Imperial security

I guess the best body guards are the ones close in that you never see.

I do recall the story (readers digest?) of a man at his work (end of the day). A prince ( in his 50's maybe) with his body guards close by, visited this certain place of work which was closing. The man was off to do a recreational sport and didn't realise who the Prince was until much later. The Prince was very nice and said to his body guards something to the effect "maybe we should join him" and kind of chuckled. If the man would have known the relativity of the event he would have said as a friend "by all means...anytime!!" to the Prince.

I'm sure that offer still stands to the Prince and his body guards.  

For the exhibition "State Protection 1881-2006", this article discusses mainly the tsarist years. A couple of interesting items - Nikolai I abolished in 1838 the night posts of the armed guards in the private corridors/rooms of the Imperial family in the Winter Palace.

In the interview at the end, the curator of the archives relates how although the theme of state protection is limited she was astonished to discover a variety of items. For example, in the file on General Spiridovitch she found the tracing of the foot of Tsarevich Alexei to measure for boots.

http://www.rg.ru/2006/11/24/gosohrana.html

Joanna

Article on Imperial security which has additional information such as changes initiated at beginning of 1900s to the protection services around the Tsar. This had lapsed in the last years of 1800s with three functions and then expanded including training with latest technology of that time i.e. automatic pistols.

http://www.nivestnik.ru/2006_1/10.shtml

Joanna

Have the papers/dairies of Alexander Ivanovitch Spiridovitch, ever been published? Are the readily available for us to read?

Louise

For the exhibition "State Protection 1881-2006", this article discusses mainly the tsarist years. A couple of interesting items - Nikolai I abolished in 1838 the night posts of the armed guards in the private corridors/rooms of the Imperial family in the Winter Palace.

In the interview at the end, the curator of the archives relates how although the theme of state protection is limited she was astonished to discover a variety of items. For example, in the file on General Spiridovitch she found the tracing of the foot of Tsarevich Alexei to measure for boots.

http://www.rg.ru/2006/11/24/gosohrana.html

Joanna

If only I could read Russian. *sigh*

Have the papers/dairies of Alexander Ivanovitch Spiridovitch, ever been published? Are the readily available for us to read?

Louise

Spiridovitch published three books. "Les Dernieres Annees de la Cour de Tzarskoie Selo" (The Last Days of the Court at Tsarskoe Selo) "Rasputine" (Bio of Rasputin)  and "Histoire du Terrorisme Russe" (The History of Russian Terrorism).

I have a copy of each in French. All three were published in Russian and French, but none have ever been translated and published in English.  I have translated 90% of "Les Derniers Annees..." which Bob is using for his book.  I have toyed with the idea of finishing the whole thing and seeing if anyone would be interested if I published it, after Bob publishes his book.

The bulk of Spiridovitch's papers and files, at least everything he had outside Russia after he escaped the Revolution are now in the Beineke Library at Yale.  His "official" security files are in GARF and have never been published.

Would you mind posting the details of the French versions (publisher, date, etc.), so thatwe might search for them?
Thank You!

TATYANA

Sure here they are, but I commend PATIENCE to you.  They are very very rare.  I have only seen two copies of "Dernieres Annees" for sale in the last three years, Raspoutine is a bit more common.  It took me four years to find the Terrorisme volume. Oh, and they are probably not going to be cheap either...

Author: General Alexander Spiridovitch
"Les Dernieres Annees de la Cour de Tzarskoie Selo" Payot, Paris 1928  (a 2 volume set, Vol 1 1906-1910, Vol 2 1910-1914.)

"Raspoutine" Payot, Paris 1935

"Histoire du Terrorisme Russe, 1866-1917" Payot, Paris, 1930

Many Thanks for posting the info.
And, I'm prepared not to find them in my lifetime for a price I can afford, but at least I'll have the pleasure of the hunt!

TATY ANA

Do you what's depressing? My library has two out of the three (the terrorisme volume and the 2 volume set) and THEY JUST SIT THERE. I'm tempted to take them and never give them back, but I can only imagine how much they would make me pay to replace them.

What an excellent idea, to check the library! These days, one tends not to think of that.

TATYANA

Tatyana , Marty , Halen,

General Alexander Spiridovitch was my Great Grandfather,

I am proud to say that as we speak, the final work on a full English translation is being completed for 'Les Dernieres Annees de la Cour de Tzarskoie Selo' Part 1 and 2.

We shall be releasing the Book as a two part edition as the original. Through our family company that owns the copyright.

In the US Canada and UK and Europe soon.

Having done the post trans editing my self, I can say it is an amazing story, and beautifully written, even when we all know the sad end result.

And it will be at a price that is easily affordable for all.

I must give credit to Rob who I have to say , inspired me to proceed with this costly but fascinating project.

I'm very glad to hear this. Please keep us posted with publication details!