Nicholas II and his family
“They died martyrs for humanity. Their true greatness did not stem from their royal dignity, but from that amazing moral height to which they gradually rose. They have become the perfect force. And in their very humiliation, they were a striking manifestation of that amazing clarity of the soul, against which all violence and all rage are powerless, and which triumphs in death itself ”(Tsarevich Alexei’s teacher Pierre Gilliard).
Nicholas II
Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II) was born on May 6 (18), 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo. He was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. He received a strict, almost harsh upbringing under the guidance of his father. "I need normal healthy Russian children," - such a requirement was put forward by Emperor Alexander III to the educators of his children.
The future emperor Nicholas II received a good education at home: he knew several languages, studied Russian and world history, was deeply versed in military affairs, and was a widely erudite person.
Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and Princess Alice
Princess Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice was born on May 25 (June 7), 1872 in Darmstadt, the capital of a small German duchy, already forcibly included by that time in the German Empire. Alice's father was Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her mother was Princess Alice of England, the third daughter of Queen Victoria. As a child, Princess Alice (Alyx, as her family called her) was a cheerful, lively child, for which she was nicknamed "Sunny" (Sunny). There were seven children in the family, all of them were brought up in patriarchal traditions. Mother set strict rules for them: not a single minute of idleness! The clothes and food of the children were very simple. The girls themselves cleaned their rooms, performed some household chores. But her mother died of diphtheria at the age of thirty-five. After the tragedy she experienced (and she was only 6 years old), little Alix became withdrawn, aloof, began to shun strangers; she calmed down only in the family circle. After the death of her daughter, Queen Victoria transferred her love to her children, especially to the youngest, Alix. Her upbringing and education were under the control of her grandmother.
The first meeting of the sixteen-year-old heir to Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and the very young Princess Alice took place in 1884, and in 1889, having reached the age of majority, Nikolai turned to his parents with a request to bless him for marriage with Princess Alice, but his father refused, citing his youth as the reason for the refusal. I had to come to terms with my father's will. But usually soft and even timid in dealing with his father, Nicholas showed perseverance and determination - Alexander III gives his blessing to the marriage. But the joy of mutual love was overshadowed by a sharp deterioration in the health of Emperor Alexander III, who died on October 20, 1894 in the Crimea. The next day, in the palace church of the Livadia Palace, Princess Alice was converted to Orthodoxy, was anointed, receiving the name of Alexandra Feodorovna.
Despite the mourning for the father, they decided not to postpone the marriage, but to hold it in the most modest atmosphere on November 14, 1894. So for Nicholas II, family life and the management of the Russian Empire began at the same time, he was 26 years old.
He had a lively mind - he always quickly grasped the essence of the issues reported to him, an excellent memory, especially for faces, the nobility of the way of thinking. But Nikolai Alexandrovich, with his gentleness, tact in handling, modest manners, gave the impression to many of a man who did not inherit the strong will of his father, who left him the following political testament: « I bequeath to you to love everything that serves the good, honor and dignity of Russia. Protect autocracy, remembering that you are responsible for the fate of your subjects before the Throne of the Most High. Faith in God and the holiness of your royal duty be the foundation of your life for you. Be firm and courageous, never show weakness. Listen to everyone, there is nothing shameful in this, but listen to yourself and your conscience.
From the very beginning of his reign, Emperor Nicholas II treated the duties of the monarch as a sacred duty. He deeply believed that even for the 100-million Russian people, tsarist power was and remains sacred.
Coronation of Nicholas II
1896 is the year of coronation celebrations in Moscow. The sacrament of chrismation was performed over the royal couple - as a sign that, as there is no higher, so there is no harder on earth royal power, there is no burden heavier than royal service. But the coronation celebrations in Moscow were overshadowed by the disaster at the Khodynka field: a stampede occurred in the crowd waiting for the royal gifts, in which many people died. According to official figures, 1389 people died and 1300 were seriously injured, according to unofficial data - 4000. But the events on the occasion of the coronation were not canceled in connection with this tragedy, but continued according to the program: in the evening of the same day, a ball was held at the French ambassador. The sovereign was present at all planned events, including the ball, which was perceived ambiguously in society. The tragedy at Khodynka was perceived by many as a gloomy omen for the reign of Nicholas II, and when the question of his canonization arose in 2000, it was cited as an argument against it.
On November 3, 1895, the first daughter was born in the family of Emperor Nicholas II - Olga; she was born Tatyana(May 29, 1897), Maria(June 14, 1899) and Anastasia(June 5, 1901). But the family was waiting for the heir.
Olga
From childhood, she grew up very kind and sympathetic, deeply worried about other people's misfortunes and always tried to help. She was the only one of the four sisters who could openly object to her father and mother and was very reluctant to submit to her parents' will if circumstances required it.
Olga loved to read more than other sisters, later she began to write poetry. The French teacher and friend of the imperial family, Pierre Gilliard, noted that Olga learned the material of the lessons better and faster than the sisters. It was easy for her, that's why she was sometimes lazy. " Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was a typical good Russian girl with a big soul. She made an impression on those around her with her tenderness, her charming sweet treatment of everyone. She behaved with everyone evenly, calmly and amazingly simply and naturally. She did not like housekeeping, but she loved solitude and books. She was developed and very well-read; She had an aptitude for the arts: she played the piano, sang, and studied singing in Petrograd, drawing well. She was very modest and did not like luxury.”(From the memoirs of M. Dieterikhs).
There was an unfulfilled plan for Olga's marriage to a Romanian prince (future Carol II). Olga Nikolaevna categorically refused to leave her homeland, to live in a foreign country, she said that she was Russian and wanted to remain so.
As a child, her favorite activities were: serso (playing hoop), riding a pony and a bulky bicycle - tandem - paired with Olga, leisurely picking flowers and berries. From quiet home entertainment, she preferred drawing, picture books, confused children's embroidery - knitting and a "doll's house".
Of the Grand Duchesses, she was the closest to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, she always tried to surround her mother with care and peace, to listen and understand her. Many considered her the most beautiful of all the sisters. P. Gilliard recalled: “ Tatyana Nikolaevna was by nature rather restrained, had a will, but was less frank and direct than her older sister. She was also less gifted, but atoned for this shortcoming by great consistency and evenness of character. She was very beautiful, although she did not have the charms of Olga Nikolaevna. If only the Empress made a difference between the Daughters, then Tatyana Nikolaevna was Her favorite. Not that Her sisters loved Mother less than Her, but Tatyana Nikolaevna knew how to surround Her with constant care and never allowed herself to show that She was out of sorts. With her beauty and natural ability to keep herself in society, She overshadowed her sister, who was less concerned with Her special and somehow faded into the background. Nevertheless, these two sisters dearly loved each other, there was only a year and a half difference between them, which, naturally, brought them closer. They were called "big", while Maria Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaevna continued to be called "small".
Contemporaries describe Maria as a lively, cheerful girl, too large for her age, with light blond hair and large dark blue eyes, which the family affectionately called "Masha's Saucers".
Her French teacher, Pierre Gilliard, said that Maria was tall, with a good physique and rosy cheeks.
General M. Dieterikhs recalled: “Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna was the most beautiful, typically Russian, good-natured, cheerful, even-tempered, friendly girl. She knew how and loved to talk with everyone, especially with a simple person. During walks in the park, she always used to start conversations with the soldiers of the guard, questioned them and perfectly remembered who had what to call his wife, how many children, how much land, etc. She always found many common topics for conversations with them. For her simplicity, she received the nickname "Mashka" in the family; that was the name of her sisters and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich.
Maria had a talent for drawing, she was good at sketching, using her left hand for this, but she had no interest in schoolwork. Many noticed that this young girl was 170 cm tall and by force went to her grandfather, Emperor Alexander III. General M. K. Diterichs recalled that when the sick Tsarevich Alexei needed to get somewhere, and he himself was unable to walk, he called: “Masha, carry me!”
They remember that little Mary was especially attached to her father. As soon as she started walking, she constantly tried to sneak out of the nursery with a cry of “I want to go to daddy!” The nanny had to almost lock her up so that the baby would not interrupt the next reception or work with the ministers.
Like the rest of the sisters, Maria loved animals, she had a Siamese kitten, then she was given a white mouse, which settled comfortably in the sisters' room.
According to the recollections of the surviving close associates, the Red Army soldiers guarding the Ipatiev house sometimes showed tactlessness and rudeness towards the prisoners. However, here, too, Maria managed to inspire respect for the guards; so, there are stories about the case when the guards, in the presence of two sisters, allowed themselves to let off a couple of greasy jokes, after which Tatyana “white as death” jumped out, Maria scolded the soldiers in a stern voice, stating that in this way they could only arouse hostility relation. Here, in the Ipatiev house, Maria celebrated her 19th birthday.
Anastasia
Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, the program included French, English and German languages, history, geography, the Law of God, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dance and music. Anastasia did not differ in diligence in her studies, she could not stand grammar, she wrote with terrifying mistakes, and called arithmetic with childish immediacy "swinishness". English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that once she tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to increase her grade, and after he refused, she gave these flowers to a Russian teacher, Pyotr Vasilyevich Petrov.
During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia, being too young for such hard work, became patronesses of the hospital. Both sisters gave their own money to buy medicines, read aloud to the wounded, knitted things for them, played cards and checkers, wrote letters home under their dictation and entertained them with telephone conversations in the evenings, sewed linen, prepared bandages and lint.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Anastasia was small and dense, with blond hair with a redhead, with large blue eyes inherited from the father.
The figure of Anastasia was quite dense, like her sister Maria. She inherited wide hips, a slender waist and a good bust from her mother. Anastasia was short, strongly built, but at the same time seemed somewhat airy. Her face and physique were rustic, yielding to the stately Olga and the fragile Tatyana. Anastasia was the only one who inherited the shape of her face from her father - slightly elongated, with protruding cheekbones and a wide forehead. She was very much like her father. Big facial features - big eyes, large nose, soft lips made Anastasia look like a young Maria Fedorovna - her grandmother.
The girl was distinguished by a light and cheerful character, she loved to play bast shoes, forfeits, in serso, she could tirelessly rush around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She easily climbed trees and often, out of sheer mischief, refused to descend to the ground. She was inexhaustible in inventions. With her light hand, it became fashionable to weave flowers and ribbons into her hair, which little Anastasia was very proud of. She was inseparable from her older sister Maria, adored her brother and could entertain him for hours when another illness put Alexei to bed. Anna Vyrubova recalled that "Anastasia was as if made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood."
On July 30 (August 12), 1904, the fifth child and the only, long-awaited son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich, appeared in Peterhof. The royal couple attended the glorification of Seraphim of Sarov on July 18, 1903 in Sarov, where the emperor and empress prayed for the granting of an heir. Named at birth Alexey- in honor of St. Alexis of Moscow. On the mother's side, Alexei inherited hemophilia, which was carried by some of the daughters and granddaughters of the English Queen Victoria. The disease became apparent in the Tsarevich already in the autumn of 1904, when a two-month-old baby began to bleed heavily. In 1912, while resting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the Tsarevich unsuccessfully jumped into a boat and severely injured his thigh: the hematoma that arose did not resolve for a long time, the child’s health was very difficult, and bulletins were officially published about him. There was a real threat of death.
The appearance of Alexei combined the best features of his father and mother. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Alexei was a handsome boy, with a clean, open face.
His character was complaisant, he adored his parents and sisters, and those souls doted on the young Tsarevich, especially the Grand Duchess Maria. Aleksey was capable in studies, like the sisters, he made progress in learning languages. From the memoirs of N.A. Sokolov, author of the book "The Murder of the Royal Family: “The heir to Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich was a boy of 14 years old, smart, observant, receptive, affectionate, cheerful. He was lazy and did not particularly like books. He combined the features of his father and mother: he inherited the simplicity of his father, was alien to arrogance, arrogance, but had his own will and obeyed only his father. His mother wanted to, but could not be strict with him. His teacher Bitner says of him: "He had a great will and would never submit to any woman." He was very disciplined, withdrawn and very patient. Undoubtedly, the disease left its mark on him and developed these traits in him. He did not like court etiquette, he liked to be with the soldiers and learned their language, using in his diary purely folk expressions he had overheard. His stinginess reminded him of his mother: he did not like to spend his money and collected various abandoned things: nails, lead paper, ropes, etc. ”
The Tsarevich loved his army very much and was in awe of the Russian warrior, respect for whom was passed on to him from his father and from all his sovereign ancestors, who always taught him to love a simple soldier. The prince's favorite food was "shchi and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat," as he always said. Every day they brought him samples of cabbage soup and porridge from the soldiers' kitchen of the Free Regiment; Alexey ate everything and licked the spoon, saying: “This is delicious, not like our lunch.”
During the First World War, Alexei, who was the chief of several regiments and chieftain of all Cossack troops, visited the active army with his father, awarded distinguished fighters. He was awarded the silver St. George medal of the 4th degree.
The life of the family was not luxurious for the purpose of education - the parents were afraid that wealth and bliss would spoil the character of the children. The imperial daughters lived two by two in a room - on one side of the corridor there was a "big couple" (eldest daughters Olga and Tatiana), on the other - a "small" couple (younger daughters Maria and Anastasia).
Family of Nicholas II
In the younger sisters' room, the walls were painted in grey colour, the ceiling is painted with butterflies, the furniture is designed in white and green tones, simple and artless. The girls slept on folding army beds, each labeled with the owner's name, under thick blue monogrammed blankets. This tradition came from the time of Catherine the Great (she introduced such an order for the first time for her grandson Alexander). The beds could easily be moved to be closer to warmth in winter, or even in my brother's room, next to the Christmas tree, and closer to summer in summer. open windows. Here, everyone had a small bedside table and sofas with small embroidered little thoughts. The walls were decorated with icons and photographs; the girls loved to take pictures themselves - a huge number of pictures have still been preserved, taken mainly in the Livadia Palace - a favorite vacation spot for the family. Parents tried to keep the children constantly busy with something useful, girls were taught to needlework.
As in simple poor families, the younger ones often had to wear out the things that the older ones grew out of. They also relied on pocket money, which could be used to buy each other small gifts.
The education of children usually began when they reached the age of 8. The first subjects were reading, calligraphy, arithmetic, the Law of God. Later, languages \u200b\u200bare added to this - Russian, English, French, and even later - German. Dancing, playing the piano, good manners, natural sciences and grammar were also taught to the imperial daughters.
Imperial daughters were ordered to get up at 8 o'clock in the morning, take a cold bath. Breakfast at 9 o'clock, second breakfast - at one or half past one on Sundays. At 5 pm - tea, at 8 - common dinner.
Everyone who knew family life emperor, noted the amazing simplicity, mutual love and consent of all family members. Aleksey Nikolayevich was its center; all attachments, all hopes were concentrated on him. In relation to the mother, the children were full of respect and courtesy. When the empress was unwell, the daughters arranged alternate duty with their mother, and the one who was on duty that day remained hopelessly with her. The relationship of the children with the sovereign was touching - for them he was at the same time king, father and comrade; their feelings for their father went from almost religious worship to complete gullibility and the most cordial friendship. A very important memory of the spiritual state of the royal family was left by the priest Afanasy Belyaev, who confessed the children before their departure to Tobolsk: “The impression from the confession turned out like this: grant, Lord, that all children be morally as high as the children of the former king. Such kindness, humility, obedience to parental will, unconditional devotion to the will of God, purity in thoughts and complete ignorance of earthly dirt - passionate and sinful - led me to amazement, and I was decidedly perplexed: should I, as a confessor, be reminded of sins, maybe they unknown, and how to dispose to repentance for the sins known to me.
A circumstance that constantly darkened the life of the imperial family was the incurable illness of the heir. Frequent attacks of hemophilia, during which the child experienced severe suffering, made everyone suffer, especially the mother. But the nature of the disease was a state secret, and parents often had to hide their feelings while participating in the normal routine of palace life. The Empress was well aware that medicine was powerless here. But, being a deep believer, she indulged in fervent prayer in anticipation of a miraculous healing. She was ready to believe anyone who was able to help her grief, somehow alleviate the suffering of her son: the illness of the Tsarevich opened the doors to the palace to those people who were recommended to the royal family as healers and prayer books. Among them, the peasant Grigory Rasputin appears in the palace, who was destined to play his role in the life of the royal family and in the fate of the whole country - but he had no right to claim this role.
Rasputin was presented as a kind holy old man helping Alexei. Under the influence of their mother, all four girls had complete confidence in him and shared all their simple secrets. Rasputin's friendship with the imperial children was evident from their correspondence. Those who sincerely loved the royal family tried to somehow limit the influence of Rasputin, but the empress resisted this very much, since the “holy old man” somehow knew how to alleviate the plight of Tsarevich Alexei.
Russia was at that time at the pinnacle of glory and power: industry developed at an unprecedented pace, the army and navy became more and more powerful, and agrarian reform was successfully implemented. It seemed that all internal problems would be safely resolved in the near future.
But this was not destined to come true: the First World War. Using as a pretext the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a terrorist, Austria attacked Serbia. Emperor Nicholas II considered it his Christian duty to stand up for the Orthodox Serbian brothers...
On July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, which soon became a pan-European one. In August 1914, Russia launched a hasty offensive in East Prussia to help its ally France, which led to a heavy defeat. By autumn, it became clear that the near end of the war was not in sight. But with the outbreak of war, internal disagreements subsided in the country. Even the most difficult issues became solvable - it was possible to implement a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages for the entire duration of the war. The sovereign regularly travels to Headquarters, visits the army, dressing stations, military hospitals, rear factories. The Empress, having taken courses as sisters of mercy, along with her eldest daughters Olga and Tatyana, looked after the wounded in her Tsarskoye Selo infirmary for several hours a day.
On August 22, 1915, Nicholas II left for Mogilev to take command of all the armed forces of Russia and from that day on he was constantly at Headquarters, often with him was the heir. About once a month he came to Tsarskoe Selo for a few days. All responsible decisions were made by him, but at the same time he instructed the empress to maintain relations with the ministers and keep him informed of what was happening in the capital. She was the closest person to him, whom he could always rely on. Every day she sent detailed letters-reports to Headquarters, which was well known to the ministers.
The tsar spent January and February 1917 in Tsarskoye Selo. He felt that the political situation was becoming more and more tense, but he continued to hope that the feeling of patriotism would still prevail, he maintained faith in the army, whose situation had improved significantly. This raised hopes for the success of the great spring offensive, which would deal a decisive blow to Germany. But this was well understood by the forces hostile to him.
Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei
On February 22, Emperor Nicholas left for Headquarters - at that moment the opposition managed to sow panic in the capital because of the impending famine. The next day, unrest began in Petrograd, caused by interruptions in the supply of grain, they soon developed into a strike under the political slogans "Down with the war", "Down with the autocracy." Attempts to disperse the demonstrators were unsuccessful. In the meantime, there were debates in the Duma with sharp criticism of the government - but first of all, these were attacks against the emperor. On February 25, a message was received at Headquarters about unrest in the capital. Having learned about the state of affairs, Nicholas II sends troops to Petrograd to maintain order, and then he himself goes to Tsarskoye Selo. His decision was obviously caused by the desire to be at the center of events to make quick decisions if necessary, and anxiety for the family. This departure from Headquarters turned out to be fatal.. For 150 miles from Petrograd, the royal train was stopped - the next station, Lyuban, was in the hands of the rebels. I had to follow through the Dno station, but even here the path was closed. On the evening of March 1, the emperor arrived in Pskov, at the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front, General N. V. Ruzsky.
In the capital came complete anarchy. But Nicholas II and the army command believed that the Duma was in control of the situation; in telephone conversations with the chairman of the State Duma, M. V. Rodzianko, the emperor agreed to all concessions if the Duma could restore order in the country. The answer was: it's too late. Was it really so? After all, only Petrograd and its environs were embraced by the revolution, and the tsar's authority among the people and in the army was still great. The answer of the Duma confronted him with a choice: renunciation or an attempt to go to Petrograd with troops loyal to him - the latter meant a civil war, while the external enemy was within Russian borders.
Everyone around the king also convinced him that renunciation was the only way out. This was especially insisted on by the commanders of the fronts, whose demands were supported by the Chief of the General Staff, M. V. Alekseev. And after long and painful reflections, the emperor made a hard-won decision: to abdicate both for himself and for the heir, in view of his incurable illness, in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. On March 8, the commissars of the Provisional Government, having arrived in Mogilev, announced through General Alekseev that the emperor had been arrested and that he had to proceed to Tsarskoye Selo. For the last time, he turned to his troops, calling on them to be loyal to the Provisional Government, the very one that arrested him, to fulfill their duty to the Motherland until complete victory. The farewell order to the troops, which expressed the nobility of the emperor's soul, his love for the army, faith in it, was hidden from the people by the Provisional Government, which banned its publication.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, following their mother, all the sisters sobbed bitterly on the day the First World War was declared. During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia became patronesses of the hospital and helped the wounded: they read to them, wrote letters to their relatives, gave their personal money to buy medicines, gave concerts to the wounded and did their best to distract them from their heavy thoughts. They spent their days in the hospital, reluctantly breaking away from work for the sake of lessons.
In the life of Emperor Nicholas II there were two periods of unequal duration and spiritual significance - the time of his reign and the time of his imprisonment.
Nicholas II after abdication
From the moment of renunciation, the inner spiritual state of the emperor attracts the most attention. It seemed to him that he made the only right decision, but, nevertheless, he experienced severe mental anguish. “If I am an obstacle to the happiness of Russia and all the social forces now at the head of it ask me to leave the throne and pass it on to my son and brother, then I am ready to do this, I am ready not only to give my kingdom, but also to give my life for the Motherland. I think no one doubts this from those who know me,- he said to General D.N. Dubensky.
On the very day of his abdication, March 2, the same general recorded the words of the Minister of the Imperial Court, Count V. B. Frederiks: “ The sovereign is deeply sad that he is considered an obstacle to the happiness of Russia, that they found it necessary to ask him to leave the throne. He was worried about the thought of a family that remained alone in Tsarskoye Selo, the children were sick. The sovereign suffers terribly, but he is such a person who will never show his grief in public. Nikolai is also restrained in his personal diary. Only at the very end of the entry for that day does his inner feeling break through: “You need my renunciation. The bottom line is that in the name of saving Russia and keeping the army at the front in peace, you need to decide on this step. I agreed. A draft Manifesto was sent from Headquarters. In the evening, Guchkov and Shulgin arrived from Petrograd, with whom I spoke and handed them the signed and revised Manifesto. At one o'clock in the morning I left Pskov with a heavy feeling of what I had experienced. Around treason and cowardice and deceit!
The Provisional Government announced the arrest of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife and their detention in Tsarskoye Selo. Their arrest did not have the slightest legal basis or reason.
According to the memoirs of Yulia Alexandrovna von Den, a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one by one. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoye Selo palace was already surrounded by the insurgent troops. The tsar was at that time at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief in Mogilev, only the empress with her children remained in the palace.
At 9 o'clock on March 2, 1917, they learned about the abdication of the king. On March 8, Count Pave Benckendorff announced that the Provisional Government had decided to subject the imperial family to house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. It was proposed to draw up a list of people wishing to stay with them. And on March 9, the children were informed about the father's abdication.
Nicholas returned a few days later. Life under house arrest began.
Despite everything, the education of children continued. The whole process was led by Gilliard, a teacher of French; Nicholas himself taught the children geography and history; Baroness Buxhoeveden taught English and music lessons; Mademoiselle Schneider taught arithmetic; Countess Gendrikova - drawing; Dr. Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin - Russian; Alexandra Feodorovna - The Law of God. The eldest, Olga, despite the fact that her education was completed, often attended classes and read a lot, improving in what had already been learned.
At this time, there was still hope for the family of Nicholas II to go abroad; but George V decided not to risk it and preferred to sacrifice the royal family. The provisional government appointed a commission to investigate the activities of the emperor, but, despite all efforts to find at least something discrediting the king, nothing was found. When his innocence was proved and it became obvious that there was no crime behind him, the Provisional Government, instead of releasing the sovereign and his wife, decided to remove the prisoners from Tsarskoye Selo: send the family of the former tsar to Tobolsk. On the last day before departure, they had time to say goodbye to the servants, to visit their favorite places in the park, ponds, islands for the last time. On August 1, 1917, a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed in the strictest confidence from the siding.
Nikolai Romanov with his daughters Olga, Anastasia and Tatyana in Tobolsk in the winter of 1917
On August 26, 1917, the imperial family arrived in Tobolsk on the ship "Rus". The house was not yet completely ready for them, so they spent the first eight days on the ship. Then, under escort, the imperial family was taken to the two-story governor's mansion, where they were to live from now on. The girls were given a corner bedroom on the second floor, where they were placed on the same army bunks brought from home.
But life went on at a measured pace and strictly subject to the discipline of the family: from 9.00 to 11.00 - lessons. Then an hour break for a walk with his father. Again lessons from 12.00 to 13.00. Dinner. From 14.00 to 16.00 walks and simple entertainment like home performances or skiing from a slide built by oneself. Anastasia enthusiastically harvested firewood and sewed. Further on the schedule followed the evening service and going to bed.
In September, they were allowed to go out to the nearest church for the morning service: the soldiers formed a living corridor right up to the very church doors. The attitude of local residents to the royal family was benevolent. The emperor followed with alarm the events taking place in Russia. He understood that the country was rapidly heading towards destruction. Kornilov invited Kerensky to send troops to Petrograd in order to put an end to the Bolshevik agitation, which was becoming more and more threatening from day to day, but the Provisional Government also rejected this last attempt to save the Motherland. The king was well aware that this was the only way to avoid imminent disaster. He repents of his renunciation. “After all, he made this decision only in the hope that those who wanted him removed would still be able to continue the war with honor and not ruin the cause of saving Russia. He was then afraid that his refusal to sign the renunciation would lead to civil war in the sight of the enemy. The tsar did not want even a drop of Russian blood to be shed because of him ... It was painful for the emperor to now see the futility of his sacrifice and realize that, having in mind then only the good of the motherland, he harmed her by his renunciation, ”- recalls P. Gilliard, a teacher of children.
Nicholas II
In March, it became known that a separate peace was concluded with Germany in Brest. . "This is such a shame for Russia and it is" tantamount to suicide”, - the emperor gave such an assessment of this event. When a rumor spread that the Germans were demanding that the Bolsheviks hand over the royal family to them, the empress said: “I would rather die in Russia than be saved by the Germans”. The first Bolshevik detachment arrived in Tobolsk on Tuesday 22 April. Commissar Yakovlev inspects the house, gets acquainted with the prisoners. A few days later, he announces that he must take the emperor away, assuring him that nothing bad will happen to him. Assuming that they wanted to send him to Moscow to sign a separate peace with Germany, the emperor, who under no circumstances left his high spiritual nobility, firmly said: “ I'd rather have my hand cut off than sign this shameful treaty."
The heir at that time was sick, and it was impossible to take him. Despite fear for her sick son, the empress decides to follow her husband; Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna also went with them. Only on May 7, family members who remained in Tobolsk received news from Yekaterinburg: the emperor, empress and Maria Nikolaevna were imprisoned in the Ipatiev house. When the prince's health improved, the rest of the family members from Tobolsk were also taken to Yekaterinburg and imprisoned in the same house, but most of the people close to the family were not allowed to see them.
There is little evidence of the Yekaterinburg period of imprisonment of the royal family. Almost no letters. Basically, this period is known only from brief entries in the diary of the emperor and the testimony of witnesses in the case of the murder of the royal family.
Living conditions at home special purpose were much harder than in Tobolsk. The guard consisted of 12 soldiers who lived here and ate with them at the same table. Commissar Avdeev, an inveterate drunkard, daily humiliated the royal family. I had to put up with hardships, endure bullying and obey. The royal couple and daughters slept on the floor, without beds. At dinner, a family of seven was given only five spoons; the guards sitting at the same table smoked, blowing smoke into the faces of the prisoners ...
A walk in the garden was allowed once a day, at first for 15-20 minutes, and then no more than five. Only doctor Evgeny Botkin remained near the royal family, who surrounded the prisoners with care and acted as an intermediary between them and the commissars, protecting them from the rudeness of the guards. A few faithful servants remained: Anna Demidova, I. S. Kharitonov, A. E. Trupp and the boy Lenya Sednev.
All the prisoners understood the possibility of an early end. Once, Tsarevich Alexei said: “If they kill, if only they don’t torture ...” Almost in complete isolation, they showed nobility and fortitude. In one of her letters, Olga Nikolaevna says: The father asks to convey to all those who remained devoted to him, and to those on whom they can have influence, so that they do not avenge him, since he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and that they do not avenge themselves, and that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will overcome evil, but only love.
Even the rude guards gradually softened - they were surprised by the simplicity of all members of the royal family, their dignity, even Commissar Avdeev softened. Therefore, he was replaced by Yurovsky, and the guards were replaced by Austro-German prisoners and selected people from among the executioners of the "emergency". The life of the inhabitants of the Ipatiev House turned into a continuous martyrdom. But preparations for the execution were made in secret from the prisoners.
On the night of July 16-17, around the beginning of the third, Yurovsky woke up the royal family and spoke of the need to move to a safe place. When everyone was dressed and gathered, Yurovsky led them to a basement room with one barred window. All were outwardly calm. The sovereign carried Alexei Nikolaevich in his arms, the rest had pillows and other small things in their hands. In the room where they were brought, the empress and Alexei Nikolaevich sat on chairs. The sovereign stood in the center next to the prince. The rest of the family and servants were in different parts room, while the killers were waiting for a signal. Yurovsky approached the emperor and said: "Nikolai Alexandrovich, by order of the Ural Regional Council, you and your family will be shot." These words were unexpected for the king, he turned towards the family, stretched out his hands to them and said: “What? What?" The empress and Olga Nikolaevna wanted to cross themselves, but at that moment Yurovsky shot the tsar from a revolver almost point-blank several times, and he immediately fell. Almost simultaneously, everyone else began to shoot - everyone knew their victim in advance.
Those already lying on the floor were finished off with shots and bayonets. When it was all over, Alexei Nikolaevich suddenly groaned weakly - they shot at him several more times. Eleven bodies lay on the floor in streams of blood. After making sure that their victims were dead, the killers began to remove jewelry from them. Then the dead were carried out into the yard, where a truck was already standing ready - the noise of its engine was supposed to drown out the shots in the basement. Even before sunrise, the bodies were taken to the forest in the vicinity of the village of Koptyaki. For three days, the killers tried to hide their atrocity...
Together with the imperial family, their servants who followed them into exile were also shot: Dr. E. S. Botkin, room girl Empress A. S. Demidova, court cook I. M. Kharitonov and lackey A. E. Trupp. In addition, Adjutant General I. L. Tatishchev, Marshal Prince V. A. Dolgorukov, the “uncle” of the heir K. G. Nagorny, the children’s lackey I. D. Sednev, the maid of honor were killed in various places and in different months of 1918 Empress A. V. Gendrikova and Goflektress E. A. Schneider.
Temple-on-the-Blood in Yekaterinburg - built on the site of the house of engineer Ipatiev, where Nicholas II and his family were shot on July 17, 1918
"The world will never know what we did to them," boasted one of the executioners, Petr Voikov. But it turned out differently. Over the next 100 years, the truth found its way, and today a majestic temple has been built on the site of the murder.
About the reasons and main actors murders of the royal family tells Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Lavrov.
Maria Pozdnyakova,« AiF”: It is known that the Bolsheviks were going to hold a trial of Nicholas II, but then abandoned this idea. Why?
Vladimir Lavrov: Indeed, the Soviet government, headed by Lenin in January 1918 announced that the trial of the former emperor Nicholas II will. It was assumed that the main charge would be Bloody Sunday - January 9, 1905. However, Lenin in the end could not help but realize that this tragedy did not guarantee a death sentence. Firstly, Nicholas II did not order the execution of workers, he was not in St. Petersburg at all that day. And secondly, by that time the Bolsheviks themselves had stained themselves with “Bloody Friday”: on January 5, 1918, thousands of peaceful demonstrations in support of the Constituent Assembly were shot in Petrograd. Moreover, they were shot at the same places where people died on Bloody Sunday. How then to throw in the face of the king that he is bloody? And Lenin with Dzerzhinsky then what?
But let's assume that any head of state can find fault. But what is the fault Alexandra Fedorovna? Is that the wife? And why judge the children of the sovereign? Women and a teenager would have to be released from custody right there, in the courtroom, recognizing that the Soviet government repressed the innocent.
In March 1918, the Bolsheviks concluded a separate Brest Peace with the German aggressors. The Bolsheviks gave Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, pledged to demobilize the army and navy and pay an indemnity in gold. Nicholas II at a public trial after such a peace could turn from an accused into an accuser, qualifying the actions of the Bolsheviks themselves as treason. In a word, Lenin did not dare to sue Nicholas II.
Izvestia of July 19, 1918 opened with this publication. Photo: Public Domain
- In Soviet times, the execution of the royal family was presented as an initiative of the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviks. But who is really responsible for this crime?
— In the 1960s. former bodyguard of Lenin Akimov said that he personally sent a telegram from Vladimir Ilyich to Yekaterinburg with a direct order to shoot the tsar. This testimony confirmed the memories Yurovsky, commandant of the Ipatiev House, and the head of his security Ermakova, who previously admitted that they had received a firing telegram from Moscow.
Also revealed was the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) of May 19, 1918 with the order Yakov Sverdlov deal with the work of Nicholas II. Therefore, the tsar and his family were sent specifically to Yekaterinburg, Sverdlov's fiefdom, where all his friends from underground work in pre-revolutionary Russia were. On the eve of the massacre, one of the leaders of the Yekaterinburg communists Goloshchekin came to Moscow, lived in Sverdlov's apartment, received instructions from him.
The day after the massacre, on July 18, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee announced that Nicholas II had been shot, and his wife and children had been evacuated to a safe place. That is, Sverdlov and Lenin deceived the Soviet people, declaring that their spouse and children were alive. They deceived because they perfectly understood: in the eyes of the public, killing innocent women and a 13-year-old boy is a terrible crime.
- There is a version that the family was killed because of the offensive of the whites. Like, the Whites could return the Romanovs to the throne.
- None of the leaders of the white movement was going to restore the monarchy in Russia. In addition, the offensive of the whites was not lightning fast. The Bolsheviks themselves perfectly evacuated themselves and seized property. So it was not difficult to take out the royal family.
The real reason for the destruction of the family of Nicholas II is different: they were a living symbol of the great thousand-year-old Orthodox Russia, which Lenin hated. In addition, in June-July 1918, a large-scale Civil War broke out in the country. Lenin had to rally his party. The murder of the royal family was a demonstration that the Rubicon had been passed: either we win at any cost, or we will have to answer for everything.
- Did the royal family have a chance for salvation?
“Yes, if their English relatives had not betrayed them. In March 1917, when the family of Nicholas II was under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government Milyukov offered the option of her going to the UK. Nicholas II agreed to leave. BUT George V, the English king and at the same time cousin of Nicholas II, agreed to accept the Romanov family. But a few days later, George V took his royal word back. Although in letters George V swore to Nicholas II in his friendship until the end of days! The British betrayed not just the king of a foreign power - they betrayed their close relatives, Alexandra Fedorovna - the beloved granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria. But George V, also a grandson of Victoria, obviously did not want Nicholas II to remain a living center of attraction for Russian patriotic forces. The revival of a strong Russia was not in the interests of Great Britain. And the family of Nicholas II had no other options to escape.
- Did the royal family understand that its days were numbered?
- Yes. Even the children knew that death was coming. Alexei once said: “If they kill, then at least they don’t torture.” As if he had a presentiment that death at the hands of the Bolsheviks would be painful. But even in the revelations of the killers, not the whole truth is told. No wonder the regicide Voikov said: "The world will never know what we did to them."
It would seem difficult to find new evidence of the terrible events that took place on the night of July 16-17, 1918. Even people far from the ideas of monarchism remember that this night was fatal for the Romanov royal family. That night, Nicholas II, who abdicated the throne, the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children - 14-year-old Alexei, Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia, were shot.
Their fate was shared by the doctor E.S. Botkin, the maid A. Demidova, the cook Kharitonov and the footman. But from time to time there are witnesses who, after long years of silence, report new details of the murder of the royal family.
Many books have been written about the execution of the Romanov royal family. To this day, discussions do not cease about whether the murder of the Romanovs was planned in advance and whether it was part of Lenin's plans. And in our time there are people who believe that at least the children of Nicholas II were able to escape from the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.
The accusation of the murder of the royal family of the Romanovs was an excellent trump card against the Bolsheviks, gave grounds to accuse them of inhumanity. Is this why most of the documents and testimonies that tell about the last days of the Romanovs appeared and continue to appear precisely in Western countries? But some researchers believe that the crime that Bolshevik Russia was accused of was not committed at all ...
From the very beginning, there were many secrets in the investigation into the circumstances of the execution of the Romanovs. In relatively hot pursuit, two investigators were engaged in it. The first investigation began a week after the alleged murder. The investigator came to the conclusion that the emperor was actually executed on the night of July 16-17, but the former queen, her son and four daughters were saved. At the beginning of 1919 a new investigation was carried out. It was headed by Nikolai Sokolov. Was he able to find indisputable evidence that the entire Romanov family was killed in Yekaterinburg? Hard to say…
While inspecting the mine where the bodies of the royal family were dumped, he found several things that for some reason did not catch the eye of his predecessor: a miniature pin that the prince used as a fishing hook, gems, which were sewn into the belts of the Grand Duchesses, and the skeleton of a tiny dog, probably the favorite of Princess Tatyana. If we recall the circumstances of the death of the royal family, it is difficult to imagine that the corpse of a dog was also transported from place to place in order to hide ... Sokolov did not find human remains, except for several fragments of bones and a severed finger of a middle-aged woman, presumably the empress.
1919 - Sokolov fled abroad, to Europe. But the results of his investigation were published only in 1924. Quite a long time, especially if you take into account the many emigrants who were interested in the fate of the Romanovs. According to Sokolov, all the Romanovs were killed on the fateful night. True, he was not the first to suggest that the Empress and her children could not escape. Back in 1921, this version was published by the chairman of the Yekaterinburg Soviet, Pavel Bykov. It would seem that one could forget about the hopes that one of the Romanovs survived. But both in Europe and in Russia, numerous impostors and impostors constantly appeared, who declared themselves the children of the emperor. So, were there any doubts?
The first argument of the supporters of the revision of the version of the death of the entire Romanov family was the Bolshevik announcement of the execution of Nicholas II, which was made on July 19. It said that only the tsar was executed, and Alexandra Feodorovna and her children were sent to a safe place. The second is that it was more profitable for the Bolsheviks at that time to exchange Alexandra Fedorovna for political prisoners held in German captivity. There were rumors about negotiations on this subject. Shortly after the death of the emperor, Sir Charles Eliot, the British consul in Siberia, visited Yekaterinburg. He met with the first investigator in the Romanov case, after which he informed his superiors that, in his opinion, the former tsarina and her children left Yekaterinburg by train on 17 July.
Almost at the same time, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, Alexandra's brother, allegedly informed his second sister, the Marchioness of Milford Haven, that Alexandra was safe. Of course, he could simply comfort his sister, who could not help but hear rumors about the massacre of the Romanovs. If Alexandra and her children were actually exchanged for political prisoners (Germany would willingly take this step in order to save her princess), all the newspapers of both the Old and New Worlds would trumpet about it. This would mean that the dynasty, connected by blood ties with many of the oldest monarchies in Europe, did not break off. But no articles followed, because the version that the entire royal family was killed was recognized as official.
In the early 1970s, British journalists Anthony Summers and Tom Menshld got acquainted with the official documents of the Sokolov investigation. And they found many inaccuracies and shortcomings in them that cast doubt on this version. Firstly, the encrypted telegram about the execution of the entire royal family, sent to Moscow on July 17, appeared in the file only in January 1919, after the removal of the first investigator. Second, the bodies still haven't been found. And to judge the death of the Empress by a single fragment of the body - a severed finger - was not entirely correct.
1988 - it would seem that irrefutable evidence of the death of the emperor, his wife and children appeared. The former investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, screenwriter Geliy Ryabov, received a secret report from his son Yakov Yurovsky (one of the main participants in the execution). It contained detailed information about where the remains of members of the royal family were hidden. Ryabov began to search. He managed to find greenish-black bones with traces of burns left by acid. 1988 - he published a report on his find. 1991, July - Russian professional archaeologists arrived at the place where the remains, presumably belonging to the Romanovs, were found.
9 skeletons were removed from the ground. 4 of them belonged to Nikolai's servants and their family doctor. 5 more - to the king, his wife and children. Establishing the identity of the remains was not easy. First, the skulls were compared with surviving photographs of members of the imperial family. One of them was identified as the skull of the emperor. was held later comparative analysis DNA fingerprints. This required the blood of a person who was related to the deceased. The blood sample was provided by Britain's Prince Philip. His maternal grandmother was the sister of the Empress's grandmother.
The result of the analysis showed a complete match of DNA in four skeletons, which gave grounds to officially recognize the remains of Alexandra and her three daughters in them. The bodies of the Tsarevich and Anastasia were not found. On this occasion, two hypotheses were put forward: either two descendants of the Romanov family still managed to stay alive, or their bodies were burned. It seems that Sokolov was still right, and his report turned out to be not a provocation, but a real coverage of the facts ...
1998 - the remains of the Romanov family were transported with honors to St. Petersburg and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. True, there were immediately skeptics who were sure that the remains of completely different people were in the cathedral.
2006 - another DNA test was carried out. This time, samples of skeletons found in the Urals were compared with fragments of the relics of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. A series of studies was carried out by L. Zhivotovsky, Doctor of Science, an employee of the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was assisted by American colleagues. The results of this analysis were a complete surprise: the DNA of Elizabeth and the alleged empress did not match. The first thought that came to the mind of the researchers was that the relics stored in the cathedral did not actually belong to Elizabeth, but to someone else. However, this version had to be excluded: the body of Elizabeth was discovered in a mine near Alapaevsky in the autumn of 1918, she was identified by people who were closely acquainted with her, including the confessor of the Grand Duchess, Father Seraphim.
This priest subsequently accompanied the coffin with the body of his spiritual daughter to Jerusalem and would not allow any substitution. This meant that, in the extreme case, one body no longer belonged to members of the Romanov family. Later, doubts arose about the identity of the rest of the remains. On the skull, which was previously identified as the skull of the emperor, there was no callus, which could not disappear even after so many years after death. This mark appeared on the skull of Nicholas II after the assassination attempt on him in Japan. In Yurovsky's protocol it was said that the tsar was killed by a shot at point-blank range, while the executioner shot in the head. Even if we take into account the imperfection of the weapon, at least one bullet hole must have remained in the skull. However, it does not have both inlet and outlet holes.
It is possible that the 1993 reports were fake. Need to find the remains of the royal family? Please, here they are. Conduct an examination to prove their authenticity? Here is the test result! In the 1990s, there were all conditions for myth-making. No wonder the Russian was so cautious Orthodox Church, not wanting to recognize the discovered bones and rank the emperor and his family among the martyrs ...
Again, talk began that the Romanovs were not killed, but hidden in order to be used in some kind of political game in the future. Could Nikolai live in the Soviet Union under a false name with his family? On the one hand, this possibility cannot be ruled out. The country is huge, there are many corners in it in which no one would recognize Nicholas. The Romanov family could also be settled in some kind of shelter, where they would be completely isolated from contacts with the outside world, and therefore not dangerous.
On the other hand, even if the remains found near Yekaterinburg are the result of falsification, this does not mean at all that there was no execution. They have been able to destroy the bodies of dead enemies and dispel their ashes since time immemorial. To burn a human body, 300–400 kg of wood are needed - in India, thousands of the dead are buried every day using the burning method. So couldn't the killers, who had an unlimited supply of firewood and a fair amount of acid, cover all traces? Relatively recently, in the fall of 2010, during work in the vicinity of the Old Koptyakovskaya road in the Sverdlovsk region. discovered the places where the killers hid jugs of acid. If there was no execution, where did they come from in the Ural wilderness?
Attempts to restore the events that preceded the execution were carried out repeatedly. As you know, after the abdication, the royal family was settled in the Alexander Palace, in August they were transferred to Tobolsk, and later to Yekaterinburg, to the infamous Ipatiev House.
Aviation engineer Petr Duz in the fall of 1941 was sent to Sverdlovsk. One of his duties in the rear was the publication of textbooks and manuals to supply the country's military universities. Familiarizing himself with the property of the publishing house, Duz ended up in the Ipatiev House, in which several nuns and two elderly female archivists lived at that time. When inspecting the premises, Duz, accompanied by one of the women, went down to the basement and drew attention to strange furrows on the ceiling, which ended in deep depressions ...
At work, Peter often visited the Ipatiev House. Apparently, the elderly employees felt trust in him, because one evening they showed him a small closet, in which a white glove, a lady's fan, a ring, several buttons of various sizes lay right on the wall, on rusty nails ... On the chair lay a small Bible in French and a couple of old-fashioned books. According to one of the women, all these things once belonged to members of the royal family.
She also spoke about the last days of the life of the Romanovs, which, according to her, were unbearable. The Chekists who guarded the captives behaved incredibly rudely. All the windows in the house were boarded up. The Chekists explained that these measures were taken for security purposes, but Duzya's interlocutor was convinced that this was one of a thousand ways to humiliate the "former". It should be noted that the Chekists had grounds for concern. According to the memoirs of the archivist, the Ipatiev House was besieged every morning (!) by local residents and monks, who tried to pass notes to the tsar and his relatives, offering to help with household chores.
Of course, this does not justify the behavior of the Chekists, but any intelligence officer who is entrusted with the protection of an important person is simply obliged to limit his contacts with the outside world. But the behavior of the guards was not limited only to “not allowing” sympathizers to the members of the Romanov family. Many of their antics were simply outrageous. They took particular delight in shocking Nikolai's daughters. They wrote obscene words on the fence and the toilet located in the yard, tried to watch for the girls in the dark corridors. No one has mentioned such details yet. Therefore, Duz listened attentively to the story of the interlocutor. She also told a lot about the last minutes of the life of the imperial family.
The Romanovs were ordered to go down to the basement. The emperor asked to bring a chair for his wife. Then one of the guards left the room, and Yurovsky took out a revolver and began to line everyone up in one line. Most versions say that the executioners fired in volleys. But the inhabitants of the Ipatiev House recalled that the shots were chaotic.
Nicholas was killed immediately. But his wife and princesses were destined for a more difficult death. The fact is that diamonds were sewn into their corsets. In some places they were located in several layers. The bullets ricocheted off this layer and went into the ceiling. The execution dragged on. When the Grand Duchesses were already lying on the floor, they were considered dead. But when they began to lift one of them to load the body into the car, the princess groaned and stirred. Because the security officers began to finish off her and her sisters with bayonets.
After the execution, no one was allowed into the Ipatiev House for several days - apparently, attempts to destroy the bodies took a lot of time. A week later, the Chekists allowed several nuns to enter the house - the premises had to be put in order. Among them was Duzya's interlocutor. According to him, she recalled with horror the picture that had opened in the basement of the Ipatiev House. There were many bullet holes on the walls, and the floor and walls in the room where the execution was carried out were covered in blood.
Subsequently, experts from the Main State Center for Forensic and Forensic Expertise of the Russian Ministry of Defense restored the picture of the execution to the nearest minute and to the millimeter. Using a computer, based on the testimony of Grigory Nikulin and Anatoly Yakimov, they established where and at what moment the executioners and their victims were. Computer reconstruction showed that the Empress and the Grand Duchesses were trying to shield Nikolai from bullets.
Ballistic examination established many details: from which weapons the members of the imperial family were liquidated, how many shots were approximately fired. It took the Chekists at least 30 times to pull the trigger...
Every year, the chances of discovering the real remains of the Romanov royal family (if the Yekaterinburg skeletons are recognized as fake) are fading. This means that there is no hope of ever finding an exact answer to the questions: who died in the basement of the Ipatiev House, did any of the Romanovs manage to escape, and what was the fate of the heirs to the Russian throne...
Hundreds of books have been published about the tragedy of the family of Tsar Nicholas II in many languages of the world. These studies quite objectively present the events of July 1918 in Russia. Some of these writings I had to read, analyze and compare. However, there are many mysteries, inaccuracies, and even deliberate untruths.
Among the most reliable information are the protocols of interrogations and other documents of the Kolchak court investigator for especially important cases N.A. Sokolov. In July 1918, after the capture of Yekaterinburg by the White troops, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Siberia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak appointed N.A. Sokolov as the leader in the case of the execution of the royal family in this city.
ON THE. Sokolov
Sokolov worked for two years in Yekaterinburg, interrogated a large number of people involved in these events, tried to find the remains of the executed members of the royal family. After the capture of Yekaterinburg by the Red troops, Sokolov left Russia and in 1925 published the book "The Murder of the Imperial Family" in Berlin. He took all four copies of his materials with him.
The Central Party Archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where I worked as a leader, kept mostly original (first) copies of these materials (about a thousand pages). How they got into our archive is unknown. I have read all of them carefully.
For the first time, a detailed study of materials related to the circumstances of the execution of the royal family was carried out on the instructions of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1964.
In a detailed reference “on some circumstances related to the execution of the Romanov royal family” dated December 16, 1964 (CPA of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, fund 588 inventory 3C), all these problems are documented and objectively considered.
The certificate was written then by the head of the sector of the ideological department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev, an outstanding political figure Russia. Not being able to publish the entire reference mentioned above, I cite only some passages from it.
“In the archives, no official reports or resolutions have been found that precede the execution of the Romanov royal family. There is no indisputable data about the participants in the execution. In this regard, the materials published in the Soviet and foreign press, and some documents of the Soviet party and state archives were studied and compared. In addition, the stories of the former assistant commandant of the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg, where the royal family was kept, G.P. Nikulin and a former member of the collegium of the Ural Regional Cheka I.I. Radzinsky. These are the only surviving comrades who had something to do with the execution of the Romanov royal family. Based on the available documents and memoirs, often contradictory, one can draw up such a picture of the execution itself and the circumstances associated with this event. As you know, Nicholas II and members of his family were shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg. Documentary sources testify that Nicholas II and his family were executed by decision of the Ural Regional Council. In the protocol No. 1 of the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of July 18, 1918, we read: “We heard: The message about the execution of Nikolai Romanov (telegram from Yekaterinburg). Decided: After discussion, the following resolution is adopted: The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee recognizes the decision of the Ural Regional Council as correct. Instruct tt. Sverdlov, Sosnovsky and Avanesov to draw up an appropriate notice for the press. Publish about the documents available in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee - (diary, letters, etc.) of the former Tsar N. Romanov and instruct Comrade Sverdlov to form a special commission to analyze these papers and publish them. The original kept in the Central state archive, signed by Ya.M. Sverdlov. As V.P. Milyutin (People's Commissar for Agriculture of the RSFSR), on the same day, July 18, 1918, a regular meeting of the Council of People's Commissars was held in the Kremlin late in the evening ( Council of People's Commissars.— Ed.) chaired by V.I. Lenin. “During the report of Comrade Semashko, Ya.M. entered the meeting room. Sverdlov. He sat down on a chair behind Vladimir Ilyich. Semashko finished his report. Sverdlov went up, leaned over to Ilyich and said something. “Comrades, Sverdlov is asking for the floor for a message,” Lenin announced. “I must say,” Sverdlov began in his usual even tone, “a message has been received that in Yekaterinburg, by order of the regional Soviet, Nikolai was shot. Nicholas wanted to run. The Czechoslovaks advanced. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee decided: to approve. Silence of all. "Now let's move on to reading the project article by article," suggested Vladimir Ilyich. (Magazine "Projector", 1924, p. 10). This is a message from Ya.M. Sverdlov was recorded in the protocol No. 159 of the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars dated July 18, 1918: “We heard: An extraordinary statement by the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Sverdlov, on the execution of the former Tsar, Nicholas II, by the verdict of the Yekaterinburg Soviet of Deputies and on the approval of this verdict by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee. Resolved: Take note. The original of this protocol, signed by V.I. Lenin, is stored in the party archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. A few months before that, at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the issue of transferring the Romanov family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg was discussed. Ya.M. Sverdlov speaks about this on May 9, 1918: “I must tell you that the question of the position of the former tsar was raised by us in the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee back in November, at the beginning of December (1917) and has been repeatedly raised since then, but we have not accepted no decision, considering that it is necessary to first get exactly acquainted with how, under what conditions, how reliable protection is, how, in a word, is contained former king Nikolay Romanov. At the same meeting, Sverdlov reported to the members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee that at the very beginning of April the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee heard the report of the representative of the committee of the team guarding the tsar. “Based on this report, we came to the conclusion that it was impossible to leave Nikolai Romanov in Tobolsk ... The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the former Tsar Nikolai to a more reliable point. The center of the Urals, the city of Yekaterinburg, was chosen as such a more reliable point. The fact that the issue of transferring the family of Nicholas II was resolved with the participation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee is also said in their memoirs by the old communists from the Urals. Radzinsky said that the initiative for the transfer belonged to the Ural Regional Council, and "the Center did not object" (Tape recording of May 15, 1964). P.N. Bykov, a former member of the Ural Council, in his book “The Last Days of the Romanovs”, published in 1926 in Sverdlovsk, writes that in early March 1918, the regional military commissar I. Goloshchekin (party nickname “Philip” ). He was given permission to transfer the royal family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg.
Further, in the certificate “On some circumstances connected with the execution of the Romanov royal family,” the terrible details of the cruel execution of the royal family are given. It talks about how the corpses were destroyed. It is said that about half a pood of diamonds and jewelry were found in the sewn corsets and belts of the dead. In this article I would not like to discuss such inhuman acts.
For many years, the world press has been circulating the assertion that “the true course of events and the refutation of the “falsifications of Soviet historians” are contained in Trotsky’s diary entries, which were not intended for publication, therefore, they say, especially frank. They were prepared for publication and published by Yu.G. Felshtinsky in the collection: “Leo Trotsky. Diaries and Letters (Hermitage, USA, 1986).
I am quoting an excerpt from this book.
“April 9 (1935) The White Press once very heatedly debated the question, by whose decision the royal family was put to death. The liberals were inclined, as it were, to the fact that the Urals executive committee, cut off from Moscow, acted independently. This is not true. The decision was made in Moscow. It happened during the critical period of the civil war, when I spent almost all the time at the front, and my recollections of the case of the royal family are fragmentary.
In other documents, Trotsky recounts a meeting of the Politburo a few weeks before the fall of Yekaterinburg, at which he advocated the need for an open litigation, "which was to unfold the picture of the whole reign".
“Lenin responded in the sense that it would be very good if it were feasible. But there may not be enough time. There was no debate, because (as) I did not insist on my proposal, absorbed in other things.
In the next episode from the diaries, the most frequently quoted, Trotsky recalls how, after the execution, to his question about who decided the fate of the Romanovs, Sverdlov replied: “We decided here. Ilyich believed that it was impossible to leave us a living banner for them, especially in the current difficult conditions.
Nicholas II with his daughters Olga, Anastasia and Tatyana (Tobolsk, winter 1917). Photo: Wikipedia “They decided” and “Ilyich considered” can, and according to other sources, should be interpreted as the adoption of a general decision in principle that the Romanovs should not be left as a “living banner of the counter-revolution”.
And is it so important that the immediate decision to execute the Romanov family was issued by the Ural Council?
Here is another interesting document. This is a telegraphic request dated July 16, 1918 from Copenhagen, in which it was written: “To Lenin, a member of the government. From Copenhagen. A rumor spread here that the former tsar had been murdered. Please tell me the facts by phone." On the telegram, Lenin wrote in his own hand: “Copenhagen. The rumor is false, the former tsar is healthy, all rumors are lies of the capitalist press. Lenin.
We were not able to find out whether a reply telegram was then sent. But it was the very eve of that tragic day when the tsar and his relatives were shot.
Ivan Kitaev- especially for "New"
Ivan Kitaev is a historian, candidate of historical sciences, vice-president of the International Academy of Corporate Governance. He went from a carpenter on the construction of the Semipalatinsk test site and the Abakan-Taishet road, from a military builder who built a uranium enrichment plant in the taiga wilderness, to an academician. He graduated from two institutes, the Academy of Social Sciences, postgraduate studies. He worked as a secretary of the Togliatti city committee, the Kuibyshev regional committee, director of the Central Party Archive, deputy director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. After 1991, he worked as the head of the head office and head of the department of the Ministry of Industry of Russia, taught at the academy.
In his diaries, Trotsky does not limit himself to quoting the words of Sverdlov and Lenin, but also expresses his own opinion about the execution of the royal family:
"Essentially, the decision ( about execution. — OH.) was not only expedient, but also necessary. The severity of the reprisals showed everyone that we would fight mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the royal family was needed not only to intimidate, horrify, and deprive the enemy of hope, but also to shake up their own ranks, to show that there was no retreat, that complete victory or complete death lay ahead. There were probably doubts and shaking of heads in the intellectual circles of the party. But the masses of workers and soldiers did not doubt for a moment: they would not have understood or accepted any other decision. Lenin felt this very well: the ability to think and feel for the masses and with the masses was highly characteristic of him, especially at great political turns ... "
As for the extreme measure characteristic of Ilyich, Lev Davidovich, of course, is archipraved. So Lenin, as you know, personally demanded that as many priests as possible be hanged, as soon as he received a signal that the masses in some places in the localities had shown such an initiative. How can the people's power not support the initiative from below (and in reality the basest instincts of the crowd)!
As for the trial of the tsar, to which, according to Trotsky, Ilyich agreed, but time was running out, this trial would obviously have ended with the sentence of Nicholas to the highest measure. But in this case, unnecessary difficulties could arise with the royal family. And then how nice it turned out: the Ural Council decided - and that's it, bribes are smooth, all power to the Soviets! Well, maybe only "in the intellectual circles of the party" there was some shock, but quickly passed, like with Trotsky himself. In his diaries, he cites a fragment of a conversation with Sverdlov after the Yekaterinburg execution:
“Yes, but where is the king? - It's over, - he answered, - shot. - Where is the family? And his family is with him. - All? I asked, apparently with a hint of surprise. - All! Sverdlov replied. - And what? He was waiting for my reaction. I didn't answer. - And who decided? “We decided here…”
Some historians emphasize that Sverdlov did not answer “decided”, but “decided”, which is supposedly important for identifying the main culprits. But at the same time they take Sverdlov's words out of the context of the conversation with Trotsky. And here, after all, how: what is the question, such is the answer: Trotsky asks who decided, and here Sverdlov answers, “We decided here.” And further on he speaks even more specifically - about what Ilyich considered: "we must not leave us a living banner for them."
So, in his resolution on the Danish telegram of July 16, Lenin was clearly disingenuous, speaking about the lies of the capitalist press regarding the "health" of the tsar.
In modern terms, we can say this: if the Ural Soviet was the organizer of the murder of the royal family, then Lenin was the customer. But in Russia, the organizers are rare, and the customers of the crimes almost never, alas, do not find themselves in the dock.
According to official history, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, Nikolai Romanov, along with his wife and children, was shot. After the burial was opened and identified, the remains were reburied in 1998 in the tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. However, then the ROC did not confirm their authenticity.
“I cannot rule out that the church will recognize the royal remains as genuine if convincing evidence of their authenticity is found and if the examination is open and honest,” said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, in July this year.
As you know, the Russian Orthodox Church did not participate in the burial of the remains of the royal family in 1998, explaining this by the fact that the church is not sure whether the true remains of the royal family are buried. The Russian Orthodox Church refers to the book of the Kolchak investigator Nikolai Sokolov, who concluded that all the bodies were burned. Some of the remains collected by Sokolov at the place of burning are stored in Brussels, in the church of St. Job the Long-suffering, and they have not been examined. At one time, a version of the note by Yurovsky, who supervised the execution and burial, was found - it became the main document before the transfer of the remains (along with the book of the investigator Sokolov). And now, in the upcoming year of the 100th anniversary of the execution of the Romanov family, the Russian Orthodox Church has been instructed to give a final answer to all the dark places of execution near Yekaterinburg. To obtain a final answer under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, research has been conducted for several years. Once again, historians, geneticists, graphologists, pathologists and other specialists are rechecking the facts, again powerful scientific forces and the powers of the prosecutor's office are involved, and all these actions again take place under a dense veil of secrecy.
Research on genetic identification is carried out by four independent groups of scientists. Two of them are foreign, working directly with the ROC. In early July 2017, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Yegoryevsky, the secretary of the church commission for studying the results of the study of the remains found near Yekaterinburg, said: a large number of new circumstances and new documents were discovered. For example, Sverdlov's order to execute Nicholas II was found. In addition, according to the results of recent research, forensic scientists confirmed that the remains of the king and queen belong to them, since a trace was suddenly found on the skull of Nicholas II, which is interpreted as a trace from a saber blow he received when visiting Japan. As for the queen, dentists identified her by the world's first porcelain veneers on platinum pins.
Although, if you open the conclusion of the commission, written before the burial in 1998, it says: the bones of the sovereign's skull are so destroyed that the characteristic callus cannot be found. The same conclusion noted severe damage to the teeth of the alleged remains of Nikolai by periodontal disease, since this person had never been to the dentist. This confirms that it was not the tsar who was shot, since the records of the Tobolsk dentist, whom Nikolai turned to, remained. In addition, the fact that the growth of the skeleton of "Princess Anastasia" is 13 centimeters larger than her lifetime growth has not yet been found. Well, as you know, miracles happen in the church ... Shevkunov did not say a word about genetic examination, and this despite the fact that the genetic studies of 2003, conducted by Russian and American specialists, showed that the genome of the body of the alleged empress and her sister Elizabeth Feodorovna do not match , which means no relationship.
On this topic
In addition, in the museum of the city of Otsu (Japan) there are things left after the injury of the policeman Nicholas II. They have biological material that can be examined. According to them, Japanese geneticists from the Tatsuo Nagai group proved that the DNA of the remains of "Nicholas II" from near Yekaterinburg (and his family) does not 100% match the DNA of biomaterials from Japan. During the Russian DNA examination, second cousins were compared, and in the conclusion it was written that "there are matches." The Japanese compared relatives of cousins. There are also the results of a genetic examination of the President of the International Association of Forensic Physicians, Mr. Bonte from Dusseldorf, in which he proved that the found remains and twins of the family of Nicholas II Filatov are relatives. Perhaps, from their remains in 1946, the “remains of the royal family” were created? The problem has not been studied.
Earlier, in 1998, the Russian Orthodox Church, on the basis of these conclusions and facts, did not recognize the existing remains as authentic, but what will happen now? In December, all the conclusions of the Investigative Committee and the commission of the Russian Orthodox Church will be considered by the Council of Bishops. It is he who will decide on the attitude of the church to the Yekaterinburg remains. Let's see why everything is so nervous and what is the history of this crime?
Worth the fight for that kind of money
Today, some of the Russian elites have suddenly awakened interest in one very piquant story of relations between Russia and the United States, connected with the Romanov royal family. Briefly, the story is as follows: more than 100 years ago, in 1913, the US created the Federal Reserve System (FRS) - the central bank and printing press for the production of international currency, which still operates today. The Fed was created for the emerging League of Nations (now the UN) and would be a single world financial center with its own currency. Russia contributed to authorized capital» systems 48,600 tons of gold. But the Rothschilds demanded that Woodrow Wilson, who was then re-elected as President of the United States, transfer the center to their private property along with gold. The organization became known as the Fed, where Russia owned 88.8%, and 11.2% - 43 international beneficiaries. Receipts stating that 88.8% of gold assets for a period of 99 years are under the control of the Rothschilds, six copies were transferred to the family of Nicholas II. The annual income on these deposits was fixed at 4%, which was supposed to be transferred to Russia annually, but settled on the X-1786 account of the World Bank and on 300 thousand accounts in 72 international banks. All these documents confirming the right to 48,600 tons of gold pledged to the FRS from Russia, as well as income from leasing it, the mother of Tsar Nicholas II, Maria Fedorovna Romanova, deposited in one of the Swiss banks. But the conditions for access there are only for the heirs, and this access is controlled by the Rothschild clan. For the gold provided by Russia, gold certificates were issued that allowed the metal to be claimed in parts - the royal family hid them in different places. Later, in 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference confirmed Russia's right to 88% of the Fed's assets.
This “golden” issue was once proposed by two well-known Russian oligarchs – Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky. But Yeltsin "did not understand" them, and now, apparently, that very "golden" time has come ... And now this gold is remembered more and more often - though not at the state level.
On this topic
In Lahore, Pakistan, 16 police officers have been arrested in connection with the shooting of an innocent family on the streets of the city. According to eyewitnesses, the police stopped the car on its way to the wedding and brutally cracked down on its driver and passengers.
For this gold they kill, fight and make fortunes on it
Today's researchers believe that all wars and revolutions in Russia and in the world occurred due to the fact that the Rothschild clan and the United States did not intend to return the gold to the Russian Federal Reserve. After all, the execution of the royal family made it possible for the Rothschild clan not to give away gold and not pay for its 99-year lease. “Now, out of three Russian copies of the agreement on gold invested in the Fed, two are in our country, the third is presumably in one of the Swiss banks,” researcher Sergei Zhilenkov believes. - In the cache, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there are documents from the royal archive, among which there are 12 "golden" certificates. If they are presented, then the global financial hegemony of the United States and the Rothschilds will simply collapse, and our country will receive a lot of money and all the opportunities for development, since it will no longer be strangled from across the ocean, ”the historian is sure.
Many wanted to close questions about royal assets with the reburial. Professor Vladlen Sirotkin also has an estimate for the so-called military gold exported to the First World War and civil war to the West and East: Japan - $80 billion, Great Britain - $50 billion, France - $25 billion, USA - $23 billion, Sweden - $5 billion, Czech Republic - $1 billion. Total - 184 billion. Surprisingly, officials in the US and UK, for example, do not dispute these figures, but are surprised at the lack of requests from Russia. By the way, the Bolsheviks remembered Russian assets in the West in the early 20s. Back in 1923, People's Commissar for Foreign Trade Leonid Krasin ordered the British Investigative law firm evaluate Russian real estate and cash deposits abroad. By 1993, the firm reported that it had amassed a $400 billion data bank! And this is legal Russian money.
Why did the Romanovs die? Britain did not accept them!
There is a long-term study, unfortunately, by the now deceased professor Vladlen Sirotkin (MGIMO), “Foreign Gold of Russia” (M., 2000), where the gold and other holdings of the Romanov family accumulated in the accounts of Western banks are also estimated at an amount of at least 400 billion dollars, and together with investments - more than 2 trillion dollars! In the absence of heirs from the Romanovs, the closest relatives turn out to be members of the English royal family ... These are whose interests may be the background of many events of the XIX-XXI centuries ... By the way, it is not clear (or, on the contrary, it is clear) for what reasons the royal house of England refused the family three times Romanovs in the shelter. The first time in 1916, at the apartment of Maxim Gorky, an escape was planned - the rescue of the Romanovs by abduction and the internment of the royal couple during their visit to an English warship, then sent to Great Britain. The second was Kerensky's request, which was also rejected. Then they did not accept the request of the Bolsheviks. And this despite the fact that the mothers of George V and Nicholas II were sisters. In the surviving correspondence, Nicholas II and George V call each other "Cousin Nicky" and "Cousin Georgie" - they were cousins with an age difference of less than three years, and in their youth, these guys spent a lot of time together and were very similar in appearance. As for the queen, her mother, Princess Alice, was the eldest and beloved daughter of the English Queen Victoria. At that time, 440 tons of gold from the gold reserves of Russia and 5.5 tons of personal gold of Nicholas II were in England as collateral for military loans. Now think about it: if the royal family died, then to whom would the gold go? Close relatives! Isn't that the reason why Cousin Georgie was denied admission to Cousin Nicky's family? To get gold, its owners had to die. Officially. And now all this must be connected with the burial of the royal family, which will officially testify that the owners of untold wealth are dead.
Versions of life after death
All versions of the death of the royal family that exist today can be divided into three. The first version: the royal family was shot near Yekaterinburg, and their remains, with the exception of Alexei and Maria, were reburied in St. Petersburg. The remains of these children were found in 2007, all examinations were carried out on them, and they, apparently, will be buried on the day of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. When confirming this version, it is necessary for accuracy to once again identify all the remains and repeat all examinations, especially genetic and pathological anatomical ones. The second version: the royal family was not shot, but was scattered throughout Russia and all family members died of natural causes, having lived their lives in Russia or abroad, in Yekaterinburg, a family of twins was shot (members of the same family or people from different families, but similar members of the emperor's family). Nicholas II had twins after Bloody Sunday 1905. When leaving the palace, three carriages left. In which of them Nicholas II sat is unknown. The Bolsheviks, having seized the archive of the 3rd department in 1917, had these twins. There is an assumption that one of the families of twins - the Filatovs, who are distantly related to the Romanovs - followed them to Tobolsk. The third version: the secret services added false remains to the burial places of members of the royal family as they died naturally or before opening the grave. For this, it is necessary to carefully track, among other things, the age of the biomaterial.
Here is one of the versions of the historian of the royal family, Sergei Zhelenkov, which seems to us the most logical, although very unusual.
Before investigator Sokolov, the only investigator who published a book about the execution of the royal family, worked investigators Malinovsky, Nametkin (his archive was burned along with his house), Sergeev (dismissed from the case and killed), Lieutenant General Diterikhs, Kirsta. All these investigators concluded that the royal family was not killed. Neither the Reds nor the Whites wanted to disclose this information - they understood that the American bankers were primarily interested in obtaining objective information. The Bolsheviks were interested in the money of the king, and Kolchak declared himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia, which could not be with a living sovereign.
Investigator Sokolov conducted two cases - one on the fact of the murder and the other on the fact of the disappearance. In parallel, military intelligence in the person of Kirst conducted an investigation. When the whites left Russia, Sokolov, fearing for collected materials, sent them to Harbin - some of his materials were lost on the way. Sokolov's materials contained evidence of the financing of the Russian revolution by the American bankers Schiff, Kuhn and Loeb, and Ford became interested in these materials, in conflict with these bankers. He even called Sokolov from France, where he settled, to the USA. When returning from the USA to France, Nikolai Sokolov was killed. Sokolov's book came out after his death, and many people "worked" on it, removing many scandalous facts from there, so it cannot be considered completely truthful. The surviving members of the royal family were watched by people from the KGB, where a special department was created for this, which was dissolved during perestroika. The archive of this department has been preserved. The royal family was saved by Stalin - the royal family was evacuated from Yekaterinburg through Perm to Moscow and fell into the hands of Trotsky, then People's Commissar of Defense. To further save the royal family, Stalin carried out a whole operation, stealing it from Trotsky's people and taking them to Sukhumi, to a specially built house next to the former house of the royal family. From there, all family members were distributed to different places, Maria and Anastasia were taken to the Glinskaya Hermitage (Sumy Region), then Maria was transported to the Nizhny Novgorod Region, where she died of illness on May 24, 1954. Anastasia subsequently married Stalin's personal bodyguard and lived very secluded on a small farm, died
June 27, 1980 in the Volgograd region. The eldest daughters, Olga and Tatyana, were sent to the Serafimo-Diveevsky convent - the empress was settled not far from the girls. But they did not live here for long. Olga, having traveled through Afghanistan, Europe and Finland, settled in Vyritsa Leningrad region where she died on January 19, 1976. Tatyana lived partly in Georgia, partly in the territory of the Krasnodar Territory, was buried in the Krasnodar Territory, died on September 21, 1992. Alexei and his mother lived in their dacha, then Alexei was transferred to Leningrad, where he was “made” a biography, and the whole world recognized him as a party and Soviet leader Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (Stalin sometimes called him a prince in front of everyone). Nicholas II lived and died in Nizhny Novgorod(December 22, 1958), and the queen died in the village of Starobelskaya, Lugansk region, on April 2, 1948, and was subsequently reburied in Nizhny Novgorod, where she and the emperor have a common grave. Three daughters of Nicholas II, except for Olga, had children. N.A. Romanov talked with I.V. Stalin, and the wealth of the Russian Empire was used to strengthen the power of the USSR ...
