Stepan Ivanovich Scheschkowski

Privy Councilor Stepan Ivanovich Scheschkowski

Stepan Ivanovich Scheschkowski ( Russian Степан Иванович Шешковский * November 20 ^jul. / 1. December  1727 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg , † May 12 ^jul. / 23. May  1794 ^greg. ) Was a Russian privy to the service of Catherine II . and top investigator for especially secret state affairs, who was feared because of the hardness of its interrogation methods.

Life

Scheschkowski's father, Iwan Jemeljanowitsch Scheschkowski (1691–1767), served as registrar in the governing senate . He taught his son to read and write at an early age. In 1736 it was decreed by the highest decree that children of the nobility and officers , who were older than seven years, had to attend school in Saint Petersburg. Scheschkowski was then sent to a Greco-Latin school and since he was already able to read and write, he studied Latin. In 1737, a great fire destroyed the foundations of the school and classes were suspended indefinitely. A year later he was a minor squire in the service of the Siberian Prikas . In 1740 Scheschkowski worked temporarily in the secret chancellery founded in 1726 and two years later again as a copyist for the Siberian Prikas. Since he did not like the work there, he left on February 10th ^July. / February 21, 1743 ^greg. unauthorized from duty and went to Saint Petersburg. His superiors were very concerned about this and had him searched immediately.

Meanwhile, Scheschkowski was preparing to move to the Moscow office for secret searches, which had existed since the end of 1743. In Moscow he managed to please the head of the Secret Chancellery, Count Shuvalov , and to enter his service. After he had already become a subordinate chancellery of the Moscow office for secret search matters in 1748, he moved to St. Petersburg and took over the post of archivist of the secret chancellery. In 1754 the Senate appointed him protocolist in the chancellery at the suggestion of Shuvalov. Three years later, Scheschkowski was promoted by Empress Elisabeth to secretary of the Secret Chancellery and was directly subordinate to Shuvalov. In this position he worked until February 7th ^July. / February 18, 1762 ^greg. , the day of the dissolution of the Secret Chancellery by Peter III. By then he had managed to build up an extensive network of relationships, so that even the dissolution of the firm was an advantage for him and he was promoted to Senate Secretary.

Empress Catherine II, who had supported the dissolution of the Secret Chancellery after her accession to the throne, had a secret expedition founded in the Senate, the tasks of which were in no way different from the Secret Chancellery. Scheschkowski, who had acquired the reputation of a skilled detective and secret investigator at an early age , proved to be a useful assistant in the early years of the government of Catherine II. He therefore made himself known to the Empress herself, who entrusted him with investigations in the most important matters. In 1763 he took part in the interrogation of Arsseni Mazejewitsch in the presence of Catherine II, Count Orlow and General Procurator Glebow. In the following year he led the investigation against Vasily Mirowitsch , who in 1764 allegedly tried the overthrown Ivan VI. bring back to the throne. Because of his services, Scheschkowski was advisor to the court and accepted into the 1st department of the governing senate. Scheschkowski, promoted to councilor in 1767, took on the position of senior secretary of the governing senate during this time. At the beginning of October 1774, Catherine II sent him to Moscow to investigate the Pugachev case , who, as the leader of a peasant uprising, claimed he was the late Tsar Peter Fyodorovich (Peter III) because of his extraordinary skills . In mid-December 1775, the investigations were successful and successfully concluded for Catherine II, whereupon Scheschkowski was promoted to the State Council.

The following case of Sheschkowski concerned less political than personal interests of Catherine the Great. Since imperial caricatures and diatribes had appeared in Saint Petersburg, he was commissioned to identify the author. A few other matters in which he successfully investigated, tied him more firmly to Catherine II, who appointed him Real Councilor of State in January 1781 and thus made him almost independent of the General Procurator. In 1788 he conducted investigations into the denunciation affair of the Irkutsk governor Jacobi and found him guilty. Only the energetic intercession of the poet Gawriil Romanowitsch Derschawin could rehabilitate Jacobi. In 1789 he interrogated the writer Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev , who in his novel Journey from Petersburg to Moscow criticized what he believed to be unbearable conditions in Russia under Catherine II, in particular the serfdom and the inhumanity of the ruling and largely depraved aristocratic class. Radishchev was not tortured by Scheschkowski. Radishchev knew that no one would seek to destroy his family's life. Nevertheless, after two weeks of questioning, he swore off his beliefs, condemned his book, and asked for mercy. Investigations followed in 1790 into the case of Hofrat Walz, a secretary of the State College for Foreign Affairs, who was accused of maintaining ties with foreign ministers.

All of these cases gave Scheschkowski the opportunity to distinguish himself from Catherine the Great. This rewarded his work in the secret expedition with the Order of St. Vladimir 2nd Class, promoted him to Privy Councilor in 1791 and gave him an annual pension of 2,000 rubles .

Scheschkowski had an influential position at the court. Not infrequently, many high state dignitaries flattered him and vied for his friendship. But there were also independent and courageous people who treated him with undisguised contempt. Prince Potjomkin often greeted him at a meeting with the words: “Are you tormenting someone, Stepan Ivanovich?” To which Scheschkowski replied: “Just a little, your Highness .” Wherever Scheschkowski felt his power, he spread terror. His name alone filled prisoners with fear.

Scheschkowski died in Saint Petersburg in 1794. His body was buried in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery . Two months after his death, Attorney General Alexander Samoilov informed his widow that "Her Majesty, in memory of the diligent service of her late husband, bequeathed 10,000 rubles to his family."

Awards

• Order of St. Vladimir 2nd class

literature

• Корсаков, А .: Степан Иванович Шешковский. (1727-1794). Биографический очерк . In: Исторический вестник . tape 22 , no. 12 , 1885, p. 656-687 .
• Колпакиди, А .; Север, А .: Спецслужбы Российской империи . Яуза Эксмо, Moscow 2010, ISBN 978-5-699-43615-6 , p. 81-84 .
• Радищев П. А .: Заметки. Отрывок о С. И. Ешковском . In: Russkaya Starina . tape 2 , 1870, p. 510-512 .

Web links

• A. Korsakow: Stepan Iwanowitsch Scheschkowski (1727–1794) , 1885, pp. 656–687 (Russian), accessed on July 18, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Solzhenitsyn: The GULAG archipelago . Scherz Verlag, Bern 1974, ISBN 978-3-8059-0870-2 , p. 132 .
2. ↑ Корсаков, А .: Степан Иванович Шешковский. (1727-1794). Биографический очерк . In: Исторический вестник . tape 22 , no. 12 , 1885, p. 683 .
3. ↑ Корсаков, А .: Степан Иванович Шешковский. (1727-1794). Биографический очерк . In: Исторический вестник . tape 22 , no. 12 , 1885, p. 686 .