The Mystery Of Olga Chekhova: Was Hitler's Favorite Actress A Russian Spy?

Rating:
Summary: Still a Mystery
Review: The real [...] in this work is why the author bothered to write it. Beevor is a distinguished British historian. "Stalingrad" and "The Fall of Berlin" were first-rate historical accounts. Here, however, he is dealing with a marginalia.

The book is filled with rather boring trivia about Chekhova and her family. The details are tiresome and bear little relation to the consequential and sweeping events of the era. But the most serious failing is that the book's tantalizing title turns out to be something of a [...].

Chekhova evidently had connections to both senior Nazi officials and the NKVD. Although this is supposed to be the core interest of the book, Beevor doesn't come up with explanations or details about what her role actually was! The truth of these complex relationships remains hidden deep in archives yet to be released.

In short, the story promises much but delivers little. I surmise that Beevor himself must be rather embarrassed by these obvious and quite frustrating shortcomings .

Rating:
Summary: The Mystery Is Still A Mystery
Review: After reading The Fall of Berlin, and Stalingrad I was very excited when Mr. Beevor came out with a new book dealing with WWII. However, after having read it I am disappointed because The Mystery of Olga Checkhova came no where near matching the greatness of these two earlier books. I was also disappointed, because after reading it I am still not quite sure if the question of the mystery was ever answered.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Exploration of a Little Known Life
Review: Anthony Beevor's "Mystery of Olga Chekhova" is a fascinating book. Beevor has taken a little known episode in Soviet (and German) history and managed to create a book that reads more like a novel. As I read "Olga" I was constantly reminded of the noir-like novels of Alan Furst, whose tales of Soviet espionage and counter-espionage center on tales of similar acts of espionage taken on by Russian and other East European émigrés in the 1930's and 1940's.

"Olga" is about the life of one "Olga Chekhova and her family. A niece, by marriage, of the great Anton Chekhov, Olga left the Soviet Union under mysterious circumstances to pursue an acting career in Berlin. Olga's family, mostly actors and musicians stayed behind. Olga went on to become a famous film star in Germany and was highly regarded by Hitler, Goering, Goebels, and the rest of the Nazi leadership. She married a Luftwaffe pilot (later killed in action) and performed for the troops during the war. In the meantime, her family continued to thrive in the USSR. This alone was a remarkable and mysterious achievement when one considers the fact that the families of so-called enemies of the state generally suffered far worse. The question addressed by Beevor is simple: Was Olga a Soviet spy and, if so, what did she do and how did she do it?

Beevor traces Olga's life and her relationship with the Chekov family. His descriptions of Russian and Soviet Theater, particularly his overview of the family's relationship with Stanislavski and the Bohemian and lurid life-style common to the period are particularly interesting. Given the nature of the book and novel-like story line I think it would be inappropriate to reveal much in the way of details. Unlike Beevor's other works, such as Stalingrad, the events and final outcome of the story are not well known and it would be unfair to spoil the story. Needless to say, the story of Olga Chekhova is fascinating.

Last, this book is something of a departure for Beevor. Previously, he has focused on grand events, Stalingrad, the Fall of Berlin, and the Spanish Civil War. Here he covers less familiar and far more intimate ground. Despite the fact that Beevor cannot answer all the questions he raises in "Olga" he carries off this micro-history with aplomb. His writing style is not overly academic and the book is accessible to any reader. Further, Beevor sets out sufficient general background information such that the reader does not need to have a background in Russian or German history in order to make the book enjoyable.

Beevor has done an excellent job and I think "Olga" is well worth reading.


Rating:
Summary: Caught up in a vicious circle of espionage and deception
Review: People are disappointed that Antony Beevor isn't writing some super huge history of war like his previous book on Stalingrad. I say, cut him some slack.

The book contrasts the lives and characters of two women with confusingly simnilar names. One was Olga, the widow of Anton Chekhov, who created roles in the original Moscow Art Theater productions of his plays (at the turn of the century) such as The CHERRY ORCHARD. The other was her niece, who turned her back on the theater and fled to Berlin, where she became a protege of Erich Pommer and then of Josef Goebbels, the minister of culture who had a weakness for bigger-than-life actresses. This catapulted the younger Olga into Hitler's circle (though hardly into his inner circle as the jacket copy hints) and when she got there, she began sending coded dispatches to the Russian version of the CIA, the secret intelligence corps.

The only mis-statement that Beevor is guilty of nothing more than a bit overstatement--when he calls Olga Chekhova Hitler's Favorite Actress. That's just publisher's hype. Beevor must know that she was only one of the beautifukl women Hitler liked having around. Think of the way that Leni Riefenstahl as treated by Hitler--she was one he liked more than Olga, or so I believe. Contrary to other reviewers, i think that Beevor might actually have viewed more of Chekhova's films (and those of Michael Chekhov, her opposite number in the USA) and talked more about her acting. For all the wartime prominence of the UFA film stars, they might as well be forgotten today in film history circles, and indeed she starred in some of the greatest films of the 1930s and 1940s, they're just not readily seen today because of that Nazi taint.

Rating:
Summary: promise not kept
Review: This book's title promises a lot more than is made true.

I hoped Anthony Beevor could tell me how Chekova, of distinct non-proletarian origin, managed to make it to the close-to-Stalin circles of Soviet Russia. How she most impressively managed to switch over to Germany, sitting next to Adolf Hitler on a official event. How it came that Chekova, having merged with the top level of the two most ferocious, treacherous and opposite regimes of her time, died peacefully in her own bed at 83.

Anthony Beevor fails to explain, admitting his investigations got lost in a thick fog. What remains, is just a good story about the life and career of a famous movie-star.