The truth about Arkady Gaidar the killer. What was Arkady Gaidar really like?

On January 22, 1904, Arkady Gaidar (Golikov) was born - one of the most controversial figures of the Soviet period in the history of our country. Many remember him as a famous children's writer. However, Arkady Petrovich did not immediately become an artist of words; there were other pages in his destiny. For example, the suppression of peasant uprisings in the Tambov province in 1921 and the anti-Soviet insurgent movement in Khakassia (then the Achinsk-Minusinsk region of the Yenisei province) in 1922. 108 years have passed since the birth of this man. Four generations have passed. The country has changed. What do our contemporaries think about Gaidar? On January 22, 1904, Arkady Gaidar (Golikov) was born - one of the most controversial figures of the Soviet period in the history of our country. Many remember him as a famous children's writer. However, Arkady Petrovich did not immediately become an artist of words; there were other pages in his destiny. For example, the suppression of peasant uprisings in the Tambov province in 1921 and the anti-Soviet insurgent movement in Khakassia (then the Achinsk-Minusinsk region of the Yenisei province) in 1922. 108 years have passed since the birth of this man. Four generations have passed. The country has changed. What do our contemporaries think about Gaidar?

Roman SENCHIN, writer, literary critic:

A talented writer for any age. I think that a sadist, a psychopath would hardly have written such works. Therefore, the stories that in 1922 Gaidar (Golikov) committed atrocities in Khakassia and destroyed innocent people seem unlikely to me. Although Gaidar, of course, killed “enemies” - and gave orders to kill. He did not hide this. It is impossible to take part in the Civil War without getting dirty with blood.

There are two points of view on Gaidar. The exponent of one was Vladimir Soloukhin with “Salt Lake,” where Gaidar is shown as a cruel killer and mentally ill person; the spokesman for the other is Boris Kamov with the book “Arkady Gaidar: a target for newspaper killers,” which heatedly argues with Soloukhin’s book. Both there are more emotions than facts. It would be worthwhile, in my opinion, to write a biography of Arkady Gaidar, collecting all the documents, studying the archives seriously, and not in haste. Surely in Khakassia in 1919 - 1922 there were commanders (both white and red) much more cruel than Gaidar. But their names were forgotten, but Gaidar’s name remained (thanks to his fame as a writer), and people’s memory transferred some of the cruelty of others onto him.

Oleg SHAVYRKIN, individual entrepreneur:

I have an extremely negative attitude towards the personality of Arkady Golikov (Gaidar). For one simple but very compelling reason: a repeat offender who took the lives of ordinary people without trial or investigation. At the same time, he often acted like modern terrorists: he took hostages and, if his demands (in most cases absolutely absurd) were not met, he simply shot civilians: women, children, and the elderly. And no amount of children’s books can cover up the evil he committed. A person who has committed so much evil, a priori, cannot bring anything positive to children and be an example for them.

Sergey REBENKOV, doctor:

As far as I know, there are no reliable facts about his punitive operations. But in his books, patriotic education, respect for elders, honesty, and hard work were at the forefront. And this played a positive role on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Nowadays, unfortunately, there is no one to create such useful works for our youth.

Alexander KOVRIGIN, artist:

Firstly, he is Golikov, judging by this name and it is necessary, in my opinion, to relate to the essence of this person. “Golik” is a bath broom that has lost its leaves. The boy, not burdened with education, was allowed to play war, but with real weapons! And this led and continues to lead to disasters. Secondly, the books he wrote later seem to be compensation for feelings or rehabilitation, although this looks cynical. Traumatized man. Even in my childhood, such literature seemed fantastic to me. Robinson Crusoe was closer.

Valentina MELNIKOVA, writer:

First of all, he is a wonderful children's writer. As for “punishment”. I want to ask: who was Kolchak? A brilliant officer, an explorer of the North, or also a merciless and cruel punisher? We must remember the circumstances in which they lived and fought. And if you make a choice in favor of human values, then Arkady Gaidar, who made an undoubted contribution to literature and the upbringing of children, undoubtedly deserves respect and today's recognition.

About Khakassia: Gaidar served here for three months. He became a “cruel punisher” at the instigation of Soloukhin, who wrote a wild book, clearly commissioned and for a decent fee. But for some reason he did not remember Pavel Lytkin, who at that time was the head of the southern combat region and already in those days was known as an ardent fighter against banditry. He is responsible for up to a dozen defeated gangs. And Ivan Ravdo, is he exactly the same section chief as Golikov? Could it be that he, the commander of CHON, was white and fluffy? By the way, Ravdo fought against banditry in Khakassia much longer than Gaidar.

Irina KOMAROVA, deputy of the Abakan City Council:

After all, a children's writer. We read “Timur and his team” and, moreover, played this team. His books were interesting and exciting. But the book “Chuk and Gek” surprised me more than others. I liked these boys, and I remember carrying a brochure with this story in my briefcase for a month.

I will not comment on the activities of Gaidar-Golikov in Khakassia in 1922 - let historians do that.

Stanislav UGDYZHEKOV, historian:

This man was both at different times. He was a punisher and executed the unarmed, even going down in the history of Khakassia as the “mad Arkashka.” He wrote children's books, whose literary significance I personally consider exaggerated. As a rule, the plot in them is built on the confrontation between good and evil. So, in the case of Gaidar, these concepts are confused. Is Timur really that good with his iron team that crushed the naughty kids? Is it possible to imitate the teenager from the story “School” who shot a man? Golikov was an instrument of the totalitarian system both when he brandished a Mauser and when he wrote for Soviet children.

Prepared by Sergey AMELIN

The famous children's writer was, according to his fellow Red Commissars, not a hero, but a mentally ill person with a manic passion for murder.

Arkady Golikov was born in 1904, and in 1919 he volunteered for the Red Army. The 15-year-old teenager commanded a company, first on the Petliura Front, then on the Polish Front. That same year he suffered from scurvy, typhus, and was shell-shocked. In 1921, the 17-year-old regiment commander suppressed an uprising in the Tambov province, after which he was appointed head of the second combat area on the Mongolian border. Daily pain, blood, death could not but affect the psyche of the boy, who was put in charge of the destinies of many people. At first, Arkady was diagnosed with a traumatic neurosis caused by a concussion, and then serious mental disorders developed. The 20-year-old Red commander, who experienced all its horrors during the five years of war, was dismissed from the army due to illness. Many Russian boys born into intelligent families probably had a similar fate, but in relation to Arkady Gaidar this seems incredible. The unusually bright and kind books, the author of which is Gaidar, remain loved by several generations of children. It seems that only a very noble, highly moral person could have written them.

Golikov was expelled from the party, removed from his post and sent for a psychiatric examination

The mother bequeathed to her son not to spare her life for the power of the Soviets

One day the writer began to dictate an article to the typist, but suddenly jumped out the window...

Gaidar was, in his own way, a very integral person. He believed in what he wrote about. Including to the happy “country of Gaidar”.

But Arkady Petrovich himself never learned about the true meaning of his pseudonym. He went to one war at fourteen and died in another at thirty-seven. Of course, in those wars he was armed with the most effective Leninist idea, which automatically gave all Red commanders an indulgence from pangs of conscience.

Arkady Petrovich Golikov, now world-famous by his last name Gaidar (1904 - 1941), was rightfully considered the most popular children's writer throughout Soviet times. His life, even by modern standards, is worthy of a fascinating thriller, and even during the civil war in Russia, such biographies were rare.

Mad Red Commander

Arkady Golikov was born in the small provincial town of Lgov, Kursk province, into a family of teachers - Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov (1879-1927) and Natalya Arkadyevna Salkova (1884-1924), a noblewoman, a distant relative of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.

His parents took part in the revolutionary unrest of 1905 and, fearing arrest, left for provincial Arzamas. There, the future children's writer studied at a real school and first published his poems in the local newspaper "Molot".

When Arkasha was in first grade, he decided to “go to war on foot” (to the First World War), following his father. And left! He disappeared for two days and was returned by a gendarme. After four classes, he decisively broke with school and, at the age of 14, joined the Red Army as a volunteer, hiding his age. This is where the children’s “flowers” ​​end and the “berries” of a completely different school begin.

In 1919, he joined the Red Army and the RCP (b), and became an assistant commander of a detachment of Red partisans operating in the Arzamas region. Concealing his age, he studied at command courses in Moscow and Kyiv, then commanded a company of red cadets. He fought on the Polish and Caucasian fronts.

It is not known for what feats, but in 1919, military leader Mikhail Tukhachevsky appointed Private Golikov as commander of the 58th separate regiment. In 1921, as commander of the reserve Voronezh regiment, he sent marching companies to suppress the Kronstadt uprising. In the summer of the same year, commanding the 58th separate regiment, he participated in the suppression of the Tambov peasant uprising. Golikov himself explained such a high appointment for a seventeen-year-old by the fact that “many of the senior command staff were arrested for connections with gangs,” that is, with the rebels.

Young Golikov tried to justify the trust placed in him. After the destruction of rebellious peasants and sailors, Gaidar continued to serve in special punitive units (CHON) - first in the Tamyan-Kataysky region in Bashkiria, then in Khakassia. Since his field of activity was located far from Moscow and closer to the Sayan Mountains, many of his affairs remained little known until recently. And when the all-Union fame of the children's writer came, they were simply “forgotten.”

He was ordered to destroy the detachment of the “Emperor of the Taiga” I. N. Solovyov, which consisted of local peasants and Kolchak officers. Unable to cope with this task, Gaidar attacked the local population who did not support the Bolsheviks. People were shot without trial, chopped with sabers, thrown into wells, sparing neither the elderly nor children. There is a known case when, despite the order to deliver prisoners to headquarters for interrogation, Arkady Petrovich shot them - because he allegedly did not want to provide people for the convoy.

Vladimir Soloukhin, who wrote “Salt Lake,” assured that in Khakassia Gaidar was called an executioner, and reported that his Khakass friend Mikhail Kilchakov told him about how Gaidar put hostages in a bathhouse and set a condition for them that if they did not tell by the morning where the bandits are hiding - execution. And they simply didn’t know. And so in the morning, young Arkady Petrovich began to let them out of the bathhouse one by one and personally shot each of them in the back of the head.

But you never know what the irresponsible natives could talk about. And here is a line from the questionnaire filled out by Gaidar himself: in the “party affiliation” column, he wrote: “expelled for two years for cruel treatment of prisoners.” The commander of the provincial special forces, Vladimir Kakoulin, ordered the zealous commissar to be “replaced and recalled.” “My impression: Golikov’s ideology is an unbalanced boy who, taking advantage of his official position, committed a number of crimes” - this was the resolution imposed on “case 274” by V. Kakoulin. Let us note: this was said by a man who was called upon to establish revolutionary order in the province, and he himself was not distinguished by his gentle disposition.

After arriving in Krasnoyarsk “to clarify the circumstances,” Arkady Golikov was sent for a psychiatric examination. A criminal case was even opened, but the trial never took place. Having been interrogated at the State Political Directorate of the NKVD of the RSFSR, he testified that all the people he shot were bandits or their accomplices; he pleaded guilty only to failure to comply with certain formalities: there was no one to write interrogation reports and execution sentences.

His grandson Yegor Gaidar, in the book “Days of Defeats and Victories,” referring to his father, wrote that his grandfather “always refused to tell anything about the civil war.” Judging by his diaries, he was tormented by something that he described with the words “anxiety”, “conscience”, “guilt”, “illness”. Gaidar turned out to be a painfully conscientious person, for whom what he did in Khakassia at such a young age turned into a life tragedy.

However, Arkady Gaidar’s biographer Boris Kamov in his book “The Thimble Game. (Investigation of a Literary Crime)” tells how myths and fables were born about his beloved writer. He believes that the evil, cynical in form and fictitious in content hypotheses about the “bloody past” of Arkady Gaidar, launched into circulation by the writer Vladimir Soloukhin, are a real crime. Soloukhin's fabrications, in his opinion, are just a fictitious sensation. Boris Kamov, who carefully researched the war period of Gaidar’s biography, visited Khakassia, worked in local archives, and he assures: “Everything here is a complete forgery and fiction, juggling of facts,” confirming this with documents.

Who to believe?

Vladimir Soloukhin also seems to provide documentary records and refers to archival materials. Gaidar himself - himself! - writes: “I dream about the people I killed in my youth in the war.”
Probably, both Kamov and Soloukhin have their own truth. Only here one researcher beautifully builds a solid, unclouded image, while another deliberately exaggerates the colors, building the type of a kind of red monster.

It is clear that in the carnage of the Civil War it was difficult to remain white and fluffy. Gaidar was no different from other representatives of the red military, transferring their hatred of the armed and fighting enemy to the surrounding population, which did not support them. He was a cog in the system of Red Terror, which turned out to be the decisive means for the Bolsheviks to retain power.

Drummer's nightmares

Removed from his post, Golikov asked to be released to study in Moscow. Permission was received, but he did not get into the Academy of the General Staff. At the medical commission, the future writer was diagnosed with “traumatic neurosis.” The symptoms of the disease at the time of exacerbation were very characteristic: “persistent sleep disturbance, temporary decrease in intellectual abilities, excitability, tendency to violent acts.” The attacks of mental disorder began with the fact that his mood deteriorated for no reason. At first, it was possible to “treat” depression with wine. But self-medication often led to binge drinking. When the wine stopped helping, “Arkady Petrovich, on the eve of the attack, inflicted acute physical pain on himself: he made cuts on his body with a knife. Sometimes in the presence of people. But it all ended in a clinic.

This was the payback for the “boyish years” spent in the war.” Boris Zaks, who knew Gaidar closely, reports in his “Eyewitness Notes”: “But I also saw another situation - when the excesses of his anger were directed at himself... Gaidar cut himself. With the blade of a safety razor. They took away one blade from him, but it was worth turn away, and he was already cutting himself with others... They took him away in an unconscious state, all the floors in the apartment were covered with blood that had coagulated into large clots... At the same time, it did not look like he was trying to commit suicide; he did not try to inflict a mortal wound on himself , simply arranged a kind of “shahsey-wahsey". Later, already in Moscow, I happened to see him in only shorts. His entire chest and arms below the shoulders were completely - one to one - covered with huge scars. It was clear that he had cut himself more than once ..."

In those years of post-war devastation and the new economic policy with the slogan “Get rich!” there was no talk about the social and psychological adaptation of front-line soldiers. Their fates were unpredictable. Everyone adapted as best they could.
Arkady spent two years wandering around military hospitals and sanatoriums, and after being transferred to the reserve, he wandered around Moscow like crazy for three days. He did not find refuge in the family. Parents, who fought on various fronts, separated.

My father, returning from the war, met and fell in love with another woman and married her. “Two and a half years have passed since I broke all contact, my friend, with you,” Arkady Petrovich wrote to his father on January 23, 1923. “During this time I have not received a single letter, not a single message from you, my glorious and dear father... I went into the army as a very young boy, when I had nothing solid and definite except impulse. And when I left, I took with me a piece of your worldview and tried to apply it to life where I could ..." Arkady did not accept his father's new family, nor his advice not to wander, but to become, following his example, a "kraskup" - a red merchant.

A.P. Gaidar with his mother, hereditary noblewoman Natalya Arkadyevna Salkova. Alupka, 1924

The new family life of my mother, whose health was hopelessly compromised, was short-lived. Natalya Arkadyevna died in 1924 from transient consumption while serving as head of the provincial health department in Kyrgyzstan. She was proud of her son, the commander, and on her deathbed she wrote that she bequeathed to him not to spare her life in the struggle for Soviet power.

Creation

At 21, with this lifestyle, it’s almost “old age”! – Arkady wanted to tell about his experience. Arkady Golikov moved to Perm, where he actively published in the Zvezda newspaper. Here his first work, “The Corner House,” was published, signed under the pseudonym Gaidar.

Spring 1926. A group of editorial staff.
A.P. Gaidar second from right - staff member of the newspaper "Zvezda"

One of the versions of the origin of such a popular surname is as follows: “Haidar?” translated from Khakass – “Where? Which way?” Allegedly, local residents asked this when they saw that Golikov was setting off on another punitive campaign in search of the elusive enemy of Soviet power in Khakassia, Ataman Ivan Solovyov, in order to warn their neighbors about the imminent bloody massacre. And this nickname stuck to him because at first he himself asked everyone: “Haidar?” That is, where to go? He didn’t know any other Khakass words.

There is a second version of the origin of the pseudonym Gaidar.
"G" is the first letter of the Golikov surname; "AY" - the first and last letters of the name; "D" - in French - "from"; "AR" are the first letters of the name of the hometown. By the way, in French the prefix “d” indicates the affiliation or origin of, say, d”Artagnan - from Artagnan. We get: G-AY-D-AR: Golikov Arkady from Arzamas.

But there are also many supporters of the version put forward by the writer Lev Kassil. He artistically reinterpreted the legend that the Mongol people had a scout horseman who raced ahead of everyone and warned others in case of danger. Gaidar, according to Lev Kassil, is a horseman galloping ahead.

Soon the writer became a classic of children's literature, becoming famous for his works about sincere friendship and military camaraderie. In the 30s, Gaidar’s most famous works were published: “School”, “Distant Countries”, “Military Secret”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Blue Cup”, “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer”, in 1940 - the already mentioned story about Timur. And almost all of his works are imbued with the echo of war, the feeling of war, the premonition of war. His young heroes in "School" and "Drummer's Fate" begin their adult lives by shooting at the enemy. Moreover, the writer is not horrified by this turn of fate; he takes the shot for granted, a necessary, important and fair thing. Romanticizes struggle, battles, war.

In 1940, during a meeting with teachers of the Moscow Library Institute, Gaidar was asked: “Arkady Petrovich, how to educate children to hate their enemies? It’s not easy.” He replied: “Why cultivate hatred? Cultivate love for your homeland. And then, if someone encroaches on your homeland, a great and righteous hatred will be born in the person.” It seems that this question did not arise by chance: Gaidar’s heroes hate their enemies very passionately, dividing the world too clearly into “us and foes.” And strangers must be destroyed...

In his texts, he was in his own way an amazingly complete person. Gaidar believed in what he wrote. And it is unlikely that he was insincere in his diaries and letters, which were not intended for prying eyes.

The writer’s works were included in the school curriculum, were actively filmed, and translated into many languages ​​of the world. The story “Timur and His Team” actually marked the beginning of the unique Timur movement.

Still from the film "Timur and his team" (1940)

Personal life

His independent personal life also began very early. Today they would say about young Arkady Gaidar: he is a real macho. Strong-willed, decisive. Behind us is the Civil War, command of a regiment, wounds. In November 1925, a stately 21-year-old handsome man came to Perm, where he got a job as a feuilletonist at the Zvezda newspaper.

Soon Arkady met seventeen-year-old Ruva-Liya Solomyanskaya, who was organizing a pioneer movement in the city. In 1932, he wrote: "...I vaguely remember Perm. The Blue House. Lilka - a girl in a bright sundress." They merried.

Liya Solomyanskaya

Son Timur was born in December 1926 in Arkhangelsk, where Leah worked as a radio journalist. Arkady lived in Moscow at the time and saw his son only two years later.

This strange fact from Gaidar’s biography gave rise to the version that Timur is not Arkady Gaidar’s own son. And this is how its reliability is argued. “According to the official biography, by December 1925 they (Arkady Gaidar and Liya Solomyanskaya) were already living together. And if we keep in mind that Timur Gaidar was born in December 1926, then the young parents conceived him around mid-April. But even here it turns out inconsistency. In April, Arkady was far from Perm. He decided to go to Central Asia with the royalties from the published stories... That is, it turns out that at the moment when Timur was conceived, he was not with Leah. And in the fall, Solomyanskaya leaves for her parents to Arkhangelsk, where he gives birth to a son on December 23. He first saw Timur when he was two years old, when he finally decided to move to Arkhangelsk, where he later worked on the radio together with Leah."

Be that as it may, the family soon moves to Moscow. But they did not have to live together for long. The charming and cheerful writer was a very difficult person in everyday life, suffering from a mental disorder and a severe form of alcoholism.

This is what his grandson Yegor Gaidar said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper:
“Grandmother, Liya Lazarevna Solomyanskaya, left him. Who is to blame is not for us to judge. On the one hand, of course, grandfather was a person who had a difficult life - especially during attacks... On the other hand, grandmother’s character is also not sugar, her "I remember."

The result is divorce. She took the child and went to see Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Samson Glyzer. And in 1932, Gaidar rushed from Moscow. Not from the desire to change places, but from need and unsettledness. There was little money, the old shell shock resulted in headaches and alcoholic breakdowns, and literature was not easy. In addition, the family broke up. Fortunately, a colleague invited me to Khabarovsk as a correspondent for a newspaper. To tell the truth, Gaidar would have gone anywhere - as long as he was away from Moscow.

Entry from the diary of Arkady Gaidar: "October 28, 1932. Moscow
He spoke on the radio - about himself.
And, in general, - hustle and bustle, parties. And because I have nowhere to put myself, no one to easily go to, nowhere to even spend the night... In essence, I only have three pairs of underwear, a duffel bag, a field bag, a short fur coat, a hat - and nothing else, no one, no home , no place, no friends.
And this is at a time when I am not poor at all, and no longer at all rejected and unnecessary to anyone. It just turns out that way somehow. I didn’t touch the story “Military Secret” for two months. Meetings, conversations, acquaintances... Overnight stays - wherever necessary. Money, lack of money, money again.
They treat me very well, but there is no one to take care of me, and I don’t know how to do it myself. That’s why everything turns out somehow unhuman and stupid.”

Arkady Gaidar, Khabarovsk, 1932

Gaidar was painfully worried about separation from his son. “Finally, I received the first telegram from Moscow in 4 months. Timur is with Lily. My dear, nice little commander,” he wrote in 1932. Literally a month later, a letter arrived from Natalya’s sister: “Lilya read your letter to Timur, and for some reason she cried. Very strange.” Then he will write in his diary: “There is nothing strange. We lived a long time, after all, and there is something to remember. But in general, it’s a thing of the past.”

After being discharged, Gaidar left the Far East forever. “Still, I will arrive in Moscow not the same as I left. Stronger, firmer and calmer,” he wrote on August 24

In 1936, when Leah, following her husband, was arrested and sent to the camps, Gaidar, drinking for courage, even called Yezhov, demanding the release of “his Liyka.” She was released only in 1940.

It is worth mentioning that Arkady Gaidar’s marriage to Solomyanskaya was not his first. On September 5, 1921, in the Personal Registration Card filled out by members of the command and administrative staff, Arkady Petrovich Golikov, in the “Marital status” column, personally wrote down: “Married, Maria Plaksina, wife.” Why did Gaidar break up with his first wife? One can only guess about this. The couple had a son, Evgeniy, who died in infancy. Maybe this family tragedy was the reason for the breakup?

After breaking up with Solomyanskaya, he did not remain single for long. Stately, fair-haired and blue-eyed, women liked him. He married again, meeting the poetess Anna Trofimova, who was six years older. He was not afraid of the fact that she was raising two daughters – Sveta and Era. The writer loved children and devoted a lot of time to them. And before the war, he broke up with her too - he moved to Klin, near Moscow, where he rented a room in the Chernyshovs’ house. The head of the family had a private shoemaker's workshop in Klin and a small factory in Moscow. A month later, the writer married Chernyshov’s daughter, Dora Matveevna, who had a daughter, Zhenya.

Arkady Gaidar with his wife Dora Matveevna and daughter Zhenya. 1937

Gradually, my personal life improved. Gaidar adopted Zhenya, took her and Timur to Crimea, and squandered money. After his mother’s arrest, Timur remained with his father, grew up and was raised in the family of Dora Matveevna. During these years, real all-Union fame came to Gaidar: the country read “Timur and His Team”, “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Commandant of the Snow Fortress”, “Timur’s Oath”. His family helped him cope with his psychological problems. And yet, no, no, there will be an entry in the diary: “Brain fog. I can’t write.”

Arkady Petrovich himself bore a double surname - Golikov-Gaidar, but Timur, receiving a passport (and according to some information, was Solomyansky until he came of age), took only his stepfather's literary pseudonym as his surname. This sonorous surname was borne by his son, the famous reformer Yegor Gaidar, and now by his grandchildren - Maria and Peter.

Liya Solomyanskaya with her son Timur and grandson Yegor

Arkady Gaidar, 1940.

The mystery of Gaidar's death

When the Patriotic War began, Gaidar received an order for a film script based on the story “Timur and His Team.” He wrote it in 12 days, and immediately followed by a statement asking to be sent to the front. The answer was: “For health reasons, I am not subject to conscription.” But he still achieved his goal and became a war correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda. Before leaving, Gaidar told his friend, who was leaving as a volunteer: “It’s not enough for me to be a private. I can be a commander.” He arrived where he once began his military career - on the Southwestern Front, in Kyiv. And indeed, in addition to his duties as a war correspondent, he often helped with advice. Once, having asked to go on a reconnaissance mission to the German rear, he suggested the location of the military outpost and how to take the “tongue” correctly. When the Soviet army left Kyiv, Gaidar could have flown to Moscow, but refused. As part of a large detachment, he found himself behind German lines, and in October he ended up in a partisan detachment.

The story of Gaidar's death is included in all textbooks. After the defeat of the partisan detachment, Gaidar and several partisans went on reconnaissance and were ambushed near a railway embankment. Gaidar stood up to his full height in front of the enemy machine guns and shouted to his comrades: “Forward! Follow me!” He was hit by machine gun fire. According to other sources, he died on the railroad bed near the village of Leplyava, covering the retreat of his comrades. It happened on October 26, 1941. Death in battle. Just as he dreamed. The Germans immediately stripped the dead partisan of his medal and outer uniform, and took away his notebooks and notebooks. Gaidar's body was buried by a lineman...

But the death of Arkady Gaidar, in general, is not a completely clear story. The writer's biographer Boris Kamov conducted a small investigation. After talking with the partisans, he came to the conclusion that Gaidar could have saved himself - it was not at all necessary for him to shout to warn others. But the truth could not be established. And yet, in 1979, Kiev journalist Viktor Glushchenko tried to investigate the circumstances of Gaidar’s death again. A resident of the village of Tulintsy (several tens of kilometers from Leplyava, where, according to the official version, the writer died), Khristina Kuzmenko claimed that in the fall of 1941 she hid Gaidar and another partisan in her house from the Germans. The woman recognized Gaidar from a photograph in a library book and claimed that Arkady often remembered his son Timur. According to her, Gaidar and his friend lived with her until the spring of 1942, and then decided to make their way to the front line, but they were captured by the police. The partisans managed to escape, and for two more days they hid in the forest near the village. Khristina Kuzmenko’s neighbor, Ulyana Dobrenko, brought them food there. Glushchenko wrote to the Kanev Gaidar Museum and to the Military Historical Archive of the Soviet Army in Moscow. The answer was laconic: “The date and place of the death of Arkady Petrovich Gaidar are established at the state level. There is no reason to revise them.”

Arkady Golikov (Gaidar) - children's writer, participant in the bloody Civil War and punisher of the anti-Soviet underground. Golikov is one of the most controversial personalities in Soviet history. Who is he: a brutal killer of civilians, an inveterate alcoholic, or a talented children's writer?

Childhood

Arkady Petrovich was born on January 9 (22), 1904 in the town of Lgov, in the Kursk province. On his mother’s side, the writer was a hereditary nobleman (moreover, his mother Natalya was related to him), on his father’s side he was the grandson of a serf.

Arkady Gaidar with his parents and sisters

Later the family moved to the city of Arzamas. Arkady was the first-born, and in his new place he had three sisters - Natasha, Katya and Olya. Researchers claim that talent awoke in the writer in his early years: he learned to compose and speak in rhyme before he learned to write and count.

At the age of 10, the boy is sent to the Arzamas real school. Here the young schoolboy attempted to escape to the front, where his father had previously been taken, but the boy was returned home under escort. While studying at the school, Arkady amazed his teachers with his excellent memory - he memorized entire books and textbook texts.

Military career

After the fall of the royal family, many parties and student committees appeared in Arzamas. In the summer of 1917, Golikov received the position of delivery boy, and in 1918 he joined the Bolshevik squad. Initially, the Bolsheviks took the young man into the RCP (b) as a candidate, and 15-year-old Golikov became a full member of the party on December 15, 1918. At first he served as an adjutant, later he headed the railway security department.

The young man constantly asked to go to the front, but the commander insisted that the guy first undergo specialized training. And so it happened - Golikov went to the Moscow command courses of the Red Army. Later the institution moved to Ukraine, to Kyiv. Once in Kyiv, Arkady fought with the Petliurists and Ukrainian rebels.

In 1919, Golikov became a commander, and in 1920, a commissar of headquarters. At the age of 17, he knew more about military affairs than many commanders. In 1921 he received the rank of regimental squad commander. Golikov fought on different fronts (in Sochi, on the Don, on the Caucasus front), where he suffered from typhus, was wounded and shell-shocked twice. In 1922, he was sent to suppress the anti-Soviet uprising in Khakassia. Here the young commander showed himself to be a bloodthirsty tyrant, who disliked Jews and shot the population on suspicion of banditry.

According to historians, Gaidar pushed women and children off cliffs and killed anyone he suspected of anti-Soviet activity. In 1922, he was accused of abuse of power. Gaidar was stripped of his position and expelled from the party, and was sent for a psychiatric examination. The case ended with a diagnosis of “traumatic neurosis.”

Creation

Arkady Petrovich returned from the front as an inveterate alcoholic with a fairly damaged psyche.

“From the ship to the ball” - this is how historians characterize Golikov’s literary activity, which began immediately after the end of his military career. Arkady took his first manuscript, “In the Days of Defeats and Victories,” and brought it to the popular Leningrad almanac “Kovsh.” With the words: “I am Arkady Golikov, and this is my novel and I ask you to publish it,” the writer handed over several covered notebooks to the editor. And the work was published.

Then the writer moved to Perm, where his first work was published in the magazine “Zvezda” under the pseudonym Gaidar (“Corner House”).

In subsequent years, he published essays and feuilletons. In between nervous breakdowns and travel, he writes his best books: “RVS”, “School” and “The Fourth Dugout”. Several times Arkady Petrovich is taken away by doctors with bouts of delirium tremens, and later he was arrested for shooting while drunk.

This is followed by several suicide attempts - the writer tries to cut his wrists. Boris Zaks, a fellow journalist, claimed that his hands were covered with large scars, and Arkady cut his veins more than once. In 1932, Golikov was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he wrote “Military Secret.” In total, according to Gaidar himself, he was in psychiatric hospitals 8-10 times.

In 1938, the children's writer gained all-Union fame - the country was reading books and collections of his stories with might and main, memorizing “Timur and his team”, “Chuk and Gek” by heart. The writer took his son Timur and adopted daughter Zhenya to Crimea and forgot about psychological problems for a while.

In March 1941, Arkady Petrovich, while relaxing in the Sokolniki sanatorium, met Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. When the war began, Gaidar had just received an order to write a film script based on the work “Timur and His Team.” The script was completed within 12 days, after which Arkady wrote a statement to the front.

Personal life

The writer was married three times during his life:

The writer's first wife was Maria Nikolaevna Plaksina, a 17-year-old nurse. The writer himself was 17 years old at the time of his marriage. The first wife gave Gaidar a son, Zhenya, but the first-born died in infancy.

Golikov’s second wife was 17-year-old Liya Lazarevna Solomyanskaya, a supporter of the pioneer movement and organizer of the newspaper “Miracle Ant”. In 1926, the couple had a son, Timur. However, it was difficult to live with the writer; he drank alcohol and suffered from mental disorders. In 1931, his wife Leah took her son and left her husband for Samson Glyazer (a journalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda).

For the third time, the writer tied the knot with Dora Chernysheva. This happened in 1938. Being an elderly woman, Dora already had a daughter, Evgenia, whom Arkady later adopted.

Last years and death

Despite the prohibitions, the writer still arrived at the front. He arrived in Kyiv. Acted as a correspondent and helped with advice. Later he found himself behind German lines, and then became a member of a partisan detachment.

Having gone on reconnaissance in 1941, the writer, along with several partisans, found himself in an ambush near a railway embankment on October 26. Having discovered the enemy, Gaidar managed to warn his own, shouting: “Guys, Germans!” This phrase saved the lives of the remaining partisans, but led to the death of Arkady Petrovich.

However, there is another version of events, according to which the writer did not die on October 26. Ukrainian journalist Viktor Glushchenko, after conducting his own investigation, learned that Gaidar and several partisans were sheltered by a woman, Kristina Kuzmenko. Having lived with Christina until spring, the warriors moved towards the front, but were captured. Later the partisans managed to escape. They hid in the forest, and a certain Ulyana Dobrenko brought them food. This data turned out to be insufficient to revise the story of Gaidar’s death. Another fact is also doubtful - the body of the murdered man was wearing an officer’s uniform and woolen underwear, which in no way fits with the story about the partisans.

Today, dozens of streets are named after Arkady Gaidar, his image is used in music and literature, and in Khabarovsk there is a memorial to the writer.

Curious facts

More than 70 years have passed since the death of the writer. However, researchers are still arguing about its life history.

Interesting facts about Arkady Gaidar:

• The writer joined the ranks of the Red Army at the age of 15.
• Historian Andrei Burovsky gives an alternative version of Golikov’s enrollment in the Red Army. In his opinion, Arkady’s mother enlisted in the army to save him from retribution for the murder (or murders) that her son committed. Gaidar, during fits of madness, once admitted that he had committed murder in his youth: “I dreamed about the people I killed in childhood...”

• The history of the writer’s pseudonym is also interesting. According to one version, “Gaidar” is translated from Turkic as “messenger”, “advanced horseman”. Another source claims that the pseudonym comes from the phrase “Golikov Arkady from Arzamas.” The third version reports that the pseudonym originates from the Khakass word “Haidar”, which means “where”. During the service in Khakassia, locals shouted: “Haidar-Golik is coming!”
• There is an opinion that it is not Arkady Gaidar who lies behind the gravestone in Kanev (a city in the Cherkasy region). In particular, several years after burial, the slab cracked. It was replaced with a new one, but it was also cracked.

• There is a version that Timur (the son of Leah Solomyanskaya) is not the writer’s own son, but an adopted son. The writer first saw Timur only at the age of two, and at the time of his alleged conception (April 1926) Gaidar was in Central Asia. Thus, it is possible that the writer has no blood descendants.

Bibliography

The most famous works of Golikov:

• "The Blue Cup" (1936);
• "Timur and his team" (1940),
• "Drummer's Fate" (1938),
• "School" (1930);
• "RVS" (1925);
• "The fourth dugout."

On January 22, 1904, Arkady Gaidar (Golikov) was born - one of the most controversial figures of the Soviet period in the history of our country. Many remember him as a famous children's writer. However, Arkady Petrovich did not immediately become an artist of words; there were other pages in his destiny. For example, the suppression of peasant uprisings in the Tambov province in 1921 and the anti-Soviet insurgent movement in Khakassia (then the Achinsk-Minusinsk region of the Yenisei province) in 1922. 108 years have passed since the birth of this man. Four generations have passed. The country has changed. What do our contemporaries think about Gaidar? On January 22, 1904, Arkady Gaidar (Golikov) was born - one of the most controversial figures of the Soviet period in the history of our country. Many remember him as a famous children's writer. However, Arkady Petrovich did not immediately become an artist of words; there were other pages in his destiny. For example, the suppression of peasant uprisings in the Tambov province in 1921 and the anti-Soviet insurgent movement in Khakassia (then the Achinsk-Minusinsk region of the Yenisei province) in 1922. 108 years have passed since the birth of this man. Four generations have passed. The country has changed. What do our contemporaries think about Gaidar?

Roman SENCHIN, writer, literary critic:

A talented writer for any age. I think that a sadist, a psychopath would hardly have written such works. Therefore, the stories that in 1922 Gaidar (Golikov) committed atrocities in Khakassia and destroyed innocent people seem unlikely to me. Although Gaidar, of course, killed “enemies” - and gave orders to kill. He did not hide this. It is impossible to take part in the Civil War without getting dirty with blood.

There are two points of view on Gaidar. The exponent of one was Vladimir Soloukhin with “Salt Lake,” where Gaidar is shown as a cruel killer and mentally ill person; the spokesman for the other is Boris Kamov with the book “Arkady Gaidar: a target for newspaper killers,” which heatedly argues with Soloukhin’s book. Both there are more emotions than facts. It would be worthwhile, in my opinion, to write a biography of Arkady Gaidar, collecting all the documents, studying the archives seriously, and not in haste. Surely in Khakassia in 1919 - 1922 there were commanders (both white and red) much more cruel than Gaidar. But their names were forgotten, but Gaidar’s name remained (thanks to his fame as a writer), and people’s memory transferred some of the cruelty of others onto him.

Oleg SHAVYRKIN, individual entrepreneur:

I have an extremely negative attitude towards the personality of Arkady Golikov (Gaidar). For one simple but very compelling reason: a repeat offender who took the lives of ordinary people without trial or investigation. At the same time, he often acted like modern terrorists: he took hostages and, if his demands (in most cases absolutely absurd) were not met, he simply shot civilians: women, children, and the elderly. And no amount of children’s books can cover up the evil he committed. A person who has committed so much evil, a priori, cannot bring anything positive to children and be an example for them.

Sergey REBENKOV, doctor:

As far as I know, there are no reliable facts about his punitive operations. But in his books, patriotic education, respect for elders, honesty, and hard work were at the forefront. And this played a positive role on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Nowadays, unfortunately, there is no one to create such useful works for our youth.

Alexander KOVRIGIN, artist:

Firstly, he is Golikov, judging by this name and it is necessary, in my opinion, to relate to the essence of this person. “Golik” is a bath broom that has lost its leaves. The boy, not burdened with education, was allowed to play war, but with real weapons! And this led and continues to lead to disasters. Secondly, the books he wrote later seem to be compensation for feelings or rehabilitation, although this looks cynical. Traumatized man. Even in my childhood, such literature seemed fantastic to me. Robinson Crusoe was closer.

Valentina MELNIKOVA, writer:

First of all, he is a wonderful children's writer. As for “punishment”. I want to ask: who was Kolchak? A brilliant officer, an explorer of the North, or also a merciless and cruel punisher? We must remember the circumstances in which they lived and fought. And if you make a choice in favor of human values, then Arkady Gaidar, who made an undoubted contribution to literature and the upbringing of children, undoubtedly deserves respect and today's recognition.

About Khakassia: Gaidar served here for three months. He became a “cruel punisher” at the instigation of Soloukhin, who wrote a wild book, clearly commissioned and for a decent fee. But for some reason he did not remember Pavel Lytkin, who at that time was the head of the southern combat region and already in those days was known as an ardent fighter against banditry. He is responsible for up to a dozen defeated gangs. And Ivan Ravdo, is he exactly the same section chief as Golikov? Could it be that he, the commander of CHON, was white and fluffy? By the way, Ravdo fought against banditry in Khakassia much longer than Gaidar.

Irina KOMAROVA, deputy of the Abakan City Council:

After all, a children's writer. We read “Timur and his team” and, moreover, played this team. His books were interesting and exciting. But the book “Chuk and Gek” surprised me more than others. I liked these boys, and I remember carrying a brochure with this story in my briefcase for a month.

I will not comment on the activities of Gaidar-Golikov in Khakassia in 1922 - let historians do that.

Stanislav UGDYZHEKOV, historian:

This man was both at different times. He was a punisher and executed the unarmed, even going down in the history of Khakassia as the “mad Arkashka.” He wrote children's books, whose literary significance I personally consider exaggerated. As a rule, the plot in them is built on the confrontation between good and evil. So, in the case of Gaidar, these concepts are confused. Is Timur really that good with his iron team that crushed the naughty kids? Is it possible to imitate the teenager from the story “School” who shot a man? Golikov was an instrument of the totalitarian system both when he brandished a Mauser and when he wrote for Soviet children.

Prepared by Sergey AMELIN