Rachel Mikhailovna Messerer-Plisetskaya (; 4 March 1902 – 20 March 1993), also known by her stage name Ra Messerer, was a Russian

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Family

Rachel Messerer was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

into the

Lithuanian Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...

family of dentist Mikhail Messerer and his wife Sima Shabad.''I'm Maya Plisetskaya''. 490 p. Moscow: AST Moscow, 2008.Sulamif Messerer: "I want to live!"
She was one of nine children: each child was given a biblical name: Pnina, Azariah, Mattany, Rachel, Asaf (or Assaf), Elisheva, Sulamith (or Shulamith), Emanuel, Abinadab and Erella. Rachel, her brother Azari Azarin (an actor), sister

Sulamith Messerer Sulamith Mikhailovna Messerer, OBE (, 27 August 1908, Moscow3 June 2004, London) was a Russian ballerina and choreographer who laid the foundations for the classical ballet in Japan. Biography Sulamith Messerer was born into the Lithuanian Jewis ...

(

ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...

) and brother

Asaf Messerer Asaf Mikhailovich Messerer (; 19 November 1903 – 7 March 1992) was a Soviet ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1919 he studied privately with Mikhail Mordkin, until Alexander Gorsky placed him in a cl ...

(ballet dancer,

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

) became famous and started a dynasty of outstanding ballet dancers and ballet masters. She married well-known Russian diplomat Mikhail Plisetski (1899–1938) and they had three children: famous ballerina

Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship.

(1925–2015), talented

balletmaster A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

Alexander Plisetski (1931–1985) and principal dancer Azari Plisetski (1937–). Her granddaughter Anna Plisetskaya (1971–) is also a ballerina.

Career

Messerer graduated from Institute of Cinematography in 1925 (class of

Lev Kuleshov Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov (; – 29 March 1970) was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and Film theory, film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, Moscow Film School. He was g ...

). During the early years of Soviet system, Messerer starred at the "Bukhkino" and "The Star of the East" studios. Ra Messerer’s film career was rather short, because soon after the wedding she devoted herself to the family and her husband, who represented the Soviet Government in

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, being the

Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

Barentsburg Barentsburg () is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 455 inhabitants (). A coal mining town, the settlement was almost entirely made up of Russian and Ukrainian nationals. History Rijpsburg, a now abandoned Dutch s ...

and chief of

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

.On 30 April 1937, her husband Mikhail Plisetski was

purged In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

, charged with espionage and executed on 8 January 1938. In early March 1938, Messerer was arrested. The secret police agents demanded of Messerer to confirm that her husband was "a spy, a traitor, a saboteur, a criminal, and a participant of the conspiracy against

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

." Rather bravely for those years, she refused and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Her daughter

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

faced the threat of an orphanage; she was adopted by her aunt

Sulamith Sulamith may refer to: People * Sulamith Goldhaber (1923–1965), high-energy physicist and molecular spectroscopist * Sulamith Ish-Kishor (1896–1977), American writer *Sulamith Isman (1925–1943), Dutch girl killed in Auschwitz * Sulamith Messe ...

. Her son

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

was taken by the family of Rachel's brother

. These events caused many troubles to Asaf and Sulamith. In summer 1939, Rachel was transferred to " ALZhIR" (Akmolinsk Camp for Wives of Traitors to the Motherland) in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. Messerer was released in 1941, only two months before the start of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

. After her release, she never restarted her acting career. In those days, no director would have risked his career by inviting her. Nevertheless, she believed that her husband was alive and would come back someday. On 3 March 1956, she learned the truth: in the papers on rehabilitation of Mikhail Plisetski, the execution date of his execution was disclosed: 8 January 1938.

Filmography

* 1927 — "The second wife" (, "Uzbekgoskino", director - M.I. Doronin) * 1928 — "Leper" ( "Uzbekgoskino") * 1928 — "Valley of Tears" ( ("Dolina slyoz") 1-st factory Goskino, director - Alexander Razumny). * 1929 — "One hundred and twenty thousand a year" ("Mezhrabpomfilm")

Documentary

* In 2007, a documentary film ''The Star from outside'' was made about Messerer. Documentary film ''The Star from outside'' 2007
/ref> For the production, the tapes of the Russian movie-archive "Gosfilmofond RF" were used. Produced by TC "Gamajun" – Director and screenwriter Firdavs Zaynutdinov. Cinematography by Eugene Kutuzkin. Narrator –

Irina Apeksimova Irina Victorovna Apeksimova (, born January 13, 1966, Volgograd, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, RSFSR, USSR) is a Russian stage and screen actress. She became director of the Taganka Theatre in March 2015. Biography Apeksimova wa ...

. Produced for REN TV. Broadcaster – the Russian TV channel "Culture".

External links

Documentary film ''The Star from outside'' 2007

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messerer, Rachel 1902 births 1993 deaths Actresses from Vilnius People from Vilensky Uyezd Plisetski–Messerer family Lithuanian Jews Soviet Jews Soviet stage actresses Soviet silent film actresses Gulag detainees Jewish actresses