Published: 13 October, 2009, 20:43
Edited: 14 October, 2009, 09:01
A set of items connected with the last days of famous Russian poet Sergey Esenin were placed for bidding on an Internet auction. Among those is the deadly rope which was allegedly on the writer’s neck when he died.
The rope on which the poet was found hanging on December 28, 1925 in the Angleterre hotel in Leningrad, a medallion with a ringlet of Esenin’s hair that was cut off by the poet’s mother after his death, and Esenin’s portrait in his coffin, drawn by artist and friend of the writer Joseph Levin are among the items allegedly put on sale. They were put up for auction by Larisa Omarova, from Tambov in Central Russia, whose family received the objects from Joseph Levin.
Media reports say the collection was stored in one of Tambov museums. But the economic crisis led it to bankruptcy, and it was decided to place the exhibits for auction.
According to the official version, Esenin hanged himself on a rope. However, this version of the famous poet’s death is still being questioned, as is the authenticity of the auctioned items.
Writer Vitaly Bezrukov, who wrote a biography of Esenin, was qouted by Vesti news channel as saying that it is impossible to find traces of the rope on which he hanged himself.
“I heard about the existence of this rope for the first time, though I’ve been engaged in this case for all my life,” said Bezrukov. “Back then everything was hidden. Someone simply wants to draw attention.”
 image from http://molotok.ru |
An official from the online auction site denied having any expertise that would allow for confirmation of the items’ authenticity.
The poet’s niece and the main keeper of Esenin state museum in Moscow, Svetlana Esenina, says that it is gamble because people are not allowed to take a look at those objects, Vesti news channel reports.
Esenin was a Russian lyrical poet who in his late years was known not only by his genius creations but also for messy and drunken behavior. The poet was ill and obsessed with suicide, which he attempted several times. In autumn 1925 he was hospitalized for a month. Two days after his release for Christmas, he allegedly cut his wrist and wrote a farewell poem in his own blood. The following night, on December 28, according to the official version, he hung himself in his room in the Angleterre hotel in Leningrad. He was 30 years old.
In the 1990s the official version of the poet’s death was questioned, after experts analyzed photographs taken during forensic tests in the hotel and at the burial ceremony. Some have suggested that he was killed. However, until today the mystery of the Russian genius’s death has yet to be conclusively solved.