Zinaida Nikolayevna Reich (the last name also spelled Raikh or Raih; Russian: Зинаида Николаевна Райх; 3 July [O.S.

21 June] 1894 – 15 July 1939)[1] was a Russian actress and one of the main stars of the Meyerhold Theatre until it was closed under Joseph Stalin.

[1] August Reich was an early social democrat and had been twice politically exiled to the North of Russia prior to meeting Anna.

[1] Zinaida Reich studied in a gymnasium in Bendery but was expelled for her political activities before completing the eighth (last) grade.

They travelled to the White Sea and Russian North and got married in Kiriko-Ulitovskaya Church near Vologda on 4 August 1917.

[1][4] In September 1917 the couple returned to Saint Petersburg, where Reich worked for the People's Commissariat for Food (NarkomProd).

In February 1920 Reich gave birth to their son Konstantin, but the couple continued to live separately.

[4] The story of the couple is known from the memoir Novel without Lies (1926)[6] (Роман без вранья) written by Yesenin's close friend, room-mate and allegedly homosexual lover[7][8] Anatoly Marienhof.

Marienhof described Reich as a "crummy Jewish dame with fleshy lips on a face round as a dinner-plate".

Reich studied at the State Experimental Theatre Workshops, headed by famous theatrical director Vsevolod Meyerhold.

[10] The actor Igor Ilyinsky was so upset that Reich received all the major roles that he left the Meyerhold Theater.

[5] In the early 1930s, as Stalin repressed all avant-garde art and experimentation, the government declared Meyerhold's work as antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people.

Twenty-five days later, his wife Zinaida Reich was found dying in their Moscow apartment on 15 July 1939.

[12][13][14][15] According to Arkadiy Vaksberg, "Beria needed this sadistic farce" because the actress was extraordinarily popular, independent, outspoken and known for saying: "if Stalin can make no sense of art, let him ask Meyerhold, and he will explain".