| Ignacy Hryniewiecki | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1856 Kalinovka, Klichev District, Russian Empire |
| Died | 13 March 1881 St. Petersburg, Russia |
Ignaty Gryniewietsky (Party name: Kotik, Russian for "Kitten"; ), 1856 – 13 March 1881) was a member of the People's Will and the assassin of Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
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Hryniewiecki was born in Kalinovka, a village in Klichev district, nowaday Belarus into an impoverished Polish szlachta family at a small manor.
In 1875 Hryniewiecki left for Saint Petersburg, where he enrolled in mathematics at the Polytechnic. Under the influence of his teachers and fellow students, he quickly became Russified. This was probably why he was invited to meetings of the Russian revolutionary Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) movement.
In 1880 Hryniewiecki, Andrei Zhelyabov, Sophia Perovskaya and others were in charge of revolutionary propaganda among students and workers. Hryniewiecki was an organizer of the Workers' Gazette and a typesetter at a clandestine printing establishment.
In February 1881 Hryniewiecki joined as a part of the bombthrower unit, created for the purpose of assassinating the Tsar Alexander II.
One evening in mid-February the four bomb-throwers (Timofei Mikhailov, Ivan Emelyanov, Nikolai Rysakov and Hryniewiecki) gathered in a newly rented apartment on Telezhnaya Street, tenanted by Sablin and Gesya Gelfman. Andrei Zhelyabov outlined the plan of attack, and Kibalchich lectured on the bomb. He demonstrated parts of the mechanism for the class, drew diagrams, described how the bomb worked and how it should be handled. The missile was a cylinder weighing five to six pounds, the outer shell fashioned out of an empty kerosene can, and the explosive a combination of nitroglycerin and pyroxylin. Shortly after the meeting the bombs were tested in a suburban park. Two missiles were pitched, and one of them exploded.
Prior to the assassination, Hryniewiecki set down what was in effect a letter to posterity. Only a fragment of it has been preserved: "Alexander II must die," he wrote. . . ." He will die, and with him, we, his enemies, his executioners, shall die too. . . . How many more sacrifices will our unhappy country ask of its sons before it is liberated? . . . It is my lot to die young, I shall not see our victory, I shall not live one day, one hour in the bright season of our triumph, but I believe that with my death I shall do all that it is my duty to do, and no one in the world can demand more of me. . . ."
On 13 March 1881 (1 March O.S.), Hryniewiecki was a part of the "fighting squad" who attacked Tsar Alexander II, who was passing down Nevsky Prospekt near the Winter Palace. When the first bomb went off, Alexander reflected a moment and said he wanted to have a look at the spot where the explosion had occurred. He walked over to the funnel-shaped pit formed by the bomb. The Cossack and the boy were still lying where they had fallen. He expressed solicitude for them. Many of the guards, rushed up to see and asked him if he was hurt, "Thank God! no," said the Tsar. "Come, let us look after the wounded." When his curiosity was satisfied, he was ready to drive away, Hryniewiecki who was leaning against the railing with a parcel in his hands, turned to face the Emperor and before any one could stop him, he shouted: "It is too soon to thank God yet, Alexander Nikolaevich," and raised both arms and made a sudden movement. There was a second deafening explosion.
On the shattered flagstones of the sidewalk near the railing the Tsar was lying in a pool of blood. He was fatally wounded in the explosion and died a few hours later. Beside him lay his attacker, Hryniewiecki, who was also gravely wounded and unconscious.
Because people had crowded close to the Tsar, the second bomb claimed many more victims than the first. The attack may have been a suicide bombing. Hryniewiecki had attempted to assassinate the Tsar before but had not used a bomb, as he did not want to injure other people. In his first attempt, he had not wanted to kill pedestrians; in the second attempt, he had not wanted to kill the Tsar's wife.
Later it was learned there was a third bomber in the crowd. Ivan Emelyanov. The moment the second bomb went off, Emelyanov, who was stationed some twenty paces down the quay, rushed to the scene of the explosion to see if Hryniewiecki was alive and could be spirited away in the confusion. He realized at once that nothing could be done.
At nine o'clock that day, Hryniewiecki, who had been carried to the infirmary attached to the Palace, regained consciousness. Determined to give no information to the police, he refused to disclose his name. An hour and a half later he was dead.
The assassination had been meant to ignite revolution. Hryniewiecki's fellow-conspirators — Nikolai Kibalchich, Sophia Perovskaya, Nikolai Rysakov, Timofei Mikhailov, Andrei Zhelyabov — were sentenced to death and were hanged on 3 April 1881. They were buried in an anonymous common grave.
The Church of the Savior on Blood was erected on the site of the assassination.