Homosexuality in Nicholas II’s St. Petersburg: A Look at 1908’s Scandalous Expose K sudu!
Translated and annotated by Greg King
Part III
A continuation of the book K sudu! (To Court!), published in St. Petersburg in 1908 by Kommerch, Typolitan, Vilenchik, and written by poet and journalist Vladimir Ruadze.
Again, a few introductory notes: In presenting a translation of Ruadze’s book I have treated it as a historical artifact. I have left his commentary and opinions intact however offensive they may be. Ruadze’s tone is condemnatory and filled with reprehensible homophobic venom. This reflects certain opinions contemporaneous with the book’s publication and must be read in that light. Ruadze tends to equate without question homosexuality with pedophilia, failing to note that the majority of pedophiles operating in Nicholas II’s St. Petersburg were in fact men preying on young girls. The trope of the homosexual as pedophile, though, clearly served Ruadze’s purposes, and he deployed it throughout the book.
For all its hyperbolic homophobia, Ruadze’s book is essentially factual, but this presents us with another problem. While he refers to actual locations in St. Petersburg by name, he cloaks the identities of those under discussion behind a string of pseudonyms. If we assume, as seems safe, that the individuals described in of K sudu! represent actual personages it is natural to seek out their true names. But I confess that here I am at something of a loss. I would therefore love to hear from readers with their thoughts and ideas which might help shine some light on the mysteries which the book contains.
From K sudu!
Chapter Nine: Count Shev
With respect, I proceed to characterize the young nobleman who gave such rich material for the creation of the type of fashionable homosexual. After all, Count S. S. Shev is one of the most brilliant representatives of the Russian aristocracy both by birth and by his grandfather's heritage. It will be all the more interesting for the reader to dwell on this aristocratic lily of the homosexual world.
Let's start with the fact that the scion of a noble house is the purest example of appearance. In some marvelous suit of English cut, with trousers turned upwards, from under which a blue or bright yellow lining sticks out, with a monocle, and in the most stylish Panama hat, he gives the impression of a man who has just jumped out of a fashionable picture. This exaggerated adherence to fashion gives his whole figure a somewhat comical imprint and makes passers-by look back when this heir walks in the afternoon along the river or the Summer Garden.
Only a few people manage to see him completely sober, he is always in a somewhat agitated mood, gesticulating, teetering, and in his words, he is not quite natural. But with such an unsuitable appearance for a noble gentleman, Count Shev did not lose the age-old habit of the Russian aristocrats to hurl gold right and left, and wherever he appeared, at least at one time, a shower of gold followed. But one day, his luxurious existence suffered great damage.
“I no longer pay the debts of my son Count Sergei,” read the sorrowful usurers in the St. Petersburg newspapers, “and he has no fortune of his own,” the sad announcement ended. After that, a family council was convened, at which it was decided to give him some pocket money each month rather than 200-500 rubles he was accustomed to receiving; this led him to abate his activities. But the days of calm were short-lived. Soon a terrible misfortune befell the head of the aristocratic family.
The Countess herself had read in the newspaper, in the accident department, an article of a somewhat strange character. “Yesterday (the date followed) a student named Okov was poisoned at No. X on Gorokhovaya Street, after he quarreled under very strange circumstances with Count S., with whom he was on terms of close friendship. Fortunately, the young man's life is out of danger.”
As Count Shev's friendship with Okov was already known to the family, it is self-evident that Count Shev was recognized, and a difficult family scene ensued; to end things another family council was needed. Among those invited to this council was Herr Ggel, a bosom friend of the Count. Characteristically, he advised that they should act as if nothing had happened, and coolly reasoned how to save Count Sergei. This is characteristic because it was Ggel who dragged the young count into the midst of homosexuals, and it was almost he who introduced him to Okov, this star of the homosexual demimonde, who was already known to the reader by “Shabelskaya” and who played such a sad role in the young count's life.
It is not known how the family council ended, but there was again a temporary lull after the storm. And finally, as the last act, bills were presented for huge sums of money owed by the Count and the latter fled abroad.
Here is a brief martyrology of the misfortunes of the young Count Shev, entangled in the nets of homosexuals. Ggel paralyzed the will of this weak man, who had been seduced by his friend, did to him everything that his unbridled mind could devise, and the stamp of this licentiousness rested on the count's whole conduct. In the company of Messrs. Glem, Bohm and Aeyim, Count Shev appears everywhere, and everywhere he leaves behind him the impression of something extremely bad and abnormal. The young Count Shev is known in the circle as an implacable enemy of women and at the same time as a very ardent homosexual.
A few years ago, on this basis, one of the representatives of the world, Mr. P. de C., succeeded in carrying out a very large case of blackmail. Count Shev met at Mr. P.'s, a pupil of a privileged military school, Mr. Bnov, and became inflamed with passion for him. He told Mr. P. about it. The latter undertook to “arrange” the affair, and as a result persuaded the Count to hand over several thousand rubles, ostensibly for the transfer of Mr. Bnov; of course, the young man knew nothing of this.
This story of Bnov serves as an excellent illustration of the characterization of Count Shev and the high-society homosexuals and swindlers around him.
Chapter Ten: G. G. Ggel
In appearance, he was a most suitable companion for Count S., but more serious than him and smarter. If Count S. indulges in unnatural debauchery more out of chic, then Herr Ggel is a conscious and convinced supporter of same-sex love. You only have to visit him in a fashionable hotel on Morskaya Street, where he occupies a luxurious room, to make sure that he is exclusively absorbed in this cult.
A large collection of cards, in which homosexual love is illustrated in all its forms and positions, adorns his writing-table; on the wall is a large photographic portrait of a naked coachman with a wreath on his head; and in the cupboards are collected all sorts of works by selected authors like Mr. Kuzmin. Porcelain figurines and various things on the shelves scream the same thing: in short, the room of a secular and enlightened homosexual resembles a small homosexual museum.
Mr. Ggel himself in his home toilette looks more like a woman, with those pink and blue bows, the ladies' shoes, the cream on his face – all speak of something effeminate and vicious.
But for all his aristocracy, Mr. Ggel is constantly in touch with the “street.” And it is not uncommon to meet in his room a very, very suspicious young man, who speaks swaggeringly to the landlord and does not hesitate to demand from him, in a tone that does not admit of objection, a few rubles for a driver. More than once Mr. Ggel has been robbed by his acquaintances. Thus a certain G., or as he was called Nikolas Grégoire, stole a baptismal cross from him, so that M. Ggel had to pay a large sum of money in order to get it back.
On the whole, Mr. Ggel suffered and suffers a great deal from his street sympathies; his “affair” with the circus rider also ended very sadly; and he himself complained, “Not even a goodbye kiss!” In Munich, this committed homosexual almost committed suicide because of a German.
G. Ggel often travels abroad, and in Nice he visits Pzhaev, de Pomar, and others. He “"enlightened” many and recruited them into the circle, including Count S. Many, if not all, of the high-society drawing-rooms would have shut themselves up to this aristocratic scion if his intimate “activities” had become known to the public. He does not show himself at masquerades and in the circle of homosexuals but acts through commission agents like Shabelskaya.
Chapter Eleven: Count B. R.
Count S’s constant companion, Count B. R., is the third kind of homosexual living under a secular veil.
It is not Count S., who acts partly out of “chic,” who he understands in a peculiar way, nor is it the convinced Mr. Ggel who is a well-resourced young man who sees in belonging to the sect a means of moving in the circle of high-society youth, even if they are homosexual.
This desire was so great in Count B. R. that he served S. as an “intimate” friend; was, so to speak, the count's connection in society; and competed with Ogarkov, the most typical representative of the homosexual demimonde. In everything he copies Count S. and is known in the circle as his “creature.”
Such self-sacrifice for the sake of achieving the role of a high-society dandy is almost touching! There's nowhere else to go!
Chapter Twelve: Mr. Amov
On Znamenskaya Street, in the mansion of a dignitary stepfather on the top floor, lives one of the most interesting types of homosexual St. Petersburg. It is impossible to classify him as living under a homosexual veil, since Mr. Amov dresses rather modestly and in general there is a lot of solidity in his whole figure. The distinguishing feature of Mr. Amov is a terrible, downright gloomy jealousy. He’s a homosexual Othello! It's kind of a rarity.
As soon as he meets someone in the street or in the People's House, which he visits in the most regular manner, he is already afraid of his love. He watches his acquaintance with all his might, and at the slightest attempt to flirt with anyone else arranges whole scenes of a tragicomic character, as he is by nature jealous.
In the upper floor of the mansion there are quarters for servants and one of the footmen is very, very friendly with the young master. “My shepherdess,” he calls his lover, and God bless him if any of his friends look at this “diva.” Jealousy does not prevent him from running everywhere where he can get a “nice” acquaintance.
And it is very convenient for him. Znamensky Baths is close by and he is one of the most honored customers of this convenient institution.
By birth and fortune, Mr. Amov is a blood aristocrat, but owing to his unnatural inclinations and comical crazy jealousy, is an object of ridicule for numerous adherents of the sect. How well a dignitary must feel to have such an original stepson, especially if he knew that Mr. Amov directs all the force of his passion in the direction of notorious hooligans and is a great lover of street acquaintances.
However, it is his fault that Mr. Amov had a long-term connection with a military man, Mr. S., with whom at one time he appeared in St. Petersburg clubs. The worthy couple attracted attention with their tenderness and served as an excellent target for witticisms. He is friends with Count S, Ggel, and B. R.
With this I conclude my description of the high-society homosexual dandies, taking as a model the most famous and popular persons in the circle, and now I pass on to the secular dignitaries of the homosexual world and the aristocratic hooligans, despised even in this original world.
Chapter Thirteen: Prince Oani
On the corner of Zhukovskaya and Znamenskaya streets, in a large five-story stylish house, a modest bachelor apartment is occupied by a once important dignitary, Prince Oani.
In this 70-year-old man, we are dealing with the most cynical, disgusting homosexual.
A retired dignitary, the noble prince does not hesitate to walk down the street and literally “look for” victims. A number of young, poorly endowed young men agreed to serve his unnatural inclinations in the name of hopeless need, and when they, falling into poverty, appealed to him to help out, they were refused in the most categorical manner.
On the street there does not seem to be a single one of the “little ones” of the homosexual world to whom the Prince has not laid his hand. With incomprehensible tirelessness and zeal for his age, he searches for victims in the Tauride and People's Gardens. Carefully disguising his affiliation with the sect, thanks to his adventures he became known to absolutely everyone. One can only wonder how his “activities” have not yet come to light. He is too frank in his cynicism.
Chapter Fourteen: Mr. Kiev
You may have met a fiery red-haired, lame gentleman in the Tauride Garden or the People's House, in the company of a wiry young man, and sometimes surrounded by a whole flower garden of boys of the hooligan type.
This is Mr. Kiev, a “respectable” landlord who lives in his own mansion in Baskova Street, with his wife, a very wealthy woman, into whose confidence this homosexual satyr has managed to sneak in with extraordinary dexterity. I have spoken of him in order to point out in his person the existence of a number of persons who are only partially connected with the amusements of Eulenburg.
The type of “pederasty” is very common in St. Petersburg. In addition, Mr. Kiev is a collector, since he never returns to the same attachment twice. His aim is to replenish the collection of the corrupted as quickly as possible; I don't know in which museum such a collection can be displayed, but I know from the best sources that it is rich and abundant in names.
In passing I mention the wiry young man, Count K. whom Kiev uses as a “bloodhound.” Count K. himself is such a well-known figure in the world of homosexuals that I am afraid that he will be offended by my inattention, and therefore I devote a separate chapter to him, where he will appear under his famous nickname “Countess Granddaughter.” Isn't it time to trim the wings of these pederast butterflies?
Chapter Fifteen: Mr. Izkov
A prominent St. Petersburg official. His era was the golden age of the homosexual circles.
With the ability to “influence,” he was always able to defend the interests of homosexuals when circumstances demanded it, and the latter felt completely safe hiding behind his back.
Mr. Izkov did not miss a single homosexual masquerade or evening, he was everywhere, and especially in Eichenfeld's favorite brothel, where he was “friends” with the barber Pikho (a fool), the “resident” of the brothel.
One of the characteristics of this powerful homosexual was that he “loved” only the very young, corrupting them as much as possible and in his power.
Mr. Izkov also arranged evenings at home in his apartment on Basseynaya Street. He has now disappeared from the horizon, having received a prominent appointment in the provinces.
Happy province!
Chapter Sixteen: The “Countess Granddaughter”
To begin with, the “Countess Granddaughter” stands out in the crazed homosexual environment. He’s in effect been excommunicated by the members of his “church.” He is a “lost creature,” called so by the most inveterate homosexuals, who used his “services.”
It is difficult to say what is the basis of such an attitude of the “circle” towards its most active member. While still a pupil at a privileged school, Count K was not in the least ashamed to compromise his uniform, day and night, and especially night, loitered along the Fontanka, and could always be met at a certain hour at the public toilet near the circus in a lively conversation with the painted hooligans.
“The Countess Granddaughter and ‘her’ friend” people would cluck in high-pitched voices as the “Countess,” in his cocked hat, passed along, full of privileged majesty, groped “her” friends with immodest gestures, and created on the street the atmosphere of a public bathhouse.
On one occasion when the school was on the verge of losing its “ornament,” the “Countess” managed to beg a familiar house to cover up his “pranks,” and it was only by this that he was saved from expulsion. The “friend,” though, had to confess his vice, which, however, did not embarrass him in the least.
But all this has a negative value only in the eyes of an ordinary mortal. In homosexual circles such things do not matter. The fact that the Count, along with “homosexual prostitutes,” openly sells himself and attaches himself to wealthy pimps is no occasion for slander. They are offended that he lets others slander the “Countess Granddaughter.”
The reader will probably be greatly surprised to learn that Count K. is in the service of a Ministry and enjoys an excellent reputation among the uninitiated of all the abominations of his behind-the-scenes life. But it is so! One can only pity the ministry that unknowingly sheltered this disgusting, vicious subject.
Now a few words about the Countess Grandmother.” He is also a real Russian count, his surname is L. He is nicknamed “Grandmother” in contrast to the cheerful “granddaughter” and partly for his lethargy and inability to have amorous ecstasies.
He is friends with the “Countess Granddaughter” and often appears with her, which of course serves only as a plus for him. There is a proverb: “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.”
In this case, the proverb could not be more applicable.
Chapter Seventeen: Mr. Bznya (The Black Pearl)
I will finish this discussion of secular representatives of the homosexual world with Mr. Bznya, having saved this “rare example” for last.
Bznya, a former pupil of one of the privileged educational institutions, belongs to a very wealthy landlord family. In Bessarabia they have huge estates, although now only miserable pieces of land remain of them, but as will be seen later, Mr. Bznya is not discouraged and successfully uses the former prestige of his family.
I am passing on an indisputable fact that took place only a few years ago.
One fine day, Mr. Bznya, finding himself penniless, carefully packed up the plan of his father's huge estate in Bessarabia, and took it to many of the capital’s jewelers, trying to persuade them to advance a loan. They were simpletons who believed in the owner of colossal land wealth, and the jeweler G. trusted him and not only gave money but also a diamond diadem.
Why did Mr. Bznya need a diadem, you might ask? If you, dear reader, think it was to take it to a pawnshop, you are sorely mistaken. Mr. Bznya wanted it as a gift, and he gave it…who do you think? A coachman! Yes, the most ordinary, reckless kind of coachman, a man named Alexei, who drove along the Liteiny Prospekt and whom he idolized.
In this way, Mr. Bznya set a record of homosexual madness, and all others in this homosexual swamp are only miserable plants next to this flower. One can only wonder how such a subject is still at large, and not in a psychiatric hospital.
It's long overdue!
Chapter Eighteen: von Zlen
In one of the largest centers of Finland, a certain von Zlen is happily alive as a director of a bank. He left behind a bad memory in St. Petersburg!
If we separate everything that needs to be verified, then what remains also provides excellent material for a tabloid novel. Only the heroines will not be “Parisian horizontals,” but little boys, since Zlen is a homosexual….During his time in Petersburg, Zlen embarked on all sorts of amorous adventures and did not disdain any means to achieve his goal.
Of course, Zlen’s tried and tested “muscle” was the same irreplaceable Shabelskaya.
At first glance, an unbelievable story is told about him: how he hid from the police in his apartment a Jewish boy, whom he exploited in a certain sense, and the boy was wanted for no other reason than because he stole two valuable rings from a money lender who trades mainly among homosexuals by giving money at high interest rates.
It was only thanks to Zlen, or so the story goes, that the boy was found and the rings were returned, so Shabelskaya appeared this time in the role of Pinkerton.
But it is not a bad banker, indeed, who corrupts boys at home and hides thieves! It's unbelievable!
Chapter Nineteen: Professor Pgov
A most suitable example….
A degraded, venerable old man who had scarcely preserved the image of a man.
He fell into the clutches of Shabelskaya and slipped out of them pretty poor, so poor that he didn't even have a ruble to break his fast, so he told about a sad episode about “Volodya” and left for Moscow.
The fact that “Volodya” robbed him is, of course, quite natural, knowing “Shabelskaya,” but what he had on the venerable professor that meant spending his entire 7,000 ruble pension is a real mystery.
Professor Pgov has been a member of the sect since time immemorial and is considered a “pioneer.” The impoverished old man, however, does not lose heart and pays for his love with promissory notes. He walks along the Fontanka Canal every day and is respected by the “natives.” He is a living chronicle of the homosexual world.
Chapter Twenty: Wealthy Kov
Rich, rich, rich....In fact nothing else is known about him.
A landlord, a personable, stout man of about forty-five, of Oriental origin. He spends his days and nights on the street and in the Tauride Garden. He does not like to talk about himself, but he has the most obscene conversations with his depraved victims, and he is not shy in gestures. In a word, he is a typical homosexual.
He does whatever he wants with surprising cynicism. He molests the boys, takes them to restaurants. All this in front of everyone's eyes with the consciousness of complete irresponsibility. The victims of his inclination must be counted in the hundreds, not a few of them young men of respectable families, who fell for the golden bait through thoughtlessness.
He also has a permanent “kept man,” a certain Fedya Skov, whom he even appointed as the “manager” of the house.
A corrupter of young men, and almost the most dangerous member of the “sect.”
Chapter Twenty-One: “Tuktuk” Mr. Klov
“Tuktuk, tuktuk,” he taps on his high, ladylike heels.
You look doubtfully at his effeminate face, marked with evidence of microcephalus. Yet he acts as an important journalist.
“Tuktuk” is absolutely everywhere, at all premieres, evenings, both such and homosexual. In his exaggerated costume, with his shifty, relaxed gestures, he is neither a puppet or a clockwork mechanical butterfly.
“Tuktuk” wears unmerciful make-up and considers himself at least Antinous, if not Apollo Belvedere himself.
This moral and physical freak has one peculiarity: while speaking almost all foreign languages, he speaks them all equally badly with a nasty pronunciation. In order to have a complete idea of him, it is necessary to meet him at about five o'clock in the evening on Morskaya, when he is running, tapping his heels and waving a pink handkerchief
“Where are you going, Mr. Klov?”
“Oh, I'm in a terrible hurry.”
“It's time to go home.”
“Yes, yes, but not now, another soldier and I will go home.”
I will not elaborate on the meaning of this slightly delicate phrase, except to say that it has become a classic in the circle of homosexuals and has given the author a fame that he is unlikely to have in the ranks of journalism, to which, however, it is very doubtful whether he belongs.
To be continued….