Ivan Shpitsberg

Shpitsberg was born into a noble family[2]. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg State University in 1906. On September 1, 1906, he became an assistant to a sworn attorney. On June 9, 1912, he became a sworn attorney in St. Petersburg. After February 1917, he worked as an official of the Holy Synod on divorce cases.[3] According to information on March 13, 1917, he was an "employee of the commissariat of the 4 sub-district of the Foundry District" in Petrograd. From January to June 1918, he was "chairman of the Marriage Department of the Foundry District Council" of the Workers' Council and soldiers' deputies, also in Petrograd. Since 1918, he became an anti-religious lecturer-propagandist, and, at the same time, a comrade of the People's Commissar in Petrograd. He joined the ranks of the RCP (b), according to various sources, in May to July 1919.

Shpitsberg also took part in the publication of the magazine "Revolution and Church". On May 17, 1919, he began working in the VIII department of the People's Commissariat of Justice: first as an expert, and then (no later than May 1920) in its body on the most important cases. From December 1, 1920, to May 31, 1921, he served as the legal adviser of the Cheka. At the same time, he was an authorized officer of the Seventh Division of the Secret Department of the Cheka. Shpitsberg investigated led church processes in 1918-1920.[4] He was Dismissed from the Cheka for defamation on June 10, 1921.[5]

In 1921, he became the organizer and head of the scientific society and publishing house Atheist (Russian: "Атеист"). Under the guidance of Shpitsberg, a library of atheistic literature of foreign authors was created, and the books were translated by P. Holbach, A. Drews, J. Robertson, G. Daumer, J. Fraser, L. Taxil, and others.[6]

He died of heart disease[7].

• Atheistic Dictionary / Шпицберг