The article discusses the lives of the children of Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, a famous poet in the early 20th century. Yesenin's children, Yuri, Tatyana, Konstantin, and Alexander, had complicated relationships with their father and struggled with the consequences of his fame and his tumultuous personal life.
Yuri, Yesenin's first son, was arrested in 1934 on trumped-up charges of counter-revolutionary activities and was executed in 1937. His mother never found out what happened to him.
Tatyana, Yesenin's daughter, married a student of mechanics and had a son, but her husband's family was affected by Stalin's purges. Her father-in-law was repressed and declared an enemy of the people, and her husband's brother was arrested and executed. Tatyana was left to care for her son and younger brother Konstantin.
Konstantin, Yesenin's second son, was born in 1920 and had a complicated relationship with his father. After his mother's death, Konstantin was forced to move to a smaller apartment and struggled financially. He eventually became a football enthusiast and statistician, writing several books on the subject.
Alexander, Yesenin's fourth son, was born in 1924 to a translator and Yesenin. Alexander graduated with honors from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics but was later exiled to the Karaganda region for anti-Soviet activities. He became a mathematician specializing in logic and was known for his dissident activities. He emigrated to the USA in 1972 and worked at several universities before his death in 2016.
Throughout the article, the author highlights the struggles and challenges faced by Yesenin's children, including poverty, persecution, and personal struggles, as well as their achievements and contributions to their respective fields.
1. Sergei Yesenin had four children: Yuri, Tatyana, Konstantin, and Alexander.
2. Vasily, a man who impersonated Yesenin's son, was arrested and sent to a remote location after writing a letter to Stalin in 1945.
3. Yesenin's first son, Yuri, was born in 1914 to Anna Romanovna, a woman he met at a Moscow printing house in 1913.
4. Yuri's mother and Yesenin entered into a civil marriage in December 1914.
5. Yesenin's second wife, Zinaida Reich, worked as a secretary at the Kirov newspaper.
6. Zinaida gave birth to a daughter, Tatyana, in May 1918.
7. Yesenin's third child, Konstantin, was born on February 3, 1920.
8. Konstantin's mother, Zinaida, informed Yesenin of the birth by phone, and he chose the name Konstantin.
9. Yesenin's fourth child, Alexander, was born on May 12, 1924, to Nadezhda Volta.
10. Alexander's mother, Nadezhda, decided to raise him on her own after Yesenin expressed disappointment at having another child.
11. Yesenin saw Alexander only twice: once on the street and once at home.
12. Konstantin Yesenin volunteered to go to the front during World War II and was wounded three times.
13. After the war, Konstantin worked as a foreman, head of a construction site, and later as an assistant in the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR.
14. Konstantin was a notable football observer and published a book, "Football Records, Paradoxes, Tragedy, Sensation," in 1968.
15. Alexander Yesenin graduated with honors from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics in 1946 and went on to become a mathematician specializing in logic.
16. Alexander was exiled to the Karaganda region for five years in 1950 for anti-Soviet activities.
17. He was amnestied after Stalin's death in 1953 and became known as a mathematician.
18. Alexander was again placed in a special psychiatric hospital in 1959 and spent about two years there.
19. In 1961, a book of Alexander's poems and philosophical treatises, "Spring Leaf," was published in New York.
20. Alexander emigrated to the USA in 1972 and worked at the University of Buffalo and Boston University.
21. Alexander died on March 16, 2016, at the age of 90.