Maria Rasputin

Maria Rasputina, born Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina (March 27, 1898 – September 27, 1977), was the daughter of the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin and his wife Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, she wrote several memoirs about her father's life, association with Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, and murder. Maria published the first of three memoirs about Rasputin in 1932. It was entitled Rasputin, My Father. She also worked as a cabaret dancer in Bucharest, Romania and then found work as a circus performer for Ringling Brothers Circus. During the 1930s she toured Europe and America as a lion tamer, billing herself as "the daughter of the famous mad monk whose feats in Russia astonished the world."She was mauled by a bear in Peru, Indiana, but stayed with the circus until it reached Miami, Florida, where she quit and began work as a riveter in a defense shipyard during World War II. She settled permanently in the United States in 1937 and became a U.S. citizen in 1945. She was married to a man named Gregory Bernadsky in 1940.

Maria was born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye, but came to St. Petersburg as a teenager, where her first name was changed from Matryona to Maria to better fit with her social aspirations. Rasputin had brought Maria and her younger sister Varvara to live with him and attend Steblin-Kamensky private preparatory school in St. Petersburg in 1913 with the hope of turning them into "little ladies." Maria was Rasputin's favorite child.

The writer Vera Zhukovskaya later described sixteen-year-old Maria as having a wide face with a square chin and "bright-colored lips" that she frequently licked in a movement Zhukovskaya thought was predatory. Her strong body seemed about to burst out of its cashmere dress and smelled of sweat. Society ladies kissed the tall teenager and called her by her pet names "Mara" and "Marochka" during one gathering at her father's modest apartment. Zhurovskaya thought it was odd to see Rasputin's daughter receiving so much attention from princesses and countesses.

Maria later told her grandchildren that her father taught her to be generous even in times when she was in need herself. Rasputin said she should never leave home with empty pockets, but should always have something in them to give to the poor.

Death of Rasputin

Rasputin's daughters were living with him in a small apartment in St. Petersburg in December 1916 when he was lured to his death at a party at the home of Felix Yussupov, whom Rasputin called "The Little One." ] They reported their father's movements to police investigators the following day and identified boots pulled out of the river as belonging to their father.

In April 1918, as the Tsar and Tsarina were traveling to their final exile at Ekaterinburg, Alexandra looked out the window of the train at Pokrovskoye and saw Rasputin's family and friends staring back at them from the window of Rasputin's house.

Life following the Revolution

Maria was briefly engaged during World War I to a Georgian officer surnamed Pankhadze. Pankhadze had avoided being sent to the war front thanks to Rasputin's intervention and was doing his military service with the reserve battalions in St. Petersburg.

After Rasputin's murder, Rasputin's followers persuaded her to marry Boris Soloviev, the charismatic son of Nikolai Soloviev, the Treasurer of the Holy Synod and one of her father's admirers.

Boris Soloviev quickly emerged as Rasputin's successor after the murder. Soloviev, who had studied hypnotism, attended meetings at which Rasputin's followers attempted to communicate with the dead through prayer meetings and séances. Maria also attended the meetings, but later wrote in her diary that she could not understand why her father kept telling her to "love Boris" when the group spoke to him at the séances. She said she did not like Boris at all.

Soloviev was no more enthusiastic about Maria. In his own diary, he wrote that his wife was not even useful for sexual relations, because there were so many women who had bodies he found more attractive than hers. Nonetheless, she married Soloviev on October 5, 1917. They returned to Siberia and lived for several weeks in Rasputin's house at Pokrovskoye. Later, Soloviev took jewels from the Tsar and Tsarina to help arrange for their escape, but kept the funds for himself.

Later, after the Bolsheviks took power, Soloviev turned in the officers who had come to Ekaterinburg to plan the escape of the Romanovs. Soloviev lost the money he had obtained from the jewels during the civil war that followed. There were also several reports of young people in Russia passing themselves off as Romanov escapees following the Revolution. Soloviev defrauded prominent Russian families by asking for money for a Romanov impostor to escape to China. Soloviev also found young women willing to masquerade as one of the grand duchesses for the benefit of the families he had defrauded.

Exile

Soloviev and Maria escaped first to Bucharest in Romania where Maria was a cabaret dancer. They later emigrated to Paris, where Soloviev worked in an automobile factory and died of tuberculosis in 1926.

Maria found work as a governess to support their two young daughters. After Felix Yussupov published his memoir detailing the death of her father, Maria sued Yussupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia in a Paris court for damages of $800,000. She condemned both men as murderers and said any decent person would be disgusted by the ferocity of Rasputin's killing. Maria's claim was dismissed. The French court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over a political killing that took place in Russia.

Maria published the first of three memoirs about Rasputin in 1932. It was entitled Rasputin, My Father. She also later co-authored a cookbook, which includes recipes for jellied fish heads and her father's favorite, cod soup. She also worked as a cabaret dancer in Bucharest, Romania and then found work as a circus performer for Ringling Brothers Circus.

During the 1930s she toured Europe and America as a lion tamer, billing herself as "the daughter of the famous mad monk whose feats in Russia astonished the world."She was mauled by a bear in Peru, Indiana, but stayed with the circus until it reached Miami, Florida, where she quit and began work as a riveter in a defense shipyard during World War II. She settled permanently in the United States in 1937 and became a U.S. citizen in 1945. She was married to a man named Gregory Bernadsky in 1940.

Maria worked in defense plants until 1955 when she was forced to retire because of her age. After that, she supported herself by working in hospitals, giving Russian lessons, and babysitting for friends.

Maria claimed to be psychic in 1968 and said Betty Ford had come to her in a dream and smiled. At one point she said she recognized Anna Anderson as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. A friend called her "Little Mother" because Maria fretted over whether handbags were in reach of strangers in restaurants, open suitcases in hotel rooms, and whether a reporter who was interviewing her had been given a comfortable enough chair.

At one point she had two pet dogs, whom she called Youssou and Pov after Felix Yussupov.

During the last years of her life, she lived near the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, California[ while receiving her Social Security benefits. Maria is buried in Angelus Rosedale Cemetery.

Legacy

One of Maria's two daughters married the Dutch ambassador to Greece and later became friends with Yussupov's daughter, Irina Yusupova, during the 1950s.

Maria told her four grandchildren that their infamous great-grandfather was a "simple man with a big heart and strong spiritual power, who loved Russia, God, and the Tsar," her granddaughter Laurence Huot-Solovieff, the daughter of Maria's daughter Tatyana, recalled in 2005.

Maria's descendants live today near Paris.

A fictionalized account of Maria's life recently appeared in the 2006 novel Rasputin's Daughter, by Robert Alexander.

Rasputin's daughter, Maria Rasputin (Matryona Rasputina) (1898–1977), emigrated to France after the October Revolution, and then to the U.S. There she worked as a dancer and then a tiger-trainer in a circus. She left memoirs about her father, wherein she painted an almost saintly picture of him, insisting that most of the negative stories were based on slander and the misinterpretations of facts by his enemies.

She lived a financially insecure, life, married a White Russian officer Boris Soloviev (?-1926) and fled to Paris with him after the Russian Revolution. She bore two daughters, and after his death became a cabaret dancer in Bucharest.

Performing with the Ringling Brothers Circus until a bear mauled her, she settled permanently in the U.S. and became an American citizen in 1945. She wrote various memoirs, the last being Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth (1977). In her final years, she lived on Social Security in Los Angeles, gave Russian language lessons, and worked as a baby-sitter.

Перед самой Октябрьской революцией она вышла замуж за офицера Бориса Соловьева. Он был страстным монархистом и даже пытался спасти семью Николая II из сибирской ссылки. Это не был брак любящих людей — пара сошлась скорее из-за общности взглядов на жизнь и необходимости оказывать друг другу поддержку.

У пары родилась дочь Татьяна и супруги решили уехать из беспокойной и опасной России в Европу. Там у них родилась вторая дочь, которую назвали Марией. Как оказалось, побег за рубеж спас Матрене жизнь. Её сестра, оставшаяся дома, умерла от тифа, а брата с семьей сослали на север, где их всех ждала смерть от холода и дизентерии.

Жизнь в Париже
Жизнь в эмиграции была непростой. Матрена и Борис обосновались в Париже, где открыли небольшой ресторан русской кухни. Но их клиентами были в основном бедные мигранты, обедавшие в долг. Вскоре их бизнес прогорел. После этой неудачи Борис заболел туберкулезом и в 1924 году умер. Матрена осталась одна в чужой стране, с двумя детьми и без средств к существованию. Чтобы как-то свести концы с концами, женщина работала гувернанткой в богатых семьях.

Убийца Григория Распутина Феликс Юсупов тоже жил в Париже. Но в отличие от дочери своей жертвы он не бедствовал. Князь открыл модный дом «ИРФЕ», а свободное время посвятил написанию книг. В одной из них он подробно и цинично описал убийство Распутина.

Выход этой книги, сразу ставшей популярной, глубоко потряс Матрену. Она подала на Юсупова в суд, требуя компенсацию за моральный ущерб. Это дело вызвало большой резонанс в среде русскоязычных мигрантов. Женщина рассчитывала на поддержку общества, но большинство оказалось на стороне Юсупова. Суд состоялся, и Матрена его проиграла. Убийство ее отца признали политическим, а так как оно произошло в другой стране, его сочли находящимся вне французской юрисдикции.

Из-за финансовых трудностей Матрене пришлось устроиться танцевать в кабаре. Пригодились уроки танцев, полученные до революции в России. Во время одного из представлений ее заметил цирковой антрепренер из Британии. Он предложил женщине работать в цирке, обещая хорошую зарплату. «Войдешь в клетку со львами — возьму тебя на работу», — так сказал он Матрене. Та перекрестилась и вошла. Так началась карьера дрессировщицы хищников Матрены Распутиной.

Её выступления пользовались огромным успехом. Все хотели видеть, как дочь легендарного «старца» усмиряет львов и тигров «распутинским взглядом». На афишах писали страшные для Матрены вещи: «Мари Распутин, дочь безумного монаха, прославившегося своими подвигами в России». Но работа в цирке позволила, наконец, начать нормальную жизнь и поставить на ноги дочерей. 

С британским цирком Матрена объездила почти весь мир. Дрессировщица сделала блестящую карьеру и, казалось, жизнь наладилась. Но однажды на гастролях в Перу на Распутину напал белый медведь. Травмы оказались слишком тяжелыми и женщине пришлось уйти из цирка. Снова начались проблемы с финансами. Чтобы прокормить семь. Матрёна работала клепальщицей на судостроительной верфи, а после Второй мировой войны — рабочей на оборонных заводах.

Выйдя на пенсию, Распутина подрабатывала сиделкой и няней, а также давала уроки русского языка. Параллельно она писала книгу об отце, в которой стремилась рассказать правду о его жизни и смерти. Её труд увидел свет только спустя годы после её смерти. В 1999 году книга «Распутин. Почему?» была впервые издана на русском языке.

Матрёна Григорьевна Распутина умерла в 1977 году в возрасте 79 лет. Её потомки живут на Западе, но иногда приезжают на родину своего знаменитого предка. Правнучка Григория Распутина Лоранс Ио-Соловьева особенно частый гость в России. Женщина интересуется историей своей семьи и православием. Она говорит, что чувствует крепкую связь с русским народом...

https://bigpicture.ru/doch-grigorija-rasputina/