Ksenia Mikhailovna Ge (née Serdyukova; Russian: Ксения Михайловна Ге; 1892–1919) was a Russian communist revolutionary. Born in Chișinău, she joined the Bolshevik Party while in exile, where she met her husband Aleksandr Ge. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, she moved to the Caucasian city of Kislovodsk, where she worked for the Cheka and the People's Commissariat of Health. After the Volunteer Army captured the city, she was arrested and her husband was killed. She attempted to escape, but was given up and hanged.
Ksenia Ge | |
|---|---|
Ксения Ге | |
 Bust of Ksenia Ge in Kislovodsk | |
| Born | Ksenia Mikhailovna Serdyukova 1892 |
| Died | 24 January 1919 (aged 26–27) |
| Cause of death | Hanging |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Political party | Bolshevik Party |
| Spouse | Aleksandr Ge |
Biography
editKsenia Mikhailovna Serdyukova was born in Chișinău, in 1892, the daughter of a military officer. She was educated in Vilnius, after which she went into exile and frequented Russian revolutionary circles, meeting her husband Aleksandr Ge and joining the Bolshevik Party. Following the February Revolution, Ksenia and her husband returned to Russia, settling in Moscow, where they worked for the party.[1] After the October Revolution, Ge moved to Kislovodsk, where she worked as a senior investigator for the Cheka,[1][2][3][4] and as head of the People's Commissariat of Health.[3]
During the White offensive in the Northern Caucasus, Ksenia participated in the defense of Kislovodsk, but facing an overwhelming White force, the Red Army soon fled the city.[1][4] Ge decided to remain behind, in order to care for her sick daughter, who would have been unable to leave with them.[4][2] She also persuaded her husband, Aleksandr Ge, to stay with them.[2] On 20 January [O.S. 7 January] 1919, Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army captured Kislovodsk and brought the city under the White Terror.[2] On 21 January, Ge's husband was killed by the Whites while covering the retreat of Chekists fleeing the city.[2] The following day, Ksenia herself was arrested.[2][3] She was detained in a hotel room, together with her daughter.[4][2]
Death
editOn 23 January, she was sentenced to be hanged by a military tribunal. She managed to escape that same night, disguised in a burka and a papakha, and fled to Yessentuki on foot, leaving behind her sleeping daughter and a letter addressed to her mother and late husband.[2] She took refuge with a local doctor,[4][2] but he gave her up to the Whites,[4][2][3] in return for a bounty of 50,000 rubles.[4][2] Ge was taken back to Kislovodsk, where, on 24 January 1919, she was hanged on Cossack Hill. Her daughter continued to face torture by the Whites; a hotel manager attempted to rescue her, but she died soon after.[2]
Memorial
editIn 1957, a monument to Ksenia Ge, sculpted by Khamzat Krymshamkhalov, was erected in Kislovodsk.[4] On 19 August 2018, the monument was vandalised with graffiti, which spelled the name of Andrei Shkuro, a member of the White movement and later the SS Cossacks of Nazi Germany, who became a popular figure in extremist Russian nationalist circles.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Памяти Ксении Михайловны Ге" [In memory of Ksenia Mikhailovna Ge]. VKPB-SKB (in Russian). Stavropol. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Luzin, Sergei (27 April 2020). "КРОВАВЫХ ДНЕЙ ОКОНЧЕН СРОК" [Bloody Days Are Over]. Nash Kislovodsk (in Russian). Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "В Кисловодске осквернен памятник революционерке Ксении Ге" [The monument to revolutionary Ksenia Ge was vandalised in Kislovodsk]. Krasnaya Vecha (in Russian). 20 August 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stativkin, E. "Памятник Ксении Ге" [Monument to Ksenia Ge]. KMV Line. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
Further reading
edit- Buldakov, Vladimir P. (1997). Красная смута: природа и последствия революционного насилия (in Russian). ROSSPEN. pp. 230–231. ISBN 5860041683.
- Stein, J. K. (2013). "Sievers – the Aristocrats on Russian and Soviet Elite Military Service". GISAP. History and Philosophy. 1: 22–28. doi:10.18007/gisap:hp.v0i1.369.
- Usyskin, Grigori (1987). "Старший следователь ЧК" [Senior Investigator of the Cheka]. In Stishova, L.I. (ed.). Октябрём мобилизованные [October mobilised] (in Russian). Moscow: Politizdat. pp. 198–212. OCLC 25342064.