Deep in the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a sad story in the Derby Evening Telegraph (Friday 16 March 1945):
World Dancer Executed
Vaslav Nijinsky, once one of the world's greatest dancers, was executed by the Nazis in Budapest before the Russians captured the city, a Stockholm newspaper reported today.
For years Nijinsky had been confined in a mental home in the Hungarian capital. The newspaper said the Germans put to death all insane persons in Budapest to conserve food supplies during the Russian siege.
So sad was it that I wondered the story is not better known. When I turned to Wikipedia I found there's a reason for that. It's not true.
Nijinsky had indeed been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1919, and for years afterwards was in and out of psychiatric hospitals and asylums.
But he survived the siege of Budapest, and after the end of the war he and his wife Romola moved to Vienna. There:
he encountered a group of Russian soldiers in an encampment, playing traditional folk tunes on a balalaika and other instruments. Inspired by the music and hearing a language from his youth, he started dancing, astounding the men with his skills.
Drinking and laughing with them helped him start to speak again. He had maintained long periods of almost absolute silence during his years of illness.
Nijinsky ended his days in the genteel surroundings of Virginia Water in Surrey. He died in 1950, and his obituary in The Stage described his last days:
He was reserved, charming, and very kind. Though part of the time he lived in a world of his own, sometimes he was able to take an interest in current affairs. He enjoyed visits to a play or the ballet, and loved seeing friends.
He talked of his days in St. Petersburg and occasionally discussed dancing. When asked how he was able "to stay in the air" he answered, smilingly. "It was easy". But when reminded that other dancers are unable to do this he replied, "I mean it was easy for me."
He had exquisite manners, and even in his darkened life it was possible to see something of the rarity of spirit that helped to make him a supremely great artist. He became a legend in his lifetime and has long been placed with the greatest in art. But to his friends he was loved for his sweetness and enchanting personality.
Nijinsky was originally buried in London, but in 1953 he was reinterred in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.
