Sonya Golden Hand

Who is Sonya Golden Hand?

Sofia Blyumshtein, better known as Son'ka the Golden Hand, was a legendary Russian thief who lived in Russia during the second half of the 19th century. Little is known of her life for certain, except that she committed several carefully planned robberies, and was eventually captured and exiled to the Sakhalin penal colony; however, she has since become the basis of several books and films, in which she is depicted as a Robin Hood figure, who never killed, and who stole only from the rich.

In 1890, she met Anton Chekhov, who was visiting Sakhalin during his investigations into prison reform; he subsequently described the incident in his book Sakhalin Island.

A headless statue by an unmarked grave in Moscow's Vagankovo Cemetery is used as a shrine to Sonya; worshippers, who believe Sonya to be buried there, ask for her spiritual assistance in their own crimes.