Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia - Governor of Moscow

Governor of Moscow

With the increase of all sorts of radical elements, especially among the students in Moscow, Alexander III adopted a policy of repression. The Emperor wanted a like mind at the helm of Imperial Russia’s second city and former capital. In the spring of 1891, the Tsar appointed Sergei as Governor General of Moscow. Although it was a great honor Sergei accepted his new appointment with reluctance, he had hoped to stay longer in command of the Preobrajensky, where he was popular; and he and his wife loved the quiet life they were living in Saint Petersburg.

The vice regal role of Governor General ruling Prince of Moscow was one that was answerable only to the emperor. Sergei was a political hardliner who shared his brother’s inalienable belief in strong, nationalist government. Sergei’s tenure began with the expulsion of Moscow’s 20,000 Jews. It started four weeks before he arrived in person, after the publication of an Imperial ukase by the Minister of the Interiors, Ivan Durnovo, by which all Jews of lower social stance (artisans, minor traders and so on) had to be expelled from Moscow. On March 29, the first day of Passover, the city’s Jewish population learned of the new decree that called for their expulsion. In three carefully planned phases over the next twelve months, Moscow’s Jews were expelled. Those first to go were the unmarried, the childless and those who had lived in the city for less than three years. Next, it was the turn of apprentices, of families with up to four children and those with less than six years residency. Last of all, it was the turn of the old Jewish settlers with large families and or numerous employees, some of who had lived in Moscow for forty years. Young Jewish women were made to register as prostitutes if they wanted to stay in the city. During the expulsion, homes were surrounded by mounted Cossacks in the middle of the night while policemen ransacked every house. In January 1892, in a temperature of 30 degrees below zero, Brest station was packed with Jews of all ages and sexes, all in rags and surrounded by meager remnants of households goods, all leaving voluntarily rather than face deportation. Sergei as Governor General was petitioned by the police commissioners to stop the expulsions until the weather conditions improved. While he agreed, the order was not published until the expulsions were over. Some of them moved to southern and western regions of Empire although there were many who decided to emigrate. In counting the cost, Moscow lost 100 millions rubles in trade and production, 25,000 Russians employed by Jewish firms lost their livelihoods, while the manufacture of silk, one of the city’s most lucrative industries, was all but wiped out.

To meet the needs of students, Sergei ordered the start of construction of new dormitories in the city. At the same time, however, severe restrictions were imposed on the students and professors in the universities as a part of state's policy of conspiracy prevention and elimination of revolutionary ideas. This made Sergei Alexandrovich very unpopular in Moscow among intelligentsia, though the more conservative citizens were pleased. The Muscovite nobility and merchants despised him, because he was rough and lacked tact, while attempting to fight commercial fraud and enforce strict police measures. However, he did significantly improve general living conditions during his tenure and was extremely conscientious in carrying out his duties: “Even in the country when he was supposed to be resting," his niece remembered, "he was constantly receiving couriers from Moscow and giving audiences.” He paid a lot of attention to detail, attending personally to matters that could easily have been left to subordinates, punishing corruption and fraud. At times, he would go about the city incognito to see conditions for himself. In private, he and his wife were concerned about the poverty they saw in Moscow and the surrounding countryside, discussing ways to improve it.

Welfare organizations and charities always attracted Sergei’s attention and he became either chairman or patron of scores of them. He was for example, chairman of the Moscow Society for the Care, Upbringing and Education of Blind Children; of the Society for Homeless, Neglected Children and Convicted Adolescents; and the Moscow Department of the Russian Department Society of National Health Protection. In addition, he was patron of organizations as diverse as the Moscow and Saint Petersburg Universities; The Printer’s Mutual Aid Fund; the Society of Care for Aged Actors, the Pskov Non Classical Secondary School and Prince Nikola’s Alm Houses. He was also chairman of the Academies of both Arts and Science, the Moscow Archeological Society, the Society of Agriculture, the Russian Musical Society, the Historical Museum in Moscow and the Moscow Theological Academy among others.