Ratiev, Ivan Dmitrievich

Came from the Georgian princely family Ratishvili , whose representatives emigrated to Russia in 1724 . Born in Orel . His father Dmitry Ratiev was an officer in the Russian army. Ivan Dmitrievich Ratiev graduated from the Oryol Cadet Corps , then the Nikolaev Cavalry School . In 1890 he entered the service in the Nizhny Novgorod 44th Dragoon Regiment , stationed in Georgia.

Due to the injury received during the races in Tbilisi in 1907 , Prince Ivan Ratiev was forced to resign from military service. He then attended a lecture course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris , and after his return from France to Russia, he worked at the Ministry of the Imperial Court . Ivan Ratiev was seconded to the military cavalry unit of the Winter Palace with the rank of captain . On December 6, 1913, by imperial decree, the prince was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the cavalry of the imperial guard guarding the Imperial Winter Palace .

On December 6, 1916, he was listed by the Guards Cavalry, correcting the position of police chief of the Imperial Winter Palace, Colonel Prince Ratiev was promoted to colonel for the difference in service , with approval in his post.

In April 1917 he was appointed assistant chief of the palace administration and police chief of the Winter Palace.

On October 25, 1917, during the assault on the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks, Ivan Ratiev did not flee, he ordered his guards to evacuate the former imperial treasures to safer parts of the palace. The prince sent his 16-year-old son Dmitry and the two most reliable grenadiers to guard the royal treasures, among which was the royal scepter decorated with the famous Orlov’s diamond . Then, Ivan Ratiev negotiated with the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko , who led the assault on the Winter Palace, saving the Tsar’s palace from plunder and destruction. The Soviet leadership publicly expressed gratitude to Prince I. D. Ratiev on the pages of the Izvestia newspaper (November 5, 1917) for “ selfless work to protect and preserve the people's treasures ” and appointed him the chief commandant of the Winter Palace and all state museums and palaces of the Petrograd region ^[1] .

In March 1919, Prince Ivan Ratiev escorted the "golden train", a train with a gold reserve, sent from Petrograd to Moscow . The road to Moscow was not easy, pressure was put on Ratiev to stop the train. In Tver, the train was even shot at.

Then I. D. Ratiev retired from the public service and for several years worked as a translator in various organizations in Moscow. His subsequent life was overshadowed by the loss of his wife and son, who drowned while swimming in the Moscow River.

In March 1924, Ivan Ratiev, his daughter Olga and sister Sophia were arrested on charges of belonging to the "counter-revolutionary monarchist organization." Initially, Ivan Ratiev was sentenced to five years in the Gulag . Thanks to his participation in the preservation of treasures in 1917, he was released. In 1931, Ivan Ratiev moved to Tbilisi , where he lived as a “ personal pensioner for public services ” and died at the age of 90 ^[1] .

In 1893, Ivan Ratiev married His Grace Princess Ekaterina Iraklievna Gruzinsky ( 1872 - 1917 ), daughter of Prince Irakli Alexandrovich Gruzinsky , great-granddaughter of the Georgian Tsar Irakli II and maid of honor to the Russian Empress Alexandra Fedorovna . Children:

• Dmitry Ivanovich Ratiev ( 1899 - 1926 ), drowned in the Moscow River
• Olga Ivanovna Ratieva ( 1902 - 1987 ), wife from 1932 of Prince Yuri Sergeyevich Lvov ( 1897 - 1938 ). Their daughter Ekaterina Yuryevna Lvova married physics professor Vladimir Nikolayevich Roinishvili ^[1] .

• Grebelsky, P. Kh., Dumin, SV, Lapin, VV (1993), Noble families of the Russian Empire, vol. 4., p. 192. IPK Vesti.
• Ratiev case