Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Gerhard

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Nikolai Gerhard and Iwan Goremykin, portrait by Ilya Repin

Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Gerhard (also: Gerard) ( Russian: Николай Николаевич Герард ; * August 21, 1838 in the Mogilev Governorate , Russian Empire ; †  December 9, 1929 in the sanatorium of Halila / Finland ) was a Russian lawyer. He was the Russian Governor General of Finland from 1905 to 1908 .

Administrative lawyer

Nikolai Gerhard's parents were guard officer Nikolai Gerard and his wife Helena Piramidov. He studied law in Saint Petersburg . From 1861 he worked in the Russian Interior Ministry; In 1866 he switched to the judiciary. From 1876 Gerhard worked in the Russian Senate; In 1887 he became head of the Senate Department for geodetic questions. From 1898 Nikolai Gerhard was active in the State Council . There he worked first in the legal department, then in the department for civil and church affairs, of which he later became head.

Gerhard became a high and respected administrative lawyer in Russia. He is described as a well-educated, urban lawyer who closely adhered to the legal and constitutional order. Nikolai Gerhard was appointed to the Privy Council of State for his services .

Finland

At the suggestion of Count Witte , Nikolai Gerhard succeeded Count Ivan Michailowitsch Obolensky as Tsarist Governor General in Finland . He held the office from December 6, 1905 to February 2, 1908. It was already important that a civilian and not a military took office.

Nikolai Gerhard's tenure was generally characterized by a weakening tsarism after the lost war against Japan and the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Especially after the “Great Strike” in Finland (October 28 to November 6, 1905) and Tsar Nicholas II's liberal November Manifesto of November 4, 1905, it was Gerhard's task to restore general order in the country, which Gerhard succeeded overall. The governor general sought cooperation with the Finnish Senate . He took a two-pronged approach: while some previously dismissed Finnish officials were reinstated, he introduced strict sanity checks within the Finnish police force.

The Finnish government implemented important democratic reforms during these years: the introduction of universal and equal suffrage, including women's suffrage, in February 1906, the constitution of freedom of expression, press, assembly and association, and important social reforms. The time went hand in hand with the reorganization of the Finnish political system. The Russifizierungs marketing efforts of former Governor General Bobrikov led Nikolai Gerhard not and left it with a negative attitude in questions of detail.

emigration

After the revolution in Russia in 1917 and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks , Nikolai Gerhard and his wife emigrated to Finland. There they were welcomed with open arms. Gerhard died in 1929 in a sanatorium in South Karelia .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nikolaj Nikolajevitj Gerhard . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 9 : Fruktodling – Gossensass . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1908, Sp. 1028 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  2. ↑ From the grandfather whom the Finns adored . In: Kieler Nachrichten , January 2, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Gerhard, Nikolai Nikolajewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerard, Nikolai Nikolayevich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor General of Finland
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Mogilev Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1929
Place of death Halila Sanatorium , Finland