Dmitry Ivanovich ShultzOlga Khoroshilova, a candidate of art history, refers to Shultz as Ivanovich, while Sergei Nehamkin in his article and an anonymous note threatening the prosecutor and investigator in the sectarian leader's case refer to him as Henrikhovich. (1893 (?), Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire – April 2, 1930, Moscow, USSR) was a religious figure, creator, and leader of the sect United Temple, which operated in the 1920s. Dmitry Shultz developed both the theoretical basis of the sect's activities and thoroughly elaborated its rituals. Dmitry Shultz was born into an intelligent family and showed a talent for writing and theater as a child. He graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Count Arakcheev Cadet Corps and studied at the Moscow Commercial Institute, where he attended lectures by the theologian Sergei Bulgakov. In the 1920s, he created a community of mystically inclined young people who were initially drawn to the ideas of spiritualism and later to the creation of a new syncretic religion. Over time, elements of sadism, masochism, and sexual perversion began to emerge within this community, which eventually transformed into a totalitarian religious sect with openly anti-Soviet views.
In March 1930, following a trial widely covered by the central press, Dmitry Shultz was sentenced to capital punishment under Article 58-10 of the RSFSR Criminal Code ("for propaganda calling for the undermining or weakening of Soviet power, using religious prejudices") and was executed by firing squad. Ilya Braude, a lawyer and participant in open political trials, was involved in the trial. The forensic psychiatric examination was conducted by prominent scientists and doctors of medicine: Pyotr Gannushkin, Wolf Vnukov, and Yevgeny Krasnushkin. Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich also participated as an expert on religious studies.
Biography
Childhood and adolescence Dmitry Shultz's date of birth is unknown. He was 37 years old at the time of his trial in 1930. His mother was a German noblewoman, descended from an ancient family of Baltic barons. She was fond of mysticism, read the works of Russian philosophers Vladimir Solovyov, Sergei Bulgakov, and writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky, and participated in spiritual séances. His father, a foreign language teacher at Count Arakcheev's Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps, did not share his wife's interests but did not try to hinder them either. Dmitry and his younger brother, Henry, were present at and sometimes participated in their mother's spiritualistic experiments, which were held at their apartment in Nizhny Novgorod. On holidays, the family members performed theatrical plays. Dmitry began composing fairy tales at the age of five or six and participated in their production alongside his younger brother. He initially planned to pursue a theatrical career but, at his father's insistence, entered the Arakcheev Cadet Corps, where his father taught. Dmitry began experiencing mystical epiphanies, during which he heard voices and saw "figures of exhausted saints" smiling at him. The pastor characterized the young man as a true believer, but his classmates laughed at him.
Even during his studies at the Arakcheev Cadet Corps, Shultz displayed traits of sadism and sexual perversion. The newspaper Izvestia, in its February 25, 1930 issue, even claimed that the children in the Shultz family, despite their religious upbringing, "engaged in debauchery" from an early age. According to Ilya Braude, Shultz's parents were "withdrawn and pompous people". Their situation was worsened by the family's impoverishment, and their son was "inculcated with an adoration of the 'purity' of Aryan blood, and a sense of superiority over other races and peoples".
After graduating from the Arakcheev Cadet Corps, Dmitry Shultz entered the Moscow Commercial Institute. During his studies, he attended lectures by Sergei Bulgakov, after which he declared himself Bulgakov's faithful student. Based on the philosopher's reasoning about Sophia the Wise and omniscience, Shultz attempted to unite the existing religions into one. He intended to write a thesis on the creation of a Christian state under Bulgakov's guidance, but in 1917, Shultz dropped out of the institute. Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich reported that when it was Shultz's turn to serve in the army during World War I, he persuaded his fiancée to cut off his finger to avoid being sent to the front.
Another version of Dmitry Shultz's biography was presented by Ilya Braude: After the February Revolution, Shultz left the military school and moved to his parents' estate. During the October Revolution, he worked in an unnamed "backwoods town on the Volga" as a clerk at a factory.
Leading a religious sect Schultz had the gift of hypnosis, artistic ability, and ventriloquism. In 1919According to other sources, this happened in 1920, and not in Volsk, but in the village of Yuriev. in Volsk, where he moved with his wife Margot to hide from the draft board, he held his first spiritistic séance in the presence of acquaintances and relatives. Evidence of the presence of spirits included the fall of a cast iron pan and the clinking of dishes. These sounds were made by Margot, who hid in the next room and set the dishes in motion with a long rope tied to these objects. Returning to Nizhny Novgorod, Schultz was given a position as a foreign language teacher at the school Kommuna (the name the Arakcheev Cadet Corps was called after the revolution). In 1920, the school was moved to the village of Yurino, where Schultz resumed spiritistic séances, inviting both his students and villagers. Among the regular attendees were Nikolai Makarov and Grigory Zaitsev (Braude had Grigory Z. and Sergei D., who grew up in religious families), employed in an amateur theater studio run by the medium. An active role in the group of spiritualists was played by Heinrich Schultz (a former staff-captain in the Tsarist army). During séances, dishes fell, spirit voices were heard, and lights went out by themselves; Schultz led the sessions, stating his thoughts in the form of blank verse.
The helper spirits on behalf of whom Schultz prophesied, taking turns acting, were: Marquisette (patroness of children), Matryona Filippievna of Krivoy Zoul (patroness of sect members), Tomás de Torquemada (the Grand Inquisitor who assisted in the exorcisms and consolation of sectarians subjected to corporal punishment), Marguerite Gastner, Casibius, Ulrich von Hutten, Germenochka, Olechka, El-El, Jevanda, and Demeter. In all, about fifty spirits were recorded. The most important of them was considered to be Agathit Abdullah ("the wisest of all the wise men of the earth"). He was born in the Middle East but lived near Derbent. Agathit answered the most difficult questions; in case the questions were simple, he could get offended. In the fall of 1922, the Schultz sect moved to Moscow to the two-room apartment of his wife Margot (located at 65 Bakuninskaya Street). The spouses occupied the larger room, while the other room was occupied by Dmitry's followers, who called each other "brothers" and "sisters". During one of the sessions, Abdullah stated that due to old age he was resigning his duties and handing them over to Dmitry Shultz, who was to be perceived as a prophet. Subsequently, the activity of the sect took place in an apartment on Spiridonovka Street, house 8. It lasted for about 8 years. An Izvestia correspondent and Ilya Braude claimed that Dmitry Shultz headed the sect in Moscow, while his brother Heinrich "expanded and strengthened its Nizhny Novgorod branch". At the time, he was a teacher at the local Industrial and Economic Technical School.
In time, Schultz took on the persona of a four-year-old girl, Metochka.According to Fedor Putintsev, Metochka is an abbreviated name of the goddess Demeter. In this image, he was capricious; the students gave him dolls, chocolates, candy, bonnets, lace, and beautiful shoes. When the money ran out, they went to collect alms. The sectarians gave part of the money collected to Heinrich Schultz, the accountant of the United Temple, and used the rest of the money to buy gifts for Metochka. Prophet Agathit Abdullah revealed during a new séance that Metochka was patronized by the ancient Greek goddess Demeter, who gave the community her portrait and a sculpted bust. These were secretly executed by Dmitry Shultz. Both have survived and are now in the collection of the Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg. In turn, the young sectarian Nina Makarova was "transformed" at a spiritualistic séance into a young man. She received a new name —Thomas (in honor of Thomas à Kempis)— her hair was cut off, and she was given men's clothes, as well as vodka, and had her front teeth knocked out.
In the fall of 1929, the district police department received a statement indicating that Nina Makarova, a student of the Moscow Conservatory, was begging on the streets of Moscow. Her classmates were surprised by her appearance: the girl was beaten, sat directly on the sidewalk in her shirt, and gave the impression of being insane. She reported that she lived at 65 Bakuninskaya Street. The police detained a group of sectarians there. In total, the sect had about 30 members.
The correspondent of the magazine Smena and Ilya Braude saw in the collection of alms an anti-Soviet action. According to them, Schultz purposely directed his admirers to "crowded intellectual neighborhoods" and demanded that they stand "with outstretched hands near foreign embassies", "let the noble foreigners see the full horror of Soviet reality and socialism".
Legal process and trial
During the investigation, Dmitry Shultz presented himself as a "common quacker" who had created the sect for purely mercenary purposes. He frankly confirmed that he was throwing objects apparently "emerging" from nowhere and moved objects using a rope during spiritualistic séances. Toward the end of the investigation, he abruptly changed his position: he recanted the testimony he had already given and began to portray himself as a victim of his own 'unshakable faith and delusions'. Shultz's lawyer, Ilya Braude, believed that his client was pinning his hopes on the recognition of his insanity during the forensic psychiatric examination. Braude himself was also betting on this: pathological features prevail in Schultz's personality and deeds, and it is impossible to consider him quite normal. Braude, who was present during the interrogations, later recalled that flattering, soft, and ingratiating with representatives of the authorities, he was unrecognizably transformed when confronted during confrontations with his recent followers of the United Temple. His tone was at once imperious and commanding.
While the preliminary process was underway, the prosecutor's office received an anonymous message written with blood, demanding the release of Dmitry Shultz and threatening to reprisal those who would try him.
Only four leaders of the sect became defendants at the trial: Dmitryy, Heinrich, and their spouses, Margo and Elena. The rest of the sect members were involved only as witnesses. Some of them testified in the company of medical personnel, as they were in a state of nervous and mental shock.