“Killed in An Explosion in the House of the Supreme Ruler”: Concerning the Analysis of Death Records of the Officers of the Admiral A. V. Kolchak’s Convoy, August 27, 1919

Abstract

The study is devoted to the analysis of a group of unknown sources from the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region (fond of the Omsk Spiritual Consistory) that are being introduced into scientific use for the first time. These documents are associated with a tragic incident that resulted in the death of seven lower ranks, who provided security for Admiral A. V. Kolchak in Omsk. The contemporaries’ memoirs have served as an auxiliary source in the study. The relevance of this work is justified by contradictions in modern historiographic discussion regarding the cause of the explosion in the vicinity of the private residence of the Supreme Ruler in Omsk on August 25, 1919, as well as by great interest of the national scientific community in his person. Anthropological approach, principle of consistency, historical-systemic and comparative-historical method have served as methodological basis for the study. This theoretical totality suggests two points. First, consideration of the identified vital records as a natural consequence of the work of the Institute of the Russian Orthodox Church; second, critical comparative analysis of the new data and previous developments in historiography. The identified records have made it possible to establish the exact number of servicemen who died as a result of the tragedy, as well as their names, belonging to the service category of the lower ranks of the White Army, date of death, place and date of the funeral service and burial. The authors point out that the analyzed sources are also of key importance for studying the last days of the Omsk poet Yuri (Peter Ivanovich) Sopov, one of the victims of the explosion. In the conclusion, the thesis is emphasized of the need for basic and contextual use of vital records as a valuable documentary source on the past for conducting research on various aspects of the history of the Civil War. This publication may be of interest to specialists in source studies, researchers of the Civil War in the East of Russia, state security agencies of the anti-Bolshevik authorities, biography of Admiral A. V. Kolchak, local Omsk history.