Forensic Investigator of cases of particular importance Nikolay Alekseevich Sokolov is a legendary and even mysterious figure. He is world-famous for his grand scale investigation of the murder of the august family members and the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who was the supreme intercessor, symbol and embodiment of Orthodox Russia.
The importance and significance of Sokolov’s noble deed is that he managed to conduct an investigation within an extremely short period of time, between the two Bolsheviks’ seizures of Yekaterinburg, and thus, to use that unique opportunity which one could not dream about afterwards. The very investigation conducted by Sokolov in wartime that involved a deadly risk was a manifestation of performing sacred duty in the name of Truth. Having been started in the hot pursuit the investigation enabled to turn up the evidence and artifacts that had not been concealed yet and to obtain compelling crime testimony of inestimable worth as well as objects, both biological and memorial, belonging to martyrs. The evidence turned up in this incredible chasing of terrible truth laid the foundation for many subsequent private and official investigative actions as well as for the preparation of the royal family members canonization by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Therefore, speaking about the investigation, one really must pay special attention to the investigator, Nicholay Alekseevich Sokolov, whose personality and activity have not been fully described by historians. As far as Sura region history is concerned the fact that Sokolov was born in Penza should be considered by his countrymen both as great privilege and obligation to make the information from local sources a public property; this is especially important in the year of the 100th anniversary of a monstrous murder of an anointed sovereign. The study of Sokolov’s living in Penza might shed light on some mysteries of his biography: the circumstances of the flight from his native province, his connection with the supreme ruler of Russia A.V. Kolchak, and finally his death.
It’s time to analyze and summarize all the information about an outstanding Russian criminalist from Penza province and perpetuate his memory. In the last decades, the biography of N.A. Sokolov has been studied by a Penza writer Oleg Mikhailovich Savin, a teacher of the Mokshan agro-technological college Olga Yurevna Kamenskaya, a Penza historian and journalist Alexander Nikolayevich Sobolev and other local historians.
In the State Archives of Penza region, in the fund of the Penza District Court, they keep a fairly voluminous file. It contains data about the service of the forensic investigator of cases of particular importance Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov. This file is the most informative in terms of biography; its documents cover the period from June 1904 to January 1918 and tell about the origin of the investigator, details of his life and activity in Penza.
Nikolay Alekseevich Sokolov was born on May 21, 1882 in a provincial town of Mokshan in Penza province into a family of a merchant Alexei Mikhailovich Sokolov and his wife Nadezhda Vladimirovna. On the third day of May 23, he was baptized in the Epiphany Church of Mokshan and was named in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra of Lycia that could be seen as the providence.
The people taking him from the baptismal font were the residents of Bolotnikov village of the same district Alexei Ivanovich Shikhanov and a merchant’s wife Nastasya Kuzminichna Sokolova. The sacrament of baptism was performed by the priest of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Mokshan Peter Kalliopov, the deacon John Blagosmyslov and a vicar Matvey of Katmys, for which the stamp duty was paid.
Olga Yurevna Kamenskaya, who has been studing the personality of Sokolov for a long time, claims that there still exists a house of the Sokolovs merchants in Mokshan where the future man of the law was born. In 2004, she proved the identity of the house by comparing the city plans of 1910 and the 1960s which were taken from the funds of the Technical Inventory Bureau. Kamenskaya writes that although the building today is disfigured by a side wing and siding, the old brickwork peeps out everywhere. It is worth mentioning that it was by initiative of Olga Kamenskaya that a memorial cross was erected in the village of Bolotnikov, the motherland of the detective’s mother.
In 1900, Nikolai Sokolov graduated from the 2nd Penza Men’s Gymnasium on Lekarska Street and, intending to enter the Imperial University, started collecting the necessary documents. Among other documents, he took from the Penza Consistory a repeat certificate of his baptism, signed by the archpriest of the Penza Trinity Women’s Monastery Vasily Malovsky, the Consistory secretary Nikolai Berensky and the head of department Teplov. He could not then know that the first two signatories would be imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and share the common fate of the “former people” with him.
In 1904, Nikolai Alekseevich graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Imperial Kharkov University with a diploma of the first degree. Those years saw Russia plunging into revolutionary chaos; students took part in anti-government speeches and strikes. But Nikolai Sokolov was not that sort of person. The certificate given him by the rector said: “Being a student, he never took part in such illegal manifestations that would show obvious disrespect to the law or to established authorities.”
On June 28, 1904, Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov was appointed as a junior candidate for a position in the judiciary in the Penza District Court. In his native town, Penza, he was only given some time to dig himself a bit into his new job, when until late autumn he worked in the criminal and civil court departments, and then he was sent to Tiflis as an intern to fill a vacancy of an assistant secretary of the court chamber. But during this short stay in Penza, a significant event took place that became a lifelong source of inspiration for him: on the day of his appointment, the Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich visited Penza. And when his majesty was going out of the cathedral, Nikolai Alekseevich, probably, was standing in a huge crowd of enthusiastic people expressing their loyalty to the emperor. And the emperor going with his brother in a cart could not know who he was passing by. Later in the Urals Sokolov will again and again remember this happiest day in his life on June 28, 1904, with tears in his eyes.
Being appointed to an office to a remote place, he received one and a half of usual amount of travel allowance to go from Penza to Tiflis, that was 142 rubles and 65 copecks. Thus, Nikolai Alekseevich started his professional activity in the Caucasus.
On October 3, 1905, a young investigator was transferred due to his petitioning into his native city of Penza and at the same time he was awarded a rank of collegiate secretary with seniority. Here he was assigned the duties of the secretary of the criminal department and the head of the Chancellery of the Penza District Court. After examination that took place on March 20, 1906, the examining board consisting of the chairman of the Penza District Court P.I. Potulov and a member of the court V.G. Lysov found the college secretary N.A. Sokolov sufficiently trained for independent studies in judicial proceedings. His works in both criminal and civil proceedings were considered to be fairly good. Since that time, Nikolai Alekseevich became a senior candidate for a position in judiciary.
Afterwards Sokolov served as a judicial investigator spending several months in each of Gorodishchensky, Penza, Chembar and Krasnoslobodsky districts. Once he also went on a business trip in his native Mokshan district. On these trips Nikolai Alekseevich had a chance to take a closer look at the life in the province, acquire an invaluable experience. Unfortunately, those trips, although being very useful, were accompanied by serious diseases that he had been susceptible to since his childhood.
From April 15 to August 10, 1906, Sokolov worked in the 2nd precinct of the Gorodischensky Uyezd (district) and lived in the village of Bazarnaya Kensha.
As he himself wrote in one of petitions, a huge number of cases (80 records) he had to investigate required constant travelling and intensive expenditure of monetary funds. It was there, in the Gorodishchensky district, that Nikolai Alekseevich undermined his health, which had already been poor, and for the first time asked for a two-week vacation. To his petition, which he sent from the village on July 25, 1906, he attached a medical certificate confirming his nervous breakdown, weakening memory and a dreary heart condition. Since that time Nikolai Alekseevich would constantly pay attention to his state of health.
Among Sokolov’s official papers there is information about investigation of some cases he was given when being an apprentice which was a kind of testing during promotion consideration. One of those was the case of the recovering payment of 213 rubles demanded by a peasant Kondratiev from the Penza-Simbirsk State Property Management Fund for disability by an accident. The Fund hired a group of peasants to cut the forest in the Kachimskaya state-owned dacha of the Teshnyar forestry of Gorodishchensky uyezd (district). During the forest cutting, a tree fell on Gordei Vasilyevich Kondratiev and broke his arm. The latter turned first to a bone-setter, but since the treatment was ineffective, Kondratiev hat to see the doctors of the province hospital. The doctors found him completely disabled, and the peasant was in despair. He applied to an attorney in order to gain from the Fund a monthly allowance as a recovering payment for the damage to health, but that was in vain. And only thanks to Sokolov’s intervention the case was skillfully directed in favor of the peasant.
Another case, which is also referred to the 2nd precinct of the Gorodishchensky district, concerned an incident that arose in the village of Shugurovo between the district’s elder Nikitin and a peasant family of Kuptsov. At the end of the case indictment there is a signature: “Junior candidate for judicial positions N. Sokolov.”
On October 28, 1906, Nikolai Alekseevich was promoted to a titular councellor.
In January 1907, when he was on business in Chembar his health turned for the worse again. On the 27th, Nikolai Alekseevich had to apply to the Penza District Court asking to relieve him of supervising a police station in the Chembarsky district, explaining that he simply was not able to carry on working. The district doctor diagnosed a severe form of hysteria, accompanied by convulsions, loss of consciousness, fever, anemia and a general decline in strength.
In March 1907, N. A. Sokolov supervised a police station in the most remote district, Krasnoslobodsky. Here he had another return of his sickness. As it can be seen from his telegram sent to Penza he was taken ill just at the time when an incident occurred that led to one of the village policemen receiving a deadly wound. In June 1907 it was from Krasnoslobodsk that Nikolay Alekseevich sent a letter to Penza telling about his desire to marry Maria Stepanovna Nikulina, a daughter of a Penza merchant. During his two-week vacation his responsibilities for Krasnoslobodsky district were delegated to a senior candidate Boris Karlovich Gul.
In the summer of 1908, Nikolay Alekseevich was undergoing treatment for neurasthenia, according to a certificate given by a Penza doctor Mikhail Ashanin. Since September 1908, he undertook the duties of an investigator in the Mokshan district and, apparently, was boarding in his parents’ home.
Most of materials in Sokolov’s official track record are medical certificates, applications for vacation and divesting of authority acts. Nevertheless, his personal record issued on May 16, 1909, said: “Sokolov is a very capable person, characterized by diligence and efficiency; he has a lot of experience in forensic investigation and is absolutely impeccable in terms of morality. Therefore, the general meeting of the branches of the Court has agreed that the titular councellor Sokolov, being the best investigator in the Penza judicial district, deserves a transfer to the same post of the forensic investigator to the 1st precinct of Penza, which would be also for a good cause.” This appointment was made in March, 1910. On the same day, the 8th of March, Sokolov was promoted to the rank of collegiate assessor. Nikolai Alexeyevich was still in his late twenties.
On December 26, 1911, he was appointed to the post of forensic investigator of cases of particular importance at the Penza District Court.
In the summer of 1911, a weakened organism of Nikolai Alexeyevich was struck by a new serious malady, malaria. He was again sent to treatment and advised bed rest. In the following year, 1912, Sokolov suffered a severe inflammation of respiratory tract, but he did not give up and went on working to remain the best specialist in the province.
On January 1, 1913, Sokolov was most graciously awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class “for an exceptionally diligent and zealous service” and was soon promoted to court councellor.
In the last years of his stay in Penza, Nikolai Alekseevich had the opportunity to prosecute such difficult and dangerous cases as the murder of gendarmerie officer Baksheev, legal abuse of his colleagues in the Penza District Court, a case concerned the Penza organization of Socialist-Revolutionaries, and pogrom of shops in Penza (1917).
Sokolov’s biographer, Penza historian and journalist Alexander Nikolayevich Sobolev, after studying materials available, made the following description of the investigator: “Speaking about Sokolov, I must say that he was apparently very stubborn and rather grumpy. Most likely, his character was spoiled owing to nervous diseases: hysteria, etc. Besides, he got a serious psychological trauma when he lost one eye as a result of hunting accident. A hair-splitter and a bureaucrat. Honest and principled. Apparently, when at Kharkov University, he took in the following maxim: Pereat mundus, et fiat justitia (“let the justice be done, even at the cost of the perished world”). Very responsible not to say obsessed. He was willing to lay himself out to accomplish his goal. So, his character spoiled his life, but helped in the investigation work. He had a good command of the investigation technique, but he could draw wrong conclusions. Due to his obsession, he might think up the result at the back of his mind before the facts prompt him the right direction of thought. I revealed those personal characteristic analyzing some moments in his book. In general, he met his job requirements just perfectly, though he would rather have had a partner who could somehow make up those features. Being abroad, he came together with a woman and sent a farewell letter to his Russian wife (Nikulina). ”
Feeling oppressed due to revolutionary changes the country was going through and viewing a hateful open abyss of lawlessness, Nikolai Alekseevich decided to quit his job. So, under a convenient pretext of illness he threw up his employment completely. The last document in Sokolov’s official track record was dated January 19, 1918. It says: “In view of the complication of the disease, I can not resume my duties until my recovery, since the illness requires my departure from Penza.”
Thus, while living in the Penza province Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov turned an outstanding criminalist. Here he perfected his skills so that later thousands miles away from his native home he would be able to accomplish his lifework: investigating the murder of a person who he stuck by till the very death.
Having dressed up as a plain peasant, he set off to a meeting with Admiral A.V. Kolchak, who led the White movement in Russia. Then Sokolov disguised himself as an a shabby tramp, so no one would have dreamt of suggesting any kind of trustworthy individual under that cover. Interestingly, there was another person from Mokshan, a large landowner Yury Yakovlevich Azarevich who also went to Kolchak and later, in February 1919, fulfilling the assignment of the supreme ruler of Russia, turned up in Moscow (see “Former People”, “Azareviches”). It is a really curious coincidence in their biographies. Could it so happen that Sokolov and Azarevich went to Kolchak together?
In 1918, Nikolai Alekseevich was formally listed an investigator of the cases of particular importance in the Omsk District Court. And on February 7, 1919, A.V. Kolchak appointed him to investigate the murder of the royal family. Sokolov did not inspire confidence to Kolchak’s people, but rather aroused suspicion. And only the recommendation of a certain high-ranking official from the Penza nobles helped to settle the issue.
It should be said that Penza forensic investigator devoted his body and soul to the mission he was put in charge of by Kolchak. Moreover, his enthusiasm was fueled by exceptional devotion to the former head of the reigning house. Sokolov could not start field investigation because of deep snow in the forest but he began to set up a base for his investigation by studying and publishing the findings of the investigators Nametkin and Sergeyev who had worked on this case. From May to July 1919 his work was in full swing. He collected a lot of material evidence, interviewed hundreds of witnesses, and conducted dozens of examinations. He managed to continue his work while the White Army was retreating from Yekaterinburg as far as Chinese Harbin. And then, all the time until his death in France in 1924, he had been analyzing materials collected. He strongly believed the Truth he had found, that took him a lot of efforts and pains, would give positive benefit to the whole world.
It is indeed difficult to imagine how could a seriously ill person, who had found it burdensome to go on business trips within Penza province, found the strength to undertake an extremely dangerous travel to Siberia and, by and atour, conduct enormous investigation work within a really short period of time and then emigrate making a nearly round-the-world trip.
On November 23, 1924, Nikolai Alekseevich died in the city of Salbri in unclear circumstances. Reportedly he died from heart attack, but there are opinions that his premature death was suspicious. It is known that Sokolov had many ill-wishers and his figure caused a lot of scheming. Nevertheless, the whole city led by the mayor came to follow him to his grave. “Your Truth is the Truth Forevermore!” are the words from the Psalms that were inscribed on his monument.
Sokolov never saw the appearance of his book “Murder of the Tsar’s Family”, as it was published a year after his death, in 1925. Interestingly, the conclusion he made in his work concerning complete destruction of tsar’s remains by the Bolsheviks is at variance with a present day version of the case, in particular, with the fact of finding the venerable relics, which are now resting in the Peter and Paul Fortress. And it is still open to question whether those events could be explained as an error of an experienced investigator or deliberate concealment of the truth.
In conclusion, it is worth to cite a rather lengthy passage which gives a very detailed impression of Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov by Mikhail Konstantinovich Dieterikhs, who had overall charge of the tsar’s murder investigation.
“He was medium height, thin, or better say lean, somewhat stooping; tended to move his arms and bite his mustache nervously; thin dark and slightly reddish hair, big mouth, coal-black eyes, big lips, sallow complexion – that’s a general description of Sokolov’s appearance. <…> When he left Penza fleeing from the Bolsheviks and disguised himself as a plain poor peasant, he suddenly got the air of a typical tramp, a slyboots, a character described in the stories by Maxim Gorky. Many people he encountered at that time, when affected by his appearance started to question reasonableness of delegating him tsar’s murder case investigation; some of them even shared their doubts with the Supreme Ruler. Moreover, some of those who felt generally against that investigation took advantage of Sokolov’s appearance far from the battle line, in order to undermine confidence in his work and present the entire investigation as a completely frivolous venture of some idle higher ranks.
One should evaluate Sokolov as an investigator on the one hand and as a true Russian patriot as well. His high proficiency level will be figured out from the subsequent story. But I find it necessary to comment on his moral values, since those played the same role in this case investigation as the sense of colour plays in depicting an object on canvas in terms of accurate natural appearance.
Being expansive and passionate Sokolov devoted to every activity he took up with his whole heart and soul. His plain appearance covered outstanding personality; he was always in search of challenge, love, warmth, and ideality. As a man of pride and a job fanatic, he often became quick-tempered and suspicious of other people. It usually happened at the first meeting with people who were close to the late Tsar’s Family. He felt deeply involved in this because he was a professional and a Russian citizen, and, what is more, because of his exceptional devotion to the deceased Head of the Reigning House and His Family. But due to his expansiveness he tended to interpret these witnesses’ inability to answer his questions as their ill will.
Being a born hunter, Sokolov was accustomed to hardships of a strolling life, long hours ambushing wood grouse or heath cock at their mating place; since childhood he had been training his keenness of observation, scrupulous attention to detail and infinite patience in achieving the goal. His constant communication with villagers, with peasants encouraged his attachment to common people, love for patriarchal Russian culture, and great understanding of the peasant soul, virtues and shortcomings of the people and their living environment.
And he returns to those people as a young lawyer after graduating from the university, but this time he penetrates into a different environment – a cruel and often savage world of crime. But this experience does not alienate him from people; on the contrary, being a man of strong beliefs, a developed, educated and well-read person, he finds the source of love in understanding the main causes of crime, the root of the evil which is ignorance and lack of culture. That knowledge arouses pity in him, which is considered a Russian national feature, and strengthens his attachment to common people. He develops the ability to establish rapport with a criminal, seeking the truth and their confession; he talks with a person, walks, lives, drinks tea, smokes, and it often happens that a persistent criminal starts talking, going into detail and sometimes even crying. It is amazing that criminals he brought to light, almost never bore a grudge against him; most often they said: “he caught me smartly,” showing surprise rather than spite.
After his flight from Penza Sokolov was going to the front line and had to hide out from the Bolsheviks. In one village he came upon a peasant who, three years before, he proved guilty of murder and robbery. A man was tried and sentenced to a long imprisonment. The revolution gave him the opportunity to return to his own nest that had been ruined in his absence. He recognized Sokolov, and Sokolov recognized him. All around there were the Red Army men. The man could easily revenge himself. But he did not do it; he took Sokolov to his house, gave him a meal and let him stay overnight. The next morning, seeing him off, he brought him an old holed hat and handed it with the words: “Put on this one, yours is not fit, they will guess.”
Having grown in a simple and honest Russian family, Sokolov was raised to fasten an idea in his mind that Russia and Russian people just will not live “without God in Heaven and King on Earth”. Education and years spent in university did not shake but strengthened this faith even more; and his temperament and loyalty together made him an exceptionally faithful and devoted monarchist. He loathed deeply Kerensky himself and the entire legacy left from the period when Kerensky was in power. And the only name he called Kerensky by was “Aaronka”. His dislike for Kerensky was fueled by purely professional background, since Kerensky gave access to a jury into the prosecutor’s office; that was an act that, by Sokolov’s opinion, undermined “the holy of holies” of the entire legal proceeding system. This is a brief personality description of a forensic investigator Sokolov. ”
Sources: State Archives of the Penza Region, f. 42, op. 1, d. 113; Savin OM Executing the laws of Russia … From the history of Penza courts. – Penza, 2004. P. 116; Information of Olga Yu. Kamenskaya; Sobolev AN The main thing of the investigator Sokolov // “Our Penza”, 2013, March 6-12; http://penzahroniki.ru.
