ABSTRACT
Lieutenant-Colonel Ivan Petrovich Vasiliev served in the Special Section of the Department of Police, where Colonel Eremin headed a staff of ten officers and 12 secretaries. Because of his rank and long career, Vasiliev was considered a senior assistant to Eremin and often signed covering letters for him. He was born in 1872. After graduating from a military school in 1891, Vasiliev served in reserve army units until 1900, when he was transferred to the Separate Corps of Gendarmes and assigned to the Moscow Okhrana. He served there under its chief, Zubatov. Vasiliev was known to his fellow officers as a notorious Zubatovetz (follower of Zubatov). He was involved in instigating Jewish pogroms and printing anti-Semitic pamphlets, among them the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He was also close to extreme chauvinist groups like the Black Hundreds.1 Among his fellow officers Vasiliev was also known as a ‘drunkard and intriguer’.2 In May 1910, he was assigned to the Special Section of the Department of Police.
