Alexander Romanowitsch Drenteln

Alexander Romanowitsch Drenteln

Alexander Drenteln ( Russian Александр Романович Дрентельн * February 24 ^{. Jul} / 7. March  1820 ^greg. In Kiev Governorate ; † 15 ^jul. / 27. July  1888 ^greg. In Kiev ) was a Russian general and statesman .

Drenteln joined the army in 1838 , became a colonel in 1850 , major general in 1859 and lieutenant general in 1865 . In 1867 he was appointed adjutant general and assistant to the president of the committee for the reorganization of the troops. He then became the commander of the military district of Kiev in 1872 and, when the Russo-Turkish War broke out in 1877, he took over the command of the troops set up in the rear of the field army north of the Danube .

After the assassination of General Nikolai Vladimirovich Mesentsov on August 16, 1878, Drenteln was appointed head of the Third Department of the Tsar's secret chancellery . In this position he was in charge of the political police of the entire Russian Empire. Like its predecessor, Drenteln was also the target of an assassination attempt on March 25, 1879 by a nihilist . When, after the assassination attempt in the Winter Palace on February 17, 1880, Loris-Melikow was given dictatorial power and, as Minister of the Interior, was also head of the Third Department, Drenteln resigned from this post on March 11. He was then a member of the State Council and in May for the Governor General in Odessa appointed. In 1881 he was transferred to Kiev in the same position.

Alexander Romanowitsch Drenteln died on July 15th ^. / July 27, 1888 ^greg. in Kiew.

Origin and family

Alexander Romanowitsch came from the Baltic-Swedish aristocratic family von Drenteln , who had lived in Reval since the beginning of the 16th century . His father was the Russian State Councilor and Colonel Reinhold Johann von Drenteln (1773-1836) who was married to Karoline von Kahlen (1778-1801) in his first marriage and to Barbara Seraphim in his second marriage. AR von Drenteln married Maria Wjatkin († 1917), his descendants were:

• Maria Alexandrovna of Drenteln (* 1864), lady-in-waiting ∞ Ivan Romanenko (1854 - 1922), infantry general
• Barbara Alexandrovna of Drenteln (1867 - 1868)
• Alexander Alexandrowitsch von Drenteln ( 1868-1925 ), Russian major general à la suite

Award

In recognition of his military and statesmanlike achievements, he was decorated with the following medals and decorations :

1. Russian Order

• 1849 Russian Order of Saint Anne (3rd class)
• 1857 Russian Order of Saint Stanislaus (2nd class)
• 1861 Order of St. Vladimir (3rd class)
• 1863 Russian Order of Saint Stanislaus (1st class)
• 1868 Russian Order of Saint Anne (1st class with crown)
• 1870 Order of St. Vladimir (2nd class)
• 1871 Imperial-Royal Order of the White Eagle
• 1873 Alexander Nevsky Order
• 1883 Order of St. Vladimir (1st class)
• 1888 Order of St. Andrew the First Called

2. Foreign medals

• 1869 Prussian Order of Merit of the Red Eagle
• 1879 star of Romania
• 1884 Austrian-Imperial Leopold Order

Web links

• Genealogical manual of the Baltic knighthoods, Estonia, Görlitz 1930
• Biographical materials on the Russian history website chronos