Felix was not a cat, but a Polish Szlachcic (Nobleman) in the Russian Empire.
In his youth, he was so religious that he dreamed of becoming a Catholic priest. However, upon witnessing poverty and injustice, the place of the Bible in his soul was taken by Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. He paid dearly for his beliefs, enduring 11 years of hard labor, imprisonment, and exile. This experience forged the “Iron Felix.”
After the Revolution, Lenin entrusted him with the creation of the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission), the shield of Soviet power. Dzerzhinsky built the gigantic state security apparatus from scratch. His formula for the ideal Chekist became a classic: a cool head, a warm heart, and clean hands. Felix was the perfect executor of the Party’s will.
The paradox: the country’s most feared man became the savior for 5 million homeless children left behind after the Civil War and World War I. Dzerzhinsky created and headed the “All-Russian Commission for Improving the Lives of Children” and successfully raised orphans into full-fledged citizens.
Possessing nearly absolute power, he lived like a monk, sleeping in his office at Lubyanka behind a screen on a simple soldier’s cot. No dachas or gold. After his death, only a change of underwear and an old Nagant revolver were found in his safe.
Dzerzhinsky died on July 20, 1926 (Felix was 48 years old). At a Central Committee Plenum, Dzerzhinsky delivered a furious speech, defending the economy against bureaucrats and the opposition. His nerves were frayed. A few hours after his two-hour speech, his heart stopped due to a heart attack.
