Maria Rasputin

Maria Rasputin
Maria Rasputina, far right, with her father, Grigori Rasputin, left, in March 1914.
Born	Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina March 26, 27, or 29 1898 or 1899? Pokrovskoye, Russian Empire
Died	September 27, 1977(1977-09-27) (aged 79) Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names	Mara, Matrena, Marochka, Maria Rasputina
Occupation	Writer, Cabaret dancer, Circus performer, Riveter
Spouse(s)	Boris Soloviev (1917-1926) Gregory Bernadsky (1940-1946)
Children	Tatyana Solovieva Maria Solovieva
Parent(s)	Grigori Rasputin and Praskovia Fedorovna Dubrovina

Maria Rasputin (baptized as Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina) (26 March 1898 – 27 September 1977) was the daughter of Grigori Rasputin and his wife Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina. She wrote two memoirs about her father, dealing with Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, the attack by Khionia Guseva and the murder. A third one, The Man Behind the Myth, was published in 1977 in association with Patte Barham. In her three memoirs, the veracity of which has been questioned, she painted an almost saintly picture of her father, insisting that most of the negative stories were based on slander and the misinterpretation of facts by his enemies.

Matryona (or Maria) Rasputin was born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk Governorate, on 26 March 1898, but baptized the next day. Some people believe she was born in 1899; that year is also on her tombstone, but since 1990 the archives in Russia opened up and more information became available for researchers. In September 1910 she went to Kazan (perhaps the Kazan Gymnasium) and then came to St. Petersburg, where her first name was changed to Maria to better fit with her social aspirations. Rasputin had brought Maria and her younger sister Varvara (Barbara) to live with him in the capital with the hope of turning them into "little ladies." After being refused at the Smolny Institute they attended Steblin-Kamensky private preparatory school in October 1913.

The little that is known about Rasputin's childhood was passed down by Maria. Maria expressed her ideas about their surname, Rasputin. According to her, he was never a monk, but a starets. (As he was not an elder it is better to speak of a strannik, a pilgrim.) For Maria her father's healing practices on Tsarevich Alexei were based on magnetism. According to Maria, Grigory did "look into" the Khlysti's ideas.