European Statesmen & Prime Ministers Codexery

Felix Dzerzhinsky

Bolshevik revolutionary who founded Soviet secret police.

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Felix Dzerzhinsky was born on 11 September 1877 to ethnically Polish parents of noble descent at the Ozhyemblovo family estate.[1] He died of a heart attack on 20 July 1926 in Moscow after a two-hour speech to the Bolshevik Central Committee.[2] After his death from a heart attack on 20 July 1926 in Moscow, Dzerzhinsky's remains were interred at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.[2]

Life and work

His father, Edmund-Rufin Dzierżyński, graduated from Saint Petersburg Imperial University in 1863 and worked as a gymnasium teacher of physics and mathematics.[3] He spent four and a half years in prisons, including the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel and Moscow Butyrka prison.[4] The Cheka became notorious for mass summary executions during the Red Terror and Russian Civil War.[5] Dzerzhinsky also chaired the Transport Commissariat, led the fight against typhus, and initiated a vast orphanage construction program.[6]

Between 1887 and 1895, Dzerzhinsky was a student at the Vilnius Gymnasium, where Józef Piłsudski, who would later become his arch-enemy, was among the older pupils.[7] Dzerzhinsky was expelled from the gymnasium two months before his expected graduation because of his revolutionary activities and for putting up signs with socialist slogans.[8] In Kraków during 1910, Dzerzhinsky wed Zofia Muszkat, a member of the RSDLP; she subsequently gave birth to their son Janek while incarcerated in Pawiak prison.[9] Lenin appointed Dzerzhinsky to lead the newly formed Cheka in December 1917, giving him the assignment of suppressing counter-revolutionary activities in Soviet Russia.[10]

What the cited sources add

Ryan's book highlights the impact of the First World War in legitimating Soviet state violence after 1917.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kalic, "Russian Revolution of 1917: the essential reference guide", ABC-Clio, 2017, p. 44; Riga, "Reconciling Nation and Class in Imperial Borderlands: the Making of Bolshevik Internationalists Karl Radek and Feliks Dzierżyński in East Central Europe 1", Journal of Historical Sociology, 2006, p. 447–472; Фамилия: Гулухов (in Russian); Igor Kuznetsov. The Chekist No.1. The life of terror parent (Чекист № 1. Житие отца террора) . BelGazeta. 21 July 2020; Грамота на права, вольности и преимущества благородного российского дворянства, 21 en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Felix Dzerzhinsky, Lenin Advier, Dies; Head of Dreaded Cheka", The New York Times, July 21, 1926, p.19; Isaac Deutscher. The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky 1921–1929. Oxford University Press, 1959, . p. 279.; Montefiore, "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar", Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003, p. 76 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Plekhanov, Alexander Mikhaylovich, Olma Media Group, 2007, p. 19 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blobaum 1984, pp. 213–217. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe. Knopf, 2007. . pp. 46–48.; George Leggett, The Cheka: Lenin’s Political Police. Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 197–201.; Orlando Figes. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. Penguin Books, 1997. . p. 647; J. Michael Waller Secret Empire: The KGB in Russia Today. Westview Press. Boulder, CO, 1994. .; George Leggett, The Cheka: Lenin’s Political Police. Oxford University Press, 1987. . p. 114. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blobaum 1984, p. 231.; "Love and hate for 'Iron Felix': Why do Russians still debate the Soviet security services' founder?", Russia Beyond; A Dictionary of 20th Century Communism. Edited by Silvio Pons and Robert Service. Princeton University Press. 2010. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blobaum 1984, p. 30. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blobaum 1984, p. 37 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blobaum 1984, pp. 199–200. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Felix Dzerzhinsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ryan, "Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence", Routledge, 2012, p. 114; Часть IV. На гражданской войнe. // Sergei Melgunov «Красный террор» в России 1918—1923. — 2-ое изд., доп. — Берлин, 1924; Lauchlan, "Spy Chiefs", Georgetown University Press, 2018; Havlat, "Victims of the Bolsheviks: 1917-1953", GRIN Verlag, 2011, p. 5 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Ryan, "Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence", Routledge, 2012, p. 114. facts only, no text reused. routledge.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Felix Dzerzhinsky (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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