Richard Richardovich Vasmer (; Russianized forms: Roman Romanovich, Richard Richardovich, or Georgiy Richardovich; 9 October 1888 – 22 February 1938) was a Russian and Soviet numismatist and Orientalist-Arabist. According to I. Yu. Krachkovsky, Vasmer was "our foremost expert on Eastern, especially Muslim, numismatics". He was a foreign corresponding member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (1929). Vasmer was the younger brother of the renowned German linguist, Slavist, and Balkanist Max Vasmer.
Vasmer was born into a family of Russian Germans. He graduated from the Karl May Gymnasium, Leipzig University, and Saint Petersburg Imperial University. He was invited to work at the Hermitage Museum, where he cataloged Arabic coins in the museum's collection. He participated in World War I. In 1918, he returned to the Hermitage, serving as secretary of the Numismatics and Glyptics Section of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture. He was the chief curator of Eastern numismatics at the Hermitage until his arrest. Until 1925, he worked on the first Soviet exhibition of Eastern coins, after which he devoted himself entirely to scholarly work.
He primarily studied the circulation of Arabic coins in medieval Eastern Europe, as well as numismatics as a source for the history of Eastern states. He pioneered research on coin hoard analysis, engaging in cartography and systematization of numismatic finds. He published over 50 works, with extensive unpublished manuscripts preserved in archives. Arrested in 1934 on fabricated charges in the "Russian National Party case", he was sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp. He died in a camp in Tashkent at the age of 49. He was rehabilitated in 1956.
Biography
Childhood and education
Vasmer was born on 9 October 1888 at 11 a.m. in a merchant family of Russian Germans (subjects of the German Empire) in Saint Petersburg. His father was Richard Julius Friedrich Vasmer (1853, Altona, Kingdom of Denmark – 1924, Berlin, Weimar Republic);Card of Amalia Maria Julia Schaub in the digitized card index of foreigners in pre-revolutionary Russia, compiled by Erik Amburger and digitized by the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies. his mother was Amalia Maria Julia, née Schaub (1862, Saint Petersburg – 1935, Berlin), daughter of academic architect K. A. E. Schaub. Max and Richard Jr.Grandson of writer N. P. Wagner, son of sailor and artist P. I. Wagner; shot in 1938. had an older sister, Maria. Richard was baptized in the Evangelical Lutheran rite on 16 January 1889 (Old Style). His godparent was V. V. Schaub.
In 1906, Vasmer enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy at Leipzig University, studying until 1907. He studied Turkish, Persian, Arabic languages, and Arabic literature under Professor Hans Stumme. On 16 August 1907, he applied for admission to the "Arabic-Persian-Turkish-Tatar Department" of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Saint Petersburg Imperial University, studying until 6 October 1910. At the university, Vasmer attended lectures by P. K. Kokovtsov on Semitic epigraphy, Hebrew, and Syriac, lectures by V. V. Bartold on Islamic numismatics, and lectures by N. A. Mednikov, V. A. Zhukovsky, A. E. Schmidt, and A. N. Samoylovich. He also attended courses on Arabic language and literature, Greek, Latin, Persian language and literature, Ottoman language and literature, Turkic dialects, history of the East, ancient Eastern history, introduction to linguistics, logic, and German. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Latin, and several modern European languages. Vasmer graduated with a first-class diploma and was invited to the Hermitage Museum to work on inventorying Eastern coins.
Career There were many uncataloged exhibits in the Hermitage-museum, so there was established a special commission in 1908 to address this issue. The numismatics department had only two curators: head A. K. Markov and O. F. Retowski. The museum began hiring "inventory clerks" — employees for cataloging (the first, V. R. Focht, was hired in 1905, working until 1906). By 1909, under Markov and Retowski, four non-staff employees worked in the Numismatics Department: Focht again, S. A. Gamalov-Churaev, K. I. Simonalevich, and G. B. Meyer. In 1910, V. A. Shugaevsky and Vasmer were hired, followed by V. M. Alekseev and N. P. Bauer.
Vasmer received Russian citizenship on 24 September 1910 and was hired by the Hermitage on the same day. He worked as a research fellow and curator (assistant curator) of the Hermitage's Numismatics Department from 1910, officially on staff since 1 January 1911. That day, he was granted the rank of Collegiate Secretary. On 20 February 1911, by order of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, he was assigned to the Imperial Hermitage (some sources say 11 January 1911). Since 22 December 1910, he was a collaborating member of the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society. He delivered 16 papers at its meetings from 1913 to 1924.
In 1911, Vasmer petitioned the rector of Saint Petersburg University to enroll as a non-degree student in the Faculty of Oriental Languages' Jewish-Arabic-Syriac section. Around 1910–1916, he prepared an eight-volume catalog of Kufic coins in the Hermitage, including coins from nearly all pre-Mongol Muslim dynasties, Muslim exagia,Exagium — a coin weight in the form of stamped plates. weights, and stamps (stored in the Eastern Coins Cabinet of the Hermitage's Numismatics Department).On 3 January 1914, Vasmer was granted the rank of Titular Councillor. On 26 October of the same year, he married Alida Pavlovna Nipp (1892–?), a subject of the German Empire. At the time of Vasmer's arrest, Alida worked as an assistant accountant at the Volodarsky Sewing Factory.
In 1914, Vasmer managed the Hermitage's coin department for two months. During World War I, in November 1915, he enrolled in the Nikolaev Engineering School, after which, in 1916, he was assigned to the 1st Rear Motorcycle Workshop. He was demobilized in spring 1918. In September 1918, Vasmer returned to the Hermitage as an assistant, and in the same year was appointed curator of Eastern coins. His brother Max emigrated from Russia the previous year, eventually settling in Germany.
From 1918, Richard was a member of the Hermitage Council, remaining so until its dissolution in 1926. In early December 1918, he signed a collective letter to People's Commissar of Culture Anatoly Lunacharsky and Vladimir Lenin requesting that exhibits evacuated to Moscow by the Russian Provisional Government not be displayed but returned to Petrograd for safekeeping. The letter was sent by Maxim Gorky, who added his signature. The Moscow exhibition was canceled, and by early 1920, all exhibits were returned to the Hermitage.
Since 13 December 1919, Vasmer worked as a research fellow in the Permanent Commission (later Section) of Numismatics and Glyptics of the Russian Academy of the History of Material Culture (RAIMK, later GAIMK). Later, he was appointed secretary of the section. He compiled protocols for nearly 500 meetings. From 1919 to 1929, he delivered over 100 reports and presentations to the Commission.
In autumn 1920, after A. K. Markov's death, Vasmer succeeded him as chief curator of Eastern coins at the Hermitage. In reality, the department was led by A. A. Ilyin after Markov. On 20 March 1923, he was elected secretary of the Numismatic Section of the Russian Archaeological Society, serving until its dissolution in 1924. In 1925, under Vasmer's leadership, the Hermitage hosted the first Soviet exhibition of coins from the Near, Middle, and Far East and European colonies in the East. After the exhibition, he was able to devote sufficient time to scholarly research.
In 1927, Vasmer was elected a member of the Society of Archaeology, History, and Ethnography at Kazan University. On 4 June 1929, he was elected a foreign corresponding member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. In 1929, GAIMK underwent a "purge of class-alien elements," dismissing over half its staff, and the Numismatics and Glyptics Section was disbanded. On 14 December 1930, Vasmer was dismissed by order No. 92/289 alongside prominent scholars like D. K. Zelenin and A. A. Spitsyn. or on 15 December 1931. On 11 March or 1 October 1930, Vasmer was reappointed head of the Eastern Numismatics Section of the Hermitage. In 1932, he was appointed professor.
Fabricated case
On 10 January 1934, the Plenipotentiary Representation of the OGPU under the NKVD of the USSR in the Leningrad Military District arrested Richard Vasmer in the "Russian National Party case" ("Slavists case"). He was the last (or one of the last) Leningrad resident arrested in this case. He was charged under Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR 1926, accused of "being part of a counterrevolutionary fascist organization" (referred to as Richard Richardovich in case documents). His brother Max, a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, living in Germany, was falsely labeled a national socialist, and Richard was accused of being a "link in illegal communication between the RNP center and fascist circles".
The accusation was fabricated based on three points. Vasmer corresponded with his brother and other relatives in Germany. In summer 1933, at Max's request, Richard obtained a certificate of Max's "Aryan" origin from a pastor of a still-operating church in Leningrad, sending it to Germany with a note that it was "not for use in Soviet Russia". In 1932, a female employee of the German Embassy in Russia (or her sister), who had attended Max Vasmer's university lectures, visited Richard's apartment, offering to help his family relocate to Germany; this visit was deemed "transmission of espionage information". Vasmer transferred money for his brother through academic V. I. Vernadsky, who traveled to Germany. From 1929 for two years, Vasmer regularly visited Vernadsky, receiving 100 rubles every two months: Vernadsky supported Richard's family, while Max sent money to Vernadsky's daughter in Prague. These funds were allegedly for the "organization," and conversations between Vernadsky and Richard were deemed "knowledge transfer".
Vasmer was labeled the head of "cell No. 8," allegedly including I. G. Spassky, N. P. Bauer, A. N. Zograf, G. Yu. Walter, A. A. Avtonomov, and E. I. Lindros.Also known as E. I. Lindroz (28 January 1884, Moscow – after 1956), a Hermitage researcher of weapons studies. Arrested on 1 December 1933, sentenced to ten years in camps, served in Siblag and Ust-Izhma, detained in camp due to the war until 1945. From December 1945, he was a watchman in a forestry enterprise in Pestovsky District, Novgorod Oblast, living there at the time of rehabilitation. Rehabilitated on 28 November 1956. Spassky, Avtonomov, and Lindros were implicated to suggest preparation of terrorist acts: a Kharkov exhibition of antique weapons involving Hermitage exhibits was allegedly intended for "arming insurgent groups." In reality, Avtonomov and Lindros prepared exhibits (both were weapons collectors), while Spassky, who worked in the Kharkov museum until 1931, was uninvolved. Vasmer admitted his "guilt".
Before Vasmer, on 5 January, Maria Pavlovna Nipp (15 January 1892 – after 1956), his wife's sister, living in his apartment, was arrested in the same case. Nipp managed the office of "Zagotzerno" and had a gymnasium education. According to some testimonies, Vasmer received German journals from his brother, and Nipp shared their content (including Nazi propaganda) with colleagues. She was exiled to Bashkiria for three years. At the time of her rehabilitation in 1956, she lived in Luga, Leningrad Oblast. She was rehabilitated on 28 November 1956.
In the camps