In 1925, in Perm, the writer Arkady Petrovich Gaidar met a young woman with whom he soon tied his life. At that time, she was 17 years old and her name was Rakhil Lazarevna Solomyanskaya. Arkady later renamed her from Rali to Lyalya, then to Lily, and finally to Lia.
Lia was one of the founders of the pioneer movement in Perm and a co-founder of the first school Komsomol organization in the city. She was one of the organizers of the first printed pioneer newspaper in Perm and a member of the editorial board of the Komsomol newspaper “Na Smenu.”
At the end of 1925, Rakhil and Arkady got married. In 1926, they had a son, Timur. In 1931, Lia Lazarevna and Arkady Petrovich parted ways.
According to the personnel record sheet kept in the Gaidar Museum’s archives, Rakhil Lazarevna Solomyanskaya was born on May 19, 1907, in Minsk. She specialized as a propaganda journalist.
Throughout her literary and journalistic career, she wrote books and essays on history and revolution, as well as on communist education. She also created film scripts, including “The Drummer’s Fate, ” “Military Secret, ” as well as cartoons and slide films.
From 1923 to 1924, she worked as the chairperson of the district bureau for young pioneers of the Perm Komsomol committee.
After school, she worked as an instructor in the political propaganda department of the city Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and later became the head of the party education house. In 1928–1929, she transitioned to the department of party life at the editorial office of the newspaper “Pravda Severa” as a literary employee.
In the late 1920s, she moved to radio, working as the chief editor of Archangel radio broadcasting, and later became the head of the regional communications administration. In 1930, she moved to Moscow, where until 1933 she held the position of head of the sector for the All-Union Children’s radio broadcasting of the People’s Commissariat of Communications, and later became the executive editor of “Pionerskaya Pravda” on the radio.
In 1933, she was mobilized to the Ivnyansky
district as the chief editor of the newspaper “Za Urozhay” (For the Harvest),
and then transferred to the “Leninsky Put” (Leninsky Way). In 1936, she
returned to Moscow, where she served as the production director of children’s
films at the “Mosfilm” studio, and then moved to “Soyuzdetfilm.” From 1941 to
1946, she was the head of the department of criticism, journalism, and military
essays at the magazine “Znamya.” She then moved to the department of
historical-revolutionary and military films at the slide film studio.
