Esteban Volkov

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Esteban Volkov (born March 7, 1926 in Moscow as Vsevolod Platonowitsch Wolkow ; Russian Всеволод Платонович Волков ) is a Mexican chemist and a grandson of the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky .

Life

Volkov is the son of Trotsky's daughter Sinaida Volkova and Plato Ivanovich Volkov. After the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin had enforced the disempowerment and expulsion of his political opponent Trotsky at the end of the 1920s, he began to take revenge on his relatives. Plato was exiled to Siberia as early as 1928; after being arrested several times, he was shot in 1936. Sinaida was only allowed to leave the Soviet Union in 1931 on the condition that she would leave one of her children behind - as a kind of hostage. She decided to take Vsevolod with Trotsky to the Turkish island of Prinkipo . Alexandra, her daughter from her first marriage, then lived for a short time with her father, Sachar Moglin, until he, too, was arrested (and later shot).

Sinaida moved to Berlin to treat her psychological problems to her half-brother Leo Sedow . The Soviet authorities revoked her citizenship and made it impossible to return to Russia. Desperate and suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis , she committed suicide in January 1933. A few weeks later, the Nazis expanded their dictatorship in Germany in a short time. Leo Sedov was able to flee abroad in time. At Trotsky's request, followers of Wilhelm Reich welcomed Vsevolod to Vienna, where he attended a Montessori school . In 1935 the situation became uncertain there too. He therefore moved to Sedov in Paris.

As Trotsky's son and collaborator, Leo Sedov was threatened by both Nazis and Stalinists. In February 1938 he died under mysterious circumstances, presumably poisoned by the latter. Sedov's widow initially kept Vsevolod with her, but in August 1939 Alfred Rosmer brought him to Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedova in Mexico. There they lived in the fortress-like house of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Coyoacán , in the south of Mexico City.

Bullet holes from May 24, 1940

On May 24, 1940, a group of Stalinist agents commanded by the famous painter Alfaro Siqueiros raided the house in order to assassinate Trotsky. Volkov, like his grandfather, was slightly injured by gunshots in the next room, as was his leg. Three months later, however, another assassination attempt by Ramón Mercader was successful: Leon Trotsky died on August 21, 1940 from serious head injuries. Vsevolod / Esteban also lived in the same house at this time.

Vsevolod / Esteban Volkov lived in this house until the 1970s. He had forgotten Russian; he called himself Esteban in Mexico, which sounds similar to the short form Seva of his Russian name.

Esteban became a chemist, where he specialized in the synthesis of hormones in the Mexican pharmaceutical industry and made an important contribution to the industrial production of the birth control pill. At the same time he devoted himself to building up the Museo Casa de León Trotsky , which he has supported as a curator since retiring in 1989 .

At the end of 1988 he was able to see his half-sister again in the Soviet Union. Alexandra Moglina died in March 1989, she had spent years in prisons and in exile until she was rehabilitated after Stalin's death.

family

Volkov was married to the fashion designer Palmira Fernández, who died in 1997. Her four daughters are: the author Verónica Volkow , the addiction researcher Nora Volkow , and the twins Natalia (deputy director at the Mexican National Institute for Statistics and Geography) and Patricia (a doctor and AIDS expert).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Esteban Volkov: Return to Prinkipo , accessed June 28, 2010
  2. ^ Trotsky's Grandson in Moscow. A Conversation with Esteban Volkov , accessed June 28, 2010
  3. ^ Genealogy of Trotsky's Family , accessed June 28, 2010
  4. ↑ a b Esteban Volkov: "I only have this one story to tell" , accessed on June 28, 2010
  5. ↑ Reflection on the Legacy of Leon Trotsky by Esteban Volkov, accessed June 28, 2010
  6. ↑ The House in Coyoacan - Reflections on Trotsky's last years by Alan Woods, accessed June 28, 2010
  7. ^ My grandfather the revolutionary , accessed June 28, 2010
  8. ^ Nora Volkow: Two paths to the future , accessed on June 28, 2010

Web links

Commons : House of Leon Trotsky Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Volkov, Esteban
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolkow, Vsevolod Platonowitsch (maiden name); Волков, Всеволод Платонович (Russian spelling); Volkov Bronstein, Vsevolod; Sieva; Seva; Sewa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican chemist and grandson of Leon Trotsky
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow