From Spiridovitch, who spend years in personal contact daily with Nicholas II:There was an opinion widely repeated in which the Emperor had detested the Jews. That is incorrect. As he was a Russian, and a man well versed in political and social history, the Emperor would not love the Jews, however he never once displayed the slightest hatred toward them. He always showed himself to be as equally fair in regards to them as he was to many other groups.
Those who created the anti-Jewish policies were acting in accordance with their own personal beliefs, and were hiding behind the Emperor and were trying to make him the scapegoat for them. All of that was for nothing.
After the celebrated Beyliss trial, which ended with a verdict which, while recognizing the ritual character of the murder, nevertheless acquitted Beyliss; the Tsar, informed of the verdict (he was then still at Yalta) said to someone in his entourage who later repeated his words to me:
"It is certain that this had been a ritual murder. However I am happy that Beyliss was acquitted, as he is innocent."
Spiridovitch re Dombadzye: Deprived of any instruction, however he was intelligent, cunning and positive and wily, he knew how to monopolize his bosses and profit from their weaknesses. He pretended to encourage and flatter not only his superiors, but also those near to them, including their wives.
The population suffered greatly under Gvozdyevitch's machinations, but could do nothing against him because he had protectors everywhere. Each new governor began his administration by announcing loudly that he intended to "chase out this scoundrel", but after just a little while Gvozdyevitch had become necessary and indispensible to the man, an invariable Michael Ivanovitch. And so the arbitrary policeman continued both in Yalta and its suburbs to enrich himself here and there with new "plots" of land and new "little houses" which he had acquired under advantageous circumstances, so much so that having started out life as an errand-boy, he had become one of the richest landowners in the region.
It was Gvozdyevitch who maneuvered General Dombadze, and Dombadze let himself be maneuvered completely, despite his pretensions of independence.
The socialists and the Jews were the principal elements against whom the police fought in Yalta. However if, in regard to the socialists, the police were impartial and disinterested, so much more so as the police force watched them, it was not at all the same with regard to their attitude toward the Jews who could reconcile themselves with the policemen by knowing the right moment when to be "generous".
It goes without saying that Gen. Dombadze was completely outside of these prevailing forces, and that he was not the least part touched by them, and was unaware of them deliberately. He served only in his office and left his subordinates to serve in his name and to invoke his authority. Every poor Jew, who did not have a right to domicile was immediately apprehended, rousted and expelled without any further legal process; while hundreds of other people, also without the right to domicile were not disturbed, because they had made their own private arrangements with the police.
During Gen. Dyedyuline's stay in the Crimea, Gen. Dombadze made such a display of feelings of devotion for the Emperor and of such hatred for the revolutionaries that the commandant of the Palace was literally seduced and conquered by him. ...Pushed by Gvozdyevitch, Dombadze at that time created a major storm of trouble about several Jewish musicians, soldiers in the Praeobrazhenskaya Regiment, who were part of the military orchestra hired by the administration to play in the public garden in Yalta. He demanded their expulsion from Yalta, pretending that they could not be sure about their political views. This was of course a manifest absurdity. This "story" created an unbelievable row. Dombadze was even more proud than ever before and walked through town with the air of triumph. Judge for yourself: he was not even afraid to expel soldiers from the Praeobrazhenskaya Regiment from Yalta!! When they learned about this story in the higher circles, one was contented to smile as Dombadze was treated as the source. And, the source was strongly brought to account for the affair as his involvement in the affairs was a means of pleasure for him, and he wore that pleasure publicly."
