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Peter Ermakov
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Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov (Russian: Пётр Захарович Ермаков; 13 December [O.S. 1 December] 1884 – 22 May 1952) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, notable as one of several men responsible for carrying out the murder of the Romanov family, including the deposed Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their children, and their retinue.
Key Information
Biography
[edit]Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov was born on 13 December [O.S. 1 December] 1884, in to the family of a Russian factory worker and raised in and around the Verkh-Isetskiy workhouse in Yekaterinburg, Russian Empire. Ermakov graduated from the local parish school, working thereafter as a metal craftsman, and between 1909 and 1912, is listed as living in Vologodskaya Province. In January 1906, Ermakov became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and became head of the illegal combat organisation of the RSDLP in the Verkh-Isetskiy.
Soon, Ermakov became a member of the underground Yekaterinburg Committee of the RSDLP, which transferred him to an illegal position. Ermakov was assigned the role of one of the leaders of the militants, whose main task was expropriation. The most striking event for Ermakov was the expropriation of the factory cash desk in favor of the Ural Committee of the RSDLP, during which 6 people were killed and 12,400 rubles were seized. During a congress of the Ural party district, Ermakov was arrested, imprisoned for one year and then exiled to the city of Velsk.
By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Ermakov had returned to Yekaterinburg, and by the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 following the Russian Revolution, had aligned himself with the Bolshevik faction. He became a member of the combat guard of the Verkh-Isetskiy plant, participating in the protection of clandestine meetings, the expropriation of private property, and the murder of loyalist provocateurs.
Murder of the Imperial Family
[edit]
By early 1918, the former Russian Imperial Family was in Bolshevik custody, and had originally been transported to the city of Tobolsk following Tsar Nicholas II's abdication. The imperial family was moved again to Yekaterinburg as a result of White Army forces approaching the outskirts of Tobolsk. By mid-1918, with White Army forces now edging closer to the outskirts of Yekaterinburg, the local Bolshevik authorities were instructed by Yakov Sverdlov, with the assent of Vladimir Lenin by means of a telegram, to execute the imperial family. Feeling that the guards guarding the family had possibly become too sympathetic, it was decided to replace them with zealous Bolsheviks. Among them was Pyotr Ermakov, in order to insure the execution would be completed without failure.
According to historians Greg King and Penny Wilson, Ermakov played a leading role in the executions, and is considered to have been the right-hand man of chief executioner Yakov Yurovsky. On the night of the executions, Ermakov was very intoxicated, and according to the account by King and Wilson, was the most bloodthirsty of the executioners. According to various reports, Ermakov was among the many men in the firing squad who shot the already-dead former Tsar. His next target was Empress Alexandra, who was unable to finish the sign of the cross before she was shot dead. After momentarily stopping the firing due to the large amounts of rifle smoke, the executioners were ordered to also execute the Tsar's daughters Grand Duchess Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and their remaining servant Anna Demidova. Ermakov is reported to have delivered the killing blow to Olga, and severely wounded Maria and Anastasia. According to an account by Peter Voikov, who was the commissar of supplies for the Ural Soviet, during the execution Ermakov yelled out that the maid, Demidova, and the youngest daughter, Anastasia, were still alive. One of the Cheka Latvians drove a bayonet through Anastasia's face.[2] Yurovsky described how Ermakov tried to kill the Grand Duchesses with his bayonet, and that Ermakov's men tried to plunder the jewels found in the clothing.[3]
Prior to the killings, Ermakov had promised his Upper Isetsk companions that they would get to rape the women and kill the males, instructing them to wait in the forest with light carts for transporting the bodies.[5] However, when Yurovsky's special detachment arrived, Ermakov's men were outraged to discover that they were already dead.[6] Yurovsky maintained control of the situation with great difficulty, eventually getting Ermakov's men to shift some of the bodies from the truck onto the carts.[7] While Yurovsky and his men were busy extricating the truck from the mud, Ermakov's men pawed the female bodies for valuables hidden in their undergarments, two of whom lifted up Alexandra's skirt and fingered her genitals.[6][7] Yurovsky ordered them at gunpoint to back off, dismissing the two who had groped the tsarina's corpse and any others he had caught looting. Nonetheless, one of the men sniggered that he could "die in peace",[7] having touched the "royal cunt".[6] With the exception of Ermakov, his men were not allowed to participate in the process of stripping, mutilating and disposing of the bodies; they were ordered back to the city as Yurovsky did not trust them and was displeased with their drunkenness.[8] He was also furious at Ermakov for bringing only one shovel for the disposal.[9]
Later life
[edit]Ermakov later participated directly in the Russian Civil War, and after the war found work in law enforcement in Omsk, Yekaterinburg, and Chelyabinsk. His political career did not work out, in large parts due to his borderline illiteracy and alcoholism. In 1927, Ermakov was employed as inspector for the prisons of the Urals region, and by 1934 was drawing his pension.
In 1935, Ermakov, claiming to be dying of cancer, gave an interview to American journalist Richard Halliburton, describing the burning and destruction of the bodies of the Imperial family and their servants.[10] It was later discovered that his "deathbed confession" had been staged by the NKVD; the story was deliberately fabricated and then spoon-fed to the naive Halliburton in order to conceal the actual events.[11]
Unlike the other killers, Ermakov received no awards or advancements for his part in the murders, for which he grew bitter. For the rest of his life,[12] he fought relentlessly for primacy by inaccurately inflating his role in the murders as well as the revolution.[11] Towards the end of his life, he lived in extreme poverty. The memoirs of residents of Sverdlovsk, who saw him at the end of his life on the church porch, have been preserved: Ermakov begged for alms.
Death
[edit]Ermakov died in Sverdlovsk on 22 May 1952 from throat cancer at the age of 67 and was buried at Ivanovskoye Kladbishche. After his death, which was reported in the Ural Worker, the local Communist Party renamed one of the streets in Sverdlovsk to Ermakova. After 1991, the street was renamed back to its historical name of Klyuchevskaya. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, some local Communist Party members annually pay tribute to his gravestone on each anniversary of the murders, though on several occasions it has also been vandalized. Since the 1980s, the gravestone has been shot several times and doused in red paint, symbolizing the blood of the royal martyrs.[1]
In popular culture
[edit]Ermakov appears as the principal antagonist in the 2020 Kazakh historical drama film The Crying Steppe, portrayed by Russian actor Sergey Ufimtzev. In the film, Ermakov is ahistorically depicted as a high level official under Filipp Goloshchyokin in the Kazakh ASSR during the period of collectivization and the resulting famine. In the film, Ermakov is also inaccurately depicted in a flashback scene showing the murder of the Imperial family as not wanting to kill the Romanovs and being hesitant to shoot until Yurovsky forces him to finish off the Tsar's young son Alexei after mortally wounding him, leaving a traumatized Ermakov to report the news of the slaying to Goloshchyokin. Ermakov is shown as suffering from PTSD as a result of his involvement in the killing of the family and their retainers, witnessing hallucinations of a bloody Alexei at several points throughout the film.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Paul Gilbert (18 July 2014), Communists Lay Flowers at the Grave of the Murderer of Russia's Imperial Family, Royal Russia News, archived from the original on 2 February 2017, retrieved 1 October 2016
- ^ Alexandrov 1966, p. 232.
- ^ Steinberg & Khrustalev 1995, p. 361.
- ^ Massie 2012, p. 26.
- ^ Radzinsky 2011, p. 402.
- ^ a b c Slater 2007, p. 9.
- ^ a b c Rappaport 2010, p. 197.
- ^ Rappaport 2010, p. 198.
- ^ Rappaport 2010, p. 196.
- ^ "1935". Scientific Expedition to Account for the Romanov Children. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ a b Rappaport 2010, p. 215.
- ^ Radzinsky 2011, p. 397.
Bibliography
[edit]- Alexandrov, Victor (1966). The End of the Romanovs. Boston: Little, Brown. OCLC 1033574974.
- Massie, Robert K. (2012). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: The Modern Library. ISBN 9780679645634.
- Rappaport, Helen (2010). The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 9780312603472.
- Radzinsky, Edvard (2011). The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II. New York: Anchor Books Doubleday. ISBN 9781299006898.
- Slater, Wendy (2007). The Many Deaths of Tsar Nicholas II: Relics, Remains and the Romanovs. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415345163.
- Steinberg, Mark D.; Khrustalev, Vladimir M. (1995). The Fall of the Romanovs: Political Dreams and Personal Struggles in a Time of Revolution. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300065572.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Peter Ermakov at Wikimedia Commons
Peter Ermakov
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov (1884–1952) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and military commissar who participated in the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, their five children, and four retainers on 17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg.[1][2] As a member of the Ural Regional Soviet's detachment under Yakov Yurovsky, Ermakov fired shots during the basement killing, helped transport and dispose of the mutilated bodies at Ganina Yama using acid and fire, and later commanded guards around the site to conceal evidence.[1] His involvement stemmed from his role as commissar of the Verkh-Isetsk factory's Red Guard, where his bloodlust and loyalty to the Bolshevik cause positioned him as a key enforcer in the operation ordered by regional Soviet leaders to prevent the family's rescue by advancing White forces.[1] Ermakov survived the Russian Civil War, rising in Soviet administration despite chronic alcoholism reportedly exacerbated by guilt or trauma from the night's chaos, during which he claimed to have personally bayoneted and shot several victims, including the empress and grand duchesses, though his accounts conflict with Yurovsky's more sober testimony and have been scrutinized for embellishment.[3] In a 1934 interview with American adventurer Richard Halliburton, he boasted of the killings' details, providing rare direct insight into the perpetrators' mindset, yet historians note inconsistencies possibly due to his inebriation on the execution night and motive to glorify his role under Stalinist pressures.[3] Postwar, Soviet authorities honored him with medals and a street naming in Sverdlovsk (formerly Yekaterinburg), reflecting official endorsement of the regicide as a revolutionary necessity, before his death from cancer.[4] Ermakov's legacy remains defined by this singular act of mass murder, emblematic of Bolshevik ruthlessness, with empirical confirmation of the Romanovs' deaths via forensic recovery of remains underscoring the event's reality amid varying perpetrator narratives.[1]
Early Life
Birth and Family Origins
Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov was born on 13 December 1884 in the Verkh-Isetsky Zavod settlement, an industrial workers' community near Yekaterinburg associated with the Verkh-Isetsky ironworks (now part of Verkhnyaya Pyshma). He was the son of Zakhar Ermakov, a worker at the local factory, reflecting the proletarian milieu of late Imperial Russia's expanding industrial Urals region, where families like his depended on metallurgical plants for livelihood.[5] Detailed records of his mother's identity or siblings remain scarce in available historical accounts, though his upbringing occurred amid the hardships of factory labor and rudimentary education in such settlements. Ermakov completed five classes at the local church-parish school before entering factory employment around 1900, a trajectory common for children of industrial workers who supplemented family income amid economic pressures and limited social mobility.[5] This early immersion in the Verkh-Isetsky works' environment—characterized by long hours, low wages, and exposure to radical labor agitation—shaped his formative years, though no evidence indicates unusual family circumstances beyond standard working-class origins.Pre-Revolutionary Occupation and Radicalization
Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov was born on 1 December 1884 (Old Style) near Yekaterinburg into a family of factory workers and grew up in the industrial settlement surrounding the Verkh-Isetsk ironworks. After completing education at a local parish school, he began working at the Verkh-Isetsk factory, where harsh labor conditions prevalent in Russia's Urals industrial region exposed him to proletarian hardships and circulating socialist literature.[6][1] Ermakov's radicalization accelerated amid the unrest of the 1905 Revolution, during which factory workers in the Urals engaged in strikes and formed soviets, fostering Bolshevik influence among the proletariat. He aligned with the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), participating in clandestine organizing and militant actions against tsarist authorities. By the early 1910s, Ermakov had risen to lead groups of armed militants focused on "expropriations"—violent raids on banks and state assets to finance revolutionary operations—demonstrating a shift from passive discontent to active endorsement of terrorism as a means to overthrow the autocracy.[6] These activities underscored Ermakov's embrace of Bolshevik ideology, which emphasized class struggle and the necessity of force against perceived oppressors, though his personal motivations included opportunism amid poverty and alcoholism noted in later accounts. Such expropriations, while providing funds, alienated moderate socialists and intensified tsarist repression, yet solidified Ermakov's role in the party's radical underground network in the Urals until the February Revolution of 1917 elevated Bolshevik prospects.[7]Bolshevik Revolutionary Activities (1905–1917)
Involvement in Early Revolutionary Events
In the wake of the 1905 Revolution, Ermakov, employed as a locksmith at the Verkh-Isetsk factory near Ekaterinburg, began participating in social-democratic study circles organized among factory workers.[8] These gatherings exposed him to Marxist ideology and Bolshevik tactics amid widespread strikes and unrest in the Ural industrial region.[9] By January 1906, Ermakov had joined the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), aligning with its Bolshevik wing, and was promptly appointed commander of the Verkh-Isetsk party's illegal combat detachment (boevaya druzhina).[8][10] In this role, he organized armed guards for party meetings, conducted expropriations to secure funds—often through raids on factories or cash collections—and suppressed suspected informants or counter-revolutionaries. One such action in 1907 involved Ermakov brutally killing his former employer, a factory overseer who had grown suspicious of his subversive activities.[10] Ermakov's detachment operated amid intensified Tsarist repression following the revolution's suppression, contributing to the Bolshevik underground network in the Perm Governorate and Ekaterinburg area. He evaded full capture initially by going underground, though party records indicate subsequent arrests, a one-year imprisonment, and exile to Velsk before his return to active duties by World War I.[9] These experiences solidified his commitment to violent class struggle, as evidenced by his leadership in at least a dozen documented skirmishes with authorities or rival socialists between 1906 and 1910.[8]World War I Service and Desertion
Ermakov resided in Yekaterinburg throughout World War I, working as a laborer at the Verkh-Isetsk ironworks rather than being conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army.[6] Historical accounts do not record any military service for him during the conflict, likely due to exemptions for essential industrial workers amid Russia's wartime labor shortages. The war exacerbated economic hardships and political unrest in industrial centers like Yekaterinburg, where Ermakov continued underground socialist agitation. By 1917, as the Russian army disintegrated with rampant desertions—exceeding one million soldiers by year's end, according to contemporary estimates—Ermakov aligned fully with the Bolsheviks, leveraging the resulting power vacuum to join local revolutionary committees without prior military involvement.[11] These desertions, driven by war fatigue, poor supplies, and propaganda, effectively ended Russia's participation in the war and enabled the October Revolution's success in the Urals region.[11]Assignment in Yekaterinburg (1918)
Arrival and Role in Local Soviet
Peter Ermakov held the position of military commissar for the Verkh-Isetsk district, a Bolshevik-controlled area adjacent to Ekaterinburg, by mid-1918.[12] This role placed him within the administrative framework of the Ural Regional Soviet, which governed Ekaterinburg and surrounding territories during the Russian Civil War, focusing on military security, requisitioning, and suppression of counter-revolutionary elements.[13] As commissar, Ermakov oversaw local armed detachments, including factory guards from Verkh-Isetsk, contributing to the Bolshevik consolidation of power amid advancing White forces and Czech Legion threats.[4] Ermakov's appointment reflected the chaotic mobilization of local revolutionaries into official Soviet roles following the Bolshevik takeover of the Urals in late 1917 and early 1918, where he transitioned from underground party work to overt command responsibilities.[14] His duties involved coordinating with the Ekaterinburg Soviet on defense preparations, including the guarding of strategic sites and prisoners, amid fears of monarchist uprisings. No precise date for his formal assignment survives in primary records, but his active involvement in regional operations predated the July events in Ekaterinburg.[15]Guarding the Ipatiev House
In early July 1918, as Bolshevik authorities in Ekaterinburg grew concerned over the reliability of the existing guard contingent at the Ipatiev House—where Tsar Nicholas II, his family, and retainers had been confined since 30 April—the Ural Regional Soviet formed a special detachment to tighten security. Peter Ermakov, the military commissar of the Verkh-Isetsk iron-works, was included among the select Bolshevik operatives assigned to this reinforcement effort, which aimed to counter perceived leniency and potential sympathies among prior guards that had allowed limited prisoner interactions, such as outdoor exercise for the children.[16][17] Ermakov's duties involved patrolling the house perimeter, supervising internal watches, and enforcing isolation measures under the direction of new commandant Yakov Yurovsky, who replaced Aleksandr Avdeev on 4 July to impose rigorous discipline. This included restricting family movements to designated rooms, boarding windows to block visibility, and prohibiting unauthorized communications, all in response to advancing White Army forces and rumors of monarchist rescue plots.[16] The detachment's presence contributed to a total guard force of several dozen directly at the site, supplemented by outer sentries, ensuring no breaches amid the escalating civil war pressures.[18] Ermakov later recounted in personal testimonies his active role in these patrols, claiming vigilance against escape risks, though such self-reports have been critiqued for exaggeration and inconsistency with contemporaneous records from other participants like Yurovsky. His assignment underscored the Bolshevik shift toward more ideologically committed personnel for sensitive operations, prioritizing execution readiness over mere containment as the regional soviet anticipated potential capture of the prisoners by anti-Bolshevik troops.[19]Participation in the Romanov Execution
Preparation and Orders Received
As the White forces and Czechoslovak Legion advanced toward Yekaterinburg in mid-July 1918, the Ural Regional Soviet, fearing the Romanovs' rescue, resolved to execute the imperial family and their retainers to eliminate any symbolic rallying point for counter-revolutionaries. On July 16, 1918, at approximately 2:00 PM, Yakov Yurovsky, commandant of the Ipatiev House, received verbal transmission of this resolution from a representative of the Ural Executive Committee (Ural Sovnarkom), instructing immediate action upon confirmation from Moscow, though local initiative prevailed due to communication breakdowns and urgency.[20] The order specified execution by firing squad, with bodies to be concealed to prevent identification or veneration.[20] Pyotr Ermakov, serving as military commissar of the Verkh-Isetsk factory district and a zealous Bolshevik guard supervisor, was selected by Yurovsky for the execution detachment due to his local influence, familiarity with the terrain, and proven ruthlessness in suppressing dissent. The squad, comprising about 10-12 men including factory guards, Cheka operatives, and Red Army soldiers, was assembled discreetly from reliable elements to ensure secrecy and loyalty; Ermakov contributed by organizing additional personnel from his district for post-execution body disposal support.[20] Armaments were distributed in advance, with Ermakov equipping himself with three Nagant revolvers, a Mauser pistol, and a bayonet, reflecting the expectation of close-quarters violence if bullets proved insufficient.[21] Preparation extended to logistical reconnaissance: on July 15, Yurovsky and Ermakov scouted the Koptyaki Forest area outside Yekaterinburg, identifying the Ganina Yama mineshaft as a suitable initial disposal site and preparing trucks and tools for transport under cover of night. Yurovsky also adapted the Ipatiev House basement, installing two chairs for the ailing Tsar and Tsarina, and rehearsed the squad's positioning to target vital areas for rapid termination, aiming to minimize chaos amid the family's likely resistance. Ermakov's involvement underscored the ad hoc, ideologically driven nature of the operation, prioritizing elimination over judicial process, as later Soviet accounts confirmed the Ural Soviet's autonomous decision absent direct Kremlin endorsement at the time.[20][22]Events of the Execution Night
On the night of 16–17 July 1918, Yakov Yurovsky, commandant of the Ipatiev House, awakened Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, their five children, and four retainers around 1:30 a.m., citing street disturbances and escorting them to a basement room measuring approximately 6 by 5 meters for supposed protection from gunfire.[20] Two chairs were placed for the ailing Tsarina and hemophiliac Tsarevich Alexei, with Nicholas beside them; the others stood against the walls as eleven executioners, including Peter Ermakov as military commissar of Verkh-Isetsk, entered the room armed primarily with Nagant revolvers and Colt M1911 pistols.[20][21] Yurovsky read a short decree ordering the execution by the Ural Regional Soviet, then fired the initial shot from his Colt revolver into Nicholas's chest, killing him instantly and triggering a disorganized volley from the squad.[20] Bullets ricocheted off the wooden-paneled walls and supports, exacerbated by diamonds and jewels sewn into the women's corsets that deflected rounds, causing thick smoke, screams, and groans amid the chaos; the firing lasted roughly 20 minutes as some victims, including the grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria, Alexei, physician Eugene Botkin, maid Anna Demidova, and cook Ivan Kharitonov, survived the initial barrage.[20][21] The executioners then turned to bayonets to dispatch the wounded, but these weapons proved ineffective against the jewel-hardened clothing, leading Yurovsky to finish several with additional revolver shots.[20] Ermakov, who was intoxicated at the time, participated in the shooting and attempted to bayonet survivors, including a frenzied stabbing effort on the still-moaning Alexei, but failed; Yurovsky shoved him aside and delivered the fatal headshot to the boy.[20][21][23] In later personal recollections, Ermakov claimed to have specifically shot or stabbed Alexandra in the head, killed Botkin and Kharitonov, and bayoneted multiple grand duchesses, portraying himself as the most active killer; however, these self-aggrandizing assertions conflict with Yurovsky's detailed 1920 account, which minimizes Ermakov's efficacy due to his drunken state, and are widely regarded by historians as unreliable embellishments stemming from his chronic alcoholism and desire for notoriety among Bolshevik circles.[2][21]Involvement in Body Disposal
Following the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, his family, and retainers in the basement of the Ipatiev House during the early hours of July 17, 1918, Pyotr Ermakov joined the squad responsible for transporting the eleven bodies via Fiat truck to an abandoned mine shaft in the Koptyaki forest, roughly 16 versts (about 17 kilometers) north of Yekaterinburg.[1][20] Ermakov, who had attempted to dispatch survivors with bayonet stabs during the shooting—efforts thwarted by diamonds sewn into the female victims' corsets—guided the group to the Ganina Yama site, which he claimed to know well, though the shaft proved too shallow for secure burial.[20] The disposal process under Ermakov's initial oversight turned chaotic, marked by disorganization as his team arrived with droshkies and additional riders, delaying operations and heightening discovery risks; Yakov Yurovsky, doubting Ermakov's competence, intervened to personally supervise the stripping, mutilation, and incineration.[20] The bodies were undressed to remove concealed jewels—yielding over three pounds of diamonds and gems—dismembered with hacksaws, drenched in approximately 190 kilograms of sulfuric acid, and partially burned on pyres fueled by gasoline and wood over two days starting July 17.[1] Ermakov organized a Red Guard cordon to secure the area and assisted in chopping remains and dissolving larger bones in acid at nearby iron pits, later recounting to investigator Pavel Medvedev on February 21, 1919, that the corpses had been dumped in the shaft near Verkh-Isetsk Works before it was exploded shut with grenades.[1] When the truck bogged down en route, complicating retrieval, Yurovsky separated the remains of Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria for intensified destruction at a secondary site in the Porosyonkov Ravine, dousing them further with acid and quicklime before shallow burial under railroad ties; Ermakov's direct role diminished here, though he later boasted in personal accounts of scattering all ashes to eliminate traces, claiming, "We didn't leave the smallest pinch of ash on the ground...I put tins of ashes in my pockets and took them away with me."[1] These self-reported details, drawn from Ermakov's 1930s recollections amid Soviet purges, exaggerate his agency and contrast with Yurovsky's contemporaneous note emphasizing collective Bolshevik efforts under central orders from Moscow, highlighting Ermakov's tendency for self-aggrandizement in post-event narratives.[20]Immediate Aftermath and Civil War Role
Escape and Hiding During White Advance
Following the execution and initial body disposal efforts on July 17, 1918, Ermakov returned to his role as military commissar in Verkh-Isetsk, a factory district adjacent to Yekaterinburg.[24] As intelligence reports confirmed the rapid approach of White forces—comprising anti-Bolshevik Russian troops and Czechoslovak Legion units—the Ural Regional Soviet ordered an evacuation of key personnel and documents from Yekaterinburg to prevent capture. The city fell to the Whites on July 25, 1918, prompting a disorganized Bolshevik retreat eastward toward Perm and other Red-held territories.[24] Ermakov avoided arrest during this chaotic withdrawal, likely by concealing his identity or joining retreating Red detachments in the Urals countryside, where many local Bolsheviks dispersed into the taiga or partisan networks to evade White patrols and searches for execution perpetrators.[24] His survival enabled continued participation in the Russian Civil War on the Bolshevik side, contrasting with several fellow executioners who were captured, executed, or committed suicide amid the White occupation, which lasted until Red forces recaptured Yekaterinburg on July 14, 1919.[24] Ermakov's ability to remain at large stemmed from his local ties in Verkh-Isetsk and familiarity with the terrain, though accounts of his precise movements remain sparse and unverified beyond his later self-aggrandizing recollections.[25]Return Under Red Army Control
Following the White forces' capture of Yekaterinburg on July 25, 1918, Ermakov evaded arrest by going underground, avoiding the investigations conducted by White investigators such as Nikolai Sokolov into the Romanov execution.[13] He maintained involvement in Bolshevik resistance activities during the period of White occupation and subsequently participated actively in the Russian Civil War on the Bolshevik side.[25] With the Red Army's recapture of Yekaterinburg—renamed Sverdlovsk—on July 14, 1919, Ermakov emerged from hiding and reintegrated into Soviet structures, resuming administrative and security roles in the Urals under restored Red control.[25] This return enabled his continued advancement within the Bolshevik apparatus, unhindered by the prior disruptions of the White offensive.Soviet Career and Promotions
Administrative Positions in Urals Region
Following the Russian Civil War, Ermakov served in administrative roles within the Urals' law enforcement and penal systems. In July 1924, he was transferred to Chelyabinsk, where he assumed the position of chief of the guard for the Administrative Department of the NKVD Chelyabinsk District, overseeing security operations in the district's repressive apparatus.[26] He subsequently became chief of the administrative department of the Chelyabinsk district militia, managing organizational and operational functions amid the consolidation of Soviet control in the region.[8] In May 1925, Ermakov took a similar role as chief of the administrative department of the Zlatoust militia, a position in the southern Urals focused on internal security and administrative oversight in an industrial area critical to Soviet resource extraction.[8] These militia postings involved coordinating local policing, counter-revolutionary suppression, and bureaucratic administration during the New Economic Policy era, reflecting his prior Bolshevik militant experience. By autumn 1927, Ermakov was reassigned to Sverdlovsk (formerly Yekaterinburg), under the NKVD, as inspector of places of confinement for the Ural oblast.[27] In this capacity, he supervised prisons and corrective facilities across the region, including heading the administrative-educational department of the Ural ITL (Ural Corrective Labor Camp), where he directed inmate management, re-education programs, and operational discipline in the growing Gulag precursor system. These roles underscored his integration into the Soviet security state's mid-level bureaucracy, leveraging his revolutionary credentials for oversight of confinement and labor enforcement in the Urals' industrial heartland.Later Roles in Mining and Industry
After participating in the Russian Civil War, Ermakov secured employment in law enforcement across several Siberian and Ural cities, including Omsk, Yekaterinburg, and Chelyabinsk, reflecting the Bolshevik regime's need for reliable revolutionaries in regional security roles amid ongoing instability.[28][25] By 1927, he was appointed inspector for the prisons of the Urals region, a position that entailed administrative oversight in an area dominated by mining and heavy industry, where penal facilities often supported labor in metallurgical plants and extraction sites.[10] Ermakov's advancement remained constrained by his illiteracy and lack of technical expertise, preventing deeper involvement in the specialized operations of the Urals' mining sector, which required skilled management for its ironworks and ore processing. He received a state pension by 1934, marking the effective end of his active professional contributions to industrial administration.[10]Personal Character and Habits
Alcoholism and Behavioral Issues
Ermakov exhibited chronic alcoholism throughout much of his adult life, which manifested in heavy drinking episodes that impaired his judgment and exacerbated his volatile temperament. Historical accounts describe him as a habitual drunkard whose alcohol consumption often led to erratic and aggressive outbursts, particularly evident during the Romanov execution on July 17, 1918, when he arrived intoxicated and contributed to the chaotic violence in the Ipatiev House basement.[29][30] Under the influence, Ermakov displayed heightened brutality, shooting Tsaritsa Alexandra in the head and attempting to stab the Grand Duchesses with his bayonet after initial gunfire failed to kill them promptly; witnesses noted he lost control, slashing indiscriminately until restrained by Yakov Yurovsky.[29][15] This intoxication-fueled frenzy marked him as one of the most bloodthirsty participants, prioritizing personal savagery over disciplined execution of orders.[30] In the years following the Civil War, Ermakov's alcoholism persisted, intertwining with boastful behavior as he roamed Sverdlovsk (formerly Yekaterinburg) while inebriated, publicly claiming credit for the Romanov murders and delivering impassioned communist speeches that masked his personal unreliability. His drinking habits undermined professional advancement, contributing to stalled Soviet administrative roles and eventual marginalization despite initial revolutionary credentials. Behavioral patterns included thievery and grandiosity, often amplified by alcohol, which Soviet authorities tolerated only insofar as it did not disrupt official narratives but privately viewed as a liability.[30]Family Life and Relationships
Ermakov was married during and after the Russian Civil War, with his wife residing with him in Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg) by the 1930s. In one reported instance, he confided to her details of the Romanov execution, including claims that the grand duchesses cried out during the transport of their bodies before being silenced with blows.[31] Historical accounts provide no further verifiable information on his spouse's identity, their relationship dynamics, or any children, reflecting the limited personal documentation available for mid-level Bolshevik figures like Ermakov outside official Soviet narratives. His chronic alcoholism, noted in multiple eyewitness recollections, likely impacted domestic stability, though direct evidence tying it to family matters is absent from primary sources.Death and Burial
Final Years and Health Decline
In his later years, Ermakov continued to reside in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), maintaining a low public profile amid his Soviet administrative background, though he occasionally participated in official events. In 1951, during a reception, he approached Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov for a handshake, only for Zhukov to refuse upon recognizing him as one of the Romanov executioners, reportedly calling him a murderer.[24] Ermakov's health deteriorated from cancer, a condition he had previously claimed afflicted him in 1935 during an interview with American journalist Richard Halliburton, though he survived for another 17 years thereafter. The disease ultimately proved fatal, leading to his death on 22 May 1952 at age 67 in Sverdlovsk.[2][32]Circumstances of Death
Pyotr Ermakov died on 22 May 1952 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) at the age of 67 from cancer.[2][24] Some accounts specify throat cancer as the precise cause, reflecting long-term health deterioration consistent with his documented alcoholism and behavioral decline in prior years.[33] No evidence indicates suicide or foul play; his death occurred naturally amid ongoing recognition within Soviet circles for his revolutionary role, though without official fanfare.[4]Grave Site and Posthumous Vandalism
Pyotr Ermakov was interred at Ivanovskoe Cemetery in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, following his death from throat cancer on May 22, 1952.[32] [2] The gravestone, which notes his membership in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, has endured repeated acts of vandalism attributed to local monarchists since at least the 1980s.[34] Vandalism typically involves pouring red paint over the stone to symbolize the blood spilled in the 1918 execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, as well as drilling or etching symbolic bullet holes into the surface.[2] [35] These incidents occur annually, with authorities periodically cleaning the site only for it to be defaced again, reflecting ongoing resentment toward Ermakov's role in the Romanov killings as documented in his own memoirs and execution accounts.[24] [34] A notable instance took place in January 2022, when the gravestone was doused with red paint amid broader commemorations of the Romanov martyrdom.[2]Controversies and Historical Debates
Discrepancies in Eyewitness Accounts
Eyewitness accounts from the Bolshevik executioners reveal significant inconsistencies regarding Peter Ermakov's specific contributions to the killings of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918. Yakov Yurovsky, the operation's commandant, detailed in his 1920 memorandum that Ermakov, who had been drinking vodka prior to the event, participated in the initial volley but proved ineffective in finishing wounded victims; Yurovsky recounted shoving Ermakov aside after his bayonet thrusts failed to penetrate the Grand Duchesses' jewel-sewn corsets, requiring grenades and additional gunfire to complete the task.[19][36] In contrast, Ermakov's 1934 memoirs and a 1935 interview with journalist Richard Halliburton asserted that he personally bayoneted multiple Grand Duchesses to death and shot Tsaritsa Alexandra in the head, portraying himself as a decisive finisher of survivors.[24] These divergences extend to the disposal phase, where Yurovsky criticized Ermakov's leadership of the corpse transport team for looting valuables from the bodies and selecting an ill-suited marshy burial site near Koptyaki Road, which delayed proceedings and risked detection; Ermakov, however, claimed competent oversight of the operation in his recollections, omitting such failures.[19][24] Other participants, such as Mikhail Medvedev, corroborated Yurovsky's view of the chaotic melee but made no mention of Ermakov's purported heroics, further undermining his self-reported feats.[36] Historians attribute these discrepancies to Ermakov's intoxication—evidenced by his erratic bayoneting attempts on Tsarevich Alexei, which Yurovsky halted to deliver the fatal headshot himself—and Ermakov's later propensity for embellishment amid Bolshevik hero-worship, as his accounts were penned decades after the event while Yurovsky's were contemporaneous and administrative.[37][36] Forensic analyses of remains, including bullet trajectories indicating multiple shooters rather than singular kills, align more closely with Yurovsky's depiction of disorganized violence than Ermakov's individualized attributions.[21]Assessments of Brutality and Intoxication
Peter Ermakov's participation in the execution of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918, has been characterized by contemporaries and historians as marked by both extreme brutality and significant intoxication. According to Yakov Yurovsky, the commandant of the Ipatiev House who led the operation, Ermakov, in an intoxicated state, attempted to dispatch survivors by flailing at their bodies with a bayonet after initial gunfire failed to kill all victims immediately.[20] Yurovsky noted that Ermakov's efforts to finish off the Grand Duchesses with bayonet thrusts were initially ineffective due to the jewels sewn into their corsets acting as makeshift armor, requiring further intervention.[20] Assessments of Ermakov's brutality emphasize the savage nature of his actions toward wounded women and children, including stabbing attempts on the Romanov daughters and Alexei, who survived initial shots.[37] Yurovsky expressed displeasure with Ermakov's incompetence during body disposal, attributing it partly to drunkenness, which led to mishandling and looting attempts that complicated the cover-up.[38] Historical analyses portray Ermakov's conduct as reflective of the chaotic and alcohol-fueled frenzy among the execution squad, where intoxication impaired precision but did not mitigate the deliberate cruelty of bayoneting semi-conscious victims.[36] Ermakov's own later memoirs exaggerated his role, claiming personal responsibility for killing Empress Alexandra, Dr. Eugene Botkin, and others with bayonet and revolver, assertions dismissed by scholars as unreliable due to his chronic alcoholism and tendency to embellish for revolutionary prestige.[4] Yurovsky's contemporaneous account, considered more credible for its detail and lack of self-aggrandizement, limits Ermakov's effective kills and highlights how intoxication contributed to erratic brutality rather than calculated efficiency.[20] This discrepancy underscores evaluations that Ermakov's intoxication not only fueled immediate savagery but also undermined the veracity of his postwar recollections, portraying him as a volatile figure whose actions embodied the disorganized terror of early Bolshevik regicide.[39]Reliability of Ermakov's Memoirs
Peter Ermakov's memoirs, composed in the late 1940s and published posthumously, assert that he personally bayoneted Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna in the mouth and finished off several grand duchesses and retainers during the July 17, 1918, execution in the Ipatiev House basement, portraying himself as a decisive actor in suppressing resistance amid chaos. These claims elevated his role beyond that described in contemporaneous reports, suggesting a motivation to embellish for ideological validation within Bolshevik circles, where he later boasted publicly of his participation to affirm revolutionary zeal. Historians have noted that Ermakov's narrative evolved across at least three variants drafted between 1932 and 1947, introducing inconsistencies such as alleging the complete incineration of all eleven bodies, which contradicts forensic recovery of remains and partial burning evidence from the Koptyaki forest sites.[40] A primary factor undermining the memoirs' credibility is Ermakov's admitted heavy intoxication from vodka during the execution, which he and other participants confirmed impaired coordination and judgment—Yurovsky, the sober commandant, had to intervene repeatedly to restore order amid erratic firing and bayoneting attempts. This state likely distorted Ermakov's memory, as his detailed recollections of precise kills diverge from Yurovsky's 1920 note and 1934 revisions, the latter drawn from immediate post-event interrogations and considered more authoritative due to Yurovsky's command position and archival proximity to the event; Yurovsky attributes Alexandra's death to a headshot by Ermakov but denies the bayoneting emphasis and limits Ermakov's heroic framing. Forensic analyses of the exhumed remains, including bullet trajectories and wound patterns confirmed via 1990s DNA and ballistic studies, further refute Ermakov's bayonet-focused kills, revealing most victims died from close-range revolver shots to the head or chest, with corset-sewn jewels blunting some blade attempts but not aligning with his graphic oral bayoneting of Alexandra.[21] Ermakov's accounts also perpetuate unsubstantiated rumors, such as guards' romantic involvements with grand duchesses, which have been debunked as fabrications lacking corroboration from Ipatiev House records or other guards' testimonies, further eroding trust in his selective glorification. While providing vivid Bolshevik insider details, the memoirs' self-aggrandizement, factual variances, and reliance on impaired recall render them secondary to Yurovsky's documentation and empirical evidence in reconstructing the event, with scholars prioritizing cross-verified sources to mitigate propagandistic inflation.[41]Legacy and Reception
Bolshevik Hero Narrative vs. Regicide Criticisms
In the Bolshevik narrative, the execution of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918, was justified as a preemptive measure to deny anti-Bolshevik forces, including advancing Czechoslovak legions, a symbolic figurehead for counter-revolution.[42] Pyotr Ermakov, as military commissar of Verkh-Isetsk and a key participant in the firing squad, was depicted as fulfilling a revolutionary duty under orders from the Ural Regional Soviet, amid fears that the family's relocation to Moscow might allow their rescue.[42] Soviet historiography minimized details of the brutality, framing the act as an inevitable class justice against tsarism, though Ermakov received limited personal advancement, leading to his bitterness over lack of national recognition.[24] Criticisms portray Ermakov's role as that of a regicide complicit in the extrajudicial murder of an anointed monarch, his innocent wife, five children—including the hemophiliac heir Alexei—and loyal retainers, contravening even initial Bolshevik plans for a public trial.[2] Eyewitness accounts and Ermakov's own boasts in unpublished memoirs describe him stabbing and shooting victims, including claiming personal kills of Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, physician Eugene Botkin, and cook Ivan Kharitonov, often while intoxicated, highlighting gratuitous violence beyond any strategic necessity.[2] Such actions are condemned as state-sponsored terror, with empirical evidence from forensic analyses confirming the family's mutilated remains, underscoring the causal chain from ideological zeal to familial annihilation without due process.[21] Even within Soviet circles, Ermakov faced disdain; in 1951, Marshal Georgy Zhukov refused to shake his hand at a Sverdlovsk reception, reportedly stating, "I do not shake the hands of murderers," reflecting unease among military elites over the execution's savagery.[24] Post-Soviet Russia amplified these regicide criticisms following the Russian Orthodox Church's canonization of the Romanovs as passion bearers in 2000, framing their deaths as martyrdom rather than justified regicide.[2] Ermakov's grave in Ekaterinburg's Ivanovo Cemetery has been annually vandalized since the 1990s by monarchists dousing it with red paint on July 17 to symbolize spilled royal blood, while calls persist to dismantle any lingering "hero" mythos, as voiced by sculptor Konstantin Grunberg in 2022.[2] This shift underscores a rejection of Bolshevik causal rationales in favor of moral reckoning with the event's human cost, prioritizing empirical horror over ideological expediency.[24]Modern Historical Evaluations
Modern historians regard Pyotr Ermakov's self-reported role in the Romanov execution as exaggerated and unreliable, attributing this to his heavy intoxication at the time—evidenced by his own admissions and corroborated by fellow executioner Yakov Yurovsky's account—and his chronic alcoholism thereafter, which fueled boastful narratives aimed at personal glorification within Bolshevik circles.[21][24] Ermakov claimed primary responsibility for killing Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei, and multiple grand duchesses, but these assertions conflict with ballistic evidence from the 1990s exhumations and DNA-verified remains, which indicate a disorganized fusillade by several armed men using varied weapons, without pinpointing individual shots to specific victims as Ermakov described.[21] Yurovsky's 1920 note, drawn from immediate post-execution observations and less prone to embellishment, serves as the benchmark for reconstructions, portraying Ermakov as a subordinate figure whose bayonet stabs and erratic firing contributed to the brutality but lacked the precision he later professed; historians prioritize this over Ermakov's 1930s interviews and memoirs, which emerged amid Soviet incentives for revolutionary heroes to amplify their exploits.[24] Post-1991 archival access has reinforced this skepticism, revealing Ermakov's pre-execution criminal background as a robber and his post-event demotions for incompetence, undermining claims of masterful executioneering.[24] In broader evaluations, Ermakov exemplifies the Bolshevik Ural Soviet's impulsive terror, where local militants like him acted amid fears of White Army advances on July 16–17, 1918, without direct Kremlin sanction for the full family's annihilation—a decision driven by ideological fanaticism rather than tactical imperative, as the Romanovs posed no active threat from confinement.[21] Russian Orthodox canonization of the Romanovs as martyrs in 2000 has cemented Ermakov's legacy as a regicide in contemporary Russian scholarship, stripping away Soviet-era hagiography and highlighting the execution's gratuitous savagery, including mutilations to conceal identities, as emblematic of revolutionary excess.[24]Depictions in Media and Culture
In Richard Halliburton's 1935 travelogue Seven League Boots, the author recounts a 1930 interview with Ermakov in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where Ermakov boasted of personally bayoneting Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and shooting Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia Nikolaevna after initial gunfire failed due to the family's concealed jewels. Halliburton depicts Ermakov as a drunken, self-aggrandizing figure who claimed to have "finished off" the victims to fulfill Bolshevik orders, emphasizing his unrepentant pride in the act as revolutionary justice.[43][44] The 2019 Netflix docudrama series The Last Czars dramatizes the July 17, 1918, execution in the Ipatiev House basement, portraying Ermakov among the Ural Soviet guards who fired on the Romanovs before resorting to bayonets and rifle butts amid smoke and screams, highlighting his claimed role in killing Alexandra with a headshot and stabbing the daughters. The series draws on eyewitness accounts to underscore the disorganized violence, with Ermakov's intoxication noted as contributing to the frenzy.[45][46] Ermakov features as a character in the 2020 Kazakh-Russian historical film The Crying of the Children (original title Plach detey), depicted as the central antagonist orchestrating and executing the family's murder in a flashback sequence, emphasizing his brutality toward the children and servants. The portrayal aligns with Ermakov's memoirs, framing him as a fanatical Bolshevik driven by class hatred rather than ideological purity.[14] Documentaries such as Royal Murder Mysteries (2018) include archival footage and reenactments of Ermakov at execution sites, presenting him as a remorseful yet glorified Soviet figure in later interviews, contrasting his self-narrative of heroism with forensic evidence of prolonged suffering inflicted on the victims.[47] These media treatments generally substantiate Ermakov's minor role relative to commandant Yakov Yurovsky but amplify his bayoneting exploits for dramatic effect, often critiquing Bolshevik revisionism that downplayed the massacre's savagery.References
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4176479