Savva Morozov family. The last years of Savva Timofeevich
Born in the village of Zuevo, Bogorodsky district, Moscow province. Grandson of the founder of the Morozov dynasty, Savva Vasilyevich Morozov. The son of a large textile manufacturer, founder of the Nikolskaya cotton manufactory, Old Believer Timofey Savvich Morozov, and Maria Fedorovna, née Simonova.
He received his primary education at the 4th Moscow Gymnasium. Then he studied at the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, graduating in 1885. He continued his studies at Cambridge in England, where he studied chemistry, was going to defend his dissertation, but returned to Russia to head the family business.
Upon his return, he took over management of the family Nikolskaya manufactory. He was the director of the Trekhgorny Brewing Partnership in Moscow, headed the committee of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, and was a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactures and the Society for Promoting the Improvement and Development of the Manufacturing Industry. "For useful activities and special works» awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd and 2nd degrees.
S.V. Morozov is one of the largest patrons of the Moscow Art Theater, to whose cause he devoted a lot of time and soul. Stanislavsky recalled: “This wonderful man was destined to play in our theater the important and wonderful role of a patron of the arts, who knew how not only to make material sacrifices to art, but who served it with all devotion, without pride, without false ambition and personal gain.”
Savva Timofeevich was married to the daughter of the Bogorodsk merchant of the second guild G.E. Zimina Zinaida Grigorievna Zimina. In her first marriage, she was to Morozov’s cousin, Sergei Vikulovich Morozov, whom she divorced and a few years later married Savva Morozov. Their romance caused a lot of noise in Moscow and caused a storm of protests in the family. Divorce, marriage to a divorced woman - terrible sin in the Old Believer environment. Nevertheless, Morozov insisted on his own and the wedding took place. For his beloved wife, Savva Timofeevich built according to the design of F.O. Shekhtel's luxurious house on Spiridonovka. He had four children: Maria - married to I.O. Kurdyukov; Elena; Timothy; Savva.
The merchant Morozov provided all possible support to the revolutionary forces of Russia: he gave money for the publication of Iskra, illegally smuggled printing fonts, hid the revolutionary Bauman from the police, he himself delivered prohibited literature to his factory, but most importantly, he provided considerable financial assistance revolutionaries. He was a close friend of M. Gorky. Towards the end of his life he tried to break ties with the Bolsheviks, reconsidering his political views.
In 1898, Morozov met Maria Fedorovna Zhelyabuzhskaya, nee Yurkovskaya, an actress of the Moscow Art Theater with the stage name Andreeva. This was Morozov’s last strong passion, which ended in a tragic breakup for him - in 1904, actress Andreeva became common-law wife M. Gorky.
In 1905, Savva Timofeevich was in the deepest mental crisis. Rumors circulated around Moscow about his madness. The family decided to send him to France. In Cannes, in a hotel room on May 13, 1905, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Morozov was found dead. The official version is that he shot himself. Currently, there are two versions of what actually happened in Cannes: Morozov committed suicide due to persecution by the Bolsheviks, or he was killed by the Bolsheviks themselves.
The body was transported to Moscow and buried in the Old Believer Rogozhskoe cemetery. In Moscow, a rumor spread that the coffin was lowered into the ground empty, and Morozov was alive and hiding somewhere in the depths of Russia.
Nemirovich-Danchenko left some understanding of the tragic end of Savva Timofeevich: “ Human nature cannot tolerate two equally strong opposing passions. The merchant does not dare to get carried away. He must be true to his element, the element of endurance and calculation. Treason will inevitably lead to a tragic conflict... And Savva Morozov could be passionately carried away. Before falling in love. Not as a woman - that didn’t play a role for him, but as a person, an idea, a public…. He... gave significant sums to the revolutionary movement. When the first revolution broke out in 1905 and then a sharp reaction, something happened in his psyche, and he shot himself.”
Savva Timofeevich Morozov is most remembered as a philanthropist, merchant and textile manufacturer, and to a lesser extent as a person who indirectly supported the Bolshevik Party financially. He was a man Russian Empire very rich, and therefore extremely influential.
Savva Timofeevich, in addition to the “family business” - a huge weaving production, had his own mines and logging, chemical plants and hospitals, newspapers and even a theater.
And yet, not everyone knows that it was only thanks to his money that the famous Moscow Art Theater, now the Moscow Art Theater, arose and managed to survive, which has become the pride of Russian culture.
Yes, Savva Morozov gave money to the Bolsheviks - or did they extort it from him? - gave legal cover to the main militant of the RSDLP Leonid Krasin, who worked at his company as an electrician, and the famous Nikolai Bauman. Perhaps decency and connection with a very dangerous people and killed a millionaire who was found dead in a luxury hotel room in Cannes in 1905? Let's find out...
Love and money
IN early XIX century, the serf Morozov decided to create his own weaving workshop and turned out to be a smart craftsman and resourceful businessman. Soon he managed to buy himself out of serfdom from the master and bought out all his numerous relatives. Having moved to Moscow, famous for its merchant traditions, the founder of the dynasty began to actively expand the weaving business and after his death left each of his sons a weaving factory with a large number hired workers.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the Morozov family, who adhered to the Old Believer faith, had grown significantly and was divided into several independent clans that had their own production and capital. Of these, the richest and most resourceful were considered the “Timofeevichs,” to whom Savva Timofeevich belonged. In Orekhovo-Zuevo, near Moscow, the Timofeevichs owned almost everything: land, factories, maintained the police at their own expense, published newspapers, built churches, schools, hospitals, etc.
Maria Fedorovna Morozova (1830-1911) with her son Savva Timofeevich Morozov (1862-1905) and grandchildren Maria, Timofey and Elena Outwardly, Savva Timofeevich resembled a Tatar Murza - dense, short, with slightly slanted eyes and a wide, stubborn forehead. Having received an excellent education, he graduated from the department natural sciences Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University, and then successfully trained at the famous Cambridge - the millionaire loved to pretend to be an idiot, although he was distinguished by considerable suspicion and an amazing ability to make money.
Savva was one of the first in Russia to make widespread use of electricity, building a power plant, importing equipment from abroad and eagerly adopting new progressive technologies.
The wealth of the Morozov family can be evidenced by the fact that Savva Timofeevich’s mother, Maria Fedorovna Morozova, when widowed, had personal capital in 16 million rubles , and by the end of her life she managed to DOUBLE! This was fantastically huge money for those times. The Morozovs' wealth can be compared with the fortunes of the top ten richest people on the planet today.
Savva Timofeevich was received in high society, enjoyed the favor of the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire S. Yu. Witte and even received the honor of being presented to the emperor. The millionaire merchant was awarded orders and honorary titles. He married for love beautiful woman- Zinaida Grigorievna Morozova (Zimina), who loved her husband very much and bore him several children.
At his factories, Savva Timofeevich tried to create the most favorable conditions, and there were legends about it. What pushed this extraordinary man into a fatal connection with the militants of the Bolshevik Party, which was distinguished by extreme intolerance, cynicism and was an implacable enemy of capital? Naturally, in the event that she could not get the capital at her own disposal.
The building of the Moscow Art Theater in Kamergersky Lane, 1900s It is believed that tragic events began with the fact that Savva Morozov undertook to help create the Moscow Art Theater. Unlike other Moscow moneybags who promised to give money to theater fan Alekseev, who took the stage name Stanislavsky, only Morozov actually gave it!
Stanislavsky hoped that rich relatives would help him, but they did not give a penny. Then he began to ask patrons of the arts, but only Morozov responded with action. Subsequently, the theater actually existed at his expense, and the “grateful” Nemirovich literally forced Savva Timofeevich out of the board.
Morozov himself found a building for the theater, gave money and took an active part in creating future pride Russian culture. But the glory did not go to him.
Among Stanislavsky's acquaintances who played on the amateur stage were the Andreev couple. Their real name was Zhelyabuzhsky. The head of the family had the rank of general, actual state councilor. His wife, Maria Fedorovna Andreeva (Zhelyabuzhskaya), came from an impoverished noble family, her father served as the chief director at the Alexandrinsky Theater.
Maria Andreeva Maria began her career as a professional actress, but soon got married. Subsequently, she returned first to the amateur stage, and then to the professional stage, at the Art Theater. Through her son's student tutor, she met revolutionary-minded youth and became involved in combat organization RSDLP, led by Leonid Krasin.
Andreeva had party nicknames “Phenomenon” and “White Crow”.
Savva Morozov, who was very carried away by her, knew nothing about this. Andreeva skillfully extracted large sums from him, and he, enchanted by her, gave money to those who cynically used him.
Unhappy love and death
In one of the private letters, not suspecting Andreeva’s connections with the Bolshevik terrorists, Stanislavsky bitterly reproached her for a truly terrible disregard for the feelings of such a worthy person as Savva Morozov. But this did not make any impression on Maria Fedorovna. With her secret mediation at Morozov’s enterprise, the head of the military organization of the RSDLP, Leonid Krasin, was able to legalize.
Nikolai Bauman, who was killed in the troubled days of 1905, worked as a veterinarian on one of Morozov’s estates. Receiving money from Morozov, the Bolsheviks often wrote in their Iskra deliberate lies about the situation of workers at the millionaire’s enterprises: supposedly people there were starving and dying from overwork. This was one of the forms of their “gratitude” to the one who gave money for their existence. press organ and protected party functionaries from the political police.
Maria Fedorovna Andreeva Andreeva with her son and A.M. Gorky. 1905 Soon Andreeva became friends with Maxim Gorky, but Morozov still continued to fulfill all her whims: it concerned mainly money for party needs. Or did they manage to take the millionaire firmly by the throat?
The Bolsheviks managed to incite the workers of Orekhovo-Zuev into an armed uprising, which was quickly and brutally suppressed by the troops. And then Savva Timofeevich experienced a mental breakdown. No, he did not go crazy, as they tried to imagine later, but he felt empty. He lost the woman with whom he was unrequitedly in love, his wife took him back and even bore him a son, but Morozov saw that she would never fully forgive him. The workers, for whom he sincerely tried to create the best conditions in Russia, also betrayed him. The theater, which without him simply would not exist in nature, having received decent money, threw it away with the hands of its artistic directors.
What a disgusting person,” Savva Timofeevich once exclaimed in his hearts, having once again quarreled with Maxim Gorky. - Why does he introduce himself as a tramp when everyone knows that his grandfather was a rich merchant of the second guild and left a large inheritance?
The proletarian writer wrote something up, saying that Morozov allegedly guarded him and followed him everywhere with a Browning so that Gorky would not be attacked by the Black Hundreds and secret police agents. This shameless lie caused Savva Timofeevich indignation.
An unpleasant surprise for the Bolsheviks was that the millionaire manufacturer flatly refused them financial support. He saw WHAT Bolshevism would bring to Russia, and did not want to feed his own murderer and gravedigger.
Krasin repeatedly turned to Morozov for money and even threatened him, but received a firm refusal. Suspicious people were following Morozov. Krasin and the company tried to assure the manufacturer that these were the tsarist secret police, but in fact they were Bolshevik people: they tried to put psychological pressure on Morozov. It is possible that it was Andreeva and Gorky who deliberately spread rumors that the family declared Morozov crazy.
None of this was true. Zinaida Grigorievna Morozova loved her husband. The family decided to temporarily hide Savva Timofeevich from his former dangerous acquaintances and at the same time give him the opportunity to rest and heal. Together with his wife, the manufacturer went abroad. But even there he was tracked down by Bolshevik militants, who still had not lost hope of getting money.
Even during his courtship with Andreeva, the millionaire insured his life for one hundred thousand rubles - fabulous money at that time - and gave the insurance policy to the actress. Andreeva kept the insurance policy, and Morozov did not demand it back. Why? Secret…
Savva was vacationing in Cannes when Krasin came to him - to ask, beg, and finally demand money! Morozov flatly refused, and the angry Krasin left with nothing.
A few days later, on May 13, 1905, a shot was heard in the most expensive hotel on the Cannes Riviera, the Tsarsky. In the room where millionaire Savva Morozov rested. When Zinaida Grigorievna ran into the room, she saw her husband lying on the sofa, and next to him, on the floor, a small nickel-plated Browning was lying. The window was slightly open, and the woman saw a man running away: This is what she maintained until the end of her days. There was a note on the dressing table: “Please don’t blame anyone for my death.” However, the wife said that her husband’s handwriting had changed and Savva would never have decided to commit suicide.
Zinaida Morozova Did you close his eyes? - the first thing they asked the millionaire’s wife. After all, before the police arrived, no one touched the philanthropist’s body. The fact is that suicides and murdered people do not close their eyes; another person does it for them. Who did it - the wife or the murderer? Secret…
The French police officially declared it a suicide and the case was quickly closed. In order to bury Morozov according to the Orthodox rite - suicides were not buried in ground consecrated by the church - it was necessary to declare that poor Savva had lost his mind. Then his body was buried as expected. To relieve tension in the powerful Morozov clan, Moscow mayor Count Shuvalov came to the funeral.
Soon Madame Andreeva calmly presented an insurance policy for one hundred thousand rubles for payment. Forty of them went to pay her debts, and sixty were immediately taken by the Bolshevik Party. It is believed that it was this fatal policy that became the death sentence for the famous philanthropist and industrialist. For the greedy Bolsheviks, he turned out to be the only way to get Morozov’s money. But who killed Savva? This remains a secret...
The investigation that never happened
More than a hundred years have passed since the mysterious death of manufacturer Savva Morozov, but the murder case in Cannes continues to interest historians and politicians to this day. Since 1905, a negligible amount of documents related to the death of Savva Timofeevich has been preserved: neither in the French nor in the Russian archives is there any material evidence of the incident, in addition to Morozov’s death certificate and his suicide note. This once again confirms that for some reason no one was interested in disclosing the real circumstances of the death of the famous Russian businessman.
Neither the French police, nor representatives of the Russian security agency, nor the relatives of the deceased took up the case of Savva Morozov - no one protested the version of the millionaire’s suicide, although many facts suggested that Savva Timofeevich was killed in a Cannes hotel room.
The fact that Morozov was not a suicide was also evidenced by a seven-round automatic Browning gun found on the floor next to the businessman’s body.
The weapon that belonged to Savva was designed for 7.65 mm cartridges, but many historians testified that the bullet removed from the manufacturer’s body had a completely different caliber and could not fit his Browning.
The Browning itself, which served as important evidence, mysteriously disappeared shortly after the incident. It could have been destroyed in France, after Savva Morozov’s body was sent to Russia, or during the years of Soviet power, when valuable documents related to this case were carefully sought out and destroyed.
As you know, Morozov’s body was examined for some time in the morgue that operated at the city clinic. It was there that an autopsy was probably performed, during which the bullet would certainly have been removed. However, the documents confirming this disappeared during mysterious circumstances. Today it is impossible to find out whether the bullet remained in the manufacturer’s body, or whether it ended up in the hands of the French police.
Savva Morozov during the construction of the Moscow Art Theater
Morozov's case, it seemed, had not been investigated at all. This was also facilitated by the events that took place in Russia in 1905. At this time, huge amounts of money were required to suppress the revolution that was sweeping Russia. It is known that Russia was able to negotiate with the French authorities to receive a large loan on terms favorable to France.
Just at that moment, the famous Russian politician and the largest millionaire. It is quite understandable that the French side sought to close this case as quickly as possible.
For the French police, the version of Morozov's suicide was the most convenient. However, experienced Hungarian and Yugoslav experts admitted that with such an arrangement of the pistol and right hand it was worth raising a murder case and then staging it.
What or who forced the French police to deviate from the official rules also remains unknown. It is only known that the issue of terminating the investigation into the case related to the death of the Russian millionaire was agreed upon at the highest interstate level.
Murder of Savva Morozov's double?
According to unofficial data, there was still an investigation into this complicated case by Russia. And, allegedly, Nicholas II himself entrusted the investigation to a certain counterintelligence officer Sergei Svirsky. However, the solution to the Morozov issue was temporarily postponed by the uprising on the battleship Potemkin. Only in September did Svirsky again remind the ruler about this investigation.
Svirsky reported to Nicholas II that, based on the data he collected, it was impossible to either refute or confirm the suicide of Savva Timofeevich. The French police report on Morozov's death was compiled from the words of a person who wished to remain anonymous; There were also no photographs from the crime scene.
The version of historians about Savva Morozov’s double appeared as a result of one small detail. The fact is that the coffin with the body of Savva Morozov was delivered to Moscow via Revel on board a yacht called “Eva Johanson,” which belonged to the yacht club Savva's second cousin, Foma Panteleevich Morozov.
For some reason they decided not to open the coffin during the funeral service. By religion, Savva Morozov, like all representatives of his dynasty, was an Old Believers, among whom suicide was always considered the most terrible and unforgivable sin. Savva Timofeevich knew very well that suicide entailed renunciation not only of the church and faith, but also of family and children. This is further evidence in favor of the version that he could not commit suicide.
Savva Morozov was buried at the Old Believer Rogozhskoe cemetery in Moscow, in a tomb, next to his grandfather and father. No speeches were made at his funeral, since this was not accepted according to Old Believer traditions. They buried him in complete silence, and together with Savva Timofeevich they seemed to be burying the terrible secret of his death.
According to some data, many of Savva Morozov’s foreign accounts were bequeathed to a very mysterious person - Foma Morozov.
Savva’s second cousin, who lived in the Nizhny Novgorod province, and an entrepreneur himself early childhood were incredibly similar to each other. This similarity did not disappear even over the years: it is known that at the Nizhny Novgorod fair, where Savva Timofeevich was on the stock exchange committee, Foma often replaced him, putting on a suit and slightly cutting his hair. Foma himself was well versed in financial affairs, since he owned a brokerage firm.
After a more thorough study of Morozov’s case, it turned out that Foma Morozov, who died in 1903, was buried in a village cemetery located near the town of Lahti. The fact of Foma Morozov’s death was not particularly advertised, and his brokerage firm continued to work according to existing documents. The co-owner of the office at that time was Nikita Morozov.
It was he who, many years after the news of Savva Morozov’s suicide, told his grandson that the manufacturer until his death lived according to the documents of his second cousin.
There were rumors among Old Believers that until October 1967, at the Malohtenskoye cemetery there was a grave with a huge cross and an inscription indicating that the body of Savva Morozov was buried here in October 1929. By order of the secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU, this cross was demolished. Perhaps the legend that circulated among the workers after the death of Savva Timofeevich that he actually remained alive was not fiction. However, the writer Gorky claims that the legend was invented by the factory workers themselves, refusing to believe what happened. The workers loved Morozov very much.
There are many mysteries and secrets in this story, but the solution to this complicated story becomes more than obvious if you trace the fate of the members of Savva Morozov’s family after the tragedy.
The fate of members of the Morozov family after the death of Savva Timofeevich
On May 29, about fifteen thousand people gathered for the funeral of Savva Timofeevich. All the actors and workers of the Moscow Art Theater were present at the cemetery, except for one artist - Maria Andreeva. That day she allegedly fell ill and remained in bed. The woman, for whom he may have paid with his life, citing ill health, did not want to take him to prison. last way.
Zinaida Grigorievna after Morozov's funeral A. A. Kozlov, the then Governor-General of Moscow, at Morozov’s funeral, approaching Zinaida Grigorievna, whom he knew well and whose house he had visited, expressed condolences to her and said directly:
“I don’t believe in talk about suicide; Savva Timofeevich was too significant and respected a person. It's a huge loss for everyone."
After the tragedy that happened to Savva Morozov, his family still faced a lot of suffering and tragic moments. After some time, Timofey, Sava's eldest son, actively began investigating the murder of his father. He probably still managed to find some facts or important evidence. Timofey, trying to start investigating this case again, was immediately arrested. In 1921 he was sentenced to death penalty and shot. Morozov's youngest son, Savva, was sent to the Gulag.
Portrait of Zinaida Grigorievna Morozova with children: Timofey, Maria, Lyulyuta, 1900 - 1903 His daughter Masha, recognized as mentally ill, ended up in a mental hospital, where she died in very strange circumstances. Only the youngest Elena managed to escape from the authorities' reprisals: after the revolution that swept the country, she was able to travel to Brazil. Widowed Morozova, who inherited from her husband a large sum money, remained on Russian territory. A few years later she married Governor General Rainboth. In her possession there remained a mansion on Spiridonovka and a country estate called Gorki with a huge park and a greenhouse.
Although Zinaida Grigorievna could well have left Russia after the Bolshevik victory, she did not take advantage of this opportunity. She lived in Gorki for some time, but having received from the authorities a document stating that her house and the artistic and historical furnishings in it belonged to the state, she was forced to leave the estate. For the rest of her life, Zinaida rented a dacha in the village of Ilyinsky, where she lived until last days. She died after World War II in oblivion and poverty.
Maria Andreeva became a famous party worker under Soviet rule and received many top government awards. The urns with the ashes of Krasin and Gorky are kept in the Kremlin wall to this day.
In 2010, the Rossiya 1 TV channel filmed documentary— an investigation in which the descendants of the famous philanthropist, as well as competent experts, took part. It turned out very interesting:
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Name: Savva Morozov
Age: 43 years
Activity: entrepreneur, philanthropist, public figure
Family status: was married
Savva Morozov: biography
Savva Timofeevich Morozov - Russian manufacturer, owner of textile factories, chemical plants, philanthropist, benefactor of the Moscow Art Museum academic theater. Savva was born on February 3 (Old Style) 1862 in the Moscow province, the city of Zuevo, into a family of Old Believers merchants. The boy's grandfather, former serf peasant Savva Vasilyevich, founded the Morozov dynasty of factory owners. Father Timofey Savvovich opened the Nikolskaya cotton manufactory and headed the Moscow Exchange.
Mother Maria Feodorovna belonged to an ancient family of Old Believers, the Simonovs, who owned silk and paper weaving factories. In total, the couple Timofey and Maria Morozov had six children - the eldest daughters Anna (born 1849), Alevtina (born 1850), Alexandra (born 1854), Yulia (born 1858) and younger sons Sergei (born 1860) and Savva. Subsequently, Sergei will head the Museum of Handicrafts. Four more children - Elena, Ivan, Arseny and Lyudmila - died in infancy. Savva spent his childhood years on the family estate, which was located on Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane not far from the Ivanovsky Monastery.
Until 1881 he studied at the fourth Moscow gymnasium at the Pokrovsky Gate. After graduating educational institution, Morozov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Imperial Moscow University, where he chose the specialty of chemist. By the end of his training, Savva prepared great job dedicated to the development of dyes. Since 1885, Morozov studied chemistry at Cambridge and collected material for his dissertation. In England, Savva became acquainted with the peculiarities of the textile industry, visiting factories in Manchester. Returning home in 1886, he attended lectures.
Factories
Due to his father’s illness, Savva was forced to take over the management of the Nikolskaya Manufactory Partnership “Savva Morozov’s Son and Co.” and the Trekhgorny Brewing Partnership. The young entrepreneur began his activities by improving the working conditions of workers. Savva built new workers' barracks, opened medical centers, a nursing home, equipped a park for public festivities, and founded a library. Savva Morozov paid in full maternity leave female workers He sent promising young employees to colleges and universities.
The literacy level of workers at Morozov factories was higher than at other enterprises. The manufacturer did not allow unlawful dismissals at his enterprises and punished directors who kicked out workers for no apparent reason. Nikolskaya manufactory often became a prize-winner at exhibitions and industrial fairs. By improving living conditions for workers, Savva Morozov achieved an increase in the quantity of products and an improvement in their quality. Cotton for the manufacture of the Morozov merchants came from Turkestan.
Morozov played a major role in the development chemical production in Russia. In 1890, he began producing chemical reagents (acetic acid and its salts, wood and methyl alcohol, acetone, denatured alcohol, charcoal) at factories in the village of Vsevolodo-Vilva, Perm province and on the Ivak River. In 1905, Savva Morozov participated in the creation Joint stock company United Chemical Plants "S. T. Morozov, Krel and Ottman.” Since the early 90s, Savva headed the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, became a member of the Council of Trade and Manufactures, as well as the Society for the Promotion of Development light industry.
Morozov received the position of elected Moscow Exchange Society and held it until 1905. As chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition pavilion, Savva Morozov personally greeted the Russian Tsar at the event dedicated to the opening of the exhibition. In 1892, Morozov received the Order of St. Anne, III degree, from the Ministry of Finance, and four years later he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, II degree. At the beginning of the 20th century, Savva Timofeevich became interested in liberal ideas.
The entrepreneur maintained contact with the leaders of the Zemstvo constitutionalists, and then the Social Democrats. Morozov financed the first issues of the publications “Iskra”, “ New life" and "Struggle". Subsequently, the manufacturer began to engage in illegal assistance to future revolutionaries; in 1905, the Bolshevik N. E. Bauman was hiding on the territory of Morozov’s house. The entrepreneur made acquaintance with a representative of the Social Democratic Party, friend Leonid Krasin.
After Bloody Sunday 1905, Savva Timofeevich drafted a letter indicating the reasons for the strike movement in Russia, with which he intended to appeal to higher authorities. The entrepreneur indicated in the note that any strikes of a peaceful nature should not be punishable by criminal or administrative penalties, workers should also have freedom of speech, press, compulsory school education, inviolability of personal freedoms.
Mother Maria Fedorovna and the council of shareholders of the Nikolskaya manufactory did not support the entrepreneur. At a meeting held in mid-March 1905, the letter was destroyed. Morozov fell into depression, he began to nervous breakdown. A month later, Maria Fedorovna convened a medical council consisting of doctors G.I. Rossolimo, F.A. Grinevsky and N.N. Selivanovsky, at which recommendations were made regarding the need for spa treatment.
Charity
Savva Morozov according to the current situation family tradition participated in charity matters. The entrepreneur was a friend of Nemirovich-Danchenko. In 1898, the manufacturer oversaw the creation of the Public Theater in Moscow, sponsored the construction of the Moscow Art Theater in Kamergersky Lane with a large hall with 1,300 seats, and from 1901 headed the financial part of the theater. In total, Savva Morozov spent 500 thousand rubles on the needs of the Moscow Art Theater.
The name of the patron was immortalized with his image on the badge for the 10th anniversary of the theater, along with portraits of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Morozov regularly donated funds to needy students at Moscow University. With the participation of the entrepreneur, shelters, almshouses and hospitals were regularly created. Savva Morozov maintained a horse breeding enterprise, whose trotters Tashkent and Neyada became prize-winners at Moscow races.
Personal life
In 1888, Savva Morozov married ex-wife cousin of Zinaida Grigorievna Zimina, daughter of the Bogorodsk merchant of the second guild G. E. Zimin. The entrepreneur's love was so great that he went against the wishes of his parents. Marriage to a divorced woman was contrary to the Morozovs’ religion. 6 months after the wedding, the couple’s first child, Timofey, was born. Two years later, Zinaida Grigorievna gave her husband a daughter, Maria, Elena was born in 1895, and a son, Savva, in 1903.
In 1893, Savva Morozov purchased a house on Spiridonovka Street from the merchant A. N. Aksakov, which he rebuilt over five years according to the design of F. O. Shekhtel. In the new mansion, Morozov regularly organized balls to which Mamontov, Botkin, Gorky, Knipper-Chekhova, Stanislavsky, Boborykin were invited.
In 1898, Savva Morozov became interested in the Moscow theater actress Maria Fedorovna Zhelyabuzhskaya (Yurkovskaya), who performed under the name Andreeva. The girl was in the service of the Social Democrats, periodically carrying out orders from Lenin. Andreeva largely influenced Morozov’s political views. Maria Feodorovna convinced the entrepreneur to start financing the party. In 1904, the romance ended, the actress left the manufacturer for Maxim Gorky. Parting with his beloved was a blow for Savva Morozov.
Death
In May 1905, Savva Morozov, together with his wife and attending physician Selivanovsky, went to Germany and then to Cannes. The entrepreneur’s personal life began to improve; he again became interested in Zinaida Grigorievna. But on May 13 (old style), left alone in a room at the Royal Hotel, Savva Timofeevich shot himself. A note was found next to Morozov: “I ask you not to blame anyone for my death.”
But his wife and friends began to suspect that the businessman had been murdered, which was staged to look like suicide. It turned out to be unprofitable for the French and Russian sides to solve the crime. Savva Timofeevich’s mother also insisted on suicide, who was afraid of publicity about her son’s financial affairs and his connections with revolutionaries. A medical commission was created in Moscow, which issued an expert opinion on the affective state of Savva Morozov before his death, which made it possible to bury the deceased in the Rogozhskoye cemetery.
Memory
The biography of Savva Morozov has repeatedly found a response in the works of Russian filmmakers. Morozov played in the 1967 film Nikolai Bauman, and in the historical drama Red Diplomat. Pages of the life of Leonid Krasin” – Donatas Banionis.
Modern descendants Savva Morozov In 2007, the series “Savva Morozov” was released with leading role. In 2011, the documentary film “ Fatal love Savva Morozov”, which was based on documents and photos from the personal archive of the Morozov family.
Morozov Savva Timofeevich (1862-1905), Russian entrepreneur, public figure, philanthropist.
Born on February 15, 1862 in Moscow into a merchant family. He graduated from high school and the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University (1885), studied chemistry at Cambridge (1885-1887), while simultaneously becoming familiar with the organization of the textile industry in English factories.
Upon returning to Russia, Morozov became the manager of the Nikolskaya manufactory (1887) and turned it into one of the most productive and profitable in Russia. He abolished fines, built new barracks for workers, and provided exemplary medical care.
Savva Timofeevich enjoyed great influence in business circles: he headed the Nizhny Novgorod Fair Committee, was a member of Moscow branch Council of Trade and Manufactures and to the Society for promoting the improvement and development of the manufacturing industry.
In the early 90s. XIX century Morozov built factories in the Perm province for the production of products used in the textile industry, and in 1905 he founded the anonymous society of United Chemical Plants.
Morozov was widely known as a philanthropist. He helped the Moscow Art Theater not only with money, but also with personal labor. Under the influence of actress M. F. Andreeva, he became close to the Bolsheviks, financed the publication of their newspapers; hid revolutionary N.E. Bauman from the police.
After the January unrest of 1905, Morozov drew up a program of urgent socio-political reforms - it dealt with the abolition of autocracy, freedom of speech, press and unions, inviolability of the person and home, and public control over the state budget.
In February 1905, Savva Timofeevich decided to carry out social reforms at his factory, but his mother removed him from management, declaring him crazy. At the insistence of doctors, Morozov went abroad.
On May 26, 1905, in Cannes he shot himself. According to the official version, the businessman committed suicide, but the circumstances of the tragedy are not entirely clear. It is known that shortly before his death he insured his life for a large amount, and gave the insurance policy to bearer to Andreeva. Perhaps she was somehow involved in what happened.
