Pushkin's great-granddaughter Clotilde von Rintelen revealed Wiesbaden's connection with Russia

On the day of the celebration of the 227th anniversary of the birth of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, details of the life of the writer's direct descendants in Wiesbaden, Germany, became known. On June 6, the great-great-granddaughter of the classic Clotilde von Rintelen, in an interview with a correspondent of Izvestia, called this city the "secret Russian capital of Germany" because of the abundance of historical ties.

Clotilde von Rintelen was born in western Germany and for a long time did not know about her relationship with the Russian poet. She became aware of her family history in the early 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Then she visited Russia for the first time, having received an invitation to the 180th anniversary of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Since then, studying her ancestor's legacy has become an important part of her life, but the poet's great-granddaughter stressed that she had never abused her ancestry.

"I've never bragged about my background. Except that I once told my husband when I was pregnant with my first child: if a black baby is born, then it's not my fault," she said in an interview with correspondent Margarita Kostiv.

Clotilde's son, Alexander, who is also a direct descendant of Pushkin, said that the family's connection with Wiesbaden began with the poet's youngest daughter Natalia Alexandrovna. She met Prince Nicholas of Nassau in Russia at the coronation of Alexander II, after which the couple settled in this German city.

According to Clotilde von Rintelen, her great-great-grandfather's poems cannot be fully translated into foreign languages, as they lose their true meaning in translation. She noted that the master's works need to be re-arranged into poetic form, but they are best perceived in Russian. Clotilde's family retains knowledge of the language in order to understand the music and the meaning of Pushkin's works. The woman admitted that the poem "I remember a wonderful moment" always makes her cry.

In addition to popularizing Russian literature, von Rintelen is also interested in the "culture of politics." She said she would like to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, calling him a representative of the Russian diplomatic school, and added that Western countries had made many mistakes in their relations with Russia.

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On June 6, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin congratulated Russians on Russian Language Day and Pushkin Day, emphasizing the importance of Alexander Pushkin's legacy for world culture. According to him, the poet is the founder of the modern Russian literary language, and his work has become an integral part of the world cultural heritage.