Khioniya Guseva
Khioniya Guseva | |
|---|---|
 Guseva, c. 1914 | |
| Born | c. 1880/81 |
| Died | after 1919 (aged at least 38-39) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Occupation | Assassin |
| Years active | 1914 |
| Known for | Attempted murder of Grigori Rasputin in 1914 |
Khioniya Kuzminichna Guseva (c. 1880/81 – after 1919)[1] was a Russian townswoman (meshchanka) of Syzran who attempted to kill Grigori Rasputin in 1914.
Biography
[edit]In 1899 she is recorded as having resided in Tsaritsyn, known today as Volgograd. Until 1912, she was an adherent of the monk Iliodor.
According to the records of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission of the Provisional Government (ru), Khioniya Guseva was a peasant of Syzransky Uyezd of the Simbirsk Governorate. The dates of Guseva's birth and death are unknown, but the police report indicates that she was 33 when she tried to assassinate Rasputin.[2]
Her most prominent feature was her missing nose.[3] During her testimony, she indicated that she never suffered from syphilis, but rather was "damaged by medicines" since she was 13.[4][5]
Assassination attempt on Rasputin
[edit]She attempted to assassinate Grigori Rasputin in his home village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk Governorate, where she arrived on 16 June 1914. Some historians have dated the assassination attempt to 29 June 1914 (New Style) [6] or Monday 13 July.[7] According to historian Oleg Platonov, the assassination attempt was made on Sunday June 29 (Old Style).[2]
Grigori Rasputin, a friend of the tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the Tsarina, was visiting his wife and children in his village, along the Tura River, in Siberia. On the afternoon of Sunday 12 July [O.S. 29 June] 1914 [8][9][10] having dined, he went out from the house. He had just received a telegram, and left his home to reply to it when he was attacked by Guseva, who drove a knife into his abdomen. Guseva purportedly screamed "I have killed the Antichrist!" after the attack.[11] Still not dead, Rasputin was chased through the streets by Guseva in order to finish the task. He hit her in the face with a shaft, and a crowd quickly gathered, chanting "Let's kill her!" She turned herself over to the constable and was placed on trial. After seven weeks, Rasputin recovered.
Guseva was found to be insane and was placed in an asylum in Tomsk until 15 March 1917. Then she was released on order of Alexander Kerensky. She is reported to have attempted and failed another assassination attempt, this time on Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, in 1919.[12] What happened to Guseva after 1919 is unknown and her date of death is also unknown.
References
[edit]- ^ Her first name has alternatively been spelled as Khionia or Jina or Chionya and her surname has been alternatively spelled as Gusyeva; Russian: Хиония Кузьминична Гусева
- ^ a b Oleg Platonov, Zhizn' za tsaria (St. Petersburg: Voskresesnie, 1996).
- ^ "Действующие лица романа В.С.Пикуля "Нечистая сила". Г-К". yiv1999.narod.ru.
- ^ See Rasputin by Edvard Radzinsky
- ^ С. Г. Зацаринный. Женщина, погубившая четыре империи (in Russian). syzranhistory.ru. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
- ^ Joseph T. Fuhrmann, Rasputin: A Life (New York: Praeger, 1990), 107.
- ^ J.T. Fuhrmann (2013), The Untold Story, p. 119.
- ^ Archive, The British Newspaper (28 June 2013). "Assassination Attempt on Rasputin – 29 June 1914". blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
- ^ "New York Times" (PDF).
- ^ J.T. Fuhrmann (2013), p. 126.
- ^ B. Moynahan (1997) Rasputin. The saint who sinned, p. 194.
- ^ Profile, yiv1999.narod.ru; accessed 26 April 2015.(in Russian)
Sources
[edit]- Joseph T. Fuhrmann, Rasputin: A Life(New York: Praeger, 1990).
- Edvard Radzinsky, The Rasputin File (2000, Anchor, USA) ISBN 0-385-48910-2 (paperback)