Dmitrii Bogrov

Dmitrii Grigor'evich Bogrov (Russian: Дмитрий Григорьевич Богров; 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1887 – 25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1911) was a Ukrainian Jewish lawyer, known for his assassination of the Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin.

Raised in a wealthy Jewish family in Kyiv, Bogrov developed sympathies for revolutionary socialism from an early age and became involved with the Ukrainian anarchist movement while studying law at university. Disillusioned by the local anarchist group's activism, he was hired as an informant by the Okhrana and kept tabs on the group's activities. After graduating, he moved to Saint Petersburg in order to practice law and seek safety from the rising environment of antisemitism in the Russian Empire.

Disturbed by the pogroms in the Russian Empire and feeling guilty for his collaboration with the police, he began to plot the assassination of the Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin, who he held responsible for the attacks. He unsuccessfully attempted to elicit the support of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which caused him to have a nervous breakdown. After returning to Kyiv, he was confronted by members of his former anarchist group, who had discovered his involvement with the Okhrana and made threats against his life for it.

He again resolved to assassinate Stolypin. He told the Okhrana that assassins were planning to kill a government official, convincing them to grant him a ticket to the Kyiv Opera House, where the prime minister was due to attend a play. Having convinced the authorities that he was still on their side, he managed to get close to the prime minister and shot him twice. Stolypin died four days later. Days after his death, Bogrov himself was executed.

Bogrov's actions have become the subject of conspiracy theories, as well as numerous historiographical debates about his motives.

Dmitrii Grigor'evich Bogrov was born in Kyiv, on 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1887, into a wealthy Jewish family. His grandfather was a well-known writer and maskil; and his father was a prominent lawyer in Kyiv, who had converted to Russian Orthodoxy. Despite his father's conversion, Dmitrii himself continued to practice Judaism, which was the religion that was marked on his school diploma.

The Bogrov family was deeply involved in left-wing politics: Dmitrii's cousin was a member of the Bolsheviks, while his father supported the left of the Constitutional Democratic Party. By the time he was a teenager, Dmitrii Bogrov himself had developed sympathies for revolutionary socialism and became involved in revolutionary activities, initially as a supporter of the Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries-Maximalists. He came to identify himself as an "anarchist-individualist", as he resented formal organisation, rejected conventional morality and believed revolutionaries ought to operate alone under their own direction, even once declaring "I am my own party".

In the wake of the 1905 Russian Revolution, Bogrov enrolled in the law school of Kyiv University. As the government began cracking down on the revolution, Bogrov's parents sent him abroad to study at the University of Munich. There he familiarised himself with the works of Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin, before returning in 1906 to resume his studies in Kyiv. By December 1906, he had joined an anarchist communist group in Kyiv, but soon became disillusioned with their activities.