Alexei Volkov

Alexei Andreivich Volkov (1859 – 1929) was a valet at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. He escaped a death march at Perm in September 1918 and survived to write his memoirs about his time at court and his escape.cite web | author=Volkov, Alexei | year=1928 | title= "Memories of Alexei Volkov" | work=alexanderpalace.org| url=http://www.alexanderpalace.org/volkov/volkovmain.html| accessdate= February 28| accessyear=2007]

Early life

Volkov was born in the town of Old-Ioriev, Kozlov District, Tambov Guberniya. As a young adult, he entered the Russian Army and rose through the ranks. He was on guard and witnessed the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Later he was a military instructor to Tsar Nicholas II. He was also in service to Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, beginning in 1886. He later became a valet at the court of the Tsar in 1910. He was the Tsarina's personal servant and often pushed her wheelchair. [Kurth, Peter, "Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson," Back Bay Books, 1983, p. 99]

Exile

He followed the family into exile following the Russian Revolution of 1917, but was separated from them at Ekaterinburg and imprisoned at Perm.

Escape from death

On September 4, 1918, he was taken from his prison cell and led to the prison office, where he saw lady in waiting Anastasia Hendrikova and the elderly tutor Catherine Schneider. They were joined by eight other prisoners, including the chambermaid from the house where Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia had lived. They had an escort of twenty-two guards, none of whom where Russian.

Volkov asked a guard where they were being taken and was told they were being taken "to the house of arrest." Hendrikova, who had been in the washroom, asked a guard the same question when she came out. She was told they were being taken "to the central prison." Hendrikova asked him, "and from there?" The guard replied, "Well! to Moscow." Hendrikova repeated this conversation to her fellow prisoners and made the sign of the cross with her fingers. Volkov took her gesture to mean "they will not shoot us."

The sailor at the prison office door kept checking the front door that led to the street to make sure no one was there. After a while another sailor said, "Let's go." They lined the prisoners up in the street in rows of two, the men in front and the women in back. The group walked all the way to the edge of town and onto the Simbirsk road. Volkov asked another prisoner where the central prison was and was told they had long passed it. Volkov realized they were being taken into the woods to be shot. Volkov broke from the group and ran for his life at the first opportunity. A bullet whizzed past his ear. Behind him he heard gunshots as the other prisoners in the group were shot and killed.

Volkov eventually joined other refugees from the tsar's household and made his escape from Russia through the Far East. In 1922 he settled in Estonia. He later lived in Germany, where he was highly respected in the emigree community because of his lifelong loyalty to the Romanov family. [Kurth, p. 99] His memoirs were published in 1928, a year before his death in 1929. [Kurth, p. 122]

Notes

Persondata
NAME=Volkov, Alexei Andreivich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Servant at court of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra; escaped from death squad and survived to write his memoirs and live in Germany.
DATE OF BIRTH=1859
PLACE OF BIRTH=Russia
DATE OF DEATH=1929
PLACE OF DEATH=Germany