Georgy Vladimirovich Kutuzov (1894-1918) – a native of Penza, a Bolshevik, heroically died defending Penza at the end of May 1918 during the White-Czech uprising.
In 1912, he graduated with a gold medal from the 1st Penza Male Gymnasium and enrolled in the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in the shipbuilding department. In 1916, he was mobilized into the army, graduated in 1917 from the Mikhailov Artillery School, and was sent with a reserve artillery division to Irkutsk, and then to the Romanian front.
With the beginning of the revolutionary events, Georgy returned to his hometown, where together with his brother Peter he participated in establishing Soviet power. He was a member of the Penza Bolshevik organization and was elected deputy chairman of the city economy.
The Kutuzov brothers. From left to right: Peter, Alexander, Georgy, Boris
On May 28, 1918, he drafted and printed an appeal to the Czech legionnaires urging them not to use weapons against Soviet power.
On May 29, 1918, on Popova Hill, covering the retreat of comrades from the White Czechs with machine gun fire, Georgy Kutuzov was killed.
In the "Bulletin of the Penza Union of Printing Workers" No. 1 dated May 30, 1918, a notice of G. V. Kutuzov’s death was published:
“At the zoological (botanical) garden, on duty at the machine gun post, comrade chairman of the City Economy Board, comrade G. V. Kutuzov, was killed by a shrapnel bullet. Death from a bullet that hit the heart was instantaneous. The deceased was 24 years old. He was a student at the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute… He was a member of the Penza Bolshevik organization.”
Georgy Kutuzov was buried in the pantheon on Soviet Square. In 1928, his remains were transferred to the Mitrofanievskoe Cemetery in Penza. In his honor, in February 1919, Berezovka Street was renamed, and later a memorial plaque was installed. At the same time, in memory of the fierce battles between the Red Army detachment and workers against the White-Czech legionnaires, Popova Hill was given its current name – Battle Hill.
Georgy Vladimirovich Kutuzov was passionate about art and collected materials on the history of the Penza theater. Some of these documents later passed to his brother Alexander, who tried to complete the work and publish it. However, during the Great Patriotic War, the materials were lost.
