Kotovsky Street
(Proektiruemaya before 1957)
The street of Grigory Kotovsky, a participant in the Civil War, originates from Melnicheskaya Street and ends at the intersection with Przhevalsky.
The name was assigned based on the decision of the Executive Committee of the Tyumen City Council of Workers' Deputies No. 614 dated December 7, 1957.
Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky was born in 1881 on June 12, Old style, in the Moldavian village of Ganchesti. His father was a philistine, but Grigory Kotovsky claimed to be descended from a noble family, and even during the revolutionary years he indicated his noble origin in questionnaires.
At the age of five, Grigory fell from a roof, after which he began to stutter. People laughed at him, and in order to resist the offenders, the puny boy began to practice weights and barbells. At the same time, he became interested in music and learned to play the trumpet.
With the help of his godfather Manuk Bey, Grigory entered the Kokorozen Agricultural College. This time he studied more diligently, carefully studied agronomy and German, mastered the violin, accordion, guitar, clarinet, sang in the choir, and achieved success in boxing.
Kotovsky’s revolutionary biography began there. He got acquainted with a circle of Social Revolutionaries.
In his last year of study, in 1900, Kotovsky got a job as an intern at the estate of the Polish landowner Skopovsky in Bendery county. His career didn’t go well, the intern seduced the landowner’s wife, and he kicked him out. Kotovsky pointed out another reason for his dismissal: he felt too sorry for the farmhands.
The next place of practice was the estate of Maksimovka, Odessa district, Kotovsky got a job as an assistant manager at the landowner Yakunin. In October, he was kicked out for embezzling 200 rubles. According to some reports, Kotovsky embezzled money in Odessa, according to others, he was slandered.
Skopovsky’s first employer agreed to accept Kotovsky again. By that time, the landowner had divorced his unfaithful wife. Kotovsky, however, did not justify the trust. He embezzled 77 rubles from the sale of landowner’s pigs and tried to escape in the hope of an early draft into the army. The fugitive was caught, and the landowner personally whipped him. The beaten man was tied up and thrown into the steppe. He managed to free himself, returned to the estate, set fire to the manor house. "He was slandered, accused of theft, tried, and he faced the same injustice as Pushkin’s Dubrovsky," is the version of historian A. A. Kolpakidi. Kotovsky called Dubrovsky his favorite hero and copied the "corporate" phrase on his actions: "Calm down, I am Kotovsky."
After a series of arrests, already in 1904, Kotovsky settled in the wealthy Bessarabian estate of Prince Kantakuzin. He recalled that he worked with the peasants until he was physically exhausted, 20 hours a day, and this pushed him to revolutionary ideas. Gregory did not stay with Cantacuzene: the princess fell in love with him, the prince became jealous, attacked his rival, and he responded.
At the beginning of the Russian-Japanese War in 1904, Kotovsky evaded mobilization and hid in Odessa, Kiev, and Kharkov. He participated in raids alone or as part of Socialist revolutionary terrorist groups. In the autumn of 1904, he led the Kishinev group of raiders. They called themselves anarcho-communists, and the raids were called expropriation. In two months, the group committed almost 30 armed robberies.
The name was assigned based on the decision of the Executive Committee of the Tyumen City Council of Workers' Deputies No. 614 dated December 7, 1957.
Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky was born in 1881 on June 12, Old style, in the Moldavian village of Ganchesti. His father was a philistine, but Grigory Kotovsky claimed to be descended from a noble family, and even during the revolutionary years he indicated his noble origin in questionnaires.
At the age of five, Grigory fell from a roof, after which he began to stutter. People laughed at him, and in order to resist the offenders, the puny boy began to practice weights and barbells. At the same time, he became interested in music and learned to play the trumpet.
With the help of his godfather Manuk Bey, Grigory entered the Kokorozen Agricultural College. This time he studied more diligently, carefully studied agronomy and German, mastered the violin, accordion, guitar, clarinet, sang in the choir, and achieved success in boxing.
Kotovsky’s revolutionary biography began there. He got acquainted with a circle of Social Revolutionaries.
In his last year of study, in 1900, Kotovsky got a job as an intern at the estate of the Polish landowner Skopovsky in Bendery county. His career didn’t go well, the intern seduced the landowner’s wife, and he kicked him out. Kotovsky pointed out another reason for his dismissal: he felt too sorry for the farmhands.
The next place of practice was the estate of Maksimovka, Odessa district, Kotovsky got a job as an assistant manager at the landowner Yakunin. In October, he was kicked out for embezzling 200 rubles. According to some reports, Kotovsky embezzled money in Odessa, according to others, he was slandered.
Skopovsky’s first employer agreed to accept Kotovsky again. By that time, the landowner had divorced his unfaithful wife. Kotovsky, however, did not justify the trust. He embezzled 77 rubles from the sale of landowner’s pigs and tried to escape in the hope of an early draft into the army. The fugitive was caught, and the landowner personally whipped him. The beaten man was tied up and thrown into the steppe. He managed to free himself, returned to the estate, set fire to the manor house. "He was slandered, accused of theft, tried, and he faced the same injustice as Pushkin’s Dubrovsky," is the version of historian A. A. Kolpakidi. Kotovsky called Dubrovsky his favorite hero and copied the "corporate" phrase on his actions: "Calm down, I am Kotovsky."
After a series of arrests, already in 1904, Kotovsky settled in the wealthy Bessarabian estate of Prince Kantakuzin. He recalled that he worked with the peasants until he was physically exhausted, 20 hours a day, and this pushed him to revolutionary ideas. Gregory did not stay with Cantacuzene: the princess fell in love with him, the prince became jealous, attacked his rival, and he responded.
At the beginning of the Russian-Japanese War in 1904, Kotovsky evaded mobilization and hid in Odessa, Kiev, and Kharkov. He participated in raids alone or as part of Socialist revolutionary terrorist groups. In the autumn of 1904, he led the Kishinev group of raiders. They called themselves anarcho-communists, and the raids were called expropriation. In two months, the group committed almost 30 armed robberies.
In 1905, Kotovsky was arrested for evading military service and assigned to serve in the 19th Kostroma Infantry Regiment, stationed in Zhytomyr, from where Kotovsky fled in May. The Zhytomyr social revolutionaries provided him with false documents and money for the trip to Odessa.
The newly created criminal revolutionary organization Kotovsky carried out robber raids on estates: burned houses, destroyed promissory notes. The Robingoods handed over part of the loot to the poorest.
In 1906, Kotovsky was arrested three times. He managed to escape twice. At the trial, he stated that he "fought for the rights of the poor" and "against tyranny." The sentence is 12 years of hard labor.
The convict was sent by stage to Siberia. It was only in 1911 that he arrived at the place of serving his sentence, at the Nerchinsk penal servitude. He worked on the construction of the Amur Railway, became a foreman. Kotovsky hoped for an amnesty on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, but the bandits were not granted amnesty. In February 1913, Kotovsky fled Nerchinsk. He returned to Bessarabia, got a job as a loader, a laborer, and then ... again managed to become the manager of the estate and at the same time led a group of raiders.
The newly created criminal revolutionary organization Kotovsky carried out robber raids on estates: burned houses, destroyed promissory notes. The Robingoods handed over part of the loot to the poorest.
In 1906, Kotovsky was arrested three times. He managed to escape twice. At the trial, he stated that he "fought for the rights of the poor" and "against tyranny." The sentence is 12 years of hard labor.
The convict was sent by stage to Siberia. It was only in 1911 that he arrived at the place of serving his sentence, at the Nerchinsk penal servitude. He worked on the construction of the Amur Railway, became a foreman. Kotovsky hoped for an amnesty on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, but the bandits were not granted amnesty. In February 1913, Kotovsky fled Nerchinsk. He returned to Bessarabia, got a job as a loader, a laborer, and then ... again managed to become the manager of the estate and at the same time led a group of raiders.
In early 1915, the bandits turned to raids on offices and banks.
Kotovsky’s portrait was preserved by a secret dispatch from Chisinau police chief Slavinsky:
"… Speaks excellent Russian, Moldovan, Romanian and Hebrew, and can also speak German and almost French. He gives the impression of being quite intelligent and energetic. In his treatment, he tries to be graceful with everyone, which easily attracts the sympathies of all those who communicate with him. Taller than average, brown-haired, open and expressive face. Somewhat stooped, swaying while walking. He stutters quite noticeably in conversation; he dresses decently and can play the real gentleman. He can impersonate an estate manager, or even a landowner, a machinist, a gardener, an employee of a company or enterprise, a representative for the procurement of food for the army, and so on. He tries to make acquaintances and have intercourse in the appropriate circle… He likes to eat well and delicately and monitors his health by resorting to books and pamphlets published on this subject."
In June 1916, Kotovsky was finally caught. He was sentenced to death by hanging. On death row, the convict wrote penitential letters and asked to be sent to the front. One of the letters got to the wife of General Brusilov and had the desired effect. Kotovsky received a reprieve in the execution of the sentence.
During the February Revolution, Kotovsky showed support for the Provisional Government. Admiral Kolchak interceded for him. Alexander Kerensky released Kotovsky by personal order.
In August 1917, Grigory Kotovsky went to the Romanian front and in October received the St. George’s Cross for bravery in battle.
In January 1918, he led a detachment covering the retreat of the Bolsheviks from Chisinau. The fame of the fearless commander grew during the civil war.
The Bolshevik period of Kotovsky’s biography is full of legends no less than all previous periods. It is known that in April 1920 Kotovsky joined the RCP (b).
More than five years later, he was killed. The documents in the murder case were classified.
The hero was given a lavish funeral, comparable in scale to Lenin’s funeral. Kotovsky’s body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in Birzul. In 1935, Birzula was renamed Kotovsk, and the settlement became part of the Odessa region.
On August 6, 1941, exactly 16 years after the murder, the mausoleum was destroyed by Romanian troops: the sarcophagus was smashed, Kotovsky’s remains were thrown into a freshly dug trench along with the corpses of the executed locals. The workers of the railway depot excavated a trench and reburied the dead, and Kotovsky’s remains were collected in a bag and kept at home until the end of the occupation.
The mausoleum was restored in 1965 in a reduced form, the remains in a zinc coffin with an observation window were placed in the museum located in the mausoleum.
On September 28, 2016, deputies of the city council, following the Ukrainian law on decommunization, decided to bury the remains of Grigory Kotovsky in the city cemetery.
Until 1957, Kotovsky Street was called Proektiruemaya.
Kotovsky’s portrait was preserved by a secret dispatch from Chisinau police chief Slavinsky:
"… Speaks excellent Russian, Moldovan, Romanian and Hebrew, and can also speak German and almost French. He gives the impression of being quite intelligent and energetic. In his treatment, he tries to be graceful with everyone, which easily attracts the sympathies of all those who communicate with him. Taller than average, brown-haired, open and expressive face. Somewhat stooped, swaying while walking. He stutters quite noticeably in conversation; he dresses decently and can play the real gentleman. He can impersonate an estate manager, or even a landowner, a machinist, a gardener, an employee of a company or enterprise, a representative for the procurement of food for the army, and so on. He tries to make acquaintances and have intercourse in the appropriate circle… He likes to eat well and delicately and monitors his health by resorting to books and pamphlets published on this subject."
In June 1916, Kotovsky was finally caught. He was sentenced to death by hanging. On death row, the convict wrote penitential letters and asked to be sent to the front. One of the letters got to the wife of General Brusilov and had the desired effect. Kotovsky received a reprieve in the execution of the sentence.
During the February Revolution, Kotovsky showed support for the Provisional Government. Admiral Kolchak interceded for him. Alexander Kerensky released Kotovsky by personal order.
In August 1917, Grigory Kotovsky went to the Romanian front and in October received the St. George’s Cross for bravery in battle.
In January 1918, he led a detachment covering the retreat of the Bolsheviks from Chisinau. The fame of the fearless commander grew during the civil war.
The Bolshevik period of Kotovsky’s biography is full of legends no less than all previous periods. It is known that in April 1920 Kotovsky joined the RCP (b).
More than five years later, he was killed. The documents in the murder case were classified.
The hero was given a lavish funeral, comparable in scale to Lenin’s funeral. Kotovsky’s body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in Birzul. In 1935, Birzula was renamed Kotovsk, and the settlement became part of the Odessa region.
On August 6, 1941, exactly 16 years after the murder, the mausoleum was destroyed by Romanian troops: the sarcophagus was smashed, Kotovsky’s remains were thrown into a freshly dug trench along with the corpses of the executed locals. The workers of the railway depot excavated a trench and reburied the dead, and Kotovsky’s remains were collected in a bag and kept at home until the end of the occupation.
The mausoleum was restored in 1965 in a reduced form, the remains in a zinc coffin with an observation window were placed in the museum located in the mausoleum.
On September 28, 2016, deputies of the city council, following the Ukrainian law on decommunization, decided to bury the remains of Grigory Kotovsky in the city cemetery.
Until 1957, Kotovsky Street was called Proektiruemaya.
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