Investigation of the death of the Russian poet V. Mayakovsky

Vasily Sapozhnikov.

V. Mayakovsky died from an accidental shot.


    Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky Russian poet [1], who gained great popularity after the October revolution, organized by the Bolshevik party led by V. Lenin in 1917, the result of which was the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Russian Empire and the plan to build a socialist and then communist society in this country . The poet’s faith in this utopian idea completely captured him and predetermined his further creative destiny. At that time, the poet actively spoke at various meetings, reading his poems, and they exerted a tremendous agitation on the consciousness of the revolutionary-minded working masses of the Russian state. Moreover, with the approval of the government of the Country of the Soviets, in the twenties of the twentieth century he repeatedly traveled on creative missions to Europe and the United States, with the aim of propagating communist ideas. By the way, how strange it is, the poet enjoyed some success there, and by 1930, some of his works were published in six languages ​​of the world [8].



V. Mayakovsky (March 22, 1930, less than a month before death) [2].

           It is reliably established that the poet had a romantic relationship with several women [3]. On his part, they were serious, and with each of them he sought to create a family, but for various reasons this did not happen. In the spring of 1929, he was introduced to the actress V. Polonskaya [4] at the hippodrome in Moscow, which became a fatal woman for V. Mayakovsky.


Actress V. Polonskaya. A shot of their film Glass Eye (1928) [5].

     Their relationship ended with the finger of the poet’s hand pulling the trigger of the pistol, and the bullet hit his heart, wounded by loneliness. According to the results of the investigation of this tragedy, a verdict was issued - V. Mayakovsky committed an act of suicide. However, despite this official statement, when reviewing the criminal case regarding the death of the poet, whose materials are currently in the archives of the Mayakovsky State Museum (Moscow) [6], some questions arise. The most important of them. What events occurred in the room of V. Mayakovsky, which ended in a fatal shot? Currently, there are two versions: suicide and the murder of a poet by an unidentified person. If we carefully analyze the memoirs published at different times of people who knew the poet well; materials of the investigation [6] and the results of the examination of material evidence carried out in the nineties of the twentieth century [7], we can assume the third option for the development of the tragedy - the shot occurred unintentionally, as a result of the poet's careless handling of firearms. The author of this publication has arguments to justify this version. However, everything is in order.

Place of incident.


    The death of Mayakovsky took place on Monday morning, April 14, 1930 at the address: Moscow, Lubyansky Lane, 3/6, Building 4, Apartment No. 12 (fourth floor of the building). This was a communal apartment for five tenants, in which there was one common kitchen and in the singular there was a toilet and a bathroom for all the people living in the apartment. Conditions, of course, are uncomfortable, but this did not bother the poet. He owned a small room of 11.1 square meters [9], which he used, first, as a study, where he embodied his creative ideas on paper; secondly, she served as a meeting place and intimate relationship with actress V. Polonskaya, who became his mistress, being married at that time. The woman even became pregnant from the fiery poet of the revolution, but, for obvious reason, was forced to have an abortion [8].


The plan of apartment No. 12. The number “1” indicates the room of V. Mayakovsky [9]. The arrows indicate the direction of movement along the flight of stairs of the building to the poet's room.


The staircase along which V. Mayakovsky and his mistress V. Polonskaya repeatedly climbed into the poet’s apartments. It still exists (Mayakovsky State Museum, Moscow) [10].


The building in which V. Mayakovsky’s room was located [11], and the front door the poet entered for the last time with V. Polonskaya on the morning of April 14, 1930. The arrow indicates the window of the room where the tragedy occurred.


Photo No. 1. The room where the poet died. At present, it is an exposition of the Mayakovsky State Museum (Moscow city). The situation is fully consistent with that fateful day [12].

Protocol inspection of the scene.


    This document is stated verbatim, has grammatical errors that you should not pay attention to [13]; the main thing is the content of the text and its study.
    “On April 14, 1930, on-duty investigator Sinev, in the presence of the on-duty doctor Ryasentsev and the witnesses below, examined the scene of the incident and the corpse of citizen Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich, and it turned out: Mayakovsky’s corpse was lying on the floor in the room of apartment No. 12, 3rd floor house number 3 on Lubyansky passage. The room in which the corpse is located is about 3 square fathoms in size. At the entrance to the room on the door there is one window overlooking the courtyard of the house. On the left wall, there is a table on which books are in comparative order, then a bookcase with books, and between the table and the cabinet there is a chest which is sealed by the organs of the OGPU before arrival. On the right wall there is a sofa and next to the wall next to the window is a desk. Found in the drawer of this table
1) three packs of money, bank packaging of which one pack of 1,000 rubles. and two for 500 rubles.
2) a package with the inscription Olga Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya, this package of fifty rubles of money, of which one piece of paper in thirty rubles and one piece of paper in 20 rubles.
3) a gold ring with a diamond and a blue stone and 63 rubles. 82 kopecks in a jacket lying on a chair near the desk, and a large gold ring with a drawing of two M.
In the middle of the room, Mayakovsky’s corpse lies on the floor on his back. Lies head to the front door. The left arm is bent at the elbow joint and lies on the stomach, the right half-bent is near the thigh. The legs are spread out to the sides with a distance of one meter between the feet. The head is slightly turned to the right, the eyes are open, the pupils are dilated, the mouth is half open. There is no dead body. Lips, ears, hands are dark blue (cadaveric spots). On the chest three centimeters above the left nipple there is a round wound with a diameter of about 2 thirds of a centimeter. The circumference of the wound is slightly stained with blood. There is no outlet. On the right side on the back in the region of the last ribs under the skin, a solid foreign body is palpated not significant in size. The corpse is dressed in a yellowish shirt with a black gastukh (bow). On the left side of the chest, respectively, previously described on the shirt there is an irregularly shaped hole with a diameter of about one centimeter, around this hole the shirt is stained with blood for ten centimeters in diameter.
The circumference of the hole in the shirt with burn marks. 1) trousers are woolen brown, yellow shoes on the legs.
Between the legs of the corpse lies a revolver of the Mauser system, caliber 7.65 No. 312.045 (this revolver was taken by OGPU T. Gendin). Not a single cartridge was in the revolver. On the left side of the corpse at a distance from the trunk of one meter on the floor lies an empty fired sleeve from a revolver Mauser of the specified caliber.
Mayakovsky’s corpse was photographed and laid on the sofa from the floor.
The act is attached 2113 p. 82 kopecks., A gold ring, a gold ring, a shot sleeve described in this protocol.
Representatives of the OGPU who were present during the inspection ordered the police to send Mayakovsky’s corpse to Vorontsov Street, Gendrikov per. to 15, and seal the room on Lubyansky passage. Duty investigator Sinev / signature /. Doctor on duty expert Ryasentsev / signature /. Understood / Signatures / ".
   
It was established that the first persons who appeared at the scene of the tragedy were the doctors of the emergency medical service station. They were called by telephone by one of the residents of apartment No. 12. The time of the call is recorded in the corresponding registration book of this medical institution (10 hours 16 minutes Moscow time). Five minutes after receiving a phone call, doctors arrived at the scene [7]. They examined the body of the poet, which had obvious signs of a gunshot defeat, ascertained the death of V. Mayakovsky, and then left the room where this dramatic event took place. Of course, in the event of death of an individual for an unnatural reason, medical workers were obliged to inform law enforcement authorities, which were structures of the Soviet police, at that time.
    When the investigation team arrived at the scene, then to their surprise, representatives of the United State Political Administration (OGPU) were already there. In short - the KGB. This is confirmed by the contents of the protocol - the chest, which was located between the table and the cupboard, was sealed by them until the appearance of the detective team. Moreover, a representative of the OGPU without any explanation to the investigator seized firearms located on the floor of the room between the legs of the deceased, and from which, apparently, a shot was fired. Subsequently, it disappeared without a trace and forever in the KGB structures, and therefore it is not in the criminal case on the death of the poet. Further. According to the protocol for the inspection of the scene, the body of V. Mayakovsky was photographed. This was the first photograph of the deceased lying on the floor of the room, and which also disappeared.
    One gets the impression that one is convinced that these disappearances are not accidental, purposefully planned, and there should be a common excuse linking these disappearances among themselves. We think and find the answer - a weapon of crime. Really. In the first case of disappearance, it was actually material evidence, in the second - evidence clearly captured in the photograph. It was the weapon that became the motive for the structures of the OGPU to destroy it and the photograph.

The weapon of crime.


    It was a Mauser pistol of 1914 model (Mauser Model 1914). In the protocol of the inspection of the scene, the investigator mistakenly described him as a revolver, but this is not essential, the main thing is that he correctly indicated the brand of the weapon. The capacity of the pistol holder is 8 rounds. The designers of this firearm purposefully, based on minimizing economic costs, developed a pistol for the Browning cartridge, widely used at that time, with a bullet caliber of 7.65 millimeters and a sleeve length of 17 millimeters.

Pistol "Mauser" 1914 release ("Mauser Model 1914") [14]. A shot was fired from a similar weapon into the heart of V. Mayakovsky.

  After the shot, the sleeve was automatically thrown out of the gun to the right side of the direction of fire. The gun barrel was rifled, had six right-hand rifled grooves, which, of course, left characteristic deformation marks on the outer shell of the bullet during its movement in the barrel, and this circumstance will subsequently become a decisive factor for confirming the shot from the Mauser pistol.
    The medical expert of the investigation team, according to the protocol for examining the crime scene, found a foreign object by palpating the poet in the lower right back of the poet under the skin. At the autopsy of V. Mayakovsky’s body, it was from this place that the pathologists extracted a bullet of 7.65 mm caliber.

Photo No. 2. A bullet extracted from the body of V. Mayakovsky and a cartridge case found at the scene [7].

    Due to the fact that in the criminal case there is no pistol from the scene of the crime, it is currently not possible to make a ballistic examination of it. Nevertheless, in the nineties of the twentieth century, using modern optical instruments, a special study was carried out of a bullet extracted from the corpse of the poet and a sleeve selected from the floor of the room of V. Mayakovsky [7]. It turned out that on the shell of the bullet there are traces characteristic of the grooves of the barrel of the Mauser pistol of the 1914 model (Mauser Model 1914), and there is a deformation mark on the shell capsule from the striker of the trigger, with a high degree of probability, indicating that a shot could be fired from this weapon system. In addition, in the materials of the investigation there is a document confirming that V. Mayakovsky had such a gun [6].

Certificate No. 107.



  When analyzing this document, it reveals serious violations committed during its execution. Firstly, the number of weapons (312045) was recorded in the protocol for the inspection of the crime scene, and in certificate No. 107 issued to V. Mayakovsky and giving the poet the right to carry and store the Mauser pistol, he was not indicated. Secondly, there is no date for filling out the document and the name of the organization that issued it. The corresponding blank columns are indicated by red arrows on the presented photo of the certificate. It is established that the document was signed by the head of the Secret Department of the GPU of Ukraine V. Gorozhanin [15], who, by his official position, did not have the right to carry out such an action. Confirmation of this - the certificate indicates the status of persons authorized to endorse this document. This is proof that the KGB officer committed an official crime. However, there was a second, even more serious violation of the law by him.
    V. Gorozhdanin was on friendly terms with V. Mayakovsky, knew about his passion for various firearms systems [9]. He succumbed to the poet’s insistent desire to have a Mauser pistol, but a problem arose - how to give weapons to a person who was not an employee of the KGB organization? He found a solution to eliminate it. Under the central authority of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR, where V. Gorozhanin worked (served), there was a special storage in which there were various specimens of firearms and cold steel that had a criminal past. He seized the Mauser Model 1914 pistol (serial number 312045) from him and gave it to V. Mayakovsky, hoping that the poet would return the weapon on the date indicated on certificate No. 107 (December 1, 1928). Then, as the Chekist thought, the pistol will be returned to the store and no one will know about his illegal act. However, V. Gorozhdanin was mistaken. The scenario of development of events suggested by him did not materialize.


V. Gorozhdanin (left) and V. Mayakovsky (Kharkov city, August, 1928) [9]. It was during this period of time that the Mauser pistol was handed over to the poet, because there were no other contacts between them either before or after this meeting.

  On April 14, 1930, a shot was fired from this weapon, cutting off the life of a famous poet. By the number of the gun seized by the OGPU from the scene of the incident, as well as the signature in certificate No. 107, the Moscow city security officers quickly established the origin of the shooting system and the identity of the person whose actions uniquely and significantly discredited the activities of the entire KGB organization of the Country of Soviets. In the event of disclosure of revealed violations of the law, serious consequences could have arisen with respect to senior officials of the bodies of the OGPU of the USSR. They were threatened with dismissal from their posts and criminal prosecution with conviction by a court for a long term of imprisonment in Soviet concentration camps, while the guilty could not be sentenced to impose capital punishment on them (execution). Therefore, in the structures of the OGPU they decided to act according to the Russian proverb “Do not take out the hut,” and organized the destruction of evidence, namely the Mauser pistol and the first photograph from the scene [13], on which the number of the weapon was clearly visible. This is the only objective explanation for the fact of their absence in the criminal case about the death of V. Mayakovsky. There are no other options, but to assume, for example, that material evidence was lost at the OGPU of the USSR just like that, due to the negligence of the Chekists, is an absolute mistake. The special military-political status of this organization and the corresponding requirements of revolutionary discipline for its employees completely excluded this possibility. But the replacement of the Mauser pistol with other weapons was quite real, and it was carried out. It turned out to be a Browning pistol, by the way, also belonging to the poet.

Poet's firearms.


  It was established [16] that the first weapon appeared at V. Mayakovsky in February 1919. It was a Velo-Dog revolver. The second revolver of a similar system appeared in his month of October of the same year. In June 1924, the poet became the owner of the Browning Model 1900 pistol (Browning M1900). In August 1928, V. Gorozhanin gave V. Mayakovsky the Mauser pistol (Mauser Model 1914). In June 1929, the poet immediately had two pistols: “Bayard” (“Bayard Model 1908”) and “Browning” (“Browning M1900”). Thus, for 11 years in the arsenal of this person’s small arms there should have been six combat units. The whereabouts of the first three of them and the Bayard pistol are still unknown. The gun "Mauser Model 1914" ("Mauser Model 1914") No. 312045 was found in the room of V. Mayakovsky, but then disappeared from the investigation file. The question arises - where is the sixth weapon? The answer exists. When, more than 60 years after the tragic shot, a criminal case was transferred from the Kremlin’s Presidential Archives to the Museum of V. Mayakovsky (the city of Moscow) on the death of the poet, his materials included the Browning Model 1900 pistol (Browning M1900) and a document executed in the name of the poet in June 1929. Now an interesting fact. The document indicates the serial number of the shooting system - 268579 [16]. Another number was stamped on the pistol - 268979. There is an obvious discrepancy on the fourth digit. However, as it turned out later, this discrepancy is not significant and generally unimportant. Because during the ballistic examination of the Browning pistol No. 268979, carried out in the nineties of the twentieth century, it was established: after a shot from the investigated weapon on the shell of a bullet of a caliber of 7, 65 mm, the marks from the rifled channels of the barrel did not coincide with similar traces on a bullet of caliber 7 , 65 millimeters recovered from the body of V. Mayakovsky. Consequently, the pistol of the Browning Model 1900 system (Browning M1900), whatever its number (268579 or 268979 or any other one), is not related to the death of V. Mayakovsky. A forensic analysis of deformation marks on the shell of a bullet found in the body of a dead poet unequivocally proved that the shot was fired from a Mauser Model (Mauser Model 1914) [9].


Pistol "Browning M 1900" ("Browning M1900") No. 268979 [19]. State Museum named after V. Mayakovsky, Moscow. The examination proved that on April 14, 1930, they were not shot in the room of V. Mayakovsky.

How the Browning pistol appeared in the investigation materials.


  From the protocol of the inspection of the scene, it follows that in the poet’s room no other firearms, except for the Mauser pistol, were found [13]. A logical conclusion is that V. Mayakovsky kept all other rifle systems available at that time in his apartment at 15 Gendrikhov Pereulok, in some compartment of the chest of drawers or in a similar furniture design. The poet for a long time lived in this three-room apartment with his friends, who were the spouses Osip Brik and Lilya Brik, and he did not suspect that both were agents of the organs of the OGPU [17].
    The informant of the KGB structures Lilya Brik [18], the lover of V. Mayakovsky [17], no doubt knew where he kept his firearms. This statement does not need proof. This is an axiom of life - any woman always, if desired, can learn many secrets of a man, and, in some cases, he will not even notice it. On the day that the poet died, the agent L. L. Brick easily found and handed over the Browning Model 1900 (Browning M1900) pistol, as well as the corresponding certificate issued to V. Mayakovsky in June to the disposal of the punitive organs of the Soviet Union. 1929 year. This material evidence is present in the criminal case. For the leaders of the OGPU of the USSR, they were gifts of fate, and relieved them of the headache caused by the discovery of the Mauser pistol No. 312045, which convincingly confirmed the criminal actions of the head of the Secret Department of the GPU of Ukraine V. Gorozhanin, and thereby posed a threat to the well-being of the top management of the KGB organization Soviet Republic. The Mauser was immediately destroyed, and the weapons provided by Agent L. Brick took his place in the criminal case. The main argument for implementing this forgery was the coincidence of the caliber of the bullet (7.65 mm) and the length of the sleeve (17 mm) of the Browning cartridge used in both of these shooting systems. Naturally, no one was going to conduct a ballistic examination of the Browning pistol, although the Chekists had such an opportunity at that time. In addition, the leadership of the OGPU of the USSR did not advertise the inconsistency of the number on the weapon with the number indicated in the certificate for its issue to V. Mayakovsky [16]. It considered this fact insignificant, believing that the person who executed this document could well have made a mistake. Indeed, the number "9" (the fourth mark of the imprint of the stamp of the serial number on the Browning pistol) due to the defect is very similar to the number "5". You can verify this by visiting the Museum of V. Mayakovsky in Moscow.

Broken nose of the poet.


  In the protocol for the inspection of the scene, the investigator described in sufficient detail the physical condition of V. Mayakovsky's face (eyes are open, pupils are dilated, mouth is half open). He did not indicate damage to his nose or the skin of the deceased in this document, because they were missing. Further. According to the protocol, after photographing the poet’s body on the floor of the room, it was transferred to the sofa. He was given a position similar to that in which the corpse was originally discovered, and then a second photograph of the deceased was taken. This photograph is available in the criminal case upon the death of V. Mayakovsky. It shows that the left hand is half bent, located in the lower abdomen, the mouth is half open, the right hand is half bent, located along the right thigh. The eyes of the deceased have been closed for centuries by the deceased. This is according to Christian custom.


Photo No. 3. The body of V. Mayakovsky after transferring the body to the sofa [20].

If you look closely, the poet’s nose is not deformed. Now let’s imagine a photograph of the death mask of V. Mayakovsky’s face and, next to it, for comparison, a photograph of the poet in full face [21].


  It’s obvious that the nose is broken. The circumstances of the occurrence of injury by the author of this publication are clearly established. This happened in the room of V. Mayakovsky, but after his death and in the following shocking manner.
    Representatives of the OGPU, who were at the scene of the incident, instructed the criminal investigator to transport the body of V. Mayakovsky to Gendrikov Lane, building No. 15, where he owned the apartment [13]. It is a logical decision - it was there that the corresponding mourning events were to be organized. In this regard, at noon, at the entrance of the building at 3/6 Lubyansky proezd, building 4, an emergency medical vehicle drove up to pick up the body of the deceased from apartment room number 12 [9].


April 14, 1930. A sanitary car at the entrance of the house [9].

Two medical workers with a stretcher came out of it and headed for the room where the tragedy occurred. They put a stretcher near the sofa and tried to transfer the deceased to them. However, it was not possible to raise the corpse, because the poet’s head was near the wall of the room, and one of the orderlies had no access to the upper part of the body to capture and lift it. This can be seen by the location of the dead poet on the surface of the sofa in photographs No. 3 and No. 4. In addition, the dead man was heavy. The body weight of V. Mayakovsky with an increase of 189 centimeters [22] was, according to various calculation methods, from 83.5 kilograms to 97 kilograms [23]. Representatives of the medical service in this situation had no other choice but to drag the body of the deceased to the edge of the sofa, and then, as far as possible, carefully move the dead man to a stretcher over the left shoulder of the corpse. We wanted the best, but it turned out as always. They didn’t hold it, and when falling, the left front part of V. Mayakovsky’s head hit the metal or wooden frame of the stretcher, as a result of which the nose fractured in the direction of the coup, that is, from left to right. By the way, even from a photograph of the poet’s posthumous mask, the nature of a nose fracture can be medically diagnosed — it was rhinoscoliosis (lateral displacement of the nose from shock [24]). And most importantly. The irrefutable evidence that a nose injury in V. Mayakovsky appeared after his death is the absence of traces of bleeding or hematoma, and this is quite natural, the corpse should not have them [25], [39].
    The dead man was delivered to the house number 15, Gendrikov Lane. There was clutter. An urgent medical specialist from the city of Moscow was urgently invited to remove the death mask of V. Mayakovsky’s face. The technology of this procedure has been known for a long time and is not too complicated [26]. A layer of petroleum jelly was applied to the deceased's face. Then this surface was poured with a liquid solution of gypsum. After its hardening, a cast was taken: slowly, carefully and strictly in a vertical direction relative to the face of the deceased. The latter circumstance convincingly proves that lateral deformation of the poet’s nose in this case was completely excluded, and it is clear that hardened gypsum impartially recorded the presence of a post-mortal injury resulting from careless actions of medical workers.

Bullet damage to the body of V. Mayakovsky.


  In the nineties of the twentieth century, a study was undertaken of the poet’s bloodied shirt, which is stored in the museum of V. Mayakovsky (Moscow city) [9]. According to experts, the shot was fired from right to left. However, the existing documentary facts give serious reason to doubt the conclusions of the examination, and, moreover, they irrefutably indicate the direction of the death shot from left to right.
    The protocol for the inspection of the scene recorded that on the shirt on the corpse of the deceased there were traces of powder gases from the shot. Damage to the clothes fabric from the bullet coincided with the direction of its entry into the poet's body [13]. According to the forensic classification, it was a side shot at point blank with incomplete pressing of the muzzle of the barrel of the weapon to the site of the defeat.


The scheme of the shot with a lateral focus on the body [26]. The red arrow indicates the direction of the release of powder gases entering the clothing fabric.

  Imagine a photograph of the corpse of V. Mayakovsky on the couch in the room, before sending the deceased to his place of residence (Gendrikov Lane, building No. 15) [27].


Photo No. 4. There is a clear trace of the release of powder gases recorded by the investigation team, and which was uniquely formed when fired from left to right.

It is a logical conclusion - during the shooting, the Mauser pistol should have been in the poet’s left hand, and according to the memoirs of V. Mayakovsky’s friends, he was really left-handed [28]. Now the most important evidence of a shot from left to right. The doctor of the investigative group, using an organoleptic method (that is, simply probing with his fingers), discovered the presence of a foreign body, which was located in the lower right back of the corpse under its skin [13]. In this place, during the opening of the body of V. Mayakovsky between 11 and 12 ribs of a dead man, a bullet of 7.65 mm caliber was found. Such an arrangement could only happen in one case when the shot was fired from left to right, from top to bottom and from front to back. In addition, during the pathoanatomical study of the corpse carried out on April 15–16, 1930 [9], the direction of the wound canal was established. A deadly projectile entered above the man’s left nipple [13], pierced the upper part of the left lung and hit the poet’s heart. It is known that the heart in the human body is the most dense muscle tissue, as a result of which the bullet arched changes its direction of motion [35], while losing most of its kinetic energy. When leaving the heart muscle, it moved towards the location of the right kidney, destroyed this organ and, finally losing its penetrative ability, stopped under the skin without damaging it.


Anatomical layout of the upper internal organs of a man [29], his left nipple [30], [31], and reconstruction by the author of the publication of the bullet’s defeat of the poet from left to right.

  The diagram is indicated. Blue arrow - direction of the shot at a slight angle. The black point is the place where the bullet enters the body three centimeters above the poet’s left nipple (between the third and fourth ribs of the chest) [13]. The black arrow is the trajectory of the bullet when it enters the heart and after exiting it in the direction of the location of the right kidney. The green arrow is the anatomical location of the man’s left nipple (between the fourth and fifth ribs of the chest [30], [31]). The red arrows indicate the location of the lungs of a person.


Photo No. 5. A fragment of the poet’s shirt at the site of the bullet’s defeat [9].

  In the photograph, the author marked. The blue line is the zone of least damage to the shirt material. This is due to the fact that the pressure of the bursting powder gases pressed the fabric against the body of the poet, and, in this regard, increased its resistance to destruction upon contact with the bullet [45]. For this reason, there is no stratification of its threads in this place. The orange line is a zone of torn damage to the texture and texture of the shirt material. A clear trace of the fragmentation of tissue fibers that occurred on the side of the entry of a deadly projectile. The red line is the zone of the primary ejection of a blood clot from the wound canal in the direction opposite to the direction of the trajectory of the bullet. Sometimes traces of this ejection are found on the weapon of crime, sometimes they even fall on the hand of a person who shot at point blank range [39], [40]. And now pay attention to the symmetry of these zones in relation to each other, and to the coincidence of the vertices of their arcuate contour, which undoubtedly indicate the direction of the shot from left to right (purple arrow). After the wound, V. Mayakovsky formed a secondary zone of a bloody wake (green line), the area of ​​which turned out to be insignificant. And this is understandable. The poet’s heart, broken by a bullet and destroyed by it due to the hydrodynamic shock effect [38], ceased to fulfill the function of ensuring blood circulation, and therefore the amount of blood poured out of the wound after the shot was small, which is visually observed in photographs No. 3 and No. 4. In addition, these In photographs, the direction and form of the distribution of the secondary blood spot on the shirt indicates its formation after the shot, with the horizontal arrangement of V. Mayakovsky’s body on his back on the floor of his room [39], [40].
    The following arguments refute the findings of the examination of the poet’s bloodied shirt, carried out in the nineties of the twentieth century. A bullet with a caliber of 7.65 mm and a mass of 4.6 - 4, 7 grams had a speed of 280 - 290 meters per second [32], [33] and a kinetic energy of 180.32 - 193.4 Joules at the muzzle when leaving the barrel 34]. These parameters fully ensured to her when shot with a lateral focus of the weapon in the body from right to left, according to modern researchers, penetration of the upper part of a loose lung tissue and the formation of a through wound, while heart damage was completely excluded, and the wounded person had a great chance of survival.


Reconstruction of the shot from right to left. It is obvious that the bullet could not damage the heart muscle.

If we assume that, during a shot from right to left, a bullet ricocheted from the rib of the poet’s rib, changing the direction of its movement, then in this place either a bruising, an uncomplicated fracture of the rib would have formed, or, most likely, the bone tissue of this fragment of the skeleton would have been fragmented into small and large fragments [36], [43]. However, the doctor of the investigative group and the pathologists who performed the autopsy of V. Mayakovsky did not find any of these signs. Moreover. Pay attention to photo No. 2. The outer shell of the bullet, extracted from the corpse of the poet, does not have any deformations that, no doubt, would have arisen on its outer relatively soft surface in the event of a collision with an edge. This fact and, especially, the medical report of people who directly examined the poet’s dead body certainly deserve more trust than the conclusions of modern experts, based only on examining a fragment of a shirt more than 60 years after the shot. By the way, the exhumation of the remains of V. Mayakovsky’s body for further research is impossible, because his corpse was cremated on April 17, 1930. From the foregoing, we can confidently conclude that the shot was unambiguously fired from left to right and with the left hand of the poet, and the latter circumstance completely refutes the version of the hit man who shot V. Mayakovsky on the instructions of the OGPU [44].

Killer did not exist.


  The main argument of the contract killing hypothesis is the poet’s open mouth after death, which was classified by the author of this idea as indignation at the death cry of an unceremonious invasion of an unknown person into V. Mayakovsky’s room after the departure of his mistress V. Polonskaya [44]. However, there are facts that refute the version of the attempt. Compare photo No. 3 and the photo from the place of suicide of the Soviet writer Alexander Fadeev in 1956 [41].


Photo No. 6. Shooted A. Fadeev on the bed in his room [42]. A lateral shot at point-blank range in the heart in the direction from right to left and somewhat up. This is indicated by the location of the dead man’s revolver and the right hand, as well as the primary discharge of blood from the wound (indicated by an arrow). There is a slight subsequent bleeding after the defeat of the heart muscle of A. Fadeev, as in the deceased V. Mayakovsky (photographs No. 3, No. 4).

   On the corpses of V. Mayakovsky and A. Fadeev, one common detail is clearly traced - the open mouth of the dead. Full coincidence of the clinical picture after the onset of death. This fact is explained quite simply, and from a medical point of view. In both cases, after a shot, a penetrating wound of a lung occurred. If this organ is damaged by a bullet or other foreign body (a fragment of a grenade, a mine, an artillery shell, an aerial bomb), the victim suffers a severe lack of oxygen [43]. He is trying hard to breathe with his mouth wide open, but the air he breathes in comes out almost completely through the opening of the punctured lung tissue. Naturally, a person suffocates, and after death his mouth remains in an open position. This is the first fact.
    The second fact. People who lived in apartment No. 12 and were in it during the tragedy did not hear any indignant cries of V. Mayakovsky [6], [9]. And the poet’s voice was loud, this can be seen by watching documentary newsreels with his speeches in front of a proletarian audience.
    The third fact. According to the contract murder, an unknown person who entered the poet’s room first hit him in the face and knocked him down with this blow, and then shot him. However, the investigation team did not find any damage on it when examining the face of the deceased [13]. Moreover, if there had been a force conflict between the killer and V. Mayakovsky, there would certainly have been some traces of it, for example, a shift of the carpet on the floor of the room, a shift or damage to furniture. No signs of struggle have been identified [13]. This fact is also confirmed by photograph No. 1, which captures the situation in the room after the death of V. Mayakovsky.
    Based on the arguments presented, the conclusion follows - no one attempted on the poet’s life. A shot from the Mauser pistol was fired by V. Mayakovsky, but ...! as a result of careless handling of firearms in a state of strong residual alcoholic intoxication, the syndrome of which was caused by abuse of alcohol on the eve of the day of the tragedy.

April 13, 1930. Late evening.


   V. Mayakovsky drank alcohol every day and in large quantities [8]. This fact indicates that at the age of 36 he already had a steady and serious dependence on this addiction. According to the memoirs of his close friends, the poet manifested negative symptoms provoked by alcohol addiction [46], which destroyed his health, his consciousness, and his creative abilities. Firstly, as a result of alcohol abuse, the poet’s immune system was seriously undermined, as evidenced by the constant presence of V. Mayakovsky in a painful condition (frequent diseases caused by infections of various etymologies, headache, complaints of fatigue, weakness, apathy) [8], [28], [47]. Secondly, unreasonable irritability, as well as excessive self-esteem, led to the fact that he quarreled with most of his literary colleagues [8], [28]. It is not surprising that none of these people appeared on March 22, 1930 at an event organized by the poet on the anniversary of his twenty-year creative career. V. Mayakovsky was very offended [8], and did not understand the reasons for the boycott of his presentation. In addition, the poet’s last projects, which were two of his plays “Bedbug” and “Bathhouse”, were completely failed. The audience was disappointed, and many literary critics and even his friends agreed that V. Mayakovsky as a poetic person degraded [8], [28]. Another fact indicating that the poet’s poisoned by the constant use of alcohol did not allow him to adequately assess the realities of life and control his actions. He had sudden mood swings [8], [28]. The gloomy depression suddenly turned into aggression in relation to the people around him. As a rule, this happened after drinking alcohol [48]. A similar incident occurred in the late evening of April 13, 1930 in the apartment of a famous writer [8]. The subject on which the emission of the emotional, negative energy of the poet was concentrated was his mistress, actress V. Polonskaya. According to her recollections that evening, a gun suddenly appeared in the hand of a drunk V. Mayakovsky. He aimed the gun barrel at the woman, then at his chest; shouted that he would kill her and shoot herself [8]. A clear sign of the manifestation of alcoholic psychosis [46]. Thank God, everything went without tragic excesses. The actress managed to calm the raging poet, and they agreed to meet the next day in the morning at eight o'clock Moscow time in the apartments of V. Polonskaya [8].

April 14, 1930. Day of the tragedy.


   The reconstruction of the tragic event was reproduced on the basis of the memoirs of the actress and other memoir sources, taking into account the analysis of the results of the inspection of the scene, as well as the conflicting testimonies of people who were on that fateful morning in apartment No. 12.
    V. Mayakovsky came to V. Polonskaya by taxi not eight in the morning, but only about nine hours [8], or even a little later, at nine hours and fifteen minutes [6], [49] [50]. The reason for being late is most likely a terrible hangover. It is possible that before visiting the actress, the poet drank a certain amount of alcohol in order to reduce the painful symptoms of the alcohol overdose that he received in the late evening of April 13, 1930. In his room in apartment No. 12 there was always a large amount of wine and champagne; the poet never used vodka [8]. In general, the planned meeting of these two people took place, however V. Polonskaya noticed that V. Mayakovsky was in an inadequate state [49]. You can’t fool a woman - she has a sharpened natural smell on the smell of alcohol, she feels with her heart that the man is drunk, and no means and methods can help him hide the fact of drinking an alcohol-containing drink.
    When the poet appeared in the apartment of V. Polonskaya, she was preparing for the last rehearsal before the premiere of the play with her debut starring role, and she was supposed to arrive at the theater without delay at 10 hours 30 minutes [8]. This was a very important event in her creative career. Naturally, the attention of V. Polonskaya was concentrated on preparing for him. Such a woman’s behavior towards a man caused the poet irritation provoked by his morning dose of alcohol, but the actress reassured V. Mayakovsky, after which he asked him to take her to the theater by taxi, and he agreed. However, unexpectedly for V. Polonskaya, the car previously drove to Lubyansky proezd, 3/6, building 4, where the poet’s room was located in apartment No. 12. The woman was perplexed by this act of the man accompanying her, but obeyed his demand to get into his apartment. By the way, it was established that the car arrived at this address at about 10 a.m. and, as directed by V. Mayakovsky, the driver of the car was waiting at the entrance to the house for the customer to return the trip. The presence of a taxi during the death of the poet is also confirmed by the fact that V. Polonskaya tried to leave it after the tragedy, but the woman was detained by the residents of the house [6], [8], [28].

Events preceding the fatal shot.


   When V. Mayakovsky and his companion entered the room of apartment No. 12, the poet fell into a state of depression under the influence of the situation of his lonely home and intoxication. V. Polonskaya was sitting on the sofa, the location of which is shown in photograph No. 1. V. Mayakovsky was on his knees on the floor of the room, at her feet, and cried [8]. This is an obvious syndrome of “drunken tears”, characteristic of an alcoholic or a person whose mind is drugged by alcoholic couples [46]. V. Polonskaya tried to reassure the man, but without malicious intent, reminded him that she needed to go to the theater for a rehearsal [8]. This her replica provoked an inadequate reaction from V. Mayakovsky, who regarded the actress's words as a disregard for his feelings, which embittered the poet.
    Suddenly, he got up from his knees and with a detached face went to the desk, above which was a photograph of V. I. Lenin (photo No. 1). The actress heard the poet open the top drawer of this furniture design, however, the body of V. Mayakovsky closed the review for her, and she did not see what he got out of this drawer [8]. As follows from the subsequent tragedy, this item was a Mauser pistol (Mauser Model 1914, no. 312045), received by the poet in August 1928 from his friend Chekist V. Gorojanin.
    V. Mayakovsky was left-handed, so he put the weapon in the left pocket of his trousers, and then went up to V. Polonskaya. She was at this time at the door of the room and was about to leave the poet's apartment. From an analysis of the actress's recollections, it follows that her wristwatch showed the time 10 hours 10 minutes, and at 10 hours 30 minutes she should have been at the rehearsal in the theater. Therefore, V. Polonskaya, of course, was in a hurry. The poet gave her money to pay for a taxi to the theater and promised to call [8]. After this short farewell dialogue, the following incident occurred.
    Under the influence of alcoholic emotions, in the left hand of V. Mayakovsky the Mauser pistol suddenly appeared, which he took out from the left pocket of his trousers. The poet pointedly directed the barrel of the weapon into his chest at the level of the location of the heart so that the lover could see that he was ready to shoot himself. The woman was in shock: was the nightmare of late evening on April 13, 1930 again repeated? In a panic, she left V. Mayakovsky’s room, closing the front door with a sharp movement. From the sound effect produced by the door, the index finger of the left hand of the intoxicated poet, who was on the trigger trigger of the gun, faltered and a shot occurred. V. Polonskaya, having heard him, returned. In the space of the room there was smoke of powder gases from the fired shot, and V. Mayakovsky was lying on the floor in a supine position, with his head to the front door. His eyes and mouth were wide open. The poet tried to raise his head and say something [8]. Could not or did not have time - he died. In the agony of the dying V. Mayakovsky, some residents of apartment No. 12 were also present in his room [6], [28]. Here such a tragic ending ended the love affair of these two creative personalities.
    However, there are circumstances indicating that V. Mayakovsky was absolutely sure that the shot should not have happened. Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

In the barrel of the weapon was a cartridge.


  V. Mayakovsky, before taking the Mauser pistol out of the desk drawer, no doubt first made sure that the capacity of the clip was empty, and concluded that the weapon was not dangerous for its use as a psychological blackmail of the rebellious mistress V. Polonskaya. However, the empty clip did not exclude the possibility of having the last eighth cartridge in the gun barrel, and the shot that was fired was convincing proof. This statement is confirmed by the investigation of the crime scene by the investigation team - there were no cartridges in the pistol, and the corpse and cartridge case were present [13]. And now the most important thing. Law enforcement officials did not find carton boxes in the poet’s room! Consequently, V. Mayakovsky was not able to load weapons on the day of the tragedy, either before he left to meet with V. Polonskaya on the morning of April 14, 1930, or while this woman was in his apartment. Therefore, an unambiguous conclusion: in the shooting system there was a deadly projectile and the poet either did not know about the loading of weapons, or, most likely, forgot, which is not surprising. From August 1928, when he got the Mauser pistol and until the fateful shot, it took about two years, and V. Mayakovsky’s memory was already seriously weakened by the constant and excessive use of alcohol.

V. Mayakovsky: “So I shoot myself? Do not wait! "


   The manipulation of the poet with firearms and demonstrative attempts to shoot himself in the presence of V. Polonskaya in the late evening of April 13 and in the morning of April 14 was a show of a drunk man. Cheap banal blackmail, the purpose of which was their selfish pressure on the psyche of a woman to completely subordinate her personality to please his ambitions. By the way, according to the memoirs of L. Brik, such actions have already repeatedly occurred in the life of the poet in the period from 1915 to 1917 [47], [50]. It was then that she, his next mistress, was a victim of psychological violence by V. Mayakovsky [17]. L. Brik in her memoirs describes the same scenario of the poet's behavior in such situations. I called her on the phone while intoxicated, saying that I would shoot myself. The woman, in a panic, was heading to V. Mayakovsky’s apartments, and when he met her on the threshold of his house, with an ominous smile on his face, he said to this frightened man: “misfire”, and then poured drunk “crocodile” tears [47], [50 ]. There was no “misfire", V. Mayakovsky was not going to shoot. It was a game of public, an ordinary blackmail of a woman. In the end, the mental imbalance of this man got her, and they parted - parted, like ships, in this constantly raging sea of ​​their love.
    Another example confirming the tendency of V. Mayakovsky to posturing. Sometimes, being in the company of his friends in the apartment of one of his literary colleagues, where alcohol was pouring, an incident arose. An over-drunk poet, inadequately accepting some kind of joke in his address, suddenly got up and defiantly uttered a remark: "I will shoot myself now." Then he left the feast and went into the next room of the apartment. None of those present paid attention to this act of his. Not for the first time, accustomed to such shocking. Five or ten minutes later V. Mayakovsky returned to the company of his comrades and with a mockery declared: “So that I shoot myself? Do not wait! " [8], [9], [26]. And the drunken orgy continued.
    In general, V. Mayakovsky was a man who was absolutely incapable of such a decisive act as suicide, and he had a convincing reason that kept him from this reckless action. According to him, the poet was very fond of his mother, who by that time had a considerable age, and he would never have caused her grief by committing suicide. About this V. Mayakovsky said actress V. Polonskaya during his meetings with her [8].

Note by the poet, found after his death.


The message of V. Mayakovsky, written by him on two sheets of notebook paper.

   This document is present in the criminal case upon the death of the poet [6]. It shows the date April 12, 1930, but he died on April 14, 1930, that is, two days after it was written. From the practice of suicide investigations it is known: a person who has decided to commit suicide either does not leave any written notice or writes it immediately before committing this act. For example, the writer A. Fadeev, who shot himself, left a farewell letter on the day of his death [51]. Another explanatory nuance. A suicide will never write a dying message a few days before his voluntary passing away. This is due to the fact that such a tragic act is always carried out spontaneously, under the influence of any momentary motive. The mind of this person is not able to control a sudden extraordinary situation; it seems to him that everything in his life is bad, and no one will ever help him overcome this crisis. And then a decision is made to put an end to life. The talented Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva hanged herself; the famous theater and film actor Igor Nefyodov, who brilliantly played the role of a detective in the Soviet television film "Crime Talent", also hanged himself. The musicians Alexander Bashlachev (bard), Murat Nasyrov (A-Studio group), Igor Sorin (Ivanushki International group) stepped into the open window of a high-rise building. The remarkable actress of theater and cinema Elena Mayorova put an end to self-immolation. By the way, none of these victims left a suicide note on the day of death, because in these last minutes of their life they had no time to write it, and against the background of these mournful facts, the message of V. Mayakovsky two days before his death does not fit into the framework suicidal behavioral patterns. Nevertheless, based on the laws of dialectics, there must be a causal relationship in the actions of the poet.
    At the end of the twentieth century, his note was subjected to handwriting examination, which established, firstly, this document was really written by V. Mayakovsky, and secondly, experts suggested that, most likely at that moment in time, he was in a state of strong emotional excitement [ 9]. The author of the publication provides real confirmation of the second conclusion of forensic investigators. On April 11, 1930, V. Mayakovsky and V. Polonskaya agreed not to meet for two days (April 12 and 13) in order to finally understand their relationship using this pause [8]. In the evening of this day, the poet trite drunk in his room in apartment No. 12. On the morning of April 12, V. Mayakovsky experienced a severe hangover syndrome, which forced him to resume drinking. Alcohol caused emotional excitement, and under his influence the poet wrote this note, then put it in his pocket and forgot about it, because he again drank to unconsciousness. What is this suicide note if V. Mayakovsky did not shoot himself immediately after writing it? In this episode of tragic events, this was an ordinary posturing typical of the poet, a game of public, which included his former lover L. Brick and his last mistress V. Polonskaya (both were mentioned in the note) [6]. In a word - blackmail. The act of a mentally unbalanced person.

Conclusion


   V. Mayakovsky died as a result of an accidental shot during careless handling of a firearm while intoxicated. A note by the poet is not his dying message. This is the result of the drunken trick of the egoist. V. Mayakovsky was not going to die, definitely. He loved life, in spite of any difficulties that it created before him. Irrefutably, V. Mayakovsky was a talented poet, and as such he remains to this day. The best proof of this is the numerous reprints of his works, both in the country of collapsed socialism (USSR) and in the now prosperous states of Europe and America. And every person has any weaknesses or shortcomings, for that we and people who are sinful to one degree or another, living on this sinless planet, whose name is Earth.

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© Vasily Vladimirovich Sapozhnikov.
Snezhinsk.
June 11, 2019 - April 24, 2020.

https://ourpasttime.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_26.html