Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (russian: Влади́мир Дми́триевич Набо́ков; 21 July O.S._8_July.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>

O.S._8_July">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._8_July1870_–_28_March_1922)_was_a_Russian_criminology.html" "title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 July">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 July1870 – 28 March 1922) was a Russian criminology">criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

, journalist, and progressive statesman during the last years of the Russian Empire. He was the father of Russian-American author

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

Early life

Nabokov was born in Tsarskoe Selo, into a wealthy and aristocratic family. His father Dmitry Nabokov (1827–1904) was a List of Justice Ministers of Imperial Russia, Justice Minister in the reign of Alexander II from 1878 to 1885, and his mother Maria von Korff (1842–1926) was a

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

ess from a prominent

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

family in

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

. He studied criminal law at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a de ...

and taught criminology at the

Imperial School of Jurisprudence The Imperial School of Jurisprudence (Russian: Императорское училище правоведения) was, along with the Page Corps, a school for boys in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. The school for would-be ...

. Nabokov married Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikova in 1897 with whom he had five children. Their eldest son was the writer and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, who portrayed his father in his memoirs (''

Speak, Memory ''Speak, Memory'' is an autobiographical memoir by writer Vladimir Nabokov. The book includes individual essays published between 1936 and 1951 to create the first edition in 1951. Nabokov's revised and extended edition appeared in 1966. Scop ...

'', 1967) and included in his novel ''

Pale Fire ''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic col ...

'' a scene of misdirected assassination evoking the death of his father. Other children were Sergey (1900–1945), Kirill (1911–1964), Elena (1906–2000) and Olga (1903–1978), who was a childhood friend of novelist

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

Career

From 1904 until 1917 he was the editor of the liberal newspaper ''

Rech Rech may refer to: People * Almine Rech, French art dealer * Anthony Rech (born 1992), French ice hockey player * Bianca Rech (born 1981), German football player * Erich Rech, Iron Cross recipient * Fernando Rech Fernando Rech (born March 13 ...

'' ("The Speech"). A prominent member of the

Constitutional Democratic Party ) , newspaper = ''Rech'' , ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism , position = Centre to centre-left , international = , colours ...

(CD, the "Kadets"), Nabokov was elected to Russia's parliament, the

First Duma The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the Governing Senate in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It convened four times ...

. He was regarded as the most outspoken defender of Jewish rights in the Russian Empire, continuing in a family tradition that had been led by his own father, Dmitry Nabokov, who as Justice Minister under Tsar Alexander II successfully opposed anti-semitic measures being passed in the government. He was also a passionate opponent of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. He was identified with the party's "center" and in favor of working with left-wing parties during the First State Duma and again during Russia's second revolutionary period. In 1917, after the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

, Nabokov helped draft the document for Grand Duke Michael's refusal of the throne. Nabokov was made secretary to the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

; however, he was forced to leave St. Petersburg in December 1917 after the Provisional Government was overthrown by the

Bolshevik revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...

. In 1918 he served as minister of justice in the

Crimean Regional Government Crimean Regional Government (russian: Крымское краевое правительство ''Krymskoe kraevoe pravitel'stvo'') refers to two successive short-lived regimes in the Crimean Peninsula during 1918 and 1919. History Following Ru ...

, where he and his family had taken refuge. In 1919 the Nabokovs fled to England and later settled in

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 ...

. From 1920 until his death, Nabokov was the editor of the Russian

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...

newspaper ''Rul'' ("The Rudder"), which continued to advocate a pro-Western democratic government in Russia.

Death

Nabokov attended a CD political conference in

on 28 March 1922. During the proceedings,

Pyotr Shabelsky-Bork Pyotr Nikolayevich Shabelsky-Bork (russian: Пётр Николаевич Шабельский-Борк, 5 May 1893 – 18 August 1952) was a Russian officer and writer, active in far-right and anti-Semitic politics in early 20th-century Europe ...

and

Sergey Taboritsky Sergey Vladimirovich Taboritsky (russian: Сергей Владимирович Таборицкий; 12 August 1897 – 16 October 1980) was a Russian ultranationalist and monarchist. From 1936 to 1945, he was the deputy of the Bureau for the Ru ...

approached the stage singing the Tsarist national anthem and then opened fire on liberal politician and publisher

Pavel Milyukov Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov ( rus, Па́вел Никола́евич Милюко́в, p=mʲɪlʲʊˈkof; 31 March 1943) was a Russian historian and liberal politician. Milyukov was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the Con ...

. In response, Nabokov jumped off the stage and wrestled the gunman down to the floor. Taboritsky then shot Nabokov twice, killing him instantly. The assailants failed even to wound their intended target Milyukov. The assassins were subsequently convicted of the murder and sentenced to a 14-year prison term, but served only a fraction. The German judicial system was more lenient with right-wing criminals than with their leftist counterparts. Upon his release, Shabelsky-Bork befriended

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...

, the notorious

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

ideologue. Nabokov is buried at the

Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery The Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery (german: Russischer Friedhof Berlin-Tegel) is the only Russian Orthodox burial ground in Berlin. It is located on Witte street in the Tegel locality of the Reinickendorf borough. It is owned and operated ...

Personal life

Nabokov was an active member of the irregular

freemasonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia’s Peoples.

Sources

* Brian Boyd: ''Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years'' *

: ''

'' - especially Chapter 9

References

External links

*
Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov
at Dieter E. Zimmer's Nabokov Family Web {{DEFAULTSORT:Nabokov, Vladimir Dmitrievich 1870 births 1922 deaths People from Pushkin, Saint Petersburg People from Tsarskoselsky Uyezd Russian Freemasons Vladimir Nabokov People from the Russian Empire of Tatar descent Baltic German people from the Russian Empire Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Russian Constituent Assembly members Members of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples Imperial School of Jurisprudence alumni White Russian emigrants to Germany People murdered in Berlin Deaths by firearm in Germany Russian nobility 1922 murders in Germany 1920s murders in Berlin