Why is the monument on the grave of Khrushchev black and white? How Ernst the Unknown made a monument to Khrushchev

The gravestone monument to Khrushchev became a challenge to the party elite / Photo: D. Debabov

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev died on September 11, 1971.
Before him, two top leaders of the party and the Soviet government died - Lenin and Stalin. Both of them were embalmed and placed in the Mausoleum on Red Square. Khrushchev then took out the "father of peoples" and reburied Stalin separately - behind the Mausoleum. The top Kremlin leadership faced an unexpected problem: where to bury the deceased?

The “retired dictator” (as defined by Roy Medvedev) was given a state funeral in compliance with ritual protocol. This protocol included: an official announcement on radio, television and in print, an obituary, the formation of a commission for organizing a funeral, farewell (according to previous precedents - in the Hall of Columns), the choice of a churchyard, performances at the funeral ceremony, a platoon of honor guard, volleys, then the perpetuation of memory , material support of relatives ...

The observance of all these stages of the sad ritual is evidence of the political culture of the country's leadership. The international significance of such events is also difficult to overestimate - the leaders of other countries in such cases send mourning telegrams. And what about the death of the disgraced leader? Ignore? But that would mean doubting the greatness of the Soviet regime, which Khrushchev personified for 11 years. Since there were no blanks, responsible comrades solved the problem from scratch.

Medical report on the death of NS Khrushchev

They solved it in an innovative way. To begin with, the cause of death of the former Soviet leader was hidden not only from citizens, but also from the highest nomenclature. Only today, 45 years later, the official conclusion on the death of N.S. Khrushchev (see illustration). It was signed by a council headed by Academician Evgeny Chazov, who for many years headed the Kremlin, that is, the 4th Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health, and was the personal doctor of the country's leaders. There is not a word in the document about the "serious and prolonged illness" which the deceased allegedly suffered. Meanwhile, references to malaise figured in the memorable 64th, when Khrushchev "asked" his comrades to release him from the leadership of the country "in connection with his advanced age and deteriorating health." As it is clear from Chazov's note, Khrushchev needed medical assistance, but much later - in 1970 and 1971, when he was finishing his memoirs and was summoned for "interrogations". It turned out that the death of the pensioner was accelerated by colleagues.

Brezhnev read Chazov's note. And he decided not to send it to his comrades - the document went into the archive.

A split in a group of comrades

Funeral proposals were instructed to prepare the secretary of the Central Committee Peter Demichev. Colleagues remembered: Khrushchev made him his assistant on the memorable days of Stalin's funeral, and in October 1961 instructed him to speak at the party congress with a proposal to take Stalin's body out of the Mausoleum. The instruction was read unambiguously: now Pyotr Nilovich must prove loyalty to the “Leninist leadership” by a competently organized farewell to his “benefactor”.

Here are the suggestions Demicheva:

"In connection with the death of NS Khrushchev, we are making a proposal to instruct the party committee to hold the funeral under the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee and the Administrative Department of the CPSU Central Committee.

To say goodbye to the deceased on the same day at 10 o'clock in the morning, install the coffin with Khrushchev's body in the funeral hall of the Central Clinical Hospital of the IV Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health.

"The party committee of the party organization under the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee announces with deep regret that on September 11, 1971, after a serious long illness, a member of the CPSU since 1918, a personal pensioner Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, died and expresses deep condolences to the family of the deceased."

Funeral expenses should be charged to the party budget.

Let's decipher: it was proposed to organize the farewell in the ritual hall at the hospital; obituary not only with a photograph, but even without it was not expected. The uninitiated would not understand at all who they are burying. A family allowance in the amount of a two-month pension for organizing the commemoration is not provided.

Then the hardware work began with Demichev's note. According to the laws of the genre of democratic centralism, it had to be approved. Deputy Head General department (Chancellery) of the Central Committee Claudius Bogolyubov begins to ring up his comrades in the Politburo. Andrey Kirilenko, Arvid Pelshe and Petr Shelest are unconditionally in favor. But then events, strange and unusual for the smooth movement of the Kremlin document flow, begin to take place.

Gennady Voronov, chairman of the People's Control Committee, proposes "to give a notice on behalf of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers" (and not on behalf of the party committee under the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee). The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin goes further - crosses out the Novodevichye cemetery and writes instead: "in the Kremlin wall without an established ritual." That is, without a commission for organizing a funeral, without a detailed obituary with a photograph and signatures of members of the Politburo, without speaking on the podium of the Mausoleum. But - in the Kremlin wall. In addition, Kosygin suggested adding in the death notice "the former first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers."

Nikolai Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, also joins the "dissenting opinions". He writes on paper: "I consider it advisable to bury in the Kremlin wall without an established ritual with an addition in the notice and the coffin with the body can be exhibited in the Central Committee 10 / IX-71 club." That is, not in a secure morgue at a closed hospital, but in the holy of holies - on the Old Square. This means that traffic will need to be blocked and a motorcade with flashing lights provided.

What happened? And it turned out that in the triumvirate of the collective leadership created after the overthrow of Khrushchev (Brezhnev, Kosygin, Podgorny), there was no unity on the issue of Khrushchev. Peace of mind of unanimous opinions and backstage unanimous decisions collapsed before our eyes. It turned out that on the fundamental issue of Soviet political culture - how and where to bury the ousted leader, a split was planned in the Kremlin.

This essentially formed "opposition group" is also supported by First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Polyansky. He sets out his proposal in the form of a formal draft for voting:

"1. It would be advisable to make cremation and the urn with the ashes of NS Khrushchev to bury in the Kremlin wall.

2. In the announcement of the death, it is necessary to indicate that he was the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and the chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. "

Riot takes the form of lawmaking.

After all, how did it happen in the Central Committee practice? If one friend suggested adding a comma, it was meticulously recorded. If another comrade advised to remove the exclamation mark, then they listened to this opinion. The third considered it necessary to rewrite the slogan-appeal for May 1 and instead of "brotherly people of Bulgaria" say "people of brotherly Bulgaria", the comrades agreed with this. And now almost half of the Politburo made a demarche on the main issue of the Byzantine nature of power, which was not even subject to discussion: the ousted ruler is deleted from history. Forever and ever. This is the law. Dot.

With the deceased Khrushchev, however, the point did not come out in any way: comrades Brezhnev, Kirilenko, Pelshe and Shelest considered it possible to vote by telephone, and their loyal associates, knowing this, did not agree. And they fixed it on paper, made a formal counter-proposal.

What could be done in a similar situation? Rich hardware experience prompted the answer: not to allow voting, immediately declare the first paper invalid and start over. No paper, no problem.

And so they did. Comrade Demichev from drawing up a new road map the funeral is suspended (in three years he will be sent to lead culture as a minister). Wait one day. And on September 12, a new paper appears - an actual memorandum of the secretaries of the Central Committee and the Moscow city party head Viktor Grishin. It was decided: to give the text of the notice on behalf of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers, to indicate the highest party and government positions of the deceased personal pensioner, but no Wall.

A copy of Mikhail Suslov with traces of his thoughtful work has been preserved in Khrushchev's personal file. It is he who solves this puzzle. For the sake of solidity, he attracts candidates for members of the Politburo and secretaries of the Central Committee to vote. As a result, Suslov put out the opposition.

Nikolai Podgorny admits defeat:

"I agree with the second part, that the notice will be published from the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers. On the first part - regarding the place of burial - I gave comments yesterday. But since everyone voted for, then, as they say, one is not a soldier in the field."

Did this story affect the political biography of the "dissidents" from the Politburo later? Judge for yourself: Voronov will be removed in two years, Polyansky will be sent as ambassador to Japan in five years, Podgorny will be removed from the post of chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet a year later. And the retired Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin will be commemorated at his funeral - he will be denied farewell in the Column Hall of the House of Unions ...

An inconvenient dead man

This, however, was not the end of the “inconveniences” associated with the death of Nikita Sergeevich for the nomenklatura elite - condolences flowed into the Kremlin. Of course, from abroad. And not on the party line. Communists of all countries with the discipline and instinct of political expediency have always had everything in order. In addition, the "leadership of friends" was informed through diplomatic channels in confidence that there was no need to grieve for Khrushchev. But Khrushchev was after all the prime minister, and for the heads of foreign governments this was essential. In appeals to the Kremlin, he was called "His Excellency."

The clerks in the General Department, in accordance with the instructions, proposed to send foreign telegrams round to familiarize the members of the Politburo and Minister Gromyko. But again Suslov intervenes and instructs "not to send". Given the well-known split in the top leadership on the Khrushchev issue, telegrams from foreign leaders could provide additional arguments in favor of a civilized attitude towards the leader of the superpower, who was associated throughout the world with de-Stalinization and the flight of the first man into space.

A month and a half after the death of Nikita Sergeevich, the Council of Ministers makes another formal step in the implementation of the funeral ritual: by decree N 773 of October 22, 1971, it was ordered "to establish a personal pension for Nina Petrovna Kuharchuk of 200 rubles per month for life."

This surname was unfamiliar to the young nominees. The bureaucrats of the older generation remembered that Kukharchuk was Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva. She is assigned to the First Polyclinic of the Fourth Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health. That is, to the Kremlin hospital. "Grant her the right to use the therapeutic food canteen." It is a distributor of products in short supply. It was also decided to give "a small summer cottage and the right to use a car on call (within a certain number of hours)." The fourth point of the resolution was also important:

"4. Allow the Administration of the Council of Ministers of the USSR to spend up to 2 thousand rubles for the construction of a gravestone on the grave of NS Khrushchev.".

And then a new surprise happened: the family decided that Nikita Sergeevich was worthy not of a typical marble slab costing 2 thousand rubles, but of a real monument. And she found the sculptor herself - this is how Ernst Unknown appears in the saga of perpetuation.

Since the Economic Department of the Council of Ministers is supervised by the "dissident" Kosygin, his department meets the Khrushchev family halfway: the art fund of the USSR approves the project of the monument, then the issue is transferred to the department of consumer services and utilities of the Moscow City Executive Committee, 2 thousand rubles turn into five. However, all this did not abolish the highest control (the Politburo considered the drawings and made amendments) and the vigilant eye of the authorities, especially art critics from the Lubyanka.

REFERENCE

According to the operational data available in the KGB, a few months ago S.N. came to the sculptor Ernst UNKNOWN. Khrushchev with a request on behalf of the family to create a monument to NS KHRUSHCHEV ... E. UNKNOWN is supposed to make an inscription on the monument: "KHRUSHCHEV" without initials. This kind of inscription, as it were, turns the tombstone from a monument to a specific person into a monument symbolizing a particular era, and echoes the existing inscription on the Mausoleum. "

After reviewing the KGB report, the head of the General Department of the Central Committee, Konstantin Chernenko, writes to his boss:

"Leonid Ilyich! Perhaps we should instruct Comrade Pavlov G.S. to take a closer look at what the project of the monument is being prepared, especially since at one time the Administrative Department was instructed to take part in resolving these issues." GKChP he will jump out of the window of his apartment. - "O").

The certificate is submitted for discussion by the Politburo and becomes the basis for the decision, which was formalized as top secret, and was adopted without entering into the minutes. The fateful directive on the deployment of troops to Afghanistan, drawn up in the same way, was adopted in the same way and was designated "To the position in Afghanistan." Also, without entering into the protocol, "Monument to Kh." Was created: "Instruct to show interest in the preparation of the monument to Kh."

Interest in "preparing a monument to H." was shown really serious. In accordance with the exchange of views that took place at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the inscription "Khrushchev" was rejected - so that there were no associations with Lenin. The court decided to write on stone: "Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev", as well as the dates of birth and death.

Andropov's report on the opening of a monument to Khrushchev with elements of denunciation of the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko

The unveiling of the monument will be delayed for a year and a half after the deadline approved by the Politburo and will also take place under the strict guidance and control of the authorities. On behalf of Suslov, a short report by Yuri Andropov about the event will be sent out as a mandatory reading material top management... Including because of the statements of Evgeny Yevtushenko:

"After a while, the rest of the group went to the exit, together with E. Yevtushenko, who, addressing foreigners on english language, said approximately the following: "The most significant and important thing in the monument is two slabs, black and white, which personify the struggle of" light "and" dark "forces in man. The struggle of" good and evil "in each of us, and especially in N. S. Khrushchev, since he was above all of us and therefore especially visible to the rest. ”This monument was created by the Russian sculptor E. Neizvestny, whom NS Khrushchev repeatedly criticized for“ abstract art. ”And now after death came redemption, reconciliation between them ... "" Attached to the report are many black-and-white photographs captured by operational equipment.

Soon, the Kremlin realizes their mistake, refusing to bury Khrushchev in a special order in the Kremlin wall: the Novodevichye cemetery became a place of mass pilgrimage - people came to see the famous monument, many carried flowers. As a result, the authorities (formally by the decision of the Moscow City Committee and the Moscow City Council) closed access here for "outsiders" for many years to come ...

Leonid Maksimenkov, historian
magazine "Ogonyok", No. 35, p. 40, September 5, 2016

The graves of celebrities at the Novodevichy Cemetery, the most famous and prestigious necropolis in Moscow, are included in the list of "must see" excursion and tourist routes in the capital of Russia. The churchyard was founded at the end of the 19th century at the southern wall of the Novodevichy Convent. Subsequently, the burial places of prominent compatriots, prominent politicians, scientists, people of art were located here.

Yeltsin's grave and statesmen at the Novodevichy cemetery

Boris Yeltsin, the First President of the Russian Federation, is buried at Site 6 of the Novodevichy Cemetery (central alley). A Russian tricolor made of red porphyry, sky-blue Byzantine mosaics and white marble lay flat on the wide tombstone in monumental folds.

The grave of Alexandra Kollontai, a Russian revolutionary of noble origin, is framed by her sculptural image. Kollontai became the world's first female minister, then authorized representative USSR in Mexico, Norway, Sweden, and in 1944-1945. - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to the Kingdom of Sweden.

Gravestone of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1958-1964 Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev confirms the unspoken rule according to which the disgraced were not buried near the Kremlin wall statesmen... The difficult political fate of the Soviet leader is symbolically reflected in the tombstone by Ernst Neizvestny, commissioned by Khrushchev's son. The simple, sculpted with maximum portrait likeness, the face of the First Secretary is surrounded, like an angular spacesuit, with a white and black vertical composition - faith in a bright communist future and the dark legacy of mass repression.

Andrei Gromyko, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. No Soviet foreign policy, was the last one planned to be buried at the Kremlin wall. Nevertheless, the grave was placed at the Novodevichy cemetery according to the will of Gromyko himself and the request of his relatives.

The monumental monument to General Alexander Lebed, the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, who died in a plane crash, depicts the military leader sitting, in a ceremonial uniform with complete set orders.

Viktor Chernomyrdin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers - Government of the Russian Federation in 1992-1998, rests in a paired family grave decorated with monuments in the traditional Russian style, carved on black marble.

The tombstone of Yevgeny Primakov, intelligence officer and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, was a massive monolith of gray granite and a light stone scroll with the text of a poem written by this outstanding politician: I won't run out of breath until I fall. And if it becomes unbearably hard, then I will not leave the road either. "

Famous scientists at the Novodevichy cemetery

In the Novodevichy necropolis are buried powerful thinkers, founders of scientific trends and schools, who lived extremely fruitfully.

The snow-white marble monument, covered with a transparent protective case, denotes the burial of the Russian cosmist scientist, the outstanding mineralogist Vladimir Vernadsky, who first introduced the terms “biosphere” and “noosphere”. At the base of the monument there is a quote: "We live in a wonderful time when a person becomes a geological force that changes the face of our planet."

Tombstone of the brilliant theoretical physicist, laureate Nobel Prize Lev Landau by Ernst Neizvestny. A block of dark granite with a bust portrait of a scientist rests on a metal column formed by three concave sections.

The grave of the geologist and geographer Vladimir Obruchev is marked by a gray granite monolith with a sculpturally detailed portrait and a symbolic image of a geological hammer crossed by a writer's pen. Obruchev perfectly mastered the art of effective time management, successfully combining intensive scientific work with the creation of science fiction works, including such voluminous ones as "Plutonium" and "Sannikov Land".

Famous composers at the Novodevichy cemetery

The names of the composers buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery have become significant in the history of music.

The black marble stele with the dates of Sergei Prokofiev's life marks the burial place of the world famous author of instrumental concerts, symphonies, seven operas and eleven ballets.

No less laconic is the tombstone of Dmitry Shostakovich, one of the most performed composers in the world. His numerous works have had a noticeable impact on the development of the musical culture of mankind.

Restless grave of Gogol. Burials of writers on Novodevichy

The great classic Nikolai Gogol was buried at the Danilovskoye cemetery. In 1931, during the liquidation of this monastery churchyard in the midst of the struggle against religion, the writer's ashes were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery. In 1952, over the new grave, instead of the old cross with a stone foot, a sculptural monument with the inscription “To the great Russian artist, words from the government Soviet Union". In 2009, the tombstone acquired its former appearance again: only a stone and only a cross.

Located on the original grave of Gogol, a special black stone with a bumpy surface, shaped like Golgotha \u200b\u200b- the place of the crucifixion of Christ, was installed as a tombstone over the burial of another master of the word - Mikhail Bulgakov.

The Novodevichy cemetery as a whole has become a real pantheon of writers and poets. Here Anton Chekhov rests under a white stele in the New Russian style. The urn with the ashes of the violent futurist, proletarian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky is buried under a massive slab of dark gray granite. An ancient statue from the Kyrgyz steppes was laid over the grave of the creator of new words, "Chairman of the Globe" Velimir Khlebnikov. The tombstone of the intellectual symbolist Valery Bryusov, who sought inspiration at the intersection of science and poetry, is decorated with an accurate, stylistically consistent profile portrait of the poet. A medallion with a bas-relief profile of Alexei Tolstoy, treated kindly by the Soviet regime, is accompanied by sculptural images of characters from his most monumental works - the novels Peter the Great and Walking Through the Torment. The monument to Alexander Fadeev is complemented by the heroes of Krasnodon from the "Young Guard". There are no sculptures and portraits on the grave of the remarkable poet Andrei Voznesensky. The tombstone, made according to his own design, is an inclined polished surface of dark granite. It is as if a large stone ball is about to roll along it, which keeps only a small bronze crucifix from rapid movement down the slope.

Steel arms-wings, fiery motor of the heart - creators and heroes

Bas-relief and sculptural portraits mark the burial places of prominent aircraft designers - Pavel Sukhoi (Su fighters), Andrey Tupolev (Tu planes), Semyon Lavochkina (LaGG and La fighters), Alexander Yakovlev (Yak fighters).

At Novodevichy, polar pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky, the first to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Air Marshal, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin, a fighter ace, one of the most effective pilots of the Great Patriotic War.

Space. Land. Ocean

Above the grave of cosmonaut No. 2 German Titov, there is a sculptural portrait of him with an eagle. "Eagle" was Titov's call sign in radio communications with the Earth. Pilot-cosmonaut, test pilot Georgy Beregovoy, who piloted the Soyuz-3 spacecraft, buried at Novodevichy, received the first title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.

The space theme is displayed on the exclusive tombstone of Yuri Senkevich, who for 30 years was the permanent TV presenter of the "Film Travel Club". Senkevich was engaged in medical training of space and high-latitude expeditions, took part in ocean voyages on the papyrus boats "Ra" and "Tigris" at the invitation of Thor Heyerdahl. On the tombstone, these voyages are represented by a sculptural wave with a reed ship under right sail.

Act four, last and eternal

Life as a play in three acts - presentation, twists and turns and denouement - for people on the stage can have a fourth action, continuing in the memory of followers and fans.

The author of the acting technique of genuine emotions, which has been followed for a hundred years, Konstantin Stanislavsky rests in the Novodevichy cemetery under a red granite slab. It has a white vertical curtain stele with the emblem of the Moscow Art Theater - a seagull, crowned with a large orthodox cross.

On the grave of Stanislavsky's direct follower, Evgeny Vakhtangov, there is a bronze figure of a woman, whose sadly bowed face is hidden by a cape.

The burial place of the great Maria Ermolova is indicated by a vase made of dark polished granite with a falling drapery. A bas-relief profile of the actress is placed on a dark pedestal.

The bas-relief profile of an actor of unique talent, Innokentiy Smoktunovsky, is captured in a round medallion on a gray grave boulder. The bronze sculpture by Vyacheslav Tikhonov reproduces the image of the actor in the role of Stirlitz's scout. On the grave of Oleg Efremov, there is a white marble rounded stele with a bas-relief Orthodox cross. The monument to Lyudmila Gurchenko combines polished black granite and snow-white marble with a full-length sculptural image of the actress. The grave of Yuri Yakovlev is overshadowed by a white marble eight-pointed cross, decorated in the style of Chekhov's tombstone. The great comedian Yuri Nikulin is forever captured in bronze, sitting on a low curb-pedestal.

At the Novodevichy Cemetery there are many memorable places that allow you to recall the great voices of Russia - Chaliapin, Zykina, Yuri Levitan, a whole galaxy of artists, outstanding chess players, filmmakers, doctors, teachers, architects. This necropolis with twenty-five thousand burials is a real encyclopedia of Russian celebrities.

Novodevichy cemetery. Celebrity Lists

Alexander Vertinsky
Lyudmila Zykina
Elena Obraztsova
Galina Vishnevskaya
Claudia Shulzhenko
Fedor Chaliapin
Leonid Utesov
Yuri Levitan

World Chess Champions

Vasily Smyslov
Mikhail Botvinnik

A galaxy of artists and famous patrons

Valentin Serov
Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya
Isaac Levitan
Mikhail Nesterov
The Tretyakov brothers

Actors

Arkady Raikin
Yury Nikulin

Filmmakers

Sershgey Eisenstein
Sergey Bondarchuk
Eldar Ryazanov

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Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was the most controversial politician in the Soviet Union. Him political activity under Stalin, it did not differ in its cruelty from the activities of the leader he adored. However, the actions of Khrushchev after the death of the leader and the debunking of his cult were accepted by society in two ways.

Throughout his life, Khrushchev fought against Stalinism by his own methods, removed the "iron" curtain and himself criticized what he saw. A bright political career turned into seven years of imprisonment. Even Khrushchev's grave is not in the Kremlin wall, like all iconic political leaders, but in the Novodevichy cemetery.

Biography of Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was born into a poor peasant family. From childhood he worked, first as a simple miner in the Donbass, then as a mechanic, later as a deputy director of a plant. His ability to work, love of life and active life position did not go unnoticed.

He came to power late enough, at 35 he went to study in Industrial Academy in Moscow. The leader of the peoples liked the ambitious simple man, friendship with Stalin's wife, Nadezhda, became a kind of political lift for him. Khrushchev was a loyal communist, with unconditional determination he went to all that Stalin's policy proposed in those years.

In the role of a simple Soviet hard worker, he unexpectedly found himself very close to unlimited power. After Stalin's death, he also unexpectedly became the new leader of the Land of Soviets. The stupid Khrushchev turned out to be a strong political adversary, a brave manipulator and a cunning politician.

Controversial personality

The policy of the new party chairman was contradictory. He tried to build communism, but not with communist methods. He released the repressed, but continued to arrest the innocent. He fought for agricultureplanting corn in areas unsuitable for cultivation. I tried to provide the entire population with apartments, starting a large-scale construction project, but did not calculate the financial costs for the quality of these apartments. He got involved in the struggle with America, recognizing its strength. He built the "Berlin Wall", and in politics he pulled down the walls between Russia and the West. He despised the capitalists and strove to give his people the opportunity to live like them. He was evil and merciful, a jester and a cunning manipulator. Nobody took him seriously, but he took and for 11 years became the unlimited leader of a huge country.

Headstone over the grave of N.S. Khrushcheva very accurately expresses this contradictory nature of its owner.

The funeral

Like his life after reign, it was shrouded in mystery. He died on September 11, 1971 at the Kuntsevo hospital. Two days later, he will be secretly buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. The grave of Khrushchev will be surrounded by soldiers, who do not allow anyone "extra" to say goodbye to the former leader. Not a single official will be attending the funeral, only relatives and close friends. There will also be no rally in Moscow, which was previously awarded to all Soviet and party leaders. A small obituary in the newspaper, without a photograph and unnecessary words, without the signatures of members of the Politburo, few will notice.

Grave of Khrushchev

Buried former leader Soviet Union at the Novodevichy cemetery by order of Brezhnev. The organization of the funeral was taken over by a special commission in the Kremlin. Despite the fact that the death and funeral of the former secretary general tried not to advertise, and the cemetery was cordoned off by soldiers, there were many who wanted to get to the event.

Khrushchev's grave was defiled more than once. There were many opponents of his political decisions. After that, the cemetery was closed. Then the former victims carried flowers to the grave of Khrushchev stalinist repressionwhom he freed as soon as he got the high post. His numerous relatives will never forget about him. Nikita Sergeevich has four children left.

Monument to E. Unknown

The monument at the grave of Khrushchev was erected only in 1975. Although the sketch of the memorial was made by the Soviet sculptor Ernst Neizvestny much earlier at the request of his son. The authorities did not allow it to be installed. And only after numerous requests and calls to high-ranking officials, the relatives finally managed to obtain permission for its construction.

The monument itself is made of two non-standard marble slabs. Slabs of white and black marble on the grave of Khrushchev stand opposite each other. They personify the black Stalinist era and the bright future of the Khrushchev thaw. But composition can also be seen as two sides. conflicting personality Nikita Sergeevich. In the center, the good-natured bronze head of Khrushchev looks at us.

Next to the grave of Khrushchev is also the grave of his son, who died during the Great Patriotic War.

Conclusion

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev lived a long and generally happy life. He went through a difficult political path and saw life from different angles. Growing up in poverty and having tasted all the fruits of unlimited power, he remained faithful to his ideals and always tried to help an ordinary Russian peasant. Experiencing the black Stalinist era, he believed that he could create a bright communist future where all people would be well fed, there would always be plenty of food on the table, and each family would have their own home.

Monument at the grave of N.S. Khrushchev fully reflects these two sides of the controversial leader. E. Unknown, like no one, was able to discern in the violent opponent of the modern avant-garde a real innovator of bold ideas. Khrushchev, who once smashed the exhibition of E. Neizvestny to smithereens, did not even imagine that he would be able to capture his controversial offender in marble and bronze forever.

On August 10, one of the most famous and respected sculptors in the world, Ernst Neizvestny, passed away.

Ernst Unknown was ... However, the word "was" is the least suitable for him. Ernst Iosifovich has always been an amazing example of love of life and resilience, it seemed that no trouble could take him, even with death he managed to flirt - and she retreated so that in the next battle the Unknown took up.

A front-line soldier, he went through the war almost to the end: drafted in 1943 by an 18-year-old boy, he reached Austria, where in 1945 he was seriously wounded. So hard that even when the order was issued to award the Unknown for his heroism with the Order of the Red Star, the order was written "posthumously." But this was, fortunately, not so - Ernst Iosifovich was recovering in the hospital, for many years he still walked on crutches (and old wounds reminded of themselves until the end of their days) - but he was alive.

His father was a doctor, his mother wrote popular science books for children, and Ernst himself, upon returning from the war, decides to devote himself to art - first he returns to his native Sverdlovsk, then goes to Riga to study at the Academy of Arts, and then enters the Surikov School in Moscow ... And all this time he draws, draws, and also sculpts. Plasticity, the ability to capture movement, expression, to express in sculpture that which cannot be conveyed in painting, to subjugate volume and lay a metaphor in it - this is what Unknown wants to achieve.

He joins the Union of Artists, and already in 1962 his name is passed from mouth to mouth - it is all the fault of the famous exhibition of young artists in the Manege, where Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev himself came to get acquainted with the "new art". By that time Unknown was already a well-known young author, his work was seen and praised by Picasso and Renato Guttuso, so when Khrushchev attacked him with fierce criticism, they say, "I don't like the faces on your sculptures," Unknown objected that, among other things , renowned international communist artists praised his work. But Khrushchev, in his frenzied simplicity, was relentless: "But I am the first communist of the Communist Party, and I don't like your work!" - he shaved off the Unknown.

It would seem that after that it was possible to give up on a career in the Soviet Union, but the party bosses, even despite the criticism of Khrushchev (who, to my credit, finally calmed down and, leaving the exhibition, even stated that Neizvestny had " interesting works "- apparently, the authority of Picasso affected), they still make important orders for the sculptor. However, Khrushchev was also retired, while Brezhnev at first gives yesterday's cultural opposition some relief.

Exhibition "Ernst Unknown. Return to the Manege"

For example, for the pioneer camp "Artek" Unknown in 1966 creates "Prometheus", and for the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology he sculpts a giant relief. In general, monumental art for the Unknown is the highest point of creativity, he wants to create large, complex, multifunctional compositions filled with many images, so that these sculptures could be read like books.

But the growing stagnation of the Soviet state is strangling Neizvestny both literally and figuratively - it is not easy for his complex, complex thinking to exist in the Brezhnev swamp: and on the wave of emigration of the 70s, Unknown is sent abroad. Forever and ever. First - to Switzerland, and from there - to America, which becomes a second home for him: here he can create what he wants and implement his plans.

He considers his main work "The Tree of Life" - a large composition, a kind of sculptural history of all mankind - it should include all the images that he created before - and Prometheus, and the crucifixion, and the Mother of God, and even "Mask of Sorrow" - a metaphor for all troubles that have befallen long-suffering Russia (as a result, Unknown will put it not just somewhere, but in Magadan).

Having left for the West, the Unknown was reconciled with his past. When Khrushchev dies, the politician's relatives turn to the unknown person with a request to make a tombstone for Nikita Sergeevich, and the Unknown person agrees. For him, this is a way to "end the conversation." He makes a monument to Khrushchev - avant-garde, but extremely accurate, unconditionally accepted both by the family of the deceased and by everyone who sees this monument. The Vision of the Unknown won again.

He continues to experiment, including on himself: he even tries to commit suicide one day. He, in his own words, "wanted to look beyond the border and see what was there in the afterlife." But God saved the Unknown again - the attempt was unsuccessful, and life went on.

He did not lose touch with Russia, the last time he flew home on his 80th birthday, then long flights were already given with difficulty - age. He was friends with all the key persons of the Russian emigration - with Brodsky, with Baryshnikov, saw Vysotsky when he came to America on tour ... Until the last moment, the unknown person felt like a part of Russian culture - and no politician could take this away from him.

He cheerfully stepped over the 90-year mark, continued to sculpt and paint - of course, old wounds made themselves felt, his legs refused to listen, he occasionally had to ride a wheelchair, but Ernst Iosifovich still maintained the optimism and excitement of that boy who had once returned from front and with fury and gaiety plunged into a new, hitherto unseen life.

He left suddenly, but his works remained: and the "Tree of Life" is still growing, destinies intertwine and a series of images that he managed to fix, turn into a bronze metaphor floats before us. Sculpture is durable and memory is endless.

Monument to Khrushchev at the Novodevichy cemetery

One of the most famous works of Ernst Neizvestny. Khrushchev called the works of Unknown "degenerate art", forced the master to emigrate, but Unknown, who created a posthumous monument to him, later said: "An artist cannot be more evil than a politician, I forgave him." The monument is philosophical: the struggle between good and evil, black and white, sin and virtue. This is how Nikita Sergeevich appears in history.

"Tree of life"

To see this seven-meter composition, Muscovites need to go to the Moscow City area, where the Bagration shopping and pedestrian bridge is located. It was installed in 2004, and the master hatched the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work for 40 years. Again, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe struggle between darkness and light is captured here. Seven Mobius ribbons are intertwined, connecting many faces (from Buddha to Yuri Gagarin), arms, legs, religious symbols. The master himself said that it is not necessary to understand each of the symbols, the main thing is to internally feel the idea and mood of the composition

"Revival"

The monument on Bolshaya Ordynka appeared in 2000, when Unknown celebrated his 75th birthday. In the center of the stele is the Archangel Michael, defending Russia. The archangel leads the country to rebirth, but the path is difficult. Lightning, thunderstorms, the Serpent oppose the light. Nevertheless, goodness triumphs: the flower of life reaches for the sky and breaks down barriers. The composition is crowned with vines. The stele is made of Jerusalem stone.

"Tefi"

The Orpheus statuette, awarded annually to the best TV men as the Tefi Prize, was also created according to the sketches of Ernst Neizvestny. On the image of the ancient Greek hero playing on the strings of the soul, the sculptor began work immediately after the scandal in the Manege with Khrushchev. Orpheus is a symbol of a person's struggle against difficult obstacles. the original is kept in the USA and weighs 8.5 kilograms.

"Through the wall"

This sculpture by Ernst Neizvestny was presented by him in 1996 to the then President Boris Yeltsin. This work symbolizes a breakthrough through a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Thus, the artist expressed the hope that the head of state will be able to overcome the disease.

"Lotus flower"

The 75 meter high monument was erected at the Aswan Dam in Egypt in honor of the friendship of peoples in 1971. This monument is considered the largest sculpture in the world. According to the author's idea, this work was supposed to contain reliefs, however, due to bureaucratic delays, this idea had to be abandoned.

Photo chronicle TASS / R. Orestov

"Mask of Sorrow"

"Mask of Sorrow" - a memorial in Magadan, dedicated to the memory of the victims political repression... Its height is 15 meters. In the center of the sculpture is a stylized crying face, tears on which are small masks. The right eye is depicted as an eye with a lattice. And inside the monument itself is a copy of a prison cell.

Photo chronicle TASS

"Bertrand De Born"

This is one of the most mysterious works of the Unknown. The sculpture depicts tangled body parts, where a hand emerging from a pile of muscles holds the head by the hair. This work is considered a self-portrait of the artist.

Pavel Surkov, Olga Kosolapova

Content:

1. Introduction
Several years have passed since the death of N. S. Khrushchev, and in August 1975, after long delays, a monument was opened at his grave. Its author was Ernst Iosifovich Unknown, whom Khrushchev mercilessly condemned and ridiculed 13 years ago. The work of Unknown became the most significant work of sculpture, which was dedicated to the former leader of the USSR.

2.About creation
Novodevichye cemetery is the main necropolis of the capital. Here are buried people who have left a noticeable mark in the history of Russia. Many monuments installed here can be called masterpieces of memorial sculpture without exaggeration.
Among them is undoubtedly the legendary gravestone of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev by the famous sculptor Ernst Neizvestny. The history of the creation of this monument can rightfully be called “history” with a capital letter - so complex and contradictory human destinies and real events of the recent past intertwined in it.
There are known examples when the execution of the tombstone was entrusted to an artist who had some kind of personal connection with the deceased. Let us recall, for example, the "Tomb of Lorenzo Medici" in Florence - Michelangelo's marble masterpiece, created by him as a sign of personal gratitude to the great patron of the arts. But the relationship between Nikita Khrushchev and Ernst Neizvestny, in its drama, is worthy of the pen of a novelist.
Nikita Khrushchev is one of the brightest and most controversial historical figures of the Soviet era. A loyal disciple of Comrade Stalin, one of many, but by no means an ordinary "screw" of the bloody Stalinist meat grinder - it was Khrushchev who "drove" the first nail into the lid of the tyrant's coffin, speaking at the 20th Congress of the CPSU with a secret report "On the cult of personality." He freed those who had survived from the camps and set in motion the process of rehabilitation of innocent victims. By expanding housing construction, he enabled thousands of townspeople to move from basements and barracks to their own apartments. At the same time, millions of poor, powerless and "passportless" peasants hardly remembered Nikita Sergeevich with a kind word.
Khrushchev initiated the partial liberalization of society, which went down in history as the Khrushchev "thaw". But, as often happens in history, he also put an end to it.
The starting point of this movement "backward" was the infamous exhibition "30th Anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists" in 1962, where for the first time they crossed life paths Khrushchev and Unknown. Along with the main exhibition, demonstrating the complete and final victory of socialist realism, the public was shown for the first time the works of a group of young experimental artists, one of the key figures in this group was the sculptor Ernst Neizvestny.
A military officer, holder of the Order of the Red Star, who fought in the airborne troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Unknown was one of the leaders of a generation of artists who did not consider socialist realism to be the only art method.
It is difficult to say whether the scandal at the exhibition was a spontaneous reaction from the eccentric Chairman of the Council of Ministers or it was part of a cunning plan of schemers from the Politburo and the Union of Artists. But, one way or another, Khrushchev, having bypassed the exposition of the avant-garde artists three times, gradually fell into furious anger and rage. Asking the artists mocking questions and becoming more and more infuriated, he ended his monologue with a hysterical cry - “Forbid, forbid everything! Such art is not necessary for the Soviet people !!! What are you all pederasts, or what? " Ernst Neizvestny was one of those who boldly, without losing dignity, tried to reason with the raging party leader.
Nine years after the events described, ousted from all posts and betrayed by his associates, Khrushchev died. The family of the deceased turned to Ernst Neizvestny with an unexpected proposal for him to make a tombstone for his opponent. By that time, the sculptor had considerable experience in creating ritual statues. He was the author of the tombstones of the Nobel Prize Laureate, physicist Lev Landau, poet Mikhail Svetlov. The son of NS Khrushchev Sergey testifies that the philosophical idea of \u200b\u200bthe monument arose from the sculptor immediately. Already during the first meeting, Unknown began to draw on a sheet of paper a construction of two blocks of black and whiteresting on a powerful horizontal bronze slab. The artistic metaphor proposed by the sculptor was simple, expressive and highly applicable to Khrushchev's personality: the unity and struggle of opposites, the confrontation between good and evil, living and dead, light and darkness.
Two types of natural stone were chosen as the material - white marble and black granite. As conceived by the author, a white marble block as if cuts into a block of black granite with its geometric edges, forming a niche for a portrait in the center of this composition. A portrait is not a bust traditional for ritual sculpture, but what in everyday language we would call a “head”. The "head" was supposed to be cast from bronze and technologically processed to match the color of "old" gold.
According to Sergey Khrushchev, unexpected difficulties arose when choosing a stone of the right size. According to the author's intention, the height of the monument was to be equal to two and a half meters. According to the technology of the time, stones of this size were mined by blasting. In this case, microcracks imperceptible to the eyes could appear in the monolith. This defect could be found only after the stone was finally ground and polished.
Having discussed this problem with professionals and specialists in the processing of natural stone, the sculptor decided to make the marble and granite part of the tombstone from three stones of a standard size. These blocks 90 cm high and 60 cm wide were cut out of the rock with the help of special machines, which excluded the possibility of microcracks.
Considerable difficulties had to be overcome when obtaining permits from various party and artistic authorities. The unspoken opinion of the authorities was opposed to the tombstone project proposed by Ernst Neizvestny. Party comrades considered him too radical, bold and unusual. Several alternative proposals have been put forward. For example, keep the overall composition but use standard gray granite. Others suggested completely changing the shape of the monument and using red porphyry, symbolizing Khrushchev's revolutionary achievements. Still others were inclined towards the usual version of a granite stele topped with a bust, like the Kremlin wall.

3 black and white Khrushchev

In the original and philosophical composition of the monument to Khrushchev, created by E. Unknown, one can see clear boundaries between black and white. However, in the life of every person on Earth, and even more so in the life of individuals who entered world history and were at the pinnacle of power, black and white not only may not have visible boundaries, but often has a fair amount of duality, when over time and in comparison with others deeds and events, black may be, if not white, then far and not black. Or vice versa.

This statement also applies to the personality of N.S. Khrushchev. Born into a peasant family in the village of Kalinovka, Kursk Oblast in 1894, Khrushchev learned from early childhood the severity of forced labor and the "delights" of life under the tsarist autocracy. In winter he attended school and learned to read and write, in summer he worked as a shepherd. In 1908, having moved with his family to the Uspensky mine near Yuzovka, at the age of 15 he became a locksmith's apprentice at a factory, then worked as a locksmith in a mine, and as a miner was not taken to the front in 1914.

After 1991, which became the year of the collapse and death of the USSR, the citizens of Russia were told a lot about the "black" regime of the Bolsheviks and Communists, and about the "white" and "puffy" times of the tsarist autocracy. They say, until 1913, Russians lived like a god in their bosom - the Stolypin reforms "overwhelmed" Russians with all types of food, and the rapidly developing capitalism "raised" Russian industry almost on a par with the industry of Western Europe.

The family of Nikita Khrushchev, alas, did not feel "white" either from the Stolypin reforms in the peasant life of the Kursk province, or from the rapid industrialization of Donbass. Young Nikita's family members had to work, work and work in order to survive, even purely physiologically.

After the October Revolution, Khrushchev was elected chairman of the local trade union of metalworkers in the mining industry. In 1918 he joined the RCP (b). After the occupation of Ukraine by the Germans, Khrushchev worked in the Revolutionary Committee in the Kursk province, since the spring of 1918 he was in political work in the Red Army, showing himself to be a brave and skillful commissar. After the civil war, Khrushchev returned to Donbass. In 1920 he became a political leader, deputy manager of the Ruchenkovsky mine. In 1921 he entered the workers' faculty of the Dontechnikum, but did not finish his studies, because was appointed second secretary of the district committee of the party and began to quickly make a party career.

In 1929, Khrushchev was sent to study at the Industrial Academy, which trained personnel for the party-industrial leadership. His wife, I.V., studied with him at the Industrial Academy. Stalin - N. Alliluyeva, who drew her husband's attention to an energetic and promising party member. During his studies, this party member actively opposed the "right deviation", headed the "orthodox communists" and in 1930 was elected secretary of the academy's party committee.

In 1931, on the recommendation of L.M. Kaganovich Khrushchev was elected first secretary of the Baum nsky, then Krasnopresnensky district committee of Moscow. In 1932 he became the second secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. In 1935 he was appointed first secretary of the Moscow regional party committee. Khrushchev received his first Order of Lenin for significant contribution in the construction of the Moscow metro.

Khrushchev's “black” deeds include his signatures under execution lists both in Moscow and in Ukraine. Under the leadership of Khrushchev, unprecedented arrests of the leadership of the party organization took place in Moscow, while Khrushchev himself authorized all actions of the NKVD organs, while urging further and more "vigilance". In a speech at the Moscow Party Conference on May 23, 1937, he declared: "The working class and all the working people of our country have achieved great victories of socialism thanks to wisdom, thanks to the vigilance, the inexhaustible energy of the great successor to the cause of Lenin, the leader of the peoples of the USSR, friend of the working people of the whole world - Comrade Stalin! .. you cannot calm down - the enemy has not yet finished off completely. " Khrushchev is overseeing the arrests and is demanding that the numbers be impressive. According to the testimony of old residents of the Moscow department of the NKVD, in 1937 he called daily and asked how the arrests were going.

Moscow is the capital, - reminded Nikita Sergeevich. - She doesn't want
lag behind Kaluga or Ryazan.

As a member of the military council of the Kiev Special Military District, Khrushchev was involved in the repression of the command staff of the district, took part in the preparations for the seizure of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. During the Great Patriotic War, he was indirectly involved in the most difficult defeat of the Red Army near Kharkov. After the death of I. V. Stalin, Khrushchev was the secretary of the Central Committee, headed the commission for organizing the funeral of the dictator and is responsible for the tragic death of people in the stampede that took place on the first day of farewell to the deceased at the House of Unions.

Under the actual power of the triumvirate - G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, Khrushchev - the latter, with the support of N.A. Bulganin and G.K. Zhukov, organized the arrest of L.P. Beria, was able to push back G.M. Malenkov and in September 1953 became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. However, soon, as a sign of "gratitude", he got rid of both Bulganin and Zhukov.

In 1956, at a closed session of the XX Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev made a report "On the cult of the individual and its consequences." This report, however, did not attempt to analyze the system that made possible the bloody Stalinist despotism. Moreover, after some time, Khrushchev himself began to neglect the methods of collegial leadership of the country, began to encourage the development and strengthening of his own personality cult.

After a good harvest on virgin lands in 1956, which gave half of the grain harvested in the country, Khrushchev embarked on the path of adventurous administrative economic reforms and campaigns aimed at obtaining quick and substantial results. In 1957 he put forward the slogan "To catch up and surpass America in the production of meat and dairy products in two or three years", which had no real prerequisites for its implementation and ended in complete failure. The forced maize-growing program in areas known to be unsuitable for this has failed. The enlargement of the collective farms and their purchase of the equipment of the liquidated machine and tractor stations led to a reduction in agricultural production. technology and had a detrimental effect on the country's agriculture. The well-being of collective farmers was hit hard by the fight against household plots and restrictions on the sale of feed for personal livestock. The decision to create local economic councils (economic councils) to manage the economy instead of ministries did not justify itself. ..

In 1962, a 30 percent increase in the price of meat and a 25 percent increase in butter was announced. This "temporary measure" was explained by the need to reduce the "scissors" between purchase and retail prices. The boorish attitude of the local authorities towards the people, combined with a decrease in living standards, provoked strikes and massive peaceful demonstrations of workers and students, against which troops were used, who shot dozens of people. It was not the murderers who were punished, but the victims - the participants in the events over whom the show trials were arranged, which ended with death sentences. In 1963, as a result of a poor harvest and a lack of reserves in the country, the USSR bought about 13 million tons of grain abroad. The openly expressed dissatisfaction in the queues with the fact that Russia has turned from an exporter of bread into an importer of bread has not been reduced
etc.................