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Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

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12 February 2020

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A wax figure of Admiral Alexander Kolchak incide the cell of Irkutsk jail where he spent last days of his lfe. Picture: Irklutsk History Museum

A collection of Alexander Kolchak’s manuscripts, a hand-written 1918 Proclamation of his Provisional All-Russian Government declaring intention to bring ‘reunited and reborn Russia into the circle of the great democracies of the world’, unseen pictures of himself and family, and loving private letters to his wife and son Rostislav written mostly in 1919 were kept for over 90 years inside a foreign bank’s vault. 

‘No-one knew about the collection, or rather a few close relatives did know that it existed, but they didn’t realise what it comprised’, said Anastasia Birr, a Paris-based specialist on Russian archives who was asked to view the files in spring 2019. 

A group of Russian billionaires spent over 3 million euro at French auction to buy historic papers of the man who tried - and failed - to halt Bolsheviks. Video: The Siberian Times

First mentions of Kolchak’s private archive started appearing among Russian and foreign experts in March 2019 after his grandson and namesake Alexander Kolchak passed away in France aged 85. Within months of Alexander’s death his three children decided to auction all 391 documents belonging to the man once known as ‘the supreme ruler of Russia’, the collection that re-opened pages of some of the bloodiest and most turbulent times in Russian history. 

One of the items is Kolchak’s typewritten letter in English which saved the lives of his wife and son. 

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

Admiral Kolchak, his wife Sofiya, and his last letters to her from Omsk in Siberia. Pictures: Drouot auction house, The Siberian Times


He sent it from Omsk to Sevastopol where Sofiya Kolchak stayed with the couple's son Rostislav, urging them to leave Russia with help of money he transferred to the UK Foreign Office in London. 

‘Am in good health. Have assumed temporary leadership of Russian Armies fighting Bolsheviks in Siberia and Eastern Russia’, the letter reads.

‘In view of my present position and activities I consider your stay in Russia dangerous and therefore am requesting British Government to arrange for your departure together with my son(s) for England or France.’

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

Admiral Kolchak (first from the left) in Siberia. Picture: Drouot auction house


In his last letters he addressed wife as ‘Dear Sonichka’ and spoke of being in the heart of ‘the most cruel, fierce struggle’ as well as of his loneliness as he continued to fight the Red Army.

‘Everything shall pass, and the damned stain of Bolshevism will be wiped out like dirt from the Russian land. For this I laid a good foundation, and dozens of thousands of traitors will never rise’, he wrote on 16 September 1919, months before he was shot by Bolsheviks in Irkutsk.

Despite his blossoming romance with 25-year-old Anna Timireva, who was arrested and jailed with Kolchak in Irkutsk, the man who then controlled the largest part of Russia wrote to wife about his loneliness inside the Omsk mansion that became the headquarters of the White Movement.

‘Often I have to work alone at nights, so I got myself a kitten who is by now used to sleep on my desk, and who shares my night-time loneliness’, he wrote in one of the last letters on 20 October 1919.  

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution
The only existing childhood photograph of Alexander Kolchak; he is pictured aged six. Picture: Drouot auction house


One of the archive’s photographs is the only existing and a previously unseen childhood picture of Admiral Kolchak aged six. 

The archive letters appear to dispel speculation about Alexander Kolchak - who was part of the English military mission in August 1917 -  being an English spy, which was for years seen by many as fact, a Russian expert believes. 

‘Letters that he wrote to wife explain the myth that he was an English spy', said Victor Moskvin, director of the Russia Abroad House.

‘He gives a clear account of why he decided to get into the British service. His main motive was to keep fighting against Germany as he was a true patriot of Russia with all thoughts only about Russia. Then events in Russia began that called upon him to carry another mission of freeing Russia from Bolsheviks that he tried to complete.’

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

The most expensive lot, Admiral Kolchak’s gospel with a bookmark in the form of a St. George ribbon, the hand-written 1918 Proclamation of his Provisional All-Russian Government declaring intention to bring ‘reunited and reborn Russia into the circle of the great democracies of the world’, his and Sofiya wedding certificate and the Moscow-based Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad where the archive is currently on public display. Pictures: Drouot auction house, The Siberian Times


The decision to sell the collection was made by his grandson Rostislav’s descendants in a rush, and left little if any time for Russian state to negotiate with the family.

There were multiple calls from historians and state officials stressing the importance of buying the archive in full, so that the invaluable documents were to be brought back to Russia, but until the day of the auction it was unclear if there were any funds to back it up.

The unique collection was sold ‘with great success’ for 3.012 million euro by French Drouot auctioneers on 21 November 2019. 

Within days of the auction two Russian state-run archives confirmed that 90 per cent of all documents were bought by ‘unnamed philanthropists’ and will be returned to Russia, even though some items will be kept in private collections. 

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

Alexander Kolchak (sitting down in the middle) in New York, and a haunting letter from Sofiya Kolchak in Russian begging to save her husband's life nearly two months after he was shot. It reads: '29 March 1920, Your Imperial Highness, If this is not too late, I beg you to try and rescue my husband. Sofiya Kolchak, Villa Alexandrine, Boulevard Guillemin, Pau'


Only after the documents were back in Russia at the end of January this year the buyers names were revealed as billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, novelist and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s son Yermolai Solzhenitsyn, antique dealer Vadim Zadorozhny, businessman Ivan Yefimov and Russia’s state-backed PromSvyazBank. 

The purchase was supported by Russia’s high-flying state servants like former PM Dmitry Medvedev, his former first deputy and currently head of VEB Igor Shuvalov, Head of Russian Federal Archive Agency Andrey Artizov and former press-secretary of Dmitry Medvedev and now also a part of VEB team Natalia Timakova.  

The archive is currently exhibited at the Moscow-based Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad. It is not clear which part of it will go to private collections after the initial public display. 

Anna Timireva, below, was arrested and jailed with Alexander Kolchak in Irkutsk. She spent months in various labour camps for her 'connection to Kolchak'. Anna died in 1978 in Moscow. Pictures: Leonid Shunkarev

Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution


Admiral Kolchak’s archive has returned to Russia 100 years after his execution

Comments (14)

Wow! Amazing historical account. Thank you. He is remembered.
Shirley Dobey, United States
08/05/2021 04:52
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In 2014, I came across a set of the Dictionaire, Encyclopedique et Biographique de L'Industrie et Des Arts Industriels in a thrift shop in New Hampshire, USA. Each of the volumes had a hand-written inscription as follows 'Ex-libris: AKoltchak Paris 1900'. 1900 was the year of his first polar expedition - i think. I wonder if this set of books accompanied him on that expedition or if maybe he also attended a school in France or somewhere in Europe at that time.
Peter Veilleux, Oakland, CA, United States
19/12/2023 01:27
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I want to urge people yo be careful. This may be bait and switch ploy to gaslight the patriots who are opposed to international jerry. You need to be weary of the tactics and ways of the Jews. Already their billionaires are being told at thisvtime to rehabilitate the Christian admiral who ordinarily is an enemy of a sort
Wellington , Nigeria
27/02/2023 19:02
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Царствие им всем небесное и вечная память! Боролись за свободу против злодеев и душегубов. Если бы одолели это Зло, сейчас все бы было иначе на свете и очень вероятно, что и Гитлера никогда бы не было, ни того жуткого кровопролития, ни Сталина... ни Путина. May God receive their souls into His Kingdom and may they be forever remembered by the living! They fought for freedom against malefactors and murderers. Had they overcome that Evil, everything on this earth today would be quite different; it is very likely there would never have been a Hitler, nor any of that awful bloodshed, nor Stalin... nor Putin.
Maria Ashot, Brussels, Belgium
12/07/2020 02:47
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What a very sad time in history for such a beautiful country. Czar Nicolas was trying his hardest to bring the largest Nation into modern times when Lenin and the Bolsheviks came to be. They terrorized the people, murdered their Ruler, and stole their Country from the Peoples of Russia.
Hoping and praying the papers are openingly shared and not silenced or censored as they tell a very sad story in Russia history and her People. Admiral Kolchak and all those that fought Bolsheviks will forever be in my prayers. As the wrath of heartless Bolsheviks went through my ancestors villages and murdered them to steal their land and property for Communism. My uncles were forced to dig their grave and were shot in the head. The war against these bloody Bolsheviks was ruthless and the days of peace in Russia will be forever gone. Never forget the men the fought and died for their country fore she was a beautiful country.
K Reichert , United States/Russia
28/05/2020 17:12
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I personally am very happy to see that the late Admiral Kolchak's personal memorabilia has now been properly archived & curated. But I would also recommend that the museum which will be curating Admiral Kolchak's items develop a virtual capacity for viewing, as has (for example) the Kobarid (Caporetto) Museum in Slovenia. Some might say that a virtual touring capacity would decrease revenue from fee-paying on-site, real-time visitation. I would suggest otherwise, i.e. that virtual touring--by increasing accessibility & therefore interest--would increase (in the long term) the amount of general interest & therefore financial support for the museum. Here's a thought: guided tours of the Kolchak exhibit as a 'local interest' part of a pre-paid package for a local event, e.g. wedding, graduation, vacation. Best wishes~GFK
Mr. G. F. Karcnik, NJ USA
26/04/2020 00:47
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@Marinus, Netherlands Thank you very much for your correction
The Siberian Times, Siberia, Russia
30/03/2020 00:51
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Thank you for your interesting article about admiral Konchak. One thing: the name of the town in Sofiya's letter is not Rome, but Pau (in France).
Marinus, Netherlands
29/03/2020 21:16
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It would be say to say tRump would not be a fan of this great admiral and man.
JEFF, USA
20/03/2020 18:19
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It is only right and fitting that these historical documents have made their way home.They should be available for all Russians to see and read. I believe Admiral Kolchak would be pleased. Слава всем, кто работал, чтобы сделать это возможным.
Al Glofcheski, Kenora, Canada
17/02/2020 01:29
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Moving story , a page of Russia History. These papers must be in the land of Russia
Jocelyne, FRANCE
15/02/2020 00:27
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So sad this tragic destiny !
Rogulski Krzysztof, Paris/France
14/02/2020 21:25
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RW, Tucson, YOUR government of course does not abuse its citizens?
MORAK Benedikt, Moscow
14/02/2020 12:16
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I've always felt sorry for the average working man/woman in Russia or the Soviet Union...the are endlessly abused by ANY government the have...
RW, Tucson
14/02/2020 09:56
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