Sexuality Adolf Hitler has become the subject of much controversy. Despite the Nazi Party's stance on persecuting homosexuals, some historians argue that Hitler himself was homosexual or bisexual.
It has now been proven that Hitler was not a homosexual and was not even inclined towards homosexuality. Among Hitler's fans there were always many young women, and they were his most ardent admirers, even in those days when the phrase Adolf Hitler did not say anything not only to the world, but also to professional politicians...
The Fuhrer has always been a very gallant man. And there were simply legends about how the actresses and cabaret singers adored Hitler...
Adolf Hitler's mistresses and their fates
Gorgeous Marlene Dietrich became the only woman in the world who refused Adolf the courtesy of being his official mistress...
She was his favorite actress, and he was never embarrassed to tell her about it... But no one knows whether the Fuhrer managed to get his favorite into bed. According to the official version, the Fuhrer admired her dramatic performance, but the dictator’s contemporaries mentioned that Hitler most often spoke about the actress’s legs...
In 1937, Dietrich accepted American citizenship. But the Fuhrer until the last wanted her to return to Germany. But even Rudolf Hess, who secretly met with Marlene, was unable to persuade the actress to move to her homeland...
In 1939-1945, Marlene took an active part in anti-fascist propaganda, performing as a singer in front of American soldiers. After her speech, Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels declares radio war on Dietrich... The role of a brave anti-fascist woman added fame to her star name, but the actress returned to her native Germany only in a coffin... The actress was buried in a Berlin cemetery...
What did the female sex not do because of Hitler!..
Eva Brown tried to commit suicide twice... Eva met Hitler in 1929, when she was 17 and Adolf was 40 years old... Eva was " sweet girl with a beautiful figure"... She lived with him from 1932 until their joint suicide in Hitler's bunker in Berlin... But this life cannot be called pleasant...
The existence of the Fuhrer's permanent partner was not advertised; in the minds of the Germans, he was single, and Hitler received a huge number of letters from girls who dreamed of marrying him... So in the Fuhrer's life, Eva occupied only a humiliating role as a simple " girlfriends". But despite this, she wrote in her diary: " I am the beloved of the greatest man in Germany and the world!"
Eva Braun's body, after she took poison, was burned simultaneously with Hitler's body in the courtyard of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin... But from time to time, publications appear in the world press that Hitler and his wife (Eva married Adolf in a day to death) managed to escape from Germany...
Hitler's drawing...
One of the victims of Hitler's charm was Magda Goebbels..
She was the ideal German woman in the Third Reich. Beautiful and educated, a convinced supporter of the ideas of National Socialism, she shared the views and beliefs of her husband, the Minister of Propaganda of Germany and the Gauleiter of Berlin Joseph Goebbels...
She could not help but become the Fuhrer's favorite... Nazi propaganda called Magda " German supermother", she gave birth to seven children. According to contemporaries, it was Magda Goebbels who played the role of the first lady of the Third Reich. At official receptions and meetings there was not a single woman as close to Hitler as she was... There were also rumors that not all her children can consider dear Josef as their father...
Hitler was very friendly with his propaganda minister, but this did not change anything, but only made the situation more spicy..." First lady"The Third Reich, the very personification of an Aryan and an aristocrat, wrote:" I love my husband too, but my love for Hitler is stronger, for him I would be ready to die!..”.
When the collapse of the empire was confirmed, she killed her six children with her own hands and died herself...
Hitler's seventeen-year-old niece Geli Raubal because of her uncle she committed suicide...
Contemporaries claim that only her Hitler truly loved his niece... They first met in 1925, and she immediately charmed him with the color of her blond hair and a pleasant, quiet voice. In 1929, Hitler rented a huge apartment in Munich and moved Raubal there. He took her everywhere with him - to rallies, conferences, cafes and theaters. She wanted to become an opera singer and hoped for the help of her uncle...
But when she heard rumors that Hitler intended to marry Winifred Wagner, the widow of the son of composer Richard Wagner, Siegfried Wagner, her despair knew no bounds. Hitler suspected Geli of having a secret love affair with his bodyguard Emil Maurice...
In the summer of 1931, Geli, who was tired of Hitler's despotism and constant jealousy, was going to move to Vienna. Hitler, who was leaving for Hamburg on September 17 to conduct an election campaign, forbade her to do this, and on September 18 she was found shot dead in Hitler’s own apartment.
The mystery of Geli Raubal's death has never been revealed. Some said that Hitler himself killed her in a fit of jealousy. According to another version, Heinrich Himmler made sure that no one distracted the Fuhrer from party affairs. There was also a version about the suicide of Geli, who learned that since October 1929 Hitler had been dating Eva Braun. But still, Hitler grieved the loss of his beloved niece...
Actress and director, beauty Leni Riefenstahl...
Having attended one of Adolf's performances, Leni was so fascinated by his performance that she wrote him a letter asking for a personal meeting... Hitler could not pass by this amazing, energetic woman... Among her contemporaries, she was a black sheep - she flew on airplanes, wandered across the seas and deserts and filmed, filmed, filmed... according to the official version, she only met the Fuhrer " for work"...
But it was Leni who created the artistic symbol of fascism - the film " Triumph of the will". The symbol was so convincing that they wanted to demonstrate it at the Nuremberg trials as an illustration of Nazi ideology. Many years later, when asked if she was proud of it, Riefenstahl said: " Why, I regret that I took it off: if I had known what it would bring me, I would never have made it!".
After the end of World War II, Riefenstahl was imprisoned several times and spent two years in a mental hospital. In the end, all charges of collaborating with Nazism were dropped, and Riefenstahl was no longer persecuted. But despite this, the entire world cinema turned away from " chief director of the Nazis"She died at 102 years old...
She met with Hitler only twice... But how many of these meetings were actually unknown. " Nazi Greta Garbo"as her European colleagues called her... By the mid-thirties she was already a star of Scandinavian cinema and cabaret, receiving invitations not only to various European film studios, but also to Hollywood. In 1936, she received a contract at a film studio" Ufa"in Berlin, where, after Marlene Dietrich refused to return from the USA, the position of a superstar was vacant...
Tzara was a real businessman, bargaining for influence over film production and high fees. Propaganda Minister Goebbels calls her " enemy of Germany", but the Fuhrer intervenes in the situation... The actress died in 1981 in Stockholm...
Olga Chekhova...
Since childhood, young Olga amazed those around her with her beauty, intelligence and self-control; since childhood she dreamed of becoming an actress. And now a student of the Russian school of theatrical art becomes “film star No. 1” of Hitler’s cinema... Her closest friends were Eva Braun, Magda Goebbels, Leni Riefenstahl, she communicated with Goering’s wife, actress Emmy Sonnemann... But the most important thing is that he loved Olga Chekhov the Fuhrer himself, who ranked her above recognized actresses Marika Rokk and Tsara Leander. In Russia, films with the participation of Olga Chekhova have never been shown...
Without support, without knowing German language, she first becomes one of the stars of German cinema, and then the “state actress” of the Third Reich. The German public not only recognized, but also fell in love with Olga. But in 1930, Chekhova had a rival, Marlene Dietrich, who quickly disappeared into overseas Hollywood. Olga was also invited there, but she quickly returned back to Germany.
With Hitler coming to power, her action was appreciated. She wrote about meetings with the Fuhrer: " My first impression of him: timid, awkward, although he behaves with ladies with Austrian courtesy. It is amazing, almost incomprehensible, his transformation from a ranting bore into a fanatical instigator." In the end, Adolf gives her his photo with the inscription: "Frau Olga Chekhova - openly admired and surprised".
After the war, Olga Chekhova practically did not act in films... She died in 1980 at the age of 83 from brain cancer in Europe. After her death, two stunning news emerged: first, that the famous Amber Room was hidden in Hitler's bunker in Thuringia with code name "Olga", and the second - that the actress worked for the NKVD all her life...
Sexy Hitler
It turns out that at the end of the 20s of the last century, Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer took several photographs of the Fuhrrer in nature. However, after seeing the result, Hitler forbade the dissemination of this footage, saying that “it is beneath his dignity.” No wonder, because in short shorts the tyrant looks like a schoolboy.
This name is not often remembered among the Soviet intelligence officers who warned Moscow about the impending blitzkrieg. Although Olga Chekhova - the state actress of the Reich, the Fuhrer's favorite - probably sounded the alarm. Little did she know, moving among the Adolfs and Goerings: a threat was looming over her beloved country...
Berlin, 1939. Gala reception. On Hitler's left is Stalin's "personal informant" Olga Chekhova. Photo: Gettyimages
Not on the lists
Of the hundreds of films where she sweetly seduced, frivolous, showed off her chiseled figure and was so liked by the Krauts and their brown leaders, in my opinion, we didn’t have a single one at the box office. But Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova, née Knipper, born in 1897, from Russified Germans, has been gaining more and more popularity in recent years. Her short name, celebrated by the great Anton Pavlovich, sounds - and fortune-telling immediately begins: was Hitler’s favorite, the state actress of the Third Reich, a Soviet spy?
To all official requests, as well as to letters from relatives, domestic intelligence issues a decisive “no.” No information has been found that Olga Chekhova was an NKVD agent. Not a single documentary evidence. Dot.
But there are television series and hundreds of articles where it is stated: she was a Soviet spy and whatnot! And General Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov, respected in intelligence for having eliminated one of the main Ukrainian nationalists Konovalets writes in his memoirs: Chekhova was our long-term agent.
To understand how two parallel ski tracks converge, let's take a break from useless debates on a given topic. And let’s simply study Olga Konstantinovna’s biography, compare absolutely real facts and try to draw a conclusion.
Lunacharsky's gesture
In the family of a Russified German, engineer Konstantin Knipper, three children grew up happily - Ada, Olga, already known to us, and Lev. Ada has nothing to do with the topic of our research, but I will dwell on Olga and Leo (as Leo was called in the family) in more detail.
Olga, a beauty, smart and everyone's favorite, was interested in the theater. That’s why they let her go to Moscow - to her father’s sister Aunt Olya, the already famous Moscow Art Theater actress Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, the wife of Anton Pavlovich. My aunt placed my niece in one of the Moscow Art Theater studios. True, she did not reach the stage of the great theater. But she married a young, talented and hard-drinking actor, Mikhail Chekhov, the nephew of the great writer. How dear this surname was to her can be judged by one detail: when Adolf Hitler, as a sign of affection, invited her to change Chekhov’s surname to the original German Knipper, the actress, without fear, refused.
A small feat even compared to her other brave deeds...
Here is one of them: leaving for Germany with a young daughter and without a drunken husband, whom she, despite all her love for him, divorced. There is a version that Yan Berzin himself sent Chekhov beyond the cordon - chapter military intelligence, who advised the great intelligence officer Sorge to China. But there is not a single documentary evidence of this either. She did not study the art of encryption, methods of detecting and evading surveillance, and other intelligence tricks. It’s just that in 1920, her aunt, the actress Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, idolized in the Land of the Soviets, made a request to the People’s Commissar for Education Lunacharsky. And he, a great master of small good deeds, agreed with whom it was necessary for the unknown actress to go abroad - for only a month and a half.
But they lasted for a long life.
Mysterious meeting
At first, Nevazhnetsky’s German did not interfere with acting in films - after all, they were silent. Directors liked Frau Olga for her ability to work, her ability to quickly get along and get along with everyone - from movie stars to make-up artists. And also a commitment to the theatrical methods of Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky, the carriers of which were both his aunt and ex-husband. And off we go! Film after film turned her into the darling of Germany. And when the movie started talking, it turned out that the Russian German woman had managed to get rid of her bad pronunciation. For an actor this is a rare case.
Perhaps, at the time of her creative development, she met with her brother Leva, who was treated in the Knipper house by Doctor Anton Pavlovich Chekhov himself.
As a child, Leo miraculously escaped tuberculosis. He grew up healthy and strong, joined the army, and when the Civil War began, by the will of fate, the young officer remained in the ranks - in the south with the whites. Then he returned to Moscow and began composing music. But no matter what legends he later came up with, he could no longer throw out the “White Guard” fact from his complex biography.
A strong, well-trained climber and tennis player, who also spoke German, was noticed by reconnaissance. Wasn’t it then that an offer was made that you couldn’t refuse - to go abroad? Moreover, the reason is obvious - untreated tuberculosis could only be fought in Germany. Was it not then that the meeting took place with his sister, who was already becoming the darling of the nation? And her fraternal recruitment on instructions from the Center? After all, what an unexpected gift for Soviet intelligence!
But even in their wildest dreams, I think the developers of the probable operation could not have imagined that Chekhov would become friends with an actress named Goering and her husband. And that she would be presented to Hitler, who would like her so much that for another moment the demoniac would prefer “this Russian” to Eva Braun. The Fuhrer will make it clear to the persistent Goebbels that Chekhov cannot be persecuted, nor, indeed, can she be seduced with cynical offers of cohabitation...
At the reception, the Fuhrer seated Olga Chekhova in the front row. The next day, newspapers came out with photographs of the beautiful Chekhova and Hitler sitting next to her. And everything became clear to everyone.
Kill Hitler
Having such an agent is the dream of any intelligence service. Few people managed to be so close, to “get close” to the fascist elite. But what did Olga Chekhova do for the USSR?
I can only speculate.
Here is some unconfirmed information: three radio operators worked for Chekhov at once, not connected with each other in any way - this is about the amount of information that she transmitted. And at the end of the war, she was exposed by the Gestapo, her personal driver had already been arrested, and the movie star herself was supposed to fall into the clutches of Himmler. But Hitler didn't allow...
But let's return to brother Lev, who returned from Germany and continued to live in the USSR. Write music, perform at concerts... When the war broke out and the Germans reached present-day Khimki, Lev Knipper was ready to fulfill his patriotic duty. And this is no longer a hypothesis. By order of intelligence, Lev Konstantinovich, together with his wife Marina Gaekovna, had to remain in the city if the Nazis captured Moscow. Gain trust (with the help of your sister?) to the top, get close to Hitler and destroy him. Suicidal action.
The Germans were driven away from Moscow. Knipper survived. Wrote music again. And he trained students - not just musicians, but saboteurs. And here, too, you can speculate a lot. After all, the idea of eliminating Hitler never left Stalin. The militant Miklashevsky, a boxer from a theatrical family, miraculously made his way to Germany. If you believe Sudoplatov, he, with the help of Chekhova, had to eliminate Hitler. But then Stalin canceled his order: if the operation takes place, the German elite may come to an agreement with the allies and move against us. What's the result? There was a militant Miklashevsky with Stalin's orders. The act of retaliation did not take place.
And what is Chekhova’s role in all this?
Beria's task
And in April 1945 she was flown to Moscow; This is how many residents were transported to the USSR. They settled in a comfortable apartment, from which, however, there was no exit. They did not interrogate, but talked peacefully, discussing episodes of her stormy life. The protocols have been preserved, but there are zero discoveries or sensations in them. And soon the former state actress of the Reich was taken back to Germany by plane and helped with housing and food. When Olga Konstantinovna wanted to leave for the zone of Western occupation, she was unquestioningly allowed. She continued, as if nothing had happened, to act in films. Yesterday's Hitler's henchwoman...
Miracle? Or a business trip on behalf of the Center?
As colonel and writer Zoya Voskresenskaya-Rybkina testifies, she was literally torn from her vacation and sent to Germany. The task is to meet with Olga Chekhova. She had to fulfill the task of Comrade Beria, who was going to merge the two Germanys into a single state. Chekhova was instructed to sound out how the West Germans, led by Chancellor Adenauer, would react to such a proposal. Soon Rybkina reported to Sudoplatov via HF: the meeting with Chekhova went well. And then she received an order that stunned her: to return home on the first military plane.
It was Beria who was arrested in Moscow, and all his plans for unification were branded a betrayal.
I suppose this is where Chekhova’s mission ended. She continued to act in films, and eventually went into business (her own line of women's products).
Having calmly reached old age, Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova (operational pseudonym Melinda - also not documented) died in 1980.
So was it or wasn’t it? It is up to you, the discerning reader, to judge.
P.S. In 1971, I took state exams at the Moscow Foreign Languages School. The French was taken by a strict, oriental-type woman. Hearing my last name, she suddenly smiled joyfully. And suddenly she asked: “Are you probably the son of Mikhail Nikolaevich Dolgopolov? Very similar.” I nodded confusedly. "Say hi to dad." I fell into a stupor: “From whom?” The lady smiled: “From Knipper. Your father is well acquainted with the composer Lev Knipper, my husband.”
At home, my always stern father, after listening to my story, remarked: “Do you even know who this is?” No, I have never heard the composer Knipper. “Still, what an ignoramus you are,” sighed the father. And he began, as usual, to whistle a melody. I recognized "Polyushko-Pole".
One of the most mysterious personalities in the history of intelligence is Germany's No. 1 actress Olga Chekhova.
The name of this actress is associated with many secrets and mysteries that have not yet been solved. But nevertheless, she lived a colorful life. One of the legends claims that A.P. Chekhov’s houses in Taganrog and Yalta owe it to her that they survived the Second World War. Her name is associated with a stunning version that the famous Amber Room is hidden in Hitler's bunker in Thuringia, codenamed "Olga". She is considered a super-agent of Stalin... Anyone who hears this name for the first time naturally immediately asks the question: “Isn’t she a relative?..” A relative. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was her uncle.
Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova
Olga Konstantinovna von Knipper-Dolling (this is her full maiden name) was born in April 1897 in the city of Alexandropol (later it became known as Leninakan) in the family of Konstantin Leonardovich Knipper, the brother of the Art Theater actress Olga Knipper-Chekhova. Since childhood, Olga had two native languages - Russian and German. She spoke French and Italian. Education - classical Russian. Until the age of 17, she lived with her parents either in the Caucasus or in Petrograd.
Since childhood, young Olga amazed those around her with her beauty, intelligence and self-control. The girl could receive any education, but since childhood she dreamed of becoming an actress. Thanks to the position of her parents, Olga Konstantinovna from childhood moved in the circle of the highest Russian aristocracy and creative intelligentsia. The mother painted beautiful landscapes, the parents often played four hands on the piano, and organized home performances and concerts. Tolstoy, Rachmaninov, Chaliapin visited here. One of her fans was the writer’s nephew Mikhail Chekhov, an artist of the first studio of the Art Theater. Their romance ended with a wedding in 1914. They lived together for 6 years, they had a daughter
In the summer of 1923 (or 1928?) After the Moscow Art Theater tour in Germany, Mikhail Chekhov did not return to the USSR. After much persuasion, his beautiful wife also stayed with him in Berlin. Olga arrived in her historical homeland before her husband, with whom her relationship no longer worked out. Mikhail Alexandrovich adored her, but their marriage did not last long; Olga left him, taking her daughter, to a certain Friedrich Yarosi, a former Austro-Hungarian prisoner. She kept her first husband's surname and did not change it throughout her life...
The Moscow Art Theater graduate played her first theatrical roles in Moscow (Stanislavsky invited Olga to his theater: on stage she played in such productions as “The Cricket on the Stove” by Dickens, “The Cherry Orchard” and “Three Sisters” by Chekhov). Olga became seriously involved in theatrical activities in Germany. Here we had to start with small, unknown, poor theaters, where the Russian actress willingly took on any, even the most unwinning roles, stubbornly making her way to the top. Soon attention was paid to her, and Chekhova’s name began to be printed in large letters on the posters of famous Berlin theaters. In 1921, Chekhova made her debut in the silent film Vogeled Castle. Her fame was brought to her by the films “Masquerade”, “The World Without a Mask”, “Why Get Married”, “Beautiful Orchids”. The film "Moulin Rouge" (1928) directed by Rene Clair with her participation became a classic of world cinema.
She starred in one hundred and thirty-two films, mostly of a romantic nature. None of them were shown in the USSR, although some roles became classics of world cinema. The actress's affairs were so successful that she soon helped Mikhail Chekhov settle down with his new wife in Germany and brought him together with major German directors.
And now this student of the Russian school of theatrical art becomes “film star No. 1” of Hitler’s cinema. Her closest friends were Eva Braun, Magda Goebbels, Leni Riefenstahl, she communicated with Goering's wife, actress Emmy Sonnemann. But most importantly, the Fuhrer himself loved Olga Chekhova, placing her above the recognized actresses Marika Rokk and Tsara Leander. Without any support, without knowing the German language perfectly, a beautiful and intelligent Russian woman first becomes one of the stars of German cinema, and then the “state actress” of the Third Reich. The sentimental German public not only recognized, but also fell in love with Olga
True, in 1930 Chekhova had a rival, Marlene Dietrich, who, however, quickly disappeared in overseas Hollywood. By the way, Olga was also invited there, but she quickly returned to Germany. With Hitler coming to power, this act was appreciated. And here's what she wrote about meetings with the Fuhrer: " My first impression of him: timid, awkward, although he behaves with ladies with Austrian courtesy. His transformation from ranting bore to fanatical instigator is astonishing, almost incomprehensible.". In the end, Adolf gives her his photo with the inscription: " Frau Olga Chekhova - openly delighted and surprised".
Gala reception at Ribbentrop's, 1939: Adolf Hitler with Olga Chekhova
The Fuhrer personally invited Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova to all important state celebrations, and always seated her next to him. During V. M. Molotov’s visit to Germany, he introduced him to the actress first. Her authority in the country was extraordinary; many high-ranking officials and military men turned to her for help, desperate to solve their problems in the usual way.
When Olga Leonardovna visited Berlin in 1937, she was completely shocked by the reception that her niece organized in her honor. All the leaders of Nazi Germany, headed by the Fuhrer himself, arrived at it without exception... A number of Western sources today confidently claim that it was Olga Chekhova who was the mysterious, well-informed source of information with whom the famous resident who settled in Switzerland maintained contact throughout the war Soviet intelligence Sandor Rado.
Soon after the end of the war, rumors began to spread about her; The English press, and then the German one, began to bring sensational messages to the front pages: Olga Chekhova worked for Soviet intelligence, spied, went to Russia, where she was given assignments. For her services, she received the Order of Lenin from the hands of Stalin. It was even said that she was allegedly involved in the plan developed by Beria to destroy Hitler, given her special closeness to him. The son of Lavrentiy Beria, Sergo, wrote in his book “My Father Lavrentiy Beria”: he has no doubt that the actress Olga Chekhova was an illegal high-class Soviet intelligence officer.
Lieutenant General P. A. Sudoplatov writes about all this in his book:
"Famous actress Olga Chekhova, ex-wife nephew of the famous writer, was close to Radziwill and Goering and was connected with Beria through relatives in Transcaucasia,” the general wrote. — Later, she was in personal contact in 1946-1950 with the Minister of State Security Abakumov, who replaced Beria. Initially it was planned to use it to communicate with Radziwill. We had a plan to assassinate Hitler, according to which Radziwill and Olga Chekhova, with the help of their friends among the German aristocracy, were to provide our people with access to Hitler. A group of agents sent to Germany and underground in Berlin were completely subordinate to the militant Igor Miklashevsky, who arrived in Germany at the beginning of 1942.
In 1942, Miklashevsky managed to meet Olga Chekhova at one of the receptions. He conveyed to Moscow that it would be easy to remove Goering, but the Kremlin did not show much interest in this. In 1943, Stalin abandoned his original plan to assassinate Hitler because he feared that once Hitler was eliminated, Nazi circles and the military would try to conclude a separate peace treaty with the Allies without the participation of the Soviet Union"
But there is another opinion: all the hype around Chekhova’s name is a specially planned and perfectly executed disinformation that the Soviet Mata Hari was in the very lair of the Nazis, and our intelligence was so powerful.
During the storming of Berlin, Olga and her daughter lived in the town of Gross Glienicke, where she had a luxurious villa. There she was arrested on April 27, 1945 by military counterintelligence officers Smersh of the 1st Belorussian Front. During the interrogation, Olga gave her agent pseudonym Merlin, but the Smershevites showed complete ignorance and asked for Moscow. An order immediately followed from the head of the Main Directorate, Smersh Abakumov, to deliver Olga by plane to Moscow. There she was settled in a safe house, where Olga lived as an honorary prisoner for about two months, although in extremely comfortable conditions, but still locked up.
Olga Chekhova 1970s
At the end of June 1945, Chekhova settled in the Soviet occupation zone. She later moved to Munich, where she continued her artistic career. Already in 1950, she was busy filming seven films. Four years later she stopped acting, but did not leave the stage until 1962, changing cities and theaters. The energetic actress had no shortage of clients when three years later she opened her Olga Chekhova Cosmetics salon near Hamburg, which soon became one of the most famous in Europe. Her mother’s recipes helped: with her, Olga collected herbs as a child in Tsarskoe Selo and made various creams, lotions, shampoos, eau de toilette, cosmetic milk from them... The company has long since disappeared..
Olga Chekhova's memoirs, “My Clock Goes Differently” (“Meine Uhren gehen anders”), was published in 1973. Last years Olga's life was overshadowed by the death of her daughter, who died in a plane crash. During her lifetime she was a famous actress. Olga's granddaughter, Vera Chekhova, followed in the footsteps of her grandmother and mother. In the fall of 1980, 83-year-old Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova died of brain cancer. Her grave is located in Munich at the Obermenzing cemetery (Friedhof Obermenzing).
A short excerpt (Erst kommt ein großes Fragezeichen) from a 1930 film starring Olga Chekhova
Who this woman really was is still a mystery. Actress Olga Chekhova was the niece of Olga Knipper, the wife of A. Chekhov. After emigrating, she became a famous actress in Germany, and Hitler took care of her. There is a version that the USSR not only knew about her successes in Nazi Germany, but also directed all her actions. In post-war Europe, she was called the Russian Mata Hari.
Olga Konstantinovna von Knipper-Dolling was born in 1897 in Alexandropol (Leninakan) into the family of a Russified German. Many representatives of this family were creative people: her aunt, Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, was an actress at the Moscow Art Theater and the wife of A.P. Chekhov, her brother, Lev Knipper, was a composer-songwriter.
Olga became an actress thanks to the patronage of her famous aunt. At that time, two nephews of A. Chekhov, Mikhail and Vladimir, looked after her. Olga chose actor Mikhail. The rejected Vladimir Chekhov shot himself shortly after this, perhaps the reason was the actress’s refusal. After 4 years, she left her husband for the Hungarian Friedrich Jarossi, married him and in 1921 she left with him for Germany.
Before the exit permit was issued, the actress had a conversation at the Military Intelligence Directorate. It is not known exactly what was discussed - no documentary evidence has survived. Some researchers suggest that it was then that Chekhova’s recruitment took place, and her mother and daughter were left in Moscow as a guarantee.
She made her debut in German cinema at the age of 24, and since then she has acted regularly, in 6-8 films a year. She did not have outstanding acting skills, she played the same type of roles - aristocrats and adventuresses, but Olga knew how to conquer and charm, so they started talking about her. In 1923, she divorced her second husband and took up her career. In 1928, after the release of the film “Moulin Rouge,” actress Olga Chekhova was recognized by the whole world. She was invited to Hollywood, where she starred in several films, including Hitchcock's. Upon returning to Germany, she continued to act in films, in total she played in 132 films, none of which were shown in the USSR.
In 1935, at the Munich opera, Olga met Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress. The women became friends and began to see each other often. This fact served as another reason to suspect Chekhova of espionage - perhaps she managed to obtain some information through Eva Braun. In addition, before the start of the war with Germany, Olga often sent parcels and letters to the USSR, which at that time was only possible with the approval of the NKVD.
After the Nazis came to power, many actors and directors left Germany, but Olga Chekhova remained. She was introduced to Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels, Hitler encouraged her friendship with Eva Braun and patronized her as an actress, calling her his favorite artist. In 1936 she was awarded the title of State Artist of the Third Reich. That same year, she married Belgian millionaire Marcel Robins.
In the Western media after the war, Chekhova was unanimously dubbed a Soviet spy; it was she who was called the secret source of information with whom she maintained contact throughout the war. legendary resident USSR intelligence Sandor Rado. There is also a version that Olga Chekhova participated in the preparation of the assassination attempt on Hitler, but by order of Stalin this plan was canceled. In April 1945, Chekhova was arrested by Smersh counterintelligence officers. After interrogation, she was sent by military plane to Moscow. Oddly enough, the Nazi accomplice was not arrested or shot. Abakumov and Beria talked with her for 3 months, and then the actress was returned to Germany, which again gives reason to conclude about her secret mission. Beria's son Sergo said that he had no doubt that actress Olga Chekhova was an illegal high-class Soviet intelligence officer.
But there is another opinion: this specially planned disinformation was launched with the aim of creating a myth about the omnipotence of Soviet intelligence and the skill of the Russian Mata Hari, who made her way into the very lair of the Nazis. These days, few people know about Olga Chekhova; her aunt and namesake are much more famous
