Fyodor Dostoevsky Staged Execution (1849) and the Events That Followed

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1872), Vasily Perov

On December 22, 1849, Fyodor Dostoevsky was brought with other members of the Petrashevsky Circle to a public square in St. Petersburg for execution.

The Petrashevsky Circle was a group of young Russian intellectuals who met to discuss literature, philosophy, and banned political ideas, including critiques of serfdom and the state. Their meetings were considered politically dangerous by the authorities.

He had been arrested for his involvement in this group.

At the square, the condemned were divided into groups of three and brought forward in sequence. Dostoevsky was placed in the third group and stood sixth in line.

The prisoners were given white shirts to wear over their clothes as part of the preparation for execution. They were brought out, arranged in groups, and made to wait in silence.

The first group was tied to posts.

Before the shots were fired, a messenger arrived with an order from Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. The execution was canceled.

The death sentences were commuted. After the reprieve was announced, the prisoners were unbound and returned to custody. Dostoevsky’s punishment became four years of hard labor in Siberia, followed by compulsory military service.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Letter to Mikhail Dostoevsky (22 December 1849)

"Today, December 22, we were all taken to Semyonovsky Square. We were given white shirts and prepared for execution. Three at a time were brought forward. I was in the third group, sixth in line. The first group was already tied to the posts. The sentence was read to them. There was no more than a minute of life left for each of us. I remember clearly thinking of you, brother, and of all of you at that moment. I said goodbye in my mind. Then suddenly, an unexpected order arrived. The execution was stopped and a reprieve was announced. We were told that our sentence had been changed to hard labor. I cannot describe to you what I felt at that moment. I felt that I had been given back my life. I believe now that I have been reborn. Brother, do not be sad for me. I am not lost. I begin a new life. I will try not to waste it. Life is a gift, life is happiness. Every minute can be an eternity of happiness if one knows how to live. Now I understand this more than ever before."

Literary work after 1849

After his return from Siberian exile, Fyodor Dostoevsky (Fyodor Dostoevsky) resumed writing gradually, eventually producing his major novels over the following decades. These works are generally considered his mature literary output and were written after his arrest, staged execution, and imprisonment.

His major novels followed this sequence:

• 1864 — Notes from Underground

• 1866 — Crime and Punishment

• 1869 — The Idiot

• 1872 — Demons (also translated as The Devils)*

• 1875 — The Adolescent

• 1880 — The Brothers Karamazov

In addition to these novels, he also wrote numerous shorter works, essays, and journal pieces throughout this period.

Photograph of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1879)

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (Part I, Chapter 5)

"He would have no more than five minutes left to live, and those five minutes seemed to him an immense time. It seemed to him that in those five minutes he could live whole lives. He thought: a few minutes to say goodbye, a few minutes to think about himself, and then the last minute—to look around once more. And he thought that in those final moments he would understand everything at once—what life was. And if life were returned to him, he would value every minute of it."

Illustration by Fritz Eichenberg, The Idiot — “The Execution”

Illustration by Fritz Eichenberg, The Idiot — “In the Railroad Car”

Manuscript sketch (attributed), Fyodor Dostoevsky