Last Petrograd city governor of imperial Russia, the police official who faced the February Revolution's tide
On 24 February, Balk reported to Khabalov that the police were not capable of 'stopping the movement and gathering of the people,' and handed full authority to the military.
Alexander Balk was a military officer and police official of imperial Russia who spent sixteen years in the Warsaw police, responsible for the city's security. Appointed Petrograd city governor (градоначальник) in November 1916, he took vigorous measures on food supply and transport, but within four days of the February Revolution's outbreak he reported to Khabalov that the police could not stop the movement and surrendered full authority to the military before being arrested. He joined the White movement during the Civil War and died in exile in Brazil at the age of 91, in a Catholic monastery's home for the aged.
Career Timeline
- 1886Graduated Pavlovskoye Military School; posted to 16th Ladoga Infantry Regiment
- 1887Transferred to Volynsky Life Guards Regiment
- 1903–1915Assistant Warsaw Ober-Polizeimeister (formally 1906; major general 1912); posted to Moscow after German capture of Warsaw
- 1916.11–1917.02Petrograd city governor (градоначальник)
- 1917.02–06Arrested during February Revolution; imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress; released by Provisional Government
- 1918–1920Served in White Volunteer Army and AFSR; evacuated from Crimea
- 1920–1945Exile in Yugoslavia; headed Volynsky Regiment veterans' association and Belgrade branch of Society of Russian Officers
- 1945–1957Moved to Brazil; died in a monastery home for the aged in Osasco, near São Paulo