Alexander Strekotin: Statement, 1934

After the festive May Day celebrations in Ekaterinburg, today called Sverdlovsk, our group of workers returned to the Syssert factory. We had been offered the opportunity to serve voluntarily for six weeks in the Red Guard, and we accepted this service. After a few days, we were offered the opportunity to sign up and serve in the Red Guard unit that was to be in charge of guarding the family of Nicholas II. This offer was restricted to those Red Guards who already lived in Ekaterinburg and the first places were to be filled by those who had served on the Dutov front. In this number were my brother Andrei Andreievich and I. The money was good, so I agreed. By May 9, we were installed in the Ipatiev House as guards. 

The house of the businessman Ipatiev was a two storey stone building with many items of decoration-it smacked of solid bourgeois architectural attitudes. It stood on a corner on Voznesensky Prospekt, and fronted on the large cobbled plaza close to the Cathedral. 

In this house, in five large and light rooms, lived the seven members of the Imperial Family and four of their faithful servants, lackeys who were all held under arrest with their masters. The head of our guard was Pavel Spiridonovich Medvedev, a non-commissioned officer in the Tsarist Army, who had taken part in the war on the Dutov front, and who had been a Red Guard of good will, hence his appointment as our leader. 

The Commandant of the House of Special Purpose was Comrade Avdeyev, but I don't remember the name of his adjutant. 

Some of our Comrades noticed that Avdayev and his adjutant were entirely too friendly and helpful to the Emperor's family. For example, he bought them things like a little samovar and extra food, and allowed them extra walks. Eventually he was removed. Maybe it was for some other reason, but if it was, I don't know that reason. The new Commandant was Yurovsky and his assistant was Akulov [Nikulin]. 

Now I will tell you some details about how the Tsar and his family were held under guard. As well as rifles and hand grenades our Commando was issued with machine guns. The machine gun posts were in four places: The first was in the attic of the Ipatiev House, overlooking Voznesensky Square; the second was in the clock tower of Voznesensky Church, to the right of the square; the third was on the upper terrace of the house, looking over Voznesensky Lane; and the fourth was in a window of the lower floor, looking over the gardens. Two wooden palisades surrounded the whole house. Between the palisades and between the planks of the fences, there were small guard huts all provided with telephones. 

There were 10 guard posts. No. 1 was in the main hall opening to the street and someone was posted there day and night; No. 2 was in the hall beyond with a staircase leading downstairs and a water closet; No. 3 was just inside the courtyard gates; No. 4 was on the exterior gate on Voznesensky Prospekt; No. 5 was a sentry box at the corner of the outer palisade; No. 6 was a sentry box at the juncture of Voznesensky Prospekt and Voznesensky Lane; No. 7 was between the inner fence and the house in a sentry box on the side facing the Lane; No. 8 was in the garden; No. 9 was on the balcony; and No. 10 was in the guard room beneath the dining room. 

On the first day, we all hurried over as fast as we could in order to see the Bloody Tsar, his wife and daughters and son. In the course of our first week there, everyone had a chance to see them and even to talk to them a time or two. Personally, I had several spirited and gay conversations, and the Grand Duchesses were the topic of discussion between two or three of us, who passed some sleepless nights speaking of them when we were off duty. In one of these conversations, Alexander Feodorovich Sadurov (whom we called Sasha Kerensky because of his name and patronymic) was there and he said: "There is nothing special about them!" Meaning the Tsar's daughters. But I thought then as I think now, that there was something very special about them. You could look at them in their old and tattered clothes, with bracelets and trinkets just like any poor girls, but yet there was something especially sweet about them. They always looked good to me, and I thought that they would not have looked better even if they had been covered in gold and diamonds. 

In my opinion, the Emperor didn't resemble anyone's idea of an Emperor. He was always dressed in the same khaki uniform. A small man, of average height, he was solidly built, with a reddish mustache he constantly twirled. But his entire appearance was unremarkable, and he seemed shiftless, without any real thoughts or even concerns. The Heir caught cholera right away. And we wondered how the Tsaritsa would cope, what with Rasputin not being there to help! 

The residents of Ekaterinburg would arrive in groups and would stand around craning their necks to see if they could see anyone. The outside guards would walk out to them and say: "Walk on Citizens, walk on. There's nothing to see here." Sometimes people would argue and say: "If there's nothing to see here, then why can't we just stand here if we want?" 

And then would come the question: "Comrade! Is this the house where the emperor is staying?" But we were told not to answer and all we were allowed to tell them was to move on, sometimes by showing our rifles. 

Some of our Comrades in the Commando did not always follow this order. As guards, they made all kinds of mistakes, like sleeping at their posts, letting people in for a peek, and talking to people on the street outside. Sometimes they were even guilty of raising false alarms. New men came in to the guard occasionally-a lot in June, I recall, from the Zlokazov Factory, and most stayed through the end though I remember one was sent away at the end of June. 

The Emperor used to stand at the window of their room and stick his head out as high as he could, in an effort to see as much beyond the palisade as possible. Though he was repeatedly warned by the Duty Guard Commander about this, it made no impression on him, and he continued to do this. Then one day the Red Guard Benjamin Safonov warned that he would be shot if he repeated his actions. But this apparently left no impression, either, for the Emperor continued to stand at the window and look about; he refused to listen to our warnings. So Safonov waited for the next time he was on duty and kept a watch on the window. Soon, the Emperor was there, again trying to put his head out. To teach him a lesson, Safonov took aim and shot a bullet into the window frame. Naturally this caused some alarm, but we noticed that, from that day on, Nicholas stayed away from the window. 

One day, a member of the Red Guard Detachment, Ivan Talapov, found himself at his machine gun post on the upper terrace, and apparently began to devote himself-out of boredom-to practice at throwing grenades off the gallery. Once, he accidentally pulled the ring out, and the grenade began to hiss. He threw it onto the Lane, and there was a great explosion. This set off the alarm, not only for the House Commandant, but also for the people of the whole city. This happened on June 12 when a group of anarchists attempted to seize the Verkh-Isetsk Factory, and the streets of the city were full of angry mobs protesting the Bolsheviks. A counter-revolutionary demonstration of Social Democrats and Anarchists was organized in the square just outside the House of Special Purpose. 

Lunch and dinner was brought in to the family from a restaurant in town. For the first six weeks their laundry was sent to a local Soviet labor organization to be done; later they did most of it themselves. 

There were two thirty-minute periods when the family was allowed in the garden, at 10 AM and at 4 PM. When they took their walks, if Alexei remained inside, the prisoners left by the inner staircase to the garden. If he went out, Nicholas carried him. He would lift him up very cautiously and hug him to his broad chest and his son would hold on to his father. The Emperor carried him from the house like that, put him in a special wheelchair, and pushed him down the courtyard to the garden. Usually Sednev pushed him in the garden or sat with him if it was warm and sunny. They sometimes played with model soldiers. Sometimes Nicholas brought his son small rocks or flowers and Alexei, being a child, would look at them and then toss them away into the bushes. The Empress seldom went out, because she had difficulty in walking that made it hard fro her to go down to the garden. She usually sat on the steps of the main entrance. 

Everyone relaxed more, and began to talk and laugh with each other. When the weather improved, some of us soldiers spent out off-duty hours building and hanging a swing for the Emperor's daughters in a tree in the garden. Two of the daughters were blonde with gray eyes, and were very much alike. They were both were friendly. I remember Marie's friendly overtures to us: she was a girl who loved to have fun. Anastasia was very friendly and full of fun. She was almost always with her sister Marie. The other two young ladies were not particularly alike. One of them, Tatiana, was an energetic brunette. She was prettier but more reserved. The other, who was the oldest, was Olga. She was thin, pale, and looked sick. She took few walks in the garden and spent most of her time with her brother. After a time, Olga refused to associate with her younger sisters, but mostly helped with her brother. 

The arrested ones would often talk to the Red Guards when they were walking in the garden. One day, the former Tsar strolled over to me and asked, "This city of Ekaterinburg-how big is it?" I answered him, "As big as Moscow!" We were especially keen to talk to the daughters, except for Olga. They always would begin conversations like this: "We're so bored! In Tobolsk, there was always something to do. I know! Try to guess the name of this dog!" They always came out with their dogs and would run up and down the garden with them. 

Marie and Anastasia spent the most time talking to us. All of the girls whispered flirtatiously with us, giggling as they went. Some of the men entered into this talk, while others, with smiles and winks, would say, "Don't try to distract me with your smooth talk-just keep walking!" The girls, pretending fright, would hurry away along the path, then burst into giggles, followed by our more subdued laughter. 

There were long conversations in which they spoke of their hopes for the future and talked about living in England one day. The girls often came down to our guardroom, bringing their photograph albums for us to look at and showing us pictures of past times. I remember one photographs of them standing with Rasputin. Their personalities were fascinating to us. All in all, we felt that we would not mind so much if they were allowed to escape. 

It was especially hard for the men at the posts inside the house. They tried to remain professional, but the girls would come out of their rooms, smile at them, and talk with them for hours and flirt quite openly. I myself stood at one of these posts when I was not needed on machine gun duty, and saw this firsthand. 

The political-moral condition of the Red Guard in our group was outstanding. The troop always stood for the proletarian struggle. Many of us had taken part in the war on the Dutov front. All of us lived for one thought-not to give the bloody Tsar our hand in friendship, to stand firmly for the Soviet with all the spirit of the revolution, and to represent the best interests of the working class. 

The calculation of the Tsar and his family who counted on the corruptibility of the Red Guard was a mistake. I have in mind the words of my older brother Andrei Andreievich (he died in battle against the Whites in 1918). He would say frequently: "Why would we give him (the Tsar) such boundless power? Why did he drown in riches and excess? And now his Court is here, and all he has from all the people who came with him from Petrograd to Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg are three or four people. And we here have had long lives of hard work with our backs and our hands we are half-starved and half angry at having been put in his battalions to fight his wars. We should already have pulled him off the throne a long time ago. And naturally, he should have been shot." 

At the beginning of July Yurovsky was away for a few days somewhere at meetings. On the night of July 16/17, 1918, I was at my post at the machine gun on the lower floor of the house. I also had a rifle with a bayonet. I stood at my post until after midnight, when I should have been relieved. "Why haven't we been relieved?" I asked my comrade at his post in the garden. "I don't know," he answered. Then someone came quickly down the stairs. 

It was Medvedev, who had a revolver. I said "Why do you have that?" 

"For what do you want it?" I asked him. 

"We're going to start shooting them soon," he answered, and asked for my revolver. He then hurried away back to the stairs. I saw my brother talking to the guard Kleshchev and told them what Medvedev had said. Andrei said nothing as he smoked but Kleshchev fell apart, seized with panic and shouting, "This can't be! What can be done?" 

Very soon after, Medvedev came back down, accompanied by Akulov [Nikulin], and someone else that I didn't know. They entered one of the rooms, checked the doors at the end to make sure they were locked, and came right back out almost at a run. Then after two or three minutes had passed, he returned, looking grim, with six or seven men who went into a small room and closed the doors behind them. Then a group of men came in. It seemed to me that there were six or seven of them. Akulov showed them into the room that was next to the first one, and they closed the door. Now I was finally certain that someone was going to be shot in the basement, but who and why and exactly where, I had no idea. 

Shortly thereafter I heard the electric bells ring. These were the bells usually used to waken the family. Soon, a group of people started to come in. It was the entire Romanov family and their retainers. With them came Yurovsky, Nikulin, Medvedev, and Ermakov, the last one I knew from the Dutov Front. All of the arrested ones were dressed in the usual manner, and were clean and neat. The Tsar carried his son in his arms. Anastasia carried a little dog. The ex-Empress leaned on the arm of her eldest daughter, Olga. It should be noted that the prisoners were used to being disturbed for various reasons at night, for example when we believed there was White Army activity in the town. All of them went into the room that Akulov and Medvedev has been in before. 

Akulov was in with them for a moment, but then he came out and said, "Bring a chair for the Heir. He apparently wants to die in a chair." Then I knew for certain what was going to happen. He went back in with a chair, and then the group of men came out of the room next door. As they approached the room, I followed, edging away from my post, until they and I were standing in the doorway. 

Yurovsky, with a short gesture of his hand, silenced the prisoners. He started to arrange them in a low voice: "Please, you stand here, and you here, and you over there." 

When he was done, the prisoners stood in two rows, in the first was all of the Tsar's family, and in the second was the servant, the lackey, the cook, maid and doctor. The Tsesarevich sat on the chair next to the Tsar. The Tsar was to the far left of the first row. Behind him were the lackey and the cook. Yurovsky stood right in front of the Tsar. He held in his hand a piece of paper and he began to read from it: "In view of the fact that the Czech bandits continue to attack the Red Urals, and in view of the fact that they are focusing on Ekaterinburg because you are here, and they want to rescue you, the Oblast Soviet Presidium, on behalf of the Revolution, has decided to shoot you! And so-your lives end!" But before he could move, the Tsar stepped forward and said, "What? What was that? I can't understand you. Read it again, please." 

Yurovsky read the note again, but this time, before he reached the last word, he pulled out his revolver and shot the Tsar in the head several times. I saw the Tsaritsa and her daughter Olga cross themselves. 

All at once, with Yurovsky's shooting, the group of men started shooting as well-and it seemed like everyone's first revolver shot didn't spare the Tsar. He reeled suddenly and stood quivering as shot after shot pierced his body and was flung to the ground! And the other ten soon followed. They were down without very many shots having been fired. The Empress was shot by Ermakov as she was crossing herself. The smoke was so thick that it blocked out the single electric light, which made it very difficult to see what was happening. The shooting stopped, the doors opened wide, and men stumbled out coughing and choking. Only a few shots had been aimed at the far corner of the room, and the daughters lived for a long time. 

When it was over, the men struggled to carry the bodies out to a truck. When one of the men picked up the bodies, one of the daughters cried out and covered her face with her hands. Another daughter also was alive. They couldn't shoot anymore, because a guard had come running in from the street saying that the shots could be heard from all over the neighborhood. Ermakov took a rifle with a bayonet and started stabbing frenziedly at all those who were still living, but his bayonet wouldn't pierce their bodices and finally he smashed them in the face with his gun. All of us were called up to the commandant's office and forced to hand over small things that had been taken from the bodies. After the murders I found Sadchikov crying over this execution. 

A Guide to Those Named in My Statement 

Strekotin, Andrei Andreievich. A worker-guard born in 1891. He was killed by the White Guards in the battle for Ekaterinburg in August 1918, and was then buried in a mineshaft out near Koptyaki along with other dead Red Guards. Only a year later was his body recovered and buried at Novotikhvinsky Cemetery. 

Medvedev, Paul Spiridonovich. Worker. Born in 1890. The whole time he was in the Special Detachment he also acted as a courier for the Cheka. He was a leader of the guards and he took part in the shooting of the Romanovs. After the Red Army had withdrawn to Perm, he was captured by the White, but he denied having taken part in the assassination. Uninterested in politics, grew up Orthodox in Syssert, a generous man, who was mobilized in the war but returned to making munitions at Syssert. 

Letemin, Michael Ivanovich. Worker-tailor. No political affiliation-he was completely uninterested in politics, and joined the Special Detachment for the money. After the withdrawal of the Red Army from Ekaterinburg in 1918, he was not particularly well know, but nevertheless, he was identified, arrested and shot. 

Popov, Nicholas Ivanovich. Syssert Worker. He was a wonderful comrade who died in the service of the Red Army. He was a member of the Bolshevik Party. He was born in 1884. 

Talapov, Ivan Semyonovich. Worker. Born in 1900. Member of the Bolshevik Party. He left Ekaterinburg when the city fell and died in the battle of Kronstadt. 

Starkov, Ivan Andreievich. Together with his father Andrei, he joined the commando guarding the Tsar, and with his father he volunteered for the Dutov front. Captured by the Whites and forced at gunpoint to dig his own grave before he was chopped to pieces by White officers using their swords. 

Zaitsev. Worker-stonemason. Unknown age, but had many siblings. Died in the Red Army, though he refused to become a Bolshevik. Signed on to the Special Detachment when his job became too physically demanding; in the House of Special Purpose he sometimes acted as cook. 

Churkin, Alexei Ivanovich. Worker. Born in 1897. Member of the Bolshevik Party. Died with the Red Army in the Caucasus. 

Sadchikov, Nicholas Stepanovich. Worker-smelter at Syssert. Born in 1897. Too young for political interests, he was forced to join the Bolshevik Party later and as a bold and audacious fighter distinguished himself in the Civil War. He was talented and clever. He was educated in Sverdlovsk. Ended his life by committing suicide in depression over the execution. 

Dobrynin, Konstantin Stepanovich. Worker-sawyer at Syssert. Future member of the Bolshevik Party. Clever and intelligent, he was born in 1896, and was killed in 1919 or 1920 as a member of the Third Red Army's political section in the fighting around Ekaterinburg. 

Orlov, Alexander. Syssert Worker. Born in 1899. Member of the Bolshevik Party. Died in 1932. 

Proskuryakov, Phillip. Worker. Born in 1900. Without a party. He lived and worked in Sverdlovsk and died in 1920 after being conscripted into the Red Army. Told his friend Ivan Talapov of job in the Special Detachment and both signed up. 

Podkorytov, Nicholas. Worker-locksmith at Syssert. Born 1899. Member of the Bolshevik Party. 

Cherpanov. Syssert Worker. Among the oldest of the men, steadfast and solid, he repeatedly refused to join the Bolshevik Party. 

Starkov, Andrei. Worker-miner in Syssert. Without a party. Was the oldest of the guards. After the deaths of the Romanovs, he was invalided in the fighting around Ekaterinburg after being forcibly conscripted into the Red Army and serving at the Dutov Front. He had his foot amputated. Given a disability pension and lives in Syssert. 

Sadurov, Alexander Feodorovich. Worker. Born in 1901. Was the youngest and most handsome of the guards, the darling of the whole company. He was well-liked and was called "Kerensky" because of his name and patronymic. He was without a party. He lived afterwards in Sverdlovsk and returned to his factory job. 

Turgin, Semyon Mikhailovich. Syssert Worker-tailor. Born 1899. Member of the party. Lived in Syssert. 

Safonov, Benjamin Yakovlevich. Syssert Worker. Jewish, member of the Bolshevik Party. He returned to Syssert Factory in 1919. Fell under a tram on Voznesensky Prospekt in 1931, cutting off a hand. 

Kotegov, Ivan Pavlovich. Worker. Pensioner living in Syssert. 

Emiliyanov, Feodor. Worker. Member of the Bolshevik Party. Member of the militia. Born in 1897. He stayed in Ekaterinburg after the Civil War and returned to the factory. Lives in Syssert. 

Strekotin, Alexander Andreievich. Worker-roofer. Born in 1897. Member of the Bolshevik Party since conscription into Red Army in 1919. Moved to the Sarapulsk region and works as the director of the Rsakonikovsky Machine-Tractor Factory. 

Alexander Strekotin, 1934

Translation Copyright: Penny Wilson, 2000. From Russian text. May not be reproduced without permission.