Nikifor Grigoriev
Encyclopedia
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) was a paramilitary leader noted for numerous switching of sides and anti-Semitism. He was commonly known as "Otaman Grigoriev", as "Matviy Hryhoriyiv", "Matvey Grigoriev", or "Mykola Grigoriev".
He is sometimes misrepresented as the Otaman of the "Green Army". His association with the Green Army became a sort of misnomer due to collaboration with the army of Otaman Zeleny (stands for Green in Russian and Ukrainian) which led a major movement on all fronts against Directoria, Bolsheviks, and Denikin's Army. Although he cooperated with Zeleny those collaborations were marginal and Grigoryev was later ousted by the leader of the Green Army.
Biography
The Otaman was born as Nychypir Servetnyk in a small village of Zastavlia (still stands today) of Novo-Ushytsia uyezd in the Podolia GovernoratePodolia Governorate
The Podolia Governorate or Government of Podolia, set up after the Second Partition of Poland, comprised a governorate of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1921, and of the Ukrainian SSR from 1921 to 1925.-Location:The Podolian Governorate...
. Servetnyk served in cavalry in the region of Kherson
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson. The area of the region is 29000 km², its population is 1.12 million.Important cities in the oblast include:...
and participated in Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
in the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
serving in the Trans-Baikal Host. After his discharge he served as a gendarme
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
in the town of Proskurov, Podolia Governorate
Podolia Governorate
The Podolia Governorate or Government of Podolia, set up after the Second Partition of Poland, comprised a governorate of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1921, and of the Ukrainian SSR from 1921 to 1925.-Location:The Podolian Governorate...
.
Servetnyk volunteered to the army with the outbreak of the First World War and was enlisted as a Praporshchik
Praporshchik
Praporshchik is a rank in the Russian military.-Imperial Russia:Praporshchik was originally a name of a junior commissioned officer rank in the military of the Russian Empire equivalent to ensign...
(see Rank structure
History of Russian military ranks
Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of Russian regular army in late 17th century.- Muscovy :The rulers of the...
) to the 56th Infantry Regiment in 1914. In course of war he was awarded the Cross of St. George
Cross of St. George
thumb|Original Cross of St. George.Ist and 2nd class were in gold.The Cross of St. George ', or simply the George's Cross, was, until 1913, officially known as the Sign of Distinction of the Military Order of St. George....
for bravery. Servetnyk eventually rose to the rank of Staff Captain in the 58th Prague Infantry Regiment (1917) and changed his surname to Grigoriev. During this period he became a member of Eser (Socialist-Revolutionary) Party. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, he supported the socialist-oriented Ukrainian Central Rada of the Ukrainian National Republic. He served in the reorganized National Army of Ukraine and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
.
Revolutionary period
In April 1918, he took part in the conservative coup d'etatCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
led by Hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi 3 May 1873, Wiesbaden, Germany – 26 April 1945, Metten monastery clinic, Bavaria, Germany) was a Ukrainian politician, earlier an aristocrat and decorated Imperial Russian Army general...
which earned him the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
. In summer of that year he revolted against the Hetman State and created his own insurgent army. He joined another revolt in November that year which was organized by Directoria
Directorate of Ukraine
The Directorate, or Directory was a provisional revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian National Republic, formed in 1918 by the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against Skoropadsky's regime....
. In December Grigoriev participated in the military campaign against the Russian forces of the South. During that campaign he took Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
, Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
, Ochakiv
Ochakiv
Ochakiv is a city in the Mykolaiv Oblast of southern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Ochakivsky Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on a peninsula in the Black Sea, at the entrance to the Dnieper Rivers's estuary,...
, Oleshki. Before capturing Mykolaiv he overran the forces of already defeated Hetmanate of 545 soldiers. He occupied Mykolaiv on December 13 and appointed himself the city commissioner struggling against the city council. Grigoriev was appointed a commander of the Ukrainian Kherson Division of the Southern group of Otaman Hrekov
Oleksander Hrekov
Oleksander Petrovych Hrekov was a general of the Imperial Russian Army, Ukrainian People's Army, military professor and one of the most prominent personalities in the History of Ukraine...
until January 29, 1919, later the 1st Trans-Dnipro Rifllemen Brigade (~6,000 men) of the 3rd Trans-Dnipro Riflemen Division. He was later forced out of those cities by the Entente forces (Greeks) (see The Entente intervention in Russia). During this time Otaman Hrekov
Oleksander Hrekov
Oleksander Petrovych Hrekov was a general of the Imperial Russian Army, Ukrainian People's Army, military professor and one of the most prominent personalities in the History of Ukraine...
participated in the negotiations with The Entente forces to ally against the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s. Grigoriev did not approve that and was especially upset when Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko - Biography :Vynnychenko was born in Yelisavetgrad , the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire in a family of peasants. His father Kyrylo Vasyliovych Vynnychenko earlier in his life was a peasant-serf has moved from a village to the city of Yelisavetgrad where...
was forced out of the office leading Petliura to head the Directoria
Directorate of Ukraine
The Directorate, or Directory was a provisional revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian National Republic, formed in 1918 by the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against Skoropadsky's regime....
Committee later on February 13. On January 29, 1919 Grigoriev sent a letter to the headquarters of the Zaporizhia Corps in Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
(a week after the arrest of Petro Bolbochan):
On January 25, 1919 Petliura ordered him and Otaman Huly-Hulenko to join the South-Eastern group against the Armed Forces of South Russia
Armed Forces of South Russia
The Armed Forces of South Russia was formed on the 8th of January 1919, it incorporated many of the smaller formations of the White army in that area under them, including the Volunteer Army ....
near Alexandrovsk
Zaporizhia
Zaporizhia or Zaporozhye [formerly Alexandrovsk ] is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast...
and Pavlohrad
Pavlohrad
Pavlohrad or Pavlograd is an indistrial city in eastern Ukraine, located within the Dnipropetrovs'ka oblast, and had a population of 118,800 in 2001. The rivers of Vovcha , Hnizdka , Kocherha flow through Pavlohrad. The area of the city is . There are 20 schools and 1 lyceum in the city.In 1930...
. Grigoriev decided to ignore that order. He had not intentions to fight against the White forces as well as the forces of Makhno who operated in the area and were in the opposition to the Direcotria. Since that time he systematically ignored all the orders that were coming from the Headquarters of the Ukrainian Army. The similar situation was taken place throughout the Ukrainian Armed Forces at that time. Otaman Osmolov sent him telegram to stop his disobedience. On January 30 Grigoiev sent a representative to the Yelizavetgrad revkom claiming to be the Chairman of the Soviet Emissaries. He also sent a telegram to the revkom of Alexandrovsk with an approval for the actions of the Soviet Bolshevik Left-SR government of the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
.
In the beginning of February 1919 Grigoriev attaked the Katerynoslav Kosh of Colonel Kotyk whom he captured as well. Later he sent a telegram to the Red Kharkiv informing that he caught the cat (implying to Colonel Kotyk). The Ukrainian Command immediately announced him outlaw warranting every citizen of the Republic to kill the deserter. On February 2 Blakytny-Ellansky arrived to Znamenka
Znamianka
Znamianka is a city in Kirovohrad Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 29,412 .The city has a special status within the oblast, the city of oblast subordination or an oblast municipality. As a municipality it combines the city of Znamianka, the town of Znamianka Druha, and the village of Vodyane. The...
to organize the Soviet Ukrainian National government with the help of Grigoriev, but later were telegraphing back to Moscow not to hurry with the coalition of the Otaman due to possible infidelity. Grigoriev, nonetheless, continued his attacks onto the Ukrainian armies and effectively stormed Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih or Krivoy Rog is a city in central Ukraine. It is situated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, to the southwest of the oblast's administrative center, Dnipropetrovsk, at the confluence of the Inhulets and Saksahan rivers...
and Yelizavetgrad causing the Republican forces to withdraw out of the Central Ukraine to Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
.
Allying with Bolsheviks
After the withdrawal of the Ukrainian forces out of Kiev, Otaman Grigoriev continued his negotiations with the BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s on February 18, 1919. Grigoriev together with his brigade became now part of the Red Army 1st Trans-Dnieper Riflemen Division (later expanded to the 6th Ukrainian Rifle Division), while Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
led his troops as another brigade of that division and Pavel Dybenko
Pavel Dybenko
Pavel Efimovich Dybenko was a Russian revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer.- Until the military service :...
who commanded the division was in charge of another brigade. He was still closely connected with the Socialist-Revolutionaries who had great influence over the rural population of the country. During that time he attacked the Askania-Nova
Askania-Nova
Askania-Nova is a biosphere reserve located in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, within the dry Taurida steppe near Oleshky Sands. The reserve consists of a zoological park, a botanical garden, and an open territory of virgin steppes....
preserve and started food requisitioning in the name of Revolution. The head of government of the Soviet Ukraine Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...
sent Grigoriev a note of protest in that regard. In short time, however, April 1919 the preserve would be nationalized. In March 1919 he took Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
where 4,000 Greek POWs were executed afterward. Later Grigoriev managed to take Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
and after a two-weeks battle on April 8 he occupied Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
forcing the Greek-French forces to withdraw. At first he was appointed the commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
of the city, but Bolsheviks subsequently protested the plunder of Odessa by Grigoriev's bands. In May, Grigoriev deserted the Red Army after being ordered to assault into the Romanian territories in order to provide military support for the Soviet Hungary and with his units captured the city of Yelisavetgrad (modern Kirovohrad
Kirovohrad
Kirovohrad , formerly Yelisavetgrad, is a city in central Ukraine. It is located on the Inhul River. It is a motorway junction. Pop. 239,400 ....
).
Grigoriev was known for his militant anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and his men carried out many pogroms against local Jews in the Yelisavetgrad
Kirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kirovohrad.-Geography:The area of the province is , its population is 1.1 million....
, Cherkasy
Cherkasy Oblast
Cherkasy Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Cherkasy).-Geography:...
and Kherson
Kherson Oblast
Kherson Oblast is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson. The area of the region is 29000 km², its population is 1.12 million.Important cities in the oblast include:...
regions, which he controlled in May and June 1919. According to the Encyclopedia Judaica,
Grigoriev's uprising was supported by some Ukrainian peasants who were outraged by the Bolshevik policy of "war communism
The ataman Grigoryev, who in May 1919 seceded from the Red Army with his men, was responsible for pogroms in 40 communities and the deaths of about 6,000 Jews in the summer of 1919.
War communism
War communism or military communism was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921...
" (including rural confiscation of food), and were also hostile to the White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
that was backed by land-owners.
Grigoriev and Makhno
In July 1919, after suffering heavy losses against Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
Grigoriev escaped to the areas controlled by Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
and offered to join the forces against "the reds and the whites". His proposition was accepted.
Makhno and the Black Army did not trust Grigoriev. After 3 weeks of common actions against Bolshevik forces, Grigoriev openly disagreed with Makhno during negotiations at Sentovo on July 27, 1919 (today it is a village of Rodynkivka, Oleksandriv Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kirovohrad.-Geography:The area of the province is , its population is 1.1 million....
). Grigoriev had been in contact with Denikin's emissaries, and was planning to join the White coalition. This was unacceptable to Makhno — he held a particular hatred of all monarchists and aristocrats since the time of his imprisonment. The White coalition (notably generals Shkuro and Krasnov
Krasnov
Krasnov is a Russian name.* Danny Krasnov , Israeli pole vaulter*Pyotr Krasnov Lieutenant-general and leading member of the White movement during the Russian Civil War....
) also shared Grigoriev's anti-Semitism, unacceptable to Makhno and his numerous Jewish aides. According to Peter Arshinov
Peter Arshinov
Peter Andreyevich Arshinov, also P. Marin , was a metal worker from Ukraine who in 1904, joined the Bolshevik Party and began to edit the paper Molot . In 1906, to escape the attention of the police, he fled to Ekaterinoslav...
, Makhno and staff decided to execute Grigoriev. Chubenko, a member of Makhno's staff, accused Grigoriev of collaborating with Denikin (According to Arshinov, Denikin's emissaries were captured and executed) and of inciting the pogroms. There are several accounts that give different circumstances of Grigoriev's death. Grigoriev threatened Chubenko and Makhno, drew his gun, and was shot and killed. The accounts of the event differ, and ascribe the final shot either to Chubenko, Makhno, or Makhno's wife Halyna Kuzmenko.