Years of Gaidar's life. Biography of Arkady Petrovich Gaidar

The biography of Arkady Gaidar is filled with heroic deeds and achievements in the literary field - from the age of fourteen he fought on the fronts of the civil war, and then became a writer whose works were read by more than one generation of schoolchildren and adults. The personal life of Arkady Petrovich was also filled with events that made it bright and unforgettable.

Arkady Gaidar's first wife

Gaidar plunged early not only into military life, but also into family life. The future writer married for the first time in 1921, when he was only seventeen years old, to Maria Nikolaevna Plaksina, a sixteen-year-old nurse who gave birth to his son Evgeniy. Unfortunately, Gaidar’s first experience of family life was not very successful - his son died before he was two years old, and due to the fact that Arkady Petrovich had to be constantly absent from home on military service, his first family fell apart. But, apparently, he felt a truly warm, tender feeling for his Marusa, because it is not without reason that in the works that the writer Arkady Gaidar would later write, characters with that name appear more than once.

Gaidar's personal life - second marriage, birth of a son

In 1919, Arkady Petrovich was seriously wounded, and the consequence of this injury was damage to the spinal cord and brain. He was demobilized from the army, and he took up writing, which required a lot of research work. While collecting materials for his next work, Gaidar came to Perm, where he met Komsomol member, organizer of the first printed pioneer newspaper in Perm, Rakhil Solomyanskaya.

In the photo - Liya Solomyanskaya

Arkady Petrovich got a job at the local newspaper “Zvezda” and in the eyes of Rachel, whom everyone simply called Leah, he seemed like a real hero, because behind him there was a civil war, injuries, command of a regiment, and, of course, she could not help but fall in love with such a hero. Solomyanskaya, who was eighteen years old at the time, became the second wife of Arkady Gaidar, and at the end of 1926 he became a father again.

The son was born in Arkhangelsk, where Leah went to live with her mother for some time. At her husband's request, she named the child Timur. Arkady Petrovich was traveling around Central Asia at that time, visiting Tashkent and Kara-Kum, apparently, that’s why he wanted to name his son such an unusual male name for Russia. Returning to Perm, the writer did not stay there for long - after publishing another feuilleton in the Zvezda newspaper, in which he continued to work, he was accused of libel and insult to personality, so after some time he had to leave there, and Gaidar decided to settle in Moscow.

In the photo - the writer with his wife and son

Family life with his second wife also did not work out. Five years after Solomyanskaya became Gaidar’s wife, she left him for another, taking her son with her. Arkady Petrovich was not ready for this, he was very sad, and in order to change something in his personal life, he moved away from the capital - to Khabarovsk and became a correspondent for the Pacific Star newspaper.

A new page in the biography of Arkady Gaidar

Divorce from his wife had a bad effect on the writer’s psyche, and, moreover, the consequences of the injury made themselves felt. Gaidar ended up in a Khabarovsk psychiatric hospital, and this was not the first hospital in which the writer ended up. He spent almost a year in the hospital, and after being discharged, he returned to Moscow, where he did not even have a place to stay. Only after some time his affairs began to improve, his wonderful works saw the light of day - the autobiographical story “School”, the story “Far Countries”, “Military Secret”, the story “The Blue Cup”. The writer began to receive decent fees, gained fame and success.

In the photo - the writer with his son Timur

In 1938, Arkady Petrovich, for reasons unknown to anyone, decided to leave the capital and settle in Klin. There he rented a room and found new love. Arkady Gaidar's third wife was the daughter of the owner from whom he rented a room, Dora Matveevna. Her daughter Zhenya was growing up, whom Gaidar immediately adopted. The fact that his personal life improved during that period can be judged by the number of works created in Klin. In those years, Arkady Gaidar wrote a number of works that became favorites for several generations - “The Fate of the Drummer”, “Chuk and Gek”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Commandant of the Snow Fortress”, “In the Winter of ’41” and “Timur’s Oath” .

When the Great Patriotic War began, Arkady Gaidar got ready to go to the front, but with his severe shell shock it was not so easy to get there. But he succeeded, and Gaidar went to the front as a war correspondent. In September 1941, together with units of the Southwestern Front, he was surrounded, then he ended up in a partisan detachment, was a machine gunner there, and on October 26, 1941 he died near the village of Leplyaevo, Kanevsky district.

Arkady Gaidar's wife was grieving the death of her husband, whom she loved very much. His adopted daughter Evgenia, who bore the writer’s surname, later graduated from college, got married, but remained still Golikova-Gaidar.

In memory of Arkady Gaidar, who has always been a real father to her, Evgenia published a children's book entitled “Daddy is going to war for the Soviet country” - these lines were invented by Gaidar himself and wrote them into a book of fairy tales, which he gave to Zhenya before leaving for the front.

Arkady Petrovich Gaidar - pseudonym, real name - Arkady Petrovich Golikov; Lgov, Russian Empire; 01/09/1904 – 10/26/1941

The books of Arkady Gaidar need no introduction. More than one generation in our country has grown up with them. They are included in the school curriculum, and more than 20 cartoons and television films have been made based on Gaidar’s works. Many of the writer’s works are included in the school curriculum, and the writer himself is still included in.

Biography of Arkady Gaidar

Arkady Petrovich Golikov was born into the family of Pyotr Isidovich Golikov. The future writer's mother and father were teachers. Moreover, the mother had family ties with the family. In 1912, Pyotr Isidovich received an appointment to the city of Arzamas and the entire family of the future writer moved there. Here Arkady Petrovich enters the school and joins the revolutionary cause. Already at the age of thirteen, he participates in rallies, serves as a liaison, and a little later joins the RCP (b) and becomes a journalist for the Molot newspaper. In 1918, hiding his age, Arkady Golikov joined the Red Army. He is sent to a command training course in Moscow. After their completion, he participates in battles in different areas, where he receives concussion and wounds.

After leaving the hospital, he entered the Higher Rifle School, from which he graduated in 1921. Around the same time, he marries the nurse Marusa. The result of their marriage is the Wife's son, who died in infancy. In the same year, Arkady is appointed battalion commander in the Tambov province, which divides the marriage and leads to its disintegration. He is trusted to suppress rebel movements. During this operation, he had multiple conflicts with the local population, which supported the rebels. As a result, complaints from local authorities about illegal confiscations and executions were constantly sent to higher authorities. The result of this was the arrest and subsequent trial of the future writer Arkady Gaidar. During the trial, he was found partially guilty and was suspended from office without the right to hold leadership positions for two years.

It was at this time that Arkady Golikov’s new life began as a journalist and writer. Gaidar's first story was published in 1925 in the magazine Zvezda. It was called “In the Days of Defeats and Victories” and was received rather coolly by critics. By this time, Arkady Gaidar had moved to Perm and became a journalist for a local newspaper. Here he meets Leah Lazareva Solomyanskaya, who becomes his second wife. But their relationship did not work out and in 1926 the woman left for another, taking her son Timur with her.

In 1932, the writer and journalist moved to the Far Eastern region, where he got a job at the Pacific Star newspaper. This time marks the release of such works by Arkady Gaidar as “Chuk and Gek”, “The Blue Cup” and of course “Timur and His Team”. Thanks to this, he becomes one of the leading Soviet writers for children. This allows him to become closely acquainted with and many other leading writers of the country. In 1938, the writer married for the third time. Dora Chernysheva, the daughter of the owner of his apartment, becomes his chosen one.

With the outbreak of World War II, Arkady Gaidar was sent to the front as a journalist. But near Kiev he was surrounded and became a partisan. On October 26, 1941, he, along with four other brothers-in-arms, was moving towards the railway. But here they were ambushed. At the cost of his own life, Arkady Gaidar warned his comrades about the ambush, which allowed them to escape.

Books by Arkady Gaidar on the Top books website

Books by Arkady Gaidar are still quite popular to read today. Thanks to this, his works occupy worthy places in our ranking. And interest in them has not diminished over the years. And the presence of Arkady Gaidar’s books in the school curriculum only fuels interest in them.

Arkady Gaidar list of books

300 robinsons
Bandit Nest
Bumbarash
On days of defeats and victories
Good luck!
Vasily Kryukov
A military secret
War and children
Death of the 4th company
Distant countries
Smoke in the forest
Life is nothing
The end of Levka Demchenko
Levka Demchenko
Forest brothers
Malchish-Kibalchish
Marusya
Spear throwers
Thoughts on bureaucracy
On the count's ruins
Night on guard
Defectors
Hike
Cursed daughter
Trade union Spaniards of the 14th century
passerby
Machine gun blizzard
Let it shine
Ways-roads
R.V.S.
Rockets and grenades
Promiscuity
Guys!: Appeal to the Timurites of Kyiv and all of Ukraine
Revolutionary Military Council
Knights of the Impregnable Mountains (Riders of the Impregnable Mountains)
Seryozha, give me...
Seryozhka Chubatov
Blue stars
The Tale of a Poor Old Man and a Proud Accountant
Conscience
Soviet square
Drummer's Fate

10 August 2015, 13:18

Arkady Petrovich Golikov, now world-famous by his last name Gaidar (1904 - 1941), was rightfully considered the most popular children's writer throughout Soviet times. His life, even by modern standards, is worthy of a fascinating thriller, and even during the civil war in Russia, such biographies were rare.

Mad Red Commander

Arkady Golikov was born in the small provincial town of Lgov, Kursk province, into a family of teachers - Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov (1879-1927) and Natalya Arkadyevna Salkova (1884-1924), a noblewoman, a distant relative of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.

His parents took part in the revolutionary unrest of 1905 and, fearing arrest, left for provincial Arzamas. There, the future children's writer studied at a real school and first published his poems in the local newspaper "Molot".

When Arkasha was in first grade, he decided to “go to war on foot” (to the First World War), following his father. And left! He disappeared for two days and was returned by a gendarme. After four classes, he decisively broke with school and, at the age of 14, joined the Red Army as a volunteer, hiding his age. This is where the children’s “flowers” end and the “berries” of a completely different school begin.

In 1919, he joined the Red Army and the RCP (b), and became an assistant commander of a detachment of Red partisans operating in the Arzamas region. Concealing his age, he studied at command courses in Moscow and Kyiv, then commanded a company of red cadets. He fought on the Polish and Caucasian fronts.

It is not known for what feats, but in 1919, military leader Mikhail Tukhachevsky appointed Private Golikov as commander of the 58th separate regiment. In 1921, as commander of the reserve Voronezh regiment, he sent marching companies to suppress the Kronstadt uprising. In the summer of the same year, commanding the 58th separate regiment, he participated in the suppression of the Tambov peasant uprising. Golikov himself explained such a high appointment for a seventeen-year-old by the fact that “many of the senior command staff were arrested for connections with gangs,” that is, with the rebels.

Young Golikov tried to justify the trust placed in him. After the destruction of rebellious peasants and sailors, Gaidar continued to serve in special punitive units (CHON) - first in the Tamyan-Kataysky region in Bashkiria, then in Khakassia. Since his field of activity was located far from Moscow and closer to the Sayan Mountains, many of his affairs remained little known until recently. And when the all-Union fame of the children's writer came, they were simply “forgotten.”

He was ordered to destroy the detachment of the “Emperor of the Taiga” I. N. Solovyov, which consisted of local peasants and Kolchak officers. Unable to cope with this task, Gaidar attacked the local population who did not support the Bolsheviks. People were shot without trial, chopped with sabers, thrown into wells, sparing neither the elderly nor children. There is a known case when, despite the order to deliver prisoners to headquarters for interrogation, Arkady Petrovich shot them - because he allegedly did not want to provide people for the convoy.

Vladimir Soloukhin, who wrote “Salt Lake,” assured that in Khakassia Gaidar was called an executioner, and reported that his Khakass friend Mikhail Kilchakov told him about how Gaidar put hostages in a bathhouse and set a condition for them that if they did not tell by the morning where the bandits are hiding - execution. And they simply didn’t know. And so in the morning, young Arkady Petrovich began to let them out of the bathhouse one by one and personally shot each of them in the back of the head.

But you never know what the irresponsible natives could talk about. And here is a line from the questionnaire filled out by Gaidar himself: in the “party affiliation” column, he wrote: “expelled for two years for cruel treatment of prisoners.” The commander of the provincial special forces, Vladimir Kakoulin, ordered the zealous commissar to be “replaced and recalled.” “My impression: Golikov’s ideology is an unbalanced boy who, taking advantage of his official position, committed a number of crimes” - this was the resolution imposed on “case 274” by V. Kakoulin. Let us note: this was said by a man who was called upon to establish revolutionary order in the province, and he himself was not distinguished by his gentle disposition.

After arriving in Krasnoyarsk “to clarify the circumstances,” Arkady Golikov was sent for a psychiatric examination. A criminal case was even opened, but the trial never took place. Having been interrogated at the State Political Directorate of the NKVD of the RSFSR, he testified that all the people he shot were bandits or their accomplices; he pleaded guilty only to failure to comply with certain formalities: there was no one to write interrogation reports and execution sentences.

His grandson Yegor Gaidar, in the book “Days of Defeats and Victories,” referring to his father, wrote that his grandfather “always refused to tell anything about the civil war.” Judging by his diaries, he was tormented by something that he described with the words “anxiety”, “conscience”, “guilt”, “illness”. Gaidar turned out to be a painfully conscientious person, for whom what he did in Khakassia at such a young age turned into a life tragedy.

However, Arkady Gaidar’s biographer Boris Kamov in his book “The Thimble Game. (Investigation of a Literary Crime)” tells how myths and fables were born about his beloved writer. He believes that the evil, cynical in form and fictitious in content hypotheses about the “bloody past” of Arkady Gaidar, launched into circulation by the writer Vladimir Soloukhin, are a real crime. Soloukhin's fabrications, in his opinion, are just a fictitious sensation. Boris Kamov, who carefully researched the war period of Gaidar’s biography, visited Khakassia, worked in local archives, and he assures: “Everything here is a complete forgery and fiction, juggling of facts,” confirming this with documents.

Who to believe?

Vladimir Soloukhin also seems to provide documentary records and refers to archival materials. Gaidar himself - himself! – writes: “I dream about the people I killed in my youth in the war.”
Probably, both Kamov and Soloukhin have their own truth. Only here one researcher beautifully builds a solid, unclouded image, while another deliberately exaggerates the colors, building the type of a kind of red monster.

It is clear that in the carnage of the Civil War it was difficult to remain white and fluffy. Gaidar was no different from other representatives of the red military, transferring their hatred of the armed and fighting enemy to the surrounding population, which did not support them. He was a cog in the system of Red Terror, which turned out to be the decisive means for the Bolsheviks to retain power.

Drummer's nightmares

Removed from his post, Golikov asked to be released to study in Moscow. Permission was received, but he did not get into the Academy of the General Staff. At the medical commission, the future writer was diagnosed with “traumatic neurosis.” The symptoms of the disease at the time of exacerbation were very characteristic: “persistent sleep disturbance, temporary decrease in intellectual abilities, excitability, tendency to violent acts.” The attacks of mental disorder began with the fact that his mood deteriorated for no reason. At first, it was possible to “treat” depression with wine. But self-medication often led to binge drinking. When the wine stopped helping, “Arkady Petrovich, on the eve of the attack, inflicted acute physical pain on himself: he made cuts on his body with a knife. Sometimes in the presence of people. But it all ended in a clinic.

This was the payback for the “boyish years” spent in the war.” Boris Zaks, who knew Gaidar closely, reports in his “Eyewitness Notes”: “But I also saw another situation - when the excesses of his anger were directed at himself... Gaidar cut himself. With the blade of a safety razor. They took away one blade from him, but it was worth turn away, and he was already cutting himself with others... They took him away in an unconscious state, all the floors in the apartment were covered with blood that had coagulated into large clots... At the same time, it did not look like he was trying to commit suicide; he did not try to inflict a mortal wound on himself , simply arranged a kind of “shahsey-wahsey". Later, already in Moscow, I happened to see him in only shorts. His entire chest and arms below the shoulders were completely - one to one - covered with huge scars. It was clear that he had cut himself more than once ..."

In those years of post-war devastation and the new economic policy with the slogan “Get rich!” there was no talk about the social and psychological adaptation of front-line soldiers. Their fates were unpredictable. Everyone adapted as best they could.
Arkady spent two years wandering around military hospitals and sanatoriums, and after being transferred to the reserve, he wandered around Moscow like crazy for three days. He did not find refuge in the family. Parents, who fought on various fronts, separated.

My father, returning from the war, met and fell in love with another woman and married her. “Two and a half years have passed since I broke all contact, my friend, with you,” Arkady Petrovich wrote to his father on January 23, 1923. “During this time I have not received a single letter, not a single message from you, my glorious and dear father... I went into the army as a very young boy, when I had nothing solid and definite except impulse. And when I left, I took with me a piece of your worldview and tried to apply it to life where I could ..." Arkady did not accept his father's new family, nor his advice not to wander, but to become, following his example, a "kraskup" - a red merchant.

A.P. Gaidar with his mother, hereditary noblewoman Natalya Arkadyevna Salkova. Alupka, 1924

The new family life of my mother, whose health was hopelessly compromised, was short-lived. Natalya Arkadyevna died in 1924 from transient consumption while serving as head of the provincial health department in Kyrgyzstan. She was proud of her son, the commander, and on her deathbed she wrote that she bequeathed to him not to spare her life in the struggle for Soviet power.

Creation

At 21, with this lifestyle, it’s almost “old age”! – Arkady wanted to tell about his experience. Arkady Golikov moved to Perm, where he actively published in the Zvezda newspaper. Here his first work, “The Corner House,” was published, signed under the pseudonym Gaidar.

Spring 1926. A group of editorial staff.
A.P. Gaidar second from right - staff member of the newspaper "Zvezda"

One of the versions of the origin of such a popular surname is as follows: “Haidar?” translated from Khakass – “Where? Which way?” Allegedly, local residents asked this when they saw that Golikov was setting off on another punitive campaign in search of the elusive enemy of Soviet power in Khakassia, Ataman Ivan Solovyov, in order to warn their neighbors about the imminent bloody massacre. And this nickname stuck to him because at first he himself asked everyone: “Haidar?” That is, where to go? He didn’t know any other Khakass words.

There is a second version of the origin of the pseudonym Gaidar.
"G" is the first letter of the Golikov surname; "AY" - the first and last letters of the name; "D" - in French - "from"; "AR" are the first letters of the name of the hometown. By the way, in French the prefix “d” indicates the affiliation or origin of, say, d”Artagnan - from Artagnan. We get: G-AY-D-AR: Golikov Arkady from Arzamas.

But there are also many supporters of the version put forward by the writer Lev Kassil. He artistically reinterpreted the legend that the Mongol people had a scout horseman who raced ahead of everyone and warned others in case of danger. Gaidar, according to Lev Kassil, is a horseman galloping ahead.

Soon the writer became a classic of children's literature, becoming famous for his works about sincere friendship and military camaraderie. In the 30s, Gaidar’s most famous works were published: “School”, “Distant Countries”, “Military Secret”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Blue Cup”, “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer”, in 1940 - the already mentioned story about Timur. And almost all of his works are imbued with the echo of war, the feeling of war, the premonition of war. His young heroes in "School" and "Drummer's Fate" begin their adult lives by shooting at the enemy. Moreover, the writer is not horrified by this turn of fate; he takes the shot for granted, a necessary, important and fair thing. Romanticizes struggle, battles, war.

In 1940, during a meeting with teachers of the Moscow Library Institute, Gaidar was asked: “Arkady Petrovich, how to educate children to hate their enemies? It’s not easy.” He replied: “Why cultivate hatred? Cultivate love for your homeland. And then, if someone encroaches on your homeland, a great and righteous hatred will be born in the person.” It seems that this question did not arise by chance: Gaidar’s heroes hate their enemies very passionately, dividing the world too clearly into “us and foes.” And strangers must be destroyed...

In his texts, he was in his own way an amazingly complete person. Gaidar believed in what he wrote. And it is unlikely that he was insincere in his diaries and letters, which were not intended for prying eyes.

The writer’s works were included in the school curriculum, actively filmed, and translated into many languages of the world. The story “Timur and His Team” actually marked the beginning of the unique Timur movement.

Still from the film "Timur and his team" (1940)

Personal life

His independent personal life also began very early. Today they would say about young Arkady Gaidar: he is a real macho. Strong-willed, decisive. Behind us is the Civil War, command of a regiment, wounds. In November 1925, a stately 21-year-old handsome man came to Perm, where he got a job as a feuilletonist at the Zvezda newspaper.

Soon Arkady met seventeen-year-old Ruva-Liya Solomyanskaya, who was organizing a pioneer movement in the city. In 1932, he wrote: "...I vaguely remember Perm. The Blue House. Lilka - a girl in a bright sundress." They merried.

Liya Solomyanskaya

Son Timur was born in December 1926 in Arkhangelsk, where Leah worked as a radio journalist. Arkady lived in Moscow at the time and saw his son only two years later.

This strange fact from Gaidar’s biography gave rise to the version that Timur is not Arkady Gaidar’s own son. And this is how its reliability is argued. “According to the official biography, by December 1925 they (Arkady Gaidar and Liya Solomyanskaya) were already living together. And if we keep in mind that Timur Gaidar was born in December 1926, then the young parents conceived him around mid-April. But even here it turns out inconsistency. In April, Arkady was far from Perm. He decided to go to Central Asia with the royalties from the published stories... That is, it turns out that at the moment when Timur was conceived, he was not with Leah. And in the fall, Solomyanskaya leaves for her parents to Arkhangelsk, where he gives birth to a son on December 23. He first saw Timur when he was two years old, when he finally decided to move to Arkhangelsk, where he later worked on the radio together with Leah."

Be that as it may, the family soon moves to Moscow. But they did not have to live together for long. The charming and cheerful writer was a very difficult person in everyday life, suffering from a mental disorder and a severe form of alcoholism.

This is what his grandson Yegor Gaidar said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper:
“Grandmother, Liya Lazarevna Solomyanskaya, left him. Who is to blame is not for us to judge. On the one hand, of course, grandfather was a person who had a difficult life - especially during attacks... On the other hand, grandmother’s character is also not sugar, her "I remember."

The result is divorce. She took the child and went to see Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Samson Glyazer. And in 1932, Gaidar rushed from Moscow. Not from the desire to change places, but from need and unsettledness. There was little money, the old shell shock resulted in headaches and alcoholic breakdowns, and literature was not easy. In addition, the family broke up. Fortunately, a colleague invited me to Khabarovsk as a correspondent for a newspaper. To tell the truth, Gaidar would have gone anywhere - as long as he was away from Moscow.

Entry from the diary of Arkady Gaidar: "October 28, 1932. Moscow
He spoke on the radio - about himself.
And, in general, - hustle and bustle, parties. And because I have nowhere to put myself, no one to easily go to, nowhere to even spend the night... In essence, I only have three pairs of underwear, a duffel bag, a field bag, a short fur coat, a hat - and nothing else, no one, no home , no place, no friends.
And this is at a time when I am not poor at all, and no longer at all rejected and unnecessary to anyone. It just turns out that way somehow. I didn’t touch the story “Military Secret” for two months. Meetings, conversations, acquaintances... Overnight stays - wherever necessary. Money, lack of money, money again.
They treat me very well, but there is no one to take care of me, and I don’t know how to do it myself. That’s why everything turns out somehow unhuman and stupid.”

Arkady Gaidar, Khabarovsk, 1932

Gaidar was painfully worried about separation from his son. “Finally, I received the first telegram from Moscow in 4 months. Timur is with Lily. My dear, nice little commander,” he wrote in 1932. Literally a month later, a letter arrived from Natalya’s sister: “Lilya read your letter to Timur, and for some reason she cried. Very strange.” Then he will write in his diary: “There is nothing strange. We lived a long time, after all, and there is something to remember. But in general, it’s a thing of the past.”

After being discharged, Gaidar left the Far East forever. “Still, I will arrive in Moscow not the same as I left. Stronger, firmer and calmer,” he wrote on August 24

In 1936, when Leah, following her husband, was arrested and sent to the camps, Gaidar, drinking for courage, even called Yezhov, demanding the release of “his Liyka.” She was released only in 1940.

It is worth mentioning that Arkady Gaidar’s marriage to Solomyanskaya was not his first. On September 5, 1921, in the Personal Registration Card filled out by members of the command and administrative staff, Arkady Petrovich Golikov, in the “Marital status” column, personally wrote down: “Married, Maria Plaksina, wife.” Why did Gaidar break up with his first wife? One can only guess about this. The couple had a son, Evgeniy, who died in infancy. Maybe this family tragedy was the reason for the breakup?

After breaking up with Solomyanskaya, he did not remain single for long. Stately, fair-haired and blue-eyed, women liked him. He married again, meeting the poetess Anna Trofimova, who was six years older. He was not afraid of the fact that she was raising two daughters – Sveta and Era. The writer loved children and devoted a lot of time to them. And before the war, he broke up with her too - he moved to Klin, near Moscow, where he rented a room in the Chernyshovs’ house. The head of the family had a private shoemaker's workshop in Klin and a small factory in Moscow. A month later, the writer married Chernyshov’s daughter, Dora Matveevna, who had a daughter, Zhenya.

Arkady Gaidar with his wife Dora Matveevna and daughter Zhenya. 1937

Gradually, my personal life improved. Gaidar adopted Zhenya, took her and Timur to Crimea, and squandered money. After his mother’s arrest, Timur remained with his father, grew up and was raised in the family of Dora Matveevna. During these years, real all-Union fame came to Gaidar: the country read “Timur and His Team”, “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Commandant of the Snow Fortress”, “Timur’s Oath”. His family helped him cope with his psychological problems. And yet, no, no, there will be an entry in the diary: “Brain fog. I can’t write.”

Arkady Petrovich himself bore a double surname - Golikov-Gaidar, but Timur, receiving a passport (and according to some information, was Solomyansky until he came of age), took only his stepfather's literary pseudonym as his surname. This sonorous surname was borne by his son, the famous reformer Yegor Gaidar, and now by his grandchildren - Maria and Peter.

Liya Solomyanskaya with her son Timur and grandson Yegor

Arkady Gaidar, 1940.

The mystery of Gaidar's death

When the Patriotic War began, Gaidar received an order for a film script based on the story “Timur and His Team.” He wrote it in 12 days, and immediately followed by a statement asking to be sent to the front. The answer was: “For health reasons, I am not subject to conscription.” But he still achieved his goal and became a war correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda. Before leaving, Gaidar told his friend, who was leaving as a volunteer: “It’s not enough for me to be a private. I can be a commander.” He arrived where he once began his military career - on the Southwestern Front, in Kyiv. And indeed, in addition to his duties as a war correspondent, he often helped with advice. Once, having asked to go on a reconnaissance mission to the German rear, he suggested the location of the military outpost and how to take the “tongue” correctly. When the Soviet army left Kyiv, Gaidar could have flown to Moscow, but refused. As part of a large detachment, he found himself behind German lines, and in October he ended up in a partisan detachment.

The story of Gaidar's death is included in all textbooks. After the defeat of the partisan detachment, Gaidar and several partisans went on reconnaissance and were ambushed near a railway embankment. Gaidar stood up to his full height in front of the enemy machine guns and shouted to his comrades: “Forward! Follow me!” He was hit by machine gun fire. According to other sources, he died on the railroad bed near the village of Leplyava, covering the retreat of his comrades. It happened on October 26, 1941. Death in battle. Just as he dreamed. The Germans immediately stripped the dead partisan of his medal and outer uniform, and took away his notebooks and notebooks. Gaidar's body was buried by a lineman...

But the death of Arkady Gaidar, in general, is not a completely clear story. The writer's biographer Boris Kamov conducted a small investigation. After talking with the partisans, he came to the conclusion that Gaidar could have saved himself - it was not at all necessary for him to shout to warn others. But the truth could not be established. And yet, in 1979, Kiev journalist Viktor Glushchenko tried to investigate the circumstances of Gaidar’s death again. A resident of the village of Tulintsy (several tens of kilometers from Leplyava, where, according to the official version, the writer died), Khristina Kuzmenko claimed that in the fall of 1941 she hid Gaidar and another partisan in her house from the Germans. The woman recognized Gaidar from a photograph in a library book and claimed that Arkady often remembered his son Timur. According to her, Gaidar and his friend lived with her until the spring of 1942, and then decided to make their way to the front line, but they were captured by the police. The partisans managed to escape, and for two more days they hid in the forest near the village. Khristina Kuzmenko’s neighbor, Ulyana Dobrenko, brought them food there. Glushchenko wrote to the Kanev Gaidar Museum and to the Military Historical Archive of the Soviet Army in Moscow. The answer was laconic: “The date and place of the death of Arkady Petrovich Gaidar are established at the state level. There is no reason to revise them.”

One of the founders of Soviet children's literature was Arkady Gaidar, whose biography covers a difficult time for our country. This is what most likely determined the main focus of his works - in most of them the reader hears echoes of the war.

Childhood and adolescence

The future writer was born into the family of the grandson of a serf and a noblewoman of an ordinary family. Isidorovich Golikov, worked as a teacher and paid a lot of attention to self-education. Natalya Arkadyevna also dedicated her life to enlightening the people, and for this purpose she left her parents’ home early. A short biography of Arkady Gaidar for children is very interesting. The boy began to compose early. According to his memoirs, his first poem appeared when he did not yet know how to write. The origins of this talent are seen in the fact that the parents spent a lot of time studying with their son and three younger daughters. And when communicating with each other, they often read poetry and sang folk songs.

Moral education of a son

The writer’s characters perform heroic deeds; in their features one can even discern the qualities of medieval knights. An explanation for this is also given by the biography of Arkady Gaidar. For 4th grade, for example, it is recommended to use the story “Timur and his team,” which tells how teenagers, distinguished by high moral principles, selflessly help people. So, as a child, Arkasha broke a glass and, as usually happens in such cases, got scared and ran away. And then there was a conversation with his mother, who patiently explained to her son that an honest person will always find the strength to admit what he has done, and will be honest and sincere under any circumstances. Since then, there has not been a case where the boy tried to hide his offense from others.

And Arkady Gaidar, whose biography is replete with facts of overcoming life’s adversities, felt responsible for his younger sisters and therefore never became capricious or complained.

In terrible years

When World War I began, Arkady was ten years old. His father went to the front, and the boy decided to follow him. They caught up with him near Arzamas, his hometown, and brought him back. But this did not stop the teenager’s desire for achievements. Arkady Gaidar (the biography for children includes only brief information about this period of the writer’s life) completely took their side. At first he carried out small assignments and guarded the city at night. But he was increasingly drawn to serious action. In the fall of 1918, the teenager, having added two more years to his fourteen years (fortunately, he was tall and physically strong), finally achieved enlistment in the Red Army. Adjutant, commander of a detachment, and then a regiment - this is the military path Arkady Gaidar went through in 6 years. His biography includes such glorious episodes as the defeat of the Bityug gang and the experienced ataman Solovyov. At the same time, he received two military educations in parallel and therefore believed that his future would forever be connected with the army.

Beginning of literary activity

However, fate had its own way: in 1924, Arkady Petrovich was forced to leave service for health reasons. The wounds received in battles, concussion, and, to some extent, nervous exhaustion took their toll - he set out on this road when he was still just a boy. “Write,” - this is how Arkady Gaidar answered himself to the question of what to do next. A short biography during the second half of the 1920s demonstrates the development of Golikov as a writer. At first he wrote for adults. In 1925, the first work appeared, but it did not please the author, as did the next few stories and novellas. And only “R.V.S” (1926) the writer called truly serious and mature.

Nickname

The writer's real name is Golikov, but already the first works were signed with the name Arkady Gaidar. The writer's short biography contains several interpretations of the pseudonym. His school friend, for example, believed that such a surname was the result of Arkady Petrovich’s great imagination. It was formed as follows: G(olikov) A(rkadi) J D(from French - “from”) AR(zamasa). Another option: “D” among the letters of the surname, name, name of the city appeared like D’Artagnan. Supporters of another explanation attribute the pseudonym Gaidar to the Turkic language, from which it is translated as “a horseman galloping ahead” - this was Golikov in life. These are the most common versions of the appearance of the pseudonym, although other interpretations can be found in the literature about the writer’s work.

Works for children

Once Arkady Gaidar (the biography presented here is also based on the personal memories of the writer himself) noted that the war was so firmly established in his childhood that he decided to tell the younger generation about it and about the real heroes. This is how stories and stories for children appeared: “R.V.S.” about teenagers who witnessed the confrontation between the “reds” and “whites”, the autobiographical “School”, “Hot Stone”, the hero of which is an old man who survived the revolution and civil war, and others. Masterpieces of children's literature are called “The Blue Cup”, “Chuk and Huck”, “The Fate of the Drummer”. Very often, the basis of their plot was the events with which the biography of Arkady Gaidar was replete.

For 4th grade, the writer’s works are interesting because their heroes are girls and boys of the same age who find themselves in difficult situations. Thanks to their qualities: kindness, the ability to sympathize and compassion, perseverance, selflessness, readiness to always come to the rescue, courage - they become winners and are role models.

At the origins of the Timur movement

In 1940, perhaps the most famous work appeared, authored by Arkady Gaidar. A biography for children necessarily includes the story of the creation of the story “Timur and His Team,” the main character of which is named after the writer’s son. The incredible popularity of the literary work is evidenced by the fact that groups of schoolchildren immediately began to appear throughout the country, taking patronage over those who needed their help. For several decades it became an integral part of the life of Soviet teenagers. Even now, sometimes you can hear a familiar word when it comes to good deeds.

Heroic death

After the outbreak of the Patriotic War, Gaidar again went to the front, now in a capacity where he wrote several essays about the defensive operations of the Southwestern Front. However, this time his battle path was not long. In October 1941, he fell among the partisans when the detachment was trying to get out of encirclement. Presumably, Arkady Petrovich, as part of a group, went for food, and when he noticed the Germans, he gave a signal to his four comrades, and they managed to escape. A famous writer, a tireless person, a warrior at heart, was struck down by a machine gun fire at the age of thirty-seven.

This is a short biography of Arkady Gaidar. For 4th graders, getting acquainted with his works today can become a real lesson in kindness, friendship, and love for one’s native country.

GAYDAR, ARKADY PETROVICH(1904-1941), real name Golikov, Russian Soviet writer. Born on January 9 (22), 1904 in Lgov, Kursk province. The son of a peasant teacher and a noblewoman mother who participated in the revolutionary events of 1905. Fearing arrest, the Golikovs left Lgov in 1909, and from 1912 they lived in Arzamas. He worked for the local newspaper "Molot", where he first published his poems, and joined the RCP(b).
From 1918 - in the Red Army (as a volunteer, hiding his age), in 1919 he studied at command courses in Moscow and Kyiv, then at the Moscow Higher Rifle School. In 1921 - commander of a section of the Nizhny Novgorod regiment. He fought on the Caucasian front, on the Don, near Sochi, participated in the suppression of the Antonov rebellion, in Khakassia - against the “Emperor of the Taiga” I.N. Solovyov, where, accused of arbitrary execution, he was expelled from the party for six months and sent on long leave for a nervous illness that did not leave him later throughout his life. A naive-romantic, recklessly joyful perception of the revolution in anticipation of the coming “bright kingdom of socialism”, reflected in many of Gaidar’s works of an autobiographical nature, addressed mainly to youth (RVS stories, 1925, Seryozhka Chubatov, Levka Demchenko, The End of Levka Demchenko, Bandit’s Nest, all 1926-1927, Smoke in the Forest, 1935; stories School, original title Ordinary Biography, 1930, Distant Countries, 1932, Military Secret, 1935, including the textbook Tale of the Military Secret in Soviet times, about Malchish-Kibalchish and his firm word , 1935, Bumbarash, unfinished, 1937), in adulthood is replaced by grave doubts in the diary entries (“I dreamed of people killed in childhood”).
With a pseudonym (Turkic word - “horseman galloping ahead”) he first signed the short story Corner House, created in 1925 in Perm, where he settled in the same year and where, according to archival materials, he began work on a story about the struggle of local workers against the autocracy - Life to nothing (other name: Lbovshchina, 1926). In the Perm newspaper "Zvezda" and other publications he publishes feuilletons, poems, notes about a trip to Central Asia, a fantastic story The Secret of the Mountain, an excerpt from the story Knights of the Impregnable Mountains (other name: Horsemen of the Impregnable Mountains, 1927), and the poem Machine Gun Blizzard. From 1927 he lived in Sverdlovsk, where he published the story Forest Brothers (other name: Davydovshchina - continuation of the story Life for Nothing) in the newspaper "Ural Worker".
In the summer of 1927, already a fairly well-known writer, he moved to Moscow, where, among many journalistic works and poems, he published a detective-adventure story On the Count's Ruins (1928, filmed in 1958, directed by V.N. Skuibin) and a number of other works, who nominated Gaidar, along with L. Kassil, R. Fraerman, among the most read creators of Russian children's prose of the 20th century. (including the stories The Blue Cup, 1936, Chuk and Gek, the story The Fate of the Drummer, both 1938, the story for radio The Fourth Dugout; the second, unfinished part of the story School, both 1930).
The fascination of the plot, the rapid lightness of the narrative, the transparent clarity of the language with the fearless introduction of significant and sometimes tragic events into the “children’s” life (The Fate of the Drummer, which tells about spy mania and repressions of the 1930s, etc.), poetic “aura”, trust and the seriousness of the tone, the indisputability of the code of “knightly” honor of camaraderie and mutual assistance - all this ensured the sincere and long-term love of young readers for Gaidar, the official classic of children's literature. The peak of the writer's lifetime popularity came in 1940 - the time of the creation of the story and the film script of the same name (film directed by A.E. Razumny) Timur and his team, telling about a brave and sympathetic pioneer boy (named after the son of Gaidar), together with his friends, surrounded by mystery care of the family of front-line soldiers. The noble initiative of the hero Gaidar served as an incentive for the creation of a broad “Timur” movement throughout the country, especially relevant in the 1940-1950s. In 1940, Gaidar wrote a sequel to Timur - Commandant of the Snow Fortress, and at the beginning of 1941 - a film script for the sequel and a screenplay for the film Timur's Oath (production 1942, directed by L.V. Kuleshov).
In July 1941, the writer went to the front as a correspondent for the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, where he published essays The Bridge, At the Crossing, etc. In August-September 1941, Gaidar's philosophical fairy tale for children, The Hot Stone, about uniqueness, inevitable difficulties and mistakes, was published in the Murzilka magazine on the path to comprehending the truth.
The range of Gaidar's "children's" heroes, varied in age, character and type (among which there are many "negative" persons: Malchish-Bad, Mishka Kvakin from Timur, etc.) is complemented by characters from miniature stories for preschoolers (Vasily Kryukov, Pokhod, Marusya, Conscience , 1939-1940). Author of the film script The Passerby (1939), dedicated to the Civil War. Many of Gaidar’s works were staged and filmed (films Chuk and Gek, 1953, directed by I.V. Lukinsky; School of Courage, 1954, directed by V.P. Basov and M.V. Korchagin; The Fate of the Drummer, 1956, directed by V. V.Eisymont, etc.).
Gaidar died in battle near the village. Leplyava, Kanevsky district, Cherkasy region, October 26, 1941.