Various members (Yurovsky, Ermakov, Medvedev) of the squad of assassins—who by one account outnumbered the eleven victims—vied for years for the honor of having personally shot the Tsar; documents, filmed interviews, and some of the weapons used in the murder themselves, complete with signed statements, were proudly donated to state museums and archives. Gradually, however, as the Joseph Stalin regime systematically persecuted and killed so many of the original revolutionaries that this sort of discourse became unthinkable. Sverdlovsk itself was essentially closed to foreigners.
Various members (Yurovsky, Ermakov, Medvedev) of the assassination squad—who according to one account were more numerous than the eleven victims—competed for years over who had personally shot the Tsar; documents, filmed interviews, and some of the murder weapons themselves, along with signed statements, were proudly donated to state museums and archives. Over time, however, as Joseph Stalin’s regime systematically persecuted and killed many of the original revolutionaries, such discussions became unthinkable. Sverdlovsk itself was largely inaccessible to foreigners.