The Children of Lieutenant Schmidt (russian: Дети лейтенанта Шмидта), a fictional society of

swindlers A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan'' include ''sh ...

, appeared in the 1931 satirical novel '' The Little Golden Calf'' by

Ilf and Petrov Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg or russian: Илья Арнольдович Файнзильберг, 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev or russian: Евгений Петрович Катаев, 1902–194 ...

. They pose as children of

Lieutenant Schmidt Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt (russian: Пётр Петрович Шмидт; – ) was one of the leaders of the Sevastopol Uprising during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Early years Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt was born in 1867 in Odessa, Russian E ...

, a hero of the

Russian Revolution of 1905 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 ...

. The main antihero of the novel,

Ostap Bender Ostap Bender (russian: Остап Бендер; in ''The Twelve Chairs'' he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey, in ''The Little Golden Calf'' he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, in later novels he was also called Ostap Ibragimo ...

, befriends two hapless members of this society. The novel is set in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

(Russia, Ukraine and Turkestan) in the 1920s, and its premise is that at the time, numerous fake relatives of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Prince 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 activist ...

, and other revolutionary figures roam the country, tricking gullible Soviet officials into sponsoring them. Their numbers grow, and to prevent any unlucky chance of spoiling each other's attempts, they " unionize", with Schmidt's Children being the most difficult to organize. When the latter finally convene, "it turned out that Lieutenant Schmidt had thirty sons, from eighteen to fifty-two years in age, and four daughters, unattractive, and no longer young". They split Russia into 34 territories. Ostap Bender, being in difficult straits, decides to play the same game, but runs into another trickster (Shura Balaganov, who becomes his accomplice) right in front of a bureaucrat in a Soviet office. Bender manages to get out of the gaffe by emotionally greeting Shura as a long-lost brother. Later they meet yet another "sibling" – Mikhail Panikovsky (russian: Михаил Самуэлевич Паниковский), who is running for his life (he had ignored the convention, trespassed, and was caught red-handed by victims of yet another "brother").

Heritage

Since then, the expression "Children of Lieutenant Schmidt" has become a Russian cliché for various fraudulent enterprises and people who use false pretenses to get money, such as claiming to be a war veteran, a " Chernobyl liquidator", or a relative of the victim. A music band from

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, and the KVN team from

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

bear the name. A monument to two of the most famous of Schmidt's "sons" (Bender and Balaganov) was erected in Berdiansk in 2002. A statue of Panikovsky, carrying out his favorite trick of pretending to be a blind man, has been erected in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. The

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

n punk rock band

Vennaskond Vennaskond (Estonian for ''Brotherhood'') is an Estonian punk rock band founded in 1984. The band has toured in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Romania, Sweden, Germany, France, India, Poland and the United States (including CBGB). To show resp ...

entitled its first album (released in 1991, during the fall of the Soviet Union) ''"Ltn. Schmidti Pojad"'' ("The Sons Of Lieutenant Schmidt"). During repairs on the

Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge The Annunciation Bridge ( - ''Blagoveshchensky most''; from 1855 to 1918 Nikolaevsky Bridge, ; from 1918 to 2007 called Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, ) is the first permanent bridge built across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It connec ...

Saint 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 ...

in 2006, the builders erected a temporary bridge some meters above. The temporary construction was nicknamed "Son of Lieutenant Schmidt"."The 'Son of Lieutenant Schmidt' is Getting Ready"

References

{{reflist Russian humour Fictional con artists Fictional secret societies Confidence tricks Ilf and Petrov