Extract From Poems to Czechoslovakia
O, rosiest virgin
among the green hills—
Germany!
Germany!
Germany!
Shame!
The astral soul
pocketed half the cards!
Those fairy tales—from old times, dimmed,
the day—the tanks arrived.
Before the Czech peasant woman—
you don’t lower your eyes,
as you roll on your tanks
through her rye, her hopes?
Before the huge grief
of this small country,
what is it you feel, German,
Germany’s sons??
O mania! O mummy
of greatness!
You’ll burn,
Germany!
Madness,
madness
you make!
With the embrace of a constrictor
the athlete will end you!
To your health, Moravia!
Slovakia, slovak!
In the crystal underground,
having retreated—prepare the blow:
Bohemia!
Bohemia!
Bohemia!
Hello!
(April 9-10, 1939)
I first came across the work of Marina Tsvetavena/Tsevtajeva ( 1892- 1941) from reading 'Poetry of the Second World War edited by Desmond Graham'. And her life is an absolutely harrowing read. Born in Moscow into quite a cultured family- her father was a professor and founder of the Museum of Fine Art, opened by Tsar Nicholas II in 1912. Her mother, a Polish-German pianist who died from tuberculosis when Marina was fourteen. Marina was educated at different international schools, including The Sorbonne and had her first collection of poems 'Evening Album' published when she was eighteen. In 1912 Marina married Sergie/Sergej Efron,a devotee of poetry, though not clear if he was a published a poet himself.
And the turbulence of the 20th century descended. I can't find a record of Efron's war service in World War One but after the 1917 Revolution, Efron was fighting in the White Army during the Russian Civil War. The couple were separated and Marina began a short affair with the poet Odip Mandelstan, and then later had a relationship with Sofia Parnock, a fellow poet. Marina's sympathies were with the Whites and she wrote a poem titled 'The Demense of Swans',in support of the anti-revolutionary cause, not published until 1957.
Famine struck Moscow in 1919 where the family were living, and Marina placed her two daughters in a state run children's home. Her younger daughter, Irina died there. Sergei , Marina and their surviving daughter Alja (Ariadna) moved to Berlin in 1922, then Prague, and finally to Paris in 1925. Sergei Efron began working as a Soviet spy, which of course meant that they were shunned by the White Russian/ Tsarist emmigrés. It is not completely clear why Sergei changed sides.Marina corresponded with famous poets and had some work published in exile, trying to write plays and literary criticism.
In 1938 and 1939 Marina wrote a cycle of poems about the post Munich Treaty dismantling of the land of Czechoslovakia ,titled 'Poems To Czechoslovakia'. The German speaking 'Sudetenland' had already been ceded to The Third Reich in 1938 via international agreement. The Third Reich had seized the largely Czech speaking provinces of Bohemia and Moravia on 15th March 1939 and turned them into a Protecterate. Slovakia became independent and allied to the Germans. The poems in this cycle connect to dates during the demise of the country. As in the example cited above, they are concise, direct, and sharp, and no word is wasted.
Also in June 1939 Marina,Sergei Erfon and their son Georgij, known as Mur , relocated to the Soviet Union.Sources appear to conflict, I have read that Sergei Erfon was facing attempted murder charges in France, thought it is equally plausible that the Soviet authorities-still controlling him- ordered Sergei back. Alja had already returned but was soon banished to Siberia, then later to a labour camp there. In October 1939 Sergei Efron was arrested for spying and attempting to undermine the Soviet Military. In June 1941 he was condemned to death, and executed at Lubjanka Prison in October 1941. However there are claims that Sergei Erfon was amongst some 157 intellectuals who were executed on 11th September 1941 as part of the Soviet State's Medvedev Forest massacre as the Germans were approaching the region.
In retrospect it seemed unlikely that Sergei Erfon would have ever been accepted by the Stalinist regime and his usefulness to them had simply expired. It is possible that the Secret Service cajoled Sergei and Alja to incriminate each other. KUDROVA, Another source suggests that Alja's boyfriend at the time turned out to be a police agent and informed on her and Sergei. CARCANET
Marina and Mur left Moscow in July 1941, moving to Yelabuga,Tatarstan. They were isolated from any contemporary literary life, and desperately short of money. Marina hanged herself on 31st August 1941.
Mur returned to Moscow, was called up for military service in 1943, and killed in action fighting for the Soviet regime in the Summer of 1944, most likely in what is now Belaraus.
In the wake of Stalin's death, the banning order against Alja was lifted in 1955 and she was released.Sergei Erfon was posthumously rehabilitated. Alja survived until 1975 and dedicated her life to reviving her mother's work. In 1965 an anthology of Marina's work was published in the Soviet Union.Leading post-war Soviet poet Yvengy Yevtushenko wrote a poem about her death and cited Marina as an influence. In 1973, Shostakovich set six of Marina's poems to music, whilst on holiday in Estonia, titled 'Six Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva Opus 143A'. They were performed by the English Touring Opera in January 2024.
Marina Tsvetaeva has now been recognised as a leading 20th century Russian language poet, along with Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky. There is a memorial Museum dedicated to her work
Anna Akhmatova wrote a poem in 1940 'Late Answer' dedicated to Marina Tsvetaeva, which seems a fitting tribute:
look on in wonder,my native field,
at what happened to me after this.
The deep has swallowed up my loved ones,
the father's house is pillaged,
You and I today, Marina,
are walking through the midnight capital,
and millions like us are following behind us,
There is no more silent procession,
and round about the funeral bells ring,
and wild Moscow wails as the the blizzard covers our tracks."
(from 'Selected Poems' by Anna Akhmatova, translated by Richard McKane, Bloodaxe Books, 1969)
Picture
Photo courtesy of 'Wikipedia'. Hitler's visit to Prague Castle 15th/16th March 1939
Sources
CARCANET Marina Tsvetaeva biog webpage with list of her poetry collections translated into English.
Poetry Foundation biography Web page on Marina Tsvetaeva
Full Text 'Poems to Czechoslovakia' translated by Margaret Little.
Death of a Poet The Last Days of Marina Tsvetaeva' Irma KUDROVA ( book publicity page)
South Magazine Issue 31, April 2005 : Article 'Marina Tsvetaeva - Poet of Extreme' by Belinda Cooke
Coppice -Gate Webpage about Shostakvoich's interpretation of Marina Tsvetaeva's poems
The Memorial House Museum dedicated to Marina Tsvetaeva in Bolshevo, Russia
Related Post
Anna Akhmatova Post from this blog about Anna Akhmatova from 2018
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