"Kill me, how you killed my country!"
French President Paul Doumer 6 May 1932 of the year decided to attend a charity book fair for veterans of the First World War in Paris. By the time of his arrival in the mansion of Solomon Rothschild all the creative intelligentsia had already gathered. Suddenly, a man ran up to the president and shot him several times.
Kill the President
For the French president, World War I was not just an upside down page. stories. In that bloody confrontation his four sons died. Therefore, Doumer tried with all his might to support the memory of those terrible years in the country, which is why he agreed to attend the opening ceremony of the fair. Suddenly a man approached him, got weapon and shot several times. After that, the criminal tried to escape, but the guards and visitors of the fair managed to detain him. When the murderer was twisted, he suddenly shouted: “Violet will win the car!”.
The president was urgently taken to the hospital. When the doctors performed the operation, Doumer woke up and asked: “What happened to me?”. The real reason was not given to him, saying that he had got into an accident. The president, of course, was surprised: "Wow, I did not even notice." After these words, he lost consciousness. And he soon died.
As for the murderer, his identity was identified during the search - helped by the political declaration “Memoirs of Doctor Pavel Gorgulov, the supreme chairman of the political party of the Russian fascists who killed the president of the republic”. So it became clear his political path. It remained to learn the motives of the crime ...
Portrait of a murderer
Pavel Timofeevich Gorgulov called himself a native of the Cossack family. He was born 29 June 1895, in the village of Labinskaya, which is in the Kuban.
In 1913, Gorgulov graduated from the Ekaterinodar military medical assistant school, after which he moved to Moscow. And when World War I began, he went to the front, where he was wounded. At the time of the split, the country took the side of the whites. According to Pavel Timofeevich himself, during the Civil War he fought with the Bolsheviks in the Crimea and in his native Kuban. And when he realized that the Reds could not be defeated, he decided to flee abroad. First settled in Prague, where he continued his medical education. At the same time, Gorgulov began to reveal his abilities in literature. And although he was in a semi-legal position in Prague, he managed to achieve serious success in this field. But most importantly, Pavel Timofeevich decided that he needed to kill the president of the Czechoslovak Republic, Tomas Masaryk. Surprisingly, the local authorities knew nothing about the plans of the Russian émigré. But gradually, facts about his medical activities began to emerge - Gorgulov practiced underground abortions. When they were seriously interested in the guards, Pavel decided not to play with fire and lie down on the bottom. As the last he chose Paris.
It happened at the end of the 20s. Once in France, Gorgulov told the authorities that he wanted to become a soldier of the Foreign Legion. But that was the end of it. He continued to lead his old life: he “tortured” the paper, engaged in abortions, and dreamed of creating a new Russian political party. However, the life of the marginal did not prevent him from marrying a Swiss Anne-Maria Geng in 1931 year. This marriage was very beneficial for the emigrant, because the spouse belonged to a fairly wealthy family.
Thanks to Anna-Maria and her own character, Pavel Timofeevich did not get lost in the disparate emigre circles of Paris. He entered the society of young writers and, taking the pseudonym Pavel Brad, published a collection called The Secret of the Life of the Scythians. This is what the book says: “I am Russian. And everything that comes from the Russian, certainly smells like audacity: how - politics, how - free-thinking, criticism and all that jazz ... Because ... The people we are Scythian, Russian. The people we are strong and bold. We want to turn the light. Yes, sir. Like an old barrel. And who will sit under the barrel? Ah, lovely! I do not know. And therefore - I finish. And at parting, I just add my tiny little dictum: "But still - the violet will win the car!"
But much more strongly than the stories and poems of Gorgulov were interested in politics. And in 1931, he published the booklet “National Peasant” in French. In her emigrant argued that the head of state should be the national and military-political party "green". Plus tough discipline and control. Actually, Gorgulov directly stated that the German principle of the Fuehre is perfect. According to Gorgulov, it was from the members of the party that it was necessary to form the government, the police, and the army. Then, after some time, it was necessary to elect a president - “by no means a communist, not a socialist, not a monarchist, not a Jew, not a foreigner, not a foreigner, and not a woman”. Well, all young peasants (only Orthodox) necessarily join the party. He defined socialism, monarchism and large-scale capitalism as the main enemies of the system. In the 18 section, the phrase “Russia for Russians” was written. By the way, by the Bolshevik system, Gorgulov meant the power of the Jews, therefore in his “ideal world” they were assigned an insignificant role. Also in the brochure it was said that Russia could be liberated from the Bolsheviks only with the help of external intervention.
These ideas, of course, found a response in many emigre hearts, who timidly hoped to turn the tide of history. And with the help of caring supporters, Gorgulov soon began to publish the newspaper Nabat.
President's death
Gorgulov managed to get an invitation card addressed to "veteran writer Paul Breda". And 6 May 1932 of the year easily ended up at a book fair. And so began the opening ceremony, which was headed by the goal of the emigrant - the elderly president of France. Prior to that, Gorgulov managed to approach the writers Andre Maurois and Claude Farrer (by the way, he later wounds him). He bought a book from Farrer and got an autograph. At about 15: 00, Pavel Timofeevich separated from the crowd of visitors to the exhibition and headed for the president. Going as close as possible, he grabbed the Browning 6,35 and pulled the trigger several times. Gorgulov hit Doumer twice. One bullet landed in the right shoulder blade, the second - in the base of the skull. After a moment, the crowd disarmed the killer, but it was too late. While he was being beaten, Gorgulov shouted something incoherent about "violet" and "car".
During the search, Pavel Timofeevich seized the “memoirs” mentioned above, a spare pistol, ampoules with poisonous salt liquor, an improvised banner of the All-Russian People’s Peasant (Agricultural) Party of “Greens” and newspaper clippings telling about working trips and visits of the President.
During the interrogation, Gorgulov behaved arrogantly, arrogantly and inadequately. He insisted that he belonged to the “green fascist party” and tried to turn the ideals of the white emigration scattered throughout the world into reality. Pavel also said that the plan to kill the president, and then its implementation, belong only to him. And he had no assistants. Then came the story of the revenge of France for refusing the anti-Bolshevik intervention of the Soviet Union, thus, by its indifference it doomed Russia to death. And in the records found during the search, the law enforcement officers saw a carefully thought-out plan for an armed invasion of the USSR, as well as numerous political texts in which Gorgulov called for dealing with the Bolsheviks. Therefore, initially he was considered an insane fanatic who could not accept the appearance of red Russia. And Gorgulov, as if, specially (and maybe he really suffered from a mental illness) tried to play on it. He called himself a “green dictator,” raved about flying to the moon, and also admitted that he had a list of potential victims. In addition to Doumer, it included Masarik, Dumerg (former president of France), Dovgalevsky (plenipotentiary of the USSR in France), and Lenin. And Pavel Timofeevich was not embarrassed by the fact that Vladimir Ilyich died in the 1924 year.
Reasons for the murder
Of course, the guards of the order first tried to find out from Gorgulov the reason that pushed him to kill the leader of a foreign country. He started a conversation about the revenge of France, which did not invade the USSR. But the words of the criminal were not particularly believed, but despite this, journalists eagerly accepted this version. Especially imbued with the Soviet media, began to argue about a certain White Guard conspiracy. But nevertheless, the death of the president was overgrown with lightning speed by many versions and theories.
For example, Russian emigrants who belonged to the white movement, as soon as possible renounced Gorgulov. They had no need to spoil relations with France, even a hint at some conspiracy. And in order to completely avert suspicion from themselves, the leaders of the emigre movement began to unequivocally hint that Gorgulov was a secret agent of the OGPU. At the same time, nobody thought about expediency. The main thing is how to quickly put forward any theory in order to avert suspicion from itself. In fact, the USSR had no reason to participate in this game. Doumer was loyal to the Soviet Union, so his death would hardly have become a bargaining chip in an attempt to discredit former supporters of the white movement.
The right-wing forces of France exposed Gorgulov as a “neo-Bolshevik terrorist”, and Benito Mussolini said that the “Russian fascist” has nothing to do with the Italian ones. Italy at that time needed a friendship with France, therefore this version soon disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Russian emigration was in a panic. In the elite circles, rumors began to circulate that the French intend either to expel all former whites, or to toughen their attitude towards them. After all, no one has repealed xenophobia. But nothing like this happened. However, there were several anti-Russian and generally anti-immigrant speeches. And they were held at all levels: in the people, the press and parliament. The French simply could not compare Gorgulov with Jacques Clement and Ravallak.
To mitigate the situation helped the leaders of the Russian emigration. Each of them sent a letter of condolences to Doumer's widow, as well as to the government. Metropolitan Eulogius in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral served a memorial service for "Paul Dumera." Representatives of the Russian All-Military Union and other military organizations took part in it. A former officer, Sergei Dmitriev, leaving a suicide note, "I'm dying for France," jumped out the window.
The Soviet Union did not stay aside. Gorgulov was called the "embittered White Guard" who wished to incite the USSR and France against each other. And the death of Doumer was dubbed "the new Sarajevo murder." Dovgalevsky, of course, expressed condolences and that "murder was received with indignation throughout the Soviet Union."
The theory was put forward that the murder of Gorgulov inspired the book of Jacques Lovich (according to one of the versions, he is the son of a Marxist Lev Deutsch) “The Storm over Europe”. In the story, a white emigrant, provoked by the Bolsheviks, murdered the French president. Because of this, the French-Soviet war began, with Germany taking the side of the communists. And soon this united army captured Paris. True, this version is considered unrealistic by many.
In general, despite the tense situation, somehow the country and numerous emigrants managed to survive the tragedy.
Trial and execution
The trial of Gorgulov lasted from 25 to July 27. During the meetings, Pavel Timofeevich behaved aggressively and inadequately. This performance in favor of the accused was attempted by his lawyers, emphasizing the insanity of his client. Here are just a medical examination carried out before the process, found just the opposite. Therefore, the focus failed. Galina Kuznetsova, a Russian poetess and writer who was on trial, made the following entry: “One of the expert doctors said at the trial:“ The impression of a madman from a defendant is explained by his nationality. ” And the prosecutor Charles Dona-Gig called the criminal a “wild beast” and “Rasputin of Russian refugees”. By the way, among the media representatives, the meeting was a journalist Mikhail Koltsov, who had flown in from Moscow. Also there was a man from the Gorgulov list - the Soviet envoy Dovgalevsky.
Pavel Timofeevich delivered a speech in French, which stretched out for 40 minutes. He did not say anything new. In all the troubles of Russia, the criminal has blamed France, and he committed the assassination of the president allegedly in the name of justice. Since the problem of the Russian people, who suffered under the yoke of the Bolsheviks, was all to spit. Gorgulov also said that with his soul he was not with the king, who "betrayed the country", but with Kerensky. And at the end of the speech he shouted: “Kill me, how you killed my country! You will perish in a global catastrophe! ”
The meeting was attended by a Russian writer, journalist, translator and public figure Ilya Ehrenburg. This is how he described the reaction of the president’s assassin to the verdict: “Gorgulov was tall, strong; when he shouted confused, inconsistent curses in incomprehensible French, the jury, in appearance, notaries, shopkeepers, rentiers, hesitated in fright ... I remember the terrible picture. At night, in the dim light of dusty chandeliers, the courtroom looked like a theatrical production: the ceremonial attire of the judges, the black togas of the lawyers, the face of the defendant, greenish, dead, everything seemed unnatural. The judge announced the verdict. Gorgulov jumped up, pulled the collar off his neck, as if he was in a hurry to put his head under the guillotine knife, and shouted: "France refused me a residence permit!"
True, there are several versions concerning the words of Pavel Timofeevich. For example, Time magazine wrote: “I am dying a hero for myself and my friends! Long live France, long live Russia, I will love you until death! ”
Of course, the court found Gorgunov guilty and sentenced to death. 20 August The Court of Cassation dismissed counsel for clemency. In their complaints, the lawyers tried to point out a violation of the law and the Constitution, since the murder should not be considered political. The lawyers demanded not to apply the article about “insulting the majesty”, which existed in the criminal code under Napoleon III. Supported the offender and the International League for Human Rights, argued that Gorgulov was insane. But the successor to the late President Albert Lebrun rejected these pardons.
And 14 September 1932, Gorgulov executed Paris executioner Anatoly Deibler. The guillotine was installed on Arago Boulevard near the prison of Santa, where about 3 thousands of spectators gathered. Before the execution of the sentence, the Orthodox priest spoke with the criminal. Gorgulov told him that he was devoted to the Russian peasantry and asked him to tell his wife that he was asking for forgiveness. Pavel Timofeevich also hoped that his child would not become a communist when he grew up and added: “I am not angry with France, I didn’t want to do anything against her.”
According to the French custom, the National Guard saluted before being sentenced to death. Well, after the body of the deceased in a zinc coffin was buried in a temporary grave at the cemetery of Ivry-sur-Seine. And on September 28, he was reburied in the Tje cemetery, which is in a suburb of Paris (the grave has not survived to this day).
In 2003, the executioner's diary was published, in which there was a place for the execution of Gorgulov. Deibler wrote that Pavel Timofeevich "showed a certain courage, confining himself to the words" oh! Sainte Russie! ”
* * *
After all, 4 of the day after Gorgulov's death in faraway France, his closest relatives — his mother and aunt — were arrested in his home in Kuban for embezzling collective farm property. "For the spikelets," as they said. What happened to them in the future is unknown. According to some information, the mother of the murderer of the French president was still shot.
Kill the President
For the French president, World War I was not just an upside down page. stories. In that bloody confrontation his four sons died. Therefore, Doumer tried with all his might to support the memory of those terrible years in the country, which is why he agreed to attend the opening ceremony of the fair. Suddenly a man approached him, got weapon and shot several times. After that, the criminal tried to escape, but the guards and visitors of the fair managed to detain him. When the murderer was twisted, he suddenly shouted: “Violet will win the car!”.
The president was urgently taken to the hospital. When the doctors performed the operation, Doumer woke up and asked: “What happened to me?”. The real reason was not given to him, saying that he had got into an accident. The president, of course, was surprised: "Wow, I did not even notice." After these words, he lost consciousness. And he soon died.
As for the murderer, his identity was identified during the search - helped by the political declaration “Memoirs of Doctor Pavel Gorgulov, the supreme chairman of the political party of the Russian fascists who killed the president of the republic”. So it became clear his political path. It remained to learn the motives of the crime ...
Portrait of a murderer
Pavel Timofeevich Gorgulov called himself a native of the Cossack family. He was born 29 June 1895, in the village of Labinskaya, which is in the Kuban.
In 1913, Gorgulov graduated from the Ekaterinodar military medical assistant school, after which he moved to Moscow. And when World War I began, he went to the front, where he was wounded. At the time of the split, the country took the side of the whites. According to Pavel Timofeevich himself, during the Civil War he fought with the Bolsheviks in the Crimea and in his native Kuban. And when he realized that the Reds could not be defeated, he decided to flee abroad. First settled in Prague, where he continued his medical education. At the same time, Gorgulov began to reveal his abilities in literature. And although he was in a semi-legal position in Prague, he managed to achieve serious success in this field. But most importantly, Pavel Timofeevich decided that he needed to kill the president of the Czechoslovak Republic, Tomas Masaryk. Surprisingly, the local authorities knew nothing about the plans of the Russian émigré. But gradually, facts about his medical activities began to emerge - Gorgulov practiced underground abortions. When they were seriously interested in the guards, Pavel decided not to play with fire and lie down on the bottom. As the last he chose Paris.
It happened at the end of the 20s. Once in France, Gorgulov told the authorities that he wanted to become a soldier of the Foreign Legion. But that was the end of it. He continued to lead his old life: he “tortured” the paper, engaged in abortions, and dreamed of creating a new Russian political party. However, the life of the marginal did not prevent him from marrying a Swiss Anne-Maria Geng in 1931 year. This marriage was very beneficial for the emigrant, because the spouse belonged to a fairly wealthy family.
Thanks to Anna-Maria and her own character, Pavel Timofeevich did not get lost in the disparate emigre circles of Paris. He entered the society of young writers and, taking the pseudonym Pavel Brad, published a collection called The Secret of the Life of the Scythians. This is what the book says: “I am Russian. And everything that comes from the Russian, certainly smells like audacity: how - politics, how - free-thinking, criticism and all that jazz ... Because ... The people we are Scythian, Russian. The people we are strong and bold. We want to turn the light. Yes, sir. Like an old barrel. And who will sit under the barrel? Ah, lovely! I do not know. And therefore - I finish. And at parting, I just add my tiny little dictum: "But still - the violet will win the car!"
But much more strongly than the stories and poems of Gorgulov were interested in politics. And in 1931, he published the booklet “National Peasant” in French. In her emigrant argued that the head of state should be the national and military-political party "green". Plus tough discipline and control. Actually, Gorgulov directly stated that the German principle of the Fuehre is perfect. According to Gorgulov, it was from the members of the party that it was necessary to form the government, the police, and the army. Then, after some time, it was necessary to elect a president - “by no means a communist, not a socialist, not a monarchist, not a Jew, not a foreigner, not a foreigner, and not a woman”. Well, all young peasants (only Orthodox) necessarily join the party. He defined socialism, monarchism and large-scale capitalism as the main enemies of the system. In the 18 section, the phrase “Russia for Russians” was written. By the way, by the Bolshevik system, Gorgulov meant the power of the Jews, therefore in his “ideal world” they were assigned an insignificant role. Also in the brochure it was said that Russia could be liberated from the Bolsheviks only with the help of external intervention.
These ideas, of course, found a response in many emigre hearts, who timidly hoped to turn the tide of history. And with the help of caring supporters, Gorgulov soon began to publish the newspaper Nabat.
President's death
Gorgulov managed to get an invitation card addressed to "veteran writer Paul Breda". And 6 May 1932 of the year easily ended up at a book fair. And so began the opening ceremony, which was headed by the goal of the emigrant - the elderly president of France. Prior to that, Gorgulov managed to approach the writers Andre Maurois and Claude Farrer (by the way, he later wounds him). He bought a book from Farrer and got an autograph. At about 15: 00, Pavel Timofeevich separated from the crowd of visitors to the exhibition and headed for the president. Going as close as possible, he grabbed the Browning 6,35 and pulled the trigger several times. Gorgulov hit Doumer twice. One bullet landed in the right shoulder blade, the second - in the base of the skull. After a moment, the crowd disarmed the killer, but it was too late. While he was being beaten, Gorgulov shouted something incoherent about "violet" and "car".
During the search, Pavel Timofeevich seized the “memoirs” mentioned above, a spare pistol, ampoules with poisonous salt liquor, an improvised banner of the All-Russian People’s Peasant (Agricultural) Party of “Greens” and newspaper clippings telling about working trips and visits of the President.
During the interrogation, Gorgulov behaved arrogantly, arrogantly and inadequately. He insisted that he belonged to the “green fascist party” and tried to turn the ideals of the white emigration scattered throughout the world into reality. Pavel also said that the plan to kill the president, and then its implementation, belong only to him. And he had no assistants. Then came the story of the revenge of France for refusing the anti-Bolshevik intervention of the Soviet Union, thus, by its indifference it doomed Russia to death. And in the records found during the search, the law enforcement officers saw a carefully thought-out plan for an armed invasion of the USSR, as well as numerous political texts in which Gorgulov called for dealing with the Bolsheviks. Therefore, initially he was considered an insane fanatic who could not accept the appearance of red Russia. And Gorgulov, as if, specially (and maybe he really suffered from a mental illness) tried to play on it. He called himself a “green dictator,” raved about flying to the moon, and also admitted that he had a list of potential victims. In addition to Doumer, it included Masarik, Dumerg (former president of France), Dovgalevsky (plenipotentiary of the USSR in France), and Lenin. And Pavel Timofeevich was not embarrassed by the fact that Vladimir Ilyich died in the 1924 year.
Reasons for the murder
Of course, the guards of the order first tried to find out from Gorgulov the reason that pushed him to kill the leader of a foreign country. He started a conversation about the revenge of France, which did not invade the USSR. But the words of the criminal were not particularly believed, but despite this, journalists eagerly accepted this version. Especially imbued with the Soviet media, began to argue about a certain White Guard conspiracy. But nevertheless, the death of the president was overgrown with lightning speed by many versions and theories.
For example, Russian emigrants who belonged to the white movement, as soon as possible renounced Gorgulov. They had no need to spoil relations with France, even a hint at some conspiracy. And in order to completely avert suspicion from themselves, the leaders of the emigre movement began to unequivocally hint that Gorgulov was a secret agent of the OGPU. At the same time, nobody thought about expediency. The main thing is how to quickly put forward any theory in order to avert suspicion from itself. In fact, the USSR had no reason to participate in this game. Doumer was loyal to the Soviet Union, so his death would hardly have become a bargaining chip in an attempt to discredit former supporters of the white movement.
The right-wing forces of France exposed Gorgulov as a “neo-Bolshevik terrorist”, and Benito Mussolini said that the “Russian fascist” has nothing to do with the Italian ones. Italy at that time needed a friendship with France, therefore this version soon disappeared.
Meanwhile, the Russian emigration was in a panic. In the elite circles, rumors began to circulate that the French intend either to expel all former whites, or to toughen their attitude towards them. After all, no one has repealed xenophobia. But nothing like this happened. However, there were several anti-Russian and generally anti-immigrant speeches. And they were held at all levels: in the people, the press and parliament. The French simply could not compare Gorgulov with Jacques Clement and Ravallak.
To mitigate the situation helped the leaders of the Russian emigration. Each of them sent a letter of condolences to Doumer's widow, as well as to the government. Metropolitan Eulogius in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral served a memorial service for "Paul Dumera." Representatives of the Russian All-Military Union and other military organizations took part in it. A former officer, Sergei Dmitriev, leaving a suicide note, "I'm dying for France," jumped out the window.
The Soviet Union did not stay aside. Gorgulov was called the "embittered White Guard" who wished to incite the USSR and France against each other. And the death of Doumer was dubbed "the new Sarajevo murder." Dovgalevsky, of course, expressed condolences and that "murder was received with indignation throughout the Soviet Union."
The theory was put forward that the murder of Gorgulov inspired the book of Jacques Lovich (according to one of the versions, he is the son of a Marxist Lev Deutsch) “The Storm over Europe”. In the story, a white emigrant, provoked by the Bolsheviks, murdered the French president. Because of this, the French-Soviet war began, with Germany taking the side of the communists. And soon this united army captured Paris. True, this version is considered unrealistic by many.
In general, despite the tense situation, somehow the country and numerous emigrants managed to survive the tragedy.
Trial and execution
The trial of Gorgulov lasted from 25 to July 27. During the meetings, Pavel Timofeevich behaved aggressively and inadequately. This performance in favor of the accused was attempted by his lawyers, emphasizing the insanity of his client. Here are just a medical examination carried out before the process, found just the opposite. Therefore, the focus failed. Galina Kuznetsova, a Russian poetess and writer who was on trial, made the following entry: “One of the expert doctors said at the trial:“ The impression of a madman from a defendant is explained by his nationality. ” And the prosecutor Charles Dona-Gig called the criminal a “wild beast” and “Rasputin of Russian refugees”. By the way, among the media representatives, the meeting was a journalist Mikhail Koltsov, who had flown in from Moscow. Also there was a man from the Gorgulov list - the Soviet envoy Dovgalevsky.
Pavel Timofeevich delivered a speech in French, which stretched out for 40 minutes. He did not say anything new. In all the troubles of Russia, the criminal has blamed France, and he committed the assassination of the president allegedly in the name of justice. Since the problem of the Russian people, who suffered under the yoke of the Bolsheviks, was all to spit. Gorgulov also said that with his soul he was not with the king, who "betrayed the country", but with Kerensky. And at the end of the speech he shouted: “Kill me, how you killed my country! You will perish in a global catastrophe! ”
The meeting was attended by a Russian writer, journalist, translator and public figure Ilya Ehrenburg. This is how he described the reaction of the president’s assassin to the verdict: “Gorgulov was tall, strong; when he shouted confused, inconsistent curses in incomprehensible French, the jury, in appearance, notaries, shopkeepers, rentiers, hesitated in fright ... I remember the terrible picture. At night, in the dim light of dusty chandeliers, the courtroom looked like a theatrical production: the ceremonial attire of the judges, the black togas of the lawyers, the face of the defendant, greenish, dead, everything seemed unnatural. The judge announced the verdict. Gorgulov jumped up, pulled the collar off his neck, as if he was in a hurry to put his head under the guillotine knife, and shouted: "France refused me a residence permit!"
True, there are several versions concerning the words of Pavel Timofeevich. For example, Time magazine wrote: “I am dying a hero for myself and my friends! Long live France, long live Russia, I will love you until death! ”
Of course, the court found Gorgunov guilty and sentenced to death. 20 August The Court of Cassation dismissed counsel for clemency. In their complaints, the lawyers tried to point out a violation of the law and the Constitution, since the murder should not be considered political. The lawyers demanded not to apply the article about “insulting the majesty”, which existed in the criminal code under Napoleon III. Supported the offender and the International League for Human Rights, argued that Gorgulov was insane. But the successor to the late President Albert Lebrun rejected these pardons.
And 14 September 1932, Gorgulov executed Paris executioner Anatoly Deibler. The guillotine was installed on Arago Boulevard near the prison of Santa, where about 3 thousands of spectators gathered. Before the execution of the sentence, the Orthodox priest spoke with the criminal. Gorgulov told him that he was devoted to the Russian peasantry and asked him to tell his wife that he was asking for forgiveness. Pavel Timofeevich also hoped that his child would not become a communist when he grew up and added: “I am not angry with France, I didn’t want to do anything against her.”
According to the French custom, the National Guard saluted before being sentenced to death. Well, after the body of the deceased in a zinc coffin was buried in a temporary grave at the cemetery of Ivry-sur-Seine. And on September 28, he was reburied in the Tje cemetery, which is in a suburb of Paris (the grave has not survived to this day).
In 2003, the executioner's diary was published, in which there was a place for the execution of Gorgulov. Deibler wrote that Pavel Timofeevich "showed a certain courage, confining himself to the words" oh! Sainte Russie! ”
* * *
After all, 4 of the day after Gorgulov's death in faraway France, his closest relatives — his mother and aunt — were arrested in his home in Kuban for embezzling collective farm property. "For the spikelets," as they said. What happened to them in the future is unknown. According to some information, the mother of the murderer of the French president was still shot.
Information