(continuation of the article - 5 crime scenes in St. Petersburg)
The Yusupov Palace. The murder of Rasputin
The most popular of the Petersburg crimes was committed on December 17 (29), 1916, in the residence of the princes Yusupov on the Moika River. More precisely, it began in this beautiful ancient palace, in the rooms of Felix Yusupov. The conspirators, as always, sought to save the country, protecting the royal family from the influence of the "old man".
Circumstances have long become a textbook: Rasputin was called to the Yusupov under the pretext of meeting with Felix's wife, fed almond cakes with cyanide, then they thrust a dozen bullets into it, but the impenetrable Grigory Efimovich managed to escape and climb over the fence anyway. After that he
was caught up, captured and drowned in Malaya Nevka near Kamenny Island.
The body was found almost immediately, drop by drop of blood on the bridge. The divers lifted it from under the ice. The dead Rasputin caused the same agitation as the living one, so his embalmed corpse was secretly buried in the closed Alexandrovsky Park of Tsarskoe Selo, on the territory of the built temple of Seraphim of Sarov. A year before the grave, revolutionary soldiers arrived, after which, on the orders of Kerensky, the body was destroyed - burned in the steam boiler of the Polytechnic Institute, and the ashes were scattered. According to legend, in the fire the dead man suddenly straightened up and sat down, frightening the observers.
The murder did not bring any benefit to the country and the family of the Romanovs. On the contrary, Rasputin's prophecy that the tsar's family was intact soon became true, only while he was alive.
Count Peter Sheremetev, a distant descendant of Prince Felix Yusupov, now regrets only that the prince took a personal part in the murder, dirty his hands with blood. But there is no doubt that there was a need for physical elimination of Rasputin, even taking into account all subsequent events. And he still blames Grigory Rasputin for all the troubles of Russia in the 20th century.
Of course, categorically disagrees with Peter Sheremetev: Laurence Yuo-Solovieff, great-granddaughter of Grigory Rasputin.
The distance between two worlds, two castes is still physically palpable. Aristocrats do not mix with the common people, with "peasants", to which Rasputin also belonged. Aristocrats live their legends, they jealously defend their exclusive rights, they long to keep them for themselves. The conspirators used Prince Yusupov as an instrument, as a weapon - for their own purposes. Rasputin was eliminated. But what benefit did it bring to them? "This terrible man" has died. The revolution occurred after his death. Civil War. The death of the royal family. Stalin. The Second World War. But what does Rasputin have to do with these events? He is credited with playing too big a role in Russia's troubles. I do not think he was such a significant figure.
In 2005, on the alleged site of the first burial of Rasputin in Tsarskoe Selo, a cross was erected with a memorable inscription. The local historians strongly doubt that the place is defined correctly, but it is very popular among tourists, as well as radical Orthodox, who demand the canonization of the "holy old man".
At the Yusupov Palace today there is an exposition "Rasputin. Myths and Reality. " In the restored rooms there are concerts and balls, where you can dress up in a tailcoat or crinoline, feel like a secular man. Naturally, if you pay for the ticket. For ordinary visitors, every hour from 11 onwards there are guided tours, including "The Assassination of Rasputin".
Palace Square, the main headquarters. Murder of Uritsky
A romantic political crime, insane both in execution and in consequences. August 30, 1918 in the lobby of the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, located in the building of the General Staff on Palace Square, the chairman of the Petersburg Cheka, Moses Uritsky, was shot and killed by a young poet, Leonid Kannegisser, who had rushed to the crime scene by bicycle. The killer managed to escape, but not far - to the near Millionnaya street. There he was captured, arrested and soon executed. The consequences of the act were terrible: the Bolsheviks declared the "Red Terror".
Uritsky is usually portrayed as a bloodsucker and a moral monster, but this is not entirely true - an ordinary party member, not even too zealous, but obedient to discipline. However, the post of chairman of the Cheka obliged. Cannegisser said that the direct cause of the murder was the execution of his friend, a young officer of Perelzweig. Attempts were made to tie the Savvy and Savinkov, the Moscow attempt of Fanny Kaplan to Lenin (it happened on the same day). There is a more exotic version: the young man destroyed Uritsky as a Jew who atoned for the sins of another Jew before Russia.
The identity of the killer is very unusual. Leonid Kannegisser came from a wealthy educated Jewish family and belonged to that circle, which is most accurately called a bohemia, with all the consequences. A handsome fashionable young man, a poet, not an alien politician, which was also fashionable, and a sincere revolutionary romance. The murder, it seems, was neither prepared nor thought out - committed by a strange inspiration.
The scene of action is the entrance to the left of the arch of the General Staff building, in the semicircular wing leading to Millionnaya Street. The windows of the lobby overlooked the square where Cannegisser left the bicycle. It is possible to imagine even the approximate route of a young terrorist who was traveling from Saperny Lane. It's 20 minutes by bike in the free streets.
Garden of San Galli. The case of "Chubarov"
Garden "San Galli" (or Sangal) is located in a couple of minutes walk from the metro station "Ligovsky Prospekt" or 15 minutes from the Vosstaniya square. The sonorous name comes from the name of a large manufacturer Franz San Galli, originally from Germany. The garden was part of the complex of the iron and mechanical plant that belonged to him. Now it is quite a quiet place, which can be recognized on the high fancy fence from the side of Ligovsky Prospekt. In 1926, the garden became the scene of a brutal crime, enriching the Russian language with the name of completely freezed hooligans - the Chubars. From other black deeds that affected life of Russian society - black, but in their own way romantic - it is characterized by frank animal cruelty.
Chubarov called Gopnik from Chubarov (now Transport) lane in Ligovka. On August evening several chubarovtsev took away by force into the garden by a 20-year-old girl returning home and organized by rape. In the "case" was attended by three dozen other like-minded people. In addition to street punks, there were also quite socialized people - for example, the komsomol-red fleet of the plant "Kooperatore". None of them considered it a crime, so the half-dead girl was allowed to go home, and at the trial they gladly told the details. A cruel verdict, including seven death sentences, was completely unexpected for the Chubaras. "Ligovsky" in retaliation set fire to the San Galli plant.
The process of the Chubarovs is called only a reason for the ensuing "tightening of the nuts": the first application of the firing article "political banditry" in the civil case. However, the details show the bestial face of the post-revolutionary public, which needed to be tamed.
Today, the audience in the garden of "San Galli" is different, but the remains of the former Ligovka have not yet disappeared. Walking along the paths with a white day does not threaten you, even under the gloomy looks of ligovskie guys with beer on the benches. At night, the garden is locked.
