Editing Gavrila Derzhavin (section)

===Career===

In Saint Petersburg, Derzhavin rose from the ranks as a common soldier to the highest offices of state under [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]]. He first impressed his commanders during [[Pugachev's Rebellion]]. Politically astute, his career advanced when he left the military service for civil service. He rose to the position of governor of [[Olonets]] (1784) and [[Tambov]] (1785), personal secretary to the Empress (1791), President of the College of Commerce (1794), and finally the Minister of Justice (1802).

In 1800, Derzhavin wrote the political work ''Opinion'' in response to a request by Emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]] to investigate recent famines in [[Mogilev Governorate]]. In the ''Opinion'', Derzhavin blamed Belarusian famines on the "mercenary trades" of Jews, who exploited peasants through leaseholding of estates and distilling of alcohol, as well as the indifference of the local [[Polish magnate|magnates]] who allowed this exploitation to occur. In response to these issues, Derzhavin proposed a series of reforms to substantially restrict the freedoms of the magnates, abolish the Jewish ''[[Qahal]]'', end the autonomy of the Russian Jewish community, and resettle Russian Jews in colonies along the [[Black Sea]]. The ''Opinion'' became an influential source of information during the early reign of [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], who eventually implemented several of Derzhavin's suggested reforms in the 1804 ''Statute Concerning the Organization of the Jews''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klier |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0eqQgAACAAJ |title=Russia Gathers Her Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Question" in Russia, 1772-1825 |publisher=Northern Illinois University Press |year=1986 |isbn=9780875801179 |location=Dekalb, Illinois |pages=95–115}}</ref>

He was dismissed from his post in 1803 and spent much of the rest of his life in the country estate at Zvanka near [[Novgorod]], writing idylls and [[Anacreon|anacreontic verse]]. At his Saint Petersburg house, he held monthly meetings of the conservative [[Lovers of the Russian Word]] society. He died in 1816 and was buried in the [[Khutyn Monastery]] near Zvanka, reburied by the Soviets in the [[Novgorod Kremlin]], and then reinterred at Khutyn.