Vladimir Feofilovich Zeeler (, 6 June 1874,

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

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 ...

, then

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 ...

, – 27 December 1954,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) was a Russian

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, state official and political activist, the Interior Minister in the short-lived

South Russian Government The South Russian Government ( ''Хронос: Историческая Энциклопедия''. ("South Russian Government". ''Chronos: Historical Encyclopedia''.) Retrieved 20 April 2011.) was a Russian White movement government establishe ...

; since 1919 a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, who for thirty years served as a Secretary of the Paris-based Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Paris.

Biography

Kharkov University The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

alumnus, Zeeler started his career as a lawyer in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

where he also worked for the City Duma. An avid art collector, in 1910—1918 he was the head of the Rostov and Nakhichevan Fine Arts Society. Zeeler became involved in active politics in 1917 when, as a prominent member of the

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...

, he became the head of its

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

and

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

regional Committee, which led to his being elected a Mayor of Rostov-on-Don. In his 28 October 1917 statement Zeeler condemned 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, ...

-led

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

and on behalf of the Rostov Duma refused to sign the allegiance to those whom he referred to as 'bandits'. He took an active part in financing and forming the regular

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

units and, after general

Alexey Kaledin Alexey Maksimovich Kaledin (; 24 October 1861 – 11 February 1918) was a Don Cossack Cavalry General who commanded the 12th Cavalry Division and Russian Eight Army during World War I. He also led the Don Cossack White movement in the opening ...

's suicide, supported his successor

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 ...

Anatoly Nazarov Anatoly ( , ) is a common Russian and Ukrainian masculine given name, derived from the Greek name ''Anatolios'' (), meaning "sunrise." Saint Anatolius of Constantinople was a fifth-century saint who became the first patriarch of Constantinople ...

, serving for a while (according to

Anton Denikin Anton Ivanovich Denikin (, ; – 7 August 1947) was a Russian military leader who served as the Supreme Ruler of Russia, acting supreme ruler of the Russian State and the commander-in-chief of the White movement–aligned armed forces of Sout ...

) as "an effective and zealous intermediary between the

Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (; ), abbreviated to (), also known as the Southern White Army was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. The Volunteer Army fought against Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists on the ...

on the one hand and the greedy Rostov

plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...

and our enemy, the revolutionary democracy, on the other." In 1919—1920 Zeeler was the Interior Minister at the Denikin-formed

. Along with the remnants of the defeated White Army he left Russia and for the rest of his life resided in Paris. Zeeler's extensive art collection was nationalized and became part of the Don Regional Art Museum (later the Rostov-on-Don Regional Art Museum).

In France

In Paris, Vladimir Zeeler became a pivotal figure of the Russian emigration. In 1921 he joined the Committee for Helping the Russian Citizens abroad. He helped to organize and for thirty years was the secretary of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Paris. A treasurer of the Union of Russian Lawyers in France and (since 1927) a secretary of the central committee of the Days of Russian Culture event, Zeeler toured with lectures, actively contributed to ''

Russkaya Mysl ''Russian Mind'' (; French – ''La Pensée Russe'') is a pan-European sociopolitical and cultural magazine, published on a monthly basis both in Russian and in English. The modern edition follows the traditions of the magazine laid down in 1880 ...

'' (the

Pyotr Struve Peter (or Pyotr or Petr) Berngardovich Struve (, ; – 22 February 1944) was a Russian political economist, philosopher, historian and editor. He started his career as a Marxist, later became a liberal and after the Bolshevik Revolution, joine ...

-revived 1921-1927 version of the originally Moscow-based magazine) and was one of the editors of the book ''Commemorating the Ones Who Perished'' (Памяти погибших, 1929), dedicated to the memory of the Constitutional Democratic Party members who were killed in the 1918-1920

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 ...

.The Unforgotten Graves. Russian Abroad. 1917-1997 Obituaries. Vol. II. 1999 // Незабытые могилы. Российское зарубежье: некрологи 1917-1997. Сост. В.Н. Чуваков. Т. 2. М., 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeeler, Vladimir 1874 births 1954 deaths Lawyers from Kyiv People from Kiev Governorate Politicians from Kyiv White Russian emigrants to France 20th-century Russian lawyers 19th-century lawyers from the Russian Empire National University of Kharkiv alumni Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Lawyers from the Russian Empire