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Secondary sourceBook1925

The Murder of the Tsar's Family

N. Sokolov · 1925

A 1925 investigative study by Nikolai Sokolov, the official investigator of the 1918 killing of Nicholas II and his family, published after his death.

An official investigation into the killing of Nicholas II and his family, compiled by the judicial investigator assigned to the case.

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The Murder of the Tsar's Family
N. Sokolov, The Murder of the Tsar's Family, 1925. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This book, published in 1925, presents the investigation of Nikolai Sokolov into the 1918 killing of Emperor Nicholas II and his family. Sokolov had been the official judicial investigator appointed to examine the crime, and the book appeared after his death, with a foreword by Prince N. Orlov.

Why it matters

As the work of the investigator formally tasked with uncovering what happened to the imperial family, this study became one of the key sources used to reconstruct the events of the killing. It shows how authorities and exiled Russians tried to establish the facts and preserve a historical record.

Look closer

  • Why might an official investigation carry different weight than a personal memoir?
  • What does the fact that the book was published after the investigator's death suggest about how it came together?
  • What questions would you want answered about how this investigation was carried out?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tsar Nicholas II on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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