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Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky (, ; – August 6, 1925) was a Soviet military officer and political activist, and participant in the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
. He made a career from being a
gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...
and
bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank ...
to eventually becoming a
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
commander and member of the
Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union The Central Executive Committee of the USSR (), which may be abbreviated as the CEC (), was the supreme governing body of the USSR in between sessions of the All-Union Congress of Soviets from 1922 to 1938. The Central Executive Committee elec ...
.


Early life

Kotovsky was born in the
Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...
, the son of a mechanical engineer. Officially, Kotovsky claimed to be born in 1887. He also had five siblings. His father was a Russian citizen of Polish descent and his mother an ethnic Russian. By ancestry, Kotovsky hailed from an aristocratic Polish family from Kamyanets-Podilsky. His grandfather, because of connections with members of the Polish uprising, was dismissed from Russian service and eventually went bankrupt. His father was forced to move to Bessarabia and become a Russian burgess. Kotovsky suffered from a marked
stuttering Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...
and was left-handed. At the age of 2, he lost his mother and, at 16, his father. Kotovsky was raised by his godmother, Sophia Challe, the daughter of a Belgian engineer and friend of Kotovsky's father, and a godfather, the landowner Manuk-bey. Manuk-bey aided and supported Kotovsky's enrollment and stay at the Cucuruzeni Agricultural College. He intended eventually to send his godson to
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
for advanced agricultural courses, but his dreams were cut short by his death in 1902. While studying at the agricultural college, Kotovsky became involved with the local political club of Socialist Revolutionaries. After graduation in 1900 he began work as an assistant to an estate manager, but not for long. Kotovsky was fired for various acts of theft, fraternization, and other misdeeds. With the start of the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
, he failed to report to his military draft processing station. In 1905, he was arrested for evasion of military service and sent to the 19th Kostroma Infantry Regiment, headquartered in
Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...
. He soon deserted from the military and organized his own band of robbers, conducting raids and setting estates on fire. He was generally sheltered and supported by the peasants, who regarded him as a sort of
Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...
. On January 18, 1906, Kotovsky was finally arrested, but managed to escape after six months in the Chisinau prison. On September 24, 1906, he was again arrested again and sentenced to 12 years of ''
katorga Katorga (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited a ...
''. Kotovsky began serving his sentence at Nerchinsk katorga until 1911. He later spent more time in various prisons across the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
: (Yelizavetgrad Prison, Smolensk Prison, and Oryol Prison). At
katorga Katorga (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited a ...
, Kotovsky cooperated with prison authorities and was put in charge of a 10-man team of construction workers who were building a railroad. In 1913 he became a candidate for the amnesty commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. However, it was decided not to release bandits on the day of the amnesty, and on February 27, 1913, Kotovsky managed to escape from katorga and return home to
Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...
. At first he lived in secrecy, working as a loader and worker doing unskilled, heavy jobs. He then became the leader of a local criminal gang of raiders. One of his most notorious feats was the successful theft of the State Treasury office in
Bender, Moldova Bender (, ) or Bendery (, ; ), also known as Tighina ( mo-Cyrl, Тигина, links=no), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the unrecognized Transnistria, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Rep ...
. On June 25, 1916, Kotovsky was unable to escape from police after another raid. He was surrounded by a squad of secret police and, after being wounded in the chest, he was arrested. The
Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...
court sentenced him to
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
and death by
hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
. On
death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...
, Kotovsky wrote letters of repentance and begged to be sent to the front lines. Upon the abdication of
Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...
, a riot took place at Odessa prison after which the prison became self-governed by inmates; the
Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...
announced a wide political amnesty for all prisoners to be released.


Revolutionary days

During the last part of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Kotovsky was sent to the
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n front. In 1918, he sided with the Communists in
Tiraspol Tiraspol (, ; also /; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the third-largest city. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of cul ...
, taking command of a revolutionary battalion and helping the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
s gain control of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. He joined the
Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
in 1920. In 1924, he took an active part in the foundation of the
Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, shortened to Moldavian ASSR, was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing the modern territory ...
in
Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...
, as part of the
Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
. He was killed near
Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
by his deputy and friend Seider Meyer in 1925. He was then buried in a
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
in Birzula, which was renamed Kotovsk in 1935, a town included in the newly created Odessa Oblast. The mausoleum was later destroyed by Romanian troops during World War II -
Transnistria (World War II) The Transnistria Governorate () was a Romania in World War II, Romanian-administered territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. A Romanian civilian administrat ...
. In May 2016 Kotovsk was renamed Podilsk and Kotovsk Raion—Podilsk Raion in order to comply with the 2015 laws prohibiting names of Communist origin. Two other towns in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
were also named Kotovsk. One of them was his native Hînceşti, which regained its former name in 1990. The other one is in
Tambov Oblast Tambov Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tambov. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was&n ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.


Literature

Kotovsky appears as an important character in the novel " Chapayev and Void" by postmodern Russian writer
Viktor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲeɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects' ...
. In this novel, Kotovsky is shown as a man who talks about philosophical questions and is addicted to
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
.


See also

* Mishka Yaponchik * Sholem Schwarzbard


References


External links

* * * * *
Burda, E. ''Kotovsky, who is he?'' (Котовский - кто он?).
Agency of political news. 2012-2-15 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotovsky, Grigory 1881 births 1925 deaths Bessarabian Bolsheviks Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Politicians from the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Moldovan gangsters Bank robbers Recipients of the Cross of St. George Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People from Hîncești District People from Kishinyovsky Uyezd People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Perpetrators of the Red Terror (Russia) Moldovan people of Polish descent Moldovan people of Russian descent Moldovan prisoners sentenced to death Soviet people of Polish descent Prisoners sentenced to death by the Russian Empire