Funeral of the victims of the revolution 1917. Funeral of the victims of the revolution on the Champ de Mars

On March 23rd took place national funeral of victims of the old regime - fighters for the revolution. The official name of the festival was: “The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Revolution and the National Holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for All Time.”

The Registration Information Bureau of the All-Russian Union of Cities reported 1,443 victims of the revolution (including police officers who acted on the side of tsarism - 11 killed and 50 wounded). Among them: 869 military officials (of which 70 were killed), 237 workers (22 killed); higher education students educational institutions 25 (killed 5); 251 other citizens (of which 20 were children; 60 were killed, including 5 children).

They decided to bury the dead in St. Petersburg on Champ de Mars. Under the tsar, parades were held there, and besides, there were barracks of the Pavlovsky Guards Regiment, whose soldiers were the first to go over to the side of the revolution.

According to the plan, everyone (and this was almost half of the city of two million) had to pass by the mass graves on the Champ de Mars. Before the funeral there were many fears that this would be impossible, that it would be difficult to maintain order, that there would be provocations, that it would turn out to be another Khodynka, etc.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet Nikolai Sukhanov described the problems of preparing for a funeral:

“We were afraid, of course, of provocation and Khodynka. The Black Hundred still existed, after all. To take advantage of the confluence of all revolutionary St. Petersburg, to organize a provocative panic, a mass stampede, shooting and play on this during the confusion of still unstable minds - this could be very tempting for the victims of the dark forces that have disappeared somewhere from the open horizon...

On the other hand, the “best military authorities” asserted categorically that it was absolutely impossible to pass a million masses through one and the same point during the day. They said that this was finally and irrevocably proven by both the theory and practice of mass troop movements. Meanwhile, the entire St. Petersburg proletariat, the entire garrison, was supposed to take part in the funeral, and the entire philistine and intellectual masses, burning with the first enthusiasm, also gathered for the funeral...

The population itself had to ensure order in the full sense, and one had to rely on their consciousness and self-discipline. The young police and the cumbersome, swollen, completely inexperienced garrison in these matters could not do anything on their own. But if everything went well, it would be a brilliant exam and a new huge victory for St. Petersburg democracy.”

But all fears were in vain. In the “Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies” dated March 25, the funeral was described as follows:

“From early morning, the working population of St. Petersburg took to the streets and lined up according to a pre-determined plan. A procession moved in orderly columns from all the outskirts of the city to the Field of Mars, where 4 large graves were dug. Column after column passed by the graves of the districts, bowing their banners. Banner slogans: “ Eternal memory to the fallen fighters!”, “Long live the democratic republic!”, “Workers of all countries, unite!”, “Long live the European revolution!” etc.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the grandiose Vyborg district with the largest number of victims appeared. The procession in this area stretched for 5 miles. The Narva district could only access the graves at 4 o'clock. The workers of the Putilov plant, 30 thousand people, walked in full force in this procession; Half companies of the Izmailovsky and St. Petersburg Guards Regiments, the Guards of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, the 176th Infantry Reserve Regiment, the St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo garrisons also followed here. Speeches of a political nature were made at the graves. After the funeral, rallies took place in various places in the city.”

At 9:30 in the morning, i.e. half an hour before the appointed time, the Vasileostrovskaya procession appeared at the Field of Mars from Sadovaya Street. It was led by the orchestra of the Finnish and Kexholm regiments. A huge banner fluttered behind them, and the soldiers carried in their arms 4 red coffins decorated with flowers.<…>

The Vasileostrovsky district took two and a half hours.<…>

Petrogradsky district.

The removal of bodies from the Peter and Paul Hospital begins. Eyes are focused on the hospital gates. The first coffin appears - everyone bares their heads. On the red wall of the coffin a large black inscription is clearly visible: “To the fallen fighters.”<…>Second, third... 8 coffins red as blood.

The procession sets off. The orchestras are playing the Marseillaise, the banners are waving. At one o'clock in the afternoon the procession approached the mass grave...

Vyborg district.

The area was supposed to move from the building of the Military Medical Academy at 10 o'clock. morning. Hundreds of banners flocked to Nizhegorodskaya Street by this hour. At the head of the procession, following fifty-one red coffins carried out from the academy church to the harmonious sounds of a funeral march, was a combat company of the Moscow Regiment, followed by the orchestra of the R.S.-D. R.P., composed of Kronstadt sailors, members of our party... Slender columns are lined up... Many old, familiar comrades; some of them had just returned from exile, from settlements, from hard labor...<…>

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a procession from the Narva region with the orchestra of the Izmailovsky and Petrograd regiments approached the Champs of Mars. This procession brought 29 coffins to the mass grave.

The Putilov plant presented a particularly impressive picture... the workers of this plant, up to 30,000 people, marched orderly in front of the mass grave.

Nevsky district.

At 5:15, new shots were heard from the Peter and Paul Fortress - this was the Nevsky district. There were 40 coffins in this procession.

Quite by accident, the Nevsky district turned out to be the largest, due to the fact that the workers of the Kolpino plant, who arrived in the amount of up to 40 thousand people, joined it.

The last to arrive on the Field of Mars was the demonstration from the Moscow region.

The day was already approaching evening, and the sun cast its last reflections on the 45 red coffins brought from the Obukhov hospital.

The tail of this area passed the mass grave at eleven o'clock in the evening. Since it was already completely dark, five spotlights were specially installed to illuminate the entire field. In addition, the procession walked with torches and illuminated the way.

The processions past the mass grave ended well after midnight.

According to a rough estimate, at least 800,000 people passed by the mass graves on the Champ de Mars.”

In Moscow in some institutions and train stations railways Memorial services were held for the victims of the revolution, whose funeral took place in St. Petersburg. Rallies were held in factories and factories all day long. Similar events took place throughout Russia, especially in large cities - Odessa, Kyiv, Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) and others. Everywhere on the day of the funeral there were grand demonstrations of soldiers, railway employees, workers and citizens of all classes.

Revolutionary Vladimir Voitinsky recalled:

“On March 23, the workers and soldiers of Petrograd buried their comrades who died during the February Revolution. It was not just a solemn funeral - it was a manifestation, the likes of which had never happened in Russia, it was a review of the forces of the victorious revolution. In my memories of 1917, where there are so few bright pages, I must note this unclouded day of democratic unity.

From morning to evening, countless crowds with red banners moved from all the outskirts to the city center and to the Champ de Mars. They walked in orderly rows, like waves running one after another in the sea. I remember on Znamenskaya Square I climbed the steps of the monument Alexander III- From here the columns of demonstrators seemed endless. Factory banners with portraits of Marx, Engels, Lassalle, with images of a worker and soldier embracing fraternally, with calls for unification of the proletarians of all countries embroidered in gold on scarlet velvet. Some banners were decorated with gilded tassels, and in this extravagance there was something infinitely touching, naive, and festive.

Behind the factories came the regiments, behind the soldiers - again workers, men and women, old, young, teenagers. From time to time, singing could be heard above the crowd - a workers' choir passed by, hundreds of voices, consonant, friendly sounds of the workers' anthem, accompanied the phobes of the victims of the revolution, floating over the heads of the demonstrators, covered with flowers and greenery, to the mass grave. The order was amazing - the most implacable enemies of the Soviets had to admit this.

The bourgeois-intellectual public almost did not participate in the demonstration. But “the whole” of Petrograd was on the streets that day, columns of soldiers and workers walked past the trellises of the public crowding on the sidewalks - and on the side of the demonstrators that day there was universal sympathy, and it gave special solemnity and impressiveness to this review of the forces of the Petrograd Soviet ... "

“I wandered through the streets, looking at the only spectacle in the world and in history, at cheerful and kindly people swarming the unclean streets without supervision. The extraordinary awareness that anything is possible is menacing, breathtaking and terribly fun. A lot can happen, a dangerous moment for the country, for the state, for all “properties,” but everything is overcome by the consciousness that a miracle has happened and, therefore, there will be more miracles. None of us could ever have imagined that we would witness such simple miracles happening every day.

Nothing is scary, only the cooks are afraid here. It would seem that one can be afraid of everything, but there is nothing to worry about, the freedom is unusually majestic, military vehicles with red flags, soldiers' greatcoats with red bows, the Winter Palace with a red flag on the roof. The Lithuanian Castle and the District Court burned to the ground; all the beauty of their facades, licked by fire, is striking; all the abomination that disfigured them inside was burned out. You walk around the city as if in a dream. The Duma was all covered with snow, in front of it were cabs, soldiers, a car with a military driver carried some old woman with crutches (I assume Vyrubova - to the fortress). Yesterday I wandered into the Merezhkovskys, who received me very well and kindly, so that I felt like a person (and not a pariah, as I was used to feeling at the front). I dined with them, they told me a lot, so the picture of the revolution is more or less clear to me: something supernatural, delightful.<…>

The entire Liteinaya and the entire Nevsky are crowded with people, the sailors are playing a Chopin march. The coffins are red, the minute they are lowered into the grave on the Champs de Mars, a fireworks is fired from the fortress (by pressing an electric button).

Now I’ll go outside and watch them disperse.”

Maxim Gorky This is how I described my impressions of that day:

“The force that has held and keeps me firmly on earth all my life has been and is my faith in the human mind. To this day, the Russian revolution in my eyes is a chain of bright and joyful manifestations of rationality. A particularly powerful manifestation of calm rationality was the day of March 23rd, the day of the funeral on the Champ de Mars.

In this parade of hundreds of thousands of people, for the first time and almost tangibly it was felt - yes, the Russian people have made a revolution, they have risen from the dead and are now joining the great cause of the world - the construction of new and increasingly free forms of life!

Great happiness to live to see such a day!

And with all my soul I would wish the Russian people, just as calmly and powerfully, to move further, ever forward and higher, until the great holiday of world freedom, universal equality, brotherhood!”

Don't cry over the corpses of fallen fighters,

Those who died with weapons in their hands,

Don't sing funeral verses over them,

Do not stain their ashes with tears!

There is no need for hymns or tears for the dead,

Give them the best honor:

Walk without fear over dead bodies,

Carry their banner forward!

With their enemy, under the banner of the same ideas,

Lead their battle to the end!

There is no better honor, there is no funeral feast for the saints

For a shadow worthy of a fighter!

An article was posted immediately after the poem Lev Kamenev with the meaningful title “Not the last”:

“Breaking our heads in front of the coffins of fallen freedom fighters, remembering with bitter agony those who died without waiting for the days of victory, we owe one thing to the bright shadows of those who laid down their lives for their friends: truth.

This truth is bitter and harsh.

With the deaf silence of the majority, intimidated and weakened by tsarism, for a century the best people of Russia went to torture and death. A powerful explosion of popular indignation did not stop the hands of those who hanged the Decembrists, who put the Petrashevites under execution, who raised Zhelyabov, Perovskaya, Ulyanov to the scaffold, who shot dozens and hundreds of workers, soldiers, sailors and peasants in 1906-7. And when the great Russian democrat and revolutionary Chernyshevsky stood at the pillory on St. Petersburg Square, only one woman’s hand threw a bouquet of red flowers to the foot of his scaffold.

Today is not the case. Millions of people came to the lead coffins of the fallen fighters to honor their sacrifice for freedom. Millions of people in Russia will proclaim glory to those who won freedom through their struggle. But the dead do not need honor, and any gratitude is lower than their feat. The fighters who died during the century of struggle would have said something else, something else would have been demanded.

“The fight is not over,” they would say. “We are not the last sacrifices that humanity will make in its movement towards true freedom and true equality. We are not the last victims in Russia, where consolidating the fruits of the revolution and their expansion will require more and more new victims. Don't let history repeat itself! Surround with a tight ring those who will follow our path, and when the hour of new battles comes, be with them! We demand not honor after a bloody battle, but support during it from those who have now come to our grave. Let the shameful picture for a free people of the death of its leading fighters in the indifferent silence of citizens never again be repeated! Let the joy of the victories achieved not obscure your duty to defend the revolutionary gains of the people!”

There is no power in Russia now higher than the power of the insurgent people. May his revolutionary passion never dry up! May his revolutionary enthusiasm never wane! May the mass of millions gathered around the coffins of the fallen remain an army of revolution and, having dispersed after the funeral, may it not turn into a philistine mass for which the leading fighters die!

We are burying not the last victims on the path to national happiness today. But the fewer of them there will be ahead, the more firmly we unite around the red banners of the revolution they raised.

Stand steadfastly around these banners, defend them with your entire mass, be the same mass of millions when you have to defend them from hostile forces in the difficult days of struggle, as you have now appeared on the bright holiday of freedom - this is the testament of the fallen.”

Many front-line military units sent their delegations to St. Petersburg on March 23. Some of them spoke in factories and factories in support of Bolshevik slogans, especially regarding their attitude towards the war.

“Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet” published on March 23 "The main program of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies", compiled by the 109th division and several units of the active army. It put forward demands for the immediate conclusion of peace and control over the operational part by the soldiers' executive committees. The drafters of the program stated that they were ready to support the Council by all possible means.

Passed in Kronstadt On March 23, the meeting adopted a resolution demanding the final destruction of the capitalist system and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Soldiers serving in the military departments and offices of the St. Petersburg garrison announced the creation of a United Committee hostile to the Petrograd Soviet.

Among the soldier groups, the “Motherland and the People’s Army” also stands out, calling on the entire army to support the following demands:

“1) bring the war to the full provision of the freedom won by the people and the army;

2) liberate the destroyed and oppressed Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, Armenia, Romania, Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine;

3) to grant the peoples liberated from the German yoke the right to full self-determination.”

At the conference of the Party of People's Socialists held in Moscow on March 23, a resolution was adopted stating that the war must be waged until the danger threatening Russian freedom from Germany is eliminated. It is impossible to insist on peace at any cost - it is necessary that the Germans renounce annexations, political hegemony and enrichment at the expense of other states. The Provisional Government must only declare that our military actions do not have any goals of conquest.

“The conference expresses its readiness to energetically support the Provisional Government in the implementation of the program promulgated by them and at the same time considers attempts by any organizations to usurp the functions of government power to be detrimental to the success of the revolution and to the defense of the land.”

On March 23, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government expressed his view on the goals of the war to newspaper reporters. Miliukov:

“The liberation of the Slavic peoples who inhabited Austria-Hungary, the unification of Italian and Romanian lands, the formation of a Czech-Slavic and Serbo-Croatian state, the merger of the Ukrainian lands of Austria-Hungary with Russia - these are the tasks of the future peace congress.

If we, Russians, lay claim to the possession of Constantinople and the straits, then by doing so we in no way encroach on the national rights of Turkey, and no one has the right to reproach us for aggressive tendencies. Possession of Constantinople has always been considered the primordial national task of Russia. Neutralization of the straits would certainly be harmful to our national interests.”

1917. February Revolution. Chronicle of events in six parts (Part IV) March 23. National funeral for victims of freedom fighters

Continuation.

1917. Chronicle of the February Revolution. Part 1

1917. Chronicle of the February Revolution. Part 2

On March 5, the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies decided to schedule the funeral for March 10. This day was declared “a day of remembrance of the victims of the Revolution and a national holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for all times.” It was ordered to organize the funeral as “nationwide and civil” without a church ceremony. The church memorial service could be performed by the relatives of the victims “according to their conviction.”

On this day, the priests of the military temples were supposed to perform funeral services in the temples.

Funeral service for those killed during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution

The entire population of the capital, as well as the Petrograd garrison in its entirety, was called upon to participate in the funerals of the victims of the revolution. However, on March 10, the funeral did not take place and the ceremony was postponed more than once, until finally the final date was set - March 23, 1917.

Discussions flared up over the choice of burial site. Initially, the majority of delegates spoke in favor of Palace Square, but objections arose. The organizers were concerned about the soil waters under Palace Square and feared that mass graves would violate the integrity of the famous architectural ensemble of the square. They were called Kazan Cathedral and Znamenskaya Square.

The Petrograd Soviet decided to bury the victims of the revolution on the Field of Mars. It was planned to place the crypt under a huge column, next to a building for the Russian parliament, which was to become the center of government for all of Russia, erected “according to all the rules of science, technology and art.” The grand entrance to the parliament building, facing the Neva, was to be decorated with statues of prominent figures of the revolution.

A funeral procession during the funeral of victims of the February Revolution on one of the city streets.

A special commission created by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies organized the funeral. Parts of the garrison were given orders to participate in the ceremony and to assign special units with orchestras. On the day of the funeral, it was planned to stop the work of industrial and commercial enterprises in the city, and tram traffic was stopped.

The route and time of the funeral processions from each district of Petrograd to the Field of Mars were determined. The diagram of the organization of columns is certified by the signature of the commander-in-chief of the troops, Lieutenant General L.G. Kornilov.

Funeral procession on Nevsky Prospekt during the funeral of victims of the February Revolution.

The newspaper “Petrogradsky Listok” wrote about this event: “... processions with the coffins of victims, with waving flags, with countless crowds of people moving slowly from all parts of the city. Slowly, solemnly, the consonant singing of a thousand voices is heard in the air: “You fell a victim in the fatal struggle...”.

The procession, which started at 9 o'clock. 30 min. It ended well after midnight. At least 800 thousand people passed by the mass graves on the Champ de Mars. The presence of members of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, the Provisional Government, and deputies of the Petrograd Soviet emphasized the special, national character of the event. Minister of War and Navy A.I. Guchkov, accompanied by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General L.G. Kornilov, arrived at the Field of Mars at 10 o'clock. The minister knelt in front of the graves and crossed himself.

Reportage footage of the funeral of the victims of the revolution covers all stages of the funeral ceremony: the procession of columns from different parts of Petrograd with the coffins of the victims, the situation on the city streets, a rally on the Champ de Mars, the burial of the victims, etc. Among them: 10 photographic documents filmed famous photographer Pyotr Otsupa: “Funeral procession on Nevsky Prospekt”, “Funeral procession in the Vyborg region”, “Lowering of the coffin into the grave during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on March 23, 1917”, “Church funeral service on the Field of Mars”, “Police from student representatives” , "Mourning columns on the Champ de Mars."

By examining information from photographic documents, you can see a huge number of different people social groups who took part in the funeral ceremony. These are soldiers and officers, workers, intelligentsia, students.

The event was planned in advance and was well prepared. The photographs show a large number of flags and banners with slogans that are written correctly without spelling and stylistic errors, in even letters. Columns of funeral processions with flags and banners are moving towards the Champs de Mars in perfect order.

Funeral of victims of the February Revolution on the Champ de Mars

One of the photographs shows: at the head of the columns are standard bearers or those carrying a banner with slogans. Next march the military units of the Petrograd garrison with an orchestra. Endless columns of demonstrators move through the streets of Petrograd, soldiers carry coffins with the bodies of fallen heroes, as evidenced by reporting footage.

On the Champ de Mars

Among the representatives of the funeral ceremony, photographic documents depict delegations of students from the Academy of Arts, Shlisselburg residents, workers of the 1st Russian X-ray tube plant, and soldiers of the automobile division. Military men on horseback keep order on the city streets. On both sides of the street there are civilians, including women. Pushing back the crowd, soldiers stand hand in hand in a cordon, ensuring the immediate progress of the funeral procession. In one of the photographs there is a police force made up of student representatives. Funeral columns accompany the coffins of the dead to the Champs de Mars, where a large mass grave is dug. Photographers recorded soldiers digging frozen ground on the eve of the mourning event - March 22.

Photographic documents capture the picture of the events taking place directly on the Champ de Mars: a huge crowd of people during the rally, general view Field of Mars during the ceremony, a large number of flags and banners with the slogans: “Immortal memory of the fallen freedom fighters”, “Eternal memory of the freedom fighters”, “Alive to the fallen”, etc. Cordon groups, honor guard of military and civilians at the coffins dead. Photographs show: despite the massive gathering of people, there is no crowd on the Champ de Mars, and nothing interferes with the march of the funeral columns.

Written sources record that, according to the decree of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, funerals should take place without religious ceremonies. However, the photographs depict a religious ceremony on the Champs de Mars: three clergymen perform a funeral service over the coffin of the deceased.

Next to the coffin there is a large cross with a crucifix and banners. Soldiers, officers, men and women take part in this ceremony. Men without hats, with bowed heads. Perhaps this memorial service was held on the initiative of the relatives of the victims. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out how many people performed the funeral service; only one coffin is visible on photographic documents. It is noteworthy that the majority of those participating in the funeral service are ordinary people, as we can judge by their clothes. So, if we compare the clothes of women during a funeral service with the clothes of women participating in the official burial, we will see that the former are dressed in scarves and shapeless coats, the latter are more elegant, wearing hats and coats with fur collars.

Several photographic documents documenting the burial show large quantities of voluminous wooden barrels in the frame. It was not possible to find out what they were for or what was in them. Perhaps they contained cement for filling the graves, or water for making a solution. In some photographs we see wooden flooring and special holes into which coffins are lowered. It can be assumed that the flooring was made for the convenience of lowering the coffin into the grave. Six people (three on each side) lower the coffin into the grave through a hole in the wooden flooring on ropes.

Below, several people accept the coffins and place them in two rows. Some coffins are decorated with bouquets of flowers, each with a note with the name of the deceased attached. After the funeral, the mass grave was poured with cement, which is also reflected in the documents.

PHOTO was prohibited from publication by the copyright holder

Photographic documents confirm the fact that members of the Provisional Government attended the funerals of the victims of the revolution. In the pictures: Minister of War and Navy A.I. Guchkov, chairman State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Miliukov, member of the Provisional Committee, Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod V.N. Lvov and others.

When studying film documents dedicated to the funerals of victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd in 1917, 12 units were identified. archives containing film footage of such cameramen as F.K. Verigo-Dorovsky, M.I. Bystritsky (March 22), Bulla, who was a photojournalist by his main specialty, as well as photographs taken by employees of the Skobelevsky Committee and the company of the Pathé Brothers.

Filming of preparations for the funeral ceremony has been preserved: “On the eve of the funeral. Preparation of graves on the Champ de Mars on March 22, 1917. M.I. Bystritsky Petrograd. On the screen you can see groups of people - soldiers, civilians, belonging to different strata of society, which can be determined by clothing. They block the passage to the Campus Martius, where frozen ground explodes and graves are dug. They are holding a large poster with the inscription “The passage is closed, they are blowing up the ground for graves.” Soldiers were captured digging graves and strengthening the walls with planks. A wooden flooring in the form of a bridge is made on top of the grave. There are large barrels in a row, the purpose of which could not be determined. An interesting plot: “Chapel of the Obukhov Hospital. Sealing coffins”: two coffins stand, soldering devices for sealing the coffins are heated up. The quality of this scene is poor as it was filmed in the dark.

The study made it possible to eliminate some disagreements between scientists regarding the construction of graves on the Campus of Mars. B. Kolonitsky, for example, believed that four large graves were dug. However, audio-visual documents confirm the opinion of those who believed that one large mass grave in the shape of the letter "L" was dug.

Members of the Provisional Government at the mass grave on the Champ de Mars

In the film document of the Skobelevsky Committee “National funeral of heroes and victims of the Great Russian Revolution on the Field of Mars in Petrograd 1917” (filming director G.M. Boltyansky, cameramen A. Dorn, I. Kobozev, P. Novitsky) the inscription at the beginning of the film says that “up to one and a half million people took part in the procession.” Written sources contain different figures for those who took part in the funeral ceremony; the most common figure is 800 thousand people; some sources speak of a million participants in the demonstration.

The February Revolution took place in its most acute forms in the capital Russian Empire. Here, in Petrograd, there were the greatest number of victims of revolutionary violence. After February 1917, there were rumors in the provinces about a huge number of killed and wounded in Petrograd these days. For example, some members of the Executive Committee of the Arkhangelsk Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies believed that up to 15,000 people were killed in Petrograd during the revolution. Deputies of the IV State Duma, cadet P.A. Levanidov and Trudovik A.I. Ryslev, who were in Arkhangelsk on March 8, 1917, refuted these data. According to them, there were only about 1,000 people killed and wounded.

However, this figure was also incorrect. Various organizations were involved in collecting information about the victims of the revolution. On March 24, the press reported that the All-Russian Union of Cities had collected information about 1,443 killed, wounded and sick victims of the revolution in Petrograd. The list was expanded in the future. He was the first to be identified as part of the fund of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission of the Provisional Government by E.I. Martynov. He wrote that “in the statistical department of the Petrograd City Committee of the Union of Cities, a list of people “who suffered during the February Revolution of 1917” was compiled.” According to Martynov, “the basis for it was information delivered from hospitals and infirmaries, where it was ordered to take all the wounded, as well as the corpses of the dead, but it is obvious that some of the victims did not get there.” The list included 1,656 persons of both sexes. After checking the list, Martynov came to the conclusion that it included “265 people who fell ill with diseases that cannot be attributed to the revolution in any way,” and “76 names are repeated twice.” Having carried out simple calculations, he wrote that “the result will be a loss of 1,315 people killed, wounded and bruised.”

Unfortunately, Martynov did not publish an updated list of victims of the revolution. Note that back in March 1917, the Gazette of the Public City Administration, in 3 issues, printed on its pages a list of victims of the February Revolution, compiled by the Information Department of the Petrograd Public City Administration together with the Committee of the United Students and the VSG. This list, as far as can be judged, was based on a card file of victims compiled by the Statistical Department of the Petrograd VSG Committee. Therefore, the publication in the “Gazette of Public City Administration” preserved all the shortcomings of the list (card index) of the VSG: repetitions of the names of victims of the revolution, etc. S.P. Melgunov in his work wrote about the newspaper list of victims of the revolution, and also cited data from E.I. Martynov , noting that “it’s difficult random statistics prove something." Melgunov believed that the February Revolution was bloodless, and individual cases of violence and murder could not “indicate the specific atmosphere of murder that was created in the first days of the revolution.” And here the appropriate question is how many of these excesses had to happen so that they, taken together, gave the February Revolution a “bloody” character? It turns out that 1315 victims is not enough for such a characteristic. Or how powerful an influence must the excesses have had to give February a character other than “bloodless”? Melgunov wisely did not pose these questions and, therefore, did not answer them. While categorically disagreeing with the reasoning of Melgunov and his followers, we note that the most brutal murders were not reflected either in the published consolidated list or in the card index of the Statistical Department of the Petrograd Committee of the All-Russian Union of Cities. Most likely, this happened by accident, for technical reasons. But, in any case, it played into the hands of those who did not want to focus on the question of the cost of the revolution, or rather, insisted on its bloodless nature. In particular, we are talking about the murder on March 1, 1917 of Senator Czartoryski and General Stackelberg, names that were missed both in the newspaper publication and in the card index of the Statistical Department of the PC VSG.

The murder of General Stackelberg caused a lot of noise. It was reported on March 5 in a PTA telegram (“Morning Messenger”), newspapers of the time wrote, contemporaries noted in diaries and memoirs, and scientists and writers mentioned it in their studies. We emphasize that in a number of publications Stackelberg’s initials were not given. There were discrepancies about where he lived: one newspaper article stated that he lived on the embankment. r. Moiki, and in other publications - on the street. Millionth. In the reference book “All Petrograd for 1917” there are several Stackelbergs, but two of them are generals - Major General, Baron Ivan Konstantinovich (Karpovka River Embankment, 30) and the head of the court orchestra, Lieutenant General, Baron Konstantin Karlovich (Malaya Konyushennaya St., 4) . Let us note that in the affairs of the Military Commission we were able to identify an anonymous denunciation of Baron K.K. Stackelberg: “The German Baron Stackelberg must be removed as soon as possible. The general lives at Malaya Konyushennaya 4, entrance from a small side street, which gathers the government squad and will wait for the troops to approach from Tsarskoye Selo. We need to hide it in the evening or at night.” K.K. Stackelberg's apartment was located relatively close to the street. Milionnaya, where the murder of a certain General Stackelberg took place. One could assume that the VC VKGD responded to the denunciation by sending a detachment to arrest General K.K. Stackelberg, during which he was killed. But, as N.E. Wrangel recalled, “Baron Stackelberg, Lieutenant General, former manager Palace Orchestra" was still alive at the end of 1918. At the same time, the fact that some group of armed people, acting in the interests of the Duma headquarters of the revolution, was looking for Stackelberg, is confirmed by the press. On March 5, the Den newspaper reported: “A military patrol, as a result of the information received, came to General Stackelberg’s apartment; the general was asked to get dressed and go to the State Duma.”

So, what kind of General Stackelberg are we talking about? The memoirs of V.N. Voeikov contain a story about the murder of General Count Stackelberg. In the reference book “All Petrograd for 1917” the horsemaster, lieutenant general, Count Gustav Ernstovich Stackelberg, who lived on the street, is indicated. Millionnaya, 16. In the provincial press, with reference to data from the Information Department under the Petrograd Public City Administration, it was reported that among the dead taken to the mortuary room of the Obukhov Hospital was the head of military medical institutions, General, Count G. E. Stackelberg, 64 years old. There is no doubt that this information was taken from the “Gazette of the Public City Administration” dated March 12, which is not available in the libraries of St. Petersburg, but is only available in the State Social and Political Library (Moscow). We note here that on March 12 and 14, Vedomosti published preliminary lists of victims for the Nikolaev military hospital and hospitals (Vyborg, Obukhov, Petropalovsk, etc.). But, as we see, not all of them were included in the later consolidated list. So, the murdered man was Count G. E. Stackelberg (Stackelberg).

Many memoirists reported on the murder of Stackelberg from hearsay. P.N. Wrangel recalled that General Baron K.G. Mannerheim told him about the murder of the “elderly Count Stackelberg” during their short meeting at the Zhmerinka station in early March 1917. There are no details of the murder in P.N. Wrangel’s memoirs. Empress Maria Fedorovna, from the words of Dolgorukov, who arrived from Petrograd, wrote in her diary on March 3, 1917: “Poor Stackelberg was also killed in his room. What cruelty." This is the only indication that Stackelberg was killed in his own room (apartment). More detailed information about this event is given in the Den newspaper. It reported that at first Stackelberg promised to surrender to a military patrol that had arrived to arrest him and take him to the State Duma, but instead closed the door and began machine-gunning from the window. According to the newspaper, “a crowd of people killed the doorman who refused to open the door, then entered the apartment. Stackelberg was killed." Note that there is no exact indication of the place where the massacre of Stackelberg was carried out. As for the killed doorman, information about him was given in the preliminary list of killed and wounded. “Gazette of the Public City Administration” reported that on March 1, 1917, on Millionnaya Street, 16, in addition to Count G. E. Stackelberg, doorman Ivan Andrianovich Poluektov, 50 years old, a tradesman from the city of Pokrov, Vladimir province, was killed. The body was then taken to the mortuary room of the Obukhov hospital. By the way, in the handwritten copy of the card index of victims of the revolution compiled by the Statistical Department of the Petrograd VSG Committee, Poluektov’s surname is not present.

Some information about the murder of Stackelberg is contained in the memoirs of Princess Putyatina. Firstly, it is indicated that the “old general” offered armed resistance for several hours; secondly, he did not act alone, but together with his orderly. No information is provided here or in other sources about the fate of the orderly. Most likely, we are talking about the already mentioned doorman Poluektov. As V.N. Voeikov recalled from hearsay ("told"), one diplomat who lived nearby and knew the future victim well, “turned to Sir George Buchanan for assistance by telephone, the latter gave the following answer: “I’m not interfering in anything.” . A revolution must have its victims." J. Buchanan did not mention this telephone conversation in his memoirs. Voeikov wrote that “in response to the same request to save Staselberg (Stackelberg - A.N.), Paleolog allegedly stated: “In view of the promise given to Miliukov, my English colleague deprived us of the right to give asylum.” By the way, like Buchanan, Paleologue did not say a word or say a word in his memoirs about the refusal to help save General Stackelberg. And while these negotiations were going on, the soldiers, having pulled out the count, “brutally killed him near the house.” That is, there was an attempt to carry out an arrest, during which Count G.E. Stackelberg offered active resistance, as a result of which they were killed, either in his room, or near the house where he lived.

A.I. Solzhenitsyn describes the murder of Stackelberg somewhat differently. In “The Red Wheel” he writes that “revolutionary soldiers burst into the general’s apartment (he didn’t let them in for a long time, they defended themselves with his orderly).” The general was accused of “killing a sailor on the street with a shot from this mansion.” He was allowed to get dressed and was “taken” out into the street, accused of killing sailors, and then dragged along Moshkov Lane to the embankment, where he was shot. Solzhenitsyn apparently based his story on the message of Princess Putyatina and the memoirs of an unknown author - a certain soldier Alexei. We were able to establish that he served in the Reserve Battalion of the Life Guards. Finnish regiment.

Here is a complete excerpt from his memoirs dedicated to the massacre of General Stackelberg: “In the pre-lunch hour, a group of revolutionary soldiers was walking along Millionnaya Street towards the Field of Mars, when a tall, lean general, wearing a Nikolaev overcoat with a raised beaver collar, began to overtake them. At first we didn't pay attention to him. Suddenly, those walking in front saw, opposite the Red Mansion, which was to their right, on the opposite side of the street, a murdered sailor, he was lying prostrate, and around his head was a halo of blood-stained snow. Further on one could see another dead sailor.

General, stop! - several people shouted at once. The general, not paying attention to the screams, continued to walk. One soldier rushes after the general and grabs his sleeve.

Stop, general! The general, without turning around, jerks his sleeve free and continues walking. Then the one who overtook him grabs him by the cape of his greatcoat; it cracks and comes off halfway. Indignant and angry, the general stops and is surrounded by a crowd. The sailors who ran up to us said that the sailors had been shot from the Red Mansion, and that the general we had detained lived in it.

A!!! The crowd growled threateningly, moved, and began to shrink into a tight ring around the general.

Maybe Mr. General will explain to us how the sailors were killed?!

I don't have to guard the scoundrels roaming the streets! - the general answers. And on his cold, non-Russian, large-featured, aquiline-nosed face there is so much contempt and hatred... The crowd was like a whirlwind: “Kill the bastard, shoot him!” Drag him, comrades[,] to the embankment!”

And the crowd immediately began to seethe, picked up the general, and, cursing, carried him back towards Alexander Square. One student and I are trying to dissuade the crowd from lynching. Part of the crowd supports us, but the majority demands immediate reprisals. While we are moving along Millionnaya, we have some hope that the crowd will abandon lynching and give us the opportunity to take the general to prison. But here we are on the corner of the street leading to the embankment, here the crowd lingers and the last heated battle takes place ["]for["] and ["] against["]. Each side wants to forcefully push the opponents aside and take possession of the general. The pro side wins. And again there is noise, a seething crowd rushing to the embankment. Excitement grows with every step... When suddenly a short, stocky soldier with a wide, high-cheekbone face squeezes through the crowd, runs up to the general and fires two shots at him from a revolver almost point-blank. They managed to catch the shooter without allowing him to unload the entire revolver. The general swayed, crouched slightly, turned his head towards the shooter: horror shone in his eyes. The stormy stream of people, without stopping for a second, carries the general further with increasing desire, as if the crowd is afraid that someone will take the victim away from them. The general does not show any signs of injury.

Now the human stream reached and jumped over the embankment pavement. They bring him in and place him with his back to the general’s parapet. The sun is shining brightly, the snow blinds the eyes with its whiteness, a light breeze pulls towards the seaside. The general is pale, crushed, and begs for mercy. Late! This should have been said there, on Millionnaya, in front of the Red Mansion - instead of words of insult. The crowd, backing away in a semicircle, takes the gun at the ready, clicks the shutter, and takes aim. The general, under a dozen guns aimed at him, hunched over and turned his gray, suddenly haggard face to the side. A long, terrible, painful pause... Fire! - someone commanded. A volley rang out, the general swayed, made a protective gesture with his left hand, as if seeking salvation behind him, and[,] as if knocked down[,] fell on his right side. Now, without a command, they shoot at someone lying down. They shoot with gusto, with excitement. Here is a tall, handsome man with a ruddy, girlish face, a Preobrazhenian, having fired two shots from a brand new hunting rifle, apparently fresh from a gun store, and puts in a new cartridge[,] to continue shooting. A characteristic smile wanders across his face, which can be seen in mischievous guys. He is pleased - he had the opportunity to try out the fire of a gun. What do you have to shoot at a person? Well... does it matter, the general is doomed... He hardly knows why the general is being shot: I noticed him when they were already putting the general up to the parapet - but if they shoot him, then it’s necessary.

The bullets, hitting the parapet, ricochet and fly whistling in all directions. To our right, several sailors are lying in the snow, running towards us from the direction of the Trinity Bridge. One of the fallen moved awkwardly, as if he wanted to change his position, but an invisible pressing weight prevented him from doing so. Realizing what was happening, I rushed with my butt at those who were carried away by shooting, and we quickly tamed those who were too carried away. Part of the crowd rushed to the sailors lying in the snow. Two sailors who fell in the snow had lacerations in the abdomen; they are put on overcoats and taken to the hospital. The person who was shot had his pockets searched; Apart from a massive gold watch with the same chain, nothing is found. The people who searched the corpse want to take the watch for themselves, but the vast majority protested indignantly against the robbery of the corpse, and the profit-lovers, with regret and abuse, had to leave the watch on the dead man. Then, the four of them took the corpse by the arms and legs, and, swinging it, on command - one, two, three! - thrown over the parapet onto the ice of the Neva. Only later did it become known that Lieutenant General Shtokelberg (as in the text - A.N.) was shot. ". Note that in these memoirs of a Finnish soldier there is no information about the search, or about the armed resistance that Stackelberg offered, or about how he was taken out into the street. Soldier Alexey remembered only what happened on Millionnaya Street and Dvortsovaya Embankment. It is possible that Count G. E. Stackelberg suffered innocently either on the way home or while leaving home. The victims of Stackelberg’s execution were also two sailors, who accidentally received severe bullet wounds.

The corpse of the murdered man was taken, as already indicated, to the Obukhov hospital. By the way, after the revolution, one of the entertainments of ordinary people was visiting the dead and looking at the bodies of the dead. M. Bernov “had the courage to walk through the deceased in the Obukhov hospital,” in one of which was the corpse of “General Stackelberg (with a severed head).” Apparently, the soldiers who dealt with the general then beheaded or cut off his head. It is possible that the separation of the head from the body was carried out by sailors who did not have time to take part in the execution of Count Stackelberg. An additional motive for this could have been revenge for those sailors who were wounded by a ricochet as a result of shooting at the already dead body of the general.

The life of a liberal-minded senator, artillery general Alexander Vasilievich Chartorisky, was tragically cut short. As follows from a document stored in the fund of the First Department Governing Senate, A.V. Chartorysky was a man of “a gentle character and at the same time independent convictions.” In particular, “when senators discussed controversial issues regarding the publication of laws and other matters, they usually took a liberal point of view.” Judging by the document at our disposal, on the morning of March 1, rebels appeared at the apartment of Senator Chartoryskiy (Alekseevskaya St., 18) for the purpose of a search, to whom he gave his weapons. After that, Czartoryski spent the entire day working on papers - “reading Senate affairs.” At 7 pm that same day, a crowd of sailors burst into his apartment. After conducting a search, the sailors placed “all the files and documents” seized from the senator in the middle of the room and set them on fire, “making a fire in the middle of the room.” They then “began firing indiscriminately,” during which Czartoryski was slightly wounded. The sailors forcibly took the senator to the infirmary, located opposite the Lithuanian castle, to be bandaged. The doctor tried to take him away from the sailors, stating that “Czartoryski is under his jurisdiction and that he will treat him.” Another crowd of drunken sailors burst into the office, and “seeing that the doctor was bandaging Czartorysky’s wound, they declared that: “We don’t need generals.” The senator was “taken away from the doctor and the nurses,” dragged out into the street and killed there. Then Czartoryski's head "was cut off and thrown away."

Did the brutal reprisals against these two victims of the revolution have any significance for further development events meaning? We are convinced that the murder of Count G. E. Stackelberg could not help but make a negative impression on contemporaries of the events and especially on those who lived in neighboring houses and knew him personally. Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who then lived in the apartment of Prince Putyatin, wrote in his diary on March 1, 1917: “We heard about several murders in the neighborhood, committed by soldiers, among other things, Count Stackelberg.” No less, and perhaps even greater, impact on the i.c. Mikhail, was supposed to produce information about the murder of Senator A.V. Czartoryskiy. The point was that he was an old acquaintance of V.K. Mikhail Alexandrovich, was part of his entourage. As follows from the “List of Generals by Seniority” A.V. Chartorysky was at the disposal of the military commander. Mikhail Alexandrovich from October 2, 1902. Most likely, all these murders also played a role when Grand Duke On March 3, 1917, Mikhail Alexandrovich decided to abandon the perception of supreme power. Unfortunately, the shorthand recording of the meeting V.K. Mikhail did not communicate with members of the VKGD and the Provisional Government, but some evidence has been preserved indicating that the participants in the meeting openly threatened him, and other members of the Romanov dynasty, with physical harm if he took supreme power into his own hands. V.N. Lvov recalled that V.K. Mikhail Alexandrovich listened to speeches “about the need for him not to accept the crown, because otherwise the entire Romanovskaya family faces death.”

B.V. Nikitin wrote that “[M.V.] Rodzianko, Prince. [G.E.] Lvov and everyone else sought to achieve his abdication of the throne, pointing out that otherwise all members of the House of Romanov would be immediately massacred in Petrograd.” A.F. Kerensky made a significant addition in his speech: “I have no right to hide here what dangers you are personally exposed to if you decide to accept the throne... In any case... I cannot vouch for the life of Your Highness.” Only P.N. Milyukov spoke in favor of taking power; he was supported by A.I. Guchkov (“but weakly and sluggishly”). Let us add that, according to contemporaries, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich “never showed any particular interest in state affairs". All this: Grand Duke Mikhail’s inherent antipathy to government activities, the brutal murders of people familiar and close to him, as well as the refusal of the majority of members of the VKGD and the Provisional Government to support the Grand Duke on the issue of the perception of supreme power and guarantee his personal safety at the same time, predetermined his refusal from such a responsible and risky step.

There is no doubt that two severed heads in front of the public (and in one day!) are an indicator of the high level of violence during the days of the February Revolution. There are also other cases of bloody reprisals against officers, policemen and ordinary people: senseless, at first glance, executions, throwing from the roofs of houses, etc. Contemporaries noted that in a number of cases the rebels committed outrages and abuses of corpses: ripping open bellies, burning bonfires, throwing the bodies of the murdered in the trash with a ban on burying them, etc. Specialists in symbolism and rituals, of course, in each of the murders, which was accompanied by desecration of the corpses of the victims, will find in them elements of the manifestation of the traditions of popular justice, designed to clear the space of “ strangers,” as well as the desire to humiliate enemies in order to make those still alive helpless from fear and “less harmful.” But all the facts of murders and injuries, compressed into the short days of February 1917, testify, first of all, in favor of the assertion that this revolution was neither peaceful nor bloodless.
NIKOLAEV Andrey Borisovich, doctor historical sciences, Professor of the Department of Russian History of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen.
The article was first published in the collection: “90 years of the February Revolution in Russia” St. Petersburg, 2007. pp. 33 - 42.

NOTES:

1. In the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies // Arkhangelsk. 1917. March 10.
2. Number of victims / Funeral of victims of the revolution // Russian word. 1917. March 24 (Moscow).
3. Martynov E.I. Tsarist army in the February Revolution // Martynov E.I. Politics and strategy / Ed. series advice: S.V. Stepashin (prev.) et al. M., 2003. P. 222.
4. List of those killed and wounded during the days of the revolution. The Information Department (under the Petrograd Public City Administration) announces information about the dead and wounded obtained by the Committee of the United Students in collaboration with the department and the Information Bureau of the Union of Cities // Gazette of the Public City Administration. 1917. March 17, 28 and 29 (Petrograd). Note that the issue dated March 28, 1917 is not available in the libraries of St. Petersburg. Thanks to the help of A.A. Ilyin-Tomich, this and other issues, missing in the libraries of St. Petersburg, were found in the State Social and Political Library (Moscow).
5. See more about the lists of victims of the revolution: Melnikov A.V. On the problem of identifying the personal composition of the victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd // 90 years of the February Revolution in Russia. Sat. scientific Art. St. Petersburg, 2007.
6. Melgunov S.P. March days 1917. M., 2006. P. 98.
7. Ibid. P. 97.
8. See: List of those killed and wounded during the days of the revolution // Gazette of the public city administration. 1917. March 29 (Petrograd).
9. See: GA RF. F.1467. Op.1. D. 866. The search for the names of Stackelberg and Chartoryski in a handwritten copy of the card index of victims of the revolution compiled by the Statistical Department of the Petrograd VSG Committee was carried out by our graduate student A.V. Melnikov. These names were not on the list.
10. RGIA. F.1358. Op.1. D. 1920. L.10b.
11. Chronicle of the revolutionary movement // Day. 1917. March 5; See also: Killed during resistance. From personal cor. // Latest news. 1917. March 5 (evening issue). (Kyiv).
12. Diaries of Empress Maria Fedrovna (1914−1920, 1923) / [trans. HE. Durochkina-Krog et al. M., 2005. P. 175.
13. Wrangel P. Notes. November 1916 - November 1920. Mn., 2002. T.1. P. 26.
14. Melgunov S.P. Decree. Op. P.100−101.
15. Solzhenitsyn A.I. Red wheel. Narration in measured terms in 4 nodes. - Node III. March the seventeenth. M., 1994. T.6. P.375−376.
16. Diaries of Empress Maria Feodorovna (1914−1920, 1923). P. 175. By the way, in the name index of this publication there is no information about Count Stackelberg (See: Ibid. P. 693).
17. Chronicle of the revolutionary movement // Day. 1917. March 5.
18. See for example: Melgunov S.P. Decree. Op. P. 101.
19. All Petrograd for 1917. Address and reference book of Petrograd. 24th year of publication / Ed. A.P. Shashkovsky. Pg., 1916. P. 774.
20. GARF. F. R-3348. Op.1. D. 132. L.18.
21. Wrangel N.E. Memoirs: from serfdom to the Bolsheviks / Vst. Art., comment. and preparation text. A. Zeide. M., 2003. S. 154, 445.
22. Chronicle of the revolutionary movement // Day. 1917. March 5.
23. Voeikov V.N. With and without a king. Memoirs of the last palace commandant of Emperor Nicholas II / Comp. T. Prokopov. M., 1995. P.227−228.
24. All of Petrograd for 1917. P. 651.
25. List of victims / From capital newspapers // Caspian. 1917. March 18 (Baku).
26. Wrangel P. Decree. Op. P. 26. See also: Wrangel P.N. Memories. Southern Front (November 1916 - November 1920). M., 1992. Part I. P. 30. In numerous editions of K.G.’s memoirs. Mannerheim in Russian does not say a word about the murder of Count Stackelberg (See: Mannerheim K.G. Memoirs / Translated from Finnish by P. Kuivala, B. Zlobin. M., 1999. P.72−83; Aka. Memoirs / Translated from English by Yu.V. Loboda, V.V. Mn., 2004. P.68−73).
27. Diaries of Empress Maria Feodorovna. P. 175.
28. Day. 1917. March 5; See also: Killed during resistance. From personal cor. // Latest news. 1917. March 5 (evening issue). (Kyiv).
29. List of those killed and wounded during the days of the revolution. This list was compiled according to data from the Information Department of the Public City Administration // Gazette of the Public City Administration. 1917. March 12, information provided by A.V. Melnikov.
30. See: GA RF. F.1467. Op.1. D. 866.
31. Quote. by: Melgunov S.P. Decree. Op. P. 101.
32. Voeikov V.N. Decree. Op. P. 227.
33. Buchanan J. Memoirs of a diplomat. M., 1991.
34. Voeikov V.N. Decree. Op. P.227−228.
35. Paleolog M. Tsarist Russia on the eve of the revolution. M., 1991.
36. Voeikov V.N. Decree. Op. P. 228.
37. Solzhenitsyn A.I. Decree. Op. P.375−376.
38. Quote. by: Melgunov S.P. Decree. Op. P. 101.
39. The author of the memoirs wrote that Carne de Bath was assigned to the Reserve Battalion in which he served after the revolution (Archive-Museum of the Library of the Russian Abroad Foundation. F.1. D. E-100. L.17). In the memoirs of the officer of the Reserve Battalion of the Life Guards Finnish Regiment D.I. Khodnev also contains a story about the enlistment of Lieutenant Corny de Bata (Khodnev D. The February Revolution and the reserve battalion of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment // 1917 in the destinies of Russia and the world. The February Revolution: from new sources to a new understanding / Ed. Col. : P.V. Volobuev (ed.) et al. M., 1997. P.281). There are different spellings of the surname under which Korney Batov acted during the days of the February Revolution - Carne de Bath, Carney de Bath, Corny de Bath, Kornibat. See about him in detail: Nikolaev A.B. Revolution and power: IV State Duma February 27 - March 3, 1917. St. Petersburg, 2005. pp. 263 - 264, 269, 422, 515, 524, 613 - 614.
40. Archive-museum of the library of the Russian Abroad Foundation. F.1. D. E-100. LL.13−15, the document was identified by us, a copy of the pages describing the murder of Stackelberg was taken at our request by A.V. Melnikov.
41. The son of the author of the article is a soldier of the Automobile Company F.M. From February 27, 1917, Bernov was the driver and personal bodyguard of the Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko (Bernov M. Letter from an eyewitness // Kievite. 1917. March 10).
42. Bernov M. Letters from an eyewitness // Kievite. 1917. March 19.
43. RGIA. F.1341. Op.548. D. 103. L.32.
44. GARF. F.668. Op.1. D. 136. L.60, information kindly provided by E.I. Krasnova.
45. List of generals by seniority. Compiled on April 15, 1914. Pg., 1914. P. 190.
46. Lvov V. Fatal mistake // Siberian speech. 1919. August 10 (Omsk). We identified these memories and introduced them into scientific circulation.
47. Shulgin V.V. Days. 1920: Notes / Comp. And ed. Ins.st. YES. Zhukov; Comment. Yu.V. Mukhacheva. M., 1989. P. 274.
48. [Guchkov A.I.] From the memoirs of A.I. Guchkova. Provisional Government // Latest news. 1936. September 20 (Paris); Miliukov P.N. Memoirs (1859−1917) / Comp. and ed. up Art. M.G. Vandalkovskaya; Comment. and decree A.N. Shakhanova. M., 1990. T.2. P. 272.
49. Milyukov P.N. Decree. Op. P. 272.
50. Memories Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. M., 2003. P. 249. A.I. Guchkov remarked on November 16, 1932: “Mikhail (it was clear) is not a real royal figure” (Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov tells... Memoirs of the Chairman of the State Duma and the Minister of War of the Provisional Government / Author of the foreword: V.I. Startsev; authors of the commentary and note. S. Lyandres and A.V. Smolin, 1990. P.70).
51. Davis N.Z. Rites of violence // History and anthropology: interdisciplinary research at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries / Under the general direction. ed. M. Kroma, D. Sabiana, G. Alghazi. St. Petersburg, 2006. P. 150.

On April 5, 1917 (March 23, old style), the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution took place on the Field of Mars in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).

The organizer of the funeral was the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which decided to schedule the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on March 23 (March 10, old style). This day was declared “a day of remembrance of the victims of the Revolution and a national holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for all times.”

The funeral on April 5 was not only a Petrograd, but also an all-Russian event. On this day, a memorial service for the victims of the revolution took place in Kronstadt. Up to 50 thousand people took part in the funeral procession here. A new wave of “Freedom Festivals” took place in other Russian cities. In Moscow, some enterprises did not work; rallies were held in factories and offices; Memorial services were held in some institutions. Demonstrations took place in Kyiv, Odessa, Samara, Riga, Simbirsk, dedicated to memory"freedom fighters" Often the centers of these demonstrations were the burial places of victims of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Later, the victims of the February Revolution were supplemented by the burials of participants in the October Revolution and civil war, this began with the solemn funeral of V. Volodarsky in June 1918.

In 1918-1940, the Champ de Mars was called the Square of the Victims of the Revolution.

In 1919, a monument to the fighters of the revolution, designed by architect Lev Rudnev, was unveiled on the Champ de Mars. The author of the inscriptions on the monument was the first Soviet People's Commissar of Education, Anatoly Lunacharsky.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

“The Field of Mars”, located in the center of St. Petersburg, has become a familiar vacation spot for city residents. Few people think about the dark history of this place.
In ancient times, according to the legends of the Karelian tribes, this place was considered cursed. According to ancient beliefs, all forest evil spirits gathered here on full moon nights. Old-timers tried to avoid these surroundings.

On a sunny day, townspeople relax on the grass of the Champ de Mars (my spring photo)
Centuries later, those who died in the days of February and October revolutions 1917. So the cursed place was turned into a cemetery where people who died a violent death, whose souls did not find peace, were buried.

Rumors that “this place is not good” appeared back in the 18th century during the reign of Catherine I, whose palace was located on the “Tsarina Meadow” (as the “Field of Mars” was called in the 18th century).
The Empress loved to listen to scary stories. One day they brought to her an old Chukhon peasant woman who knew many terrible stories.
Chukhonka told the queen a lot of interesting things about the place where the palace was located:
“Here, mother, in this meadow, all the evil spirits of the water have long been found. Like the full moon, they climb ashore. Drowned people are blue, mermaids are slippery, and sometimes the merman himself will crawl out to bask in the moonlight.”
The queen publicly laughed at the superstitious old woman, but decided to leave the palace near the “cursed place.”

At the beginning of the 19th century, “Tsaritsyn Meadow” received the name “Field of Mars”. Then there was a monument to commander Alexander Suvorov in the image of Mars (sculptor M.I. Kozlovsky). The first monument in Russia to an uncrowned person. Then the monument was moved to Trinity Square

Parade of Alexander II on the Champ de Mars. Rice. M.A. Zichy
In the 19th century, the “Campus de Mars” was a place for folk festivals. However, remembering the old stories, the townspeople tried not to appear here after dark.

Folk festivities on Maslenitsa in the 19th century. Champ de Mars

From the Champ de Mars there is a view of the Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood...

...and to Mikhailovsky Castle

Parade on October 6, 1831 on Tsaritsyn Meadow. Rice. G.G. Chernetsov

Parade on October 6, 1831 (fragment).
Russian classics are easy to recognize - Pushkin, Krylov, Zhukovsky, Gnedich

Parade October 6, 1831 (fragment)

On the eve of the revolution (1916). Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsarevich Alexei on the Field of Mars
In March 1917, the Champ de Mars was chosen as the burial place for those killed in February revolution. Burial in a mass grave was carried out demonstratively renouncing religious rites and without obtaining the consent of relatives. The cemetery, which appeared in the city center, immediately gained notoriety. The townspeople tried to avoid this place.
Despite the progressive revolutionary ideas, most townspeople treated such a mass burial with superstition - they said that the souls of the dead had not found peace and would take revenge on the living.
“Petropol will turn into a necropolis”- they whispered in the city.

They said that people disappear without a trace at this place. In those days, passers-by told how at night they could hear grave cold, a corpse smell and a strange inexplicable noise from the direction of the Champ de Mars. Stories appeared that anyone who approached the Campus Martius at night would either disappear without a trace or go crazy.

Funeral of victims of the revolution. A mass grave in the city center shocked many

The memorial complex “Fighters of the Revolution” was built in 1919. Architect L.V. Rudnev.
Esotericists note that the pyramid-shaped shape of the memorial contributes to the accumulation of negative energy of the “cursed place”