Metadata: S. M. Ginzburg
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- The Plekhanov House
- Holding institution (official language):
- Дом Плеханова
- Postal address:
- 190005, St. Petersburg, ul. 4-ia Krasnoarmeiskaia, 1/33
- Phone number:
- (812) 316-74-11
- Web address:
- http://www.nlr.ru/coll/housePleh/
- Email:
- domplekh@nlr.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 1102
- Title:
- S. M. Ginzburg
- Title (official language):
- ГИНЗБУРГ С. М.
- Creator/accumulator:
- S. M. Ginzburg
- Date(s):
- 1879/1969
- Language:
- Russian
- French
- German
- Extent:
- 16 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains letters S. M. Ginzburg wrote to relatives from her preliminary imprisonment (to her mother P. A. Ginzburg, her sister E. M. Ginzburg, and her brother O. M. Ginzburg); her letters to L. S. Chernomordik; and reciprocal correspondence with various persons: P. A. Ginzburg and M. M. Chernomordik; P. A. Ginzburg and M. M. Dondukova-Korsakova; V. I. Semevskii and M. M. Chernomordik; a fragment of a letter from L. V. Freifel’d to S. L. Chernomordik; photographic portraits of S. M. Ginzburg; and a photocopy of a certificate of commendation conferred on her by the teachers’ council of the Kerch’ women’s secondary school [gimnaziia]. The letters are of a personal nature and contain information on S. M. Ginzburg’s life during her incarceration, on the Jewish life of her family, and other biographical data (1880s-90s). The fonds also contains the indictment of S. M. Ginzburg on charges of committing a state crime; along with L. Freifel’d and others, she was accused of being complicit in the activities of a secret society aiming “to overthrow the existing state order and social structure through a violent coup.” Also included are witness statements, according to which S. M. Ginzburg was involved in composing proclamations (1890); etc.
- Archival history:
- The Plekhanov House is a structural subdivision (department) of the National Library of Russia and constitutes a research centre for the study of the history of the Russian and international revolutionary and social movements, and the history of culture and education. The core of its fonds consists of the archive and library of Georgii Valentinovich Plekhanov (1856-1918), the philosopher, public commentator, and prominent figure in the revolutionary movement who was one of the founders of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDRP). In 1925 these materials were turned over to the Committee to Memorialize G. V. Plekhanov by his widow R. M. Plekhanova (nee Bograd) on the condition that they always be stored together as a unit. The grand opening of the Plekhanov House took place 11 June 1929 at the conference hall of the former Free Economic Society. In accordance with the conditions of the agreement between the committee and the State Public Library board, G. V. Plekhanov’s heritage had to be housed in a separate building with a particular staff; this became a standalone branch of the library. The library board accepted the proposed conditions, and by the spring of 1931 the construction and furnishing of the new building of the Plekhanov House were complete. For the final twenty years of her life R. M. Plekhanova served as director of the Plekhanov House and was involved in organising its fonds; along with her husband’s archive, these housed documents of members of the Liberation of Labor group and their comrades and fellow-thinkers, and numerous other materials. Simultaneously with the processing of the fonds in 1929-30, catalogues and card files began to be organised, including for the Plekhanov library; and materials connected with Plekhanov’s life and activities were collected. Analysis of Plekhanov’s archive, its scholarly inventorying and attribution, and the transcription of markings in it, is currently ongoing.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Sof’ia Mikhailovna Ginzburg (1863-91) was a revolutionary and member of the People’s Will organisation. In 1880 she converted to Russian Orthodoxy. Upon graduating from the Kerch’ secondary school [gimnaziia] in 1881, she began to take obstetrics courses, which she completed in 1884, when she also received her certificate for the title of domestic teacher. That same year she became involved in the revolutionary movement; she lived together with N. N. Sleptsova in an apartment that hosted meetings of the People’s Will’s combat group. Until 1885, she worked as a teacher in the village of Akimovka (Tavriia province). In March of that year, she went abroad, in Paris becoming acquainted with P. L. Lavrov and studying medicine. In 1888 she returned to Russia illegally and took an active part in Petersburg terrorist groups, then went abroad again, where along with Is. Dembo she took part in preparing explosives. In the autumn of 1888, she appeared once more in Russia, intending to revive the People’s Will organisation. In February 1889 she was tracked down by the police and arrested in St. Petersburg. She managed to get away by chance, and departed for Khar’kov, and then to Sevastopol’, where she joined a sewing workshop as a seamstress. Intending to go abroad, she hid at the Uspenskii monastery in Bakhchysarai. In May 1889, she was turned over to the police by the monastery’s abbot. In November 1890, she was sentenced to death, and her sentence was commuted to indefinite penal servitude. In December of that year she was brought to Shlisselburg, where in November 1891 she committed suicide.
- Access points: locations:
- Russia
- Subject terms:
- Correspondence
- Personal records
- Photographs
- Prisoners
- Revolutions
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds includes a single inventory systematised by structure, and in part alphabetically.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
