Russian general, participant in the Caucasian War. He is known for pursuing an extremely cruel policy in which he intimidated the Circassians as part of the Circassian genocide.[3]
Zass thought Circassians were not as good as the "European Race," He thought German and Russian people were much better groups of people .[8][10][13] He thought that the only way to deal with the Circassians was to scare them away "just like wild animals". He kept a box under his bed with Circassian body parts.[14]
Zass supported using very bad military methods when dealing with Circassians. These included burning people alive, cutting off heads for enjoyment, burning entire villages to the ground, spreading epidemics on purpose, and rape of children.[7][15]
War crimes and genocidal actions
Methods of massacre of Circassians
Colonel Grigory Zass was a major figure in the Circassian genocide. He was involved with ethnic cleansing. The methods he had the soldiers use included methods burning Circassian villages and causing epidemics.[16][17][18] It is estimated that 70% of the East Circassian population died in the process.[5][9]
Zass had Circassian heads cut off. He sent these heads to his friends in Berlin. These friends were professors who used the heads to study anatomy.[19] He also had heads outside of his tent on lances on a hill.
Russian soldiers and Cossacks were paid for sending Circassian heads to Zass.[20][21][22] Zass also killed Circasians in large numbers by burning Circassian villages with the people in them. He told the soldiers to rape Circassian women and children.[23][24]
Torture
Zass would pick random Circassian males from the towns he attacked. He would burn the men alive as a form of entertainment. He also had the bellies of pregnant women cut with bayonets.[25]
Zass worked with a German officer in the Russian army named Georg Andreas von Rosen during the genocide against the Circassians. Zass wrote letters to Rosen. In them, he said that he ordered Cossacks to kill Circassian civilians.[28]
↑"Zass Grigory Khristoforovich" Засс Григорий Христофорович. Caucasian Knot. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2022. Русский генерал, участник Кавказской войны. Известен тем, что проводил крайне жестокую политику устрашения черкесов. [Russian general, participant in the Caucasian War. He is known for pursuing an extremely cruel policy of intimidating the Circassians.]
