Grigory Zass

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Baron

Grigory Khristoforovich von Zass
Григорий Христофорович фон Засс[1]
Georg Otto Ewald Freiherr von Saß
General Zass
Born(1797-04-29)29 April 1797
Westphalia
Died4 December 1883(1883-12-04) (aged 86)
Šķēde Manor, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire (now Saldus, Latvia)
MonumentsMonument to General G. H. Sass
NationalityBaltic-German [2]
Citizenship Russian Empire
OccupationMilitary officer
Known forRussian general, participant in the Caucasian War. He is known for pursuing an extremely cruel policy in which he intimidated the Circassians as part of the Circassian genocide.[3]
Notable workFounded the city of Armavir in Krasnodar Krai
TitleBaron
SpouseBaroness Wilhelmina Manteuffel
Parents
  • Kreiss Marshal Georg Christoph Sass (father)
  • Countess Annette Kettler (mother)
FamilyLivonian Brothers of the Sword[4]

Grigory Khristoforovich von Zass (1797–1883; Russian: Григорий Христофорович Засс) was a Russian Imperial general. He commanded Russian cavalry troops in the Napoleonic Wars and Russo-Circassian War.[5][6][7] He became well known for his genocidal actions against the Circassians. It was said that he thought they were a "lowly race".[8][9][10] He was the founder of the city of Armavir, Russia.[5]

In 2003, the Russian Federation controversially built a statue of him on former Circassian territories where the Circassian genocide happened. This made Circassians and Circassian nationalist establishments very mad.[11][12]

Racist views[change | change source]

Zass thought Circassians were not as good as the "European Race," He thought German and Russian people were much better groups of people .[8][10][13] He thought that the only way to deal with the Circassians was to scare them away "just like wild animals". He kept a box under his bed with Circassian body parts.[14]

Zass supported using very bad military methods when dealing with Circassians. These included burning people alive, cutting off heads for enjoyment, burning entire villages to the ground, spreading epidemics on purpose, and rape of children.[7][15]

War crimes and genocidal actions[change | change source]

Methods of massacre of Circassians[change | change source]

Colonel Grigory Zass was a major figure in the Circassian genocide. He was involved with ethnic cleansing. The methods he had the soldiers use included methods burning Circassian villages and causing epidemics.[16][17][18] It is estimated that 70% of the East Circassian population died in the process.[5][9]

Zass had Circassian heads cut off. He sent these heads to his friends in Berlin. These friends were professors who used the heads to study anatomy.[19] He also had heads outside of his tent on lances on a hill.

Russian soldiers and Cossacks were paid for sending Circassian heads to Zass.[20][21][22] Zass also killed Circasians in large numbers by burning Circassian villages with the people in them. He told the soldiers to rape Circassian women and children.[23][24]

Torture[change | change source]

Zass would pick random Circassian males from the towns he attacked. He would burn the men alive as a form of entertainment. He also had the bellies of pregnant women cut with bayonets.[25]

Advocacy of genocidal rape[change | change source]

Zass supported genocidal rape. His soldiers raped Circassian girls during the 1877 Russo-Turkish war.[26][27]

Zass worked with a German officer in the Russian army named Georg Andreas von Rosen during the genocide against the Circassians. Zass wrote letters to Rosen. In them, he said that he ordered Cossacks to kill Circassian civilians.[28]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ "ZASS Grigory Khristoforovich fon (2797–1883), baron, general ot kavalerii, geroy Kavkazskoy voyny" ЗАСС Григорий Христофорович фон (1797–1883), барон, генерал от кавалерии, герой Кавказской войны. Encyclopedia of Germans of Russia. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "ZASS Grigory Khristoforovich fon (2797–1883), baron, general ot kavalerii, geroy Kavkazskoy voyny" ЗАСС Григорий Христофорович фон (1797–1883), барон, генерал от кавалерии, герой Кавказской войны. Encyclopedia of Germans of Russia. Retrieved 20 January 2022. He came from an ancient Westphalian baronial family. His ancestors in the fifteenth century moved to the Baltic States.
  3. ↑ "Zass Grigory Khristoforovich" Засс Григорий Христофорович. Caucasian Knot. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2022. Русский генерал, участник Кавказской войны. Известен тем, что проводил крайне жестокую политику устрашения черкесов. [Russian general, participant in the Caucasian War. He is known for pursuing an extremely cruel policy of intimidating the Circassians.]
  4. ↑ "ZASS Grigory Khristoforovich fon (1797–1883), baron, general ot kavalerii, geroy Kavkazskoy voyny" ЗАСС Григорий Христофорович фон (1797–1883), барон, генерал от кавалерии, герой Кавказской войны. Encyclopedia of Germans of Russia. Retrieved 20 January 2022. He came from an ancient Westphalian baronial family. His ancestors in the fifteenth century moved to the Baltic States.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Щербина Ф. А. История Армавира и черкесо-горцев. — Екатеринодар: Электро-тип. т-во «Печатник», 1916.
  6. ↑ ki, Muzaffer yıldırım dedi (31 May 2018). "General Zass'ın Kızının Adigeler Tarafından Kaçırılışı". ÇERKES-FED (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Jembulat Bolotoko: The Prince of Princes (Part One)". Jamestown. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Richmond, Walter (9 April 2013). The Circassian Genocide. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-6069-4.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Velyaminov, Zass ve insan kafası biriktirme hobisi". Jıneps Gazetesi (in Turkish). 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Duvar, Gazete (14 September 2020). "Kafkasya'nın istenmeyen Rus anıtları: Kolonyal geçmişi hatırlatıyorlar". Gazeteduvar (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  11. ↑ P., T. (2020). "Çerkeslerden Rusya'ya: Kolonyalist politikalarınız nefret ekiyor". Bianet. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "New Monuments of Russian Heroes of Russian-Circassian War Anger Circassians". Jamestown. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "Bianet :: Çerkeslerden Rusya'ya: Kolonyalist politikalarınız nefret ekiyor". m.bianet.org. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  14. ↑ Dönmez, Yılmaz (31 May 2018). "General Zass'ın Kızının Adigeler Tarafından Kaçırılışı". ÇERKES-FED (in Turkish). Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  15. ↑ Ibid., p. 420.
  16. ↑ "'Benim Adım 1864'". Sivil Sayfalar (in Turkish). 21 May 2020. Archived from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  17. ↑ "Zass Grigory Khristoforovich" Засс Григорий Христофорович. Кавказский Узел. Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  18. ↑ "ZASS Grigory Khristoforovich fon (1797–1883), baron, general ot kavalerii, geroy Kavkazskoy voyny" ЗАСС Григорий Христофорович фон (1797–1883), барон, генерал от кавалерии, герой Кавказской войны. enc.rusdeutsch.ru. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  19. ↑ Bashqawi, Adel (2017). Circassia: Born to Be Free. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1543447651.
  20. ↑ Mamedov, Mikail (2008). ""Going Native" in the Caucasus: Problems of Russian Identity, 1801-64". The Russian Review. 67 (2): 275–295. ISSN 0036-0341.
  21. ↑ Tlis, Fatima (1 August 2008). "Moscow's Favoritism Towards Cossacks Mocks Circassian History". North Caucasus Weekly. 9 (30).
  22. ↑ Zhemukhov, Sufian (9 November 2011). "Jembulat Bolotoko: The Prince of Princes (Part Two)". Eurasia Daily Monitor. 8 (207).
  23. ↑ Sykes, Heather (2016). The Sexual and Gender Politics of Sport Mega-Events: Roving Colonialism. Routledge Critical Studies in Sport. Taylor & Francis. p. 124. ISBN 978-1317690016.
  24. ↑ Khodarkovsky, Michael (2011). Bitter Choices: Loyalty and Betrayal in the Russian Conquest of the North Caucasus. Cornell University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0801462900.
  25. ↑ Mamedov, Mikail (April 2008). ""Going Native" in the Caucasus: Problems of Russian Identity, 1801-64". Russian Review. 67 (2): 275–295. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9434.2008.00484.x. ISSN 0036-0341.
  26. ↑ The New Review, Volume 1. Longmans, Green and Company. 1889. p. 309. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  27. ↑ The New Review, Volume 1. Longmans, Green and Company. 1889. p. 309. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  28. ↑ Capobianco, Michael (13 October 2012). "Blood on the Shore: The Circassian Genocide". Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
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