Excerpts from Dr. Rudolf Kummer’s Rasputin: Ein Werkzeug der Juden, 1939
Translated by Alexander Jacob

Rudolf Kummer (1896—1987) specialised in Oriental Studies at the University of Erlangen and worked in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from 1923 as a librarian. A firm nationalist, Kummer became a member of the Freikorps Epp in 1919 and took part in the overthrow of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. He joined the NSDAP in 1922 and the SS in 1931. In 1935, he was appointed undersecretary in the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and Public Instruction.

Kummer’s book on Rasputin and his Jewish private secretary Aron Simanovich is important for the revelations of the crucial role that Simanovich played in the last days of the Romanov monarchy. While much has been written on Rasputin and his influence on the Tsarist court, relatively little attention has been paid to the influence that Simanovich wielded on Rasputin in Petersburg. Kummer uses Simanovich’s own memoirs, translated into German as Rasputin der all-m�chtige Bauer (1928),[A1]This work has been translated into English by Delin Colón as Rasputin: The Memoirs of his Secretary, 2013. to reveal how Simanovich, acting on behalf of international Jewry, manipulated Rasputin in the Tsarist court to obtain concessions for Russian Jewry. Simanovich was successful in his mission, even though Rasputin himself was murdered as a result of his interventions on behalf of the Jews — who were hated by the majority of the Russian aristocracy. Furthermore, Rasputin was, during the war, mainly concerned to achieve a peace that would reduce the bloody sacrifices that the peasantry had to make for the fatherland. This pacifist attitude and his close association with the German Tsarina — who became dependent on him when she noted the salutary effect he had on her haemophiliac son — were additional motivations for the aristocratic conspirators who murdered Rasputin.

However, in Kummer’s view, the Rasputin story is only an incidental effect of a larger political scheme planned by international Jewry for the emancipation of Russian Jewry — and the destruction of the Russian Empire. For, as Kummer puts it, “It was not Rasputin who was the secret, dark force that stood behind the Tsar and the Tsarina but Simanovich, Rasputin’s Jewish secretary, as the representative of the interests of the entire international Jewry.�

Ch. 3: Rasputin’s career

Grigori Yesimovich Rasputin was born in Pokrovskoye (Siberia), as the son of a farmer, on 7 July 1872. However, 1871 and even 1874 are also given as birthdates. About his youth there are no definite details to be conveyed, so much so that fantastic legends have been formed of the youth of this remarkable personality. It is reported that he was a good-natured boy eager for knowledge but very sensitive.

At the age of 20 he married a peasant girl from a neighboring village. The marriage was happy but was sorely saddened by the death of the first-born child, who died when six months old. Disturbed inwardly, he undertook a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye monastery and devoted himself to a hermit who had a special reputation for saintliness. There he found his spiritual balance again and returned to his village, where he was again active for years as a farmer. During this time two daughters, Maria and Barbara, and his sole son Dmitri, were also born to him. Then suddenly there entered in Rasputin’s life a religious experience that caused him to undertake with a friend a pilgrimage that took him to Mt. Athos. He lived on alms and worked there in a monastery as a farmer.

Only after three years did he return to his hometown, where he pursued his usual work again. At the same time, he began to occupy himself with religious questions and set up a secret underground prayer room. Here the family members, and occasionally also guests from the neighbourhood, gathered together often for communal prayers, much to the displeasure of the local priests.

On these occasions Rasputin narrated his pilgrimage or he dealt with religious matters. Slowly, increasingly more people came to these prayers so that these gatherings had to be transferred to the house. Thus the first circle of Rasputin’s admirers was created.

After some time, he undertook also a longer pilgrimage that took him to Kyiv and Kazan.

In 1904, he was able to realise a long-cherished desire; he went to Petersburg in order to become acquainted with Father John of Kronstadt,[A2]John of Kronstadt (1829—1909) was a Russian Orthodox archpriest and, after the Russian Revolution of 1905, a supporter of the monarchist, anti-Communist and anti-Jewish Black Hundreds movement as well as an honorary member of the ‘Union of the Russian people. who was revered throughout Russia.

A few days after his arrival in Petersburg, Rasputin, with his pilgrim’s bag on his back, attended the religious service of this seer-priest. The church was full, remarkably many elegantly clothed ladies of Petersburg society were present, while Rasputin stood in one of the last rows. Towards the end of the religious service, John of Kronstadt suddenly stepped forward to his community, pointed to Rasputin and exclaimed to the other communion guests: ‘You are not worthy of taking part in the communion first — that humble pilgrim who stands behind you is worthy.’

Rasputin was immediately taken to the front and in this way made the acquaintance of this highly respected priest, who called him ‘one who is chosen by God’.

Therewith an event had occurred in Rasputin’s life that seems to have been of fundamental significance for his further development. The sympathy that had been made public of the most beloved priest of Russia for the fully unknown pilgrim from Siberia caused numerous followers of this John of Kronstadt to become interested in Rasputin and to want to make his acquaintance. Soon he acquired the reputation also of being able to heal sick people and of having secret powers at his disposal.

In his travel to Petersburg Rasputin became acquainted, in 1905, with the chaplain of the Tsarina, Archimandrite Theophanus, who acquainted him with Bishop Hermogenes of Saratov[A3]Hermogenes (1858-1918) was Bishop of Saratov and Tsaritsyn in 1903 and, from 1917, Bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia. He was a supporter of the Black Hundreds and the Union of the Russian People. He befriended Rasputin when the latter visited Petersburg in 1905 but became estranged from him around 1911. and the monk Iliodor.[A4]Sergei Trufanov, the Hieromonk Iliodor (1880-1952), was a monk and priest of the Russian Orthodox Church who was defrocked in 1912. He published a biography of Rasputin called The Mad Monk of Russia: Life, Memoirs and Confessions of Sergei Mikhailovich Trufanoff (New York, 1918). The latter was a very respected preacher of repentance and stood at the same time in the service of the political propaganda for the ‘Union of the Russian people’.[A5]The Union of the Russian People was a nationalist political party which lasted from 1905 to 1917. Its paramilitary forces were constituted by the Black Hundreds. To his union — which was established in the time of the revolutionary Marxist turmoil that was a result of the lost war against Japan — belonged also numerous patriotic Russian priests.

Rasputin declared at that time often — as his daughter Maria states in her book[A6]Marie Raspoutine, Le roman de ma vie (Paris, 1930). — that hsympathised with this political orientation. The ‘Union of Genuine Russian People’ had at that time undertaken a battle against Liberalism, Marxism and Jewry, who were the supporters of the Russian Revolution from 1905 to 1906.

Around this time, Rasputin also came into contact for the first time with courtly circles. However, here the sources diverge drastically. For example, Rasputin’s daughter maintains that Archimandrite Theophanus had introduced her father to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich,[A7]Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (1856–1929) was a Russian general during the First World War and in 1924 was made the leader of the anti-Soviet monarchist movement in exile. the future Russian generalissimo — who was known for his tendency towards religious mysticism — and his wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. In their house Rasputin also came into contact with Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich[A8]Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich (1864–1931) was, like his wife, interested in occult doctrines; the Grand Duchess Militza introduced, first, a French healer called Nizier Philippe to the Tsarina, and then Rasputin. and his wife, Grand Duchess Militza Nikolaevna. The two Grand Dukes were brothers while the above-mentioned Grand Duchesses were daughters of King Nikita of Montenegro.[A9]Nikola I, Petrović-Njegoš (1841–1921) was the last monarch of Montenegro. Five of his daughters were married to princes and kings.

Rasputin’s private secretary, Simanovich, on the other hand, maintains that the two Grand Duchesses had made the acquaintance of Rasputin on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Kyiv.

But, whatever the case may have been, it is certain in any case that, through the mediation of these two Grand Duchesses, Rasputin was introduced to the Imperial couple.

How this meeting was initiated and what circumstances this meeting brought about deserves a detailed evaluation.

Ch. 6: The Jew Aron Simanovich

The most important source on Aron Simanovich is his own work Rasputin the All-Powerful Peasant. In light of the understanding of the racial question, this book gains substantially in significance — a fact that Simanovich did not foresee and indeed certainly did intend. For, his publication offers us the key to many at first inexplicable events in the Russian imperial court and among the Russian people.

Many personalities of the political life of that time in Russia have mentioned Simanovich briefly, others have preferred generally not to mention this Jewish man behind Rasputin. Whether this happened consciously or through lack of knowledge of the Jewish question or through fear of Jewry may be left undecided. For many Russian émigrés, who, for example, found a modest living in France, it would certainly have meant a great risk to provoke the power of Jewry through references to the Jewish man behind the miracle-worker at the court of the Tsar.

So Rasputin’s secret Jewish private secretary remained unknown for a long time/

But this state of affairs changed in one stroke when Simanovich, infused with the significance of his own personality and the feeling of triumph of his race, published the work mentioned above. Aron Simanovich, in his vanity and Jewish arrogance, talks bluntly about private matters and exposes the true goals of his earlier activity as private secretary of the influential peasant at the Tsarist court.

So these revelations are especially suited to provide a deep insight into the Jewish mentality and secret Jewish networks, into the profound hatred and Jewish contempt.

Therewith Simanovich has become precisely a model example for the Jewish modes of operation.

Aron Simanovich was born in 1872 and comes from Jewish circles that are not affluent. He trained as a jeweller and soon conducted a business of his own in Kyiv. In 1902, he decided to move to Petersburg since life in the provinces offered him too few prospects of profit.

For these reasons he used the favorable family relations that his wife’s family offered him. She came from a Jewish rural entrepreneurial family of which already many family members had settled in Petersburg thanks to the support of the minister Count Witte[A10]Count Sergei Witte (1849–1915) was appointed the first Prime Minister of the Russian Empire in 1905 after the Russian Revolution of that year. and his wife, Countess Mathilde, the daughter of a Jewish businessman.

The way was immediately cleared for him and the establishment of the first commercial relations was made possible by these Jewish racial comrades. The first stage of his rise had been reached.

Life in the provinces, which he despised, was therewith terminated. On this period he writes full of scorn for the goyim:

There I had to, like other Jews, tolerate all possible harassments and humiliations directed at me. But that provided me also a wide experience in communication with police and other state officials. Already in the province I associated myself with numerous acquaintances in these circles and attained a certain mastery in the art of dealing with and bribing state officials. These experiences were of very great value for my future activity.

His business in Petersburg developed excellently, but alongside it he retained his subsidiary in Kyiv. His increased income enabled him to lead a life that he had longed for already for a long time. According to his own confession, he gladly, and often, frequented clubs and cabarets, the racecourses, in order to find acceptance in the so-called better social circles.

But the final goal remained to ruthlessly exploit these newly forged social relations in a commercial way. Simanovich reports on this:

Passion for gambling is, as is well-known, a power that easily unites men and causes social and national differences to be forgotten. The lust for pleasure makes those who have fallen victim to it not very choosy in their circle of acquaintances and in the way in which they procure means for their costly passions. I soon found myself at ease in this world and was able to exploit the relations established therein for the expansion of my commercial undertakings.

In this way he came into contact with different personalities of the imperial court, for example, with the princely brothers Wittgenstein who, as officers, belonged to the imperial bodyguard and, further, with the court steward of the Tsar, the Frenchman Poincet.

With Poincet he founded a gaming club that was disguised as a chess club. He enlisted there the two Wittgenstein princes who were in constant financial need.

Therewith he had made different influential personalities of the court obliged to him and came ever closer to his real goal of attaining influence and power. At the same time, he obtained a deeper insight into the daily life at court and the commercial ignorance and awkwardness of the courtly circle. He learnt who was in need of money and then tried to make the acquaintance of these personalities and offered to them his financial support in the form of loans. Alongside this he conducted also all sorts of other financial businesses with other people who similarly found themselves in financial distress. But whereas he collected his usurious interests ruthlessly from these people who were not very influential, he was careful with members of the courtly circle. From these he demanded significantly lower interest and did not harass these debtors in any way.

In this way he made personalities who occupied prominent social positions and who could therefore be of great significance to him dependent on him. At the same time, he informed them of his financial businesses and did not also forget to make them clients of his jewellery business.

Of great value to Simanovich was his acquaintance with the two above-mentioned Wittgenstein princes whom he had made fully dependent on him through their enrollment in his gaming club. Through their intermediation he now became acquainted with personalities who had direct access to the Tsar and the Tsarina and on whose acquaintance therefore the Jew Simanovich placed a special value.

These were the influential lady-in-wating of the Tsarina, Princess Orbeliani, the personal friend and lady-in-waiting of the Tsarina, Anna Vyrubova, as well as the ladies-in-waiting Miss Nikitina and Princess Astaman-Galizina.

In the same way, from the entourage of the Tsar he made the acquaintance of the Caucasian princes Ucha Dadiani and Alek Amilakvari as well as of the entire officer corps of the imperial bodyguard. Therewith he had at the same time obtained access to the imperial palace, and in a short time he knew the entire court personnel.

When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, he hurried to the theater of war, naturally not as a soldier but as the owner of a travelling casino. But this war enabled him to earn a lot of money through the exploitation of officers behind the frontlines or of officers on furlough from the front. In this way, in spite of the unfortunate course of the war for Russia, he returned a rich man to Petersburg, where, supported by his ill-gotten wealth, he conducted his jewellery trade and his usury businesses in a significantly expanded form.

He became more and more a money-lender for young Russian aristocrats who found themselves in financial need. His trade in precious stones with court circles increased constantly. About this Simanovich reports boastfully:

In Princess Orbeliani’s house thus I entered first before the ladies-in-waiting as a jeweller, salesman and a connoisseur of precious stones. Soon I became indispensable to them. My pockets were always filled with jewels. I succeeded in winning the trust and benevolence of persons in high positions and I was made privy to many secrets of courtly life. Soon I was on firm ground. My self-confidence grew, especially when I noticed that my relations with the court circles impressed many people. My requests and wishes found consideration in influential government circles. There were many who wished to please me and gladly rendered services to me. For my part I sought to be useful to these people.

Always the same image that the Jew offers in princely courts! At first he seeks to gain entry through sycophantic obsequiousness or hypocritical cajolery, then he forms bonds through small or large gifts, or directly through the corruption of influential personalities, in order to finally develop the acquaintance of the ruling princes.

In this way too did Simanovich proceed at the Russian court. Through Princess Orbeliani he became acquainted with the Tsarina Alexandra, who asked him for advice regarding some jewels. Later the Tsarina repeatedly gave him commissions which he carried out with special care. Therewith Simanovich had achieved his goal: he was now the ‘court jeweller’. But with genuine Jewish contempt he reports on his business then:

I knew her (that is, the Tsarina’s) frugality and set the prices of the jewels that she bought from me especially low. When she had bought something from me, she checked thereafter with the court jeweller Fabergé if the price was reasonable. If the court jeweller wondered at the low price, she was extraordinarily pleased. For me, naturally, the favor of the Empress was the main thing. Often she bought jewels on instalment payments. I gladly complied with her and thereby pleased her especially. Even persons from her circle wanted concessions from me in the purchase of jewels. They sought as far as possible to gain advantages through me and I gladly cooperated. My intention was indeed to make myself loved by the people and I succeeded in that. The same people then took care to show that they were grateful for my services.

All these contacts the Jew Simanovich had achieved even though anti-Semitism was predominant in the Russian court and in the then leading Russian circles! But the racial rejection of Jewry was fully unknown there. If a Jew or Jewess had himself or herself baptised, they were indeed acceptable at court! Besides, people were also of the opinion that there were ‘respectable Jews’ and the sinuous, cunning Jew Simanovich was included among these.

However, even the sphere of influence that Simanovich had picked out for himself especially suited his activity, which served only Jewish goals. The social life consumed enormous amounts of money, and corruption therefore penetrated the highest circles.

Internal policy was fully disunited and disjointed, political assassinations were the order of the day. Russia seemed already at that time to be marching towards an uncertain future since crass egoism ruled and all communal feeling was lacking.

Then there occurred in Simanovich’s life an event that allowed him to intervene with all force in the question of the entire Jewry in Russia.

In 1905, Simanovich learned that in Kyiv, where his family had remained, a Jewish pogrom had broken out. He travelled there immediately and found his shop plundered. His business manager and a number of his relatives had been killed. Even his life and that of his family were threatened. But he succeeded in fleeing. He travelled immediately with his family to Berlin to calm his fears.

Simanovich remained at that time for a long while in Berlin and took the decision to work for the emancipation of Jewry with all means.

When therefore he returned to Petersburg, he sought out Rasputin, with whom he had become acquainted, as mentioned above, already some years ago. He sought him out with the secret intention of using his already significant influence in court circles for Jewry. For, he had recognised how important precisely the influence of the starets[A11]Elder, a monastic leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. could be for him. He therefore pursued this acquaintance and met Rasputin often at Princess Orbeliani’s and at the lady-in-waiting Vyrubova’s. But only after Rasputin’s break with his earlier benefactors belonging to the Union of the Russian People did closer relations develop between the two men.

Ch. 7: Simanovich becomes Rasputin’s private secretary

In the first years of his Petersburg sojourn Rasputin lived only off the irregular contributions of the Tsar; for he had no sense at all for the financial side of life and did not like to occupy himself with financial matters. As a carefree man he cared very little about the future; his private life therefore proceeded without any order even though the imperial court took care of him.

But Simanovich had soon noticed Rasputin’s awkwardness in daily life matters. He therefore offered his help to the starets, which the latter gladly accepted. Simanovich therefore took charge of the care for his material welfare and Rasputin was glad that he was free of this care. Therewith the Jew had decisively stepped in. Rasputin showed that he was grateful to Simanovich for this help and in a short time the two became friends. On this Simanovich writes, in the chapter entitled ‘My friendship with Rasputin’, in the following manner:

Soon I became indispensable to him. I took care of all his small daily needs. My worldly experience and my knowledge of the conditions of the big city impressed him. I helped him to orient himself in Petersburg. Many things were naturally new and strange to him and he became used to turning to my advice in all his affairs. In this way I became his secretary, his administrator and his guardian. Finally, Rasputin did not take any serious step without my advice. I was privy to all his affairs and secrets. If Rasputin became insubordinate, I often shouted at him and he behaved like a schoolboy who had broken something. Of this nothing was known in public; it was only known that through Rasputin I was able to obtain almost everything from the Tsar, the Tsarina, the ministers and the majority of the other power-holding persons.

It is important to bear in mind these confessions of the Jew Simanovich that he has written down in his book Rasputin, the All-Powerful Peasant, right at the beginning of his ‘friendship’ with Rasputin. For they fully expose the secret of the further activity of Rasputin at the Russian imperial court.

The Jewish secretary of Rasputin therewith admits quite openly that he had Rasputin unconditionally in his power so that the latter undertook no transaction of any significance without the advice of his secretary. Further, the Jew boastfully declares that he even triumphed over Rasputin’s will and forced his will upon him.

Is it still possible at all to speak here of the “all-powerful� or “omnipotent peasant�? No! Simanovich, who had clearly recognised the present and future significance of Rasputin for Jewry, had made use of the awkwardness of the starets in matters of daily life and made him constantly bound to himself. In this he had only one goal in mind: to employ the respect that Rasputin enjoyed with the imperial couple totally for the interests of Jewry.

However, it must be admitted that Simanovich went about it so skillfully that his decisive influence on Rasputin remained hidden to the public. But for that reason, it is our duty today to point more clearly to the unhealthy, subversive role of this Jew.

It was not Rasputin who was the secret, dark force that stood behind the Tsar and the Tsarina but Simanovich, Rasputin’s Jewish secretary, as the representative of the interests of the entirety of international Jewry.

That Simanovich did not become the advisor and secretary of Rasputin as a result of being accidentally approved by the Tsar is clear. He acted on higher orders.

When, after the collapse of the Tsarist regime, an investigative commission was set up, the former director of the entire police department declared, among other things, the following:

Simanovich did not hide his national Jewish mentality, granted help unselfishly to his religious comrades and sought to bring about a change in the government policy regarding the Jewish question.

At the beginning of his activity as Rasputin’s secretary, Simanovich naturally behaved very carefully. It was important however to slowly free Rasputin at first from his earlier advisors and friends so that he was fully dependent on his new private secretary. At first, therefore, Simanovich restricted himself to caring for Rasputin’s physical welfare and to facilitating his stay in Petersburg as much as possible.

Ch. 8: Rasputin’s lifestyle

If, in the first years of his stay in Petersburg, Rasputin had led a calm, regular life, he allowed himself to be induced to change later and to devote himself abundantly to wine. He found pleasure especially in strong madeira. This preference Simanovich supported in great measure. This is proven by, among others, the reports of the agents of the Russian secret police, the “okhrana,� who watched Rasputin constantly. Thus a detective for example reports in the following manner:

14 March. Simanovich, Rasputin’s secretary, came with a crate containing six bottles of wine, caviar and cheese.

But Simanovich also knew Rasputin’s preference for carousing, music, dance and especially for women. He writes on this apologetically: “A man of exuberant, passionate temperament, he needed strong, deeply stimulating experiences.�

In another place he reports:

Rasputin, himself a passionate libertine, stood in the best relations with all the well-known courtesans of the capital. The mistresses of the Grand Dukes, the ministers, the financial men, were friends with him. He knew therefore all the scandal stories, the relations of influential men, the nocturnal secrets of high society, and he was able to exploit this information for the expansion of his influence in high governmental circles. … The courtesans had at that time an especially great influence and pre-Revolutionary Petersburg manifested in this field by some most remarkable figures.

Often it occurred that Rasputin invited these female friends to nocturnal orgies in an elegant restaurant that consumed great amounts of money. For wine flowed here in streams and, furthermore, Rasputin gave gifts to all his female friends. As a rule, there was gypsy music played here and Rasputin, a passionate dancer, danced Russian dances.

The women present, however, used this favourable occasion either to extract money for themselves or to turn to Rasputin on behalf of their friends or relatives.

Simanovich knews these passions of his master only too well, indeed he promoted them, to make Rasputin ever more obedient and to increasingly enchain him to himself.

It is naturally clear that this lifestyle of the starets consumed enormous amounts of money. But these amounts Simanovich constantly procured. For, first of all, Simanovich had seen to it that, by order of the Tsar, 5000 roubles per month were allotted to Rasputin from the funds of the Ministry of the Interior; and secondly, he procured means from special sources about which he writes: “So I procured money for Rasputin from special sources that I will never betray in order not to harm religious comrades.�

So Jews primarily financed the carousels and orgies of Rasputin!

That Simanovich did not come off too badly socially through these services is clear. For, the circle of Rasputin grew ever larger, and his influence became increasingly greater, especially after another healing of the Tsarevich was ascribed to him in October 1912.

For, on a boat ride, the heir apparent pressed his thigh against the side of the boat and hurt himself. This caused a strong internal bleeding that threatened the boy’s life most seriously. A dangerous infection set in in the groin. His temperature rose constantly, so that the doctors treating him described the condition of the heir as hopeless.

From October 8, daily information was given to the press on the condition of the Tsarevich. At the same time, rogation services for his healing were held in all churches of the Russian Empire. But his condition became increasingly worse so that already people reckoned with Alexei’s death.

In her distress the Tsarina called for her friend Vyrubova and made her telegraph Rasputin, who was at that time in his home village. The telegram was sent on 12 October at 11.30 in the night, and reached Pokrovskoye the next day in the afternoon. Rasputin went immediately into his room and offered a prayer there. After an hour, he sent the Tsarina the following telegram: ‘Do not be perturbed; the illness is not so dangerous as it seems. The heir apparent will remain alive, the doctors should not frighten him.’

This answer reached the imperial couple on 14 October and, on the 15th, the temperature of the patient suddenly fell quite considerably. After two days there appeared already a decisive improvement in his health; the heir apparent was saved!

In November, the Tsar’s family returned to Petersburg.

In gratitude for the rescue of their son the royal couple ordered Rasputin too to Petersburg. Beyond that the Tsarina wished — since she was strongly convinced of the favorable influence of Rasputin on the health of the heir apparent — now for his constant presence at the imperial court.

Thereby the starets had made himself indispensable at the court. Even the information on his change of lifestyle that was brought to the imperial couple could not change anything. The Tsarina declared that they were malevolent calumnies and clung only so much more closely to the supposed saviour of her son, in whom she saw a saint.

But the rumour of this new healing of the Tsarevich spread with lightning speed and raised the respectability and the reputation of the starets uncommonly.

Ch. 16: Rasputin and the Jewish Question

Like every Russian, Rasputin at first shunned Jewry. All the attempts of his Jewish secretary — whom he at first considered only as the administrator of his commercial interests — to interest him in Jewish affairs he dismissed with a certain inner aversion.

Moreover, he did not make any bones of his anti-Jewish attitude to Simanovich. He also related to him often that the Tsar complained about the Jews, that his ministers presented him detailed reports on the Jewish danger, instructed him on the subversive, corrupting activity of Jewry and the revolutionary movements of the Jewish youth.

In his judgement of Jewry, Rasputin at that time still stood under the influence of the Tsar and certain anti-Jewish circles at the imperial court and in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Simanovich observed this attitude of the starets with great anxiety and was therefore determined to make of the anti-Jewish Rasputin — slowly but surely — an advocate of the Jews. For, he required Rasputin’s help for the final accomplishment of his goals.

He was therefore determined to prevent by all means any public move on the part of Rasputin into the camp of the anti-Semites. He sought at first to gradually neutralise the influence of the Tsar and the Tsarina in this regard.

In this context, the following utterance of Simanovich is very remarkable:

The representatives of Jewish society, which was informed of this dangerous situation, were extremely afraid and made it my duty to do everything to prevent Rasputin’s conversion to anti-Semitism. We were completely clear about the fact that such a turn could have frightful consequences.

Furthermore, Rasputin was at the height of his power and repute at that time, while Nicholas II, at the same time, became a member of the ‘Union of the Russian people’ which instituted Jewish pogroms everywhere in Russia.

Simanovich had clearly recognised what was at stake and carried out with determination — supported by the leading Jewish circles of Russia — his efforts to win Rasputin for Jewry. Indeed, he would have been Rasputin’s private secretary in vain if he had not clearly recognised his characteristics and acted according to them. He therefore proceeded in a quite deliberate manner.

First, he brought Rasputin into contact with rich Jewish racial comrades, for example, with the Jewish millionaires Ginzburg, Soloveitchik, Manus and Kaminka.

Further, Simanovich was able to often arrange that the rich Jew Ginzburg visited Rasputin precisely when petitioners were present who could only be helped with money. Ginzburg readily had all his cash taken by Rasputin which the latter distributed immediately to the supplicants present with the words: “A rich man has come who wishes to distribute his money among the poor.�

On other occasions, Rasputin requested the rich Jews who were present to give a couple of hundred rubles to the poor. But, according to the declarations of Simanovich, Rasputin never asked for money from these Jewish millionaires for his own needs.

Furthermore, it made a great impression on Rasputin that, from this time on, through the mediation of Simanovich, he could send poor people to the aforementioned Jewish millionaires with a paper on which the concerned millionaire was requested to help the supplicant.

That these requests of Rasputin were fulfilled is obvious, for these instances of assistance were to convince Rasputin of the humanitarianism and readiness to help of Jewry with regard to indigent Russian people.

At the same time, another goal too was fulfilled: these Jewish alms-givers were publicized in all the Russian outlets as noble benefactors.

Since Simanovich knew further how easy it was to awaken feelings of compassion in Rasputin for poor and persecuted men, he strove to present especially blatant cases of Jewish supplicants to the starets himself. Therewith he succeeded in gradually awakening his compassion for the Jewish people.

Now the point had been reached when Simanovich could move to winning Rasputin decisively for Jewry.

The leading Jewish circles had, in the meantime, developed the most complete trust in Simanovich and commissioned him, on account of his relations with leading governmental circles, to solve the Jewish question in a comprehensive manner.

A series of meetings of the representatives of Russian Jewry with Simanovich took place and he was commissioned to “strive for and, if possible, implement the emancipation of the Jewish population.�

Simanovich’s liaison man in these contacts was the Jewish millionaire and war profiteer Moses Ginzburg, who had amassed his wealth during the Russo-Japanese War in Port Arthur.[A12]The Russo-Japanese War was fought during 1904 and 1905. The Battle of Port Arthur (Manchuria) In February 1904 marked the beginning of this war. But Simanovich now pressed forward to action since, in his opinion, the situation of the Jews aroused the greatest fears.

Simanovich reports with great pride on his dealings with his Jewish confidant Ginzburg. These discussions however are so indicative of the further modus operandi of Simanovich — who, since this time, considered himself, rightly, as the Jewish commissioner — that they are cited here verbatim from Simanovich’s book. Here Simanovich states:

Now the moment is favorable since we have excellent relations in St. Petersburg. We must exploit these relations not only for the improvement of the situation of the individual Jew but also in the interests of the entire Jewish population. Jewish society has decided to activate all their contacts, means and forces to implement the emancipation of the Jews. There will be no shortage of money. The Jews have decided to grant a large sum of money to anyone who would be supportive of them in their efforts. I could, if I brought about Jewish emancipation, become the richest man in Russia and, besides, my name would be entered in the Jewish ‘Pinkes’ (memorial books).[A13]A Memorbuch, or Memorial Book of the Jews, commemorates various Jewish martyrs and lists the countries in which Jews have been persecuted.

“You have excellent contacts,� Ginsburg declared, “and you have entry into places that up to now were never accessible to Jews. Get the aid of Rasputin, with whom you have such good relations. Rasputin listens to you and the Tsar listens to Rasputin. It would be a shame to let go such a good opportunity. I have come to the conviction that Rasputin can accomplish everything that he wishes. He is capable of swaying all the ministers. We cannot tolerate that Nikolai Nikolaevich and his accomplices kill and plunder the unfortunate Jews in the field of war operations and that the Jews in all of Russia are severely oppressed. You will receive from us everything that you need for your goals. If you become a victim of your efforts then the entire Jewish people will go down with you.

This commission of the entire Jewry of Russia to Simanovich has provided clear light for our further investigation. From this time on, Rasputin’s secretary acts only as the representative of Jewry and his entire activity serves only Jewish interests.

Simanovich then promised the commissioner of the Russian Jews that he would dedicate himself entirely to the fight for the rights and the interests of the Jewish people and began at once to present proposals.

As the most urgent measure he proposed to arrange a meeting of the Jewish representatives with Rasputin so that the former could become acquainted at first hand with Rasputin’s attitude to the Jewish question. The proposal was accepted, Simanovich went to Rasputin and explained to him that all his Jewish acquaintances hoped for his support in the fight for the emancipation of the Jews. Rasputin said he was ready to appear at a meeting with the representatives of Jewry. But the participation in this meeting of the leading Jews of Russia was of crucial significance for Rasputin.

Ch. 18: Rasputin as a representative of Jewish interests

In his attempts to help his new friends Rasputin was faced everywhere with the resistance of influential personalities as well as the anti-Jewish attitude of the ministers. He therefore turned to Simanovich with the request to name people who could inform him in detail on the situation of the Jews in Russia. These people Simanovich could naturally place at his disposal immediately from his own chancellery and Rasputin was informed and instructed in a very one-sided manner in favor of the Jews.

Now the time had also come to enlist Rasputin into the great support action that Simanovich had raised for his racial comrades. For numerous matters could not be accomplished without the cooperation of Rasputin.

The special concern of Simanovich was at first for the Jewish youth.

That is, the Russian government allowed Jews into high schools and universities only in a very limited number in order to reserve these educational places primarily for the sons and daughters of the Russian people. To obtain exceptions was for Jews, up to then, very difficult and cost a lot of money.

Here Simanovich considered it urgent to bring about relief for the Jews:

I was daily stormed by telegraph, letters, as well as orally, to work for the Jewish youth who were hindered in their educational aspirations by the current determinations.

These petitions for acceptance in the state educational institutions came from all of Russia to Simanovich, who up to then had fulfilled them as far as he was able to do. But Simanovich had not been able to accomplish very much. Perhaps he had succeeded in effecting an exception now and then in individual cases, but it was impossible for him to implement the entry of Jews to institutions of higher education in large numbers.

Here only Rasputin could help. But it is characteristic of the Jewish presumption and arrogance that Simanovich, after forcing of the starets into the Jewish front, took charge of him independently.

He produced in large quantities blank recommendation letters of Rasputin to influential personalities of the court, to Petersburg professors, and senior priests which he then handed out to his protégés in cases of need.

But Simanovich took care to see that these possibilities of academic study for Jews were used in the greatest numbers. Suddenly Jews started appearing in hordes who wished to be permitted to study at the university or at the high schools of Petersburg. Simanovich provided them all with Rasputin’s recommendation letters and took them personally to the relevant ministers to whom he lied that the Tsarina herself had advocated the visits of these Jews. Then Simanovich reports boastfully:

My wards were then accepted regardless of the firmly established quota.

The baseness of this manner of acting lies especially in the fact that the Tsarina did not have any idea in general of this misuse of her name and that, on the other hand, however, the apparent intervention of the Tsarina on behalf of these Jews provoked justified rage among the genuine Russians, and their hatred of the German-origin Tsarina only rose.

For, large sections of the Russian people saw in the Jews only traitors, spies and shirkers.

But Simanovich achieved three things through this underhand manner of acting:

• first, that his racial comrades were allowed to the eagerly desired studies;
• secondly, that the respectability of the Tsarina and, therewith, of the Tsar was considerably reduced among patriotic Russians;
• thirdly, that Rasputin was, on account of his intervention for the Jews, hated in Petersburg but as a result he was so much more tightly chained to him.

How obedient Rasputin had already become is proved by the following significant statement of Simanovich:

The letters of Rasputin which he wrote according to my dictation ran roughly the following way: ‘Dear Minister, Mama (that is, the Tsarina) wishes that these Jewish scholars study in their homeland so that they do not need to go abroad where they become revolutionaries; they should remain at home. Grigori.’

Did any minister still have the possibility of doubting the genuineness of the wording of the letter of the favoite of the imperial couple? The result was that innumerable Jews received entry into the universities in all of Russia.

But Simanovich did not stop at these successes, he went all out.

His next efforts were directed at removing the restrictions of the right of residence of the Jews in Russia. For, it was in general forbidden to the Jews in Russia to dwell in Petersburg or Moscow or to undertake commercial travels outside the district allotted to them.

These restrictions naturally prevented the Jews from being able to extend their businesses as they pleased or to engage in free professions. For precisely the big cities were the goal of innumerable Jews. Thus Simanovich was besieged with petitions to bring about a right of settlement in these cities. But even here the cunning Jew knew what to do.

For the realisation of these innumerable petitions, he set up a big special organization with its own office. Thanks to the support of Rasputin and thanks to his own relations with commercial entities he pushed through everything so that he could write:

I provided the residence permit to all Jews without exception who approached me.

But how did he go about it?

Indeed there was one possibility for the Jews to settle everywhere: the right of settlement had been granted to Jewish handicraftsmen to settle everywhere where they wished to practice their handicraft. However, they had to fulfil one condition: every Jew who wished to make use of this right had to undergo a test which however, according to the assertions of Simanovich, offered no special difficulties.

Here therefore was a possibility of disguising Jews as handicraftsmen and smuggling them in even when they were not handicraftsmen. This possibility therefore Simanovich exploited fully. Simanovich writes in his book:

I took pains to gain a firm entrance into the relevant Petersburg chamber of commerce and exerted a decisive influence in the election of the board. My candidates were always elected and were then my faithful collaborators.

The residence permit I provided not only to people who really engaged in a handicraft but also to those who had no idea of the handicraft on which they were tested. They were entered into the register as journeymen. I myself, as a jeweller, could have journeymen and made full use of this right even though I had no workshop in Petersburg. In my flat there was an empty room with many workbenches but nobody ever worked here. My so-called journeymen engaged in all sorts of businesses, only not in jewellery handicraft. There were actors, teachers, singers and writers among them.

In especially difficult cases, however, Simanovich turned to the following method:

Sometimes however it occurred that the petitioner had no formal justification for a move to Petersburg. Then I had two petitions for a residence permit in Petersburg sent to him telegraphically, one to me, the other to the city captain of Petersburg and then telegraphed the petitioner: “You are informed that until further notice you are assigned to the chancellery of the city captain.� This procedure was resorted to by the city captain especially when, in difficult cases, it was a question of circumventing the restriction of a residence permit. The Jews supposedly assigned to the chancellery of the city captain could live in Petersburg with their families without hindrance.

In this way hundreds of Jews obtained the possibility of settling in Petersburg, conducting their businesses and setting up their all-subverting activity. The forerunners of the future Jewish racial rule could in this manner gather together gradually and prepare their subversive activity.

But difficult cases of Jewish petitioners were at first handed over to Rasputin himself. Jews sought his support especially when they had come into conflict with police or military authorities. He helped here too whenever it was possible.

The changed attitude towards Jewry emerged also clearly from the treatment of the petitioners in his chancellery. The Jewish poison began to work increasingly on him. On this Simanovich reports triumphantly:

If there were generals, he (Rasputin) declared contemptuously to them: ‘My dear generals, you are used to being received first everywhere. But here there are Jews without rights, I shall first do what is necessary for them. Jews, come! I wish to do everything for you!’

Then the Jews were entrusted to me. I had to undertake the required steps for them in Rasputin’s name.

After the Jews Rasputin turned to the other petitioners and only at the end of the reception did he inquire what the generals’ request was.

One sees from this how the Jews had already succeeded in separating Rasputin from his racial comrades and in slowly killing his racial consciousness.

Even these facts naturally contributed to further heightening the aversion of large circles of the Russian population to the starets.

On the other hand, Simanovich took care to see now that Rasputin could indulge his passions fully; for it was important to him to keep the starets in a good mood. He raised easily with the help of his Jewish friends the enormous amounts of money that his drunken revelries and his friendships with prostitutes consumed

He promoted wherever he could the craving for status and the aversion of the starets to the Russian aristocracy as well as to the other ruling strata of Russia. With scornful delight therefore the Jew describes Rasputin’s behavior with regard to the above-mentioned circles:

He conducted himself in the aristocratic salons with incredible insolence and nonchalance. It was a strange spectacle when Russian princesses, countesses, famous actresses, powerful ministers and worthies swarmed around the drunken peasant. He treated them like lackeys and servant maids. On the least provocation he scolded the aristocratic ladies in the most obscene manner such as would hardly have found approval in the stables. … Towards the society ladies and girls he conducted himself with the utmost shamelessness and the presence of the husbands or mothers did not disturb him in the least. His gestures themselves would have offended even a prostitute. Nevertheless it happened rarely that people showed that they were hurt by him. They feared and therefore flattered him.

If, on the other hand, it was a question of the desires of a Jewess, then Simanovich himself took care, as a racial comrade, to see that the starets could not approach her too closely but that, on the other hand, her desires were fulfilled. Especially significant here is the case of the Jewess Lippert.

The Jewish doctor Lippert had, like hundreds of thousands of other Russian citizens, become a German prisoner of war. But, whereas the wives of all the other prisoners of war who had no protection had to wait patiently for the return home of their husbands, the Jewess Lippert — a relative of the Jewish wife of the former Russian Prime Minister Count Witte — turned to the Jew Simanovich with a request to effect the exchange of her husband for the release of a German prisoner of war.

Simanovich directed her to Rasputin, who immediately received the Jewess in the presence of his private secretary. In spite of his initial resistance, Rasputin allowed himself then to be persuaded to deliver to the Jewess the following letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sasonov, the well-known opponent of the starets: “Dear friend, help the man languishing in German war captivity! Approve two Germans and demand one Russian! God will help in the rescue of our countrymen. Nowych[B1]This seems to provide credibility to the claim made by some scholars that Rasputin’s surname was Nowych. Rasputin.�

Mrs. Lippert handed over this letter personally to the Minister but received only an evasive reply. But when, after a week, no final decision had been taken by the minister, Mrs. Lippert turned once again to Rasputin, who gave her the following new letter: “Listen, minister. I sent you a hussy, you have said god knows what to her. Let that pass, do it, then everything will be alright. If not, I will give you a punch in the ribs, I will relate it to the dear man and you will flee. Rasputin.�

The words, “I will relate it to the dear man� mean, according to Simanovich, that Rasputin intended to inform the Tsar directly of the case.

Mrs. Lippert handed over this letter also personally to the Minister Sasonov. Enraged by Rasputin’s shameless letter, Sasonov shouted out: “Should I be pleased with such letters from an adventurer like Rasputin? If you were not a lady, I would simply throw you out.�

Thereupon the Jewess demanded the letters back. But the minister at first refused this request. Trusting in the aid of Rasputin, who had made her affair his own, the Jewess threatened the minister that she would go directly to Rasputin and relate to him the course of the conversation.

Regarding the continuation of the conversation Simanovich reports in full awareness of the Jewish triumph:

Sasonov became embarrassed. “Well, let’s leave it,� he said after some hesitation, “I was beside myself. Please do not make a fuss of it. Tell Father Grigori that it was only a joke of mine.

“In my opinion,� remarked Mrs. Lippert, “it would be better if you would call Rasputin now.� The quick change in Sasonov’s voice did not escape her. “You know that he changes ministers like gloves.�

She picked up the telephone, called Rasputin’s house, and requested him to come to the phone. Then she gave the receiver to the minister.

“You send me such a remarkable letter, Grigori Yefimovich,� said Sasonov, “Are you angry with me?� “Why?,� replied Rasputin. “I don’t care. You have hurt me. Don’t contradict me, we wish to be friends.� The discussion concluded after some clarifying information with the conciliatory remark of Rasputin’s: “I shall be friends with you; I have not yet written such letters to anybody.�

After a fortnight, the Jew Lippert was already in Petersburg whereas innumerable Russian prisoners of war who had been listed in advance had to wait in vain for the handling of their exchange request. Once again Jewry had won and produced the proof of what a powerful position it had already obtained thanks to the support of the Jew-enslaved Rasputin.

Rasputin had indeed once again asserted his will but, on the other hand, created new ruthless enemies for himself.

The influence on his Jewish secretary became greater every day so that adventurous rumors formed themselves around him. It was soon thought that Simanovich had become the Minister for Jewish Affairs, and soon it was maintained that he was active as an agent of the American Jews.

But these rumours had a factual background. For, international Jewry considered that the appropriate moment had arrived to exploit the present distress of Russia — which was conditioned by the enormous blood sacrifice and the indescribable misery of the Russian people — and to extract from the unfortunate country far-reaching concessions to Jewry.

If the Jew Simanovich hides himself on this matter in strict silence, other sources however give sufficient information on these Jewish attempts at interference.

Ch. 32: Rasputin Plans a Revolution

When Rasputin finally came to the conviction that Tsar Nicholas II would remain true under all circumstances to his obligations towards the allied powers and would furthermore refuse to arrange a special peace with Germany, he took a desperate decision.

He spoke with his private secretary Simanovich, and declared that there was only one possibility left to initiate peace negotiations with Germany and this sole possibility was the unleashing of a revolution. “Only that would place Russia in a position to free itself of its obligations towards its allies.�

Rasputin considered the military and political situation of Russia to be so dark that he wished to force the Tsar under all circumstances to end the war. Indeed, Simanovich maintains that the Tsar knew of these preparations of a revolution and indeed promoted them.

But numerous other sources — for example, the Frenchmen Gilbert Maire[B2]Gilbert Maire, Raspoutine, Paris, 1934. and Gabriel Gobron[B3]Gabriel Gobron, Raspoutine et l’orgie Russe, Paris, 1930. — relate convincingly that Tsar Nicholas II had not been informed of this plan at all, but that Rasputin had planned to force the Tsar, after the success of the revolution, to the conclusion of a special peace.

Even the French and English ambassadors report in accord of the unconditional faithfulness of Tsar Nicholas II towards his allies. The English ambassador Buchanan even considered that “We never had a truer friend and ally than Tsar Nicholas.�

Sir Samuel Hoare wrote, “If he sacrificed his Russian friends, he never left his allied brothers-in-arms in the lurch.�

On the other hand, Simanovich is silent on the main reason that was for him decisive in promoting the revolution from above: the immediate resolution of the Jewish question in favor of Jewry. But we are informed of this fact by the Frenchman Gilbert Maire, who was excellently informed of the planned revolution.

According to his report, Rasputin had developed a political programme that had been decisively influenced, even elaborated, by Simanovich.

The programme had the following contents: 1. Conclusion of a separate peace; 2. A large-scale agrarian reform that aimed at the distribution of state- and church-landed property to the peasants and, indeed, first to those who had taken part in the war; and 3. The emancipation of the Russian Jews.

At the same time Gilbert Maire also mentions that Rasputin had, of all things, informed his deadly enemy Prince Yusupov[B4]Prince Felix Yusupov (1887-1967) was one of the principal conspirators in the murder of Rasputin. After the murder, the Tsarina wanted him and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich to be shot but the Tsar sent Yusupov to his estate in Belgorod instead and the Grand Duke Pavlovich to the front in Persia. Yusupov wrote an account of the murder in La fin de Raspoutine (1927). precisely of this plan. But this blind trust and imprudence accelerated his downfall to a great degree. For he had revealed to his enemy his most secret plans.

But Rasputin was of the opinion that the present situation was especially suited for the planned overthrow of the government. He held a detailed conference to which he had invited the Minister of the Interior Protopopov and the generals Khabalov, Globachev and Nikitin. It was decided to gather together reliable young soldiers and officers in Petersburg and, furthermore, on the streets of Petersburg food riots should be initiated through suitable selected people.

The soldiers will then scatter the people without difficulty. But we could inform our allies: We are faced with a revolution.

If this happened, nothing more would, in Rasputin’s opinion, stand in the way of a peace agreement. The old trade treaty with Germany would then be renewed and Poland recognized as an independent state. Russia would receive parts of East Galicia while the Baltic Sea provinces would be ceded to Germany.

But this plan was soon known in Petersburg. Simanovich thinks that the female agent of the member of parliament Guchkov, Laptinskaya, had eavesdropped on this discussion and written it down.

But while the preparations for this revolution were still being made Rasputin was murdered and the entire plan was thereby brought to an end.

Ch. 34: The End of Rasputin

Rasputin’s Jewish private secretary observed the further development of matters with the greatest concern, even though he had gradually reached the goal of his Jewish wishes. For, shortly before his death, Rasputin informed him that the Tsar had decided to take measures for the improvement of the situation of the Jews. The ministers had already received instructions to remove the restrictions on the residency rights of the Jews. Similarly, measures were introduced for the expansion of Jewish rights.

Even the Jewish delegates of Russia were informed of all these measures. Jewry could therefore be satisfied with their advocate Rasputin.

But the hatred against Rasputin in the leading strata of Russia was so great that Simanovich rightly had to worry about the life of the starets. His spies also soon brought him information regarding an assassination attempt that was being planned against Rasputin.

Simanovich indeed had always had excellent relations with the gaming clubs in Petersburg that were frequented by leading personalities. Through one of his spies who worked in the ‘Russian National Club’ he soon learned of the secret meetings in this club:

He reported that the well-known anti-Semitic member of parliament Purishkevich[B5]Vladimir Purishkevich (1870-1920) was a monarchist, anti-Communist and anti-Semitic politician who helped to form the Black Hundreds and was one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People. He agreed to join Prince Yusupov’s conspiracy because he believed that Rasputin and the German Tsarina were hindering Russia’s chances of victory in the First World War. acted as chairman there. Further, there took part in the proceedings the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Count Tatischev, young Prince Felix Yusopov, the former Minister of the Interior Khvostov, the reactionary member of parliament Shulgin, and many young officers. My source did not know the names of the officers. All the time much was spoken about Rasputin in these proceedings. Now and then the names of the English ambassador Buchanan, the Tsar and the Tsarina were mentioned. Something secret was being planned, they spoke of somebody having to be thrown out.

Simanovich deduced from this report that a conspiracy against the Tsar and Rasputin was in process, in which Purishkevich was the leading man. He informed Rasputin immediately. Thereafter these meetings were continuously watched.

Simanovich received valuable information on the planned conspiracy through his colleague Evsey Buchstab and a doctor whose name he does not reveal. For, Purishkevich was being treated by this doctor. The latter skilfully turned the conversation during a treatment to Rasputin. Carelessly Purishkevich stated “that Rasputin would soon no longer dwell among the living. I wish to free the Russian people from Rasputin.� “You will see,� Purishkevich concluded, “what will happen in three days.�

Simanovich informed the starets immediately of this, asked him to inform the Tsarina and added: “The conspirators wish to first kill you, but then the imperial couple too would be next in line.�

But Simanovich worried rightly for his life since Purishkevich was also his deadly enemy. Filled with anxiety, therefore, he made the following proposal to Rasputin to save his life:

The Tsar must now separate himself from you. Only through this sacrifice can one forestall the revolution. If you are out of the way, all will calm down. You have raised the aristocracy and the entire nation against you. Tell Papa and Mama (that is, the Tsar and Tsarina) that they could give you a million English pounds; then both of us could leave Russia and settle down in Palestine. There we can live in peace. I am also seriously worried about my life. On account of you I now have very many enemies. But I want to live.

This proposal, which is taken verbatim from Simanovich’s book, reveals fully the true character of this Jew. In the moment of danger, he demands of Rasputin that he turn his back on his Russian homeland and have the Tsar gift him 20 million marks so that he and Simanovich can lead a peaceful life in Palestine.

And what a distortion of the facts does Simanovich indulge in! Who then had alienated Rasputin from the Russian people? None other than his Jewish secretary Simanovich, his secret advisor, in whom Rasputin confided on everything and whose advice he unfortunately followed only too often!

Rasputin was of course strongly affected by these warnings and proposals but rejected them trusting in his influence and his power.

In fact, an officer tried, immediately after this conversation, during a carousal, to shoot Rasputin. But fearlessly Rasputin looked the officer — who had already placed his revolver on him — in the eye, so that the latter lowered the revolver again and shot himself in the chest. This assassination attempt had failed and Rasputin considered himself fully secure in spite of all the warnings from around him.

But his death was already determined. The conspirators were in no way satisfied with this unsuccessful assassination attempt.

On the same day, Simanovich learned that Rasputin had been invited to a tea at a Grand Duke’s. Once again he warned Rasputin and made him aware of the danger. For, he feared that Rasputin would fall into the trap of Prince Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. But Rasputin threw all these warnings to the wind and said to his secretary: “Nobody can forbid me to go there. I shall wait here for the ‘little one.’ He will pick me up and we shall go together.�

Simanovich asked him who the “little one� was, but remarkably Rasputin did not betray his secret to him. Further attempts to hold him back he shrugged off brusquely.

Even the Tsarina and Vyrubova, who had been informed by Simanovich, warned him about invitations and requested him urgently to remain at home. All these warnings remained unsuccessful.

For the sake of security, the house was surrounded by agents of the political police, who had the order not to let Rasputin out of the house. But Rasputin cancelled even these security measures, gave them money, and asked them to go away because he wished to sleep. They went away and left Rasputin alone.

Around midnight, Rasputin called his secretary and informed him that, in spite of everything, he was going to the “little one.� At the same time, he promised that he would call him at 2 o’clock. Simanovich waited in vain for this call. At dawn he drove, full of ominous presentiments, to Rasputin’s house. The starets had not yet returned. In spite of all the warnings, he had run into death.

Simanovich’s investigations were soon successful. A police constable who had been on duty at the palace of Prince Yusupov gave him the following report:

An unknown man had given him fifty roubles and declared that he was Purishkevich, the member of the Duma, and had murdered Rasputin. “I have freed Russia from this monster,� Purishkevich stated. “He was a friend of the Germans and wanted peace. Now we can carry on the war. You should likewise be faithful to your fatherland and be silent.�

Further investigations revealed that Grand Duke Pavlovich and Prince Yusupov had taken part alongside Purishkevich, as well as some other personalities of the Russian high aristocracy.

Although Rasputin had been badly hit by many bullets, he did not die immediately. The conspirators then dragged the unconscious man into a car, drove to a place on the Neva chosen in advance because it was not frozen and threw him here into the water. After a long search the corpse was finally found there.

Rasputin was murdered in the night of 29–30 December 1916.

The Tsar, who was in his main office, was informed by telegram and returned immediately. Rasputin’s corpse was secretly buried in a chapel in Tsarskoye Selo in the presence of the Imperial family and Vyrubova. Rasputin’s death threw the entire Imperial family into the greatest grief and distress. The Tsar himself was convinced that Rasputin’s death would inevitably be followed by his downfall also. An important role was here played by Rasputin’s will, in which he had set down the following gloomy prophecy:

If I am killed by hired murderers and even by my brothers, Russian peasants, you the Russian Tsar do not need to fear anything. Stay on your throne and rule. And you, Russian Tsar, do not need have any worries regarding your children. They will rule Russia for centuries.

But if I am killed by boyars,[B6]From Wikipedia: A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus, Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and among Baltic Germans. aristocrats, and they shed my blood, your hands are soiled with my blood and you will not wash your hands clean of the blood for 25 years. You will leave Russia. Brothers will rise against brothers and kill and chase one another, and in the course of 25 years there will no longer be any aristocracy in the country.

Tsar of the Russian lands, if you hear the church bells that announce to you that Grigori was murdered, you should know: If it was your relatives who accomplished the murder, then none of your family, that is, your children and relatives, will remain alive for more than two years, they will be killed by the Russian people.

But the Jew Simanovich had taken possession of the entire literary remains of Rasputin. He was therefore able to influence the Tsar and the Tsarina in an important way up to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution based on the supposed written instructions of Rasputin that were supposed to relate to personal matters. In this way even the dead Rasputin was exploited for Jewish goals until international Jewry threw the Tsar down from his throne.

But Simanovich succeeded, after varying fortunes, in leaving Russia, taking with him a large treasure of jewellery and copious amounts of money, for his mission in the service of international Jewry had been completely fulfilled.

Notes

[A1] This work has been translated into English by Delin Colón as Rasputin: The Memoirs of his Secretary, 2013.

[A2] John of Kronstadt (1829—1909) was a Russian Orthodox archpriest and, after the Russian Revolution of 1905, a supporter of the monarchist, anti-Communist and anti-Jewish Black Hundreds movement as well as an honorary member of the ‘Union of the Russian people.

[A3] Hermogenes (1858-1918) was Bishop of Saratov and Tsaritsyn in 1903 and, from 1917, Bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia. He was a supporter of the Black Hundreds and the Union of the Russian People. He befriended Rasputin when the latter visited Petersburg in 1905 but became estranged from him around 1911.

[A4] Sergei Trufanov, the Hieromonk Iliodor (1880-1952), was a monk and priest of the Russian Orthodox Church who was defrocked in 1912. He published a biography of Rasputin called The Mad Monk of Russia: Life, Memoirs and Confessions of Sergei Mikhailovich Trufanoff (New York, 1918).

[A5] The Union of the Russian People was a nationalist political party which lasted from 1905 to 1917. Its paramilitary forces were constituted by the Black Hundreds.

[A6] Marie Raspoutine, Le roman de ma vie (Paris, 1930).

[A7] Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (1856–1929) was a Russian general during the First World War and in 1924 was made the leader of the anti-Soviet monarchist movement in exile.

[A8] Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich (1864–1931) was, like his wife, interested in occult doctrines; the Grand Duchess Militza introduced, first, a French healer called Nizier Philippe to the Tsarina, and then Rasputin.

[A9] Nikola I, Petrović-Njegoš (1841–1921) was the last monarch of Montenegro. Five of his daughters were married to princes and kings.

[A10] Count Sergei Witte (1849–1915) was appointed the first Prime Minister of the Russian Empire in 1905 after the Russian Revolution of that year.

[A11] Elder, a monastic leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.

[A12] The Russo-Japanese War was fought during 1904 and 1905. The Battle of Port Arthur (Manchuria) In February 1904 marked the beginning of this war.

[A13] A Memorbuch, or Memorial Book of the Jews, commemorates various Jewish martyrs and lists the countries in which Jews have been persecuted.

[B1] This seems to provide credibility to the claim made by some scholars that Rasputin’s surname was Nowych.

[B2] Gilbert Maire, Raspoutine, Paris, 1934.

[B3] Gabriel Gobron, Raspoutine et l’orgie Russe, Paris, 1930.

[B4] Prince Felix Yusupov (1887-1967) was one of the principal conspirators in the murder of Rasputin. After the murder, the Tsarina wanted him and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich to be shot but the Tsar sent Yusupov to his estate in Belgorod instead and the Grand Duke Pavlovich to the front in Persia. Yusupov wrote an account of the murder in La fin de Raspoutine (1927).

[B5] Vladimir Purishkevich (1870-1920) was a monarchist, anti-Communist and anti-Semitic politician who helped to form the Black Hundreds and was one of the founders of the Union of the Russian People. He agreed to join Prince Yusupov’s conspiracy because he believed that Rasputin and the German Tsarina were hindering Russia’s chances of victory in the First World War.

[B6] From Wikipedia: A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus, Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and among Baltic Germans.