Marianne Pistolkors
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Marianne Pistolkors, born Marianna Erikovna von Pistolkors, (June 30, 1890 - 1976), was a suspected co-conspirator in the murder of Grigori Rasputin.[1]
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[edit] Early life
Pistolkors was the daughter of Olga Valerianovna Paley and her first husband Erik Augustinovich von Pistolkors. Her mother divorced her father when she was a small child, causing a scandal in society, and began an affair with the widowed Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia. Her mother married the grand duke some years later without the permission of Tsar Nicholas II. Her stepbrother through her mother's second marriage was Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich of Russia, another suspected co-conspirator in Rasputin's murder.[2] Her older brother, Alexander Erikovich Pistolkors, was married to Alexandra Taneyeva, a supporter of Grigori Rasputin and sister of the Tsarina's lady in waiting and Rasputin supporter Anna Vyrubova.
[edit] Murder of Rasputin
Pistolkors was allegedly one of two women and several men present in the palace belonging to Felix Yussupov on the night that Rasputin was lured there in December 1916. "Malanya's also taking part," Yussupov wrote to his wife Princess Irina of Russia in the weeks before the murder. Pistolkors' nickname was Malanya.[3]
She, like Grand Duke Dimitri, was later arrested by the Tsar's secret police following the murder. However, the Tsar later ordered her release Sympathies were on Pistolkors' side, according to her mother's memoirs, Memories of Russia 1916-1919. "When we arrived at 8 Theatre Square, where Marianne lived, we were stopped by two soldiers who let us through only after taking down our names. All the highest society was at Marianne's! Some ladies she barely knew arrived in order to express sympathy with her. Officers came up to to kiss her hand." According to one author, the Tsar did not want to more public displays of sympathy for the murderers of Rasputin. He also knew that his sickly uncle Grand Duke Paul was taking Dimitri's involvement in the murder and punishment of exile to the Persian front badly and did not want to add to the grand duke's suffering by also charging his stepdaughter.[4] None of the male co-conspirators ever publicly identified Pistolkors or the other woman, ballerina and film star Vera Karalli.[5]
[edit] Exile
Pistolkors escaped to the west following the Russian Revolution of 1917. She later married Count Nikolai de Zarnekau. She had previously been married to a man named Derfelden. Her marriage to Count Zarnekau later ended in divorce.
