Boris Sakharovich Shumyatsky

Boris Shumyatsky (1924)

Boris Sacharowitsch Schumjazki ( Russian: Борис Захарович Шумяцкий , scientific transliteration Boris Zacharovič Šumjackij ; born November 4, 1886 in Verkhneudinsk, now Ulan-Ude ; † July 29, 1938 in Moscow ) was a Russian revolutionary and the highest Soviet film functionary from 1930 to 1937 .

Life

1886–1902: childhood and youth

Shumyatski comes from a Jewish bookbinder family from Saint Petersburg . After the murder of Tsar Alexander II by political terrorists , the right of residence for Jews was tightened and Shumyatsky's parents were forcibly resettled to Eastern Siberia. From the age of 12 Shumyatsky worked in the Chita railway workshop .

1903–1929: Bolshevik, party official and diplomat

In 1903 Shumyatsky became a member of the RSDAP - Bolsheviks . During the revolution of 1905 he led a Bolshevik combat group in the Krasnoyarsk railway workshops. After the suppression of the Krasnoyarsk uprising, Shumyatsky was arrested but soon broke out of prison and spent several years in China and Argentina.

After returning to Russia in 1913, Shumyatsky lived underground. During the revolution of 1917 he was editor of the central party organ in Petrograd and then chairman of the Siberian Soviet government in Centrosibir , chairman of the military council in the Fifth Revolutionary Army in the Mongolian People's Republic , Prime Minister of the Far Eastern Republic , plenipotentiary representative of Soviet Russia and later the Soviet Union in Tehran .

1930–1937: film politician

In November 1930 Shumyatsky became chairman of the All Union Combine of the Film and Photo Industry Soyuskino . In 1933 Sojuskino was converted into a head office of the film and photo industry GUKF and subordinated directly to the Council of People's Commissars . Shumyatski was given new powers and was now responsible for the production of film material and the import / export of films in addition to film production and distribution.

In his role as head of the entire film industry, Shumyatski pushed through the party line and took action against filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein , who were then accused of formalism . At the same time, he supported younger directors such as Grigory Alexandrow and Mikhail Romm and initiated a number of film productions, especially musical comedies, which are now considered classics of Soviet film. His motto was: " The winning class wants to laugh happily ".

As head of the entire film production of the USSR, Shumyatsky was also responsible for the nightly film screenings for Stalin and the politburo members in the Moscow Kremlin . Stalin had Soviet and foreign films shown to him on a regular basis, but not only watched finished films, but also parts of unfinished films or even individual editions of the newsreel. Shumyatsky recorded all comments and conversations by and with Stalin.

After visiting Hollywood in 1935, Shumyatsky proposed reform of the Soviet film industry. The film city of Kinograd was to be built on the Black Sea coast near Odessa or in the Crimea . In what is known as “Soviet Hollywood”, according to Schumyatski's argument, the film production that was previously scattered across the country would be concentrated in one place. Centralization and, last but not least, the favorable climatic conditions should increase the production of films. But the project turned out to be too expensive for the Soviet leadership. It was never realized.

In 1935, Shumyatsky was awarded the Order of Lenin , but the film industry reached its limits of growth by that year. Of the 130 planned films, only 45 were produced. 165 films were planned for the next year 1936 and again only 46 were completed. As a result, the target for 1937 was reduced to 62 films; only 24 feature films were actually produced.

The party press and government officials personally blamed Shumyatsky for the drop in production. His cinema grade plans were also denounced as alien to the class. During the New Year's Eve celebration in the Kremlin in 1937, an open dispute broke out between Shumyatsky and Stalin. Although the cause of the dispute was of little importance, Shumyatski's career came to an abrupt end. On 18 January 1938, he was called " enemy of the people " and alleged member of the "fascist Trotsky - Bukharin - Rykov -band" arrested "the film industry sabotage" for "political blindness" and "planned attacks on the Politburo members" condemned to death and executed .

literature

• Richard Taylor : Ideology as Mass Entertainment: Boris Shumyatsky and Soviet Cinema in the 1930s. In: Richard Taylor, Ian Christie (Eds.): Inside the Film Factory. Routledge, London 1991, ISBN 978-0-415-04951-1 .
• Boris Schumatsky: New Year's Eve with Stalin. Philo, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-8257-0098-4 .
• Eberhard Nembach: Stalin's film policy. The rebuilding of the Soviet film industry 1929 to 1938. Dissertation. University of Bonn. Gardez !, St. Augustin 2001, ISBN 3-89796-052-4 ( online , PDF file; 1.23 MB).

Web links

Commons : Boris Sakharovich Schumjatski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Boris shumyatsky in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Boris Schumatsky: Boris' dream. Story of a Russian revolutionary. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, October 25 and 26, 2017 (radio feature, audio and text online )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sojuskino in the Internet Movie Database
2. ↑ GUKF at the Internet Movie Database
3. ↑ "Cinematography for Millions", Moscow 1935: German quote in the FR of August 10, 2005 and here in Russian ( memento of the original of September 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ "Zapiski Šumjackogo" ( Memento of the original from February 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Shumyatsky's notes in Russian, dossier from the Stalin Secretariat published by the Yakovlev Fund 
5. ^ Eberhard Nembach: Stalin's film policy. The rebuilding of the Soviet film industry from 1929 to 1938. Gardez! St. Augustin 2001, p. 95 f.
6. ↑ Boris Schumatsky, “Silvester bei Stalin”, PHILO-Verlag 1999, pp. 9–11 (excerpt) cf. Larisa Rogovaja, "The grace of the highest film critic - the Soviet leadership and Sergej Eisenstein", in: Forum for Eastern European Ideas and Contemporary History, 1, 4th year / 2000