Note: the book titles mentioned in this article are translated from Russian – PG

Since the death of Yakov “Yankel” Sverdlov on 16th March 1919, the Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician has remained one of the most popular topics for debate among Russian historians. Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (1885-1919) was a Bolshevik party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Sverdlov, nicknamed “the Black Devil”, played a major role in the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his family on 17th July 1918. According to Yuri Slezkine in his book The Jewish Century: “Early in the Civil War, in June 1918, Lenin ordered the killing of Nicholas II and his family. Among the men entrusted with carrying out the orders were Sverdlov, Filipp Goloshchyokin and Yakov Yurovsky“.

Sixteen years after Sverdlov’s death [he died on 16thth March 1919, age 33 of the Spanish flu, and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis], Kremlin employees discovered a fireproof safe that once stood in Sverdlov’s office. Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (1891-1938), a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s security and intelligence agency, reported its contents to Stalin in an internal memo.

The Sverdlovs’ legacy

Klavdia [Claudia] Novgorodtseva (1876-1960), a Bolshevik activist and the second wife of Yakov Sverdlov, claimed that after the murder of one of the founders of the Communist Party of Germany, Karl Liebknecht, her son Andrei Yakovlevich Sverdlov (1911-1969) asked his father: “how will the bourgeoisie deal with me?” However, Sverdlov assured his son that such an outcome should not be feared. “When I die, I will leave you an inheritance greater than anything in the world. I will leave you the untarnished honour and name of a revolutionary,” Yakov said to Andrei. At least, this is the story described by Valery Shambarov in his book “Sverdlov“. As it turned out, the Sverdlov’s possessed a large amount of wealth.

According to Boris Bazhanov, the author of the book “I Was Stalin’s Secretary“, in 1919, when Soviet power was hanging by a thread, the so-called “Politburo diamond fund” wasconfiscated. This fund was supposed to ensure the continued financial support of the revolutionaries in the event of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Claudia Novgorodtseva was appointed the keeper of the “diamond fund”. Even after the death of Yakov Sverdlov, his wife continued to keep precious stones at home in a desk drawer. Andrei Sverdlov once told Bazhanov about this. But Sverdlov Jr., then still a teenager, was sure that the diamonds he saw were fake.

PHOTO: Yakov Sverdlov’s wife Claudia Novgorodtseva, and images
of some of the jewelry found in the “diamond fund of the Politburo”

Forgotten safe

As it turned out later, Andrei Sverdlov was wrong. Despite the fact that the “diamond fund of the Politburo” has remained one of the many mysteries of 20th century Russian history. Many historians do not doubt that it really existed, and that Yakov and Claudia Sverdlov were directly involved. One of the proofs of this statement is the contents of the fireproof safe, which was once in the office of Yakov Mikhailovich. According to Yevgeny Guslyarov, the author of the publication “Lenin in Life“, in 1919, when Sverdlov died, the safe could not be opened: the key was somehow lost. For 16 long years, the safe was gathering dust in one of the Kremlin warehouses.

In 1935, during the next inventory, the mysterious cabinet aroused keen interest among the Kremlin employees. This time, specialists were called in to open the safe. The wealth of Yakov Sverdlov is known today thanks to the surviving note of the People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs Genrikh Yagoda addressed to Joseph Stalin dated 27th July 1935. The text of it was published in a book by Nikolai Zenkovich “Leaders and Associates“. According to the note, “gold coins of tsarist mintage in the amount of 108,525 rubles, 705 pieces of jewelry, credit notes for 750 thousand rubles, as well as blank forms of tsarist-era passports and several passports under various names (including the name of Sverdlov himself)” were found in Sverdlov’s safe.

The Origin of Wealth

In the event of a collapse of the Bolshevik state, it is clear that Yakov Sverdlov and his relatives might need passports to escape. As mentioned above, in 1919 the position of the Soviet government was not yet stable. There is also no need to guess about the purpose of coins and jewelry, but their origin still raises more questions than answers. According to one version, the jewelry and other valuables belonged to members of the Russian nobility, as well as the Imperial Family, who were murdered on 17th July 1918, by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg. Some of these jewels were appropriated by Yakov Sverdlov. In the “Collection of Documents Relating to the Murder of Emperor Nicholas II and His Family” there is information that the regicides Yakov Yurovsky and Grigory Petrovich Nikulin came to Moscow with a report on the liquidation of the Romanovs to Lenin and Sverdlov. They brought with them not only documents and letters, but the Imperial Family jewels, which included a bag of diamonds.

Author Alexander Sever writes in his book “How to Defeat Corruption“, that the jewelry could have been confiscated by Yakov Sverdlov from the relatives of those who ended up in the dungeons of the Cheka. In addition, there is information which claims that the jewels were bribes made to Sverdlov by members of the Cheka. According to Sever, further adds, that it is also possible that Yakov Mikhailovich received the valuables legally, but he did not return them to the State. Be that as it may, he never had a chance to use all this wealth.

FURTHER READING:

The Bolshevik sale of the Romanov jewels + PHOTOS

The fate of the regicides who murdered Nicholas II and his family + PHOTOS

95 years ago, Ekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk

New revelations on Lenin’s order to murder the Tsar

Russian sculptor proposes removal of monuments to Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg

© Paul Gilbert. 12 February 2025