The Mystery of Olga Chekhova by Antony Beevor (PDF)

Description

In his latest work, Antony Beevor—bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Battle of Arnhem and one of our most respected historians of World War II—brings us the true, little-known story of a family torn apart by revolution and war. Olga Chekhova, a stunning Russian beauty, was the niece of playwright Anton Chekhov and a famous Nazi-era film actress who was closely associated with Hitler. After fleeing Bolshevik Moscow for Berlin in 1920, she was recruited by her composer brother Lev to become a Soviet spy—a career she spent her entire postwar life denying. The riveting story of how Olga and her family survived the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror, and the Second World War becomes, in Beevor’s hands, a breathtaking tale of survival in a merciless age.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’ve become a real Beevor fan in terms of the war between Hitler and Stalin (I’ve not read his D-Day or Spanish Civil war volumes) and think his book on Vasily Grossman, A Writer at War, is a wonderful look at Russian culture (and the war) thanks to Grossman’s extensive writings and the primary materials now available on his somewhat tragic life.This book is a pretty good read once one absorbs the complexity of the Chekov and Knipper clans, and their relations — not to speak of Russian theater life and culture. Like Erik Larson’s wonderful new In the Garden of the Beasts, Beevor relishes the diaries and other personal documents now becoming available to historians, not to speak of what can be gleaned from Russian and German archives. Olga Chekhova did not have a tragic life, but instead one of commercial and, in her own way, artistic success and, very possibly, evil angels who even set her up in business in West Germany after the war.While he does not entirely clear up the mysteries surrounding Olga Chekhova, her relationship with the NKVD, et al, his portrait of her, her family and, to satisfactory degree, her place in German cinema is a useful one. I learned for the first time about her brother, composer Lev Knipper, and the destructive workings of Stalin’s paranoia and purges. This all said, Beevor gets so deep into his sources and biographical portrait I feel he comes up short on German cinema in the late 20s and 30s. He does, of course, mention some of the leading companies, what happened to Jews and, of course, the general role of the brilliant and sick Goebbels.But the kind of dramas Olga starred in were not the only film genres that filled German theaters. The Alpine and nature films which launched Leni Riefenstahl and were extremely popular go unmentioned, as does Leni, who certainly had a complex relationship with Goebbels and was adored by Hitler (as a director, mainly; I recommend highly Steven Bach’s recent study of this amazing and puzzling artist), whose knowledge of film was apparently deep and comprehensive. Indeed, one of Beevor’s very important arguments is that Goebbels and Hitler envisioned the Third Reich itself as a heroic filmlike spectacle, which came to defile Jews and serve as an utterly hopeless means of trying to save the Reich from catastrophe, per the very fine Felix Moeller film on producer-director Veit Harlan, Harlan: in the Shadow of Jew Suss. Of course, Beevor does not set out to write comprehensive cultural history, but on this point I think he could have better served his reader. One craves to learn more about how a civilized and well educated people could be drawn into the Nazi disaster, and then stay with it as their hell froze over.This all said, this book is a fine contribution to understanding both the horrors of Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany.

⭐I’ve always loved history and Anthony Beevor is my favorite historian. All of his work is on my amazon wish list and I guarantee that I’m going to read his entire oeuvre over the course of the next few years. Stalingrad, The Fall of Berlin, and the Spanish Civil War are among my favorite books of all time, but I can’t say the same about The Mystery of Olga Chekhova. It is, however, a decidedly above average work.The narrative begins well by offering his audience a very interesting summary of the Russian Civil War, but then it gets bogged down in a morass of family history from which it seemingly never leaves. Family history is really the purpose of these pages–specifically, enormous details about the lives of Lev and Olga Knipper (Olga Chekhova) are shared. It only indirectly concerns SMERSH and the NKVD. In fact, it’s not until half of it is finished that Beevor begins to explore Lev’s role as a spy. For the serious student of history it will prove a disappointment as there’s little secret correspondence from Beria, Abakumov, Merkulov or Dekanozov on review. Espionage really isn’t its focus.Overall, Olga Chekhova seems to have been a vain and supercilious person who used her memoirs as a way of grossly overinflating her contributions to the Soviet motherland. I guess we should not surprised by this given she that was an actress, and I agree with another reviewer that she was more of a historical footnote than she was anything else. Her story isn’t worth the time of the brilliant Mr. Beevor, but, regardless, his prose is just as enjoyable here as it is elsewhere. Hopefully, the next Beevor book I devour, Paris After the Liberation, will proof worthy of being placed alongside his other works.

⭐Historically accurate account of a fascinating woman, but very dry in the writing approach. Couldn’t get into it and abandoned the effort, which is unusual for me.

⭐The book is nicely written and her ancestry and relationship to the great Anton Chekov and his family is interesting but in the end the mystery of Olga remains a mystery and the book goes nowhere. Was she a spy in Germany during WWII for the Soviets? Maybe but it seems they made little use of her if she was. I found that unlike his history of WWII which is excellent, this book was not too meaty and quite disappointing.

⭐The riddle of who is Anna Chekova is never really answered. The book gives a lot of information on the way the Russian people lived in between the two world wars and describes very well the main characters like Olga and her aunt, Chekov’s widow. Above all it shows the will to survive even under the most difficult circumstances. It is very well written and enjoyable to read.

⭐The writer gives us a great opportunity to see how complicated the lives of people can become in times of political chaos.

⭐Very well written & interesting if you already know a fair bit about Chekhov. I think read a biography of Chekhov first if you don’t .

⭐OK

⭐Requires some perseverance to get into it because, as the author states, Olga came from ‘a family of confusing names’. Some familiarity with the historical background (both Russia and Germany c.1914 – 1950s) also helps. The ‘mystery’ is much wider than that of Olga herself: it involves the survival, and achievements in both Russia and Germany, of her whole extended family through those turbulent, gruesome times. Not surprisingly the author doesn’t really come close to providing any firm answers, although there’s interesting speculation along the way. There’s potentially another book, perhaps several, to be written providing more substantial answers: but it’s doubtful whether the source material exists to write them.

⭐I guess the title is accurate because unfortunately Beevor has discovered nothing about her espionage activities, if there ever were any that much of her life remains a mystery.We learn far more about life in the Bolshevik revolution, civil war and under the Stalinist regime.Indeed her brother Lev seems a far more interesting character and I’d like to know more about him.

⭐I can imagine him coming across this complicated & intriguing tale as he was researching for Berlin about the niece of Anton Chekhov. You do wonder if you’ve seen any of her films! Told in a much lighter tone & faster pace – so he does write in a different style too! We met Gregory Peck in Cap Ferrat one holiday.

⭐A well written and well researched book – as per usual for the author Antony Beevor. A tale of a family divided in its loyalties by war.

⭐I read the book in connection with U3A group called Reading for Pleasure.

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