Polina Zhemchuzhina
Encyclopedia
Polina Semyonovna Zhemchuzhina (1897 - 1970) was a Soviet stateswoman and the wife of the Soviet premier Vyacheslav Molotov
.
Born Perl Karpovskaya to the family of a Jewish tailor in the village of Pologi, in the Aleksandrov
uyezd of Yekaterinoslav Governorate
(today Zaporizhia Oblast
, Ukraine
), she joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
of Bolshevik
s in 1918 and served as a propaganda
commissar
in the Red Army
during the Russian Civil War
. As a communist, she went by the surname Zhemchuzhina, which means a "pearl" in English (similar to her given name).
In 1921, she married Vyacheslav Molotov
, by then a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(CPSU). She also made a successful career in the Soviet hierarchy, serving in the Narkomat of Food Industry under Anastas Mikoyan
, to become in 1939 the first female Narkom (of Fishing Industry) in the government of the Soviet Union
, and was elected a candidate to the Central Committee that year.
During the 1920s, her sister emigrated to the then-British Mandate of Palestine. According to historian Zhores Medvedev
, Stalin was highly suspicious of Zhemchuzhina. He thought that she negatively influenced Molotov, and he recommended Molotov to divorce her. Her brother Karp was a successful businessman in the USA (Montefiore, Stalin n282)
The Molotovs shared an apartment with the Stalins. Zhemchuzhina and Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva became close friends. In November 1932, Zhemchuzhina followed and calmed Alliluyeva out from a dining room after being publicly chastised by Stalin in the company of friends. The next morning Alliluyeva was found dead of an apparent suicide. This event is believed to have fueled a secret hatred from Stalin towards Zhemchuzhina.
In a secret meeting of the Politburo
on August 10, 1939, the agenda item number 33, "Regarding Comrade Zhemchuzhina", her alleged "connections to spies" led to a request to verify that information by the NKVD
. As it was customary during the Great Purge
s, many of her coworkers were arrested and questioned, but the "evidence" (frequently acquired by force) against her was so contradictory that (on October 24) the Politburo concluded the "allegations against comrade Zhemchuzhina's participation in sabotage and spying... to be considered slanderous." However, she was severely reprimanded and demoted for unknowingly keeping contacts with "enemy elements thereby facilitating their spying missions." In February 1941, she was taken off the list of the candidates to the Central Committee.
In the Eastern Front of World War II, Zhemchuzhina actively supported the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
(JAC) and befriended many of its leading members, most notably Solomon Mikhoels
. She frequently attended performances by the Moscow State Jewish Theatre
.
Polina Zhemchuzhina befriended Golda Meir
, who arrived in Moscow in November 1948 as the first Israeli ambassador to the USSR.
Long distrusted by Stalin she was arrested in December 1948 for treason, on trumped up charges, after a forced divorce from Molotov. The sentence was five years in a labour camp. She was eventually reunited with her husband by Lavrentiy Beria
, after the death of Stalin, in March 1953. Her first question was "How's Stalin?" Upon being told he had died only days before, she fainted.
Happily and lovingly reunited, Polina Zhemchuzhina and her husband lived as unrepentant Stalinists in the Granovsky apartment block near the Kremlin. She died of natural causes in 1970.
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
.
Born Perl Karpovskaya to the family of a Jewish tailor in the village of Pologi, in the Aleksandrov
Zaporizhia
Zaporizhia or Zaporozhye [formerly Alexandrovsk ] is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast...
uyezd of Yekaterinoslav Governorate
Yekaterinoslav Governorate
The Yekaterinoslav Governorate or Government of Yekaterinoslav was a governorate in the Russian Empire. Its capital was the city of Yekaterinoslav .-Administrative divisions:...
(today Zaporizhia Oblast
Zaporizhia Oblast
Zaporizhia Oblast is an oblast of southern Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhia.This oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture.-Geography:...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
), she joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
of Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s in 1918 and served as a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
commissar
Commissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. As a communist, she went by the surname Zhemchuzhina, which means a "pearl" in English (similar to her given name).
In 1921, she married Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, by then a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
(CPSU). She also made a successful career in the Soviet hierarchy, serving in the Narkomat of Food Industry under Anastas Mikoyan
Anastas Mikoyan
Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was an Armenian Old Bolshevik and Soviet statesman during the rules of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev....
, to become in 1939 the first female Narkom (of Fishing Industry) in the government of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and was elected a candidate to the Central Committee that year.
During the 1920s, her sister emigrated to the then-British Mandate of Palestine. According to historian Zhores Medvedev
Zhores Medvedev
Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev is a Russian biologist, historian and dissident. His twin brother is the historian Roy Medvedev.-Biography:Zhores Medvedev and his twin brother Roy Medvedev were born on 14 November 1925 in Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR....
, Stalin was highly suspicious of Zhemchuzhina. He thought that she negatively influenced Molotov, and he recommended Molotov to divorce her. Her brother Karp was a successful businessman in the USA (Montefiore, Stalin n282)
The Molotovs shared an apartment with the Stalins. Zhemchuzhina and Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva became close friends. In November 1932, Zhemchuzhina followed and calmed Alliluyeva out from a dining room after being publicly chastised by Stalin in the company of friends. The next morning Alliluyeva was found dead of an apparent suicide. This event is believed to have fueled a secret hatred from Stalin towards Zhemchuzhina.
In a secret meeting of the Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
on August 10, 1939, the agenda item number 33, "Regarding Comrade Zhemchuzhina", her alleged "connections to spies" led to a request to verify that information by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. As it was customary during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
s, many of her coworkers were arrested and questioned, but the "evidence" (frequently acquired by force) against her was so contradictory that (on October 24) the Politburo concluded the "allegations against comrade Zhemchuzhina's participation in sabotage and spying... to be considered slanderous." However, she was severely reprimanded and demoted for unknowingly keeping contacts with "enemy elements thereby facilitating their spying missions." In February 1941, she was taken off the list of the candidates to the Central Committee.
In the Eastern Front of World War II, Zhemchuzhina actively supported the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was formed on Joseph Stalin's order in Kuibyshev in April 1942 with the official support of the Soviet authorities...
(JAC) and befriended many of its leading members, most notably Solomon Mikhoels
Solomon Mikhoels
Solomon Mikhoels ; was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee during the Second World War...
. She frequently attended performances by the Moscow State Jewish Theatre
Moscow State Jewish Theater
The Moscow State Jewish Theater, Russian language: Московский Государственный Еврейский Театр, also known by its acronym GOSET: ГОСЕТ) was a Yiddish theater company established in 1919 and shut down in 1948 by the Soviet authorities....
.
Polina Zhemchuzhina befriended Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Golda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
, who arrived in Moscow in November 1948 as the first Israeli ambassador to the USSR.
Long distrusted by Stalin she was arrested in December 1948 for treason, on trumped up charges, after a forced divorce from Molotov. The sentence was five years in a labour camp. She was eventually reunited with her husband by 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 ....
, after the death of Stalin, in March 1953. Her first question was "How's Stalin?" Upon being told he had died only days before, she fainted.
Happily and lovingly reunited, Polina Zhemchuzhina and her husband lived as unrepentant Stalinists in the Granovsky apartment block near the Kremlin. She died of natural causes in 1970.