Zoya gold pen. Love brought to hard labor: the true story of Sonya - Golden Handle

Biography of Sofia Blueshtein, obituary, life and death. When she was born and died Sonka the Goldhand. Monument at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Photo and video.

Years of life

born 1846, died 1902

Epitaph

The earthly path is short,
Memory is eternal.

Biography of Sophia Blueshtein

B iography of Sonya the Golden Handle- the story of a woman who became famous thanks to her very dubious talent. Still, it's hard not to admire or be surprised at how deftly circled around the finger men, guardians of the law, naive townsfolk and even strict jailers, this little charming woman. To this day movies and series are made about a talented swindler, the life of Sonya the Golden Handle seems so incredible, whose nickname speaks for itself.

The history of Sonya is full of secrets and mysteries, the reliable dates of birth and death of Sonya the Golden Handle are still unknown. It is possible that she did not die at all on Sakhalin Island, but somewhere in Odessa or Moscow, having managed to escape from places of detention at one time and leaving a fake friend in her place. All her life there were a variety of legends about Sonya- they say, she lived in a Turkish harem, opened a school of thieves in London, had an uncountable number of lovers and robbed in all cities of Russia and Europe! According to official figures, she born in Warsaw. Sophia since childhood possessed the gift of theatrical transformation and adventurous character which sealed her fate.

Sonya was married several times, and either her husbands were themselves crooks, or she made them so forcing them to participate in her machinations. She was first seriously arrested when she was already about 30 years old, then she was exiled to a remote village in the Irkutsk region, but soon fled from there. After that, she ran away more than once, and often not without the help of guards who were in love with her. After another attempt to escape, Sonya was even shackled. Met her in 1980 Anton Chekhov, then he wrote: “This is a small, thin, already graying woman with a wrinkled, old woman's face. She has shackles on her hands: on the bunk there is only a fur coat made of gray sheepskin, which serves her as both warm clothes and a bed. She walks around her cell from corner to corner, and it seems that she is constantly sniffing the air, like a mouse in a mousetrap, and her expression is mouse-like..

The death of Sonya the Golden Handle, according to reports from the prison authorities, occurred in 1902, the cause of death of Sonya Golden Hand was a cold. But even then there were rumors that the fraudster had escaped from prison for a long time, there were constant reports that she was seen in different cities of Russia and Ukraine. The funeral of Sonya the Golden Hand took place in the post of Alexander, in the same place, at the local cemetery, there was the grave of Sonya the Golden Hand, on the site of which a residential sector has already been built today, so you can't visit her.

life line

1846 The year of birth of Sonya the Golden Hand (Sofya Solomoniak-Blyuvshtein-Shtendel).
1860 Beginning of criminal activity.
1865 Birth of Sura-Rivka's daughter Rosenbad.
1875 Birth of daughter Tubba Blueshtein.
1879 Birth of daughter Mikhelina Bluvshtein.
1880 Arrest in Odessa for major fraud, transfer to Moscow.
December 10-19, 1880 Trial of Sonya Zolotoy Ruchka, exile to a settlement in Siberia.
1881 Escape from the place of exile.
1885 Detention of Sonya Golden Hand in Smolensk, sentence to three years hard labor.
June 30, 1886 Escape from the Smolensk prison.
1888 Another arrest, a sentence to hard labor on Sakhalin Island.
1890 Meeting with Anton Chekhov.
1898 Liberation, settlement in the city of Iman.
1899 Departure of Sonya Golden Hand to Khabarovsk, return to Sakhalin Island.
July 1899 Baptism according to the Orthodox rite with the name Mary.
1902 The year of the death of Sophia Blyuvshtein (the exact date of the death of Sonya the Golden Handle is unknown).

Memorable places

1. Powazki, a microdistrict in Warsaw (former village), where Sofia Bluvshtein was born.
2. The city of Odessa, where in 1880 Sonya the Golden Handle was arrested.
3. The village of Luzhki, where Sonya the Golden Hand was exiled for a major fraud.
4. The city of Smolensk, where she was captured in 1885.
5. The city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky (the former post of Aleksandrovsky on Sakhalin Island), where Sonya was sent in 1888 and where Sonya the Golden Hand was buried.
6. Dalnerechensk (former Iman), where Sonya the Golden Hand remained in the settlement in 1898
7. Vagankovsky cemetery, where the monument to Sonya the Golden Hand is located.

Episodes of life

There are several legends about Sonya the Golden Handle, indicating that she was not devoid of compassion and kindness. For example, once Sonya saved a young man from suicide who got into a scandal with the theft of state money. On another occasion, she learned that she had robbed a widow, a mother of two children, on a train, and sent her back the stolen money by post with an apology.

Monument to Sonya the Golden Handle

Sonya the Golden Pen is still loved and popular in criminal circles, and simply among young people who dream of quickly getting hold of money. So, a sculpture of a woman by an unknown Italian master was installed at the Vagankovsky cemetery. For some reason it is believed that this is the grave of Sonya the Golden Hand, although she was buried on Sakhalin Island. But it is to this monument to Sonya the Golden Handle on Vagankovsky visitors flock all year round, leaving notes and inscriptions asking for help to get rich (the symbolic monument is called a cenotaph).

condolences

“She was distinguished by such charm, such charm, such inner energy that she surpassed most of the criminals not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. She knew how to subdue everyone around her to her will.
Anastasia Mikulchina, actress who played Sonya the Golden Handle

Documentary film “Sonka the Golden Hand. End of the legend."

20.09.1902

Sonka the Goldhand
Bluvshtein Sofia Ivanovna

Legendary Outlaw

Sofia Blueshtein was born on April 2, 1846 in the Powazki district of Warsaw, Poland. The girl's father was a petty merchant who traded in smuggling and buying stolen goods. Childhood passed among merchants who bought stolen goods: hucksters, usurers and smugglers. From childhood, Sonya turned out to be “hands-on”, distinguished by brilliant acting skills and had a rich imagination, which she used solely for her own benefit.

The woman played brilliant combinations, deftly stole money and at the same time managed not to leave behind any evidence. Any man could envy her mind and fortitude, and, in addition, she was a subtle psychologist, she knew how to win over any person. It is interesting to communicate with her, she knew five languages, she was stubborn and conclusive in her judgments and had a great talent. The brave, proud, independent adventuress Sonya was not afraid to rush into the most risky scams, as she had a sharp mind, and calculated the development of the situation several moves ahead.

Sofya Bluvshtein did not receive an education, but a life full of adventure and danger turned her into one of the most educated women of her era. The aristocrats of Russia and European countries mistook her for a secular lady. For this reason, she traveled around Europe without much difficulty and presented herself either as a baroness, or as a countess, or as a viscountess.

The Golden Pen was mainly engaged in thefts in hotels, jewelry stores, hunted on trains, traveling around Russia and Europe. Smartly dressed, with someone else's passport, appeared in the best hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Warsaw, carefully studied the location of rooms, entrances, exits, corridors. Sonya invented a method of hotel thefts called "guten morgen": she put on felt shoes on her shoes and, moving silently along the corridors, entered someone else's room early in the morning. Under a strong pre-dawn dream of the owner, she quietly “cleaned out” his cash. If the owner suddenly woke up, a smart lady in expensive jewelry, not noticing the "stranger", began to undress, as if by mistake taking the number for her own. It all ended in a masterly act of embarrassment.

In 1864, when Sheindl-Sura Solomoniak was eighteen years old, she married a grocer Rosenband. In Warsaw, the act of her marriage has been preserved. A year and a half later, the young woman ran away from her husband with her daughter and five hundred rubles.

From 1868 to 1874, Sophia got married several more times. One of her husbands was the well-known card cheat and carriage thief Mikhel Bluvshtein, whose last name he will carry until the end of his days. In the criminal field, she made herself known quite early. Known for petty theft when she was thirteen years old.

In November 1885, the Golden Pen was nevertheless arrested and convicted of several thefts of jewelry for a large amount. It was guarded by the most trained guards. The Bluvshtein case caused a great stir in Russia. The hall where the court session was held could not accommodate everyone. Sonya was sentenced to hard labor and sent to Sakhalin. On the day of the steamer's departure, there were a lot of people on the Quarantine Mole embankment. Odessa came to say goodbye to Sonya Golden Hand.

On Sakhalin, Sonya's criminal talent did not allow her to live without a "case". The woman rallied around herself notorious thugs and began to plan criminal operations against wealthy settlers. In May 1891 he escaped. This escape has become something of a legend. The loss of the Golden Pen was noticed immediately. Two detachments of soldiers were thrown in pursuit. One detachment drove the fugitive through the forest, the other was waiting for her at the edge of the forest. The chase continued for several days. A figure in a soldier's dress ran out of the forest to the edge of the forest. The commander of the detachment, tormented by anticipation, ordered "Pli". There was a volley of thirty guns. Shooting was to kill. But the figure, a moment before the shots, fell to the ground. Thirty bullets whistled overhead. It was Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka disguised as a soldier.

In June of the same year, Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka was punished with fifteen lashes for a second escape and was imprisoned for four years in solitary confinement. All these years I worked hard from morning until late at night. The perpetrator was the first woman to be held in handcuffs. Then she was again transferred to a free settlement due to illness.

In the future, Sonya began to be listed as the keeper of kvass. She brewed excellent kvass, built a carousel, recruited an orchestra of four people among the settlers, found a magician among the vagrants, staged performances, dances, festivities, copying Odessa cafes in everything. Unofficially traded vodka, bought and resold stolen goods, organized a gambling house. Police officials complained that they searched her place three times a week, day and night, but no one knew how and where she managed to store vodka. They even checked the floor and walls: to no avail.

There are many legends about the last days of the Golden Pen on Sakhalin. But many historians agree that the already ill Sonya decided on a new escape in 1902. It turned out to be a gesture of desperation, a final push for freedom. The woman walked only about two miles, until her strength left her and she fell unconscious. She was found by escorts during the detour. A few days later, on September 20, 1902, without regaining consciousness, Sonya the Golden Handle died in the prison infirmary from a cold. Buried at the local cemetery.

According to another legend last years Life Golden Pen lived with her daughters in Moscow. Although they were ashamed in every possible way of the scandalous popularity of their mother. Old age and health undermined by hard labor did not allow him to actively engage in the old thieves' profession. Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka died at an advanced age. She was buried in Moscow at the first section of the Vagankovsky cemetery. After her death, legend says, a monument was ordered from Milanese architects with the money of Odessa and London swindlers and delivered to Russia.

This woman had a special criminal talent. She played such brilliant combinations that she easily took a lot of money literally from under the noses of the rich and at the same time managed not to leave even the slightest trace. Having no education, she knew 5 languages ​​perfectly. Every man could envy her invincible fortitude and sharpness of mind.

What was she like?

Sheindlya-Sura Solomoniak, and this was the real name of Sofia Ivanovna Bluvshtein, or Sonya - the Golden Hand, was born in 1846 in the town of Powazki, then Warsaw district. Her childhood years were spent among merchants and buyers of stolen goods - usurers, horse dealers and smugglers.

The biography of Sonya - the Golden Handle, the photo of which is posted in this article, was full of many criminal events. According to contemporaries, she was a charming woman, but at the same time she did not shine with beauty. She had an extraordinary inner charm that was impossible to resist.

As you know, Sofya Blyuvshtein did not receive an education as a child. However, over time, the life she led turned her into almost the most enlightened woman of that era. The aristocrats not only of the Russian Empire, but also of many countries of Europe, without the slightest hesitation, mistook her for a lady of their circle. That is why she could freely travel abroad, where she presented herself either as a viscountess, or a baroness, or even a countess. At the same time, no one doubted her belonging to high society.

Criminal Talent

By the way, a prison photo of the real Sonya - Golden Pen, as well as police orientations, according to which they were looking for a criminal, has been preserved. They described a woman who had a height of 1m 53 cm, with a pockmarked face, a wart on her right cheek and a moderate nose with wide nostrils. She was a brunette with curly hair on her forehead, from under which mobile eyes looked out. She usually spoke boldly and arrogantly.

Sonya Zolotaya - Pen, whose biography was always connected with crime, from the very beginning stood out from the large crowd of scammers, as she had a kind of thieving talent. She was a proud, courageous and independent adventurer who was not afraid to pull off even the most risky operations. Sonya never started a new scam without considering the possible development of the situation in advance.

"Career" thief

I must say that Sheindlya-Sura announced herself quite early in the criminal field. The future queen of the underworld began her "activities" with petty thefts from third-class carriages when she was about 13-14 years old. Along with the rapid construction and development of the railway, her thieves' career was moving uphill. Over time, this talented swindler moved to compartment cars of the 1st class.

The story of Sonya the Golden Handle, whose biography is replete with various scams, was written not only on trains. She also traded in thefts in expensive hotels and luxury jewelry stores not only in Russia, but also in Europe. This always smartly dressed woman, carrying someone else's passport, settled in the best rooms of hotels in Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Odessa and carefully studied all the entrances and exits from the building, as well as the location of all corridors and rooms.

Thieves' tricks

Always smart, prudent and cunning acted Sonya - the Golden Pen. Sophia's biography is full of various, invented by her, thieves' "inventions". For example, a method called "guten morgen" or "with Good morning". This method of hotel theft was carried out in this way: in the early morning, Sonya, wearing soft felt shoes, quietly made her way into one of the rooms, and while his owner was fast asleep, she took all his cash. But if the guest suddenly woke up, he found in his chambers a smartly dressed lady in expensive jewelry. She, pretending not to notice anyone, slowly began to undress. At the same time, the owner had the impression that the woman mistakenly took his apartment for hers. In the end, the thief masterfully feigned embarrassment and sweetly apologized.

As for thefts from jewelry stores, Sonya, the Golden Pen, was able to distinguish herself here too. The biography of the thief knows cases of theft of diamonds right from under the noses of sellers. One day she went into one of the most expensive jewelry stores. Asking to see a large diamond, she allegedly accidentally dropped it on the floor. While the salesman, frightened to death, crawled on his knees, looking for a stone, the "customer" calmly left the store. The fact is that holes filled with resin were made in the heels of her shoes. Thus, by stepping on a diamond that stuck to a viscous substance, she pulled off this brilliant scam.

The biography of Sonya the Golden Handle (photo) also knows such facts when she, walking with her trained hand monkey, went into jewelry stores. Allegedly choosing precious stones, she quietly gave one of them to the animal. The monkey would either stick it in its cheek or swallow it. Arriving home, Sonya after a while removed this jewel directly from the pot.

fair thief

Sonya - the Golden Pen, whose biography is half composed of various scams, tried never to offend those who are already not rich. She believed that it was not a sin to warm her hands at the expense of very wealthy jewelers, large bankers or spurious merchants.

One of the cases is known when Sonya behaved nobly towards a person who suffered from her so-called activities. One day, she accidentally learned from a newspaper article that the woman she had robbed turned out to be a poor widow of a petty employee. As it turned out, the victim after the death of her husband received an allowance in the amount of 5 thousand rubles. As soon as Sophia recognized her victim in her, she immediately went to the post office and sent the poor woman a larger amount than was stolen. In addition, she accompanied her transfer with a letter in which she apologized for her act and advised her to better hide the money.

Family life

The first time Sheindla-Sura got married when she was 18 years old. Her husband was a grocer Isaac Rosenband. By the way, the act of their marriage is still kept in Warsaw. But family life quickly ended - less than a year and a half later, she, having taken her daughter, fled, taking her husband's money with her.

In 1868, Sonya married again, this time to Shelom Shkolnik, a wealthy old Jew. Soon, having robbed the poor fellow, she left him for some card cheat. But he didn't stay long either. From that year until 1874, the charming thief changed husbands several times until she met the carriage thief and card sharper Michel Bluvshtein. By the way, she will bear his last name for the rest of her life.

Sophia Blueshtein's children

It can be said that Sonya, the Golden Hand, spent most of her life wandering. The biography, in which the children did not fit at all, was decidedly not suitable for a respectable woman and mother. When she gave birth to a daughter, and later another, Sophia did not give up her craft. After Mikhel Bluvshtein was arrested, convicted and sent to serve a term in hard labor, she first thought about her “work”. Sonya finally realized that children are a burden for her.

The girls demanded a lot of love and attention for themselves, and she could not give them any of this. After her husband's arrest, she was forced to constantly move from place to place. Therefore, it was decided: to hand over the children to an orphanage. When they were little, she constantly sent them money.

Some tend to believe that the famous thief had four children: a son and three daughters. There is a version that Mordoch Bluvshtein, born in 1861, was the oldest. Further daughters - Rachel-Mary, Sura-Rivka Rosenband and Tabbu Blueshtein. I must say that the children of Sonya - the Golden Handle are generally very rarely mentioned in publications about her. But still, most often you can read about the last two daughters. It was about them that Sofya Bluvshtein herself spoke to the writer Doroshevich in 1897, already in hard labor. She admitted that she would like to see her two girls, who, according to her, were once operetta actresses. It is believed that the daughters of Sonya - the Golden Hand, whose biography is still unknown, were ashamed of their mother, and when they grew up, they did not want to see her at all.

Most researchers are sure that Sophia had only two daughters, and Mordoch and Rachel-Mary are just impostors. Judge for yourself, if she had given birth to a son in 1861 (by the way, she was only 15 years old then), then his surname was definitely not Bluvshtein, since Sonya married Mikhel much later.

Finding Sonya's children, of course, is no longer possible. But the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the queen of the underworld could remain, who, most likely, do not even know who their grandmother was.

The love story of Sonya - Golden Handles

The thief, who has been very successful so far, unexpectedly fell in love with a young swindler nicknamed Volodya Kochubchik. His real name was Wolf Bromberg. He was a thin, handsome twenty-year-old card sharper with virtuoso hands and lively eyes. Surprisingly, he had some inexplicable power over Sonya. He constantly extorted large sums of money from her, and surprisingly, he received them. All the funds “earned” by his mistress, he lowered by losing at cards.

Luck finally turned away from the Golden Pen. Sophia has changed a lot: she became irritable, greedy, and even stooped to pickpocketing. She now often took unnecessary risks, making mistake after mistake, and finally got caught. There is another version - it was set up and handed over to the police by Volodya Kochubchik himself.

penal servitude

After a sensational trial that took place in Moscow, Sofya Bluvshtein was convicted and exiled to Siberia. But soon the thief managed to escape, and all of Russia started talking about her again. She took up her former craft - robbed rich and careless citizens. After one of the robberies, Sonya got caught again. She was sentenced to hard labor and transferred to Sakhalin. Tried to escape three times, but all attempts ended in failure. After the second escape, she was severely punished - fifteen lashes, and then she was shackled for a long three years.

On Sakhalin, Sonya was a real celebrity. It was visited from time to time by ubiquitous journalists, curious foreigners and famous writers. For a fee, they were allowed to talk to her. I must say that she did not like to talk about herself, she lied a lot and often got confused in her memories.

It even became fashionable to be photographed with the legendary thief in the composition: a blacksmith, a warder and a convict. It was called "Conclusion in the shackles of the notorious Sonya - the Golden Handle." One of these photographs was sent to Chekhov by his Sakhalin acquaintance I. I. Pavlovsky. By the way, this photo of the real Sonya - the Golden Pen is still kept in the archives of the State Literary Museum.

End of the road

After her release, Sophia Bluvshtein was to remain on Sakhalin Island as a free settler. It was even rumored that for some time she kept a café, where she sold alcohol and arranged various entertainment events. She got along with the recidivist Nikolai Bogdanov, but life with him turned out to be worse than in hard labor. Therefore, being extremely emaciated and sick, Sophia made the last attempt to escape in her life. Naturally, she could not go far, and soon the convoy found her. She lived for a few more days, after which she died.

Where Sonya is buried - Golden Handle

There are many legends about the death of the famous thief. There is a version that she did not die in hard labor, but lived safely to a ripe old age in Odessa and died only in 1947. According to other assumptions, her death overtook her in Moscow, in 1920, and she rests at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

The last of the versions is unlikely, judging by where Sonya, the Golden Handle, was serving her sentence. The biography (the monument allegedly erected on her grave belongs to the work of Italian masters) makes one doubt that she rests here. Initially, the monument looked like this: a thin female figure carved from white marble stands under tall forged palm trees. Now only the statue has survived from the whole composition, and even that one with a broken head. It is not known for certain who is buried in this grave, but it is always decorated with fresh flowers and strewn with coins. In addition, the entire pedestal of the monument is literally dotted with inscriptions of a criminal nature.

Sofia Blueshtein lived an unusual life. It seemed to be the other way around in her: she dreamed of becoming an actress and playing on stage, but instead arranged “performances” in 1st class cars; there was love, but it did not elevate, but dragged into the pool; constant fear for the future of her daughters, whom she loved, but could not be with them.

Sonya was certainly a gifted person, without education, she spoke five languages. Traveling around Europe, she presented herself first as a countess, then as a baroness, and no one had a shadow of doubt.

The whole life of this amazing woman was surrounded by secrets and mysteries, in the emergence of which she herself was largely involved.

According to one version, Sonya was born in 1859 in a large family of a poor Jewish barber Shtendel in Berdichev. After the death of her mother, and later her father, four-year-old Sonya was taken to Odessa, where she was raised by her unloved stepmother.

Having escaped from her stepmother at the age of twelve, the smart and pretty Sonya fell into the service of the famous actress Yulia Pastrana. The brilliance and luxury surrounding Julia gave rise to envy and a thirst for enrichment in the soul of the future swindler, which served as the impetus for the start of a dizzying thieving career ...

However, the version compiled by various historians based on metrics, materials of criminal cases and eyewitness accounts is considered the closest to reality. So…

Sofya Ivanovna Bluvshtein, nee Sheindla Sura Leibovna Solomoniak, was born in 1846 in the family of a small merchant in the town of Powazki, Warsaw district. The family did not differ in integrity - they traded in stolen goods, engaged in smuggling. Well, how, tell me, could a virtuous, God-fearing bourgeois woman grow out of little Sheindli (the girl thought up the name "Sofya" for herself)? And Sonya honed her skills, rotating among the best shtetl thieves.

However, she did not wear these marriage shackles for long. The husband, who regularly found either the military or the aristocrats on the marriage bed, could not stand it and filed for divorce.

Sonya was first arrested on April 14, 1866 in a hotel in the city of Klin. She was accused of stealing a suitcase from the cadet Gorozhansky, whom she met on the train. But Sonya was not convicted, since from the courtroom she was handed over on bail to a certain Lipson, the owner of the hotel, whom she managed to charm during her short stay in Klin. After this incident, Sonya became cautious ...

After the Klin failure, Sonya moved to St. Petersburg, where, together with Michel Brener, she carried out a series of thefts. There, in St. Petersburg, together with the famous thief Levit Sandanovich, she tried to create her own criminal group.

Apparently it was during this period that a new method of hotel thefts called “Guten Morgen” was invented. The method was as simple as it was ingenious: elegantly dressed, impeccable Sonya entered the victim's room and began to look for money and jewelry. If she was caught "hot" she was embarrassed, apologized, pretended to have the wrong number. Sonya never left the room without prey, if necessary, she could even sleep with the victim and did not see anything shameful in this. This method was worked out by her to the smallest detail, and she practically did not know failures.

In the seventies, Sonya, realizing that she had become somewhat familiar in St. Petersburg (and the scope was not the same!), She, along with several accomplices, went to Europe. Warsaw, Vienna, Paris, Leipzig - the geography of Sonya's crimes knew no bounds. The fraudster easily posed as a Russian aristocrat traveling abroad. The doors to the best houses of high society were opened before her ...

The wave of crimes that swept across Europe made the whole world talk about Sonya. The "Golden Pen" (Sonka received such a nickname in thieves' circles) was distinguished by particular scrupulousness. She carefully prepared for each crime. The best thieves in Europe worked in her team, in her arsenal there were many devices necessary for work: false nails, where the fraudster hid small jewelry stones, shoes with special heels, to which jewelry stuck “in time”, a bag dress where Sonya hid loot ... But the main thing in her arsenal of all sorts of tricks was undoubtedly acting talent, which helped her get out of any situation.

Sonya's reputation in the underworld grew every day. In 1872, Sofya Blyuvshtein received an offer to join the Jack of Hearts, the largest club of Russian swindlers, and a few years later she headed it. The activity of the club extended to the whole territory of Russia.

In 1885, luck again betrayed Sonya, this time for good. After robbing several large jewelry stores, she was captured and, after a long trial, sentenced to hard labor. On the day the convicts sailed on the embankment of the Quarantine Mole, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. It was Odessa that came out to say goodbye to Sonya the Golden Pen. She tried to escape from hard labor three times - unsuccessfully three times. After the third attempt, Sonya died ...

In the materials of the investigation in 1872 (according to the verdict of the court, Sonya was then deprived of all civil rights), it is mentioned that she is a “Warsaw petty bourgeois”, “nee Solomoniak”, “26 years old”. From which it is easy to conclude that the genuine Golden Pen was born in 1846. And, therefore, at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, she would have been the most deserved repatriate, which, perhaps, would have landed in the Guinness Book of Records.

known about three daughters Sofia Blueshtein:
Sura-Rivka Isaakovna (nee Rosenbad) (born 1865) - abandoned by her mother, remained in the care of her father, Isaac Rosenbad, in the town of Powazki, Warsaw province, fate is unknown.
Tabba Mikhailovna (née Bluvshtein) (born 1875) is an operetta actress in Moscow.
Mikhelina Mikhailovna (née Bluvshtein) (born 1879) is an operetta actress in Moscow.

L the legendary Sonya - the Golden Pen a hundred years ago was famous in the underworld.
Her full name and surname is Sofia Ivanovna (Sheindlya-Sura Leibovna) Bluvshtein (nee Solomoniak). She was born far from the Neva coast, but the first "glory" came to her in our city.

Her biography is extremely confused, since she largely falsified her own biography.
According to official court documents, Sonya was born in the town of Powazki, Warsaw province, in 1846. However, when she was baptized according to the Orthodox rite in 1899, she indicated the city of Warsaw, 1851, as the place and date of birth.

She received an education (according to other sources, she did not receive it at all and learned everything herself), she knew several foreign languages. She had the gift of artistry and theatrical transformation.

Having escaped from her stepmother at the age of twelve, the smart and pretty Sonya fell into the service of the famous actress Yulia Pastrana. At the same time, her childhood years were spent among merchants and buyers of stolen goods - usurers, speculators and smugglers. At a young age, she "bombed" trains.

Among the surnames she used throughout her life were Rosenbad, Rubinstein, Shkolnik and Briner (or Brener) - the surnames of her husbands. She was married several times, the last official husband was a card cheat Mikhail (Mikhel) Yakovlevich Bluvshtein, from whom she had two daughters.

She was involved in the organization of large-scale thefts, gaining fame in the criminal world due to her adventurous component, her penchant for mystification, theatrical change of appearance and the talent to get "dry" out of the most "wet" situations. Even abroad, she was repeatedly detained, but always released and often with apologies.

According to contemporaries, she was a charming woman, but at the same time she did not shine with beauty. She had an extraordinary inner charm that was impossible to resist.

The aristocrats not only of the Russian Empire, but also of many countries of Europe, without the slightest hesitation, mistook her for a lady of their circle. That is why she could freely travel abroad, where she presented herself either as a viscountess, or a baroness, or even a countess. At the same time, no one doubted her belonging to high society.

A prison photo of the real Sonya, the Golden Pen, has been preserved, as well as police orientations, according to which they were looking for a criminal. They described a woman who had a height of 1m 53 cm, with a pockmarked face, a wart on her right cheek and a moderate nose with wide nostrils. She was a brunette with curly hair on her forehead, from under which mobile eyes looked out. She usually spoke boldly and arrogantly. Sonya never started a new scam without considering the possible development of the situation in advance.

In St. Petersburg, the Golden Pen invented a new method of hotel theft, which later became very popular. It was called as a radio program - "Good morning!" and consisted of the following: elegantly dressed Sonya stayed in one of the best hotels, carefully studied the plans of the rooms, looked at the guests, and then in the early morning, putting on soft slippers, entered the victim’s room and took money and jewelry.

If the guest suddenly woke up, he found in his chambers a smartly dressed lady in expensive jewelry. She, pretending not to notice anyone, began to slowly undress. At the same time, the owner had the impression that the woman mistakenly took his apartment for hers. In the end, the thief masterfully portrayed horror, shame and embarrassment and blushed sweetly apologetically, and easily charmed the rich dupe. She sold the stolen jewelry to a friend, the jeweler Mikhailovsky, who remade and sold them.

Sonya acted brazenly, successfully, with ruthless professionalism, but she was not alien to compassion. Entering one day at dawn into someone else's hotel room, Golden Hand was surprised to see a young man sleeping right in his clothes, next to whom lay a revolver and a letter to his mother. The young man wrote that he had spent the state 300 rubles and asked no one to blame for his death. According to legend, touched by Sonya, she took out a 500-ruble banknote from her reticule, put it next to the revolver and quietly left.

One day, she accidentally learned from a newspaper article that the woman she had robbed turned out to be a poor widow of a petty employee. As it turned out, the victim after the death of her husband received an allowance in the amount of 5 thousand rubles. As soon as Sophia recognized her victim in her, she immediately went to the post office and sent the poor woman a larger amount than was stolen. In addition, she accompanied her transfer with a letter in which she apologized for her act and advised her to better hide the money.

In 1880, in Odessa for a major fraud, Sonya was arrested and transferred to Moscow. After a trial in the Moscow district court on December 10-19 of the same year, she was exiled to a settlement in the most remote places of Siberia. The deaf village of Luzhki in the Irkutsk province was determined as the place of exile. In the summer of 1881, she escaped from her place of exile.

Prior to her arrest in 1885, she committed a number of major property crimes in the provincial cities of Russia. In 1885, in Smolensk, she was captured by the police. For major theft and fraud, she was sentenced to 3 years of hard labor (hard labor was served at the discretion of the court in hard labor prisons in the European part of the Russian Empire until 1893) and 50 lashes. On June 30, 1886, she escaped from the Smolensk prison, using the services of a warden in love with her.

They say she had very beautiful eyes - wonderful, infinitely pretty, velvety, which "spoke" in such a way that they could lie perfectly well.

After four months of “freedom”, she was arrested in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, and now she was again convicted for escaping from hard labor and new crimes, and in 1888 she was sent from Odessa by steamboat to hard labor in the post of Aleksandrovsky Tymovsky District on Sakhalin Island (now Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Sakhalin Region), where, after two escape attempts, she was shackled.

Shackling "Sonya the Golden Hand" into shackles, 1888

In total, she made three attempts to escape from Sakhalin penal servitude, for which she was subjected to corporal punishment by the decision of the prison administration.

In 1890, Anton Chekhov met her, who left a description of the convict Sofya Blyuvshtein in the book "Sakhalin Island":
“This is a small, thin, already graying woman with a wrinkled, old woman's face. She has shackles on her hands: on the bunk there is only a fur coat made of gray sheepskin, which serves her both as warm clothes and a bed. She walks around her cell from corner to corner, and it seems that she is constantly sniffing the air, like a mouse in a mousetrap, and her expression is mouse-like. Looking at her, one cannot believe that until recently she was beautiful to such an extent that she charmed her jailers ... "

But the famous "old woman"-convict at that time was only 40 years old.

Sonya's Golden Pen signature.

After her release in 1898, Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka remained in a settlement in the city of Iman (now the city of Dalnerechensk) in the Primorsky Territory. But already in 1899 she left for Khabarovsk, and then returned to Sakhalin Island to the Alexandrovsky post.

In July 1899, she was baptized according to the Orthodox rite, named Maria. Priest Alexei Kukolnikov performed the rite of the sacrament over Sonya.

About 5 million rubles - about the same amount the famous adventurer earned on her frauds (known to the police). But in real life, of course, much more.

At the beginning of the 20th century, versions were circulated about her successful escape and about a figurehead who served hard labor for her. Already in Soviet times, the aged Sonya the Golden Hand was allegedly seen either in Odessa or in Moscow.

It is known about three daughters of Sophia Blueshtein:

Sura-Rivka Isaakovna (nee Rosenbad) (born 1865) - abandoned by her mother, remained in the care of her father, Isaac Rosenbad, in the town of Powazki, Warsaw province, fate is unknown.
Tabba Mikhailovna (née Bluvshtein) (born 1875) is an operetta actress in Moscow.
Mikhelina Mikhailovna (née Bluvshtein) (born 1879) is an operetta actress in Moscow.

Sofya Blyuvshtein died of a cold in 1902, as evidenced by a message from the prison authorities, and was buried at the local cemetery in the Aleksandrovsky post. Initially, the monument looked like this: a thin female figure carved from white marble stands under tall forged palm trees. In 2015, only the statue survived from the entire composition, and even that one with a broken head. It is not known for certain who is buried in this grave, but it is always decorated with fresh flowers and strewn with coins. In addition, the entire pedestal of the monument is literally dotted with inscriptions of a criminal nature. There is a strange belief that even after death Sonya helps and brings thieves' luck to those who ask for it...

Quotes by Sophia Blyuvshtein:

"My dear mommy ... I'm so lonely, it's so hard without you. Dad lives with a rude and uncouth Evdokia, who doesn't understand where it came from on our heads. For this redneck, the main thing is that dad steals more."

"I think He rewarded me ... I take risks. But this is the kind of life that drags me forward with such force that my head is spinning all the time."

"- What did you steal? - Gold, or what? - Not only, more diamonds. - This is not theft. Pampering. - What is theft? - Theft is when souls are stolen."

Recently in Russia there was a series about her. Portrait likeness of an actress playing leading role just amazing.

The thieves' name Sonya the Golden Hand in the 20th century went to another criminal - Olga von Stein. In popular rumor, the crimes of these two thieves merged together. And the legendary collective image turned out ...

The basis of information and photos (C) SYL.ru, http://fb.ru/article, etc. The first photos (according to the owner) belong to Sonya and (most likely) to one of her husbands. (C) Sergeyich.