reappointed on October 21. Seeing how fragile his position was, he joined the conspirators plotting against the emperor in the house of Olga Zherebtsova. Together with Nicholas Zubov he was one of plot's leaders and organizers. In the plot he played a dual role, trying in the case of failure to conceal his participation. He extracted from the emperor the written order to arrest his son and heir, Alexander Pavlovich, and showed this to him in order to overcome his fluctuation in the plot. He was present during Paul's strangling on the night of March 12, 1801. After the assassination he acquired an irreconcilable enemy in the Empress Maria Feodorovna who prevented him from occupying any important post under Alexander's reign. On 1 April 1801, he was discharged from the service and ordered to withdraw into his estates in Courland. Pahlen died in Mitau on February 13, 1826. Pahlen in film In 1908 Dmitry Merezhkovsky wrote the play Pavel I, which enjoyed limited popularity in Russia. In 2003 the director Vitaly Melnikov adapted the play into the movie Poor Poor Paul. In contrast to the play, the accent in the film is made not only on the fate of Pavel I, but also on Pahlen's role in the plot against him. Pahlen is seen as the tragic figure, which arranged the plot against his own will, worrying not about himself, but about the good of Russia. The role of Pahlen was played by Oleg Yankovsky, that of Paul - by Viktor Sukhorukov. In 1928, Lewis Stone played Pahlen in The Patriot, starring Emil Jannings as Paul I. This film is considered lost, although fragments of it still exist in the UCLA Film Archives. References Pahlen in literature Pahlen in Sartre's 'Nausea' Pahlen in the writing of John Quincy Adams Pahlen in the writings of Thomas Jefferson 1745 births 1826 deaths People from Haljala Parish People from Kreis Wierland Baltic German people from the Russian Empire Nobility from the Russian Empire House of Pahlen Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Imperial Russian Army generals Russian Empire regicides Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus Paul I of Russia