Sergey (Serghei, Sergei) Georgiyevich Lazo (, ; March 7, 1894 – April or May 1920) was a Russian nobleman, officer of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, and

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, ...

leader in the October 1917 Revolution in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. Lazo was born in the village of Piatra, Orhei, now in

Orhei district Orhei () is a district () in central Moldova, with its administrative center in the city of Orhei. As of 2014 Moldovan Census its population was 101,502. History The Orhei region has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Settlements included t ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

in a family of Moldovan boyars who were from the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

. In 1917, he was a cadet at the

Imperial Russian 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 ...

military academy when he joined the

forces and was entrusted with several missions in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

during 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 ...

. In March–August 1918 he was a commander of the ''Zabaykalski'' (trans- Baikalan) Front, and fought against

Ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

Grigory Semyonov. Later he fought in Bolshevik partisan units in the

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

and Partizansk areas, commanding the

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 ...

during the Suchan Valley Campaign against American forces. On January 31, 1920, the Bolsheviks took power in Vladivostok, but on April 5, 1920, Lazo and other commanders were arrested by Japanese troops. Then, Lazo disappeared, along with and . Reportedly they were shot shortly after, but the exact details of the execution have never been known yet. It is widely believed that the Japanese or

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

s of the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

burned them in the firebox of a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

in Muravyevo-Amurskaya (currently Lazo) station, while some sources claim he was shot and buried.

Memory

A number of locations in the

now bear Lazo's name, the most prominent being

Lazovsky District Lazovsky District () is an administrativeLaw #161-KZ and municipalLaw #136-KZ district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the krai on the eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range a ...

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

and

imeni Lazo District Imeni Lazo District () is an administrativeResolution #143-pr and municipalLaw #194 district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Khabarovsk Krai, seventeen in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the south of the krai. The area of ...

Khabarovsk Krai Khabarovsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is located in the Russian Far East and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. The administrative centre of the krai is the types of ...

. Between 1944 and 1991 the

n city of

Sîngerei Sîngerei (also spelled Sângerei) is a city in Moldova. It is located in the north-central part of the country. It is the largest city and administrative center of Sîngerei District. Spread across an area of , the town had a population of 12,465 ...

was named Lazovsk, after Lazo. One of the streets in the center of Chişinău, the capital of the

Republic of Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised ...

, is named after him.

References

Literature

* Л. Козлова. Жизнь - подвиг // журнал «Начальная школа», № 3, 1984.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazo, Sergey 1894 births 1920 deaths People from Orhei District Old Bolsheviks Moldovan communists Russian communists People of the Russian Civil War People of the Russian Revolution Executed Moldovan people Executed military leaders Executed communists