Edvard Radzinsky
Encyclopedia
Edvard Stanislavovich Radzinsky (1936-) is a Russia
n playwright, writer, TV personality, and film screenwriter
. He is also known as an author of several books on history which were characterized as "folk history" (Russian term for pseudohistory
) by journalists and academic historians.
Edvard Radzinsky divorced Alla in 1964. He later married Tatiana Doronina, one of the leading Soviet actresses of the 60s-70s. They divorced later. He is currenly married to the actress Elena Denisova.
, which is reflected in the posthumously published recollections of an émigré in New York. He describes the poisoning of Stalin by associates of Lavrentiy Beria
, based on the interviews of former body guards of Stalin and other evidence. He also brings to light documents supporting the hypothesis of Viktor Suvorov
that Stalin planned to use Nazi Germany
as a proxy (the "Icebreaker"), against the West and then "liberate" Europe
from Nazi occupation.
Historian David Brandenberger is heavily critical of Radzinsky, stating that his book "Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives", "is essentially a compilation of fact, opinion and gossip already in circulation for decades", and promotes, as an alternative, the books of O. V. Khlevnyuk, Lars Lih, Stephen Kotkin, and Robert W. Thurston.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n playwright, writer, TV personality, and film screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He is also known as an author of several books on history which were characterized as "folk history" (Russian term for pseudohistory
Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
) by journalists and academic historians.
Biography
Edvard Stanislavovich Radzinsky was born on September 23, 1936 in Moscow, the son of playwright Stanislav Radzinsky and his wife Sofia. He studied in the Moscow Archive Institute and is a trained historian. Edvard married actress Alla Geraskina, herself the daughter of the popular Soviet playwright and writer Lia Geraskina, in 1955. Their son, Oleg was born in 1958. Oleg was arrested by the KGB in 1982 and sentenced to six years of imprisonment for the Anti-Soviet Propaganda. He was released and left the Soviet Union in 1987 as a result of the perestroika lunched by Michael Gorbachev, and is currently a US citizen. Oleg received his Master's degree in International Finance from Columbia University (New York) in 1991 and worked as investment banker for many years. He served as Chairman of Rambler Media Group, one of the largest Russian Internet companies from 2002 to 2006. Oleg currently resides in France with his family.Edvard Radzinsky divorced Alla in 1964. He later married Tatiana Doronina, one of the leading Soviet actresses of the 60s-70s. They divorced later. He is currenly married to the actress Elena Denisova.
His publications
Since the 1990s, Radzinsky has written books for the series Mysteries of History. He is the author of the book Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents From Russia's Secret Archives, which describes the early struggle for power in the Kremlin after Lenin's death. For example, he conjectures that there was a fuller text of Lenin's TestamentLenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies...
, which is reflected in the posthumously published recollections of an émigré in New York. He describes the poisoning of Stalin by associates of Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
, based on the interviews of former body guards of Stalin and other evidence. He also brings to light documents supporting the hypothesis of Viktor Suvorov
Viktor Suvorov
Viktor Suvorov is the pen name for Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun , a former Soviet and now British writer of Russian and Ukrainian descent who writes primarily in Russian, as well as a former Soviet military intelligence spy who defected to the UK...
that Stalin planned to use Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
as a proxy (the "Icebreaker"), against the West and then "liberate" Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from Nazi occupation.
Historian David Brandenberger is heavily critical of Radzinsky, stating that his book "Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives", "is essentially a compilation of fact, opinion and gossip already in circulation for decades", and promotes, as an alternative, the books of O. V. Khlevnyuk, Lars Lih, Stephen Kotkin, and Robert W. Thurston.
English
- Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives, Anchor, (1997) ISBN 0-385-47954-9
- The Last Tsar : The Life and Death of Nicholas II, 1993, Anchor, ISBN 0-385-46962-4, (2005) ISBN 0-7432-7332-X
- Alexander IIAlexander II of RussiaAlexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
: The Last Great Tsar (2005) ISBN 0-7432-7332-X - Tsar : The Lost World of NicholasNicholas II of RussiaNicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
and Alexandra ISBN 0-316-55788-9 - The Rasputin File (2001, Anchor, USA) ISBN 0-385-48910-2
- Rasputin: The Last Word (2001, Allen & Unwin , Australia) ISBN 1-86508-529-4
Russian
- «Ипатьевская ночь» © ASTAST (publisher)AST is one of the largest book publishing companies in Russia. AST and its rival Eksmo together publish approximately 30% of all Russian books. The company is headed by Oleg Bartenev...
, 2007 г. - «На Руси от ума одно горе» © ASTAST (publisher)AST is one of the largest book publishing companies in Russia. AST and its rival Eksmo together publish approximately 30% of all Russian books. The company is headed by Oleg Bartenev...
, 2006 г. - «Начало театрального романа»: Сборник пьес © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 2004 г.
- Собрание сочинений (в восьми томах) © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1998—2003 г.
- «Загадки жизни и смерти». Подарочное издание © Издательство «ВАГРИУС»,2003 г.
- «Княжна Тараканова» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 2003 г.
- «Загадки истории». Подарочное издание © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 2002 г.
- Napoleon: life after death «Наполеон: жизнь после смерти» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 2002 г.
- «Игры писателей» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 2001 г.
- «Загадки любви» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1999, 2000 гг.
- «Загадки истории» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1999, 2000 гг.
- «Кровь и призраки русской смуты» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1998, 2000 гг.
- «Гибель галантного века» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1999 г.
- «…и сделалась кровь» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1998 г.
- «Властители дум» © Издательство «ВАГРИУС», 1999 г.
- «Театр» © Издательство «Искусство», 1986 г.
- Conversations with SocratesSocratesSocrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
«Беседы с Сократом» © Издательство «Советский писатель», 1982 г.
Selected articles
- The Other Russian Revolution, Wall Street Journal