The Mystery of Olga Chekhova

Antony Beevor is primarily known as a military historian, though he's written at least one book of general non-fiction (Paris after the Liberation, with his wife Artemis Cooper as co-author). This current book is the least military of his works so far, though it stemmed from the writing of his last book, an account of the fall of Berlin to the Soviets in 1945. During the writing of that book, Beevor discovered the story of a German-Russian film actress who lived an unusual lifestyle in the aftermath of the Soviet conquest of Berlin in 1945. She was flown to her native Moscow just after the Soviet troops arrived, then returned to Berlin and lived in a palatial house, complete with car and driver, and was able to move between East and West Berlin at will. Since she was a niece of the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov, Olga Chekhova seemed a good subject for a biography, and this book is the result. Olga was born into a family of actors named Knipper. Though they lived in Moscow they were ethnic Germans, and Lutherans. Her father's sister (also confusingly named Olga) married Anton Chekhov, the great Russian novelist, and spent fifty years on the Russian stage performing plays by her husband (who died in 1904). The younger Olga was therefor a Knipper, and had aspirations to the stage, but they were discouraged by her family for some reason. As a young adult, she married another relative of Anton Chekhov's, a son of one of Chekhov's brothers. Mikhail (Michael) Chekhov was a Russian actor of some promise who played brilliantly on the stage in Moscow just before and then after the Russian revolution. Olga divorced him just at the end of the revolution, then contrived to emigrate to Germany, where she swiftly entered the film world. She lied and told everyone she had acted on the stage in Russia, and apparently no one checked. She was beautiful, and apparently had picked up some acting hints from her husband. Mikhail, by the way, emigrated from the U.S.S.R. also, and eventually wound up in the United States, where he acted in films (nominated for an Oscar in 1945) and taught what became known as method acting to a generation of American actors, from Gregory Peck to Clint Eastwood. Olga, meanwhile, worked in silent films in Germany in the early 20s. If you think about it, this was probably the only time in history when an actress could become a movie star in a foreign country when she didn't speak the language well, because since the films were silent there was no real dialog. In spite of her heritage, Chekhova didn't speak German well at all at first. By the time talkies arrived, she'd learned enough German to get by. She was a major star in the German cinema (or Kino, in German) through the thirties. She even paid a visit to Hollywood, and starred in one movie there. It's now pretty much forgotten, and she was told by studio executives that she'd have to lose 20 pounds for American tastes. Besides, the heavily-accented European-with-the-sultry-goo

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book is misnamed. Olga Chekhova was not for certain Hitler's favorite actress. There is perhaps not much of a mystery to her waiting to be solved. The book is not even a biography of Olga Chekhova exclusively. The answer to the journalistically slanted question "Was she a spy?" seems to be either a simple yes or an inconclusive no. Yes, Olga Chekhova was in contact with the Soviet Intelligence Agency. She and her family were protected, even pampered, by Soviet leaders during and after the war. But no, there is no evidence that she did any actual spying of consequence. The real spy was Olga's brother, Lev Knipper, who is as much the subject of Beevor's book as Olga. He informed on Russian emigrées and was involved in a plot of some sort in Turkey, where he was to pretend to defect. But the plot was never actualized. The book is not a spy story. The Knipper-Chekhovas did not change, or even influence, the course of history. The real achievement of Beevor's book is the way he is able to use the correspondence between Lev and Olga, their aunt Olga Knipper-Chekhova (Anton's widow) and other members of the Knipper-Chekhova family to paint vivid pictures of the most horrifying and dramatic episodes in 20th century Nazi-Soviet history, from the Russian Revolution to the fall of Berlin. The book is tantalizing, interesting and enlightening in its focus on the family: Olga senior and her niece and nephew Olga junior and Lev - a family of actors and artists who managed to survive the hardest of times by cheating, lying, posing, and pretending. A great drama might possibly be made of the material, much like Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War" or Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Goebbels, Hitler, Stalin, Berya, as well as Stanislavsky and Michael Chekhov - Olg's first husband who went on to achieve some fame in Hollywood - appear as colorful supporting characters. But Beevor does us greater service by sticking to corroborated facts and real people. He does not speculate (not much anyway) on the greater drama the facts seem to hint at. He may have been tempted to aggrandize the importance of Lev's and Olga's contributions to Soviet Intelligence as well as the realism of the plan to assassinate Hitler in which they were to have figured. Their story is however filled with colorful, dramatic set pieces: Olga senior touring Russia with "The Cherry Orchard" during the civil war, worrying about her family. Lev Knipper fighting with the White Russians and later howling with the communists. Olga junior escaping to Germany disguised as a peasant, and later flirting with Joseph Goebbels and being enraged for not being allowed to have a limousine when Goebbels declares a "total war". Family members getting drunk and searching for food in besieged Moscow. Lev Knipper in a German war prisoner's camp, surprising the guards by speaking perfect German. One can easily see the story dramatized. Unlike Scarlett O'Hara, however, Olga Chek

People are disappointed that Antony Beevor isn't writing some super huge history of war like his previous book on Stalingrad. I say, cut him some slack. The book contrasts the lives and characters of two women with confusingly simnilar names. One was Olga, the widow of Anton Chekhov, who created roles in the original Moscow Art Theater productions of his plays (at the turn of the century) such as The CHERRY ORCHARD. The other was her niece, who turned her back on the theater and fled to Berlin, where she became a protege of Erich Pommer and then of Josef Goebbels, the minister of culture who had a weakness for bigger-than-life actresses. This catapulted the younger Olga into Hitler's circle (though hardly into his inner circle as the jacket copy hints) and when she got there, she began sending coded dispatches to the Russian version of the CIA, the secret intelligence corps. The only mis-statement that Beevor is guilty of nothing more than a bit overstatement--when he calls Olga Chekhova Hitler's Favorite Actress. That's just publisher's hype. Beevor must know that she was only one of the beautifukl women Hitler liked having around. Think of the way that Leni Riefenstahl as treated by Hitler--she was one he liked more than Olga, or so I believe. Contrary to other reviewers, i think that Beevor might actually have viewed more of Chekhova's films (and those of Michael Chekhov, her opposite number in the USA) and talked more about her acting. For all the wartime prominence of the UFA film stars, they might as well be forgotten today in film history circles, and indeed she starred in some of the greatest films of the 1930s and 1940s, they're just not readily seen today because of that Nazi taint.

Anthony Beevor's "Mystery of Olga Chekhova" is a fascinating book. Beevor has taken a little known episode in Soviet (and German) history and managed to create a book that reads more like a novel. As I read "Olga" I was constantly reminded of the noir-like novels of Alan Furst, whose tales of Soviet espionage and counter-espionage center on tales of similar acts of espionage taken on by Russian and other East European émigrés in the 1930's and 1940's. "Olga" is about the life of one "Olga Chekhova and her family. A niece, by marriage, of the great Anton Chekhov, Olga left the Soviet Union under mysterious circumstances to pursue an acting career in Berlin. Olga's family, mostly actors and musicians stayed behind. Olga went on to become a famous film star in Germany and was highly regarded by Hitler, Goering, Goebels, and the rest of the Nazi leadership. She married a Luftwaffe pilot (later killed in action) and performed for the troops during the war. In the meantime, her family continued to thrive in the USSR. This alone was a remarkable and mysterious achievement when one considers the fact that the families of so-called enemies of the state generally suffered far worse. The question addressed by Beevor is simple: Was Olga a Soviet spy and, if so, what did she do and how did she do it? Beevor traces Olga's life and her relationship with the Chekov family. His descriptions of Russian and Soviet Theater, particularly his overview of the family's relationship with Stanislavski and the Bohemian and lurid life-style common to the period are particularly interesting. Given the nature of the book and novel-like story line I think it would be inappropriate to reveal much in the way of details. Unlike Beevor's other works, such as Stalingrad, the events and final outcome of the story are not well known and it would be unfair to spoil the story. Needless to say, the story of Olga Chekhova is fascinating. Last, this book is something of a departure for Beevor. Previously, he has focused on grand events, Stalingrad, the Fall of Berlin, and the Spanish Civil War. Here he covers less familiar and far more intimate ground. Despite the fact that Beevor cannot answer all the questions he raises in "Olga" he carries off this micro-history with aplomb. His writing style is not overly academic and the book is accessible to any reader. Further, Beevor sets out sufficient general background information such that the reader does not need to have a background in Russian or German history in order to make the book enjoyable. Beevor has done an excellent job and I think "Olga" is well worth reading.