Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov ( Russian : Владимир Дмитриевич Набоков ; 21 July 1870 – 28 March 1922 ) was a Russia n criminologist , journalist , and progressive statesman during the last years of the Russian Empire . He was the father of Russian - American author Vladimir Nabokov . Life . Nabokov was born in Tsarskoe Selo , into a wealthy and aristocratic family . His father Dmitry Nabokov ( 1827 – 1904 ) was a Justice Minister in the reign of Alexander II from 1878 to 1885 , and his mother Maria von Korff ( 1842 – 1926 ) was a Baroness from a prominent Baltic German family in Courland . He studied criminal law at the University of St . Petersburg and taught criminology at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence . V . D . Nabokov married Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikova in 1897 , with whom he had five children . Their eldest son was the writer and lepidopterist Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov , who portrayed his father in his memoirs ( " Speak , Memory " , 1967 ) ; V . V . Nabokov included in his novel " Pale Fire " a scene of misdirected assassination evoking the death of his father . Other children were Sergey ( 1900 – 1945 ) , Kirill ( 1911 – 1964 ) , Elena ( 1906 – 2000 ) and Olga ( 1903 – 1978 ) , who was a childhood friend of novelist Ayn Rand . Career . From 1904 until 1917 he was the editor of the liberal newspaper " Rech " ( " The Speech " ) . A prominent member of the Constitutional Democratic Party ( CD , the " Kadets " ) , Nabokov was elected to Russia ' s parliament , the First Duma . In 1917 , after the February Revolution , Nabokov helped draft the document for Grand Duke Michael ' s refusal of the throne . Nabokov was made secretary to the Provisional Government ; however , he was forced to leave St . Petersburg in December 1917 after the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution . In 1918 he served as minister of justice in the regional government of Crimea , where he and his family had taken refuge . In 1919 the Nabokovs fled to England and later settled in Berlin . From 1920 until his death , Nabokov was the editor of the Russian émigré newspaper " Rul " ( " The Rudder " ) , which continued to advocate a pro - Western democratic government in Russia . Death . V . D . Nabokov attended a CD political conference in Berlin on 28 March 1922 . During the proceedings , a far - right Russian activist from Biskupsky ' s circle approached the stage singing the Tsarist national anthem and then opened fire on liberal politician and publisher Pavel Miliukov . In response , Nabokov jumped off the stage and wrestled the gunman down to the floor . Another assassin then shot Nabokov twice , killing him instantly . One of the assassins was Piotr Shabelsky - Bork , who was subsequently convicted of the murder and sentenced to a fourteen - year prison term , but who served only a small part of that sentence — the judicial system of Germany being more lenient with right - wing criminals than with their leftist equivalents . Upon his release , Shabelsy - Bork befriended Alfred Rosenberg , the notorious Nazi ideologue . Nabokov ' s demise was in keeping with his career as a democrat : he died defending Pavel Miliukov , who was one of his own political rivals . After the shooting , the assassins realized that they had failed even to wound their intended target . Nabokov is buried at the Berlin - Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery . Literature . Brian Boyd : " Vladimir Nabokov : The Russian Years "