Valentin Bulgakov is the last secretary of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, a follower of his ideas. He directed several literary museums in which exhibits unique for their time were stored. He was convinced that he was an ardent Tolstoyan and anarchist, opposed the war in any form, served his sentence in the imperial dungeons for his views, ended up in a German concentration camp. About 20 years in his life he headed the museum of Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana.
Childhood and youth
Valentin Bulgakov was born in the Tomsk region in 1886. His father was an official in modern Novokuznetsk. The hero of our article received his primary education in the classical gymnasium of Tomsk.
In his youth, he worked in the provincial newspaper "Steppe Territory". In 1904, the publication “Siberian Life” published his most famous early publication, entitled “F. M. Dostoevsky in Kuznetsk,” which contained materials about the wedding of a Russian writer with Maria Isaeva in 1857.
In 1906, Valentin Bulgakov worked on a recording of Russian and Altai tales, for which he traveled to Biysk. He publishes these works, and in 1906 he graduated from high school, receiving a gold medal.
Education
In 1906, Valentin Bulgakov entered the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University. Already in the second year he meets Leo Tolstoy, becomes his follower. Since then, she has been professing the principles of vegetarianism, pacifism, and refusal to participate in political actions with high social and social activity, which is based on Christian principles.
In 1910, Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov left the university to devote himself to work as a personal secretary with Tolstoy.
Work at Tolstoy
Bulgakov witnesses the life and relations between members of the Tolstoy family in Yasnaya Polyana, which, as you know, were tense. On October 28, 1906, he even manages to prevent Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia Andreevna’s attempt to take her own life. This happened after the writer decided to leave home.
In the future, it was Sofya Andreevna who insisted that Bulgakov help her in the work to systematize her husband’s legacy. At this moment, the discrepancy between the hero of our article and the publisher and editor of Tolstoy’s works, Vladimir Chertkov, began.
When Lev Nikolayevich died, Bulgakov, with the permission of the widow, remained in Yasnaya Polyana. For several years he prepared his own notes for publication, which in 1911 were published under the headings "Life Understanding of L. N. Tolstoy in Letters from His Secretary" and "L. N. Tolstoy in the Last Year of His Life."
After that, he began a meticulous work on the description of the classic library, actively participated in the publication of his works and the organization of the museum in Moscow.
During the war
When the First World War began, the pacifist Tolstoyans were categorically against it. The appeal "Come to your senses, people-brothers!", Which was compiled by Bulgakov, went hand in hand.
Law enforcement authorities seized copies of the appeal from residents, and on October 28, 1914, Bulgakov was arrested for anti-war activities.
After about a year, most of the accused were released on bail. In April 1916, a trial was held that acquitted the accused due to the failure to publish an appeal in Switzerland.
Museum of the writer
Having gained freedom, Bulgakov took over as the curator of the Moscow Tolstoy Museum. When the October Revolution took place, many Tolstoyans were against dialogue with the new government and the nationalization of Tolstoy museums. But Sofya Andreevna with Bulgakov nevertheless insisted on concluding an agreement with the Bolsheviks. As a result, they managed to get a mansion on the Prechistinka Museum.
In 1920, Lenin signed the Decree on the Nationalization of the Tolstoy House in Moscow, Bulgakov took over as its director. He remained in this post until 1923, when he was expelled by the Soviet government.
"Philosophical ship"
On the "philosophical steamboat" Bulgakov was against his will. When the famine began in 1921, he joined the Committee for Relief of the Starving, along with other Tolstoyans who already had experience in combating hunger.
The Committee began negotiations on obtaining assistance from foreign organizations, they ended with the signing of agreements on food supplies, but real deliveries did not start, which led to criticism of the Committee.
A month and a half after its founding, the Committee was liquidated, and most of its members, including Bulgakov, were detained. As a result, everyone was released and in February 1923 they were sent on a "philosophical ship".
The hero of our article settled in Prague. He lectured in different European countries, popularized Tolstoy’s work, and also advocated the non-violent struggle waged by the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi against the British colonialists. He became a member of the anti-war organization "International opponents of the war."
In the mid-1920s, he headed the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Czechoslovakia, which supported Maria Tsvetaeva during her Prague emigration. In 1934, he founded the Russian Cultural and Historical Museum near Prague, which exhibited an extensive collection of antiques, books, paintings and manuscripts from Russia scattered throughout many countries.
He published the collection of the Ark of the Union of Russian Writers, participated in the creation of the directory Russian Art Abroad, a dictionary of Russian foreign writers.
During World War II, when German troops entered Prague, he was arrested by the Nazis on suspicion of communist activity. He ended up in a concentration camp in Weissenburg in Bavaria. There from 1941 to 1945 he wrote his memoirs about Tolstoy and his relatives. He was liberated by American troops.
Return to the USSR
In 1948, Bulgakov decided to return to the USSR, received Soviet citizenship for this. In his homeland, he settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where for nearly 20 years he managed the Tolstoy house-museum.
In 1958 he was even admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. His authorship contains essays and books of memoirs, to our time the unpublished memoirs "How Life Lived".
In 1966, he died in Yasnaya Polyana at the age of 79.
Very little is known about the family of Valentin Bulgakov. It is known that in 1923 he was expelled from the country along with his relatives. The wife of Valentin Bulgakov and his daughter were with the hero of our article in Czechoslovakia. After the arrest, the Nazis were kept separately from the head of the family in the same cell with the wife of the famous Czech communist Julius Fucik, the head of the Resistance.
The personal life of Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov is given attention in the biographical drama of Michael Hoffman, "The Last Sunday", dedicated to the last year of the life of the famous Russian writer.
The hero of our article is played by James McAvoy. On the screen, a relationship unfolds between Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov and Maria Filippovna, a girl freed from prejudice, who discourages and captivates him with her views on love. This interpretation of the personal life of Secretary Tolstoy has caused a lot of criticism.
Bulgakov's legacy
Bulgakov left behind a rich legacy. These are memoirs and works about Tolstoy, correspondence with famous contemporaries - Einstein, Tagore, Rollan, Roerich.
After the Second World War, he sent the museum collection in Zbraslav to Moscow through the Soviet embassy. It was divided between the Tretyakov Gallery, the Historical Museum of the USSR and the Bakhrushin Theater Museum.