Boris Sofronovich Kowerda (, 21 August 1907 – 18 February 1987), also known as Koverda, was a White émigré, monarchist, editor, and proofreader convicted of murdering Pyotr Voykov, Soviet ambassador to Poland in 1927 in Warsaw.
Biography
Early life
Boris Kowerda, also known as Koverda, born 21 August 1907 in Vilnius (Wilno) then part of the Russian Empire, was the son of a public school teacher, a Socialist-Revolutionary of Polishchuk origin, Sofron Iosifovich Kowerda, who was a participant in the White movement during the Russian Civil War and on the side of the Germans during World War II. He considered himself Russian by culture and nationality. From 1915 to 1920, he was with his mother Anna Antonova and sisters Irina and Lyudmila during the evacuations in Samara, where he witnessed the Red Terror, in particular, the death of his cousin and the execution of a family friend, the priest Lebedev. The family returned to Wilno, which subsequently became a part of the Second Polish Republic.
Knowing the Belarusian language, he worked as a proofreader and forwarder in the editorial office of the Belarusian anti-communist newspaper Belarusian Words; in his views he described himself as a democrat and a constitutional monarchist. He was forced to leave school early because of the need to earn money.
According to the teachers of the Wilno Russian gymnasium, Kowerda gave the impression of a very intelligent, modest, slightly timid, withdrawn and uncommunicative young man. He was very delicate in relation to members of the administration, teachers and comrades. Not even the usual student faults were observed for him. In the gymnasium he was distinguished by good abilities, but the need for constant earnings distracted him from his studies, and did not allow him to be among the best students. He did not take part in school public life.
Assassination of Voykov
On 7 June 1927 at 9 am, Ambassador Pyotr Voykov, accompanied by an official of the embassy, Yurij Grigorowicz, arrived at the main railway station to meet the accredited representative of the government of the USSR in London, Arkady Rosengolz, who was returning from London via Berlin. Having met Rosengolz, the ambassador proceeded together with him to the railway restaurant to take some coffee, after which they went together out on the platform toward the express train scheduled to leave Warsaw at 9:55, as Rosengolz was to continue his journey to Moscow with this train. At the moment when Ambassador Voykov and Rosengolz approached the sleeper of this train, Kowerda fired a single pistol shot at the ambassador, crying out "Die for Russia!", at which Voykov jumped aside and started to run. Kowerda pursued him with further shots, to which Voykov pulled a pistol from his pocket, turned back and let out several shots at Kowerda, then faltered and collapsed into the arms of the policeman Jasinski. Kowerda, sighting the approaching police, at whose demand he raised his hands, dropped his weapon and gave himself up voluntarily. Ambassador Voykov, after having been given first aid at the station, was transferred to the Hospital of the Child Jesus, where he was pronounced dead at 10:40 the same day.
Kowerda told the police his name, age, and place of origin, and stated that "I avenged Russia, for millions of people." Kowerda later told police he targeted Voykov not only because he was the representative of the Soviet system which had killed millions of his countrymen, but was one of the men directly involved in the planning and execution of the murder of the imperial family. Despite official condemnations by the Polish government and diplomatic corps and messages of condolence to the Soviet Union and to the relations of Voykov, many people in Poland regarded Kowerda as a hero; public opinion was full of understanding, and even sympathy, for the assassin. Many Polish newspapers emphasized his youth and patriotism, and even forgave him for the political difficulties caused by his actions.