Pyotr Schmidt

Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt (; – ) was one of the leaders of the Sevastopol Uprising during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Early years Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt was born in 1867 in Odessa, Russian Empire, now Ukraine, to the family of rear admiral and the head of Berdyansk port, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt (1828-1888). His father Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt Sr, descendant of Anton Schmidt from Frankfurt am Main, officer in the navy of Peter the Great, participated in the defense of Sevastopol during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854). His mother Yekaterina Yakovlevna Schmidt (born von Wagner) was of German descent. Schmidt spent his youth in Berdyansk, where his father was city governor (gradonachalnik) and city port head. In 1883 Schmidt Jr entered the Naval Officers' Corps in Saint Petersburg and after graduation enrolled in the Imperial Russian Navy. He resigned in 1888 and married Dominika Gavrilovna Pavlova. After the birth of his son Yevgeniy in 1889, the family moved to Taganrog, where Alexander Nentzel, manager of the Azov-Don Commercial Bank offered him a bookkeeper position. In 1893, Schmidt left Taganrog and enrolled again in the Imperial Russian Navy. Uprising in the Black Sea Fleet The uprising in the Black Sea Fleet was part of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Schmidt was a lieutenant commander of the destroyer Number 253 in the Imperial Russian Navy. On 1 October 1905, he made a speech during a meeting in Sevastopol, urging the citizens to stand up for their rights and demanding the authorities free political prisoners. Participants of the meeting headed towards the city prison, where they were met with machine gun fire. In the following days, Pyotr Schmidt gave a speech at the special session of the Sevastopol City Council and at the cemetery during the funeral ceremony, where he was arrested. He was conveyed to the battleship Tri Sviatitelia, which provoked protests and the authorities were forced to release him. On 7 November 1905, Schmidt was retired with the rank of captain (капитан 2 ранга).