense of Mogilev remained in the memory of Simonov for a long time, who, apparently, also witnessed the famous battle on the Buinichsky field, in which the German troops lost 39 tanks.

In the novel "The Living and the Dead", which Konstantin Simonov will write after the war, the actions will unfold just on the Western Front and near Mogilev. It is on the Buinichi field that his literary heroes Serpilin and Sintsov will meet, and it is on this field that the writer bequeaths to scatter his ashes after death. After the war, he tried to find the participants in the famous battle on the outskirts of Mogilev, as well as the commander of the Kutepov regiment defending on the Buinichi field, but he failed to find the participants in those events, many of them never got out of the encirclement under the city, giving their lives in the name of the future victory. Konstantin Simonov himself wrote after the war: “I was not a soldier, I was just a war correspondent, but I also have a piece of land that I will never forget - this is a field near Mogilev, where for the first time in July 1941 I witnessed how our troops burned and knocked out 39 German tanks in one day.

In the summer of 1941, as a special correspondent for the Red Star, Simonov managed to visit besieged Odessa. In 1942 he was awarded the rank of senior battalion commissar. In 1943 - a lieutenant colonel, and after the end of the war - a colonel. The writer published most of his military correspondence in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. At the same time, he was rightly considered one of the best military correspondents in the country and had a very high ability to work. Simonov courageously went on a campaign in a submarine, went on an infantry attack, tried himself as a scout. During the war years, he managed to visit both the Black and the Barents Sea, saw the Norwegian fjords. The writer finished his front-line journey in Berlin. He was personally present at the signing of the act of surrender of Nazi Germany. The war formed the main character traits of the writer, which helped him in his work and everyday life. Konstantin Simonov has always been distinguished by a soldier's composure, a very high capacity for work and purposefulness.

During the four years of the war, five books with novels and short stories were published from his pen. He also worked on the story "Days and Nights", the plays "Russian People", "So It Will Be", "Under the Chestnuts of Prague". Simonov's field diaries accumulated so many poems written during the war years that they then made up several volumes of his writings at once. In 1941, one of his most famous poems, the famous "Wait for me", was published in the Pravda newspaper. This poem has often been called "the atheist's prayer", a thin bridge between life and death. In “Wait for me”, the poet addressed a certain woman who was waiting for him, having managed very successfully to convey in words the aspirations of all the front-line soldiers who wrote letters home to their loved ones, parents and close friends.

After the war, the writer managed to go on several foreign business trips at once. For three years he traveled to the USA, Japan and China. From 1958 to 1960 he lived in Tashkent, working as a correspondent for Pravda in the republics of Central Asia, it was then that he worked on his famous trilogy The Living and the Dead. It was created following the novel Comrades in Arms, which was published in 1952. His trilogy The Living and the Dead was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1974. The first novel of the same name was published in 1959 (a movie of the same name was made based on it), the second novel - "Soldiers Are Not Born" was released in 1962 (the film "Retribution", 1969), the third novel - "Last Summer" was published in 1971. This trilogy was an epically broad artistic study of the path of the entire Soviet people to victory in a very terrible and bloody war. In this work, Simonov tried to combine a reliable "chronicle" of the main events of the war, which he observed with his own eyes, and an analysis of these events from the point of view of their modern assessments and understanding.

Konstantin Simonov deliberately created male prose, but he also knew how to reveal female images. Most often, these were images of women endowed with masculine consistency in actions and thoughts, enviable fidelity and the ability to wait. In the works of Simonov, the war has always been many-sided and many-sided. The author was able to present it from different angles, moving on the pages of his works from the trenches to the army headquarters and deep rear. He knew how to show the war through the prism of his own memories and remained true to this principle to the end, consciously refusing writer's fantasies.

It is worth noting that Simonov was quite a loving person, women definitely liked him. The handsome man had great success in the women's society, he was married four times. Konstantin Simonov had four children - a son and three daughters.

Memorial stone dedicated to the memory of Konstantin Simonov, installed on the Buinichsky field

The famous writer died on August 28, 1979 in Moscow at the age of 63. To some extent, the writer was killed by the craving for smoking. Throughout the war, he smoked cigarettes, and then switched to a pipe. He quit smoking only three years before his death. According to the son of the writer Alexei Simonov, his father liked to smoke special English tobacco with a cherry flavor. After the death of the writer, according to the will left, his relatives scattered his ashes on the Buinichsky field. It was on this field that, after the terrible upheavals and fear of the first weeks of the war, Konstantin Simonov, apparently, for the first time felt that the country would not surrender to the mercy of the enemy, that he would be able to get out. After the war, he very often returned to this field, eventually returning to it forever.

Based on materials from open sources

And in the same year he entered the Literary Institute named after A.M. Gorky, who graduated in 1938.

His fellow students were the poets Yevgeny Dolmatovsky, Mikhail Matusovsky, Margarita Aliger.

In 1938, Simonov was appointed editor of the Literaturnaya Gazeta and was admitted to the Writers' Union of the USSR.

In the same year, he entered the IFLI graduate school (Institute of History, Philosophy, Literature), but in 1939 he was sent as a military correspondent for the Heroic Red Army newspaper to Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia and never returned to the institute.

Shortly before leaving, he changed his name and instead of the original Kirill took the pseudonym Konstantin Simonov (it was difficult for him to pronounce his own name, since he did not pronounce the letter "r").

In 1940, Simonov wrote his first play, "The Story of One Love", staged at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, in 1941, the second appeared - "A Guy from Our City".

During the year, Konstantin Simonov studied at the courses of war correspondents at the Military-Political Academy, receiving the military rank of quartermaster of the second rank.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), Simonov was drafted into the army on the Western Front: he was his own correspondent for the newspapers Krasnaya Zvezda, Pravda, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Battle Banner.

In 1942, Konstantin Simonov was awarded the rank of senior battalion commissar, in 1943 - the rank of lieutenant colonel, and after the war - colonel.

Most of his military correspondence was published in the Red Star. Simonov became one of the best military journalists, having gone through the entire war from the Black Sea to the Barents Sea. He visited all fronts, was in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, went on a submarine to the Romanian rear, with scouts - to the Norwegian fjords, on the Arabat Spit - to attack with infantry and ended the war in Berlin; witnessed the last battles for Berlin, and then was present at the signing of the act of surrender of Nazi Germany.
The poem "Wait for me", published in the Pravda newspaper in January 1942, brought fame to the poet. During the war years, his lyrics (“Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of the Smolensk region ...”, “Kill him!” (“If your house is dear to you”), etc.) gained great popularity.

During the war years, Konstantin Simonov published two books of poems "With You and Without You" and "War", five collections of essays and stories, the story "Days and Nights", the plays "Russian People", "So It Will Be", "Under the Chestnuts Prague", diaries, which subsequently made up two volumes of his collected works.

After the end of the war, he was on numerous foreign business trips. At the same time, his collections of essays "Letters from Czechoslovakia", "Slavic Friendship", "Yugoslav Notebook", "From the Black Sea to the Barents Sea. Notes of a War Correspondent" appeared.

In 1952 Konstantin Simonov's first novel "Comrades in Arms" was published, in 1959 - the trilogy novel "The Living and the Dead" (1959), from 1963 to 1964 he wrote the novel "Soldiers Are Not Born", the continuation of which is "The Last Summer ", was written from 1970 to 1971, a cycle of stories "From Lopatin's Notes" (1957-1978).

In 1961, the Sovremennik Theater staged Simonov's play The Fourth.

In 1976, the two-volume "Different Days of the War", the novel "The So-Called Private Life" was published.

Of great documentary value are Simonov's memoirs "Diaries of the War Years" and his last book - "Through the Eyes of a Man of My Generation. Reflections on Stalin" (1979).

Konstantin Simonov headed various Soviet newspapers and magazines: in 1944-1946 - the Znamya magazine, in 1946 - the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, in 1946-1950 and in 1954-1958 - the Novy Mir magazine, in 1950 -1954 - "Literary newspaper".

Since 1942, Simonov worked in cinema as a screenwriter. He was the screenwriter of the films "A guy from our city" (1942), "In the name of the Motherland" (1943), "Wait for me" (1943), "Days and Nights" (1943-1944), "The Russian Question" (1948), "The Immortal Garrison" (1956), "Normandy-Niemen" (1960), "The Living and the Dead" (1964), "Retribution" (1969), "The Case with Polynin" (1971), "Twenty Days Without War" (1976) ).

Simonov was engaged in cinematography for the last ten years of his life. Together with Roman Karmen, he created a documentary film, the film poem "Grenada, Grenada, My Grenada", was the author of the script for the documentary films "If Your Home Is Dear to You" (1967). "Another's grief does not happen" (1973), "A soldier was walking" (1975), "Soldier's memoirs" (1976).

In addition to creativity, Konstantin Simonov was engaged in social and political activities. In 1946-1954 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1949-1979 he was a member of the Presidium of the Soviet Peace Committee.

In 1956-1961 and since 1976 he was a member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU.

In 1946-1954, he served as Deputy Secretary General of the Board of the Union of Writers of the USSR. In 1954-1959 and in 1967-1979 he was the secretary of the board of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

In 1974, Konstantin Simonov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He was a laureate of six State (Stalin) Prizes of the USSR (1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950) and the Lenin Prize (1974). He was awarded three Orders of Lenin (1965, 1971, 1974), Orders of the Badge of Honor (1939), Orders of the Red Banner (1942), two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st class (May 1945, September 1945), and medals.

August 28, 1979 Konstantin Simonov died in Moscow. Knowing that he was doomed - he had cancer, the writer left a will in which he asked to scatter his ashes on the field in Buinich near Mogilev, where he once fought. On the tenth day after Simonov's death, his last will was carried out.

The first wife of Konstantin Simonov - Evgenia Laskina (1915-1991) literary editor, head of the poetry department of the Moscow magazine. In 1939, their son Alexei was born - a Russian public figure, film director, publicist.

In 1943-1957 Simonov was married to actress Valentina Serova. In May 1950, their daughter Maria was born.

The last wife of the writer was Larisa Zhadova (1927-1981), daughter of the Hero of the Soviet Union, General Alexei Zhadov, widow of a front-line comrade Simonov, the poet Semyon Gudzenko. She was a well-known art critic, a specialist in the Russian avant-garde. They had a daughter, Alexandra. Simonov adopted Larisa's daughter Ekaterina.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Valentina Polovikova was born in 1919 in Kharkov, in the family of a theater actress. At the age of ten, she first appeared on stage in Moscow in a play where her mother played the main role. The girl did not have enough years to enter the Central College of Theater Arts, she cleaned up the metrics and since then 1917 has been officially considered the year of her birth.

The film debut took place in 1934, but the scenes with Valentina's participation were not included in the final version of the film "Grunya Kornakov".

Valentina received the sonorous surname Serov from her first husband, an outstanding test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, participant in the war in Spain Anatoly Serov. Their romance developed so rapidly that they took the application to the registry office eight days after they met.

Anatoly and Valentina Serov

Valentina adored her husband, but their happiness was short-lived: in May 1939, Serov, together with the outstanding pilot Polina Osipenko, died in a plane crash in the process of mastering blind flights. The ashes of both pilots are buried in the Kremlin wall. Pregnant Valentina was left a widow at the age of 22. The son, who was born three months after the death of his father, Valentina named Anatoly in his memory.

With son Tolya. 1939

The actress becomes a frequent visitor to the Kremlin, where Stalin sits her and Valery Chkalov's widow next to him at government receptions. During one of the meetings with the powerful of this world, Valentina unexpectedly asked for a new apartment instead of the one she and Anatoly moved into shortly before his death. The request of the actress was, of course, granted. Friends were surprised - how can the five-room mansions in Lubyansky passage, which belonged to the previously repressed marshal Yegorov, be exchanged for a two-room apartment on Nikitskaya. Valentina was silent in response. Do not explain to everyone how painful it is to return to an apartment where every corner reminds of love that ended so tragically.

To forget, Valentina tried to spend all her time at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, where she was very much appreciated and only the main roles were trusted. In 1940, she began to play in the play "Zykov". The role of Pavla was a success for her like no other. But something prevented the actress from completely surrendering to the feelings of her heroine. Subsequently, she recalled that one of the spectators was very disturbing to her. At every performance of the Zykovs, this young man with a bouquet of flowers sat in the front row and followed her with a searching gaze. As it turned out later, he did not miss any of her performances at all. It was the poet Konstantin Simonov, who was then beginning to come into fashion.

Kirill Simonov was born in 1915. His mother Alexandra Leonidovna Obolenskaya, according to Ivanishev's second husband, came from a noble princely family. Simonov never mentioned his real father, but he always spoke with respect and love of his stepfather, a brilliant officer, a hero of the Japanese and German wars. Kirill Simonov received a good education. Growing up, the young man changed his name to Konstantin, because he did not pronounce the sounds “r” and “l” (as a very small boy, imitating his stepfather, he decided to shave with a straight razor and carelessly scratched his tongue). Having moved with his parents to Moscow, he got a job as a worker at Mezhrabpomfilm. Then the young man began to write poetry.

By the time Simonov met Valentina Serova, he was already married to Evgenia Laskina. In 1939, their son Alexei was born. The marriage seemed successful, but Simonov's new love destroyed the relationship of the spouses.

The first wife of Simonov, Evgenia Laskina, with her son Alexei

He left the family, although Valentina was categorically against it. Despite a close acquaintance with the writer, the beautiful actress remained cold to him, and he, defying fate, decided to become his own man in the theater. Especially for Valentina Simonov wrote the play "The Story of One Love", where Serova played the main role.

In 1940, Simonov wrote the play "A Guy from Our City". The prototypes of the main characters were Valentina Serova (Valya) and her husband Anatoly (Lukashin). But the actress refused to play in the new play. The pain of loss from the loss of a beloved husband was too heavy. Serova's heart remained unoccupied all this time - the actress could only offer Simonov sincere friendship. Some time later, the writer managed to achieve the location of her son Tolik. And the mother's heart trembled.

Valentina Serova with her son and Konstantin Simonov

Simonov was an intelligent man with excellent intuition. He understood that, having managed to enter the life of the woman he loved, he could not completely conquer her heart. The poet loved sincerely, not paying attention to gossip and rumors.

Be at least a disaster in my destiny,
But whoever judges us
I myself for life to you
I sentenced myself.

Often, Valentina Serova was called a beauty "with a tarnished reputation" behind her back. All and sundry gossiped about her adventures and high-profile novels. Colleagues in the theater and acquaintances considered the actress windy and empty, because she did not know how and did not want to restrain her impulses and passions. But the young poet loved her just like that, in spite of everything, in spite of himself. Their romance immediately became public.

Simonov and Serova were in no hurry to legitimize their relationship. For several years they lived in a civil marriage. Vaska, as Konstantin Simonov called her, accepted his courtship, shared a bed with him, but was in no hurry to say “I love”. It can be assumed that intuitively Serova understood that their feelings were initially doomed to failure. They were so different that it was contraindicated for them to be together.

When the war began, Simonov became a war correspondent. Vaska escorted him to the front. In the autumn of 1941, Simonov wrote his famous poem "Wait for me", dedicated to V. S. (Valentina Serova).

Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait a lot
Wait for sadness
yellow rain,
Wait for the snow to come
Wait when it's hot
Wait when others are not expected
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
Letters will not come
Wait until you get bored
To all who are waiting together....

The war became for Simonov the time when his lyrical works reached the absolute pinnacle. In 1942, a collection of poems "With you and without you" was published, dedicated to the beloved woman. This book was impossible to get. Battle-hardened warriors and fragile girls rewrote the verses from this collection by hand, learned them by heart, and sent them to their loved ones. But the critics of that time did not like the image of the heroine of the collection "With You and Without You" - not loving, not kind, not devoted, but an evil, windy, prickly woman. Valentina Serova has never been a fatal, insidious seductress, playing with human destinies out of boredom and easily breaking hearts. She simply could not love the poet the way he loved her. In each poem, the pain of a loving heart, but not knowing the reciprocal love, was felt. The author, who is also a lyrical hero, aspired to the kinship of souls, and received only night passion, melting in the morning.

You told me "I love you"
But this is at night, through teeth,
And in the morning I endure the bitter
Barely holding lips...

Simonov felt himself unnecessary, rejected, but did not give up, trying to win the most important thing - women's love.

During the war years, the theater where Serova worked moved to Fergana. There, the actress received Simonov's letters almost every day. One of her friends, S. Birman, wrote to Valentina that she “should be more attentive to Simonov, that you can’t throw yourself at such people and you need to stop listening only to yourself.” But Valentina Serova lived, coordinating life only with her emotions, and could not do anything about it.

In 1942, the actress met a new love. In the years that have passed since the war, truth and fiction about it have intertwined so closely that it is now almost impossible to establish the truth. In the early spring of 1942, Valentina Serova, as part of a team of artists, took part in a concert organized for patients in a Moscow hospital. There, in a separate room, was Konstantin Rokossovsky, who received a serious shrapnel wound.

Konstantin Rokossovsky

A talented actress was asked to perform in front of him, and she agreed without hesitation. So there was their acquaintance, which grew into a great beautiful feeling. Serova literally lost her head, and the future marshal was crazy about her. For the sake of her new love, Valentina Vasilyevna was ready to give up everything: her common-law husband, the theater. But, unlike her, Rokossovsky perfectly understood all the fragility of their relationship. Although the Kremlin elite looked through their fingers at the front-line hobbies of their generals, but this case was special, in which a famous actress associated with a famous poet acted as a mistress. In addition, if Serova was not officially married, then Rokossovsky had a wife and daughter who remained in Kyiv, from whom there was no news for a long time ..

During one of her brief returns to Moscow, Valentina Serova honestly confessed to Simonov that she was in love with another. He withstood this blow of fate, responding with a quatrain full of bitterness and disappointment:

I must have been more honest than others
Younger maybe.
I didn't want your sins
Forgive or judge.

After being discharged from the hospital, Konstantin Rokossovsky moved with things to Serova's apartment. But their life together turned out to be very short - they lived together for only a few months. Their hopes for a happy life together were not destined to come true: the wife and daughter of the future marshal were found. And the commander himself, on the personal order of Stalin, was sent ahead of schedule to the front. Evil tongues claimed that on the front roads they often met a famous military commander, in whose car a “girl with character” was driving. Stalin did not like this loud and scandalous novel. During a personal meeting with Rokossovsky, the leader of all peoples asked the question: “What do you think, whose wife is the artist Serova?” The general replied: "Konstantina Simonova." “That's what I think,” Stalin replied. Serova stayed with Simonov, and Rokossovsky with his wife and daughter. The love triangle, which was jokingly called the SSR (Serova, Simonov, Rokossovsky), broke up. After breaking up with dear Kostya, Serova kept a gold watch for a long time with the inscription: Air Force from the Red Army, which disappeared from her apartment in 1975.

The famous writer immediately made an offer to Valentina Serova, which she accepted. It is difficult to explain the reasons for this act. The beautiful poems of a poet in love, the desire for simple female happiness, comfort, a father for a growing son, or the fact that Rokossovsky could never be with her, influenced her decision.

Until the end of the war, Konstantin Simonov, who often traveled to the front on newspaper business, wrote to his beloved wife almost daily: There is no life without you. I don’t live, but I wait and count the days ... I believe, more than ever, in happiness with you together. I miss you so much that no one and nothing helps ... " In 1943, the film “Wait for me” was released, the script for which was written by K. Simonov. Thanks to this film, the actress became a living legend during her lifetime.

Simonov, being the wisest of all, forgave his muse. After all, he, unlike others, knew how to wait. His marriage to Serova seemed exemplary. Both were beautiful, famous, favored by Stalin. The couple moved to a luxurious apartment on Gorky Street, where one room only occupied about 60 square meters. meters. At the dacha in Peredelkino, a swimming pool was specially equipped for Serova, which seemed an unimaginable luxury at that time of famine.

In 1946, the actress received the Stalin Prize for her role in the film Composer Glinka and was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the USSR. Simonov was just happy. His dream almost came true: Serova loved him. The popular poet wrote about this in one of his letters: “I’m happy that it’s being fulfilled now when you love me ... what I arrogantly and also stubbornly told you about ... when you didn’t love me, and maybe you did the right thing, because without it it wouldn’t be, maybe that difficult, desperate, bitter and happy our life of these five years.

France, 1946

At a time when it seemed that all the misfortunes were left behind for the Simonov-Serova family, they entered the most difficult phase of their relationship. The well-known writer and poet, editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir magazine, Stalin's favorite, Simonov became an outing. To strengthen relationships in the family, he took his wife to Paris, where he was sent to campaign for the return of emigrants to their homeland. It was not a very honest political move. Many of those who returned ended their lives in the camps. At one of the dinners, where Simonov persuaded everyone to return, he was invited to the telephone. And then Valentina Vasilievna said quietly: "Do not listen to him." Perhaps that is why Bunin stayed, thereby saving his life. Serova always spoke only the truth. And that was her biggest problem...

After the war, the second wave of struggle against cosmopolitanism began, in which Simonov was forced to take an active part. He spoke at a public meeting when the ruling on literary and theater critics was issued. Valentina Vasilievna was very worried about what was happening, because most of those whom her husband branded were her friends. Not having a strong will, she was never able to leave her husband, gradually embarking on the path of self-destruction. This was prompted by the tragedy that happened to her son.

Anatoly from childhood was left to himself. His upbringing was not done by his mother, but by specially hired nannies. His stepfather treated him coolly, if not with hostility. The character of the guy was complex, daring and stubborn. The boy studied poorly, skipped school. Often, becoming a witness to cheerful feasts, he fell asleep at the table to the sound of glasses. At the age of 14, Anatoly began to drink. And some time later, together with a company of the same slackers, like himself, inflamed with alcohol, he robbed and set fire to someone else's dacha. Anatoly Serov was sent to a colony. But Simonov did not even lift a finger to help his stepson in any way. This was his fatal mistake. Serova was never able to forgive this either to her husband or to herself. Anatoly returned from the colony even more nervous and uncontrollable. He continued to drink and misbehave. And the mother, deprived of spiritual support, was not able to cope with him. In addition, there were almost no roles left for her in the theater. The type of "girl with character" is a thing of the past.

Valentina Serova could no longer change anything in her life for the better on her own. Therefore, the actress with the help of wine tried to hide in a world of illusions. Staying at home alone for a long time, Valentina Serova no longer adhered to any norm. In 1948, the addiction turned into a disease. What happened to you? - wrote in one of the letters to his wife Simonov. - Why is it that all heart attacks, all sudden dizziness, are always in my absence? Is it related to lifestyle? You, as I know, have a monstrous Russian habit of drinking from grief, longing, melancholy, from separation ...»

Serova's career as an actress ended in the 50s.

In 1950, Serova and Simonov had a daughter, Maria. As an adult, she said: "When he first saw me, my father thoughtfully remarked to my mother:" Black, then mine. "Fate played a cruel joke on Valentina Serova. Masha's birthday - May 11 - coincided with the tragic death of her husband Anatoly. Unfortunately , even the birth of a daughter could not strengthen the marriage of Simonov and Serova.

With daughter Maria

At the insistence of her husband, the actress joined the troupe of the Mossovet Theatre. There she played many roles, but, unfortunately, not all of them corresponded to her talent. The work of the actress in the film "The Immortal Garrison", filmed according to the script of her husband, became a great success. The director, with all his heart, hated the actress, believing that she was disrupting the shooting by arriving drunk. But after the completion of the work, he admitted: “The actress Serova is talented, you can’t say anything about it.” Simonov was happy to hear about his wife's successes.

After another binge, Serova did not come to the performance. Then the actors staged a friendly court and demanded that she be expelled from the theater. Simonov fought for his love, tried in every possible way to help Valentina, forced him to be treated. But all efforts were in vain, the disease went too far. The dazzling beauty of his beloved, which had once struck him, melted before his eyes. Alienation between spouses grew. Stalin's death was a tangible blow to Simonov. At this time, the writer himself needed support, and instead of an assistant and close friend, he had a degraded alcoholic next to him. The couple officially broke up in 1957, when their daughter Masha went to first grade. Shortly before that, in 1956, Simonov went to the widow of his friend Semyon Gudzenko, Larisa, adopted her daughter Katya, and then their adored Sanya was born. The writer removed Serova's dedication in the collection "With You and Without You". Only the poem “Wait for me” was still published with the note V.S. After the divorce, Simonov exchanged their luxurious apartment, and the ex-wife ended up in a communal apartment.

Konstantin Simonov

Then Simonov wrote the last poem dedicated to his former lover, painfully hurting her heart:

I can't write poetry for you
Neither what you were, nor what you have become.
And obviously these bitter words
Both of us have been missing for a long time ...
It's too late to throw reproaches into the wind,
Don't be afraid to talk until dawn.
I just fell out of love with you. And this
I won't let you write poetry.

In 1956, the once-famous actress made another attempt to pull herself together and went to work at the Film Actor's Theater Studio. The only thing that could save her was work. But every day she heard the same thing: "No, Valechka, there is nothing for you." Serova believed that she was still needed. She sent an open letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU: “Forgive me for being persistent, but there is no longer the strength to hang between heaven and earth. All the dirt that was poured on me, I cannot scrape off myself with any effort until strong hands help me, which will give work and the opportunity, first of all, with work to prove that I am not what they represent me. Help... Deeply respecting you V. Serova.

She was deprived of parental rights. Daughter Maria almost all the time lived with her grandmother. Somehow, her father helped the former actress to stay afloat and not finally sink. He found the best doctors for his daughter, convinced Simonov to allow her to see Masha. Through his efforts, Valentina Vasilyevna was allowed to withdraw small amounts from the savings account every month in order to somehow make ends meet. The actress managed to get a job at the Noginsk Theater. Very often she went on stage drunk, which entertained the "theatergoers" who came to stare at the drunken Serova, gossip and laugh. In the spring of 1960, the actress filed a lawsuit for the return of the child, ensuring that after the end of the school year, her daughter returned to her. After going through all the obstacles, Serova again went to work at Lenkom. But only a pitiful shadow remained of her. Valentina Vasilievna could not establish contact with her daughter either. A series of bitter disappointments was followed by another breakdown.

In 1966, Valentina Vasilievna's father died. Having lost her last hope, she went into a binge. Rokossovsky died in 1968. Maria Simonova, recalling that time, wrote that she saw on her mother's face "a terrible mask of grief and sorrow."

In 1975, Serova's son Anatoly died of alcoholism. He was not yet 36 years old. Shortly before his death, he decided to restore relations with his mother and brought her a huge bouquet of roses. But one of the crooks living in her apartment did not let him on the threshold. At the funeral of her son, Valentina Vasilievna did not appear, having gone into another binge.

On December 12, 1975, Valentina Serova passed away. Her body was discovered by a close friend E. V. Kontseva. Serova lay on the floor with a bruised face. There was a broken bowl nearby. In those days, one of the hanygs boasted that he had killed the actress Serova, avenging her for her son Anatoly. But the criminal case was never opened. A modest civil memorial service took place at the Film Actor's Theatre. Simonov did not come to the funeral of his ex-wife. He sent 58 roses, which his close friend L. Karcher placed at the feet of the deceased...

Before his death, Konstantin Simonov destroyed all letters and photos, all records that testified to his painful love for the beautiful actress, explaining to his daughter: “ I don’t want other people’s hands to dig into this after my death ... Forgive me, girl, but what I had with your mother was the greatest happiness in my life ... And the greatest grief ... "