Victor von Wahl

Victor von Wahl (1840-1915) was an Imperial Russian Army general, mayor of St. Petersburg, and governor of Vilnius. He came from Baltic German aristocracy. He had also been a director of the Xenia Institute, an exclusive school for aristocratic women.

Von Wahl became the governor of Vilna in the autumn of 1901. Von Wahl ordered arrest and flogging of a number of Jewish and Polish workers who had taken part in the May Day parade in 1902. Because of the practices of his administration, plots for his assassination began to be formed soon after his arrival. In 1902, a Bundist worker, Hirsh Lekert carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt directed at him, wounding him in the leg and arm. Lekert was tried by military court, sentenced to death and executed.

Assistant Minister of the Interior and Commander of the Gendarme Corps (1902). Member of the State Council (1903).