Scratching the surface

I have been wanting to photograph the old Warsaw theatre in Moscow, a model of Soviet Constructivist Architecture, now covered in distinctly un-Soviet consumerist signage (as shown).  A few years ago there was a move amongst city deputies to rename the theatre (basically to remove the reference to 'Warsaw' ) following another spat between Russia and Poland. This move was squashed and quietly blew over apparently because of the longer association of the name (in this very particular instance) with the revolutionary, Yakov Ganetsky.  Ganetsky is described on the plinth next to the theatre as a "Russian and Polish Revolutionary".  He was also a close associate of Vladimir Lenin and "famous as one of the financial wizards who arranged the secret German funding that saved the Bolsheviks".

Ganetsky also served as Chief Soviet banker and in various other posts after the 1917 Revolution.  He signed the Treaty of Kars on behalf of the USSR in 1921 which defined the boundaries in the Caucasus states (though did not prevent the events in this RECENT BLIP!).

Yakov ended his days as curator of the Museum of the Revolution with an apartment in the (in those days) prestigIous 'House on the Embankment' in Moscow.  However - Yakov's revolutionary credentials did not prevent his arrest during the Great Purge in 1937 and his subsequent execution.  His wife was picked up two days after Yakov's arrest and she too was executed, within two weeks of Yakov's killing.  To add to this grim reality, their son Stanislav was arrested later that year and executed a few months later, and their daughter, Zhanna, sentenced to 18 years in the Gulags.  Amazing what blipping uncovers.