Olga Berggolts

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Olga Fyodorovna Berggoltz or Bergholz (Russian: Ольга Фёдоровна Берггольц, May 16 [O.S. May 3] 1910 — November 13, 1975) was a Soviet poet. She is most famous for her work on the Leningrad radio during the city blockade, when she became the symbol of city's strength and determination.

Biography

She was born on the 16 May, 1910 at working outskirt of St. Petersburg in the family of a doctor who worked at a plant. Her verses were first published in 1924. In 1925 she joined a youth literature group "The Shift" where she got acquainted with Boris Kornilov (1907-1938) whom she married in 1926. After a little while their daughter Irina was born. Boris and Olga entered the Higher State Courses in Fine Arts. Soon Boris left the courses, and Olga began studying at the Leningrad University. In 1930 she graduated from the philological faculty of the university and was sent to Kazakhstan as a journalist of a newspaper called "Soviet steppe". During this period Olga divorced with Kornilov and married Nikolay Molchanov.

After returning to Leningrad she started working as a journalist for the newspaper of the "Electric power" plant. Her feelings and thoughts on this period were expressed in such books as "The Out-of-the-way place" (1932), "Night" (1935), "Journalists" (1934), and "Grains" (1935). Such works by Berggoltz as "Poems" (1934) and "Uglich" (1932) were approved by Maksim Gorky.

In late 1930s several tragedies interrupted the tranquil course of her happy life. Her daughters Irina and Maya died, and in 1938 they were followed by Boris Kornilov, who was arrested on false accusations. Olga herself was imprisoned in December, 1938. She spent 7 months in prison where she was beaten mercilessly. Because of such cruelty she gave birth to a dead child. By the facts of her life the motives of tragedy that appeared in her verses can be explained (most of such poems were published in a collection "The Knot", 1965).

Olga Berggoltz spent all the 900 days of the blockade in Leningrad. She worked at radio encouraging hungry and depressed citizens of the city by her speeches and poems. Her thoughts and impressions on this period, on problems of heroism, love, faithfullness can be found at "February diary" (1942), "Leningrad poem" (1942), "In memory of defenders" (1944), "Your way" (1945), and some others. Berggoltz also wrote a lot of books about some heroic events in glorious history of Russia (such as "Pervorossyisk", 1950, a poem about the Altay commune organized by the workers of Petrograd, "Faithfullness", 1954, a tragedy about the defence of Sevastopol in 1941-1942, and "They were living in Leningrad", 1944, a play about the blockade of Leningrad). The memoirs of Olga Berggoltz "The Day Stars" were published in 1959 and filmed in 1968. Olga Berggoltz died on the 13 November, 1975, and was buried at Literatorskie Mostki.

Honours

Olga Berggoltz was decorated with Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and numerous medals.

One of the streets in Saint Petersburg is named after her.

References

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