Alexander Kolchak and Anna Timileva
During the reform and opening up, and in the early 1990s, when the story of the debunking of the old hero began to air, the domestic media told a stunning and beautiful love story between Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timileva. A warrior fighting for Free Russia, brutally shot and killed by the Bolsheviks, and after decades of prison and exile, she remained loyal to him until her final days.
The film Admiral, released in 2008, finally formed a picture of the great and tragic love between a noble Russian patriot and his loyal lady among the citizens.
With a $20 million movie, the truth is irrefutable. Starting with the true story between Alexander Kolchak and Anna Timileva, we can recall a sentence that the heroine of the very popular film "Hustle and Bustle Days" of the Soviet era said: Love often degrades a person and destroys a person's life. I don't even know whether to do more noble deeds or despicable deeds in the name of love.
I do my best to stand at your feet, as for my God."
At a ball in the Naval Council, Sofia, daughter of the actual Privy Councillor Fyodor Omirov, met with the heroic officer Alexander Kolchak.
As a hereditary aristocrat, Sophia received an excellent education at Smolny College. At the same time, this girl has an iron personality and is not afraid of hardships, which is very useful for her later life.
Strong-willed and independent Sophia, as a woman, softened in the face of the charm of a handsome man in a naval uniform, and agreed to be his wife. We agreed to have the wedding after the expedition to Kolchak.
The eternal expectation will be the fate of Sophia Fyodorovna. Before becoming a wife, when Kolchak walked along the edges in a polar expedition, she had every chance of becoming a widow.
He wrote her a beautiful letter: "It has been two months since I left you, my infinite dear, the whole picture of our meeting so vivid before me, so painful and painful, as if just yesterday I spent so many sleepless nights in the cabin, pacing from one corner to another, how many thoughts, bitterness, desolation ... Without you, my life wouldn't have that meaning, that goal, that joy. I have brought all my power to your feet, and as for my God, I have given you all my power... The island and the promontory are named after the bride.
One expedition went into another, and they only got married after four years. The wedding at St. Harampi's Church in Irkutsk was a happy moment before the new farewell – Kolchak fought in the Russo-Japanese War.
Sophia and Alexander Kolchak
Your dear Sonia."
Sophia Kolchak will endure loss, pain and suffering forever. Their first daughter will never see her father, who died less than a month before she was still there, while her father continues his mission in the Far East.
In 1910 Sophia would give birth to her husband's son, Rostislav, and in 1913 she would give birth to a daughter, Margarita. The strange marriage of letters was a difficult test for the wife, but she continued to write to her husband, full of warmth: Dear Sashenka! Count and sing to herself when she wants to sleep... How are you? Where are you now? How was the exercise going and your destroyer intact? I'm glad you're happy with your job. I'm afraid there won't be a war, and there's a lot of discussion here. I was reading an Italian novel about General Garibaldi. I sew and count the days. Write about yourself. Your dear Sonia.
The beginning of the First World War will turn into a new tragedy for Sophia Kolchak. The naval officer's family lived in Libava and soon found themselves in danger of being captured by the Germans.
Without an organized evacuation, Sophia Kolchak, holding two small children in her arms, was forced to flee, leaving behind all her possessions.
The noble naval officer did not raise his hand to help his wife and children. Understandably, war requires self-denial.
The cost of this is high—Little Rita catches a cold on the road and dies in the arms of Gatchina's mother. With the exception of Sophia Kolchak, no one could help him through his grief. With only one son, Rostislav, Sophia condensed her will into a fist and did not drive herself crazy.
Wife of a fighting friend
She thinks she needs not only a son, but also a husband. Somewhere in her heart, she hoped Alexander would help her cope with the pain of losing her second daughter. Wrong.
In January 1915 Alexander Kolchak left Petrograd for his work in Helsingforth. The train carriages were shared with him by classmates, colleagues and friends Sergei Nikolaevich Timilev. During their studies in the Marine Corps, they were in the same company: Kolchak - a sergeant major, Timilev a non-commissioned officer. Then they had the opportunity to participate together in the defense of Lushun Port. Sergei Timilev, a year younger than Kolchak, always had great respect for him.
Timilev's wife Anna came to the station to see him off.
Anya Safovova, the daughter of a famous Russian conductor and pianist, married naval officer Sergei Timilev at the age of 18. In October 1914 the couple had a son named Vladimir.
Sergei Timilev is unlikely to have imagined that meeting at the station would pose any threat to him.
In a few months Anna-Timirewa will be with her husband in Helsingforth, as she recalls, looking around and preparing to move with her children.
The officers invited colleagues to their party, and at one of those meetings Kolchak had a long conversation with his friend's wife.
Their romance is beautiful for novelists."
By the spring of 1915, Anna Timileva had moved to Helsingforth, and her meeting with Kolchak had begun to systematize.
No matter where we meet, it always turns out that we're intimate, we don't say enough, he always says you don't need it, you know, who knows if it's going to be as good as it is today. Everyone was tired, but for us it wasn't enough for him and me, we were like on the cusp of the waves, she recalls.
Sophia Kolchak was in Helsingforth at the time. Pavel Tsiliyanov, a biographer of Alexander Kolchak, wrote: "Everyone sees and notices everything, and gossip is of course inevitable. On the face of it, the two women maintain a friendly relationship. Fortunately, we don't know what happened to these families.
Years later the admiral's son, Rostislav Kolchak, refused to understand his father that their romance was beautiful for the novelist. But it seems strange when two people, married to the rest of the church, consider themselves orthodox, indulge their impulses in front of everyone!
A tricky betrayal story
What's so beautiful about this story? Not only did Alexander Kolchak betray his wife, who had endured an incredible ordeal for him, he did so openly in front of everyone.
Among Russian officers, having an affair with a colleague's wife is considered despicable. Kolchak does it not only with colleagues, but also with friends.
Anna Timileva betrayed not only her husband, but also her son, who was not yet a year old at the time.
We know that Anna Timileva accompanied Kolchak, who became her de facto ordinary husband until he was executed. Her husband dutifully endured humiliation and continued to serve under Kolchak during the Civil War, nearly holding a fictitious position as commander of the Navy of the White Movement in the Far East.
The tragedy of Vladimir Timilev
What about their son Volodya? While his mother followed her lover, Wawa-Timirev lived with his grandparents in Kislovodsk. The boy had to endure the deaths of two relatives, after which he remained cared for by several strangers. It was not until 1922, when Anna Timileva was released from prison, that she took her son to Moscow.
Vladimir Timilev has a tragic biography. Although at first his mother's problems with the authorities seemed to bypass him. He graduated from the high school in Khamovniki, Moscow, then the Faculty of Architecture and Design, and then the Moscow Institute of Architecture and Design.
Vladimir Sergeyevich became a member of the Union of Soviet Artists, and his solo exhibition was held in Moscow.
A 23-year-old genius teenager who was killed by love. He accidentally falls in love with Natasha Kravchenko, the daughter of a famous Soviet artist. The girl's parents objected to their relationship. Natasha's mother, Ksenia Stepanovna Kravchenko, who, by the way, was herself of aristocratic origin, warned Timilev: If you don't leave your daughter behind, I will take my own measures.
Young and enthusiastic, Vladimir did not heed the warning, but instead got a promise to marry him from his beloved. Then an experienced lady wrote to the NKVD, saying that Timilev was talking to the driver of the German embassy.
It was the culmination of horror in the spring of 1938. No one nearby can solve the trouble from Vladimir. Then there is the adventures of the mother, and the identity of Kolchak's stepson.
On 17 May 1938, Vladimir Timilev was sentenced to death. The judgment was executed on May 28, 1938.
Father Sergei Timilev was unaware of his son's tragic fate— he died of throat cancer while in exile in Shanghai in June 1932.
Kolchak's wife Sofia and her son Rostislav and grandson Alexander. France 1939 Photo
Last warning"
Sophia Kolchak last met her husband in May 1917 in Sevastopol, where he served. She accompanied him on a business trip to Petrograd, but he never returned.
She waited for him in Sevastopol, by which time he had become one of the leaders of the white movement. Sophia was in danger of being arrested almost every minute. Sources came that the husband was still alive, but his wife's position was now effectively occupied by Anati Myreva.
Kolchak now wrote a gentle letter to her, not to his wife: How I would like to give you these flowers—these are not violets, nor bell orchids, but very gentle, divine beauty, able to argue with the roses. They deserve to look at them and think of you...
Kolchak's letter to his wife in October 1919 reads: "I have always felt that I am not attentive enough and concerned about you. I think I did everything I had to do. All my hopes for you and Slavshka now are that during the current bloody struggle you will be safe and able to live peacefully outside Russia until she is resurrected... Please don't forget my position and don't allow yourself to write a letter I can't read it to the end because I ruined every letter after the first decency phrase. If you let people hear gossip about me, then I won't let you tell me. Hopefully, this warning will be the last.
Lifetime punishment
The admiral, who slept with his mistress, gave his wife a final warning as he tried to figure out what had happened to their relationship.
Sophia Fedorovna Kolchak managed to leave Russia with her son. They settled in France. The determined woman did not settle accounts with her dead traitorous husband, though she must have something to say to Alexander Kolchak.
During World War II, Rostislav Kolchak, who had fought in the ranks of the French army, was captured by the Germans. Sophia Fedorovna waited and hoped again, this time she would wait—that her son would come back alive from captivity.
Kolchak's widow would die in France in the spring of 1956. Nine years later, Rostislav Kolchak will not.
Anna-Timirewa, despite spending long years in prison and exile, will definitely live longer than all the participants in the play. He would leave behind memories of his love, and vulnerable citizens would shed tears about it.
But love tends to demean a person and ruin his life. I don't even know whether to do more noble deeds or despicable deeds in the name of love.