Arkady PetrovichGaidar (Russian:Арка́дий Петро́вич Гайда́р, bornGolikov, Russian:Го́ликов; 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1904[1] – 26 October 1941) was aRussian Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet children, and aRed Army commander.[2]
Gaidar was born in the town ofLgov,Kursk Governorate,Russian Empire (now inKursk Oblast,Russia), to a family of teachers of Russian aristocratic descent.[2] Through his noble mother, he was a distant relative ofMikhail Lermontov, whose 2nd great-grandfather was also Gaidar's mother's direct ancestor. In 1912, the family moved toArzamas where in 1914 Arkady enrolled in a local secondary school. In 1917, as an ardent 13-year-oldBolshevik follower, Gaidar started to distribute leaflets and patrol the streets. During one such mission, he received his first wound, a stab in the chest.[3]
In 1918, Golikov applied for Communist Party membership and started working for the local newspaper Molot as a correspondent. In August 1918, he became a party member and in December volunteered for theRed Army, having lied about his age. In January 1919, Golikov went to the front as a Special Unit commander's adjutant, to fight what Soviet biographies referred to as the 'kulak gangs'.[2][4]
Fresh from the 7th Moscow Red Commanders' courses, Gaidar went to the Ukrainian (later Polish) front as acompany commander. In December 1919, injured and shell-shocked, he was demobilised, but in March 1920 returned to the Red Army, to the Caucasian Front's 9th Army, 37th Kuban Division, as a company commander again. In summer 1920, Gaidar took part in operations against the units of generals Geyman and Zhitikov.[5]
In 1921, Gaidar participated in the suppression of several anti-communist uprisings, among themAntonovshchina. In 1922, he was moved to theMongolian border (where the Red Army was fighting White Army units led by colonels Oliferov and Solovyov), but later that year he was hospitalised with traumatic neuroses. He retired from the army in 1924 due to acontusion.[5][6]
As theGreat Patriotic War broke out, Gaidar was sent to the front as a specialcorrespondent for the newspaperKomsomolskaya Pravda. In the fall of 1941, Gaidar and other soldiers were surrounded byGerman troops. He joined thepartisans and became a machine gunner. On 26 October, Gaidar was killed in combat near the village of Lipliave. He was buried in the town ofKaniv.
In 1925, Gaidar's debut novelIn the Days of Defeats and Victories was published, followed byLife For Nothing andThe Mystery of a Mountain, a sci-fi novel and, most notably,R.V.S. (1925) which formed a blueprint for his career as a children's writer, telling stories of front-line camaraderie and the romanticism of the revolutionary struggle.[5] In 1927, Gaidar moved to Moscow. A year later, he went toArkhangelsk to work for a local newspaper,Pravda Severa. Back in Moscow, in 1930, he published the novelSchool (originally titled "The Plain Biography"). In the early 1930s, several articles on Gaidar's works appeared in the Soviet press,Konstantin Fedin being his major supporter and mentor. In 1939, Gaidar was awarded theOrder of the Badge of Honour.[2] Short stories "The Military Secret" (1935), "The Blue Cup" (1936) and the novelBlue Stars (1939) were followed by his most famous work,Timur and His Squad (1940), its hero named after, and partially based on the character of, the author's son. A captivating account of analtruisticpioneer youth gave birth to the massTimur movement amongYoung Pioneers and other children's organisations all over theSoviet Union.[5]
A number of films were made based on his stories. Gaidar's books have been translated into many languages.
Gaidar was awarded twoorders and several medals.[2][5]
A monument honouring him was erected in Kaniv in 1953.
Three biographical movies about Arkady Gaidar were released in theUSSR:Serebryanye truby (Russian:Silver Trumpets) (1970),Konets imperatora taygi (Russian:The Death of the Taiga Emperor) (1978), andOstayus s vami (Russian:I'll Stay with You) (1981). The latter was a story of Arkady Gaidar's last days.
Arkady's son,Timur Gaidar published two versions of the pseudonym's origin:[9]
Arkady Gaidar's father, Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov, a teacher (after the 1917 Revolution a Red Armycommissar), came from a working-class family. His mother, Natalya Arkadyevna Golikova (née Salkova), also a teacher (after the Revolution a doctor), was a daughter of a Tsarist Army officer. Arkady was the first of the couple's four children. His three sisters were Natalya, Olga and Yekaterina.[2]
The Russian economistYegor Gaidar was Arkady Gaidar's grandson. Yegor Gaidar's father, Rear AdmiralTimur Gaidar, was his son.[10]
Maria Gaidar (born 1982), Russian activist, is a daughter of Yegor Gaidar.
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