Curse of the Kingslayer. The highest punishment for regicides (3 photos)

He was born in the small town of Kainsk and, as if by the will of fate, committed a crime comparable in heinousness to the actions of the biblical Cain

Exactly one hundred years ago, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the Bolsheviks committed a monstrous crime, shooting without trial all members of the imperial family Romanovs, as well as their associates and servants. The main organizer and executor of this execution was a security officer. Yakov Yurovsky.

Any revolution is accompanied by the commission of bloody crimes against the people and individuals. But the destruction of the Romanov family even here stands apart. Quite deliberately, the killers shot at defenseless women and children in the name of an idea they alone knew.

Members of Yurovsky's "firing squad" pose after the murder of the royal family. Source: wikimedia.org

Dark spots in the biography of little Yankel

Yankel Khaimovich Yurovsky born on July 3, 1878 in the city of Kainsk (present-day Kuibyshev, Novosibirsk region) Tomsk province and became the eighth child in a large Jewish family. In total, the parents, who soon moved to the provincial Tomsk, had 10 children.

Little Yankel was not diligent in his studies and was able to complete only 3 grades at the Talmateiro school opened at the local synagogue. At the age of 14, the boy leaves his father’s house and settles in Tobolsk, where he works as an apprentice to a watchmaker.

At the age of 20, Yurovsky receives his first sentence for committing an accidental murder in Tomsk. The story is dark and not fully explored, but he conscientiously served his two years.

The next dark spot in the biography of Yakov Yurovsky is that after his release he unexpectedly became rich and became the owner of a haberdashery store in Novo-Nikolaevsk. Some sources claim that he simply received a “payoff” from the man for whom he was in prison.

Realizing that it is not very easy for a Jew to do business in Russia, he moved to Germany in 1903-1904, where he underwent baptism. He specifically adopted Lutheranism so as not to have anything to do with Orthodoxy, and from Yankel Khaimovich he turned into Yakov Mikhailovich.

Businessman and revolutionary

Yakov Yurovsky joined revolutionary activities in 1905. At first he actively supports the Jewish Bund party, but soon defects to the Bolsheviks, whom he considers more promising. At the same time, he has his own watch workshop and a store selling semi-precious stones. But gradually his business declines, and Yakov himself turns into a fiery revolutionary. He keeps weapons at home, hides illegal immigrants and distributes banned literature.

In 1912, following a tip from an “informer,” Yurovsky was arrested, but they could not prove his involvement in terrorist activities. Nevertheless, he was sent from Tomsk to Yekaterinburg.

In Yekaterinburg, he opens a photo salon and almost completely withdraws from revolutionary activities. Life is getting better a little, but the outbreak of the First World War turns life upside down.

Despite the regular bribes that Yakov gave to the “right people,” in 1916 they wanted to draft him into the active army. The only way the patrons could help was to place him in a paramedic school, after which Yurovsky entered service at the Yekaterinburg military hospital.

A fiery communist with a cold calculation

With the beginning of the February Revolution of 1917, Yurovsky again intensified his revolutionary activities. Some sources claim that he aroused discontent against the existing government by feeding rotten meat to the sick from the infirmary.

October 1917 brought to the top a lot of various evil spirits, among which was Yakov Yurovsky, who knew how to understand the political situation very well.

In just one year, he managed to serve the new government in many positions, but he took the main one on July 4, 1918, becoming the commandant of the “House of Special Purpose” (Ipatiev House), where the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family were kept.

Kingslayer by choice

It is he who is considered the main organizer and executor of the murder of the royal family, for which Lenin And Sverdlov, who was friends with Yurovsky, Yakov was subsequently only “scolded a little.”

Yakov Yurovsky, whose biography is described in this article, is a Soviet statesman, revolutionary, security officer and murderer of the royal family. Until 1905, he bore the name Yankel, patronymic Khaimovich. Subsequently he began to be called Yakov Mikhailovich. His biography and life path are presented below.

Childhood

Yakov Yurovsky was born on June 21 (07/03 according to the new style), 1878 in the Tomsk province, in Kainsk. Since 1935, the city was renamed Kuibyshev. His grandfather was from Poltava, and his father, Mikhail Ilyich, was sent into exile in Siberia for theft. There he worked as a glazier. Yakov's mother, Esther Moiseevna, was engaged in sewing at home. The family was large, Jewish, Orthodox. The couple had ten children, Yankel Khaimovich was born the eighth.

Education

In 1985, he began going to the Talmateiro River District School, which was organized at the synagogue. But without even finishing the first year, he became an apprentice tailor. At the same time he studied watchmaking.

Job

After acquiring these two specialties, Yankel Khaimovich got a job as an apprentice in Tobolsk, then worked in Tomsk, Feodosia and several other cities. In 1904, he and one of his brothers left to work in America. After marriage he moved to Yekaterinodar.

The beginning of revolutionary activity

There he first became involved in revolutionary activities. At first he stored and distributed relevant literature and leaflets produced in an underground printing house. In 1905 he joined the RSDLP and became a friend of Sverdlov. In the same year, he was forced to go to live in Germany, in Berlin. There he was baptized and became Lutheran. Changed his name to Yakov Mikhailovich.

Own business

In 1907, Yankel Khaimovich returned to Yekaterinodar, and in 1908 he moved to Tomsk. There Yakov Yurovsky opened his own watch shop. In 1912, he was detained for revolutionary activities and sent into exile from Tomsk. At the same time, he was allowed to choose his place of stay independently.

Yakov Mikhailovich stopped in Yekaterinburg. Arriving there, he immediately opened his own photo studio. The gendarmes began to take advantage of the opportunity to take free photographs of prisoners or suspects, so Yurovsky became a frequent visitor to the police.

Continuation of revolutionary activities

The photo studio simultaneously became a meeting place for the Bolsheviks. The workshop was used to produce counterfeit documents. During the First World War, Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky was sent to the army, where he trained as a paramedic. He was left to work in the local hospital with the rank of company commander.

Yakov Mikhailovich never managed to get to the front. After the February Revolution, he sold the workshop. With the funds received, he founded the Bolshevik printing house “Ural Worker”. In 1917 he joined the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Since October of this year he became a member of the Military Department of Yekaterinburg.

He worked as chairman of the Investigative Commission of the Regional Revolutionary Tribunal in the Urals. Then he served as the region's commissioner of justice and was a member of the Cheka Board. Yurovsky was one of the leaders of the revolutionary process in the Urals. After the Bolsheviks established power, an indemnity of 10 million rubles was imposed on the rich and factory owners.

The bourgeoisie began to rebel against such laws. Then the Urals Council entrusted the management of enterprises to working committees. Lenin approved these actions. Soon the first historical act on the transfer of bourgeois property to the workers appeared. But the seizure of enterprises did not bring the expected income. When Russia concluded the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Urals Council did not agree with this decision and announced the continuation of the revolutionary war in Germany.

At that time, Yurovsky was a member of the Board of the Regional Cheka and was the chairman of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Yakov Mikhailovich, together with the Red Guards, went around the houses of wealthy people and confiscated all the valuables found.

Execution of the royal family

In June 1918, Yakov Yurovsky became commandant of the Ipatiev House, where the Romanov family was temporarily imprisoned. In 1918, on the night of July 16-17, he shot all members of the imperial dynasty. Yurovsky claimed that he received an order to kill the tsar signed by Sverdlov, and the Urals Council decided to shoot the entire imperial family.

Yakov Mikhailovich claims that he personally shot only the Tsar. All other members of the royal family were killed by other participants in the bloodshed. A total of 12 people were shot, including Botkin, the royal family doctor, and servants. As a result, Yakov Yurovsky went down in history as one of the participants in the murder of Nicholas II and members of his family.

There is a version that the document on the basis of which the entire royal family died was forged. And it was Yurovsky who made the “linden”. He also appointed a cleanup team. As a result, historical research was carried out. It showed that the document was most likely indeed fabricated. But the real list of participants in the murder was not reflected in it.

The descendants of Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky died under strange and mysterious circumstances. There is an opinion that this is the effect of the royal curse. The monstrous evil committed by Yurovsky continues to affect the lives of his descendants to this day.

Diamond Epic

After the execution of the imperial family, Ermakov had to remove the corpses. Yakov Mikhailovich decided to take part in this under the pretext that he would make sure that everything was done carefully. But the reason for this decision lay elsewhere. Yurovsky knew that the queen was buying jewelry and diamonds, and decided to find them while examining the corpses.

The bodies were thrown into a deep abandoned mine. They were destroyed a day later by burning them with fire, so that not even the relics remained. Then the diamonds were found. They were sewn into the princesses' clothes. The total weight of the jewelry was half a pound. Yurovsky wrote that all the diamonds were buried in the basement of one of the houses on the territory of the Alapaevsky plant.

They supposedly arrived in Moscow later. But the inventory of the royal family’s valuables did not include any jewelry. The list included only fur coats, cutlery, and icons. The true fate of the jewelry remained unknown for some time. Some of them were transported to the Moscow State Bank.

Local residents rebelled, accusing the Bolsheviks of theft. As a result, Yurovsky took part in suppressing the riot. The rebels were mercilessly shot. This bloodshed was led by Yakov Yurovsky. He himself set an example by killing the rebels. The royal jewels were found only in July 1920. They were handed over to the Kremlin commandant personally by Yurovsky, who moved to Moscow.

Shameful secret deal

In 1921, Yakov Mikhailovich began to manage the gold department in the State Repository. Presumably, in 1923 he led the shameful act of transporting the Russian crown and scepter to Chita, to the Japanese mission. Next, the royal things were planned to be sold to America or Europe.

The deal was kept secret, but accidentally became public knowledge. As a result, the Soviet government managed to return the Russian treasures to Moscow and, in order to calm people down, the crown and scepter were put on display in the House of Unions, in the Hall of Columns. After this attempt to sell the jewelry, Yurovsky was fired from the State Repository under the People's Commissariat of Finance.

Personal life

Yakov Mikhailovich was married to Mana Yankelevna Kaganer. Subsequently, she changed her name to Maria Yakovlevna. The Yurovskys had three children. Daughter Rimma became an active Komsomol figure. In 1938 she was arrested and sent to serve her sentence in Karaganda.

Yakov Mikhailovich's first son, Alexander, became a rear admiral of the Navy. In 1852 he was subjected to repression, but after Stalin's death he was released. Yurovsky's second son, Evgeniy, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was a political worker in the Navy.

Death of Yurovsky

Yakov Yurovsky, whose photo is in this article, retired from public service in 1933. By this time he was already very worried about his health. He spent the rest of his life in the Kremlin hospital, suffering from stomach ulcers. Doctors were unable to cure her.

When did Yakov Yurovsky die, where was the participant in the execution of the royal family buried? He died in suffering on August 2, 1938. The urn with his ashes is kept in the columbarium of the New Don Cemetery (Southern Administrative Okrug). Many do not even know where Yakov Yurovsky is buried, whose grave is of more interest to modern historians.

Yurovsky's character

Yurovsky's character was most accurately described by his relatives. Jacob was considered the smartest among the brothers. He had a strong and hot-tempered character. He always persistently achieved his goals and loved to command. Some relatives spoke of Yurovsky as a despot.

"The debate about what happened on August 30, 1918 has not subsided to this day. Versions are being put forward, one more fantastic than the other: the bullets that hit Lenin were poisoned; the murder was ordered by Yakov Sverdlov, who was aiming for the role of leader; it was a staged act to start the Red terror, Lenin agreed with the security officers that they would shoot into the air, and he would “theatrically” fall to the ground... Sometimes it reaches the point of absurdity - for example, that the assassination attempt was Kaplan’s revenge for a failed romance with Dmitry Ulyanov..." - so the presidential library named after B.N. Yeltsin introduces on his portal digitized official materials related to the assassination attempt at the Mikhelson plant.

Many of these materials from the Presidential Library were published in the August issue of Rodina magazine. The “synchronicity” is not surprising: Rodina and the Presidential Library are long-time friends and business partners. The August magazine selection analyzes versions of what happened on August 30, 1918. And the question is raised: why did the investigation turn a blind eye to the key details of the assassination attempt?

We offer readers of Rossiyskaya Gazeta two publications from.

The investigative experiment in the Fanny Kaplan case was led by the regicide Yakov Yurovsky. Just a month and a half ago, he shot the royal family in Yekaterinburg (Rodina spoke about this in detail). Yakov Yurovsky also fulfilled the new task of the party in good faith. True, now he had in his hands not a revolver, but a camera.

Kingisepp as Kaplan

Four photographs appear in the documents of the investigation carried out in hot pursuit. On one of them the inscription “staged” is clearly readable. Lenin in the photographs is replaced by the chairman of the factory committee Nikolai Ivanov (in the photo second from the right), in the role of Kaplan - the investigator for especially important Viktor Kingisepp (in the photo on the left), the accidentally wounded housekeeper Popova is portrayed by a member of the factory committee Sidorov (far left), the driver Stepan Gil plays yourself. And Yakov Yurovsky “sets” the frame and takes photographs.

Photo No. 1. Lenin goes to the car, Popova speaks to him, Kaplan is preparing for a terrorist attack, the driver is waiting.

Photo No. 2. Kaplan shoots.

Photo No. 3. Lenin falls, the wardrobemaid tries to escape, Kaplan heads for the gate.

Photo No. 4. General view of the factory building.

Attached to the photographs is the “Protocol of the inspection of the scene of the attempted murder of Comrade Lenin at the Mikhelson plant on August 30, 1918.” It is dated September 2, signed by Yurovsky and Kingisepp and describes in detail the details: the distance from the door of the factory building to the parking lot (9 fathoms); the distance from the front and rear wheels of the car to the gate to the street (8 fathoms 2 feet and 10 fathoms 2 feet, respectively); the point from which Kaplan fired; her escape route...

Investigative photographer Yurovsky captured a re-enactment that has nothing to do with the investigative experiment. Because it had to involve a real suspect (the next day she would be killed and burned right in the Kremlin), a real witness (after being wounded by a stray bullet, the housekeeper Popova could easily move) and even the real victim himself. Therefore, the protocol of a “deep examination” (as the authors call it) is more reminiscent of an indictment.

Obvious inconsistencies receive categorical explanations. Why did the found cartridges “hit abnormally, somewhat forward”? But because “those bounced off people standing densely around them.” It would later become known that the bullets were fired from two pistols. But the materials of the “deep” investigation do not contain traceological and ballistic examination data. There is no interview with the victim, that is, Vladimir Ilyich - although in such cases this is the main document...

There is nothing but proletarian instinct.

The photographer clicks...

How did a participant in the execution of the royal family end up in Moscow? On July 25, a week after the terrible massacre, whites entered Yekaterinburg. Yurovsky, urgently recalled to Moscow, became the head of one of the district departments of the Cheka. And very soon his photography skills came in handy.

Yes, before the revolution, Yakov Yurovsky had his own photo studio in Yekaterinburg and a watch workshop, which was a convenient cover for the illegal appearance of Marxists. At the same time, by the way, he earned the praise of his photography teacher for his “special ability to see the subject.” In his memoirs, Yurovsky notes displeasedly that the gendarmerie “nagged” him, that he was constantly “dragged” to the police and forced to take photographs of suspicious persons and prisoners. However, there was also enough time to make fake passports for party comrades.

A logical question: why didn’t he take photographs of the royal family before and after the execution? After all, the prisoners were called into the basement specifically to “take pictures,” and the expensive camera that belonged to them was kept by the commandant of the “special purpose house” Yurovsky. Historians agree that “something went wrong before the execution.” And Yurovsky himself, who wrote pathetic memoirs, avoided this issue. Perhaps he cursed himself for an unforgivable omission...

By the way, he took up the memoirs three times: in 1920, with the participation of the historian M. Pokrovsky, in 1922 and 1934. Researchers and fiction writers continue to look for hidden meaning, omissions, versions, and hints in Yurovsky’s notes. But it is difficult to trust the revelations of the “director” of the 1918 dramatization...

Museum on Party Lane

Today, photocopies of the protocol signed by Yurovsky and Kingisepp, recordings of Fanny Kaplan’s interrogation, and a doctor’s report on her almost complete blindness “due to hysteria” can be seen in the museum of the former Mikhelson plant, now the Moscow Electromechanical Plant named after Vladimir Ilyich. The most important display cases are in the CEO’s office, where there are more visitors. And the museum is quiet and cool. In the depths are a dozen red banners. The history of the plant in Party Lane knows many truly glorious events.

General Director Joseph Vayman is a graduate of MADI, which he is sincerely proud of. Like a normal techie, he doesn’t like slackness in production and speculation in history. He explains that there is no need to call the building on Dubininskaya Street, building 60, building 1, “Kaplan’s house” - it’s just a factory forge, where Fanny sat under arrest for several hours, hidden from the crowd. Shows on the map the building where Lenin spoke to the workers, the place where Lenin’s car stopped, and the place of the assassination attempt. I am sure that this page of history must be preserved for posterity - despite the fact that the plant itself will soon disappear from city maps.

Yes, on the site of the enterprise included in books, paintings, and films, a block with apartments, offices and landscape design will rise. It’s good that the monument to the factory workers who died in the Great Patriotic War and Afghanistan will be preserved. It’s good that they won’t demolish the statue of Lenin and the stone - a memorial sign at the place where they tried to kill the leader. All this is our memory. And it’s not staged at all.

10 questions for the investigation

WHY the victim Lenin was not interviewed in the prescribed manner, although he was conscious and available to the investigation (there is no testimony from him in the “case”)?

WHY Were no ballistic and traceological examinations of the shots carried out?

WHY Do the bullet holes on Vladimir Ilyich’s clothes not match the wounds on his body?

WHY is there no testimony from workers who recognized Fanny Kaplan as the shooter?

WHY Were there no confrontations between the witnesses of the assassination attempt and the terrorist?

WHY was a full-fledged investigative experiment at the scene of the assassination replaced by a “staging”?

WHY did the weapon brought by a certain worker a day after an advertisement in the newspaper belong to Fanny Kaplan (there is no supporting data in the “case”)?

WHY Could the terrorist, at the time of the shots, have been holding a bulky briefcase and a large umbrella, which she had with her at the time of her arrest on the evening of August 30?

WHY Lenin went to Mikhelson's plant without security, although in the morning the head of the Petrograd Cheka, Solomon Uritsky, was killed and the situation became sharply more complicated?

WHY Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Yakov Sverdlov even before the end of the investigation ordered the execution of Fanny Kaplan, although the accused did not pose a threat and was under reliable protection?

One American writer in the 1960s had a story called “Historinaut”: about how the CIA, when they invented a time machine, decided to send its agent back in time, to 1917, to kill Lenin. The agent copes with the task perfectly, returns safely back to the 1960s, and everything would be fine, but it turns out that America has been conquered by Germany...

Indeed, the assassination of Lenin, apparently, is one of those events that could jam and break, if not the entire “machine” of world history, then at least the twentieth century; it is not surprising that this plot appeared regularly - first in the political agenda, and then in fantasy fiction.

There is, however, an event of a “related nature”, which, in my opinion, is given too much importance: we are talking about the tragic incident at the Michelson plant on August 30, 1918.

Fell, shook himself off, moved on

The moment is certainly extraordinary - Lenin really “looked into the face of death,” and the brave Fanny Kaplan really accomplished her mission more successfully than all her numerous colleagues and predecessors. Another thing is that the incident did not have any colossal consequences: the political line of the Bolsheviks did not undergo changes, the “Red Terror” would have inevitably been declared even after the murder of Uritsky; and most importantly, Kaplan failed to “terrorize” Lenin himself, to instill terror in him.

Not just "failed"; It didn’t work out at all, not one iota, not one bit.

It is tempting for a fiction writer to attribute “Lenin’s equanimity - shot, fell, shook himself off, moved on - to his superman psyche: Ironman, Rakhmetov, titanium.

For the historian, however, it makes more sense to focus on the circumstances, the context, which explains Lenin’s behavior no worse than the hypothesis of “special abilities.”

Jokes with two bullets in the body

The summer of 1918 was, apparently, the most difficult period in Lenin’s entire and not so calm life; the consequences of the “obscene” Brest Peace, the rebellion in Yaroslavl, the murder of Mirbach, the threat of a new wave of German intervention, battles in Kazan, Socialist Revolutionary terror; With such an intensity of negative news flow, it can be said, almost without exaggeration, that the evening of August 30 was a “routine moment” for the leader of the Soviet state.

They wanted and could have killed Lenin in July 1917, in October 1917, in January 1918, in March 1918, and so on; professional military men plotted against him, he was pursued by an angry crowd, they shot at him, threw bombs at him; in the summer of 1918, it was more difficult than a hired killer to find a person who did not want Lenin to die.

He knew perfectly well that every moment could be his last.

And if so, it is not surprising that, judging by the memoirs, Lenin in the first ten days of September - with two bullets in his body, with a pleura full of blood, with a fracture of the humerus and a fracture of the scapula - did not cry in pain, did not scratch the mattress, did not demand read the Gospel to him and does not send for a notary to bequeath all his savings to the church; No.

He is correct, very “Leninist”, nothing new - he jokes and laughs.

That is, exactly the opposite: if “before Kaplan,” according to his wife’s recollections, he looks “like after a serious illness,” then “after” this very illness he, on the contrary, “jokes,” “is happy,” and all that; or - according to Ya.M. Sverdlova - “tells the doctors that he is tired of them, does not want to submit to discipline, jokingly cross-examines the doctors, and generally “rages.”

Arrest is worse than death

Most likely, Lenin perceived these few days, if not as a “gift,” but as a legal, that is, with a good reason, opportunity to “forget” and get at least a little sleep; not much, because such a “window” is actually being provided to him for the first time in a year and a half, since February 1917. Just for a few days - because the situation in Soviet Russia still remained monstrous; and the Bolsheviks understood perfectly well what was threatening them, and were preparing to retreat underground; At the Moscow Provincial Executive Committee, just in the summer of 1918, they opened a workshop for forging passports: they washed off names, filled out forms from old archives with the names of the dead, and falsified the signatures of volost elders and Governor Dzhunkovsky.

The fact that Malkov burned Kaplan’s corpse in the Alexander Garden is evidence not of the special cynicism of the Kremlin commandant, but of the fact that the Kremlin was at that moment almost a besieged fortress, and it was dangerous for a Bolshevik representative to travel to the city with such a load.

And now, when the eventual context of Kaplan’s shots is clear, we can return to “psychology”: Lenin took the threat of being arrested much more seriously - and with greater caution - than death; Apparently, the experience of losing four years (a year in solitary confinement and three in exile) turned out to be a monstrous trauma for him. Therefore, when something threatened his freedom, he showed extreme ingenuity - whereas in mortal danger he behaved surprisingly carelessly, almost like a brat. Hence, in fact, his summer trips without security, with only his driver Gil, to perform in areas of the city filled with weapons and teeming with people extremely dissatisfied with the Bolshevik government.

The shockingly frivolous tone in which Lenin used to describe dangerous circumstances to his addressees is also characteristic: “if I am killed, I ask you to publish my notebook,” etc. So on September 2, 1918, on the verge of death, he only asks to be told if the situation is hopeless: “some things cannot be left behind.”

"Kaplan" for Stalin

Fortunately, the murder did not take place, and starting in the fall, the number of potential killers began to decline sharply: already in November it would become clear that Lenin had brilliantly played out his “Brest strategy” - and that he was the only one who was orchestrating the situation, and not just waving his hands, trying to deal with it. And from this moment on, mass hatred will turn into its opposite: admiration.

So why, undoubtedly dramatic, but, by and large, a failure for Lenin’s biography - Kaplan’s bullets, even indirectly, ultimately were not the cause of Lenin’s death, as was feared in 1922 - the episode turned into a “textbook” in the collective consciousness "?

Apparently, the “institutionalization” of the episode occurred not least thanks to Mikhail Romm’s “Lenin in 1918,” where the scenes with Kaplan and her accomplices are some of the most striking in the film. The story of the assassination attempt turned out to be particularly important - in hindsight - also because, through films about the events of 20 years ago, the imaginary "conspirators" of the 1930s were assigned and imposed a "treacherous" identity - hereditary: within the framework of this film mythology, Bukharin and his gang were first trained in Lenin, and now they almost sent their “kaplans” to Stalin.

Thus, Stalin did the same thing that the American “historinauts” did in the 60s - he sent “his” killers to Lenin; but at the same time not only achieved all the intended goals, but also pulled it off in such a way that the global historical fabric remained intact and unharmed.