More about Anna Pavlova: return of ashes to Moscou

Anna Pavlova Matvejevna (Анна Матвеевна Павлова) was born in Saint-Petersburg on 12 January 1881. She died in the Hague on 23 January 1931. Pavlova was a Russian ballerina. She debuted in 1899 at the Imperial Russian Ballet and got worldfamous in 1909 when she acted in the ballet of Serge Diaghilev. In 1905 Michel Fokine created specially for her the solo "The Dying Swan". From 1911 she was constantly on tour through Europe. She settled with her company in London. Anna bought the estate Ivy House. Its years-long world tour brought her in all major cities on the globe. She was the first big megastar of the twentieth century.

Universal Pictures wanted to film the story of her life. Pavlova had no time for filming. Therefore Universal Pictures manufactured a mobile studio specially build to follow Anna Pavlova during the tour. So she could spend 1 or 3 hours a day filming "The Dumb girl of Portici" . Pavolova was paid an astronomical amount for the filming.

Wherever she came on stage , Anna was front-page news thanks to her manager Victor Dandré. In January 1931 on the eve of a farewell tour Anna arrived in the Hague . Anna was involved in a train accident. In addition to her injuries she picked up a pleuropneumonia. The great ballerina died of pleurisy in the bedroom next to the Japanese Salon of Hotel des Indes in the Hague.

In 1991 former ballerina and actress Ine Veen and her husband painter/writer Jean Thomassen organized a commemorative exhibition to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her death. At that occasion the ambassadors of Russia and England unveiled a portrait of Pavlova painted by Jean Thomassen.

A few years later Thomassen wrote a new biography about the life and the last hours of the balletlegend. In this book he reveiled some facts never published before . Anna Pavlova was born on 12 January 1881. She turned out to be the biological daughter of the Jewish banker Lazer Poliakoff. Pavlova was never married to Victor Dandré. The stories about their marriage turned out to find their origin in American publicity campaigns. After the death of his "wife" Anna Pavlova Dandré was expelled from Ivy House by the judge at request of mother Pavlova . The House was auctioned with all furniture included. Further ivestigation showed that Pavlova did not die of a pneumonia, but of a blood poisoning, caused by a poorly sterilized drain, stung in her chest to remove the pleural effusion.

Anna Pavlova is widely regarded as the most famous ballerina ever. Less known is the fact that she spent a lot of money to help Russian orphans and refugees. Her last wish was to be buried in her homeland. After the fall of communism in Russia Jean Thomassen and Ine Veen started an international action to require the return of the ashes of the cremated ballerina to Russia.The action provoked commotion in both the United Kingdom and the USSR. Harvey Thomas, presschef of primeminister Margaret Thatcher was send to Amsterdam to discuss the matter with Ine and Jean. The urn is still preserved at the London cemetery Goldersgreen . The return of the ashes of Pavlova to the cemetery of the monastery Novodevichy in Moscow was stopped at the last moment by the intervention of Anna's niece.

The Pavlova exhibitions and the book led in a few years time to over 150 articles in newspapers and magazins, to many Radio-interviews and TV-items. After pressagency Reuter distributed a few reports worldwide some international newspapers like The Tokio Times, The Guardian, The Toronto Star, The Daily Mail, The Independant, The Prawda, The Times placed articles to discuss the action. TV newsstation CNN interviewed Jean Thomassen and Ine Veen in 1996.