12 Facts About Yakov Yurovsky

Yakov Yurovsky is known as the chief executioner of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his family, and four of their servants.

Yakov Yurovsky was responsible for the distribution of weapons, ordering the family to the cellar room, announcing the execution to the family, and the disposal of the eleven bodies.

Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky was the eighth of ten children born to Chaim, son of Izka, a glazier, and his wife Ester daughter of Moishe, a seamstress.

Shortly before fully devoting himself to the cause of revolution, in the early twentieth century, Yakov Yurovsky converted to Lutheranism.

Yakov Yurovsky was a Chekist for a short period of time in 1917.

Yakov Yurovsky achieved a solid reputation by combating corruption and theft.

Yakov Yurovsky worked in management at the Polytechnical Museum starting in 1928 and became its director in 1930.

Yakov Yurovsky had a history of health problems, including stomach issues and heart disease.

Yakov Yurovsky begged his old friend Goloshchyokin, then president of the State Council of Arbitration, for clemency, but Goloshchyokin informed him there was nothing to be done.

Yakov Yurovsky died on 2 August 1938 reportedly of a duodenal, or peptic ulcer.

Yakov Yurovsky's death occurred during the height of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, in which many of his Ural compatriots were executed.

Yakov Yurovsky said that his father greatly regretted his role in the execution of the Romanovs.