Peter Schmidt was born in 1867 in Odessa, into a noble family. His father, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, was a hereditary naval officer, rear admiral, head of the Berdyansk port. Mother - Ekaterina Yakovlevna Schmidt (nee von Wagner).

In 1880-1886, Schmidt studied at the St. Petersburg Naval School, after which he was promoted to midshipman and entered the service of the Baltic Fleet. Since 1898 he was in the reserve with the rank of lieutenant; in 1904 he was mobilized and became commander of the Black Sea destroyer No. 253.

Shortly after Schmidt's first arrest in November 1905, an article appeared in the Odessa Vedomosti newspaper, where he was given the following description:

“Among his comrades and colleagues, P.P. Schmidt always stood out as an extremely enlightened and outstanding person, whose charm was irresistible. The honest, open and good-natured nature of this sailor attracted to him the sympathy of all who came into close contact with him. On those ships where Schmidt served, not only all members of the wardroom treated him with some kind of tender, kindred love, but the lower crew members looked at him as if they were their senior comrade. With deep sadness, Pyotr Petrovich always spoke in a circle of friends about manifestations of bureaucratic arbitrariness, and from all his speeches there was an insatiable thirst for freedom, not personal, of course, but common, for the entire Russian population, civil freedom. The thought of this man was filled with faith in the proximity of freedom, faith in the strength of the advanced Russian intelligentsia.

During the First Russian Revolution of 1905, Schmidt organized the Union of Officers - Friends of the People, soon - the Odessa Society for Mutual Assistance of Sailors merchant fleet". He conducted propaganda among the sailors, but he called himself a "socialist outside the party."

Family

In 1888, Schmidt married Dominikia Gavrilovna Pavlova, who had previously been a prostitute. In 1889, the couple had a son, Eugene. The marriage was unsuccessful, the couple broke up.

Yevgeny Schmidt, at the age of sixteen, was present on the Ochakov when his father declared himself in command. The fact that the revolutionary had a son was mentioned in the newspapers and remembered by many, although few knew the age and name of the young man. Soon, impostors appeared who pretended to be "the son of Lieutenant Schmidt." Much later, in the 1920s, I. Ilf and E. Petrov wrote about this phenomenon in the novel The Golden Calf.

Evgeny Schmidt-Ochakovsky after the revolution participated in the Civil War on the side white movement. Subsequently, he emigrated, lived in Prague, then in Paris. In exile, he wrote a book about his father.

At the head of the Sevastopol uprising of 1905

In the autumn of 1905, during a rally, Schmidt delivered a speech that later became known as the “Schmidt Oath”: “We swear that we will never cede to anyone a single inch of the human rights we have won.” On the same day he was arrested for unauthorized participation in rallies; released after the petition of the workers' deputies; retired.

In November 1905, Schmidt led an uprising on the cruiser Ochakov and other ships. Black Sea Fleet. He declared himself commander of the fleet, giving the signal "Commander of the fleet. Schmidt", and raised a red flag on the ship. Schmidt also sent a telegram to Nicholas II: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet, sacredly faithful to its people, demands from you, sovereign, the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and no longer obeys your ministers. Fleet Commander P. Schmidt.

On November 15, a battle began between the rebels and the government fleet, which soon won. Schmidt and other leaders of the uprising were arrested. In March 1906, he was shot along with other activists of the uprising: N. Antonenko, a member of the revolutionary ship committee, A. Gladkov, a machinist, and S. Chastnik, a senior battalion officer.

In May 1917, the remains of the executed were temporarily buried in the Intercession Cathedral in Sevastopol. In 1923, Schmidt and his comrades were reburied in Sevastopol, at the city cemetery of the Communards.

People need heroes. This simple rule was strictly followed Soviet power. However, it often led to the fact that some individuals, "canonized" by propaganda, in fact, only partially corresponded to their bright images.

In the case of the legendary naval officer, one of the leaders of the Sevastopol uprising of 1905, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, this part was, perhaps, too small. His fake sons-swindlers, who bred in the 20s, oddly enough, actually had a lot in common with their illustrious "father".


The glorious dynasty of naval officers, the offspring of which was Peter Schmidt, gave Russia quite a few valiant military sailors. His father, who rose to the rank of rear admiral at the end of his life, was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855. It was during these dramatic events that he met his future wife, the Kyiv noblewoman Catherine von Wagner. The girl valiantly fulfilled her duty, working as a nurse. So the young Pyotr Petrovich, who was born in February 1867, was destined for the fate of a military man.


Petr Petrovich Schmidt

We must pay tribute to Peter Schmidt, he really raved about the sea from childhood, and in 1880 he entered the St. cadet corps). True, it quickly became clear that in reality military discipline was not for him. The boy immediately began to have nervous breakdowns and seizures. Only with the help of authoritative relatives did he overcome this stage of life and, upon graduation, was sent as a midshipman to the Baltic Fleet.

However, after two years of service, the young officer commits an act that should put an end to his entire future career - he marries a woman with a "yellow ticket" - i.e. professional prostitute Dominikia Pavlova. Peter Schmidt's father fell ill from such an antics of his son and soon died. Further, his uncle, Vladimir Schmidt, the senior flagship of the Baltic Fleet, was responsible for his fate. An influential relative managed to hush up the scandal and transfer the unlucky nephew to the Pacific Fleet.


Petr Petrovich Schmidt

In principle, the entire history of the service of Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt can serve as an example of how harmful family ties can be in cases where protégés really do not fit their place. His track record is a motley "patchwork" in which positions, ships, "sick leaves" and punishments succeed each other in a continuous series.

However, in 1895 he rose to the rank of lieutenant. Several times he quit and then returned to duty. Interestingly, during his retirement, Peter Schmidt lived for some time in Paris and studied aeronautics there. He returned to Russia, inspired by the idea of ​​​​conquering the air spaces, but during the first demonstration flight, his balloon crashed. As a result, until the end of his life, he suffered from kidney disease, resulting from a stroke in an accident.

It should be noted that this man was indeed mentally ill. In 1889, he even underwent treatment at Dr. Savey-Mogilevich's Private Hospital for the Nervous and Mentally Ill in Moscow, and before that he treated neurasthenia at the Nagasaki Coastal Infirmary. From early youth, he was prone to fits of uncontrollable rage, which often ended in convulsions and convulsions.

It is possible that if he had been born in a more peaceful period for our country, his career would have ended quietly and ingloriously without becoming part of history. However, in moments of global change, such people, who often have charisma, talent as an orator and the ability to lead a crowd, sometimes turn out to be real “lighters” for revolutionary events.


Postcards depicting the hero of the Sevastopol uprising of 1905 P.P. Schmidt

By 1905, Lieutenant Schmidt, once again attached by his uncle to a “warm” and quiet place - the commander of a detachment of two obsolete destroyers in Izmail, managed to escape on a trip to the south of Russia, taking with him a detachment cash desk. So, because of 2.5 thousand rubles, he once again, and now for the last time, parted with the fleet. Desertion in wartime, and even embezzlement, even a high-ranking relative could no longer cover up. True, he helped return the money, but Pyotr Petrovich was expelled from military service.

Offended by everyone, Schmidt plunged headlong into politics - he began to participate in rallies and speeches even before his dismissal, and now he openly joined the opposition during the riots in Sevastopol. Among the revolutionaries, a naval officer, and even with a well-delivered speech, was just in his place and quickly gained popularity. His former numerous imprisonments in the guardhouses, and even his nervous temperament with periodic attacks (one happened right during the performance), created an aura of a sufferer for him.

One of the most famous was the speech of Peter Schmidt at the funeral of eight people who died during the riots. His fiery speech has been preserved in history as the "Schmidt oath": “We swear that we will never cede to anyone a single inch of the human rights we have won.”


"The Oath of Lieutenant Schmidt", illustration from the Italian newspaper "II Secolo", 1905

In November 1905, when the unrest turned into a mutiny, Schmidt was practically the only Russian officer among the revolutionaries, which made him an indispensable figure. On the night of November 26, the rebels, along with Schmidt, arrived on the cruiser Ochakov and called on the sailors to join the "freedom movement." The sailors took the cruiser into their own hands. Schmidt declared himself commander of the Black Sea Fleet, giving the signal: "I'm in command of the fleet. Schmidt". And immediately after that he sent a telegram to Nicholas II: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet, sacredly faithful to its people, demands from you, sovereign, the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and no longer obeys your ministers. Fleet Commander P. Schmidt.

If the plans of the newly-minted hero came true, the Crimean peninsula would separate from Russia, forming the “South Russian socialist republic"with Lieutenant Schmidt himself, of course, at the head. As midshipman Harold Graf, who served with Pyotr Petrovich for several months, later recalled, Schmidt "came from a good noble family, knew how to speak beautifully, played the cello superbly, but at the same time he was a dreamer and dreamer". Of course, he did not have the slightest opportunity to realize his fantasies. After the suppression of the rebellion, all the leaders of the Sevastopol uprising, including P.P. Schmidt, were shot on the island of Berezan by the verdict of the naval court in March 1906.


Schmidt being escorted to the courthouse, February 1906

However, the death of a bright and memorable person, as often happens, even made him even more popular. After February Revolution In 1917, this name was again used as a symbol of the revolutionary struggle, as a result of which the unlucky officer and unsuccessful rebel became one of the most famous faces of the revolution.

To the question of who he really was - a hero, a mentally ill person or a swindler-squanderer, one can probably answer that he was, indeed, both one and the other, and the third. Caught in right time in right place, this strange and controversial personality was able to leave his mark on history. A huge number of streets, parks, factories and educational institutions, named after him in our country, still keep this name for posterity.


Monument at the grave of P. P. Schmidt at the Communards cemetery in Sevastopol

Life story
Petr Schmidt retired lieutenant of the Black Sea Fleet, leader of the Sevastopol uprising of 1905. Shot.
Born into a marine family. His father in the days of the first Sevastopol defense commanded a battery on the Malakhov Kurgan. Subsequently, he rose to the rank of vice admiral and died the mayor of Berdyansk. Schmidt's mother came from the princes of Skvirsky, almost of the Gedimin family - an impoverished branch of the ancient Polish kings and Lithuanian grand dukes.

On September 29, 1886, Peter Schmidt, who graduated from the St. Petersburg Naval Corps, was promoted to midshipman.
First, he sailed as a second, and then a senior mate on the ships of the Volunteer Fleet, in particular, on the Kostroma, and subsequently transferred to the service in ROPIT ( Russian society shipping and trade). In the newspaper "Odessa News" dated November 6, 1905, that is, shortly after the first arrest of Schmidt, an unsigned note was placed - "Lieutenant - a fighter for freedom": "Among his comrades and colleagues, P.P. Schmidt always stood out as extremely enlightened and an outstanding mind, a man whose charm was irresistible. The honest, open and good-natured nature of this sailor attracted to him the sympathy of all who came into close contact with him. On those ships where Schmidt served, not only all members of the wardroom treated him with some kind of tender, kindred love, but even the lower staff of the team looked at him as if they were their senior comrade. With deep sadness, Pyotr Petrovich always spoke in a circle of friends about manifestations of bureaucratic arbitrariness, and from all his speeches there was an insatiable thirst for freedom, not personal , of course, but common, for the entire Russian population, civil freedom. The thought of this man was overwhelmed with faith in the proximity of freedom, faith in the strength of the advanced Russian intelligentsia.
And here is the memory of Karnaukhov-Kraukhov, who sailed with Schmidt, who later was one of the organizers, of the uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov" and went through all the stages of hard labor hell. Kraukhov sailed on the Ropitov cargo-passenger steamer "Igor" as a navigator's apprentice when P.P. Schmidt was the captain. “The Igor team,” wrote Kraukhov, “loved their formidable and fair commander, impeccably obeyed his orders and even guessed his gestures and movements.” With deep respect, recalls Kraukhov, Schmidt treated the sailors. "Muzzleslaps" I have no place! he said. - I left them from military service. Here only a free sailor is a citizen who strictly obeys his duties during the service.
Schmidt paid much attention to the formation of the team. "The navigators were instructed to study with the sailors at a time specially designated for this. For classes, textbooks and training supplies were purchased at the expense of the ship. The "teacher Petro", as we called Schmidt, sat on the quarterdeck among the crew and told a lot. (Karnaukhov-Kraukhov. Red lieutenant, 1926)
Demanding a lot from his subordinates, P.P. Schmidt faithfully fulfilled his duties as a captain. “There were also such days,” writes Kraukhov, “when Schmidt did not leave the bridge for 30 hours. He was a sailor who was in love with the sea to the marrow of his bones, who knew his own worth, who perfectly understood naval service.”
“Let it be known to you,” Schmidt wrote on November 2, 1905 to Zinaida Risberg, “that I have a reputation as the best captain and experienced sailor.” And a little later again: "If you spent a little time in Odessa, which is filled with sailors who served with me and depended on me, then, I know, they would speak well of me to you" ("Lieutenant Schmidt. Letters, memoirs, documents ", 1922). And this was not bragging in the mouth of a man who, two months later, the tsarist justice sentenced to the gallows.
When in 1889 Admiral S. O. Makarov decided to break through on the newly built Yermak to the North Pole, he was one of the first to invite Lieutenant Schmidt with him. Mutual respect and friendship united these different people.
In the same year, the steamer "Diana", ordered by ROPIT, was launched in Kiel. 8 thousand tons of displacement, 1800 forces in the car and 8.5 knots - at that time it was an impressive ocean-going vessel. Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, who returned from the polar voyage, was appointed captain of the Diana.
“... He touched the land very little,” he wrote about subsequent years to Zinaida Rizberg, “because, for example, for the last ten years he sailed only on ocean lines and in a year there were no more than 60 days of parking in different ports in fits and starts, and the rest of the time found between the sky and the oceans."
"... If you knew what hard labor physical labor is like serving in the commercial fleet ... If they give me the Chernomorsky steamer temporarily, then this is what kind of work. I leave Odessa through the ports of the Crimea and the Caucasus and return back after 11 days.During these 11 days, in severe winter weather and storms, I have to visit 42 cities, in each of them to hand over and accept cargo and passengers.Arriving in Odessa, I take a bath, because it is almost impossible in the sea, and plunge into a lethargic dream on the first day, on the second day I already accept the cargo, fiddle with formalities and documents, and by the evening I’m already leaving again for 11 days using the same ports. .
In the newspaper "Odessa News" dated November 20, 1905, memories of Schmidt were printed, signed "Sailor". "The writer of these lines sailed as an assistant to P.P. Schmidt when he commanded the Diana. Not to mention the fact that all of us, his colleagues, deeply respected and loved this man, we looked at him as a teacher of maritime affairs. The most enlightened Pyotr Petrovich was a most enlightened captain, he used all the latest techniques in navigation and astronomy, and sailing under his command was an indispensable school, especially since Pyotr Petrovich always, sparing no time and effort, taught everyone as a comrade and friend. One of his assistants, who sailed for a long time with other captains and was then assigned to the Diana, having made one voyage with Pyotr Petrovich, said: "He opened my eyes to the sea!"
At the end of November 1903, the Diana sailed from Riga to Odessa. The storm did not subside for two days, and the captain did not leave the bridge for two days. Only when the weather improved a little did Schmidt go to his room and fall asleep.
“Not even two hours have passed,” writes the Sailor, “how the weather changed, found fog. The assistant who was on watch, through unforgivable negligence, did not inform the captain about this and did not wake him up, and the Diana ran into an underwater ridge of stones, as it later turned out off the Isle of Man. A terrible blow against the stones, the crack of the entire hull of the ship made the entire crew run out onto the deck. The darkness of the night, the storm, the violent blows against the stones, the unknown - all this caused panic, the crew was noisy, confusion began.
And then there was a quiet, but some unusually hard and calm voice Peter Petrovich. This voice called everyone to calm. It was an extraordinary power. In less than a minute, everyone was calm, everyone felt that they had a captain, to whom they boldly entrusted their lives. This calm courage of Pyotr Petrovich did not put him in all the days of the accident, and he saved the "Diana".
Radio at that time had not yet come to the fleet. The first radio station on the Russian merchant ship Rossiya was installed only five years later. Therefore, the victims of the accident did not have the opportunity to report their plight. And they were noticed only a few days later, when the storm subsided.
"On the third day, the ship was in a dangerous position, and Pyotr Petrovich ordered the crew and assistants to board the boats and throw themselves ashore on the island of Man. He himself calmly disposed of each boat, caring not only for people, but also for every sailor's bundle of things, he conveyed his calmness to us, and we all safely got ashore in breakers.
When we all got into the boats, we turned to him so that he would get on. He looked at us sadly and with his kind smile said:

I'm staying, I won't leave Diana until the end.

We all, barely holding back tears, persuaded him, but he remained at his decision. Then we ourselves wished to stay with him, but he allowed only four of us to do this, finding that he might need these people for signaling and communication with rescue ships, if any came.

Schmidt spent 16 days on the sinking ship, until on December 14 he was finally removed from the stones.

“After the accident,” the “Seaman” continues his story, “we were all embittered at the assistant who was the culprit of the misfortune. He, Pyotr Petrovich, did not utter a single word of reproach and then, in his reports to the director of ROPIT, he tried by all means to remove the blame with an assistant and take it over.

I'm the captain, he said, so I'm the only one to blame.

No wonder the influence of this impeccable personality on all who came into contact with him was so strong ... "
Recently, Nedelya published a letter from Schmidt to his son, written from Kiel, where the Diana was being repaired:

“A very big job must be completed, and only then can I ask to be released. Due to poor health, and even then I still don’t know how the repair of the ship will go and whether it will also require my presence. We must, son, look at things differently masculine and not allow weaknesses in the soul: if the steamer under my command suffered such a cruel accident, then it is my duty not to avoid all the work to put things in order.I want the Diana, after misfortunes and repairs, to be better and stronger than before , and for this you need my master's eye` if I don’t swim on it anymore, then let it swim for a long time and safely without me completely.
At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, Schmidt was drafted into the navy and appointed senior officer of the Irtysh large coal transport, which was to accompany the squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky, heading to Far East from the Baltic. After loading coal, the transport was ordered to go to Revel for an imperial review. Let's give the floor to another eyewitness.
"Two tug boats were taken out of the channel to another channel" Irtysh ". It was necessary to make a sharp turn. They began to turn around, but due to the wind they turned unsuccessfully. The catastrophe would have been inevitable if the senior officer had not warned her. Without losing his presence of mind, Lieutenant Schmidt turned both handles of the engine telegraph, and both machines started full speed back. The senior officer commanded, as always, beautifully, giving orders in a calm, resonant voice.

"Commendators, to the rope," thundered a metallic voice.

The anchor flew into the water.

"Rope to poison up to five sazhens."

The gunners had just managed to stop the rope, as a command was heard from the bridge: "Get out of the left bay! Give up the anchor!"
Flew into the water and another anchor. "A rope to poison up to five fathoms. How is it on the lot?" - inquired the senior officer at the lot. "Stopped," answered the lotov. In less than a minute, the lotov shouted: "Go back!" The senior officer quickly switched the telegraph to "stop", and the disaster was over.
The commander, who had been standing motionless on the bridge all the time, like a statue, finally realized what danger the transport was exposed to. Excited, he approached the senior officer and silently shook his hand.
... The tugs were commanded by the manager. harbors. When the disaster was over, he again took command. The senior officer approached him: "Go away, I would have managed better without you..."

"And who would give you boats?" - asked his manager. "I would have managed without your boats under my own steam ... Get off the bridge!"

The manager stepped off the bridge with an offended look. "I will send a report to the admiral," he threw to the senior officer. "You have no right to insult me." (From the diary of a Tsushima sailor, Sovremennik, No. 9, 1913)
Rozhdestvensky, without understanding, put Schmidt for 15 days in a cabin under a gun.
But Schmidt was not destined to survive the shame of Tsushima. In Port Said, he fell ill and was forced to return to Russia. When Schmidt boarded the boat to leave the ship, the entire crew - more than two hundred sailors - ran out onto the shrouds and shouted "Hurrah!" with all their hearts.
It is not surprising that among naval officers Schmidt enjoyed a reputation as a freethinker, "pink". When the red flag of the revolution was hoisted on the mast of the Potemkin, a rumor spread around Sevastopol that Lieutenant Schmidt was commanding the rebellious battleship. And Schmidt at that time vegetated in Izmail on the destroyer No. 253.

After the famous speech at the cemetery, when Schmidt was already under arrest on the battleship "Three Saints", the workers of Sevastopol elected him a life deputy of the Soviet.

"I am a lifelong deputy of the Sevastopol workers. Do you understand how much happy pride I have from this title. "Lifelong." By this they wanted, therefore, to distinguish me from their deputies, to emphasize their trust in me for my whole life. To show me that they know that I will sacrifice my whole life for the interests of the workers and will never betray them to the grave ...
I have to appreciate it twice, because it can be more alien, like an officer for the workers? And they managed with their sensitive souls to remove from me the hated officer shell and recognize in me their comrade, friend and bearer of their needs for life. I don’t know if there is anyone else with such a title, but it seems to me that there is no higher title in the world. The criminal government can deprive me of everything, all their stupid labels: nobility, ranks, fortune, but it is not in the power of the government to deprive me of my only title from now on: life deputy of the workers.
Schmidt called himself "a socialist outside the party." His only "revolutionary" act before 1905 was correspondence for the hectographer of Historical Letters Lavrov. But at the same time, Schmidt "from a young age was interested in social sciences which demanded an offended sense of truth and justice. "He possessed boundless, like an ocean, enthusiasm, crystal purity of soul. Schmidt was all woven from humanity.
And this man, by the will of fate and his love for freedom, was forced to become the leader of the rebellious sailors of the Ochakov. Schmidt was not the organizer of the uprising, he was not even its supporter. He went to the "Ochakov" only at the urgent request of the sailors. Exalted, struck by the grandeur of the goals opening before him, Schmidt not so much directed the events as inspired by them. And now a telegram to the tsar was sent to St. Petersburg, signed "Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, citizen Schmidt", and a signal was raised on the topmast of the "Ochakov": "I command the fleet. Schmidt." And he expects the entire squadron to immediately throw out red flags, arrest the officers led by the hated Admiral Chukhnin and join the Ochakov. And the squadron was ominously silent ... Then the casemate, the court. There was time to think about everything that was happening, to repent, to ask for forgiveness and thus beg for his life. But here Schmidt is unshakable: “It is better to die than to betray a debt,” he writes in his will to his son.
"... My faith is firm that in Russia the socialist system is not far off, and perhaps we will still live to see all the signs of a revolution, the last revolution, after which humanity will enter the path of endless peaceful perfection, freedom, prosperity, happiness and love! Long live the coming young, happy, free, socialist Russia!" .
“I know that the pillar at which I will stand to accept death,” Schmidt threw in the faces of the judges, “will be erected on the verge of two different historical eras our homeland ... Not citizen Schmidt, not a handful of rebellious sailors in front of you, but a hundred millionth Russia, and you pass your sentence on it.
At dawn on March 6, 1906, rifle volleys broke out on Berezan Island. The sentence was carried out on lieutenant Peter Schmidt, conductor Sergei Chastnik, gunner Nikolai Antonenko and driver Alexander Gladkov. 48 young sailors from the gunboat "Terets" fired. Behind them stood soldiers ready to fire on the sailors. And the Tertz guns were aimed at the soldiers. Even the convicts, bound, put at gunpoint, were afraid of the tsarist government of Schmidt and his comrades.
Today, the name of Lieutenant Schmidt has become a symbol of the selfless desire for freedom, a symbol of the feat of the Russian intelligentsia. V.I. Lenin highly appreciated the significance of the uprising on the Ochakovo. On November 14, 1905, he wrote: “The uprising in Sevastopol is growing ... The command of the Ochakov was taken over by a retired lieutenant Schmidt .., the Sevastopol events mark the complete collapse of the old, slave order in the troops, the order that turned soldiers into armed vehicles, did their instruments of suppression of the slightest desire for freedom".

Birth, early years

Born on February 5 (17), 1867 in Odessa in the family of a nobleman. His father, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, was a hereditary naval officer, later rear admiral, mayor of Berdyansk and head of the Berdyansk port. Schmidt's mother is Ekaterina Yakovlevna Schmidt, nee von Wagner. In 1880-1886, Schmidt studied at the St. Petersburg Naval School. After graduating from the Naval School, he was promoted to midshipman on the exam and assigned to the Baltic Fleet.

Achievement list

  • 09/12/1880 entered the junior preparatory class Maritime School
  • 12/14/1885 was awarded the rank of midshipman.
  • 09/29/1886 - graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps 53rd according to the list and by order of the Naval Department No. 307, he was promoted to the midshipman's exam and was assigned to the Baltic Fleet.
  • In 1886 he was enrolled in the 8th naval crew.
  • On 01/01/1887, midshipman Schmidt began his duties in the training rifle team of the 8th naval crew.
  • For 1888-1889. - Schmidt (4th).
  • On January 21, 1888, he was dismissed from his post on a 6-month leave "due to illness, followed by a transfer to the Black Sea Fleet due to an unsuitable climate."
  • 07/17/1888 By order of His Imperial Highness General-Admiral for the Maritime Department No. 86, he was transferred from the Baltic to the Black Sea Fleet with enrollment in the 2nd Black Sea Fleet of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh crew.
  • On 12/5/1888, by the highest order of the Maritime Department No. 432, he was dismissed on leave, due to illness, within the Empire and abroad, for 6 months.
  • In 1888 he was assigned to the Pacific squadron.
  • In 1889, he filed a petition for the Highest Name: “My painful condition makes it impossible for me to continue serving Your Imperial Majesty and therefore I ask you to dismiss me.”
  • 10.03-10.04.1889 he underwent a course of treatment in the "private clinic of the doctor" Savey-Mogilevich for the nervous and mentally ill in Moscow.
  • 06/24/1889 By the highest order of the Maritime Department No. 467, he was dismissed from service due to illness, lieutenant (due to violation of the officer code on the issue of marriage). He lived in Berdyansk, Taganrog, Odessa, went to Paris.
  • On March 27, 1892, he applied to the highest name "for admission to the naval service."
  • On June 22, 1892, the retired lieutenant of the 2nd naval Black Sea crew, by the Highest Order of the Maritime Department No. 631, was assigned to the service with the previous rank of midshipman with enrollment in the 18th naval crew as a watch officer on the 1st rank cruiser "Rurik" under construction.
  • On March 5, 1894, by order of His Imperial Highness General-Admiral of the Maritime Department No. 23, he was transferred from the Baltic Fleet to the Siberian Navy crew. Appointed watch officer of the destroyer Yanchikhe, then the cruiser Admiral Kornilov.
  • For 1894 and 1895 - Schmidt (3rd).
  • 12/6/1895 By the highest order of the Maritime Department No. 59, he was promoted to lieutenant, along the line, on the basis of Art. 118 and 128, bk. VIII Code of Maritime Regulations, continued in 1892
  • Until 04.1896, the staff officer of the LD "Strongman", transport "Ermak".
  • On April 4, 1896, by order of the commander of the Vladivostok port, he was appointed watch officer of the fire department, the gunboat Gornostai.
  • In 1896-1897 he was a watchman and company commander of the Beaver KL. In foreign voyages: 1896-1897 on KL "Bobr". Last voyage in 1897.
  • On January 14, 1897, he was sent to the Nagasaki Coastal Infirmary for treatment from the disease of neurasthenia.
  • 20.02-1.03.1897 was treated at the coastal infirmary in Nagasaki, then recalled to Vladivostok.
  • Until the end of August 1897 - and. d. senior staff officer LD "Nadezhny".
  • On August 30, 1897, by order of the commander of the Vladivostok port, Rear Admiral G. P. Chukhnin, “... For anti-disciplinary actions regarding the ship’s commander and for the same report filed on August 23, Lieutenant Schmidt is arrested and kept in a guardhouse for three weeks.”
  • In August 1897, he was decommissioned from the Nadezhny LD for refusing to participate in the suppression of the strike and for reporting on commander N.F. Yuryev, who was associated with poachers.
  • On 10/28/1897, the order of the commander of the Vladivostok port, Rear Admiral G. Chukhnin follows: “... As a result of the report of Lieutenant Schmidt, I suggest that the chief doctor of the Vladivostok hospital, V. N. Popov, appoint a commission of doctors and, with a deputy from the Crew, examine the health of Lieutenant Schmidt ... The act of the commission is to provide to me".
  • 08.1897-07.1898 chief of the watch at the fire department of the Vladivostok raid.
  • In August 1898, after a conflict with the commander of the Pacific squadron, he filed a request for dismissal to the reserve.
  • On September 24, 1898, by order of the Naval Department No. 204, Lieutenant Schmidt was dismissed from service in the fleet reserve for the second time, but with the right to serve in the commercial fleet.
  • In 1898 he entered the service of the Volunteer Fleet. 2nd assistant to the captain of the P / H "Kostroma" (served 2 years).
  • In 1900 he transferred to the service in Russian Society Shipping and Trade (ROPiT)
  • In 1900-1901. senior assistant to the captain of the P / H "Olga".
  • In 1901 he was appointed captain of the Igor military camp.
  • In 1901-1902. Captain P / H "Saint Nicholas", "Useful".
  • In 1903-1904. Captain of the P / H "Diana".
  • 04/12/1904, due to wartime circumstances, Peter Schmidt, as a fleet reserve officer, was again called to active duty. military service and sent to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet with enrollment in the 33rd naval crew.
  • 05/2/1904 By the highest order of the Maritime Department No. 541, he was assigned to the service, from 03/30/1904
  • On May 14, 1904, he was appointed senior officer to the Irtysh coal transport, assigned to the 2nd Pacific squadron, which in December 1904, with a load of coal and uniforms, followed the squadron.
  • 06/12/1904 in the rank of being in the fleet reserve.
  • In September 1904, he was arrested in Libava for 10 days with a sentry, for a disciplinary act (publicly insulting another fleet officer).
  • In 1904 he was in the 9th naval crew.
  • For 1904 - Schmidt (3rd).
  • In January 1905, she was decommissioned in Port Said from the TR due to illness (kidney attack) and departed for Sevastopol.
  • On February 21, 1905, by order of His Imperial Highness General-Admiral of the Maritime Department No. 36, he was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet with secondment to the 28th naval crew.
  • 02/21/1905 By order of the Maritime Department No. 36 he was appointed commander of MM "No. 253" (in Izmail).
  • In August 1905 he returned to Sevastopol, where he conducted anti-government propaganda.
  • On October 25, 1905, at a rally, he had a seizure, and in front of the eyes of the crowd he was convulsing.
  • At the end of October 1905 he was arrested for anti-government propaganda. During the investigation and the audit carried out at his place of service, it turned out that in 1905 he stole the cash register of the destroyer detachment entrusted to him (2 MM), (more than 2500 rubles), deserted, traveled around the cities, between Kyiv and Kerch, wasting government money. He gave explanations for his act: “I lost state money while riding a bicycle along Izmail.” The spent amount was reimbursed from his own funds by his uncle senator, Admiral V.P. Schmidt (1827-1909).
  • November 7, 1905 By the highest order of the Naval Department, he was dismissed from service as a lieutenant.
  • On November 14, 1905, he boarded the Ochakov cruise ship as the head of the insurgent sailors, and arbitrarily assigned himself the rank of captain of the 2nd rank. On the evening of the same day, at a meeting on the Ochakovo, it was decided to take a number of offensive actions both at sea and in Sevastopol itself: seize ships and arsenals, arrest officers, etc. But the fleet under the leadership of Schmidt did not take active actions. The next day the rebellion was crushed.

Revolution of 1905

  • At the beginning of the Revolution of 1905, he organized in Sevastopol the "Union of Officers - Friends of the People", then participated in the creation of the "Odessa Society for Mutual Assistance of Merchant Navy Sailors". Conducting propaganda among sailors and officers, Schmidt called himself a non-party socialist.
  • On October 18 (31), Schmidt led a crowd of people who surrounded the city prison, demanding the release of prisoners.
  • On October 20 (November 2), 1905, at the funeral of eight people who died during the riots, he delivered a speech that became known as the "Schmidt Oath": "We swear that we will never cede to anyone a single inch of the human rights we have won." On the same day, Schmidt was arrested. .
  • On the evening of November 13, a deputy commission, consisting of sailors and soldiers delegated from various types of weapons, including seven ships, invited the retired naval lieutenant Schmidt, who gained great popularity during the October rallies, to lead the military. "He courageously accepted the invitation and from that day on became the head of the movement."
  • November 14 (27) led the rebellion on the cruiser "Ochakov" and other ships of the Black Sea Fleet. Schmidt declared himself commander of the Black Sea Fleet, giving a signal: “I command the fleet. Schmidt. On the same day, he sent a telegram to Nicholas II: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet, sacredly faithful to its people, demands from you, sovereign, the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and no longer obeys your ministers. Fleet Commander P. Schmidt.
  • November 15th at 9:00 a.m. in the morning, a red flag was hoisted at Ochakovo. Against the rebellious armadillo, the government immediately opened hostilities. On November 15, at 3 p.m., a naval battle began, and at 4:45 p.m. the tsarist fleet has already won a complete victory. Schmidt, along with other leaders of the uprising, was arrested.
  • Since 1906, P. P. Schmidt has been an honorary member of the Sevastopol Council of Working People's Deputies.

Death and funeral

Schmidt, along with his associates, was sentenced to death penalty closed naval court, held in Ochakovo from 7 to 18.02.1906. On February 20, a verdict was passed, according to which Schmidt and 3 sailors were sentenced to death. 03/06/1906 on the island of Berezan, he was shot along with N. G. Antonenko (a member of the revolutionary ship committee), the machinist A. Gladkov and the senior battalion S. Chastnik. On 8 (21) 05/1917, the remains of Schmidt and the sailors shot with him were transferred to Sevastopol by order of Kolchak, where a temporary burial took place in the Intercession Cathedral.

In May 1917, Minister of War and Naval A.F. Kerensky laid an officer’s George Cross. 11/14/1923 Schmidt and his comrades were reburied in Sevastopol at the city cemetery of the Communards. A monument was erected on their grave, which previously lay on the grave of the commander of the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, captain of the 1st rank E. N. Golikov, who died in 1905.

Memory

The name of Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt is worn by streets in the cities: Vyazma, Berdyansk, Tver (Boulevard), Vladivostok, Yeysk, Gatchina, Egorievsk, Kazan, Murmansk, Bobruisk, Nizhny Tagil, Novorossiysk, Odessa, Pervomaisk, Ochakov, Samara, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Taganrog , Kirovograd, Kremenchug, Kamenets-Podolsky, Khabarovsk, Kharkiv, Lyubotin. Embankments in St. Petersburg and the city of Velikiye Luki are named after Lieutenant Schmidt, the Blagoveshchensky Bridge in St. Petersburg was named after Lieutenant Schmidt from 1918 to August 14, 2007. Also, the Lieutenant Schmidt yacht, the plant named after Lieutenant Schmidt in Baku are named after Schmidt. In 1968, architects N. Galkina and V. Ochakovsky erected a monument in memory of the executed leaders of the uprising on Berezan Island in 1968. The P.P. Schmidt Museum in the city of Ochakovo was opened in 1962, at present the museum is closed, some of the exhibits were moved to the former Palace of Pioneers.

Lieutenant Schmidt in art

  • The story "The Black Sea" (chapter "Courage") by Konstantin Paustovsky.
  • Poem "Lieutenant Schmidt" by Boris Pasternak.
  • The novel-chronicle "I swear by the Earth and the Sun" by Gennady Aleksandrovich Cherkashin.
  • The film "Post novel" (1969) (in the role of Schmidt - Alexander Parra) - the story of the complex relationship between P. P. Schmidt and Zinaida Rizberg based on their correspondence.
  • Ilf and Petrov's novel The Golden Calf mentions "thirty sons and four daughters of Lieutenant Schmidt" - fraudulent impostors seeking subsidies from government agencies under the name of his famous "father". O. Bender became the thirty-fifth descendant of Lieutenant Schmidt.
  • In the film "Let's Live Until Monday", the fate of P. P. Schmidt becomes the subject of discussion in a history lesson taught by teacher Ilya Semyonovich Melnikov (Vyacheslav Tikhonov).
  • One of the most famous KVN teams is called "Children of Lieutenant Schmidt".

Ratings

Pyotr Schmidt was the only Russian Navy officer who joined the revolution of 1905-1907. On November 14, 1905, V. I. Lenin wrote: “The uprising in Sevastopol is growing… The command of Ochakov was taken over by a retired lieutenant Schmidt…, the Sevastopol events mark the complete collapse of the old, slavish order in the troops, the order that turned soldiers into armed vehicles, made them instruments of suppression of the slightest aspirations for freedom.

Family

Son: Schmidt, Evgeny Petrovich

Bibliography

  • "Crimean Herald", 1903-1907.
  • "Historical Bulletin". 1907, no. 3.
  • Vice Admiral G.P. Chukhnin. According to colleagues. SPb. 1909.
  • Calendar of the Russian Revolution. From-in "Rose", St. Petersburg, 1917.
  • Lieutenant Schmidt. Letters, memories, M., 1922
  • A. Izbash. Lieutenant Schmidt. Memories of a sister. M. 1923.
  • I. Voronitsyn. Lieutenant Schmidt. M-L. Gosizdat. 1925.
  • Izbash A.P. Lieutenant Schmidt L., 1925 (sister PPSh)
  • Genkin I. L. Lieutenant Schmidt and the uprising on the Ochakovo, M., L. 1925
  • Platonov A.P. Uprising in the Black Sea Fleet in 1905. L., 1925
  • Revolutionary movement in 1905. Collection of memories. M. 1925. Society of political prisoners.
  • "Katorga and exile". M. 1925-1926.
  • Karnaukhov-Kraukhov V. I. Red lieutenant, M., 1926
  • Schmidt-Ochakovsky. Lieutenant Schmidt. "Red Admiral". Memories of a son. Prague. 1926.
  • Revolution and autocracy. A selection of documents. M. 1928.
  • A. Fedorov. Memories. Odessa. 1939.
  • A. Kuprin. Works. M. 1954.
  • The revolutionary movement in the Black Sea Fleet in 1905-1907. M. 1956.
  • Sevastopol armed uprising in November 1905. Documents and materials. M. 1957.
  • S. Witte. Memories. M. 1960.
  • R. Melnikov. Cruiser Ochakov. Leningrad. "Shipbuilding". 1982.
  • Popov M. L. Red Admiral. Kyiv, 1988
  • V. Ostretsov. Black Hundred and Red Hundred. M. Military Publishing. 1991.
  • S. Oldenburg. Reign of Emperor Nicholas II. M. "Terra". 1992.
  • V. Korolev. Riot on your knees. Simferopol. "Tavria". 1993.
  • V. Shulgin. What we don't like about them. M. Russian book. 1994.
  • A. Podberezkin. Russian way. M. RAU-University. 1999.
  • L. Zamoysky. Freemasonry and globalism. Invisible Empire. M. "Olma-press". 2001.
  • Shigin. Unknown Lieutenant Schmidt. "Our Contemporary" No. 10. 2001.
  • A. Chikin. Sevastopol confrontation. Year 1905. Sevastopol. 2006.
  • I. Gelis. November uprising in Sevastopol in 1905.
  • F. P. Rerberg. Historical secrets of great victories and inexplicable defeats

Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt was born in Odessa February 5 (17), 1867, died March 6 (19), 1906. Schmidt P.P. was born in the family of Captain-Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt (1828-1888), a hereditary nobleman and sailor, and Princess E. Ya. Schmidt (1835-1876), and he was the sixth child.

He graduated from the Naval College in St. Petersburg (1886). Served in the Baltic and pacific ocean; in 1898 he retired with the rank of lieutenant. Sailed on ocean merchant ships.

At the beginning of 1904 he was mobilized, from January 1905 he was commander of the destroyer No. 253 in the Black Sea Fleet. At the beginning of the Revolution of 1905-07, he organized in Sevastopol the "Union of Officers - Friends of the People", then participated in the creation of the "Odessa Society for Mutual Assistance of Merchant Marine Sailors" - one of the first trade union organizations in maritime transport.

October 20 (November 2), 1905 arrested for speaking at meetings of sailors, workers and soldiers, participating in a political demonstration.

The workers elected Schmidt a lifetime deputy of the Sevastopol Soviet of Workers' Deputies; On November 3 (16) they secured his release.


On November 7 (20), Schmidt was retired and promoted to captain of the 2nd rank. With the beginning of the Sevastopol uprising, the military organization of the Social Democrats, given that Schmidt was a sincere revolutionary, although without a firm political views, knowing military affairs, enjoying authority and popularity among sailors, invited him to become the military leader of the uprising.

On November 14 (27), Schmidt arrived on the cruiser Ochakov. The red flag was raised on the ship and the pennant of the commander of the fleet.

By a court held on February 7-18 (February 20 - March 2), 1906, he was sentenced to death. Together with other leaders of the uprising, he was shot on about. Berezan (an island in the Black Sea, near the city of Ochakov).

In 1926 Schmidt P.P. - was elected an honorary member of the Sevastopol Council of Workers' Deputies.

In 1962, a museum named after him was opened in Ochakovo. More than 1.7 million people visited the P.P. Schmidt Museum during its operation. In 1972 on about. Berezan, on the site of the execution of Schmidt P.P., a monument was erected.

Who was Peter Schmidt? Adventurer, romantic, loser...

Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt was born on February 5 (17), 1867 in Odessa in the family of a hereditary naval officer. His father in the days of the first Sevastopol defense commanded a battery on the Malakhov Kurgan. Subsequently, he rose to the rank of vice admiral and died the mayor of Berdyansk. Schmidt's mother came from the princes of Skvirsky, almost of the Gedimin family - an impoverished branch of the ancient Polish kings and Lithuanian grand dukes. She was nineteen when she, against the will of noble parents, came to the besieged Sevastopol to work as a nurse. She carried the wounded sailors from the battlefield and heard kind words of gratitude from the lips of PS Nakhimov himself. An associate of Nakhimov, Captain II rank Skorobogatov, fell in love with a brave girl. But the day of the matchmaking became the day of his death. Skorobogatov died a hero on Malakhov Hill. In the same battle and on the same mound, Skorobogatov's student, the brave lieutenant P.P. Schmidt, was seriously wounded. Ekaterina Yakovlevna saved him. Later, yielding to his feelings, she became his faithful wife, caring mother of his children.

Early interest in the books of Pushkin and Tolstoy, Korolenko and Uspensky, in the ideas of revolutionary democrats, knowledge of Latin, English and French, love for the violin and sketchbook, and most importantly, a growing sense of deep involvement in the life of his people, a feeling of compassion for the humiliated and offended - all this, first with a schoolboy, and then with an officer Schmidt from his mother. Three of her children died in childhood. But even with Maria, Anna and Petya, she had enough worries. She raised them without nannies and governesses. She raised herself as best she could, and she knew how to do it well. Unfortunately, Ekaterina Yakovlevna passed away early, when young Petya was only nine years old. But love for his mother passed through his whole life in a light and tender strip.

In April 1876, the Schmidt family moved from Odessa to Berdyansk, where Captain 1st Rank P.P. Schmidt was appointed mayor. Autumn. Young Schmidt enters the Berdyansk Men's Gymnasium. Today this building houses pedagogical institute named after Schmidt

Pyotr Schmidt graduated from the Berdyansk Men's Gymnasium in 1880 and entered the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg. After graduating, he entered the Baltic Fleet with the rank of midshipman, where on January 1, 1887 he was enrolled in the rifle team of the 8th Baltic naval crew. But conceit and extreme ambition caused him to be rejected by the officer team - after 20 days, Schmidt was expelled due to illness with a six-month vacation and transfer to the Black Sea Fleet.

Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt was a man "with great oddities." On the day of graduation from the Naval College, the newly promoted midshipman Schmidt married a street prostitute, Dominika Gavrilovna Pavlova, whom he had previously hired. He dreamed of "developing her personality". He served in the rank of midshipman for only two years and retired due to illness. Then from 1892 to 1898 he was again in the service. He served on the gunboat "Beaver", which was part of the Siberian flotilla in the Far East. In 1898, with the rank of lieutenant, he again retired. He sailed on ocean merchant ships of the Volunteer Fleet and ROPIT (Russian Society of Shipping and Trade). He was the captain of the steamer "Diana", which was engaged in the transportation of goods across the Black Sea (in August-September 2009, Berdyansk divers made an expedition to the sunken steamer "Diana" and, thanks to the help of the Berdyansk Commercial Sea Port, the propeller of the ship was raised. The artifact is planned to be installed in the Schmidt Museum) .

In the newspaper "Odessa News" dated November 20, 1905, memories of Schmidt were printed, signed "Sailor". "The writer of these lines sailed as an assistant to P.P. Schmidt when he commanded the Diana. Not to mention the fact that all of us, his colleagues, deeply respected and loved this man, we looked at him as a teacher of maritime affairs. The most enlightened Pyotr Petrovich was a most enlightened captain, he used all the latest techniques in navigation and astronomy, and sailing under his command was an indispensable school, especially since Pyotr Petrovich always, sparing no time and effort, taught everyone as a comrade and friend. One of his assistants, who sailed for a long time with other captains and was then assigned to the Diana, having made one voyage with Pyotr Petrovich, said: "He opened my eyes to the sea!"

In 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he was mobilized to the Baltic Fleet and was appointed senior officer of the Irtysh coal transport, which was part of Admiral Rozhestvensky's squadron heading to the Far East. In September 1904, in Libau, where the Irtysh was preparing for the campaign, Schmidt got into a fight at a ball organized by the Red Cross Society.

“In the midst of the ball, during a respite in dancing, the senior officer of the Anadyr transport, Lieutenant Muravyov, who was dancing with a blue-eyed, blond beauty, Baroness Krudener, was sitting and talking with his lady. At this time, the senior officer of the Irtysh transport, Lieutenant Schmidt, who was at the other end of the hall, came close to Muravyov and, without saying a word, slapped him in the face. Baroness Krüdener shrieked and fainted; several people from those sitting nearby rushed towards her, and the lieutenants grappled in a deadly fight and, striking each other, fell to the floor, continuing to fight. From under them, like from under fighting dogs, pieces of paper, confetti, and cigarette butts flew. The picture was disgusting. Captain Zenov was the first to rush to the fighters of the 178th Infantry Regiment, his example was followed by other officers who pulled the fighters by force. Immediately they were arrested and sent to the port. When they were led out into the hallway, whose large crystal glass windows looked out onto Kurgauzsky Prospekt, where hundreds of cabbies stood in line, then the lieutenant. Schmidt grabbed a heavy yellow chair and threw it at the windows.

According to Rerberg, Schmidt arranged this incident specifically in order to be expelled from the service.

During the campaign of the squadron, Schmidt was repeatedly subjected to penalties, in the parking lot in Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal, Lieutenant Schmidt was decommissioned from the Irtysh "due to illness" and sent to Russia. Appointed commander of the destroyer No. 253, based in Izmail for patrols on the Danube.

At the beginning of the Revolution of 1905, he organized in Sevastopol the "Union of Officers - Friends of the People", then participated in the creation of the "Odessa Society for Mutual Assistance of Merchant Navy Sailors". Conducting propaganda among sailors and officers, Schmidt called himself a non-party socialist.

On October 18 (31), Schmidt led a crowd of people who surrounded the city prison, demanding the release of prisoners. On October 20 (November 2), 1905, at the funeral of eight people who died during the riots, he delivered a speech that became known as the “Schmidt oath”: “We swear that we will never cede to anyone a single inch of the human rights we have won.” On the same day, Schmidt was arrested. On November 7 (20), Schmidt was dismissed with the rank of captain of the 2nd rank.

What wind brought the lieutenant to the rebel cruiser Ochakov is still unknown. After all, Schmidt had nothing to do with the preparation of the uprising! Schmidt allegedly arrived at the Ochakov at the request of the sailors. “Exalted, struck by the grandeur of the goals opening before him, Schmidt not so much led the uprising as he himself was inspired by it!” - this is how his biographers explained his act. As a result, the madman declared himself commander of the Black Sea Fleet, about which he informed the emperor with a special telegram: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet, sacredly faithful to its people, demands from you, sovereign, the immediate convocation of the Constituent Assembly and no longer obeys your ministers. Fleet Commander P. Schmidt. A signal was raised on the Ochakovo: “I command the fleet. Schmidt,” and the lieutenant felt that now the entire fleet would raise red flags and recognize him as commander! The next day the rebellion was crushed.

Sentenced by a naval tribunal to death. He was shot on March 6 (19), 1906 on the island of Berezan.

Numerous “children of Lieutenant Schmidt” immediately appeared: young people and girls spoke at rallies, calling for “avenge for daddy”, and at the same time to contribute money to the party funds.

Ilf and Petrov's novel The Golden Calf mentions "thirty sons and four daughters of Lieutenant Schmidt" - impostors and swindlers "working" by mutual agreement in different regions of the USSR. Schmidt's real son is Eugene, who participated in the 1905 rebellion with his father, during civil war served in the white army, and then emigrated abroad.

Pyotr Schmidt was the only officer of the Russian fleet who joined the revolution of 1905-1907, therefore, his name was widely used by Soviet propaganda. His half-brother, the hero of the defense of Port Arthur, Vladimir Petrovich Schmidt, because of the shame that fell on the family, changed his last name to Schmitt.

Who was Peter Schmidt? Adventurer, romantic, loser, you decide.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia, http://berdyanskcity.ru/people/20-shmidt-petr-petrovich.html

Berezan Island in the Black Sea. It is also called the island of Lieutenant Schmidt

Berezan Island It is also called the island of Lieutenant Schmidt. Here, on March 6, 1906, by the verdict of the royal court, the commander of the revolutionary squadron of the insurgent Black Sea Fleet, Lieutenant Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, and the leaders of the uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov" were shot. When Schmidt learned about the confirmation of the sentence and the place of execution, he said:

- "It will be good for me to die on Berezan ... There will be a high sky above me, the sea around me is my favorite element."

In 1968, at the very high point the southern tip of Berezan Island, according to the project of young architects, graduates of the Odessa Civil Engineering Institute N. Galakina and V. Ochakovsky, students of the same institute and students of the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute erected an original monument to P.P. Schmidt and his associates. It consists of 16-meter reinforced concrete steles located 120 degrees relative to each other. When approaching the island from any direction, it looks like one huge sail filled with wind - a symbol of the sea element, courage and stamina of sailors.

In the northeastern part of the island, at the end of the last century, archaeologists discovered the oldest Greek settlement in the USSR, founded in the 7th century BC, the city of Borisfenites, similar to Olbia and others. ancient Greek cities, which appeared in the Northern Black Sea region much later (in the 5th-6th centuries BC). The island has been declared an archaeological reserve. Archaeological research on it was started at the end of the last century, they continue to this day. The objects of human activity found by archaeologists helped them uncover the history of the island. The hypothesis was confirmed that in the 7th century BC. on the island there was a fairly large agricultural and craft settlement, in which farmers, masons, carpenters, tanners, bone cutters, and potters lived. After the formation of the large ancient Greek city-state of Olbia, the Berezan settlement ceded its primacy to it and after several centuries disappeared for unknown reasons.