 gesya mirokhovna gelfman (gesia gelfman or helfmann); (ÐÐµÐ»ÑÑÐ¼Ð°Ð½, ÐÐµÑÑ ÐÐ¸ÑÐ¾ÑÐ¾Ð²Ð½Ð° in russian) (her name is often incorrectly spelled gesya mironovna and she sometimes gave an abbreviated "mirovna"; she is sometimes referred to as gesia, hesse,the times (london), wednesday 11 may 1881, p. 7 hessythe times (london), saturday 26 march 1881, p. 7 or jessie) (between 1852 and 1855, mazyr â 2.1(13).1882, saint petersburg), russian revolutionary, member of narodnaya volya, implicated in the assassination of tsar alexander ii of russia. ==early life== born into a jewish family, gelfman left it at the age of 16 or 17, allegedly to avoid an arranged marriage, and moved to kiev, where she found employment in a sewing factory. ==revolutionary activities== in the early 1870s, she was an active member of several revolutionary clubs in kiev. in 1877, during the trial of the fifty, gelfman was sentenced to two years in the litovsky castle. on 14 march 1879, she was sent into exile to the province of novgorod, from where she escaped and joined narodnaya volya in saint petersburg in 1879. at a personal level, she also practiced then-revolutionary free love.robert h. mcneal, "women in the russian radical movement," journal of social history, vol. 5, no. 2. (winter, 1971-1972), p.155 in 1881 she was part of the group that assassinated alexander ii, along with her then lover, nikolai sablin. when the police raided their apartment, sablin shot himself. ==death== during the pervomartovtsi trial in march 1881, gelfman refused to admit her guilt,the times (london), thursday 7 april 1881, p. 5 but she was nevertheless sentenced to death by hanging for her alleged part in the assassination of the tsar. however, a few hours after being convicted, she made a statement reading in part that "in view of the ... sentence i have received, i consider it my moral duty to declare that i am in the fourth month of pregnancy". according to contemporary law execution of pregnant women was banned as the fetus was considered innocent. therefore, gelfman's execution was officially postponed until forty days after childbirth, and in the meantime she would stay in the harsh peter and paul fortress prison. three months later, thanks to the campaign against her execution by socialists in western europere protests in belgium, see the times (london), wednesday 11 may 1881, p. 7. there were also demonstrations in marseilles, which resulted in some of the participants being fined and/or i
1852_births 1882_deaths Belarusian_Jews Belarusian_revolutionaries Narodnaya_Volya Narodniks Nihilism People_from_Mazyr People_from_Minsk_Governorate