Haaz Fedor Petrovich (real name Friedrich Joseph) (1780, Münstereifel, Southern Germany - 1853, Moscow) - doctor, public figure. Genus. in a large and poor family of a pharmacist who managed to give the children a good education.
G. studied at a Catholic church school, then studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Jena, and then completed a course in medical sciences at the University of Vienna, specializing in eye diseases. Having successfully cured a Russian who was in Vienna. nobleman Repnin, G., at the invitation of a grateful patient, went with him to Russia and from 1802 settled in Moscow, quickly gaining fame and practice. Appointed in 1807 as the chief physician of the Pavlovsk hospital, G. in his free time treated patients in almshouses and shelters, for which he was awarded the Vladimir Cross of the 4th degree, of which Crimea was very proud. In 1809 - 1810, G. made two trips to the Caucasus, compiling a description of mineral waters ("My visit to the Alexander Waters." M., 1811, in French), recognized as "the first and best of its kind." In 1814, G. was enrolled in the current Russian Federation. army, was near Paris, and after the end of the foreign “campaign of the Russian troops” he retired. G. came to his homeland, having had time to say goodbye to his dying father, but he was irresistibly drawn to Russia, which he called “my second fatherland.” . returned to Moscow, mastered the Russian language well and, engaged in private practice, became one of the most famous doctors. In 1825, the governor general appointed G. as head of a medical office that supplied hospitals and clinics with medicines, but all attempts to improve the work of this institution were met to bureaucratic slingshots and G. was forced to leave the service. Much later he wrote: “It is extremely insulting to see how much effort is made to adhere to the letter of the law when they want to deny justice! " Renewed private practice allowed G. to purchase a house in Moscow and estate near Moscow with a cloth factory set up there.G. led the quiet life of a wealthy man: he had excellent travel, read a lot, corresponded with the philosopher Schelling. His life changed dramatically in 1827, when he became one of the members of the newly established “prison committee” and at the same time was appointed chief physician of the car washes. prisons Seeing the dire situation of the prisoners, G. found the meaning of life in helping the disadvantaged, making his motto the words: “Hurry to do good!” G. was convinced that there is a close connection between crime, misfortune and illness, and therefore unnecessary cruelty should not be applied to the guilty, compassion should be shown to the unfortunate, and charity should be shown to the sick. G. managed to alleviate the suffering of people in prisons and at the stage, for which he received the nickname “holy doctor.” In 1848, when cholera was raging in Moscow. G., making a hospital round, in front of everyone, kissed the first cholera patient who appeared on the lips to prove the impossibility of contracting this disease in this way. Until the end of his life, G. proved by personal example that with love and compassion it is possible to resurrect the goodness that has been preserved in embittered people. Neither clerical callousness, nor the ironic attitude of the powers that be, nor bitter disappointments stopped this noble and honest man. All his property went to charity, and when it was necessary to bury him, it had to be done at the expense of the police. Up to 20 thousand Muscovites of all classes and conditions saw off G. on his last journey.
Gaaz Fedor (Ivanovich) Petrovich(Friedrich-Joseph, German Friedrich-Joseph Haass; August 24 (September 4), 1780, Bad Münstereifel - August 16, 1853, Moscow) - Russian doctor of German origin, philanthropist, known as the “holy doctor,” Catholic.
Muscovites joked that Dr. Haaz, his coachman and horses were at least 400 years old! He ordered the new carriage and three horses donated by well-wishers to be sold and the money transferred to help the poor. For dozens of years he wore an old-fashioned black tailcoat, rusty with age, a shabby lace jabot, and darned stockings, causing bewilderment, regret, and even evil ridicule. Few then understood that in front of them was a real ascetic.
Friedrich Joseph Haas was born on August 24, 1780 in Germany in the town of Münstereifel near Cologne in Germany. His grandfather was a doctor of medicine, his father was a modest pharmacist. This was a pious family with 8 children. Despite their modest means, all five brothers received a good education. After graduating from a Catholic church school, Friedrich entered the University of Jena, where he attended lectures on mathematics and philosophy, and was a student of Schelling. In Vienna, he received his medical education and specialized in eye diseases.
From the generalized memories of contemporaries about the young successful doctor: “Scholarly beyond his years. He surpassed everyone in medical sciences. knows Latin and Greek no worse than German and French; very knowledgeable in mathematics, physics, astronomy; In philosophy and theology, he can put any learned monk in his belt. He is rarely read in the Holy Scriptures; he remembers all the Gospels by heart. And he is God-fearing and well-behaved... However, he is not a prude: he does not boast of his own virtues, he does not judge the sins of others... On the contrary, he strives to say something good and praiseworthy about anyone and everyone. Affectionate, friendly without self-interest; with the strong and rich I am not seeking; with commoners, with servants, meek and merciful..."
As the chief physician of a military hospital, Haaz traveled throughout the North Caucasus, where he discovered, explored and described in detail the sources of healing mineral waters, around which famous resorts later arose: Zheleznovodsk, Pyatigorsk, Essentuki and Kislovodsk.
When Napoleon's army invaded Russia, the doctor accompanied Russian troops on campaigns from Moscow to Paris: he operated, treated the sick, shell-shocked, and wounded, translated from French, talked with soldiers and officers about God's Providence and medicine, and got to know the life of the Russian people better. And I felt more and more like a part of it...
Fyodor Petrovich, as the Moscow doctor Haaz began to be called, became the chief physician of all city hospitals. For his services, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, fourth degree, awarded the rank of court councilor, and was a welcome guest in many aristocratic houses. He was a wealthy man, the owner of a stone house, a village, serfs, and a cloth factory. But all his income went to help the poor. Without sparing himself, Fyodor Petrovich fought for justice, for the rights of the sick, whose situation in hospitals was appalling. Dr. Haaz angrily reproached the negligent, denounced officials profiting from people’s misfortunes, and wrote lengthy notes to higher authorities. And, of course, he made many enemies for himself - they wrote denunciations against him, assured his superiors that he was “not in a sound mental state,” they mocked and mocked him... Haaz was forced to resign, but he was not broken: “And one there’s a warrior in the field!” – the restless doctor was convinced.
In 1828, an event occurred that finally put him on the way of the cross in holy service to the most disadvantaged part of Russian society, and in their person, to the Lord God.
At the suggestion of his friend, Governor-General Prince Golitsyn, Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz becomes a member and the main driving force of the “Prison Guardianship Committee.” The committee was established by special decree of the emperor, and it included many eminent people, including Moscow Metropolitan Philaret. For a quarter of a century, the doctor missed only one of the 253 monthly committee meetings, when he himself became seriously ill.
The situation of prisoners in Moscow prisons was terrible: dirt, dampness, lack of bunks, overcrowded cells, where persons guilty only of violating the passport regime were kept together with real criminals, the sick with the healthy, children with adults, and women, often, together with men. In the prison infirmaries, the sick lay two or three on one bed; they were kept from hand to mouth, as the guards shamelessly robbed the unfortunates.
Periodically, hundreds of convicts set off from Moscow along the endless road leading to Siberia. Approximately 4,500 exiled convicts and the same number of “vagabonds” passed through Moscow each year and were led in shackles to their place of residence. According to Herzen’s memoirs, “Haaz went every week to the Vorobyovy Gory convoy when the exiles were sent....As a doctor...he went to examine them and always brought with him a basket of all sorts of things, food supplies and various delicacies: walnuts, gingerbread cookies, oranges and apples for women. This aroused the anger and indignation of the charitable ladies, who were afraid to give pleasure through charity.”
Haaz managed to achieve the abolition of the so-called “rod” - in fact, an instrument of torture, which was used to prevent the escape of those walking along the stage. Chained tightly to an iron rod, with their hands worn until they bled, the sick and healthy, old people and children, men and women slowly walked. Those who fell were dragged by the others; the dead were unfastened at the halt, replacing them with the living; the prisoners, shackled five on each side of the bar, walked together, sat, dozed, ate, and relieved themselves. Everyone going through the stage had half their head shaved. Thanks to Fyodor Petrovich, the rod for everyone walking along the stage through Moscow was replaced with light individual, so-called “Haazov” shackles; in those provinces where the rod was still preserved, handcuffs began to be covered with leather or cloth. Having put on lightweight shackles, the doctor walked in them around his room around the table, counting circles until he “walked” 5-6 miles. So he tested his own invention on himself. Haaz achieved the abolition of universal shaving, which remained mandatory only for convicts.
The doctor supervised the construction of new prison hospitals, converted, expanded and refurbished hospitals for all the indigents, serfs and urban poor.
At his insistence, parties of exiles coming to Moscow stayed there for a week. He visited each batch at least four times, walked around all the premises of those sent, talked to them, asked about their needs, and examined them. Those who fell ill, tired not only physically but also mentally, were separated from the party and placed in a hospital opened by Haaz at the transit prison. Violating existing laws, Haaz left even healthy prisoners behind if any of his family members, accompanying the exile to Siberia, fell ill. To prevent families from being separated, the doctor ransomed serfs - wives and children - so that they could accompany their loved ones. All this required huge expenses. Fyodor Petrovich actively attracted philanthropists, since his house, village, and cloth factory had long been sold, the money was donated to charity, and he himself lived in hospitals for many years, denying himself even a new dress.
Being a deeply religious person, the doctor understood how important spiritual support was for his charges. Haaz established prison libraries and schools for the children of prisoners. He supplied them with primers and Gospels, and he himself composed and published several brochures with “good instructions and advice.” His “ABC of Christian Good Morality” contains texts from the 4 Gospels, the Epistles of the Apostles, preaching love, forgiveness, peace, and meekness. Haaz developed these texts, supported them with extracts from spiritual books and edifying stories. The author urged readers not to be angry, not to slander, and to feel sorry for people. The doctor personally hung a handbag with this book on the chest of everyone leaving the stage. He also ensured that people of other faiths received spiritual literature in their native languages.
The wife of the English ambassador, who visited the transit prison in 1847, recalled: “...When I entered the prison, one prisoner was kneeling in front of Haas and, not wanting to get up, sobbed in a heartbreaking way... Before the party left, there was a roll call. The prisoners began to line up and be baptized into the church; some bowed to her to the ground, then began to approach Haaz, blessed him, kissed his hands and thanked him for all the good he had done. He said goodbye to everyone, kissing some, giving everyone advice and saying encouraging words..."
While helping the disadvantaged, Haaz was never interested in their origin, nationality, or religion. Among the people he saved were Orthodox, Lutherans, Muslims, schismatics, Jews...
To help the innocently convicted and ease the fate of the guilty, Dr. Haaz delved into all the legal details of the then legislation, wrote endless petitions, filed complaints, and demands for justice. To achieve his noble goals, he, regardless of subordination, could turn to the Tsar, the Metropolitan, and even the King of Prussia (so that he, through his sister, the Russian Empress, would influence Tsar Nicholas I and he would help in resolving the issue of rod). He could kneel down and cry, humiliate himself, demand. Proving that he was right, he often looked ridiculous - he fussed, grabbed his head, waved his arms and stomped on the spot. It is impossible to read without tears about how once at a reception with the city mayor, after he had sternly reprimanded him and tried to prohibit increasing the number of beds in the prison hospital to infinity (the doctor arranged for those who could no longer fit there in his apartment) , Haaz, no longer having any arguments to “justify” his philanthropy, fell to his knees in tears before the Governor-General. He couldn't live any other way. They considered him a holy fool, crazy; they wrote endless denunciations against him and slandered him. All his noble undertakings ran into a wall of misunderstanding, alienation, and even irreconcilable hatred.
Of course, there were also helpers who, pitying the unfortunate, respecting Haaz himself, wholeheartedly helped him in matters of mercy. But there was no one who truly understood him. Because the holy doctor saw and heard human grief not only with his eyes and ears, but, above all, with his heart and soul. He lived as if, like the apostles, he had accepted the truth of the Gospel from the hands of Christ Himself.
Dr. Haaz did not have his own family; his children and brothers were his sick, suffering and defenseless.
Saving cholera patients during epidemics, he, wanting to encourage young doctors with his personal example, himself washed, wrapped and even kissed the infected. By this he wanted to prove that cholera is not transmitted from person to person, that it has “other ways.” Risking his life, he walked around Moscow, walked to the square, where crowds were noisy, excited by rumors that “the authorities and doctors were letting cholera in,” talked with people, taught them how to behave in order to reduce the likelihood of infection. And this saved thousands of people.
Muscovites recognized him, expressed their love, ordered prayers for the health of “God’s servant Fedor.”
One day, a peasant girl was brought to the hospital, dying of lupus. The terrible ulcer on her face was so ugly and fetid that no one, not even her own mother, could enter the room where this eleven-year-old martyr was. And only Doctor Haaz sat at her bedside for a long time every day, kissed the girl, read her fairy tales, and did not leave until she died.
His faith in man knew no bounds. After the Decembrist uprising, in Moscow salons there was a lot of talk about the high ideals of freedom, equality, and brotherhood. Dr. Haass always objected to this: “Freedom has always been, is everywhere, freedom was given to us by the Savior Christ. Each person can freely decide whether he wants to do a good thing or a bad thing, good or evil. And equality has always been and is, equality before Heaven. And there has always been brotherhood. And it can always be; you just need to remember the lessons of the Savior. Every Christian is a brother to all people.”
When he was shamelessly deceived, he never regretted trusting the person. “Yes, there are real rogues and deceivers who cross themselves and lie without conscience... Such lies are a very great sin. But if a person speaks and is baptized, and I don’t want to believe, this is already my sin. And if he told a lie, but I believed it, and he saw it, he might later be ashamed and repent...”, reasoned Dr. Haaz.
There is a known case when a tramp tried to rob him, whom the doctor undertook to cure of some illness. When the theft was discovered and the hospital watchman went after the police officer, Haaz released the thief, giving him fifty dollars and admonishing him with the wish to remember God and correct his life.
One frosty night, the doctor was rushing to see some patient. Two people blocked his way, demanding that he give them his fur coat and money. Haaz promised to do this, only asked to first escort him to the desired house, so that he would not freeze naked on the way. One of the robbers recognized the well-known holy doctor and, asking for forgiveness, the robbers escorted Fyodor Petrovich to the place so that no one could encroach on him.
The spiritual testament of the holy doctor can be considered his “Appeal to Women,” translated from French only many years after the death of the author.
This call says: “...You are called upon to contribute to the revival of society...Do not hesitate in this regard before material sacrifices, do not hesitate to give up luxurious and unnecessary things. If you do not have your own means to help, ask meekly but persistently from those who have them. Do not be embarrassed by the empty conditions and vain rules of social life. Let the demand for the good of your neighbor alone guide your steps! Don’t be afraid of the possibility of humiliation, don’t be afraid of refusal... Hurry up to do good!”
The features of Dr. Haass can be discerned in the image of Prince Myshkin, and he writes about him quite documented in part 3 of “The Idiot”: “In Moscow there lived an old “general,” that is, an actual state councilor, with a German name; all his life he had been hanging around prisons and criminals; Each shipment to Siberia knew in advance that an “old general” would visit them on Vorobyovy Gory. He did his work with the utmost seriousness and piety; he appeared, walked through the rows of exiles who surrounded him, stopped in front of everyone, asked everyone about his needs, almost never read instructions to anyone, called everyone “darlings.” He gave money, sent necessary things... sometimes he brought soul-saving books and gave them to every literate person... He treated all criminals on an equal footing, there was no difference. He spoke to them as if they were brothers, but in the end they themselves began to consider him a father. If he noticed some exiled woman with a child in her arms, he would come up and caress the child... He did this for many years, until his death; it got to the point that he was known all over Russia, that is, all the criminals”/
From the speech of Dr. Haas at the next meeting of the “prison committee” in 1833: “...When I stand here, in this beautiful warm hall in front of such venerable persons, looking at the noble virtuous faces, and I know that after our meeting I will go to my a comfortable house or, if I wish, I will go to visit a good friend, then I do not dare to forget that at this very moment, two or three miles from here, people are suffering in chains, in the cold, in the dirt, in cramped conditions between stern and villainous faces their involuntary companions, with whom they cannot part for a moment, cannot move one step away from anywhere, because all the doors and gates are closed, and they have no joys, no relief, or even hopes for relief ... "
Many years after the death of the holy doctor, the chairman of the St. Petersburg Prison Committee, Lebedev, wrote: “Haaz, in twenty-four years of his activity, managed to make a revolution in our prison business. Having found our prisons in Moscow in a state of dens of depravity and humiliation of humanity, Haass not only planted the first seeds of transformation on this soil, but managed to complete some of his undertakings and did it alone, without having any power other than the power of persuasion, more than after him all the committees and persons who had power.”
When Metropolitan Filaret came to say goodbye to the dying Fyodor Petrovich, he dictated additions to the will. The Metropolitan read the first page: “I keep thinking about grace, that I am so calm and content with everything, having no desire other than for God’s will to be fulfilled over me. Do not lead me into temptation, O Merciful God, whose mercy is higher than all His deeds! I, a poor and sinful man, have complete and only trust in him. Amen." Unexpectedly for himself, the bishop carefully and affectionately stroked the dying man’s shoulders, convulsively tense with pain, crossed him several times and said: “The Lord will bless you, Fyodor Petrovich. It is truly written here, your whole life is blessed, your works are blessed. What was spoken by the Savior is fulfilled in you: “Blessed are the meek... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness... Blessed are the merciful... Blessed are the pure in heart... Blessed are the peacemakers...” Be strong in spirit, my brother Fedor Petrovich, you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven...”
Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz was buried at public expense. More than 20 thousand Muscovites came out to accompany the holy doctor on his last journey. The coffin was carried in their arms all the way to the German cemetery on the Vvedensky Hills. Memorial services were held for the German Catholic in Orthodox churches. And this surprised no one.
A.F. Koni wrote: “We know little how to support with sympathy and respect those few truly remarkable figures on whom our fate is so stingy. We usually look at their efforts, labor and self-sacrifice with indifferent and lazy curiosity, “with sinister tact,” as Nekrasov put it, “guarding their failure.” But when such a person suddenly leaves the stage, sensitivity suddenly awakens in us, the awakened memory clearly depicts both the benefit brought to the deceased and his spiritual beauty - we cry hasty, albeit belated, tears... Every word of ours is imbued with a feeling of moral orphanhood. However, all this will soon, very soon pass... After a year or two, the hotly mourned figure is forgotten, completely and firmly forgotten... We have no yesterday. That is why our tomorrow is always so foggy and dim... Let us, however, hope that the memory of Fyodor Petrovich Haaz will not completely die in a wide circle of educated society. The memory of people like him must be maintained as a lamp, shedding a gentle, conciliatory light... People like Haass must be near and dear to society if it does not want to be completely bogged down in the base vanity of selfish calculations.”
More than 150 years have passed since then. A contemporary of Dr. Haas describes the atmosphere of Russia at that time: “That society... had neither enthusiasm, nor faith, nor heat; it was imperturbable... motionless... ossified and indifferent... It only knew how to mock and mock indifferently... but laughing indifferently is a sign of deadness, the absence of any higher interests, a symptom of corruption, moral corruption. Does this remind you of anything? It seems that there are no good times, it’s just that life always rests on such ascetics, meek and selfless, ridiculed and spat on, who enthusiastically lay down their souls for their neighbors and consider the very opportunity to sacrifice themselves the highest reward.
In conclusion, I would like to cite one of the last diary entries of Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov): “Lord, You gave me love and changed me completely, and now I cannot do anything other than to suffer torment for the salvation of my neighbor. I groan, cry, am afraid, but I cannot do otherwise, for Your love leads me, and I do not want to be separated from it, and in it I find hope for salvation and do not despair to the end, seeing it in myself.” These simple and soul-piercing words perfectly explain the life of the German Catholic Fyodor Petrovich Haaz.
“...And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life...” (Matthew 19 :29)
And stories about the good doctor Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz are still told in hospitals and prisons in Moscow, but few people know the actual details of his life. There was no “alien” pain or “bad” people in her. He did not have his own family, because he believed that there was not enough time for the outcasts: convicts, the poor, the sick. He was a Catholic, but the strict St. Filaret (Drozdov) gave his blessing to serve a prayer service for his health. He lived his life according to the word of Christ, giving everything he had to people.
Fatherland and homeland
In the 19th century, the surroundings of the Kursk station were a remote and dangerous place. You shouldn't come here alone at night. But the doctor was in a hurry to answer the call and decided to go directly - through Malyi Kazenny. What was supposed to happen happened: robbers attacked him in an alley and ordered him to take off his old fur coat. The doctor began to tighten it and said: “Dear ones, you just bring me to the point where I’m sick, otherwise I’ll get cold now. The month is February. If you want, then come to me at the Police Hospital, ask Haaz, they will give you a fur coat.” They heard: “Father, we didn’t recognize you in the dark! Sorry!" The robbers threw themselves on their knees in front of the doctor, then not only brought him to the patient so that someone else would not rob him, but also escorted him back. After this incident, the attackers vowed never to extort money again. One of them later became a stoker at the Haas hospital (aka Police Hospital), and the other two became orderlies.
Most Muscovites recognized the famous doctor from afar. In winter - by his fur coat. At other times of the year - by a lanky, stooped figure. Legends about Haase circulated during his lifetime, but the actual events of his biography began to be recorded only after the doctor’s death - according to eyewitnesses.
Haas's grandfather was a doctor, doctor of medicine in Cologne. My father settled in the small town of Münstereifel: he opened a pharmacy and got married. In total, the family had two daughters and five sons - including Friedrich Joseph, the middle one. He was born on August 24, 1780. At the age of 15, he graduated from a Catholic school and entered the Faculty of Philosophy and Mathematics at the Jena Institute, where he became the best student of the course. Then he received his medical education at the University of Vienna - the oldest in German-speaking countries. Haaz chose ophthalmology as his profession.
From the age of 19, Haaz had a medical practice in Vienna and enjoyed success as a wonderful specialist. In particular, he cured the eyes of Prince Repnin, the Russian envoy to the Viennese court. He invited the young doctor to Russia and advised him to settle in Moscow for his career. Haaz accepted the invitation, but was able to come only a year after Repnin’s death.
Arriving in 1802, the German doctor immediately received an extensive private practice, which brought in huge income. Soon he purchased and luxuriously furnished his own house in the center of Moscow. He bought an estate in the Moscow region and started a cloth factory there.
In addition to private practice, Haaz was engaged in treating the poor - in the Preobrazhenskaya, Pavlovskaya and Staroekaterininskaya hospitals. At Pavlovskaya he also distinguished himself as a therapist. For this, the German doctor, at the insistence of Empress Maria Feodorovna, was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, and in 1806 he was appointed chief physician.
In 1809–1810, Haaz made two trips to the North Caucasus, where he traveled around and described springs unknown at that time in Mineralnye Vody, Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk, Zheleznovodsk (now Essentuki). Having studied the healing properties of water, Haaz described them in a book, thereby drawing the government’s attention to Caucasian mineral waters. After Haaz, from the 20s to the 50s of the 19th century, the creation of resorts in the Caucasian springs began. Source No. 23 in Essentuki is still called Gaazovsky.
In 1812, Haass’s father and mother fell ill, he left his post as chief physician at the Pavlovsk hospital and went to Germany. But then the war with Napoleon began in Russia, and Fyodor Petrovich became a military doctor. He helped the wounded near Smolensk, on the Borodino field, in burned-out Moscow. As part of the Russian army (as a regimental doctor) he reached Paris. In 1814, after the end of the war, he came to his hometown of Münstereifel to visit his dying father. His mother and brothers begged Haas to stay in Germany, but the doctor replied that he had merged his soul with the Russian people, understood and loved them. After the death of his father, Friedrich Joseph Haas left his first homeland forever and never again traveled outside the Russian Empire.
When Haaz returned to Moscow, it was discovered that he had mastered the Russian language perfectly. Before the campaign, he could only speak German and Latin. Usually in the hospitals where he consulted, there was a translator nearby. Over time, Haaz mastered the Russian language so much that he himself corrected Russian officials. By the end of his life, he spoke Russian better than his native German.
Cats on Pharmacy Staff
Upon his return, Haaz served as chief physician of the Pavlovsk Hospital for another ten years. In 1825, the ruler of Moscow, Dmitry Golitsyn, declared that Fyodor Petrovich had proven himself well and it would be good to make him the chief physician of the capital.
The main pharmaceutical and medical department was located in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Pokrovka (demolished during Soviet times). For a year, Haaz sat here as a leader. During this time, all hospital facilities were cleaned. We repaired pharmaceutical warehouses suffering from infestations of mice and rats. We adopted cats that were included in the staff of a pharmaceutical and medical office. Fyodor Gaaz did many of the reconstructions at his own expense.
He had a lot of envious people: before, medicines could be stolen and blamed on mice, but suddenly everything was streamlined with German pedantry. Denunciations began: they say that the chief doctor was wasting government money. Haaz could not stand it and resigned from this position, deciding that he would bring more benefit by working as a simple doctor. Many of the legal battles he was involved in during this time lasted another 10–12 years. He won all these cases.
Walking on a rod
By the end of the 20s, everyone in Moscow had become accustomed to the figure of Haas. He was visible from afar. For his time, he was a tall man - more than 185 centimeters. Due to the fact that the interlocutors were usually shorter, the doctor was accustomed to stooping. He wore, in the fashion of his youth, white jabots and cuffs, a black tailcoat with the Order of St. Vladimir, black velvet trousers, white silk stockings and black worn-out shoes with steel buckles. He combed his hair smoothly back. When he went bald, he started putting on a red wig, then he thought he looked funny and started cutting his hair short. In cold weather, he dressed in an old wolf fur coat. In this gray-white coat with pieces of fur falling out, he was recognized from afar. And many immediately ran to him to ask for help.
Long before the events described, at the end of the 18th century, when Catherine II ruled in Russia, the famous philanthropist and prison specialist John Howard visited Russia. He explored prisons in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and, in particular, Kherson. In one of the Kherson prisons he contracted cholera and died. Based on Howard's comments, recommendations were drawn up for the Secretary of the Interior. These notes have been studied for more than 20 years. Both Catherine II and Paul I passed away. Emperor Alexander Pavlovich ascended the throne. He ordered that these comments be taken into account quickly. The Minister of Public Education and Spiritual Affairs, Chief Prosecutor Alexander Golitsyn established the All-Russian Prison Guardianship, which ensured that the prison followed the law, but did not torture prisoners and thereby provided the opportunity for moral correction. In Moscow, Saint Philaret (Drozdov) helped the society with his authority, and the heart, the engine of the Moscow branch was Doctor Fyodor Haaz.
There were five prisons in the capital. The prisoners were hardly fed, since very little money was allocated. There were cases (though not in Moscow) when a person in solitary confinement died of hunger. So they wrote down: “Ivan Smirnov is swollen from hunger.” It was completely casual. Men and women sat in the same cell. Most prisons have not been repaired for 40–50 years. The prisoners were not allowed to go to the bathhouse; their clothes were infested with lice and fleas. There were such horrors that I don’t even want to talk about.
The secretary of the prison committee, Fyodor Gaaz, reported to the governor and the Moscow Metropolitan about all the outrages. And he led the efforts to eliminate such atrocities.
In the 20s of the 19th century, in order to reduce the number of guards, prisoners' hand and leg shackles began to be chained to a long rod. Hard labor lasted from three to six years (these years were not included in the term of imprisonment). We walked from 15 to 25 kilometers a day. The rod itself was heavy. And 20–40 people were also “strung” on him - of different heights, ages, seriously ill, without a leg or arm. Soldiers held the rod on both sides. Imagine how a man about one meter tall felt if the soldiers were about one meter eighty. In addition, the shackles clanged disgustingly, it quickly began to irritate, and they walked almost the whole day - with 10-minute breaks every three hours.
Haaz begged the prison committee and the Minister of the Interior to make a chain instead of a rod, which would allow prisoners to move more freely. In Moscow and the Moscow province the rod was abolished. Five or six people of a certain build were chained together to make it easier for them to walk together. Moreover, only repeat offenders and those who have committed serious crimes. All the others, at the insistence of Dr. Haas, were released from the chain...
Light shackles
Prisoners from 23 provinces of Central Russia passed through the Vorobyovskaya transit station. Haaz met and listened to everyone, and wrote down complaints. I talked about the needs of each specific prisoner with Fr. Filaret. Helped prisoners write and forward letters to relatives. He found out whether the family had enough money and, if possible, sent assistance - for which he maintained a whole staff of trusted couriers.
If a prisoner was sick and other prisoners began to shun him, then Haaz would definitely approach such a person, shake his hand, hug him, to show others that his disease could not be transmitted through contact.
Before Haaz, all prisoners were shackled - he forbade this. He insisted that some prisoners - sick, women - be sent along the stage on carts.
They continued to complain about him. One day a complaint came that Haaz would not allow one of the twin sisters to be sent to hard labor. One of them was in the hospital, the other was healthy, and officials wanted to send her on a stage. Haass insisted that the sisters not be separated, but left in the prison hospital. He said that God gave them one strength for two.
Haaz introduced special shackles. They were called “Gaazovskys”. Before him, the shackles were very heavy: hand shackles weighed about 16 kilograms, leg shackles - about six. They often wore their wrists and ankles down to the bone, suffered severe frostbite in the winter, and developed rheumatism in the summer. The Minister of the Interior claimed that the metal heats up and the shackles keep the prisoners warm. Haaz suggested that the minister wear the shackles himself and see how they warmed up. He demanded that the shackles be completely abolished, but the authorities did not allow this to be done. And the doctor began experimenting. I wore the shackles myself for a month until I selected the size of the shackles so that they were not very heavy and not very light. The inside of the shackles was lined with leather to prevent frostbite and abrasion of the hands and feet. These shackles were approved, and they began to be used everywhere in Russia.
In addition, Fyodor Gaaz came up with the idea that it was necessary to make a common chain on the belt and fasten both hand and leg shackles to it - and not as before, when separate chains went from hand and leg shackles to a rod. Imagine, you had to walk twenty-five kilometers...
Until the end of the 19th century, to prevent prisoners from escaping, part of their head, right or left, was shaved. When the hair grew back on one half, the other was shaved. In Siberia, during the cold season, a shaved head was very cold. The doctor insisted that people's heads should not be shaved from October onwards.
Haaz entered the cell of even the most dangerous criminals, talked, asked about life. He proved to everyone that although it is possible to hide a crime before the police, you cannot hide before God. These admonitions, not edifying, but friendly, had a huge impact on the prisoners. After imprisonment, many gave up robberies and murders forever.
Along with the stage
Haaz woke up around six in the morning and drank an infusion of currant leaves. He prayed - he had the Catholic Church of Peter and Paul in his house. At half past six in the morning the reception of the suffering began. Usually it lasted until 8–9 a.m. (sometimes until 2 p.m.). Then Haaz went to the transit prison on Vorobyovy Gory, at 12 o’clock he had lunch - porridge, oatmeal or buckwheat - and went to Butyrka. After that, he toured his hospitals. In the evening, he again visited the Church of Peter and Paul, had dinner - again with buckwheat porridge or oatmeal with water without salt and sugar - and returned to the hospital. The reception sometimes lasted until 11 pm. By one o'clock in the morning Haaz fell asleep. And so on day after day.
It’s amazing how Haaz managed to do everything everywhere. He rode in an old cab. Initially, he had a foursome with a carriage, but over time he sold it - along with the house, art gallery, cloth factory and country estate - in order to distribute the money to prisoners and the poor. In his old age, to ride around the city, Haaz bought horses intended for slaughter at the horse market.
Fyodor Haaz also devoted a lot of effort to the Moscow Prison Castle, now Butyrka Prison. This prison appeared in the 70s of the 18th century and was quite dirty, poorly built, and had no sewage system. There was a temple inside, but it was very cramped. Haaz and Saint Philaret ensured that the temple was expanded. Cells were specially built around, and prisoners who could not fit inside could watch the service. Siberian poplars were planted in the courtyards of the prison to purify the air, and drainage was installed around it and pavements were built. Haaz organized workshops for prisoners: tailoring, shoemaking, carpentry, bookbinding. (The carpentry workshop is still in operation; they make the cheapest stools in our time.)
Once Emperor Nicholas I visited the Butyrka prison. They whispered to him that some prisoners were faking it, and Haaz was covering for them. Nikolai began to reprimand the doctor, who fell to his knees. The Emperor says: “Okay, Fyodor Petrovich, I forgive you.” And he replies: “I’m not asking for myself, but for the prisoners. Look, they're too old to serve their sentences. Let them go free." The emperor was so moved that he granted amnesty to five.
Near Butyrka, Gaaz organized a shelter for children whose parents were in a prison castle. In the old days, the family was often forced to follow their convicted father into exile. To alleviate the plight of relatives left without a breadwinner, Haaz established, firstly, a house of cheap apartments for the wives of prisoners, and secondly, a school for the children of exiled parents.
The prisoners' stages required special care. Haaz entered into an agreement with two Moscow entrepreneurs - the Old Believer timber merchant Rakhmanov and the bakers Filippov. Those being transported were led from the Vorobyovsky transit prison through the entire city for about three hours. So that they could rest before leaving Moscow, at Rakhmanov’s expense, a small half-stage was set up in the area of what is now Ilyich Square - a fenced-off courtyard where prisoners could sit down and say goodbye to their relatives. There, compassionate Muscovites provided those being transported with food and money. The Filippovs supplied all the prisoners with hearty rolls: they were specially baked on straw, on well-sifted dough, they did not go stale and were very helpful on the road.
Haaz sometimes accompanied prisoners even after leaving Moscow. While talking, I walked with them along the Vladimirsky tract (now Entuziastov Highway). According to the doctor's requirements, the road was leveled and special canopies were installed along the sides so that in case of rain the prisoners could take shelter. Many remember that even in winter one could see a man, already elderly, in an old wolf fur coat, who saw off the prisoners, reaching with them what is now Balashikha.
Fyodor Petrovich helped the prisoners and make inquiries regarding the investigation. For this purpose he introduced a special institute of “inquirers”. He tried to free the innocently convicted; at his request, this was done by qualified lawyers. But most of the work was done by Haaz himself.
One official recalls how a man in a lionfish suit came to him and asked him to make inquiries about a prisoner. Having examined the documents, the official said that what was missing was an extract from the police station on the other side of the city. A citizen in a lionfish went across Moscow to get the necessary document. He returned back completely wet, because on the way he got caught in a downpour. When he submitted the document, the official asked who he was and heard the name of the famous doctor. This amazed him so much that the official talked about this incident all his life, and after Haaz’s death he himself joined the prison committee and did everything to help the prisoners. Fyodor Gaaz was over 60 years old at that moment.
Police hospital
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Bust of Fyodor Gaaz |
On Sparrow Hills, Haaz set up a prison hospital with 120 beds. He introduced nurses in the men's departments, which had not happened before. He made sure to visit all the patients himself.
Over time, he moved here completely and became the chief physician. Here Haaz had two tiny rooms. They were modestly furnished: a table (it has been preserved), an old iron bed, a Crucifix on the wall, a copy of Raphael's Madonna. There was a small collection of boxes and old telescopes. Haaz loved to watch the stars at night: this is how he rested.
Saint Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow, helped Haaz in many matters. For example, “inquiries” who traveled to 23 provinces on prisoners’ business could, with the blessing of St. Philaret to stay in monasteries. He interceded for Haaz before the emperor and redressed many complaints against the doctor. St. Filaret was vice-president of the Moscow branch of the prison committee. One day during a meeting, Haaz began to once again prove that some repeat offenders were not at all as guilty as the court exposed them. The saint said: “Why are you all defending repeat offenders; they are not sent to prison without guilt.” Haass replied: “What about Christ? You have forgotten about Christ!” Everyone was taken aback. St. Filaret stood up and said: “Fyodor Petrovich, at that moment it was not I who forgot Christ, but it was Christ who left me.” After that, until the end of days between St. Filaret and Dr. Haaz established a strong friendship.
Fyodor Gaaz loved to visit Orthodox churches. On the day of Orthodox Easter, he made sure to christen himself with everyone, toured the prisons under his jurisdiction, gave Easter eggs, and treated him to Easter cakes and Easter cakes.
Fyodor Gaaz spent the last two years of his life mainly in the Police Hospital, receiving patients. Saint Philaret often visited him and brought him blessed prosphora. When Haaz was dying, many people asked the chief priest of the Police Hospital, Priest Alexei Orlov, to serve a prayer service for Haaz’s recovery. Fr. Alexey turned to St. Filaret with a question: is it possible to serve an Orthodox prayer service for a person who professes the Catholic faith? The saint replied: “God blessed us to pray for all the living.” A prayer service was served, and Haaz felt very well for some time. In the two weeks that the Lord gave him, he toured all the institutions that were created during his life in Moscow.
Haass died on August 14, 1854. More than 20 thousand people out of 170 thousand living in Moscow at that time came to his funeral at the German Cemetery. A modest stone and a cross were placed on the doctor’s grave. Over time, former prisoners entwined the fence of the grave with “Haazov” shackles.
“We know little how to support with sympathy and respect those few truly remarkable figures on whom our fate is so stingy. We usually look at their efforts, labor and dedication with indifferent and lazy curiosity” (N. A. Nekrasov).
The German doctor, who lived in Russia almost his entire life, went down in Russian history as an outstanding humanist, doctor-researcher, health care organizer, and philanthropist. For almost half a century of sacrificial service to the disadvantaged people in Russia, the Russian people nicknamed him “The Holy Doctor” and “The Man of God.” Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz owns the words: “Hurry to do good!”
Friedrich Joseph Haas (1780 - 1853) was born in the city of Münstereifel near Cologne, into a poor and large family of a pharmacist. After graduating from a Catholic church school in Cologne, and then taking courses in physics and philosophy at the University of Jena, Haass went to Göttingen, where he received a medical education. Further, in Vienna he met the Russian diplomat Prince Repin, who convinced him to go to Russia.
In 1802, Haaz settled in Moscow, quickly gaining fame and practice. Over time, he mastered the Russian language well, called himself Fyodor Petrovich and began to consider Russia his “second fatherland.” Appointed in 1807 as the chief physician of the Pavlovsk hospital, Haaz, in his free time, treated patients in almshouses and shelters, for which he was awarded the Vladimir Cross, IV degree. During the Patriotic War of 1812, Haaz without hesitation went into the army to organize medical support for Russian soldiers, with whom he reached Paris.
Upon returning to Moscow, he was engaged in private practice, becoming one of the most famous doctors. He purchased a house in Moscow and an estate near Moscow with a cloth factory, where he led the quiet life of a wealthy, prosperous person.
It would seem that he had everything for complete happiness. Haaz was young, rich, talented, and held in high esteem, but his heart was looking for more space for activity and soon found it. After all, the sick were not only in the rich wards.
Haaz thought about them too. He set up free appointment hours, and patients came to see him in droves. The appointed appointment hours were ending, and a line of newly arrived patients was waiting in the wings. We had to extend the free reception. In addition, it turned out that when patients came, they were left at home with such sufferers that they could not get out of bed. You had to go to them yourself. There was less and less time to visit wealthy patients. Finally, Haaz decided: “The rich will always find good doctors for a fee, but no one comes to my poor; They expect help from me, do I dare refuse them?
His life changed dramatically in 1827, when forty-seven-year-old Haaz became one of the members of the established “prison committee.” Haaz began to work to ensure that the sick could have decent living conditions, and he was allocated premises at the police station, which later became known as the “Haaz Hospital.” Sick prisoners were also placed in this hospital. Haaz treated them with special love, as people who were sick in both body and soul. He saw that they were all exhausted, broken by life, every good feeling was crammed into them, that they were embittered by the indifference of those around them to their fate, and he heartily pitied them. He understood that they too were people, that they too had a conscience and a spark of God. But all this was so far away, littered with the rubbish and dirt of life, that it could seem as if you would never find God and God’s things here. Therefore, Haaz tried with love, tender care, and brotherly care to revive human feelings in these convicts. He reasoned to himself: if it is pleasant for a doctor to see a seriously ill person sentenced to death, how much more pleasant should it be to revive a person spiritually?
At that time, the treatment of prisoners was rude, cruel, and sometimes inhuman. Shackles and whips were the common lot of dangerous criminals. The prison was some kind of hell, where the prisoners languished in severe torment for their sin. The prisoners were treated horribly, which made them even more cruel. The fate of convicts was especially difficult. Eight to ten people were chained with shackles to one iron rod, and so all the way from Moscow to Siberia, along the Vladimirka, they were driven from stage to stage. Whether the weak one was chained with others or the sick one, he had to keep up with his comrades on the rod. At the same time, the shackle rings, put directly on the naked body, rubbed the skin, corroded the meat to the bone, and in the severe Siberian frosts, the hardened iron froze to the wounds. When Haaz found out, he was horrified: he joined the newly founded prison guardianship committee and began to attend every new batch of exiles sent to Siberia. He persistently sought to abolish the rod: “They are already shackled, why needlessly increase the suffering of the unfortunate?”
The rod was cancelled. Fyodor Petrovich initiated a new petition to have the shackle rings lined with leather inside. They did the shackles. Haaz was busy with something new. The shackles weighed 5–6 pounds (1 pound equals 409 g). It was very difficult for the prisoner to carry 6 pounds on his arms and 7 pounds on his legs all the way. Haass asked to reduce the weight of the shackles to 3.5 pounds. Haas's constant petitions began to bore the prison committee.
“You are Fyodor Petrovich, babysit convicts like little children,” they told him. – You forget that they are criminals, convicted of atrocities.
“It’s not for us to judge them,” Haaz answered, “they have already been condemned, our job is to remember that they are people too, that their tears, like everyone else’s, are bitter, that these are our unfortunate little brothers whom we are obliged to help.” All of them, of course, did a lot of evil, but did anyone ever teach them good in their lives? They are all evil and criminal, but how can we demand kindness from them if we ourselves have no pity for them? They are criminals before the law, and before us they are pitiful, deeply unhappy people.
They say that one day the Governor-General of Moscow, Prince Golitsyn, a kind and noble man, came to Haaz. One day he was walking through one room to another, heard some kind of clanging and ringing, opened the door and saw: Haaz, in shackles, pale and exhausted, walking around the walls and counting something to himself.
- What are you doing, Fyodor Petrovich?
“Excuse me, your Excellency,” says Haaz, “I calculated how many times I need to go around my room to cover a distance equal to a prisoner’s walk, and now I’m testing for myself how easy it is to make a day’s journey in six-pound shackles.”
The prince was moved to tears by this picture. The weight of the shackles was lightened. The prisoners nicknamed the new shackles “Haazovsky.”
Fyodor Petrovich achieved the position of chief doctor in prisons, and since then not a single batch of convicts has gone to Siberia without the friendly concerns of Haas about them. Prisoners throughout Russia knew about “their” doctor. Saying goodbye somewhere in Smolensk or Kursk to the convicts being sent to Moscow for transfer to Siberia, the remaining prisoners said: “Nothing, there, in Moscow, Dr. Haass will help you.”
Fyodor Petrovich followed every movement of the convicts’ souls and talked with them for hours. Watched every glimmer of repentance. He consoled the sad, encouraged the discouraged, and tried to bring at least a spark of light into this gloomy kingdom of the dispossessed.
During Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich’s visit to the Moscow prison castle, Haaz’s ill-wishers pointed out to the emperor an old man of 70 years old, sentenced to exile in Siberia, whom Haas did not let out of the hospital. Gaaz was here. The Emperor knew him personally, turned to him and sternly asked:
- What does it mean?
- Forgive me, sir! – Fyodor Petrovich fell to his knees.
The Emperor was embarrassed.
- Get up! I'm not angry. Get up, Fyodor Petrovich.
- Not me, forgive the old man! - Haaz said still on his knees. “I’m asking for the old man.” He doesn't have long to live. He is a runaway: all his life he was caught, driven around prisons, hunted like a wolf. Allow me, Your Majesty, to at least let him die peacefully here in the hospital, and not on the way along the stage.
The Emperor raised Haaz, thought for a moment and said:
- On your conscience…. Let it stay!
To alleviate the fate of his unfortunates, Fyodor Petrovich stopped at nothing. Because of the prisoners, he had a major clash with the famous and powerful Moscow Metropolitan Philaret.
The imperious metropolitan was bored with Haaz’s constant petitions for the innocently convicted, sometimes, however, insufficiently verified, and he once sharply remarked:
- What are you, Fyodor Petrovich, talking about innocently convicted people? There is no such. If a person is convicted, it means he deserves it for his cause.
Haaz, with a kind of cracked, as if painfully compressed voice, said to him in response:
- Vladyka, have you forgotten Christ? He was also convicted!
Everyone was embarrassed, Filaret hung his head. Two minutes passed in languid general silence. Finally the Metropolitan stood up:
- No, Fyodor Petrovich! When I spoke rash words, it was not I who forgot about Christ, but Christ who forsook me.
Haaz's whole life was given to these unfortunates. Shortly before his death, in one of the Moscow hospitals, he found an eleven-year-old girl suffering from a rare but terrible disease - water cancer on the face. The disease spread quickly, destroying half of my face in 4 days. The torment was unbearable, and most importantly, such a stench came from the body rotting alive that neither the paramedic, nor the doctor, nor even the grief-stricken mother could be in the room for more than 2-3 minutes. Only Haaz, until the girl’s death, sat at her bedside for three hours, hugging her and kissing her, comforting her.
Fyodor Petrovich turned seventy. Having sold his house, he invested all his savings in building a hospital. In fact, this was the first emergency medical care facility in Russia.
In August 1853, Fyodor Petrovich fell ill. I returned home late. And in the morning Haaz was gone. The heart of the ascetic doctor stopped of immeasurable kindness. Silently resting on the table was a manuscript with the amazing words: “Hurry to do good.”
He died in complete poverty. In his apartment there was only old furniture and a telescope: he was buried at the expense of the police, but the legacy he left is enormous, this legacy is goodness, inexhaustible Christian love for all the suffering and disadvantaged.
“Hurry up to do good! - said Fyodor Petrovich. – Know how to forgive, desire reconciliation, overcome evil with good. Don't be shy about small amounts of help. Let it be expressed by serving a glass of water, a friendly greeting, a word of consolation, sympathy, compassion, and that’s good. Try to raise the fallen, soften the embittered. Love and compassion live in everyone's heart! I don’t want, I can’t think that it would be possible to deliberately cause suffering to people. “They don’t know what they are doing” - these touching words soften the guilt of some and bring consolation to others... That's why you have to be, first of all, lenient. The ability to be lenient is not a virtue, it is simply justice.”
Haaz's constant and tender love for the disadvantaged, his speeches, even on convicts - rude, inveterate - made a deep, irresistible impression. Fyodor Petrovich went into this prison, pitch-black hell, like an angel of God, and the convicts carried his bright image with them to Siberia, to the mines.
Haass was convinced that there is a close connection between crime, misfortune and illness, therefore unnecessary cruelty should not be applied to the guilty person, compassion should be shown to the unfortunate person.
At the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow - residents of the surrounding streets still call it by its old name, German - there is a grave: a dark gray stone with a dark gray cross, a black fence; cast-iron column risers, dark rods, and shackles hanging on top of them - chains with wide handcuffs and “shackles”. Engraved on the stone: 1780 – 1853 and several lines in Latin. The words from the Gospel in Russian sound like this: “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, finds awake; Truly I tell you, he will gird himself and make them sit down, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37).
For more than a hundred years, at all times of the year, flowers have been lying on this grave, live, cloth and paper, sometimes lush bouquets, more often modest bunches of lilies of the valley, daisies, or just one carnation, tulip... What must this man have been like if the memory of him is alive? to this day?
Prepared by I. Slesareva
Haaz, Fedor (Friedrich Joseph) Petrovich
(Haas) - physician-philanthropist; born on August 24, 1780 into a German family in Münstereifel, near Cologne. His grandfather was a doctor of medicine, his father was a pharmacist. Despite the large family (it consisted of five brothers and three sisters) and limited funds, all brothers received an excellent education. Initially, G. studied at a local Catholic church school, then took courses in philosophy and mathematics at the University of Jena and, finally, completed a course in medical sciences in Vienna, where he also specially studied eye diseases under the guidance of the then famous ophthalmologist Adam Schmidt. G. was once invited to the sick prince. Repnin, who lived temporarily in Vienna; the treatment was very successful, and the grateful patient persuaded the young and talented doctor to go with him to Russia. Since 1802, G. settled in Moscow; at first completely unfamiliar with the Russian language, he quickly got used to the new place and, due to his thorough knowledge in the field of medicine, acquired extensive practice. He was often invited to consultations; the doors of Moscow hospitals and charitable institutions were open to him. Reviewing these institutions, G. found many patients suffering from the eyes and, always responsive to the grief and suffering of his neighbor, with the permission of the Moscow governor Lansky, energetically took up their treatment free of charge. Rumors about the activities of the young skilled doctor reached St. Petersburg; On June 4, 1807, the office of the Moscow Pavlovsk Hospital received an order stating that Empress Maria Feodorovna found G. “worthy to be appointed chief doctor at the Pavlovsk Hospital over the medical unit.” But having taken up the responsible and troublesome position of chief physician of the hospital, G. did not stop caring for his free patients and always found time to visit them. For his activities, he was nominated by Lansky to the Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree; G. valued this insignia very much and invariably wore it until his death on his worn, but always neat tailcoat. In 1809 and 1810 G. made two trips to the Caucasus to get acquainted with the local mineral springs. The result of these trips was a very valuable work published by G. in 1811: “Ma visite aux eaux d” Alexandre en 1809-1810” (M., 1811, 4°), where he gave a scientific and systematic description of what was already known and again by him open (sulfur-alkaline in Essentuki) sources, recorded many chemical, topographical and meteorological observations he made, vividly depicted the nature and life of the Caucasus; in the author’s frequent digressions and reasoning one can hear deep respect for science and indignation at its unworthy and selfish servants.
On June 1, 1812, G. left public service, but already in 1814 he entered the active army, worked actively in the war and reached Paris with our troops. At the end of the campaigns, he retired and went to his native Münstereifel, where he found the whole family gathered at the bedside of his dying father. However, G. did not stay in his homeland for long; After the death of his father, he was irresistibly drawn to Russia, with which he had already become accustomed. At first, after returning to Moscow, G. was engaged in private practice and soon became a famous doctor, who was invited everywhere and to whom patients often came from the most remote areas, so that, despite his selflessness, he became the owner of a large fortune: he had a cloth factory, an estate , house in Moscow, traveled, according to the custom of that time, in a carriage drawn by a train of four white horses. But he did not forget the poor people and devoted a lot of time to seeing free patients, whom he helped not only with advice, but often with money.
In 1825, Moscow Governor-General Prince. Golitsyn turned to G. with a proposal to take the position of Moscow Stadt Physicist; after much hesitation, he accepted this position on August 14, 1825 and, with his characteristic energy, began to actively carry out various reforms in the medical part of the city and at the same time ardently fight the apathy and indifference with which his colleagues in the medical office treated their work . G. had to endure many difficult moments and sorrows during his short tenure as a staff physicist; his ardent, lively activity constantly collided with cold clerical inertia. Both his superiors and his colleagues were dissatisfied with G.’s “restless activity”: complaints and denunciations were sent against him; everything, from his foreign origin to the fact that he gave his salary as a stadt physicist to his displaced predecessor, was blamed on him, and a year later (July 27, 1826) he was forced to leave his position and again took up private practice. On January 24, 1828, it was allowed to establish a provincial prison committee in Moscow, “at the suggestion and insistence” of Prince. D. V. Golitsyna. The prince carefully selected the personnel of the committee, several times changed the list of persons who seemed worthy to him to serve the great and difficult task of transforming prisons, but in all his lists the name of G. invariably appeared. In 1830, G. was appointed a member of the committee and the chief physician of Moscow prisons ( in 1830-1835 he also combined the position of secretary of the committee). From that time on, for almost 25 years, he devoted all his strength, his entire life and all his material resources to this new activity, which completely captured him. He brought into it a sincere love for people, an unshakable faith in the truth and a deep conviction that crime, misfortune and illness are so closely related to each other that it is sometimes completely impossible to distinguish between them; G. set himself the goal of “fair, without vain cruelty, treatment of the guilty, active compassion for the unfortunate and charity of the sick”; nothing could stop him in his unwavering pursuit of this goal: neither clerical quibbles, nor sidelong glances and ironic attitudes from his superiors and colleagues, nor clashes with the powers that be, nor even bitter disappointments. He was always true to his motto, expressed in his book "Appel aux femmes": "hurry to do good."
Once or twice a week, large consignments of prisoners were sent from the Moscow transit prison on Vorobyovy Gory to Siberia; G. was always present during these dispatches for many years; here he first became personally acquainted with the situation of the prisoners and their life and ardently took up the task of possibly alleviating their difficult situation. First of all, he was struck by the torturousness and injustice of the method of transporting exiles on the rod: while the convicts walked alone, shackled with leg shackles, less important criminals were transported on the rod and endured severe torment, so that as a favor they asked the commanders to be treated as with convicts. G. energetically began to work for the abolition of the rod, but, despite the sympathy and support of the prince. Golitsyn, these efforts remained fruitless for a long time; G., meanwhile, was experimenting with replacing the rod with shackles, but lighter ones than those that had existed until then. Finally, he managed to make shackles with a chain, a yard long and weighing three pounds, which were strong enough, but at the same time not so tiring for the person chained on the campaign; G. made an ardent petition to the committee for permission to put in these shackles all the prisoners passing through Moscow on the rod; At the same time, he also presented funds for procuring the first batch of such shackles, promised to continue to provide funds for them from “virtuous people” and asked permission to adapt the forge that already existed on Vorobyovy Gory for the production of lightweight shackles. While there was a long office correspondence on this issue, Prince. Golitsyn decided to introduce new shackles in Moscow for the prisoners, who greeted this reform with delight and gratitude and called the new shackles “Haazovsky.” The heads of the local transport teams looked with displeasure at the innovation, which caused a lot of trouble, but G. himself vigilantly and tirelessly followed the work of reforging the prisoners and throughout his entire subsequent life, with the exception of his last days, he was invariably present at the Sparrow Hills when each batch of prisoners was sent . When later the book. Golitsyn often had to go abroad due to illness, and G. was thus deprived of his support; the bosses began to sharply refuse requests to reforge the prisoners. But the “exaggerated philanthropist,” as the commander of the internal guard Kaptsevich called G., continued to “pursue his line” and even achieved the release of all decrepit and crippled prisoners from chains. Seeing how prisoners came to Moscow with frostbitten hands in those places where the iron rings of handcuffs were put on, G. He began to energetically work on covering handcuffs with leather, which he achieved in 1836, when a decree was issued “on the universal covering of chain nuts with leather in Russia.” No less persistently did F.P. petition for the abolition of shaving half the head for those who were not deprived of all rights. And these efforts were crowned with complete success: on March 11, 1846, the State Council abolished universal head shaving and reserved it only for exiled convicts. The food issue also attracted G.'s attention, and when in 1847 and 1848. a temporary order followed to reduce the prisoners' allowance by one-fifth; he contributed 11,000 rubles “from an unknown charitable person.” to a committee to improve the food of those kept in the transit castle. Back on April 2, 1829, G. strenuously petitioned the prince. Golitsyn that the latter authorize him to testify to the state of health of all prisoners in Moscow and subordinate to him in this regard the police doctors who were negligent in this matter; his request was respected. In 1832, through his efforts and with the funds he collected, a hospital with 120 beds was built for prisoners on Vorobyovy Gory, which came under his direct management. Here he could leave the unfortunate people in Moscow for some time “due to illness”, he could remove the shackles from them and give them the opportunity to gather their moral and physical strength in front of the “Vladimir woman”, warm up mentally and find consolation and support. But not only for the sick and weak, but for all transit migrants in general, he obtained permission to stay in Moscow for a week, so that he could really get acquainted with their needs and help them. During this week G. visited the party at least four times. He also obtained permission to organize a half-stage at the other end of Moscow, namely behind the Rogozhskaya outpost, since the first transition from Moscow to Bogorodsk was very long, and the fulfillment of various formalities delayed the performance of the parties until 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon. It was to this Rogozhsky half-stage that F.P. drove up every Monday, early in the morning, in his old-fashioned cab, well-known throughout Moscow, loaded to the brim with supplies for the transit workers. G. walked around the prisoners, distributed supplies to them, encouraged them, gave them farewells and said goodbye to them, often even kissing those in whom he managed to notice “a living soul.” And often one could see how he - in a tailcoat, with the Vladimir Cross in his buttonhole, in old shoes with buckles and high stockings, and if it happened in winter, then in rusty high boots and an old wolf fur coat - walked several miles with the party, continuing his conversation with the exiles. This attitude towards the prisoners aroused a lot of displeasure against G., and their consequence was that in 1839 he was completely removed from witnessing the transferees. This order deeply offended him, but nothing could break his energy and force him to retreat from a cause that he considered right. Relying on his title and right as director of the prison committee, G. just as carefully continued to visit the transit prison and just as ardently stood up for “his” prisoners. His tenacity and perseverance finally tired of his opponents: they gave up on the “exaggerated philanthropist” and began to turn a blind eye to his activities. It is clear with what love and deep respect the prisoners looked at “their holy doctor,” and during his entire “service” in prison, not a single rude word touched his ears, even in the cells of the most hardened criminals, to whom he entered calmly and always alone. With the hope of consolation and possible relief from their plight, the migrants went to Moscow and left it for distant Siberia, carrying in their hearts the memory of the pure image of a man who laid down his life to serve his unfortunate and destitute brother. When the sad news of the death of their intercessor subsequently reached these people, they used their pennies to build an icon of St. Theodora Tiron with an unquenchable lamp in front of her.
No less fruitful was G.’s work in transforming the Moscow provincial prison castle, which was in the most terrible condition. According to the repeated representations of G. book. Golitsyn, through the prison committee, allowed him, as an experiment, to rebuild one of the corridors of the castle in an economic way, and he set to work, sparing no expense to speed it up. In the middle of 1833, part of the prison castle took on an exemplary appearance for that time: clean cells, painted with oil paint, were illuminated by wide windows and were equipped with bunks that rose during the day; washbasins and retreats were installed, expelling the foul-smelling “bowl” from the cells; a well was dug in the yard, and the yard was lined with Siberian poplars. G. set up workshops in prison: bookbinding, carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring and even weaving bast shoes. In 1836, through his labors and with donations collected by him, due to lack of space in the provincial castle, a school for arrested children was established at the transit prison; G. loved children very much, often visited this school, caressed the children and followed their progress. He also cared about the spiritual education of the prisoners and constantly worked with the committee to distribute the Gospel and books of spiritual and moral content to them. G., at his own expense, published a book entitled: “A.B.V. of Christian Good Morality” and distributed it to all exiles passing through Moscow. In this book, which began with texts from the Gospel and the Epistles of the Apostles, the author convinces the reader not to laugh at the misfortune of another, not to be angry, not to slander, and most importantly, not to lie.
Thanks to G.’s selfless efforts, a “police hospital for the homeless” (now the Alexander Hospital) arose, which the people called Gaazovskaya. In 1844, 150 sick prisoners were temporarily transferred to the house of the Orthopedic Institute in Malo-Kazenny Lane on Pokrovka. This house was repaired and adapted for a hospital using G.’s personal funds and donations collected by him. Here he brought in his carriage those sick people whom he sometimes happened to pick up on the street during his constant travels around the city. When the prisoners were subsequently transferred to the prison infirmary, G. tried with all his might to preserve this hospital for homeless patients and ensured that it was recognized as a permanent institution. In “his” hospital, G. established “his own” rules. Gentle, delicate, courteous, treating his work with sincere love, he demanded the same from his subordinates; but above all this, he demanded the truth from them and could not stand lies. In his activities, G. found support in the governor-general, Prince. D. V. Golitsyn and Prince. A. G. Shcherbatov; but since 1848, when gr. Zakrevsky, all requests and petitions of G. began to be recognized as not worthy of attention.
At the beginning of August 1853, G. fell ill (he developed a huge carbuncle) and it immediately became clear that there was no hope of recovery. He suffered greatly, but not a single complaint, not a single groan escaped his lips, and on August 16 he died as calmly and quietly as he bore his difficult life. A crowd of twenty thousand accompanied his coffin to his final resting place in the cemetery on the Vvedensky Hills. After his death, poor furniture, worn clothes, several rubles of money, books and astronomical instruments were found in a modest apartment; the latter were the only weakness of the deceased, and he bought them, denying himself everything: after a hard day of work, he rested, looking through a telescope at the stars. The manuscript that remained after him, “Appel aux femmes,” in which G., in the form of an appeal to Russian women, sets out the moral and religious principles that permeated his life, was published by his executor, Dr. A. I. Paul. G. did not leave behind any fortune. But the moral legacy that he left to people was great. If during his lifetime G.’s moral influence on Muscovites was strong, so that his mere appearance in front of a worried crowd during the cholera of 1848 and a few words were enough to calm this crowd and force it to disperse, then after death the bright image of this man can serve a shining example to the whole world of how the ideal of Christian love for people can be realized on earth under the most difficult living conditions. And despite this, G.’s name was forgotten for a long time, and only in 1890 A.F. Koni, in his report read at the St. Petersburg Law Society, reminded Russian society of one of its remarkable figures.
On October 1, 1909, a monument to F. P. Haaz was unveiled in the courtyard of the Alexander Hospital in Moscow, and by the same time the “Olginsky Charitable Society in Memory of Dr. F. P. Gaaz” was established with a fund of 20,000 rubles.
A.F. Koni, "Fedor Petrovich Gaaz". - S.V. Puchkov, “On the characteristics of Dr. F.P. Haas.” - Professor I.T. Tarasov, “Friend of Unfortunate Humanity.” - Klavdiya Lukashevich, “Friend of the unfortunate, Doctor Haass.” - G. S. Petrov, “Friend of the disadvantaged, F. P. Haaz.” - E. N. Krasnogorskaya, “Friend of the Unfortunate F. P. Haaz.” - "Moskovskie Vedomosti", 1853 (obituary). - Lebedev's essay in the "Russian Bulletin" for 1858 - Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, vol. XIV (Art. A.F. Koni). - The spiritual testament of F. P. Haaz was published in the Collection of P. I. Shchukin (vol. X) and reprinted in the “Russian Archive” (1912, No. 6).
ABOUT. AND. Davydova.
(Polovtsov)
. 2009. - (Haas) senior doctor at Moscow prison hospitals; born August 24, 1780 in Münstereifel, near Cologne; studied medicine in Vienna, first came to Russia in 1803 and entered service in 1806 as the chief physician of the Pavlovsk hospital in ... ... Large biographical encyclopedia
- (Friedrich Joseph Haas, Fedor Petrovich) senior doctor of Moscow prison hospitals, was born on August 24, 1780 in Münstereifel, near Cologne, studied medicine in Vienna, first came to Russia in 1803 and entered service in 1806 as chief... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
- (Friedrich Joseph, Haas, Fedor Petrovich) senior doctor of Moscow prison hospitals, born on August 24, 1780 in Münstereifel, near Cologne, studied medicine in Vienna, first came to Russia in 1803 and entered service in 1806 in as the main... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Fyodor Petrovich Haass Friedrich Joseph Haass Date of birth ... Wikipedia
Fyodor Petrovich Haas Fyodor Petrovich Haas (Friedrich Joseph, German Friedrich Joseph Haas; August 10, 1780, Bad Münstereifel August 16, 1853, Moscow) Russian doctor of German origin, philanthropist, known as the “holy doctor,” Catholic.... ... Wikipedia