Voeikov Vladimir Nikolaevich — Major-General, Сommandant of the Retinue of His Imperial Majesty, a statesman, Penza landowner, an Honorary freeman of the city of Nizhny Lomov.
Vladimir Voeikov was born on August 14, 1868 in St. Petersburg, where he spent his childhood. He was descended from an ancient and eminent noble family ascending to the XIV century. His parents were Voeikov Nikolai Vasilyevich, the Four-star General of the Arch-Chamberlain of the Court of His Imperial Majesty, who had a large estate in Penza province, and Dolgorukova Varvara Vladimirovna, the daughter of the Moscow Governor-General, a Prince V.A. Dolgorukov. V.A. Dolgorukov was married to Evgenia Vladimirovna Fredericks, a daughter of Minister of the Imperial Court and Realm, Adjutant-General, a Count V.B. Frederiks. V.A. Dolgorukov was related to the Bishop Leontius (Baron von Wimpfen V.N.). Besides he was the godfather of the holy martyr Cesarevitch Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov.
1882-1887 — was trained in the Corps of Pages and released as a cornet into the Cavalry Regiment.
1894 — was sent abroad as an orderly of Adjutant-General of Admiral O. K. Kremer with a notice of the accession to the throne of the Emperor Nicholas II.
Since 1887 — was a horse-guardsman.
1897-1898 — worked as a filing clerk in charge of the restructuring of the regimental church named after the Holy Righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth at the barracks of the Cavalry Regiment in St. Petersburg. He raised the necessary funds by himself and was appointed the church warden.
Since 1899 — was in charge of the regimental training team.
1890 — was included in the 6th part of the Noble Genealogy book of the Penza province; became an honorary freeman of Nizhny Lomov.
July, 1900 – August, 1905 — holding a rank of captain (of Cavalery) commanded a squadron of the Cavalry Regiment.
During the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 Vladimir participated in military operations on the territory of Manchuria: as the Red Cross member he evacuated the sick and wounded.
September, 1906 — holding a rank of colonel was commissioned the aide-de-camp.
August 11, 1907 – December 24, 1913 — commanded the Life Guards of His Majesty the Hussar Regiment; was actively engaged in the issues of education of troops.
1910 — created “The Manual for the Training of Troops in Gymnastics.”
1911 — was awarded a rank of major-general.
1912 — was at the head of the Russian Olympic Committee and led the Russian delegation at the V Olympic Games in Stockholm (Sweden).
Since June, 1913 — was the chief observant of the physical development of the population of the Russian Empire.
December 24, 1913 — was appointed the commandant of the Retinue of His Imperial Majesty; he arranged the protection of the emperor and his family, accompanied the sovereign while traveling around Russia.
Vladimir Voeikov owned 14419 dessiatines (measure = 10,900 sq. metres or 2.7 acres) of land near the town of Kamenka and Studenets village of Kamensky district. In his estate he organized the production and sale of “the Kuvaka” mineral water. Due to the development of production and agriculture they raised the level of economic activity of the place. Voeikov’s estate and farmstead were considered among the largest and most promising in the province.
1914 — opened an infirmary for the wounded in Kamenka.
1915 — held correspondence with Leontius (Khopersky), Archimandrite of the Nizhnelomovsky Kazan Monastery about the transfer of a copy of the Nizhnelomovsky miraculous image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God to the headquarters of Nicholas II.
Vladimir Voeikov was a trustee of the Pokrovo-Nikolaevsky Convent in the village of Virga in Nizhnelomovsky District, which was visited in 1916 by more than 16,000 pilgrims.
1916 — received an archpriest blessing for the improvement of this cloister.
August, 1916 — last time visited Nizhnelomovsky district.
Vladimir Voeikov stood by the tsar till the very moment of his abdication and in every possible way tried to dissuade him from this step.
March 5, 1917 — at the tsar’s headquarters in Mogilev Vladimir saw the emperor for the last time in his life. “His Majesty said in a soft voice and kind words how he appreciated my service, which sometimes was really difficult, and expressed his gratitude for my unchanging devotion to him and the empress. Embracing me for the last time with tears in his eyes, the emperor left the office leaving me with a painful feeling that this meeting was the last one and that a terrible black abyss was opening before the tsar as well as in front of Russia. ”
March 7, 1917 — when he was going from Mogilev to his Penza estate in Kamenka, Voeikov was arrested at Vyazma railway station in Smolensk province by order of the Minister of Justice A.F. Kerensky. By coincidence, Colonel Porohovnikov, the churchwarden of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, was arrested along with him. Voeikov was escorted to Moscow and taken first to the revolutionary district headquarters in Arbat and then to the Kremlin guardhouse, where his own apartment was used as a room for the arrested. On the same day he was transferred to the guardhouse in Nastasinsky lane and after a long interrogation was sent to Petrograd in a compartment together with Kerensky. The latter said that he ordered to arrest Vladimir so that to save him from people’s wrath. However, when they arrived at Petrograd Kerensky addressing the people at the Nikolayevsky railway station explained that he had traveled to Moscow to detain personally the former palace commandant who had escaped from the emperor, and now Voeikov would be taken to Petrograd and tried by the people’s court. After this speech the general nearly fell a victim to the furious crowd on the platform. Then Voeikov was taken to the Taurida Palace full of drunken soldiers; some of them, in full gear, lying on the floor. On March 8 Voeikov was able to meet with his wife, who until then had lived in the house of her father Count Fredericks. Evgenia Vladimirovna told him how their house was looted the day before and then burned by drunken soldiers; and before the burning the countess, who was on her death-bed, was taken out at 17 degrees of frost. And then these same soldiers began to shoot at the women but only wounded the dog defending them faithfully. The dog was lying in a pool of blood in the snow but somehow it managed to survive and later, being 21 years old, was in emigration with the owners.
March 9, 1917 — was transferred to the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. When the general got into the car, covered with canvas to leave the Taurida Palace for the fortress, a certain soldier whispered to him excitedly: “Bend down.” As soon as he bent down somebody smashed the butt of the rifle down on the canvas. Driving along the street Shpalernaya, where Voeikov had been serving for almost 20 years, he saw the once built regimental church. The balconies of the mansions where his acquaintances lived were all covered with red flags. Involuntary childhood memories came to his mind. The regime of imprisonment in the fortress prescribed for him was that of the high state criminal. Nutrition was scarce; you were not allowed to wear your clothes, wash and shave. 102 rivets of an iron bed dug into the body through a thin straw bedding. In detention Vladimir Nikolaevich learned about the devastation of his estate in Kamenka. He underwent repeated interrogations, cold and hunger that severely undermined his health: he developed pedal phlebitis and then hunger edema. In prison he kept a folding icon, which he was blessed with by the cavalrymen on the day of his regiment’s handover on August 15, 1905. This icon saved Voeikov from the death by a firing squad in the Trubetskoi bastion. While in custody he noted a kind and grateful attitude of some guards who had once served as soldiers under his authority. One day after the Easter vigil a group of soldiers, bringing their first meal after fast, entered his cell. Having sung “Christ is risen!” thrice and exchanged a triple kiss they withdrew. During the period of his misfortunes General Voeikov, being a faithful tsar’s servant, enjoyed kind attention of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna who herself was in a state of despair.
August – September, 1917 — was released from the Peter and Paul Fortress with a recommendation to his wife to put her husband in one of the psychiatric clinics. But as soon as the doctors learned what “criminal” they might have to keep they refused blankly to accept Voeikov. Finally he was taken under observation in a private clinic for the mental and nervous patients by Dr. A.G. Konasevich. Here the general was also under strict militia surveillance untill October 5, 1917, which was the name-day of Cesarevitch Aleksey, when the guard was withdrawn on a 50,000 gold rubles bail. Here in the clinic the former palace commandant was visited by his wife and relatives. Among those there was one A.M., a former student of the Kamenka two-grade school, a native of Serdobsky district.
October, 1917 — for fear of another arrest he secretly left the hospital.
Until summer, 1918 — was hiding in different apartments in Petrograd and living in suburban summer houses. At the same time Voeikov established contact with the royal family, who were in Tobolsk. Together with his wife he sent them letters and parcels.
Being an illegal person Voeikov made attempts to flee to Finland but failed: in August 1918, when they started the real hunting for Voeikov, he set off on a train towards the border with Finland, but in the city of Sestroretsk he found out that defectors in this sector of the border were met with gunshots. There was an opportunity to get across in a fishing boat, but the general did not dare to trust a fisherman stranger. On the way back to Petrograd Voeikov passed two checks on the train and when he arrived at the capital he learned from his servant on the platform that there was a search in their house and he was being looked for everywhere. Militia posts appeared to surround the whole station in order to catch him and the only way out of this mousetrap was the way back along the railway line. While in Petrograd he changed his appearance, feigned madness and was admitted into a mental house on the outskirts of the city. After the news of his wife’s arrest he decided to try to leave Russia again. Miraculously overcoming all checks at the stations and in the trains Voeikov got to Belorussia and then to Ukraine. From Yalta he took a ship to Odessa.
1919 — crossed the border with Romania, and then spent a year wandering around Europe in search of a refuge: he lived in Bucharest, Berlin, Danzig, Berne, and Copenhagen.
1919 — at a heavy cost freed his wife from the Bolshevik concentration camp, where she was kept as a hostage.
February, 1920 — received a residence permit in Finland, where he lived before the Soviet-Finnish war. First he lived in the resort town of Terioki on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (now Zelenogorsk).
1936 — wrote and published memories of his life at the court under the title “With and without the Tsar.”
November, 1939 — in connection with the military actions of the Soviet troops approaching to the city of Viipuri (now Vyborg) Marshal K.G. Mannerheim immediately gave a hand to his former comrade-in-arms that he had known since their service in the Cavalry Regiment: he sent several trucks and the Voeikov family was transported to the city of Helsinki in Finland.
1940, March — because of annexation of part of the Finnish territory to the USSR at the end of the so-called Winter War, moved to Sweden, to Stockholm, and then to its suburb Jursholm.
October 8, 1947 — died in Stockholm (Dundered) and was buried in Helsinki in the grave of his father-in-law Count V.B. Fredericks. Later Voeikov’s wife was also buried there.
From the statements and memoirs by General Voeikov:
1. On March 6, the Emperor said goodbye to the members of the headquarters. This was the only time when, after abdication, he was among his former loyal subjects. The picture, according to eyewitnesses, was heart-rending … Sobbing was heard. Several officers fell into a swoon … The Emperor could not finish his speech because of the hysterics that had risen … There was a dramatic manifestation of loyalty to the tsar from the soldiers present.
2. It would not have taken Kerensky and his co-workers much effort to free the tsar; therefore they committed a grave sin and are to blame for the fate of the emperor. And besides the Provisional Government a great fault lies with the high society which supported false accusations against the tsarist couple instead of unanimously raising voice for taking any measures to save the tsar and his family. Having deprived the royal family of freedom and instituted an investigation on charge of the tsar and the tsarina with high treason, members of the Provisional Government themselves prepared the ground for the unheard-of crime of the Bolsheviks.
3. What a profound effect can mass psychosis have on people forcing them to repeat from other people’s words something they have no idea of and do not even want to understand!
4. At the beginning of March, 1917 the German Imperial Bank opened accounts for Lenin, Sumenson, Kozlovsky, Trotsky and other figures of the Council of People’s Commissars for propaganda of peace among the troops at the front. In January 1918, the Council of People’s Commissars transferred 50 million rubles from the Reichsbank to cover the costs of keeping the Red Guard and agitators; and these people’s commissars were instructed to intensify propaganda in Russia, since the German government was worried about the anti-Bolshevik attitudes in southern Russia and Siberia. They insisted on the importance of recruiting for the propagation job experienced people who would be able to contribute to the domination of Bolshevik ideology in Russia.
5. Very soon the goal of the Bolsheviks was achieved: the former wealthy class and the intelligentsia found themselves in utter poverty. Thus the duped intelligentsia can be considered the main culprit responsible for the destruction of Russian state as they destroyed with their own hands, without being subjected to any external catastrophe, their ancestors’ heritage they seized.
6. In order to understand the level of prosperity Russia had reached over the past 20 years before the war one should turn to statistics: grain harvest increased from 1892 to 1913 by 78%, livestock number increased from 1896 to 1914 by 63.5%, coal mining increased by 300% from 1891 to 1914, oil mining increased by 65%. At the same time, the state budget made it possible to increase the allocation for public education by the Ministry of Education alone by 628% from 1894 to 1914, and the railway network increased in its length by 103% from 1895 to 1915.
7. As for my personal wealth, the information that came to me from time to time about my Penza estate gave a clear picture of its gradual destruction. This was not carried out without really silly incidents. The most characteristic of them was the following. The division of my property among the peasants was guided by a special committee of local residents. Earlier they usually elected the chairman from one of the engineers who had previously served on well-paid positions at my estate. This committee recognized the uselessness of fine-fleeced sheep breeding for the ‘workers and peasants state’ and decided to destroy the first-class sheep breeding (including about 5,000 heads). The next morning peasants pounced on the sheep shed and harmless animals. They stabbed some of the sheep and drove others to their own houses. On the same day one could see corpses of dead beat fine- fleeced sheep lying everywhere.
8. The hour is near when the truth will triumph and the personality of our queen will be cleansed from spiteful and deceitful slander … But the society that in the days of consciousness clouding had disgraced itself with slander of Russian crown wearer’s spouse, which is now completely disproved, that society will never be cleansed and justified in the eyes of future generations. <…> But what does not admit of doubt is that the personality of the tsar was not appreciated in full by his subjects and that only future generations, who hopefully will be able to preserve honor and dignity of great Russia, will understand the beauty of his moral portrait. Moreover, in the future all nations of the world will understand and appreciate historical significance of Tsar Nicholas II.
9. At the present time it is difficult to find an answer to the question why the mankind is reconciled with the greatest evil brought by Bolshevism just to avoid the restoration of the tsarism under which Russia reached its heyday.
10. Poetic talent of N.A. Nekrasov perpetuated remarkable feat of the wives of the Decembrist revolt participants, most of those belonging to the higher society. When they followed their husbands on the way to Siberia they met with support of a large number of different people including the governors. Whereas a hundred years later it never occurred to anybody to praise the spiritual beauty of Russian women of all strata suffered revolution.
12. The picture of Mother Russia today is a disappointing one as the country has been changed into socialist experimental plot. The oppressors of our Motherland who started with the destruction of the intelligentsia and bringing the country to ruin then turned to the remnants of capital in peasant hands. Having enlisted the support of “the rural poor”, who were actually just the very dregs of the population, they gradually drew farms in the so-called “collective farms”. What is more, in order to mask their main goal, which was the enslavement of peasant labor, they inculcated the idea of the superiority of socialized land usage over the individual one.
13. The thought that I was powerless in the fight against betrayal surrounding the throne and was not able to save the life of him who did only good to me and all Russian people is the cross that I will bear until the rest of my life.
Sources: Dvorzhansky AI, Zelov SV, Archpriest Vladimir Klyuev. The righteous will live by faith. Penza of martyrs who suffered for their faith in Christ. M .: New Solutions, 2014. pp 85-87; V.N. Voeikov. With and without the Tsar. Memories of the last commandant of the palace. Minsk, 2002.
