Aaron Isaakovich Zundelevich (, ; – 23 August 1923) was a

Jewish Russian :''This List of Jews contains individuals who, in accordance with Wikipedia's verifiability and no original research policies, have been identified as Jews by reliable sources.'' The following is a list of Jews born in the territory of the for ...

revolutionary

narodnik The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...

Biography

Zundelevich grew up in a lower middle class Jewish family in a small town in the Oshmyany

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

of the

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate (1795–1915; also known as Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate from 1801 until 1840; russian: Виленская губерния, ''Vilenskaya guberniya'', lt, Vilniaus gubernija, pl, gubernia wileńska) or Government of V ...

. He studied at the Vilna Rabbinical School until 1873, where he organized a revolutionary circle whose members included

Aaron Liebermann Aaron Samuel Liebermann (, ''Aharon Shmu'el Liberman''; 20 May 1845 – 18 November 1880), also known by his pen names Bar Drora and Daniel Ish Ḥamudot and later as Arthur Freeman, was a socialist author, Hebrew translator, and political es ...

and

Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), a ...

. Zundelevich later joined the

Circle of Tchaikovsky The Circle of Tchaikovsky, also known as Tchaikovtsy/Chaikovtsy (russian: Чайковцы), or the Grand Propaganda Society (russian: Большое общество пропаганды, ''Bolshoye obshchestvo propagandy'') was a Russian literar ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and, as a founding member of the

secret society A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

Land and Liberty, he advocated the use of terror as a means of political struggle. He fled to

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1875 under the threat of arrest, but soon returned to Russia illegally. On 30 June 1876, Zundelevich participated in the organization of

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

's escape from the Nikolaev Military Hospital. The following year, Zundelevich began to organize the import of illegal literature and printing equipment to

and organized a clandestine "free press" to spread

Narodnik The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. He joined the Russian revolutionary group

Narodnaya Volya Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an att ...

, soon becoming an elected member of its executive committee, responsible for relations with foreign groups and the dissemination of revolutionary publications. Zundelevich participated in the assassination by

Sergey Kravchinsky Sergey Mikhaylovich Stepnyak-Kravchinsky (russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Степня́к-Кравчи́нский; July 1, 1851 – 23 December 1895), known in the 19th century London revolutionary circles as Sergius Stepniak, was ...

of Nikolay Mezentsov on 4 August 1878 and the preparation of Alexander Soloviev's attempt on the life of Alexander II on 2 April 1879. Zundelevich was arrested in the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

on 28 October 1879 and sentenced in the October 1880

Trial of the Sixteen The Trial of the Sixteen ( pl, Proces szesnastu) was a staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Underground State held by the Soviet authorities in Moscow in 1945. All captives were kidnapped by the NKVD secret service and falsely accused of var ...

to indefinite hard labour. He was imprisoned in the

Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...

, and thereafter in the

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in Da ...

and

Akatuy Akatuy may refer to: * Akatuy (village), a village in Siberia (Борзинский район Читинской области), a place of the Akatuy katorga * Akatuy katorga of Russian Empire * Akatuy (festival), Akatuy, Chuvash festival of lan ...

katorga Katorga ( rus, ка́торга, p=ˈkatərɡə; from medieval and modern Greek: ''katergon, κάτεργον'', "galley") was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoner ...

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

s. He was released after the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

, and emigrated to England in 1907.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zundelevich, Aaron Isaakovich 1852 births 1923 deaths People from Smarhon’ District People from Oshmyansky Uyezd Jews from the Russian Empire Belarusian Jews Jewish prisoners and detainees Jewish socialists Lithuanian Jews Narodnaya Volya Narodniks Prisoners and detainees of Russia Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Belarusian emigrants to England Russian prisoners and detainees Siberian internees Vilna Rabbinical School alumni Prisoners of Shlisselburg fortress Prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress