Actress. She was married to the poet Sergei Essenin from 1917 to 1921. Known more for her great beauty and fiery temperament than for her acting ability, she nevertheless became a star at the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold, whom she married in 1924. In 1939, Josef Stalin had Meyerhold arrested on trumped-up charges of anti-Soviet activities. Three weeks later, thugs acting on orders of Stalin's secret police broke into Meyerhold's Moscow apartment and savagely attacked Raikh; she died of 17 stab wounds, two of them through her eyes. Meyerhold, who apparently never learned of Raikh's death, was executed in 1940. This ill-fated couple have been the subject of several stories and plays, and their apartment is now the Meyerhold Museum.
Actress. She was married to the poet Sergei Essenin from 1917 to 1921. Known more for her great beauty and fiery temperament than for her acting ability, she nevertheless became a star at the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold, whom she married in 1924. In 1939, Josef Stalin had Meyerhold arrested on trumped-up charges of anti-Soviet activities. Three weeks later, thugs acting on orders of Stalin's secret police broke into Meyerhold's Moscow apartment and savagely attacked Raikh; she died of 17 stab wounds, two of them through her eyes. Meyerhold, who apparently never learned of Raikh's death, was executed in 1940. This ill-fated couple have been the subject of several stories and plays, and their apartment is now the Meyerhold Museum.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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