Moishe Tokar
Encyclopedia
Moishe Tokar was a Jewish anarchist who attempted to assassinate the Russian general Sergei Gershelman.
During the 1905 Russian Revolution, Tokar lived in Warsaw
(then part of
the Russian Empire
) where he was a member of an anarchist collective of Jewish workers known as International. His daring in propaganda of the deed
won him renown within the Russian anarchist movement
. After escaping arrest by the police in Warsaw, he became a fugitive before being captured and imprisoned in the city's notorious Citadel prison
. Possessing no identifying documents, he defied torture and managed to withhold his name from the authorities. In 1907 he escaped, fleeing first to Paris
and then to London
, where he became an associate of the revolutionary, Judith Goodman, and anarchist theorist, Rudolf Rocker
.
Finding life in both cities too tame, he returned from London to Paris with the intention of returning to Russia. In Paris he met a group of similarly disposed young Russian illegalists, with whom he planned to rob a Parisian bank, but the group were betrayed by one of their own and arrested. Under the influence of Prime Minister Clemenceau
, who was sympathetic to their youthful idealism
and unaware of their criminal intent, the group were not imprisoned but rather were ordered to leave Paris on the next train.
Tokar returned to London, where he remained for nearly a year before informing his colleagues that he was unable to tolerate it any longer and would risk traveling to Russia, whatever the consequences. In January 1909 he finally returned to his native country, settling in Łódź. There he read reports of the cruel torture of political prisoner
s in Vilnius
and resolved to assassinate Sergei Gershelman, the military commander responsible. Tokar went to Vilnius where, on December 6, 1909, he shot at Gershelman as the latter drove his carriage through the street. Though Gershelman was uninjured, Tokar's shots wounded General Fenga, who had accompanied Gershelman in the carriage. Tokar was sentenced to death for the crime on January 13, 1910. In his cell a couple of days before he was to be executed, Moishe Tokar doused himself in paraffin
from his lamp and burned himself alive
.
During the 1905 Russian Revolution, Tokar lived in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(then part of
Russian partition
The Russian partition was the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that were acquired by the Russian Empire in the late-18th-century Partitions of Poland.-Terminology:...
the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) where he was a member of an anarchist collective of Jewish workers known as International. His daring in propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed is a concept that refers to specific political actions meant to be exemplary to others...
won him renown within the Russian anarchist movement
Anarchism in Russia
Russian anarchism is anarchism in Russia or among Russians. The three categories of Russian anarchism were anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism and anarchist individualism...
. After escaping arrest by the police in Warsaw, he became a fugitive before being captured and imprisoned in the city's notorious Citadel prison
Warsaw Citadel
Cytadela is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster imperial Russian control of the city. It served as a prison into the late 1930s.- History :The Citadel was built by personal...
. Possessing no identifying documents, he defied torture and managed to withhold his name from the authorities. In 1907 he escaped, fleeing first to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and then to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he became an associate of the revolutionary, Judith Goodman, and anarchist theorist, Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
.
Finding life in both cities too tame, he returned from London to Paris with the intention of returning to Russia. In Paris he met a group of similarly disposed young Russian illegalists, with whom he planned to rob a Parisian bank, but the group were betrayed by one of their own and arrested. Under the influence of Prime Minister Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
, who was sympathetic to their youthful idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
and unaware of their criminal intent, the group were not imprisoned but rather were ordered to leave Paris on the next train.
Tokar returned to London, where he remained for nearly a year before informing his colleagues that he was unable to tolerate it any longer and would risk traveling to Russia, whatever the consequences. In January 1909 he finally returned to his native country, settling in Łódź. There he read reports of the cruel torture of political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and resolved to assassinate Sergei Gershelman, the military commander responsible. Tokar went to Vilnius where, on December 6, 1909, he shot at Gershelman as the latter drove his carriage through the street. Though Gershelman was uninjured, Tokar's shots wounded General Fenga, who had accompanied Gershelman in the carriage. Tokar was sentenced to death for the crime on January 13, 1910. In his cell a couple of days before he was to be executed, Moishe Tokar doused himself in paraffin
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
from his lamp and burned himself alive
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
.