Homosexuality in Nicholas II’s St. Petersburg: A Look at 1908’s Scandalous Expose K sudu!
Translated and annotated by Greg King
Part II
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 3: Kurochkin’s Den
Many of the residents of St. Petersburg will probably recall the restaurant Toulon, which briskly traded in the old Passage [Toulon Restaurant operated in the Passage until 1901; after this, it was located at No. 67 Nevsky Prospekt].
Perhaps there are those who have not forgotten the doorman Vasili Kurochkin, who served there for many years. “Kurochkin was a splendid man,” they will say, “he always helped out in difficult moments.”
And “difficult matters” will be the truth. Vasili was engaged in “those affairs” and, presumably, he did it successfully, because he had hardly left Toulon when he opened an apartment on Furshtatskaya Street with the “girls” and the “young knights.”
I see you are embarrassed, reader, not knowing why this should matter.
Well, what was special was that Vasili Kurochkin opened a homosexual den, like Shabelskaya and Eichenfeld. This Russian citizen even surpassed them in many ways, combining two branches of “trade” in one institution.
He himself described his “apartment” as follows: “I have something for every taste.”
It was not for nothing that Vasili Kurochkin started this “business,” which seemed so alien to the Russian peasant: he was one of those “people” himself.
Even when he served as a doorman, many were surprised by the abundance of suspicious young people at Vasili's tables. But that was in the good old days, when the “sect” was still only raising its “head” with hope, looking fearfully at the authorities, and no one, of course, could even suspect the “obliging” doorman of homosexuality. It was from these very visitors that Kurochkin formed" the cadre of his “young knights.”
The owner of this third homosexual den in St. Petersburg liked to dress up in women's clothing and walk the streets in this form. At his masquerades, he was also distinguished by extravagant dresses.
Imagine a middle-aged, bloated, mustachioed peasant in the costume of a street singer from an Offenback opera, with a garland of fresh flowers over his shoulder, and you will understand how Vasili Kurochkin looked in this outfit. But you will understand not only this but also understand that homosexuals are almost abnormal people.
But I shall have to return to this later and dwell longer, but for now I will only say that the capital has lost this marvelous “singer” but his den is still flourishing in the care of a “Mother Superior.”
Chapter 4: Znamensky Baths
In a three-storey nondescript building on Znamenskaya Street, opposite Manezhny Lane, the famous Znamensky Baths nestle [Znamensky Baths opened in 1845 and was a large establishment, occupying two buildings at Nos. 51 and 53 Znamenskaya Street, near the Tauride Gardens. This was known as one of the capital’s homosexual gathering places].
If you are a curious person then go look. You will find a lot of interesting things that will make even a non-bashful person blush.
As soon as you penetrate this “abode,” the massive figure of a bath attendant named Gavril, famous in the homosexual sect, waddles toward you like a duck.
Gavril, a corpulent man about 40-45 years old, with a repulsive, unpleasant face, has an obsequious gaze that looks into your soul. This “gentleman” will not hesitate to offer you his “services” or those of someone else. Other local sylphs and fairies in the form of broke hooligans sit in an empty, never occupied room, waiting for guests, behind a screen of card games or coin flips.
What types of criminal St. Petersburg you will not meet in this nice society! It seems that the naïve scenes and underground of the vicious capital have thrown all their rottenness here, that all the dregs have found a safe refuge here in the quiet “abode” of “Uncle Gavril.”
But you are a bashful person and do not dare to disturb the “respectable” company, but this means absolutely nothing. Gavril will bring you an album of photographic cards, where all these homosexuals are depicted dressed and made up, some even in women's outfits.
All this, of course, you will find in a special “department,” where only this underground activity is in full swing. For while the Znamensky baths are so famous in the “circle,” other parts operate no differently than other respectable baths.
But here, in this special “department,” you point to one of the “little ones” depicted in the album, and in about 5 minutes the “original” is at your disposal. At the same time, the price is announced. All this is done in a surprisingly brazen manner in the consciousness of complete irresponsibility.
The “album” is shown exclusively to guests from among the important and old clients of the bathhouse attendant Gavril. This is how the Znamensky Baths prosper before the eyes of the police authorities. Just like in the east, where there are thousands of such baths with exactly the same “conveniences!”
These are the main secret dens where a circle of homosexuals gathers to satisfy their unnatural inclinations.
Who, then, are the planters and commissioners of debauchery? An unsuccessful actor; a pseudo-masseur; a retired waiter; and a bathhouse attendant. But in themselves they are only important as tools: the center lies in the persons belonging to the upper class and the rich bourgeoisie, who use the “services” of this enterprising “company,” and therefore I consider it necessary to dwell in more detail on the characteristics of these persons, and then to pass on to their evenings and of the homosexuals recruitment of young people, and the most famous “demimondes” of the homosexual world.
Chapter 5: Aunts and Fossils
It is difficult to establish exactly when, in fact, the homosexual vice was born in St. Petersburg.
Of the oldest representatives of homosexuality, Messrs. Tvlinsky, Grunfeld, Klov, Kkazi, Otnikov and some others are now known in the circle as pioneers of the sect. In the circle, they are better known by the strange nickname “aunts.”
The clue to this nickname should be sought in the love of some of them for needlework, which they are engaged in at the Summer and Tauride Gardens, not forgetting, however, to cast rather unambiguous glances at the passing young people. Both are undoubtedly somewhat strange for the elderly, respectable people of this ugly half of the human race.
There are all sorts of “pedagogues” in this world like DuLoux and Bychkov [References to Karl Yulievich DuLoux, a French teacher at the Corps des Pages who in June 1908 was tried and found guilty of “attempted corruption” and “shameless acts” with his pupils, and Feodor Bychkov, a former teacher who in 1883 had been found guilty of “corrupting the morals” of the students at the gymnasium in St. Petersburg where he taught]. All of them, though, pale in comparison to the good-natured, slightly comical-looking old German Grunfeld. A native of Mitava, he moved to Russia in the 1870s and from that time began his “educational” activity as a tutor in aristocratic houses.
Imagine a child at the mercy of a depraved homosexual “aunt.” Imagine the horror of the situation when such a gentleman introduces a child to his psychopathic views on life, on sexual relations.
I myself heard from a former pupil that Grunfeld said to him: “I am in love with your father. I feel unhappy.”
In front of the children's eyes, dirty scenes of molesting footmen were enacted.
By the time grown-ups noticed Mr. Grunfeld's “oddities,” it was too late; he had already managed to cripple the soul of the child entrusted to him.
This tutor had all the typical traits of homosexual “aunts.” He loved needlework and sat for hours at a hoop, and his costume was more than extravagant: a yellow sailor's jacket with a blue collar, a pink cambric tie – and this at the age of 60! Usually, of course, the house “lost” Herr Grunfeld after some disgusting story, but what was the use of that?
This tutor was truly a murderer of children's souls and evoked in everyone only a feeling of deep disgust, in spite of his outward gloss. A worthy member of a worthy circle!
To see how other “forgotten” members of the “circle” occasionally appear on the Fontanka, old, worn, ugly, with shiny semi-normal glances that they throw at the passers-by, their victims of the “street,” is like plunging into a muddy puddle, so immediately it becomes disgusting.
And these are all old people who hold or once held prominent positions!
I have called them “fossils” because they have now passed from the scene, but in the old days many of them took part in all the ugliness of the homosexual “circle” and enjoyed well-deserved fame in it.
Chapter 6: Villa Fernando
About thirty years ago, the whole of secular St. Petersburg was frustrated by a grandiose scandal that took place in the mansion of the famous millionaire Pzhev, who was married to one of the first beauties of fashionable St. Petersburg.
Under the conditions of the censorship the press of the time hushed up this high-society scandal, only did it become known that the “hero” of the scandal, Mr. Pzhev, had hastily “fled” abroad, and that the spouses had separated forever. The essence of the scandal, which was rare at that time, was that the wife caught her husband en flagrante with his valet.
It goes without saying that after this “discovery” the spouses could not live together and a separation ensued.
Having moved to cosmopolitan Nice, Mr. Pzhev gave free rein to his unnatural inclinations, and many of the Russian colony in Nice remember a story that surprised even the unflappable Nice with its novelty of content.
With Mr. Pzhev, the Neapolitan fisherman Fernando appeared below the Nice sky, all studded with diamonds, suspiciously made-up, with the manners of a fallen woman of low rank.
Imagine the surprise of the society when it soon became known that the luxurious Pzhevskaya villa was renamed into the villa Fernando and presented by a millionaire to a suspicious fisherman. Now Mr. Pzhev has grown old, his “activity” has subsided, but the St. Petersburg homosexuals, when they visit Nice, consider it their duty to pay a visit to a veteran of the sect, where they can always hope to meet with “pleasant” society.
In addition to the old man Pzhev and Fernando, two rarities live in the villa, about which it is worth saying a few words. They are M. Ico, one of the former marshals of the nobility, the downtrodden type of hanger-on in the rich old-world houses, and the famous courtesan of the time of Napoleon III., Madame de Soubise, a woman of about seventy. What is the relationship of the latter to the inveterate homosexuals, shrouded in the darkness of obscurity?
In all probability Madame de Soubise is a kind of screen covering up all sorts of abominations of the Villa Fernando. As I said, pilgrims flock to Villa Fernando from all sides to worship this tripartite league. A kind of homosexual throne on which sits the “pope” of the homosexual sect, Mr. Pzhev, in all his majesty. Not a bad Vatican!
Chapter 7: Villa Tirenty
The Spanish Duke de Pomar [a named taken from an 1898 novel by Nicholas Heinze] lives in a luxurious villa near Pzhev. In the evening, after the departure of all guests, all kinds of homosexual entertainments are arranged, at which the entire Russian homosexual colony is present.
The Duke “lives” with his Spaniard valet and is faithful to his friend, so that homosexual “maidens” in Nice visit him solely for the amusement of their friends. He has been to St. Petersburg many times and attended the Knov evenings.
Chapter 8 Villa Nigra
I remember that I met N. I. Knov for the first time at one of the charity concerts.
Mr. Knov was not alone: a handsome young man was curling around him with caution. The tender glances they exchanged made one suppose many things.
By chance, an acquaintance of the all-knowing breed happened to be near me; seeing that I was interested in this somewhat strange couple, he whispered in my ear, smiling, “This is Knov, a well-known homosexual, and the other, his ‘girlfriend’ Schneibach, is a highly suspicious person.”
At that time, the word homosexual was very little used, and I didn't even understand it at first. When my acquaintance explained to me what was the matter, I was struck by the fact that there were such people in the world, although he himself suspected the same thing in a few minutes. Subsequently, everything said by the acquaintance was confirmed.
From various sources I have heard of the evenings given by Mr. Knov in Mokhovaya Street, in the luxurious apartment of the landlord. From the outside, they were more than decent. Knov’s dinners and evenings were attended by many celebrities of the artistic world, laughter and witticisms were heard, the hospitable host welcomed everyone with open arms and expensive wines, as they say, flowed like a river.
But when the guests finished the feast, they bowed out, and the scenery changed in an instant. Schneibach's friends, young people of a completely different circle, appeared on the stage, and the atmosphere thickened at once.
It is impossible to describe all the filth, all the hidden and overt debauchery that reigned at these evenings, either from the point of view of morality or from the point of view of aesthetics, and I will give a general description of these evenings in a separate chapter. No matter how rich Mr. Knov was, these artistic evenings shook his fortune, but the hero of the homosexual world decided not to give up.
A rich merchant's wife turned up and, as a result, there was a fictitious marriage and a solid reward.
Abandoning his “friend” to the mercy of fate, taking with him his elderly father, once a very prominent administrator of the Western Territory, or rather his pension of 20,000 rubles, Mr. Knov moved to Nice, where he lived the life of a prominent gentleman in his own luxurious villa, Nigra. Do not think that Mr. Knov has given up his pleasant habits, and that it is comparatively very recently that he has appeared at the gambling tables of Monte Carlo in the company of the handsome Englishman Foster.
At the same time, he became infatuated with the Russian aristocrat Sh.
But then one fine day, or rather a miserable day, a misfortune struck Mr. Knov's head: the bank in which Mr. Knov had invested the greater part of his fortune went broke, and Knov could not survive his ruin a second time. He had a stroke and was stricken with paralysis. Whether this young old man continues to surround himself with homosexuals is not known, but in all probability he is abandoned and alone, and will end his sad days in Nice.
And once he was an ornament of the sect, received and visited Pzhev, de Pomar and others. Sic transit...
Here are the three pillars of homosexual debauchery in Nice, two of which are Russian.
To be continued….