The daughter of the devil
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The Daughter of the Devil is a historical romance novel by Heinz G. Konsalik from 1967 (new edition: Heyne-Verlag 1971 and 1987), which is set in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and tells the fate of a fictional daughter of the miracle healer Grigori Yefimowitsch Rasputin . The book was originally conceived as a serial novel for a magazine.
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First part
The traveling preacher Rasputin impregnated the noble Helena Voronzowa in 1897 in Tobolsk , Oblast , Siberia , and she gave birth to her daughter Nadja. She tells authorities that the child was conceived while she was sleeping and that she has no father. Meanwhile, Rasputin travels on through the country and struggles with miraculous healing and the "laying on of hands". The simple life of a traveling preacher in the provinces, who is on a social level similar to that of a muschik and serf, is initially extremely meager and full of privation. In the meantime, however, the magician Rasputin, who dresses like a beggar, has become known nationwide. He preaches and takes confession from the peasants, especially the peasant women. Rumors about his sexual excesses (numerous love affairs up to rape ), but on the other hand also about inexplicable miracles are spreading. You meet him sometimes with great awe, but sometimes also like a demon . After six years of absence, he lives again at Helena's court and takes care of his daughter Nadja. A local priest wants to expose Rasputin as a charlatan who is already wanted as a criminal in various areas of Russia. But the faith healer succeeds in convincing the crowd of his supernatural abilities by getting the village idiot Kustja to lie down naked in the snow and survive temperatures of −34 ° C unscathed for an hour.
On July 30, 1904, the heir to the throne Alexei Nikolayevich Romanov was born in Saint Petersburg to the great cheer of the people . A little later he suffers a dangerous umbilical hemorrhage. The tsarina is desperate and invites numerous doctors and faith healers to help her son. But nobody can do anything against the life-threatening hemophilia . In the end, the bleeding can still be stopped.
In 1907 the Tsarevich had another life-threatening bleeding and on October 7th, out of sheer desperation, Rasputin, the faith healer and pilgrim father, was sent to St. Petersburg. Against her mother's will, the faith healer takes his daughter there. In a magical miracle cure, he succeeds in saving the Tsarevich, whom he tenderly calls "Aljoscha".
Tsar Nicholas II welcomed him, whom they call Father Grigori, the starets from Siberia, at court out of gratitude. Rasputin is patronized by the tsarina with whom he is having an affair and is constantly receiving more power and privileges. He arranges for his illegitimate daughter Nadja to be allowed to live at the Tsar's court and to grow up with her daughters. Her mother Helena, who at times suffered from severe pneumonia , no longer hears from them. There are only vicious rumors that tell of the miracle healings on the one hand, but also of rapes and the dissolute lifestyle of their former lover on the other. However, Helena does not want to admit it. Rasputin had promised her to make up for it, but broke that promise again. So now, a year later, she wants to look for her daughter in St. Petersburg. Their travel plans are interrupted for a long time, however, because a snowstorm from the taiga snowed in their village Podunskoje. When the sky finally clears up, she begins her dangerous journey across the icy Tobol River . However, the sledge is surprised by a starved wolf pack that cruelly kills all three travelers. Rasputin is dismayed at the death of beautiful Helena, whom he loved very much. His daughter now lives in the palace of Prince Petrovich, in the summer resort of Tsarskoye Selo and in the Neva Winter Palace in a kind of "golden cage". She learns nothing of his father's orgies. Just as little of the events in Russia and the reprisals of the Ochrana secret police.
Nadja, who has turned into a very attractive girl over the years, falls in love with the young and good-looking guard officer Nikolai after he saves her at the last minute from the pursuits of the two noblemen Tichon and Janis. The two tried to rape Nadja in public, but got away with a complaint because of her nobility. While Nadia's first court ball New Year's Eve 1913 / 1914 Nadja and Nikolai admit each other's love. Rasputin, who unexpectedly visits her one night, strictly rejects his daughter's connection with an officer. Her father enjoys the favor of the Tsarist house, but because of his debauchery and his inappropriate lifestyle, he turned the Petersburg nobility against him. There was a debate between Guryev and Rasputin. Guryev thinks it is Russia's misfortune. He also doubts the miracle healer's fatherhood. He would like to marry Nadja under the patronage of the Tsarina. A fight ensues between the two, but it does not escalate any further.
Furious, Captain Gurjew disappears. On the way he meets the assassin Genjka, a mad monk who wants to ally with him in order to exterminate the entire Rasputin family. Guryev is horrified and throws him out of the sledge. Nadja, on the other hand, hadn't heard of her father's discussion with her lover, she only suspected that something must have happened between the two of them. Vyborovna takes Nadja back to the Tsarskoye Selo palace, where she has to spend most of her remaining time in isolation. Then she learns that Captain Guryev has been transferred to an unknown destination.
Meanwhile in Siberia there are revolts of the discontented population, which are bloodily suppressed by the Cossacks . The decadent and extravagant opulence of the Petersburg nobility stands in stark contrast to the abject poverty in large parts of Russia. After the assassination attempt in Sarajevo , Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolajewitsch is planning a war against the German Empire . Rasputin's appeal against war and the associated disaster for Mother Russia is ignored. Hence the decision is made that Rasputin must be eliminated. Monk priest Iliodorus and Bishop Hermogen are charged with this. The deed was carried out on June 28, 1914 in his home village of Pokrovskoye. While handing over a letter from the Tsarina, Rasputin is seriously injured in the abdomen by a beggar woman with a deep stab in the back, but he survives. At the bedside he writes a letter to the tsar in which he warns of the war with Germany . The fighting begins on August 1, 1914 between the armies Rennenkampf and Samsonow in the East Prussian Masuria .
Anna Wyrobowa and a part of the female court want to say goodbye to the departing troops with flowers at the Baltic Railway Station (Baltiski Woksal) in St. Petersburg. Nadja recognizes her lover Guryev in one of the wagons, who now has to go to the front immediately. There is no time for another farewell scene. She later learns that he was missing at the Battle of Tannenberg .
Rasputin stayed in St. Petersburg again in mid-September 1914, which is now Petrograd . In the winter of 1916, the First World War had already had catastrophic effects in Russia and the starved people shortly before the rebellion. Rasputin does not stop calling for peace with Germany.
On December 16, 1916, Rasputin wanted to hear confession from the Tsar's niece, Grand Duchess Irene Alexandrovna, the wife of Prince Yusupoff, at midnight. Irene Alexandrovna is considered the most beautiful woman in Russia. Plagued by a dark premonition, he writes letters to his legitimate (Maria and Varvara) and illegitimate daughters (Nadja). Rasputin is poisoned by a group of conspirators around Prince Jussupoff with pieces of cyanide and Madeira wine. But the poison works much slowly and the faith healer is still able to dance. Then finally Yusupov shoots Rasputin into the heart chamber. But he's still alive. In the end, the conspirators join forces to shoot and beat him to death. His disfigured body is sunk in an ice hole in the Nevka, under the Petropavlovsk Bridge.
His body will not be found until December 19th. Then the corpse disappears to a secret location. Nadja receives a large amount of cash and precious stones from the Tsar as a token of thanks for the deeds of her deceased father. The news of Rasputin's death and the lost battles increase the resistance of the people. First, food prices rise sharply. Farmers operate illegal stockpiling until they are tortured by Cossacks and forced to release their stocks.
On February 18, 1917, a large crowd gathers in Petrograd. There are serious riots. Cossacks who are called to help do not take action against the people, but ally with them. There are work stoppages at the Putilov works. A general strike is called. Around 80,000 workers take to the streets and the number is increasing every hour. On February 25, 1917, revolutionary militias penetrated Vyrobova's house and confiscated everything in the “name of the people”. On the night of March 2nd to 3rd, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated because the pressure on the street had become too great. You are being placed under house arrest in Tsarskoye Selo.
On March 23, 1917, militias track down Rasputin's daughter, accuse her of being “the devil's daughter” and kidnap her. Before that, she is allowed to pack a suitcase and take the essentials with her. In the seams of her clothes are the valuables that she received from the tsar. In order to intimidate her, the militiamen threatened to rape her in the first forest. She is brought to Tsarskoye Selo. Nadja witnesses how Rasputin's coffin is opened and she measures his penis as a sign of his fabulous masculinity. Then the corpse is disfigured and desecrated by the mob. In a clearing in the forest, Nadja is forced to light the pyre on which her dead father is tied. Then Nadja is brought back to Petrograd.
On March 25th, Nadja is forced to scatter her father's ashes on the icy Nevsky Prospect . It is spared from further reprisals for the time being, as it is supposed to serve propaganda . The linen weaver Leontij Abramowitsch Rutschkin, a revolutionary from the very beginning, is charged with bringing up Rasputin's nineteen-year-old daughter in the spirit of the new communism. From now on she sells roasted chestnuts on the street and feeds on shchi - cabbage soup . Then Nadja meets Nikolai Gurtjew. He tells her that he had been wounded near Tannenberg and had been in a hospital in the Crimea for a long time . Nadja reveals to him that she is now “the property of the Revolutionary Council”. Nikolai is now also forced to wear the red armband of the communists - but still feels obliged to the tsar. Nikolai Gurjew and Nadja Grigoryevna married on August 15, 1917. You spend the wedding night in a lonely forest hut. She tells Nikolai that her wedding present is the small fortune that the Tsar and Tsarina had bequeathed to her. Nikolai wants to use the funds to free the tsar. They go to Podunskoje to sell Nadja's mother's house and to generate further funds. In the meantime, a certain Janis Antonowitsch Skamejkin has usurped the manor house and pretends to be a legitimate family member and heir. Nadja has no claims on her mother's possessions as she is just an "illegitimate bastard". Then Nadja and Nikolai appear and register their claims, which are fully recognized by the authorities. Only Janis defends herself. Thereupon Nikolai beats him with the riding whip and is thrown out of the house. Later there is a duel between Nikolai and Janis in the forest. Nikolai is not prepared to let an attempted murder on an officer of the revolutionary army go with impunity and knocks his opponent unconscious. Janis Antonowitsch Skamejkin is never seen again.
The royal family is deported to Tobolsk. Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, moderate revolutionist, treats them well and even lets the tsar receive a visit. The situation changes when a Bolshevik soldiers' council takes power there. A bloody civil war between moderate revolutionaries and extremist Bolsheviks under Lenin has long since broken out. Nikolai disguises himself as a mean pussy and sets off for Tobolsk, while Nadja continues to negotiate the price of the mansion with potential buyers. Disguised as a nun , Nikolai is given an audience with the Tsar. He submits an adventurous escape plan to the tsar, but the latter refuses because he is still hoping for asylum in England . Thereupon Nikolai and some of his allies plan to kidnap the tsarist family against their will. Nadja Grigoryevna is out of luck selling her property as everyone expects prices to fall in the very near future. There is also the risk of expropriation .
On October 25 and 26, 1917, the second revolution took place, which was far more violent than the first. From now on, the property of the nobles becomes public property. Even the tsar in Tobolsk is treated like a common prisoner. Nadja is pregnant by Nikolai and wants a girl who doesn't have to go to war. On April 26, 1918, the royal family is to be brought to Yekaterinburg in the Urals . The loyal Nikolai travels after him despite Nadja's desperate protest. The country is torn by the white and red armies , which are bitterly fighting each other. Nikolai was arrested during his liberation operation and on July 15, 1918 the tsarist family was shot dead by a Cheka firing squad in the Villa Ipatieff.
Nadja is now waiting in vain for Nikolai. She later learns that he is in prison in Tyumen . Against all reason, Nadja rides to Tyumen and asks Commander Washa Vladimirovich Minajew for mercy for her husband. She shows him her pregnancy belly and wants to bribe him with precious stones. Finally Minajew agrees that Nadja can get her Nikolai out of the dungeon. She recognizes her severely abused husband in the midst of a group of prisoners who is tortured again. Then you let him go. Nadja explains to her broken husband that although Minajew took the gems, she didn't have to be to his will. Nikolai and Nadja find poor accommodation with a resettled farming family of Ignat Ivanovich Dronow on the outskirts of Tyumen. Nadja takes care of her Nikolai. She plans to return to Podunskoye as soon as the political situation allows. Nikolai, on the other hand, would prefer to leave the country by sea or seek refuge with the White Armies under Anton Ivanovich Denikin in the south of the country. He takes no account of the fate of his heavily pregnant wife. But patriotism does not deter Nikolai from joining Denikin. He still feels like a proud officer and is not ready to live an unworthy life as a muschik. Nadja, as the daughter of one of the unlucky ones in Russia, feels guilty and ultimately gives in to her husband's will.
Admiral Wladimir Wasiljewitsch Kolchak visits the execution site of the tsarist family in Yekaterinburg and swears cruel revenge on the Bolsheviks. Then he meets Genjka, the monk. The latter has meanwhile switched sides and is now accusing a group of officers of being traitors and guilty of the murder of the Tsar. As the main ringleader, he names Nikolai Georgievich Guryev, the only one who has survived so far. Genjka further reveals that Guryev is near Tyumen with Rasputin's daughter. Shortly thereafter, a profile was sent out to all White Forces to look for the traitor and his "whore".
Nikolai and Nadja set out in a horse-drawn carriage through the steppes of Kazakhstan . Depending on the situation, you have red and white armbands with you. After they were given shelter by a farmer, they were taken into custody by a company of Red Army soldiers, led by the German Rittmeister Fritz Bencken, who were going into the next battle. Nikolai and Nadja have to follow. The Red Army soldiers have to hide themselves in order to defend themselves against the attack of the whites. They can destroy three waves until the fourth one approaches in depth, against which they have no chance. A fight breaks out between Gurjew and Bencken. Bencken dies and Nikolai runs to his Nadja.
Nikolai wakes up again and sees himself as the prisoner of the whites under Captain Sergei Kubulai, who want to execute him and Nadja on the spot because he is an officer of the tsar who has obviously defected to the Red Army. When the situation seems hopeless, Nadja Kubulai reveals that she is Rasputin's daughter. Kubulai remembers an encounter with Rasputin, the gift of the icon of Parasheva and the prophecy he made to him. The two are pardoned. Then the other surviving Red Army soldiers are executed. Nikolai protests violently, but for Kubulai it is the simple law of the steppe not to let the conquered live. Kubulai has the two escorted to Kurgan station. From there it should go on to Omsk , where Kolchak should decide on her future fate. Little does Nikolai suspect that Kolchak sentenced him to death in absentia for tsarist murder. Nikolai and Nadja are arrested by a Belarusian captain at the train station. He is to be handed over to the military tribunal in Omsk. During the journey, Nadja succeeds in bribing Sergeant Posnakov, who is guarding her, with more precious stones so that he enables her to escape from the car.
During an unplanned stop - Red Army soldiers blocked the route with tree trunks - the escape succeeds. In a forest settlement in Buryats they get civilian clothes. Nikolai cannot part with his uniform and continues to carry it with him. Then they wait for days at a tiny train station for the Trans-Siberia Express, which is supposed to take them to Vladivostok . Because of their wild and uncivilized appearance, however, the lovers only come between the breeding goats in the baggage cart.
After three weeks they reach Vladivostok. For both of them, the port city is the gateway to freedom. You will initially be accommodated in a cheap pension. This is in the immediate vicinity of a hospital, as the heavily pregnant Nadja can give birth at any time. Nikolai hangs around the quays and gets to know American tourists. He can sell more gemstones for a very good price and immediately exchange the ruble for the strong currency dollar . But it helps them to pay for the bed in the delivery room in advance. The child was born on the night of November 15, 1918. It is a girl and is called Helena like her grandmother. On November 18, 1918, Admiral Kolchak announced the end of the Bolshevik revolution in Omsk and proclaimed himself the "regent of the anti-Bolshevik government of Siberia". Captain Guryev sees this as a signal to rejoin the White Army. General Karzanov, however, sticks to the old allegations. The death sentence is not carried out, but forced labor for life. Nikolai has to hand over the uniform and from now on is no longer seen as a person, but only as a worker.
Nadja looks for Nikolai again and entrusts her child to a neighbor for a fee. Then she seeks out Commandant Karzanov, whom she knows from her time in Petersburg. He agrees to forward a petition to Kolchak, but Guryev is deported and used for forced labor in track construction. The chained Nikolai is to be transported from the Ivanovna camp to his destination. Nadja receives permission to follow the prisoner transport on foot, pulling a sledge behind her, through ice and snowstorms, over steppes and rocky mountains to Usk-Tschenaja. The commander is impressed by her willpower and finally allows her to accompany the officers on watch in a troika . In Khabarovsk 400 prisoners are to be loaded and then contacted with the train to Chita. On the border with Manchuria there is a dispute with mounted Mongolian robbers. Nadja lights the tails of horses, which then run in panic directly against the Mongols. The troika that these horses drag behind them is filled with explosives that blast its way through the phalanx of the Mongols. The plan works and there is a huge explosion. Colonel Sinjew kisses Nadja out of gratitude and confesses his love to her, and she demands that he release Nikolai. The latter refuses, but promises to have a good word with the general. The entourage reaches Khabarovsk. Sinyev proposes in a letter to Admiral Kolchak that Guryev be pardoned and that he be given a piece of land in Siberia. Nadja doesn't want mercy, she demands justice. You set off into the wilderness, to the Ust-Tschenaja wood loading area. The train continues to Chita in Transbaikalia , the large transfer station, and then to Irkutsk .
Nadja and Sinjew are received by General Ryschikow, the commander of the prison camp. Nadja remembers Ryschikow when the soldiers left Petersburg to go to the Battle of Tannenberg. Once again she protests that her lover was innocent in the murder of the tsarist family. Ryschikov informs the brave woman that Admiral Kolchak had allowed her to live with Nikolai in a small hut in Siberian exile. He also reveals to her that the wives of exiles would not enjoy any state protection status. Nadja becomes Gurjewa, the convict woman without rights. She stoically endures all the hardships that have been placed on her, only to see and love her husband again and again for a brief moment. After the political situation changes in distant Moscow , General Ryschikov finally acquits Nikolai and Nadja. Nikolai gets his old post back as guard captain. The two can finally return to their child in Vladivostok. However, the Bolsheviks cut all transport links and the only way is on foot.
The traitor Genjka becomes active again and pays a group of Buryats to kidnap Nadja and Nikolei, who are marching lonely through the wilderness. However, the lovers manage to escape their captors. Then after a long journey they arrive in Vladivostok. They immediately go to the tailor where they left their child. According to current newspaper reports, the situation for those who were loyal to the Tsar has worsened dramatically after the Communists' victory run and they all have to fear for their lives. Nikolai and Nadja consider for a long time whether they have the strength and the courage to leave their beloved Russia forever. They meet Aaron Prokopowitsch Bubka, who, again by paying with diamonds , enables them the very last passage on an American ship "George London". The city is besieged by the Red Army and at that very moment the ship casts off. You will be given the cabin of Countess Schemanowsky, who had a heart attack during the Bolshevik bombing. Possible destinations are Genoa or Marseille . Little did they suspect that the crazy monk Genjka, who is still trying to kill them, the " antichrists ", is on board. His “holy mission”, which he swore to himself at the time, is to completely exterminate the Rasputin family. In his religious madness he is deeply convinced that he received this killing order directly from God. When the ship goes ashore near Aden , Genjka tries to stab Nadja. However, Guryev intercepts the blow with his body and dies in the process. The assassin himself jumps into the sea. Gurjev's body is buried in the Red Sea . Nadja goes ashore with her daughter in France .
Second part
Nadja now lives in Paris and uses her stage name “La Russe” (French for “The Russian Woman”). She dances as a foreign attraction in a show at the famous Moulin Rouge of Montmartre . She is mysterious, extremely desirable and is considered the most beautiful woman in Paris. With that she turned the heads of all men. Gérard Cassini is also crazy about her, desperately wants to get to know her and secretly follows her to her apartment. The daughter of "La Russe" alias Nadja Gurjewa is ill and is cared for by her mother. Cassini gains access to her apartment and introduces himself as a cavalier. He gives her red roses and is ready to spend a fortune on her. Nadja fends off the intrusive admirer and beats him with a riding whip. Dr. Rampal, the doctor, attests that little Helena is seriously ill. He still suspects her to have appendicitis. When the child's condition worsens, they are immediately taken to the hospital.
In the provinces, a country doctor rang out of bed in the middle of the night. A stranger asked him to have an appendix operation on a lock. He receives these instructions over a telephone. Since the doctor is highly indebted, he accepts this unusual request.
The Moulin Rouge is back to dancing and celebrating. Despite the global economic crisis, the top ten thousand celebrate the victory they have won. Shortly before “La Russe” is due to perform, she receives shocking news that her daughter has been taken to an unknown location. She lets police officers into her apartment under the direction of Detective Boité so that they can secure evidence there. Fingerprints and the routine phone calls to the surrounding hospitals do not provide any new information. Nadja tells Boité that she does not have large amounts of cash to raise money. Only a pearl necklace and two rubies as a gift from the tsarina. Kidnapping a terminally ill child makes no sense at all. Helena will die if her appendix is not operated on by midnight at the latest.
Nadja Gurjewa waited several days in her apartment for a message from the kidnappers. Suddenly a mysterious call comes in that can be traced back to a phone booth on Boulevard Haussmann. A messenger then sends her a written instruction to be in front of the “Auberge St. Denis” bar at a certain time, without the police, in order to make another call from a telephone booth. She agrees to meet the man on the phone, who calls himself "Jaques", to get into a black car alone on the Bois de Boulogne , which is supposed to bring her to her daughter. Nadja puts on make-up, puts on a tight, seductive dress and lets her chauffeur Saparin, another Russian exile, take her to the meeting point. She has a pistol in her handbag. Saparin should follow the car. But it does not come to that because he is incapacitated by a stranger.
Blindfolded, Nadja is taken to an unknown location. It is her admirer who is consumed with ardent desire for her. Nadja tries to bribe him, but it fails. Then she threatens him with the gun to release her daughter. The strange man assures her that Helena's appendix has been removed and that she is fine. He doesn't want her to be thankful for it, just her love. Nadja is horrified and offended, she feels like a prostitute whose body has been turned into a commodity. Then she is allowed to call Helena to find out that the stranger is telling the truth. As a price, she has to be willing to the man who continues to disguise himself with a face mask. She feels terrible remorse towards her deceased Nikolai when it comes to forced sexual intercourse .
After this “night of hell” as she feels it, she feels both desecrated and “desecrated”. But she had only done it for her daughter. In the end, she wakes up on a park bench in the Bois de Boulogne. The certainty of not being able to be with Helena tears her to pieces. Your sacrifice seems to have been in vain. That experience changes her personality and she is no longer the same as after that act. In the “Moulin Rouge” she thinks she recognizes her tormentor by means of his double ring, a signet ring and a ruby ring. She believes it is her stubborn admirer Cassini. Her chauffeur advises her to get involved with the older Jean Gabriel, a banker . He was almost as rich and powerful as Cassini, and after that the stalking by her daughter's kidnapper might subside. At least he's kissed her before and she kissed her back. Gabriel is determined to marry the beautiful Russian woman so that his life can come to a worthy end and that she is protected forever by a generous inheritance. As a token of his love, he gives her a very precious necklace. Nadja evades his solicitation to take her as his wife. She asks him to be patient, as she cannot put off her feelings for her deceased husband.
Inspector Boité appears and asks Nadja to identify three girls who drowned in the Seine . Helena may be among them. The inquest is an ordeal for the tormented mother. The third girl wears the same shoes and the same dress as her Helena, but the face belongs to another child. As a result, Nadja suffers a nervous breakdown. Jean Gabriel takes care of them personally on his private estate. Nadja is grateful to Jean, but feels totally empty inside. Gabriel wants to go to one of his country estates with her, but she insists on staying in Paris near her missing daughter. Soon afterwards she receives another sealed letter, which says that she should not marry Gabriel. This is against their wild nature. Helena is a kind of pledge that she keeps coming back to her admirer. She should go back to the Bois de Boulogne to see her daughter again.
Gabriel also does his own research and comes to the conclusion that the kidnapper can only be his friend Gérard Cassini. He wants to visit him on his estate in Versailles and confront him. The petrol runs out on the way there and Gabriel has to spend the night in the “Auberge des Gardes” hostel. There he meets the drunk Dr. Nicola, who reacts unusually hostile at the mention of the name Cassini. Gabriel feels that he is on the right track. Then Dr. Nicola that he operated on Helena on her appendix. The banker takes this as an opportunity to introduce Dr. To smuggle Nicola into Cassinis Castle in his car and with her a group of other men who are supposed to free the girl there. In return, the doctor receives a sum of 50,000 francs via check payment , which is unlocked as soon as the girl is saved. The plan succeeds and the overjoyed mother gets her child back near the Pont St. Michel.
Two weeks later, Gabriel gives a lavish party. “La Russe” will be shown for the first time without a mask. In addition, the beautiful Russian is to be introduced to fine Parisian society. Your artist contract in the "Moulin Rouge" is canceled by Gabriel by paying a contractual penalty. Cassini also appears at the ball. A handsome man appears who looks just like Nikolai Guryev. His name is René Stanislas and he is an excellent waltz dancer. Meanwhile, Gabriel, on behalf of his bank, announces Cassini's participation in the development of northern Algeria in order to severely damage it economically. Then Cassini throws him the open gauntlet too. René Stanislas reveals to Nadja that he is also Russian and knows interns from the court at the time. Stanislas, or Russian Stanislasky, absolutely wants to meet Nadja because he wants to find out more about her father Rasputin. The host feels that he has got a youthful rival and feels strong jealousy . Nadja meets with Stanislas in the Tuileries Park . She is torn inside, because on the one hand she feels eternal gratitude towards Jean, but on the other hand she feels magically attracted to René. Saparin advises her to turn to Stanislas and follow her heart . He was the heir to a multi-million dollar shipping company and, unlike Jean, she truly loved him. During the rendez-vous with René, she likes the fact that Jean is said to have been away for three days. Nadja and René kiss and make love. A short time later both are already talking about a wedding . Her new lover takes her to his villa on Boulevard Anatole France, in the immediate vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne. René promises her the blue of the sky. The fact that Nadja is a Russian émigré, an impoverished dancer in a notorious establishment and that she was Cassini and Gabriel’s mistress for one night doesn’t bother René. He promises to talk to Gabriel like an honorable gentleman and to settle the matter.
Then Nadja does not return to Gabriel's house. Contrary to the sharp protests of her chauffeur, she would also like to return the sinfully expensive jewelry. Jean leaves her a suicide note. In it she asks his forgiveness and he may grant her happiness with René. Then he rushes to Stanislas. He feels superior to the older banker because he is twenty years younger. René continues to provoke Jean by telling him that they will get married in three weeks and how often he loves Nadja, which results in a sharp reaction from the older man. Nadja is like a "hot wind over the steppe" and Jean is not able to satisfy her and love her the way she deserves. Gabriel insults and insults Stanislas, because he hopes that he will challenge himself to satisfaction, a duel between the two rivals. Stanislas swallows his annoyance and does not allow himself to be provoked. In the end, the two opponents still agree to a duel with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne, which should take place in a week. After Gabriel disappears, Stanisla doubts himself whether he is even capable of such a duel. Then he decides to use the remaining time to be taught how to shoot by General de Polignon, a friend from the bowling club.
Nadja is waiting for her lover in her festively decorated apartment on Avenue de New York. Bouquets of red roses are brought to the hostess within short intervals . She, on the other hand, has uncovered delicacies and prepared the bedroom for an intoxicating night of love. Stanislav appears, the two of them go straight to the bedroom, where he undresses his beloved without further ado and lets them sprinkle rose petals. After the sexual act, exhausted and happy Nadja keeps mumbling that René will be her husband from now on. He looks at the sleeping woman and decides that she is worth fighting for over her. His shooting lesson begins the next morning. In the meantime, Stanisla's villa is being prepared for Nadja and Helena to move in.
Jean Gabriel goes out to Chaville to meet Gérard Cassini. This time they have in common that Nadja has left both of them. But Gabriel sees it completely differently, wants to punish his former opponent for his kidnapping and makes it clear to Cassini that his bank now belongs to him and that he has ruined him financially. As an alternative, Gabriel Cassini offers to become director of one of his banks in North Africa or to move to another country with his few remaining millions.
The duel between Gabriel and Stanislas takes place on an early summer morning. In the meantime, Nadja is riding through the forest nearby. A duel doctor and two secondary assistants accompany the two. Saparin informs Nadja at the last second that she should go to the two duelists as soon as possible. The duel is accompanied by a strict protocol and takes an unusually long time. Then finally the two are in shooting position. Stanislas, the offended one, is allowed to fire the first shot, but he misses. When Nadja finally arrives, Gabriel has already fatally hit Stanislas in the chest. Gabriel is now feeling Nadja's wild hatred . She beats up the older man. But Stanislav is not dead yet. His bleeding body is carried into the kitchen of his house. He can no longer be transported, but has to be operated on immediately. Professor Podolskij is brought in to rescue René in an emergency operation. Nadja recognizes him as the Cossack Sergej Kubulai. But even he can no longer save him. The patient dies of internal bleeding. Since duels are forbidden by law in France and the winner can be charged as a murderer, the death certificate should be issued for a hunting accident or suicide. Podolskij alias Kubulai reminds Nadja of being a "Rasputina" who cannot escape her fate.
The funeral of René becomes a difficult trial for Nadja, because the Stanislas family, just as they had expected, look at her like a cheap whore . They want to give her 10,000 francs as compensation, which she angrily rejects. Then she argued with them about the ownership of the villa, which Nadja considers to be her rightful property . She can show a deed of gift as proof . The father Marcel Stanislas still sees her as a prostitute for sale and he offers to refer her to his friends. Nadja makes this statement beside herself with anger. Finally, she has her future father-in-law kicked out by Boris Mikhailovich Saparin. A little later, Marcel's lawyers challenged the will , which made Nadja the sole heir to over six million francs. During the Orthodox church services, collections are made among the Russian emigrants in order to generate enough money for the trial. The other side wins because it argues with sexual bondage and madness . In the end, the will is declared invalid and Nadja gets nothing.
She now sees it as her family's curse. She only loved twice in her life and both times it was fatal. Finally she moves back to her old apartment on Avenue de New York. In October, Nadja and Helena visit the Orlando circus. She had previously received a donation of 20,000 francs from a stranger, which stabilized her economic situation again. In addition, she receives further financial benefits every week. She invests the money in a taxi and becomes the first female taxi driver in Paris. She can refuse a lucrative engagement in the “Moulin Rouge”. She replies by saying that her body is hers alone. During the lion dressage at the Orlando Circus, an incident occurs in which the tamer Frank Castor finds himself in a life-threatening situation for a short time, which he is however able to master. Then Nadja and Frank start a conversation. Frank admires her "predatory eyes" and Nadja reveals to him that she is Rasputin's daughter. The German Castor gets Nadja to go alone in a cage of lions . The predators do nothing to her, as they are under a spell from her gaze. Nadja begins to enjoy it and now goes to the circus every day. She falls in love with Frank Castor, although she initially felt a strong dislike for Russia's old enemy. The two now also spend the nights together. Castor tells her that in spring they will leave their winter quarters in Europe and go to America.
Boris Michailowitsch Saparin is appalled that a girl who once lived at the court of the tsar now wants to become a lion tamer and sees this as a social decline. He also confesses his love to her, but she just wants to keep him as a very good friend, because for her he primarily represents old Russia and its values. Boris is unhappy in Paris and longs for his beloved “Mother Russia” and the “endless expanse of his landscapes”. Nadja is now practicing more intensively with the lions and developing a very special relationship with the animals. The ringmaster is looking for a "world sensation" to make the event even more attractive. He wants Nadja to put her head in the throat of a lion when her salary is doubled , which Castor initially vehemently rejects, but then ultimately agrees with it.
Saparin, who wants to protect Nadja in the USA and therefore wants to emigrate with him, falls ill one day. Dr. Rampal therefore seeks him out. In conversation with him, he explains that he wants to make a living there at the Orlando Circus as a Russian horse rider (stage name "Boris the last Cossack"). Gabriel, the most powerful banker alongside Rothschild and Oppenheimer , has now withdrawn from day-to-day business and lives on one of his estates. His former adversary Cassini was forced to accept the position of bank director in Zurich . He's still having Nadja watched by a paid private detective. Saparin visits him on his property and tells him that Nadja wants to emigrate to the USA. He asks Gabriel, who he knows is the stranger who regularly transfers sums of money to his girlfriend to advise whether the new couple can still be prevented from leaving. Saparin wants Gabriel to fight for Nadja again because, in his opinion, he is the only right man for her. They travel to Paris together, but Nadja still hates Gabriel and does not want to see him.
Finally, the circus troupe shipped from Le Havre on their overseas voyage. Nadja, Frank and Boris are there. In the event of a severe storm at sea, the lions are released from their cages. Panic breaks out among the crew. But Nadja can catch them again. After a long crossing the ship finally docks in New York and for the newcomers it is like a fairy tale . The first performance is due, which is viewed with suspicion by the local competition. A fire breaks out in the elephant tent . Nadja can save her daughter from the flames at the last second. Helena is burned, but survives, but a large part of the circus, including many of its animals, is destroyed in the fire. Only the lions miraculously survive. The police assume arson . The ringmaster is ruined and goes out of business.
Castor receives a badly paid offer from a variety theater in Dallas to continue his lion act there. Selling some Lions will only improve their liquidity for a brief moment. Count Saparin temporarily separates from the two. Nadja and Castor roam all of Texas with their lions, which are not fed much for cost reasons, and fight their way through life. You are suffering from the general economic crisis . Castor remorse that he is to blame for their miserable life. Then the day comes when they are no longer able to get food for their animals. Frank sneaks up to the animals unnoticed and wants to shoot himself in the cage so they can eat him. Nadja can prevent this at the last second and is ready to dance naked between the lions out of sheer desperation. A new sensation in the show world, from which they expect good income.
Saparin, who has meanwhile become a traveling faith healer, unexpectedly turns up with his horse at Frank and Nadja's in Dallas. All three are deeply depressed about what America has made of them. Saparin has saved US $ 2,000 and wants to go back to Europe with everyone. A Russian could live in St. Petersburg or Paris, but never in the USA. But before that, Nadja has to dance her variety show, which is still lightly dressed. The manager promises her USD 100 per gig with the chance to appear on Broadway soon . Saparin, on the other hand, sees the return plans jeopardized by the prospect of making good money here. Nevertheless, he is already buying the boat tickets for everyone. Nadja and Frank perform the dress rehearsal for their new number. Ali the lion becomes jealous when Frank and Nadja kiss and kills his trainer. Then he is shot by Saparin. Nadja is beside herself, describes the dead lion as "Satan" and hits him. She gets a severe fit of rage and can no longer be calmed down by it.
Nadja, Helena and Boris arrive in Le Havre with the “Voltaire”. Jean Gabriel receives the broken woman and promises to restore her old life.
characters
- Grigory Efimovich Rasputin - well-known faith healer
- Helena Feodorovna Vorontsovna - widowed large landowner and Naja's mother
- Nadja Grigoryevna Vorontsovna - main character and Rasputin's daughter
- Darja Nikolajewna Krazowa - midwife
- Nicholas II Romanov - Russian Tsar
- Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova - Russian Tsarina
- Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov - the heir to the throne
- Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia - the tsar's daughters
- Stana Nikolajewna and Militsa - Grand Duchesses at the Tsar's Court
- Ana Wyrobowa - first lady-in-waiting of the Tsarina, close friend of Nadja
- Guard Captain Nikolai Georgievich Guryev - Nadja's lover
- Count Janis Jegorowitsch Kolosichin - Nadja 's adversary
- Prince Tikhon Michailowitsch Schamansky - Nadja 's adversary
- Monk Genjka - assassin who wants to destroy the Rasputin family
- Monk priest Iliodorus and Bishop Hermogen - conspire against Rasputin
- Count Felix Felixowitsch Yusupov - murdered Rasputin
- Linen weaver Leontij Abramowitsch Rutschkin - Nadja's communist foster father
- Janis Antonowitsch Skamejkin - annexed the property of Helena F. Vorontsovna
- Washa Vladimirovich Minaev - Commander of Tyumen
- Ignat Iwanowitsch Dronow - gives Nikolai and Nadja shelter
- Admiral Vladimir Vasilyevich Kolchak - leader of the revolution
- Rittmeister Fritz Bencken - troop leader of the Red Army
- Captain Sergei Kubulai - leader of the White Army
and many more.
linguistic style
“ A young woman rode along the banks of the Tobol River that morning. With loose reins she let the black horse gallop, the bank sand whirled around her, and she laughed, let her long blond hair blow in the wind and looked over the broad, lazy water flowing like lead in the milky morning sun. "
“ The tsarina did not move. She was paralyzed by the sight of the wild man who came tumbling into the room, paralyzed by the deep voice, paralyzed by the look of the small deep blue eyes that radiated a cold fire like a star in the winter night. She looked up at the bearded, uncombed man who smelled of alcohol and unventilated laundry, and in her eyes was the endless plea of all suffering mothers: Help! Help whoever you are ... "
In this novel, too, the powerful imagery so typical of Konsalik comes into its own. On the one hand, he describes the infinite landscape of Russia and Siberia, the taiga , as well as the steppe of Kazakhstan , but on the other hand also a variety of his original figures across all social classes.
Reviews
This novel is a living moral picture of both tsarist and revolutionary Russia at the beginning of the 20th century with its various facets. It's in the daughter of the devil in the first place to a tragic fate of women and the power of survival in a turbulent time. The harshly portrayed scene on that frosty winter's day is particularly haunting when a pack of 40 wolves attacked Helena F. Worontsovna's sleigh and in a kind of bloodlust kills all the inmates, who at first defend themselves desperately, but then the large majority are hopelessly inferior. The assassination of Rasputin on December 16, 1916 is also described in great detail. With the figure of Rasputin, Konsalik has succeeded in characterizing the historical personality in a highly interesting and diversified manner. On the one hand he is the "irrepressible and untamed primordial force", a thoroughly animal and instinctual person. Through his charisma as an itinerant preacher, he is perfectly capable of manipulating other people who see in him a saint, “sex god”, seducer, prophet and much more. On the other hand, he is a loving father and a man who cares about the fate of Russia. The multitude of intrigues at the court of the tsar, which is shaped by grand dukes and court ladies, is written in an entertaining and exciting way. The tsar and tsarina, who quickly fall under the spell of the "holy" Rasputin and are so strongly influenced by him, a simple and uneducated Siberian peasant, that the Russian nobility sees him as a great danger. Compared to the very strong character of her father, the figure of Nadja is rather weak. For a long time she grew up at the court of the tsar, completely isolated from the sad truth of her utterly impoverished people, in a kind of “cloud cuckoo home”. Later she sees in being "the devil's daughter", a kind of inheritance with great charisma, but can use this genetic fact in the further novel for her Nikolai and herself to save her from death at the last second. She is even ready to take on the same hardships as her husband.
The story in Konsalik's Russia saga , like many of his other novels, follows a simple basic pattern: a young, extremely attractive girl falls madly in love with a young, good-looking man. The two have to defend their love in a conflict against external resistance. While the man remains true to his principles ( love of the country , patriotism , loyalty , honor as an officer, inner conviction, etc.) and thus again puts himself in massive danger, the girl pursues other, much more down-to-earth goals, which have the common partnership as a maxim. For them, the protection of the unborn life and the requirement that the child grow up with the father are always the top priority. But the love for her husband is stronger and she finally gives in, subordinates herself as an obedient woman to the contemporary role principle and lets her husband go, even at the risk of never seeing him again. In fact, her devotion is so great that she abandons her own child for him. Her child only becomes more important to her later during her time in Paris. When Nadja's daughter Helena is kidnapped, she is beside herself with worry and ready for all sacrifices. She does not get involved in a stable relationship out of reason, or out of security for herself and her child, but out of romantic love raptures one after the other with two new men who, however, die because of her. What an old friend interprets as the curse of the Rasputin house.
Historical context
The novel alludes to the true events of Maria Rasputin , actually Matrjona Grigorjewna Rasputina, in a strongly modified form , who later emigrated to Los Angeles and became famous through her father Rasputin.
Text output
- Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971, 1987 (Heyne General Series 01/827), ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
literature
- Susanne Anneliese Schimetta: Consumer novels. The image of women in Heinz G. Konsalik's novels, and how these novels are read by women. Dissertation University of Salzburg, 1984
Web links
Notes and individual references
- ↑ The jungle goddess is not allowed to cry. DER SPIEGEL, December 6, 1976
- ^ Heinz G. Konsalik. the official website. "He lived in his own world". Interview with Dagmar Konsalik
- ↑ Strannik (странник) or Staretz - miracle worker
- ↑ Muschik (мужи́к), serf, farmer without rights from extremely poor backgrounds
- ^ Allusion to the Mongol leader Kublai Khan
- ^ Special law of Tsar Nicholas I from 1826
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971, 1987 (Heyne General Series 01/827), p. 352. ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
- ↑ born female Rasputin
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971, 1987 (Heyne General Series 01/827), p. 411. ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971, 1987 (Heyne General Series 01/827), p. 436. ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971 (Heyne General Series 01/827) p. 5. ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: The Devil's Daughter , Lichtenberg, Munich 1967; Heyne, Munich 1971 (Heyne General Series 01/827) p. 30. ISBN 3-453-00168-0 .
- ↑ The Devil's Daughter in Renie's Reading Diary