The philosophers' ships or philosopher's steamers () were

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s that transported intellectuals expelled from

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

in 1922. The main load was handled by two German ships, the ''Oberbürgermeister Haken'' and the ''Preussen'', which transported more than 200 expelled Russian intellectuals and their families in September and November 1922 from

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

(modern-day

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) to the seaport of

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(modern-day

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). Three detention lists included 228 people, 32 of them students. Later in 1922, other intellectuals were transported by train to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

or by ship from

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Among the expelled

* Vladimir Abrikosov * Yuly Aikhenvald *

Nikolai Berdyaev Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; ; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who emphasized the existentialism, existential spiritual significance of Pe ...

Alexander Bogolepov Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogolepov () (January 16, 1886 – August 31, 1980) was Russian American theologian and religious writer.Д.А.Баринов, Е.А.Ростовцев Biography Bogolepov was an expert in canon law and the history of the ...

* Boris Brutskus *

Sergei Bulgakov Sergei Nikolayevich Bulgakov (, ; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist. Orthodox writer and scholar David Bentley Hart has said that Bulgakov was "the greatest systematic theologian of the tw ...

Valentin Bulgakov Valentin Fyodorovich Bulgakov (; 25 November 1886 – 22 September 1966) was the last secretary of Leo Tolstoy and his biographer. He served as the director of several literary museums and actively participated in Tolstoyan and pacifist initia ...

Semyon Frank Semyon Lyudvigovich Frank (; 28 January 1877 – 10 December 1950) was a Russian philosopher. Born into a Jewish family, he became an Orthodox Christian in 1912. In 1922 he was expelled from Soviet Russia and lived in Berlin. In 1933 he was r ...

* Ivan Ilyin * (university lecturer/publisher; father of architect Anatol Kagan) * Lev Karsavin (the brother of ballerina

Tamara Karsavina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (; 9 March 1885 – 26 May 1978) was a Russian prima ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. After settling ...

; arrested again in 1940 and deported to a

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

in Komi, where he died in 1952) * * *

Nikolai Lossky Nikolay Onufriyevich Lossky (; – 24 January 1965), also known as N. O. Lossky, was a Russian philosopher, representative of Russian idealism, intuitionist epistemology, personalism, libertarianism, ethics and axiology (value theory). He gave h ...

* Mikhail Osorgin *

Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (; ; – 10 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist and political activist, who contributed to the social cycle theory. Sorokin was a professor at Saint Petersburg Imperial University, three times impris ...

(train) * Fyodor Stepun * * Boris Vysheslavtsev

Literature

*Catherine Baird. ''Revolution from Within: The Ymca in Russia’s Ascension to Freedom from Bolshevik Tyranny'', 2013, (with bio List of the Deported) *Lesley Chamberlain, ''Lenin's Private War: The Voyage of the Philosophy Steamer and the Exile of the Intelligentsia'', St Martin's Press, 2007; *V. G. Makarov, V. S. Khristoforov: «Passazhiry ‹filosofskogo parokhoda›. (Sud’by intelligencii, repressirovannoj letom-osen’ju 1922g.)». // ''Voprosy filosofii'' 7 (600) 2003, p. 113-137 ontains a list with biographical information on Russian intellectuals exiled 1922-1923 Forced migration in the Soviet Union 1922 in Russia Persecution of intellectuals in the Soviet Union Persecution of philosophers Soviet expellees White Russian emigration Russian philosophy Soviet war crimes in the Russian Civil War {{Russia-hist-stub