Moisei Uritsky
Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (14 January 1873 – 17 August 1918) was a Jewish Communist who was important during October Revolution and who afterwards became the leader of the Soviet secret police (Cheka) in Saint Petersburg (Petrograd/Leningrad). The central city square in Saint Petersburg was renamed as the Uritsky Square until 1944.
Life
Born to a rich family of Jewish merchants in the Kiev Governorate, Uritsky attended the University of Kiev and studied law. He became involved in politics, as an early member of the clandestine Marxist subversive group, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He was involved in the Jewish Labour Bund and by 1903 had become a Menskevik. Uritsky switched to the Bolsheviks just before the Bolshevik coup d'etat of 1917 and was elected to the Central Committee. In this position Uritsky coordinated systematic slaughter in Saint Petersburg, mostly members of the nobility, military officers and ranking Russian Orthodox Church clerics.
Death
Leonid Kanegisser, a Jewish military cadet, purportedly assassinated Uritsky on 17 August 1918 allegedly in retaliation for the execution of his friend and other officers. Following this, along with the assassination attempt on Lenin by the Jewish Fanya Kaplan on 30 August, the communists intensified the Red Terror.
