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romanovsmurdermystery · 1 month ago

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On the images: the book ENOUÊTE JUDICIAIRE SUR L'ASSASSINAT DE la Famille Impériale Russe' by Nicolas Sokoloff, published by Payot (France) in 1924

Two books of the investigator N. A. Sokolov - second hand sources

I've just realised that people often refer to 'the book' supposedly by the investigator N.A. Sokolov who in February 1919 was appointed by Kolchak to investigate the murder case of the Imperial Family. It appears that some people are under the impression that this book is the primary source of information on the case. This needs clarification.

N. A. Sokolov was not the first investigator of the case.

The first investigator of the case was Aleksei Dmitrievich Nametkin (1875-1919) - investigator of the most important cases, Ekaterinburg District Court, collegiate assessor. He started the investigation on 30 July 1918. He was the one who went to Ganina Pit and Koptyaki with white officers.

The second investigator was Ivan Alexandrovich Sergeev (1872-1919) - he was appointed the investigator for the case on 13 August 1918. He was the one who provided the description of rooms in the Ipatievsky House and also interrogated Pavel Medvedev, the commander of the outside guards in Ipatievsky House, along other indirect witnesses. Note: Pavel Medvedev was the ONLY direct witness with his story ever interrogated by any of the investigators in 1918-1919.

N.A. Sokolov (1882-1924) was the third and final investigator of the case. He was appointed by the Military Dictator, Kolchak, to 'prove' the death of Nicolas II and his Family in Ipatievsky house. The reason being that the previous investigators were not quite agreeable with his course of action. They wanted to solve the case not to prove that Nicolas II and his family were killed.

To the existing investigation papers collected by the two previous investigators N.A. Sokolov added his own papers and 'evidence'. Note: Sokolov was appointed the investigator in February 1919 - 8 months after the 'murder'.

In July 1919, Sokolov together with the whites retreated to Harbin, China. Later, he immigrated to France, taking the investigation materials - 7 volumes, with him.

In France, some of the investigation materials (not all), were published in the book called 'ENOUÊTE JUDICIAIRE SUR L'ASSASSINAT DE la Famille Impériale Russe' by Nicolas Sokoloff. The book was published in French by the Publishing house Payot, in 1924. Obviously, N.A. Sokolov did not speak French, so the book was put together, edited, and translated by someone else. By whom is not mentioned in the book.

On 24 November 1924 N.A. Sokolov was found dead in his garden in Paris. The cause of death was not established. However, 'official' version was a heart attack.

In 1925, Publishing house 'Slovo' in Berlin published the book 'Убиiство царской семьи' putting as an author N. Sokolov. The book put together in Russian differs from the one in French. Who put the Russian text together, and edited is not stated in the book.

Important: both books contain only a fraction of the investigation materials contained in 7 volumes of the original investigation. Both books do not state the editors, translators, and how the material was provided for publishing. Both books do not state the full official name of the author - N.A. Sokolov. Nicolas Sokoloff and N. Sokolov can be anybody really. Sokolov's full name was Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov.

Taking the above into consideration, the book by 'Sokoloff/Sokolov' cannot be relied on as the only source of the information in this case. Mainly because it does not offer the full investigation material of the case.

On the image: a spread of the book 'Убиiство царской семьи' by N. Sokolov published by publishing hosue 'Slovo' in Berlin in 1925

#romanovs #research #seraphima bogomolova #investigation #nicolas ii #evidence #murder mystery #books #N.A. Sokolov #payot #1924 #Berlin #Paris #Slovo

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