Wilghelm Kukhelbecker (1797-1846)

A famous Decembrist, a poet, and a writer, Wilghelm Kukhelbecker was born in 1797 in St.-Petersburg, in the family of russified Germans. In 1808 he was sent to a private lyceum, and three years later went to the lyceum in the Tsarskoye Selo. There he made friendship with Pushkin and Delwigh. Since his early years Kukhelbecker had demonstrated free thinking. He became a member of the circle headed by the Decembrist Burtsev. During this period Kuchelbecker would study deeply social sciences, compiled a glossary of political terms, and seriously learned literature. He was an acknowledged poet in the Lyceum. In 1815 his poems were published in the magazines ‘A Son of Motherland”’, and ‘Amphionus’. He was an active member of the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Philology, and in 1820 Kuchelbecker recited a poem dedicated to exiled Pushkin, which resulted in his denunciation. In the face of an impending danger, Kuchelbecker went abroad as a secretary of the grandee A. Naryshkin. In Germany he visited Goete, whom dedicated the poem ‘To Prometheus’. In Paris he delivered a series of lectures on Russian literature, which enjoyed great popularity. A free character of the lectures was disapproved by the Tsar’s ambassador, who pressed Kuchelbecker to be sent back to Russia.

Friends assisted Kuchelbecker to enter the service with general Ermolov, and in 1821 Kuchelbecker went to the Caucasus, where he got acquainted with A. Griboyedov. In May 1822 he retired and went to his sister’s estate Zakup in the Smolenskaya region. Here he would write lyrical poems, completed his tragedy ‘The Argivyane’ and the poem ‘Cassandra’, and started a poem about Griboyedov.

In 1823 financial difficulties forced him to arrive in Moscow. Kuchelbecker became close to Odoyevski, with whom he published the almanac ‘Mnemosina’ . Kuchelbecker wrote poems on the revolt in Greece, on Byron’s death, messages to Ermolov, Griboyedov, the poem ‘The Fate of Russian Poets’.

In 1825 he moved to St.-Petersburg, joined the Decembrists, and was allowed to a conspirated political society. In December 14, 1825 Kuchelbecker, one of the few civils among officers, was very active during the Decembrists’ revolt. He visited revolted regiments, shot at the Great Prince Mikhail Pavlovich. When the revolted regiments were dissipated, Kuchelbecker disguised into a peasant dress and tried to escape abroad, but was arrested in Warsaw, and sentenced to death. The sentence was later changed for a long-term penalty servitude.

After ten years of solitude confinement Kuchelbecker was exiled to Siberia. During both his imprisonment and exile he would write his poetry: the poem ‘An Orphan’, tragedies ‘Prokoffy Lyapunov’, ‘Izhorski’, a fairy tale called ‘Ivan the Merchant’s Son’, reminiscences ‘Ryleev’s shadow’, and ‘To the Memory of Griboyedov’.

In exile Kuchelbecker married the daughter of the postmaster Artemov. Being seriously ill with inflammation and almost blind, Kuchelbecker arrived in Tobolsk. His creative forces were not gone, and he would dictate letters, poems, and stories to his friends. Every day the fairy- teller Piotr Ershov visited Kuchelbecker. Kuchelbecker died in August 11, 1846, and was buried in Tobolsk.