Pavel Spiridonovich Medvedev
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pavel Spiridonovich Medvedev (; 1888 – 12 March 1919) was a
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
revolutionary, head of the external guard of the
Ipatiev House Ipatiev House () was a merchant's house in Yekaterinburg (city in 1924 renamed Sverdlovsk, in 1991 renamed back to Yekaterinburg) where the abdicated Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918, reigned 1894–1917), all his immediate family, and ...
in Yekaterinburg, a direct participant in the
murder of the Romanov family The abdicated Russian Imperial Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikola ...
on the night of 17 July 1918.


Biography

Medvedev was born in 1888 in Sysert, part of the
Perm Governorate Perm Governorate (), also known as the Governorate of Perm, was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR from 1781 to 1923. It was located on both slopes of the Ural Mountains, and its admi ...
. He worked at the Sysert plant prior to the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. During World War I, he joined the
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
and went to fight at the front, and rose to the rank of
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
. In 1917, he became a member of the
Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
, and subsequently participated in the suppression of the anti-Soviet uprising of
Ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...
Alexander Dutov Alexander Ilyich Dutov (; – 7 February 1921) was a Russian Cossack ataman and lieutenant general who led the Orenburg Cossacks in a revolt against the Bolsheviks. Biography Dutov was born in Kazalinsk in Syr-Darya Oblast (now Kazaly ...
.


Execution of the Romanovs

By the time that the former Emperor Nicholas II, his family, and their retinue were transferred to Yekaterinburg and handed over to the Ural Soviet on the prior suggestion of Filipp Goloshchekin, Medvedev was serving in the city as part of the local
Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...
. Medvedev headed the external security of the "House of Special Purpose" from the moment the imperial family arrived in Yekaterinburg, on April 30, 1918, until their execution. It was he who informed the local Chekists about the drunkenness and disobedience of the internal guards who reigned under the first commandant of the Ipatiev House, a locksmith named Alexander Avdeev. After that, Avdeev was removed by the Ural Soviet, and replaced by the Chekist Yakov Yurovsky, who established strict procedures. Medvedev worked closely with Yurovsky during the family's incarceration. On the night of July 17, 1918, Medvedev, along with Yurovsky and several other Chekists and Red Army soldiers, was a direct participant in the execution of the imperial family. Medvedev's external guard, who did not take part in the shooting and were disarmed by Medvedev and Yurovsky shortly prior to the executions, out of fear they might have sympathized with the family, were employed as stretcher-bearers to transport the corpses from the basement to the truck outside where Goloshchekin was waiting. After the execution, when Yurovsky and Peter Ermakov left with Goloshchekin to bury the corpses at Ganina Yama, Medvedev organized a full cleaning in the Ipatiev House to hide the traces of the murders.


Civil War and death

After the
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...
took Took is a variant of the English surname Tooke, originally found predominantly in the East Anglia region of the United Kingdom. The name Took may refer to: People *Barry Took (1928–2002), British comedian and television presenter *Steve Per ...
Yekaterinburg, eight days after the execution of the royal family, Medvedev along with the remnants of the Red Army detachments retreated to
Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...
, and in the winter of 1918 participated in the defense of the city. By orders of his commanders, he was supposed to blow up the bridge over the
Kama River The Kama ( , ; ; ), also known as the Chulman ( ; ), is a long«Река КАМА»
Russian St ...
while retreating, but did not have time and was captured by the Whites as a prisoner of war. In captivity, he hid his identity, introduced himself by the name Bobylev, was soon released and worked as an orderly in a hospital, where he soon confessed to a sister of mercy that he has served in the guard of the Ipatiev House. The sister reported this to the authorities and on February 11, 1919, Medvedev was arrested in Perm by the criminal investigation agent S.I. Alekseev. Medvedev was interrogated by the White Guard investigators who were investigating the murder of the imperial family on behalf of the local governor,
Mikhail Diterikhs Mikhail Konstantinovich Diterikhs (, ; May 17, 1874 – September 9, 1937) served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently became a key figure in the monarchist White movement in Siberia and the Russian Far East area during the R ...
. During interrogations, he denied his personal involvement in the execution, claiming that during the murder he was sent out into the street to find out if shots were heard outside. He was charged with "murder by prior conspiracy with other persons and the seizure of the property of the former Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, the heir Alexei Nikolaevich and Grand Duchesses
Olga Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia ...
,
Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
,
Tatyana Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Origin Tatiana is a feminine, diminutive derivative of the Sabine—and later Latin ...
,
Anastasia Anastasia (from ) is a feminine given name of Greek and Slavic origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe. Origin The name Anastasia originated during the Early Christianity, early d ...
, as well as the physician Dr. Botkin, the maid
Anna Demidova Anna Stepanovna Demidova (26 January 1878 – 17 July 1918) was a lady's maid in the service of Empress Alexandra of Russia. She stayed with the Romanov family when they were arrested, and was murdered together with Alexandra and the Romano ...
, the cook Kharitonov and the footman
Troupe Troupe may refer to: General *Comedy troupe, a group of comedians *Dance troupe, a group of dancers **Fire troupe, a group of fire dancers *Troupe system, a method of playing role-playing games *Theatrical troupe, a group of theatrical performers ...
", and was transferred to Yekaterinburg and scheduled to be personally interrogated by the investigator Nikolai Sokolov, a private investigator from the Omsk Regional Court who had recently been appointed to oversee the investigation. Ultimately, however, on March 12, 1919, Medvedev reportedly died of typhus in the Yekaterinburg Prison, apparently, as a result of the poor conditions in which he was being held. Medvedev's widow, however, insisted that he had been killed in custody by the White Guards.


Notes

He is related to fellow executioner Mikhail Kudrin, who also shared the surname Medvedev.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medvedev, Pavel 1888 births 1919 deaths 20th-century Russian criminals Deaths from typhus Old Bolsheviks People from Sysertsky District People from Yekaterinburgsky Uyezd People of the Russian Civil War Prisoners who died in Russian detention Regicides of Nicholas II Russian military personnel of World War I Russian people who died in prison custody Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Russian torture victims