Yakov Yurovsky

Yakov (Yankel) Mikhailovich Yurovsky (June 19 [O.S. June 7] 1878 in Tomsk, Siberia, Russia – before 2 August 1938 in Moscow) is best known as the chief executioner of Russia's last emperor Tsar Nicholas and his family after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Image File history File links Yakov_Mikhailovich_Yurovsky. ... Image File history File links Yakov_Mikhailovich_Yurovsky. ... is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Old Style or O.S. is a designation indicating that a date conforms to the Julian calendar, formerly in use in many countries, rather than the Gregorian calendar, currently in use in most countries. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Flag Seal Location Tomsk and Oblast on the map of Russia Coordinates , Government Oblast Tomsk Mayor Aleksandr Makarov Geographical characteristics Area     City 294,6 km²     Land   294,6 km²     Water   0 km² Population     City (end of 2005) 509,568     Density   1,730/km² Elevation +100 m Website: Municipality website Main... “Siberian” redirects here. ... is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Moscow (Moskva) (Russian: , romanised: Moskva, IPA: see also other names) is the capital of Russia and the countrys economic, financial, educational, and transportation centre. ... Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian  , in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), occasionally spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is a Slavonic term designating certain monarchs. ... Nicholas II of Russia (Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov) (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July [O.S. 4 July] 1918) (Russian: , Nikolay II) was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland,[1] and Grand Duke of Finland. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Biography

Early life

Yurovsky was born as the eighth of ten children in a working class Jewish family in Tomsk.^[1] Flag Seal Location Tomsk and Oblast on the map of Russia Coordinates , Government Oblast Tomsk Mayor Aleksandr Makarov Geographical characteristics Area     City 294,6 km²     Land   294,6 km²     Water   0 km² Population     City (end of 2005) 509,568     Density   1,730/km² Elevation +100 m Website: Municipality website Main...

He led a working class life learning the art of watchmaking. He lived in the German Empire in 1904. After returning to Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1905, he joined the Bolsheviks. Arrested several times over the years, he became a devoted communist. His manner was that of a dispassionate and efficient professional. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. ... Motto Gott mit Uns (German: God with us”) Anthem Heil dir im Siegerkranz (unofficial) Territory of the German Empire in 1914, prior to World War I Capital Berlin Language(s) Official: German Unofficial minority languages: Danish, French, Frisian, Polish, Sorbian Government Constitutional monarchy Emperor  - 1871–1888 William I  - 1888 Frederick... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

Execution of the Imperial Family

On the night of July 16/July 17, 1918, a squad of Bolshevik secret police Cheka led by Yurovsky executed Russia's last Emperor, Tsar Nicholas II, along with his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse, their four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and their son Alexei. Along with the family, four other servants were also killed. All were shot in a half-cellar room (measured to be 25 feet x 21 feet) of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains region, where they were being held prisoner. The execution squad comprised three more local Bolsheviks and seven soldiers. The latter were Hungarians, prisoners-of-war. As Communists they had joined the Red Army and were serving in the 1st Kamishlov Rifle Regiment. They didn't speak Russian and talked with Yurovsky in German. They were chosen because the local Cheka feared that Russian soldiers would not shoot at the tsar and his family. One of them was the future Hungarian politician Imre Nagy.^[2] is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Alexandra and her daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria, 1913 Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (German: ) or Saint Alexandra, 6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918, under the title Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (Russian: ), was Empress consort of the Russian Empire and the wife of Nicholas II of Russia, the... Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (Olga Nikolaevna Romanova) (in Russian Великая Княжна Ольга Николаевна; November 15 [O.S. November 3] 1895 – July 17, 1918) was the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of the Russian Empire, and of Empress Alexandra of Russia. ... Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna of Russia (Tatiana Nikolaievna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Татьяна Николаевна), (May 29 (O.S.)/June 10 (N.S.), 1897 - July 17, 1918), was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. ... Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна), (June 14 (O.S.)/June 26 (N.S.), 1899 – July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. ... Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, (Russian: (June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 — July 17, 1918), was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. ... Tsarevich Alexei (1904-1918) Tsesarevich (Tsarevich) Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia (In Russian Царевич Алексей Николаевич) (August 12, 1904 - July 17, 1918), of the House of Romanov, was a Tsarevich of Russia and was the youngest child of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra of Hesse. ... Yekaterinburgs Church on the Blood, built on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood. ... Snow-covered statue of Sverdlov in Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburgs Church on the Blood built on the spot where the Tsar and his family were executed. ... Map of the Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains (Russian: , Uralskiye gory) (also known as the Urals, the Riphean Mountains in Greco-Roman antiquity, and known as the Stone Belt) are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. ... Imre Nagy. ...

In a detailed report of the killings prepared in 1934 and held in the Soviet archives, Yurovsky stated that he had shot the Tsar and his son himself, while his comrades killed the other members of the royal family. The killings were said to be have been botched by the firing squad; the bullets failed to kill the family, and the jewelry sewed into the daughters clothes acted as a bullet proof vest.^[3] The daughters were finished off with close range shots to the head, after attempts to bayonet them also failed. Recently, it has been discovered that Yurovsky himself killed Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia with a single bullet through the back of her head.^[4] The US Marine Corps OKC-3S Bayonet A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon. ... Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna of Russia (Tatiana Nikolaievna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Татьяна Николаевна), (May 29 (O.S.)/June 10 (N.S.), 1897 - July 17, 1918), was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. ...

To prevent the development of a cult for the dead Tsar, the bodies were removed to the countryside. The bodies of Nicholas and his family were long believed to have been disposed of down a mineshaft at a site called the Four Brothers. Initially, this was true; they had indeed been disposed of there on the night of 17 July. The following morning, when rumors spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site, Yurovsky removed the bodies and concealed them elsewhere. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, he made new arrangements and buried most of the bodies in a sealed and concealed pit on Koptyaki Road, a since-abandoned cart track 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg.

After the Civil War

After the Russian Civil War, Yurovsky worked as a Chief of Soviet State Treasury (GosHran), where he achieved a good reputation by combatting corruption and theft. He died in 1938 of a peptic ulcer. The Russian Civil War (1917-1922) began immediately after the collapse of the Russian provisional government and the Bolshevik takeover of Petrograd, rapidly intensifying after the dissolution of the Russian Constituent Assembly and signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... A benign gastric ulcer (from the antrum) of a gastrectomy specimen. ...

Footnotes

Dates are from the Gregorian Calendar, as opposed to the Julian Calendar used before the Revolution. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world. ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ...

1. ^ Radzinsky, The Last Csar
2. ^ Elisabeth Heresch. "Nikolaus II. Feigheit, Lüge und Verrat", F.A.Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung, München 1992.
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ King and Wilson, p. 303

External links

The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II by historian Edvard Radzinsky [2]

• A description of the execution
• Yurovsky's account of the execution of the Imperial Family
• Yakov Yurovski, Executioner of the Romanovs