Ignacy Hryniewiecki
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Ignacy Hryniewiecki  |
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|---|---|
| Born | 1855 |
| Died | 1881 |
Ignacy Hryniewiecki (- Polish name; Belarusian: Ігнат Грынявіцкі, Ihnat Hryniavicki; Russian: Игнатий Гриневицкий, Ignatiy Grinevitskiy; pseudonym Kotik(Russian - Small Cat)) (August of 1855, or fall of 1856 - 1881), Polish-Russian revolutionary, murderer of Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
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[edit] Early life
Hryniewiecki was a Pole from the lands of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then ruled by Imperial Russia in the effect of the Partitions of Poland. Since those areas were to be russified, the suppression of Poles and persecution of all non-Russian cultures were the harshest. It included complete ban on the use of the Polish language in public places, schools and offices. He was born to a minor, impoverished szlachta family in a small manor near Babrujsk. Although his family spoke Polish, Hryniewiecki was born in Belarus and his name is often rendered Ігнат Грынявіцкі in Belarusian.
[edit] Revolutionary Life
In 1875 Hryniewiecki left for Saint Petersburg, where he joined the faculty of mathematics at the local Institute of Technology. Under influence from his teachers and colleagues he quickly became russified. Most probably this was the reason why he was invited to the meetings of Russian revolutionary Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) movement, unlike many of his colleagues of non-Russian descent.
In 1880, Hryniewiecki, Andrei Zhelyabov, Sophia Perovskaya and others were in charge of revolutionary propaganda among students and workers. He was one of the organizers of the "Worker's Gazette" and a typesetter for a clandestine printing-house.
[edit] Assasination of Tsar
On March 13, 1881 (March 1 O.S.), Hryniewiecki threw a bomb at the Tsar Alexander II, who was passing through Nevsky Prospekt near the Winter Palace. The Tsar was fatally wounded in the explosion and died a few hours afterwards. Hryniewiecki was also mortally wounded by the explosion as well. The attack may have been a suicide bombing. He had attempted to assassinate the Tsar before, but didn't use a bomb, as he did not want to injure other people. In his first attempt, he didn't want to kill pedestrians; in his second he did not want to kill the Tsars wife.
The assassination was aimed at igniting a social revolution. Its assassination members - Nikolai Kibalchich, Sophia Perovskaya, Nikolai Rysakov, Timofei Mikhailov, Andrei Zhelyabov - were arrested and sentenced to death. Gesya Gelfman was sent to Siberia.
The Church of the Savior on Blood was erected on the site of the assassination.
