Transaction Publishers. Two of the children were missing, and there were several people claiming to be the long-lost Romanovs. [22][23] This is supported by a passage in Leon Trotsky's diary. Were they telling the truth? The 55 volumes of Lenin's Collected Works as well as the memoirs of those who directly took part in the murders were scrupulously censored, emphasizing the roles of Sverdlov and Goloshchyokin. [174] As a result, when they were interred in July 1998, they were referred to by the priest conducting the service as "Christian victims of the Revolution" rather than the imperial family. Officially the family will die at the evacuation. Yurovsky watched in disbelief as Nikulin spent an entire magazine from his Browning gun on Alexei, who was still seated transfixed in his chair; he also had jewels sewn into his undergarment and forage cap. A Colt M1911, similar to the ones used by Yurovsky and Kudrin. Rumors about their possible survival swirled until 2007, when Sergei Plotnikov, a builder who was part of a club that looked for the missing Romanovs on the weekends came across bone fragments. [152] However, in a final letter that was written to his children shortly before his death in 1938, he only reminisced about his revolutionary career and how "the storm of October" had "turned its brightest side" towards him, making him "the happiest of mortals";[153] there was no expression of regret or remorse over the murders. . Only Maria's undergarments contained no jewels, which to Yurovsky was proof that the family had ceased to trust her ever since she became too friendly with one of the guards back in May. On the night of July 16,. [29], In August 1917, after a failed attempt to send the Romanovs to the United Kingdom, where the ruling monarch was Nicholas and his wife Alexandra's mutual first cousin, King George V, Alexander Kerensky's provisional government evacuated the Romanovs to Tobolsk, Siberia, allegedly to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. [34] The imperial family was subjected to regular searches of their belongings, confiscation of their money for "safekeeping by the Ural Regional Soviet's treasurer",[35] and attempts to remove Alexandra's and her daughters' gold bracelets from their wrists. Its unclear why the church dragged its feet, but some commentators believe it was an attempt by the church to court Vladimir Putin and his government, who have suggested rehabilitating the Romanov monarchy. The Tsar was identical to both but with one exception. The sodden corpses were hauled out one by one using ropes tied to their mangled limbs and laid under a tarpaulin. As the years passed, rumors about possible survivors continued to rage, and a number of imposters claimed they were the Romanovs. [43] An iron grille was installed on 11 July, after Alexandra had ignored repeated warnings from the commandant, Yakov Yurovsky, not to stand too close to the open window. [86] The Romanovs were then ordered into a 6m 5m (20ft 16ft) semi-basement room. Yurovsky reportedly raised his Colt gun at Nicholas's torso and fired; Nicholas fell dead, pierced with at least three bullets in his upper chest. This rebellion was violently suppressed by a detachment of Red Guards led by Peter Ermakov, which opened fire on the protesters, all within earshot of the tsar and tsarina's bedroom window. He took a Mauser and Colt while Ermakov armed himself with three Nagants, one Mauser and a bayonet; he was the only one assigned to kill two prisoners (Alexandra and Botkin). The examination of Czar Nicholas II's skull by photographic superimposition after the discovery of bones recovered in 1991. [92] Some of Pavel Medvedev's stretcher bearers began frisking the bodies for valuables. (Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons), Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news, Want More? Olga sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Readpart 2, More than 60 years earlier, Tsar Nicholas II. Missing remains and a Bolshevik cover-up after the brutal execution of the imperial family fueled wild rumors. Against all odds, we recently found Kingsmore's personal story on this photographic assignment, as well as part of . Trotsky wrote: My next visit to Moscow took place after the fall of Yekaterinburg. Speculation arose as to whether she and her brother, Alexei. One was the Tsars great niece, and the second was a Duke in Scotland. Three days after the murders, Yurovsky personally reported to Lenin on the events of that night and was rewarded with an appointment to the Moscow City Cheka. [41] In early May, the guards moved the piano from the dining room, where the prisoners could play it, to the commandant's office next to the Romanovs' bedrooms. The communist government in Russia, now the Soviet Union, kept the fate of the Romanov family a well-guarded state secret, only admitting their deaths in 1926. Researchers Discover Tequila Worm Species, The Woolly Mammoth Meatball Could Kick Off a Trend of Eating Extinct Meats. Uncovered documents in Archive No. Only 3% of Russians "were certain that the Royal family's execution was the public's just retribution for the emperor's blunders". Members of the Presidium of the Ural Executive Council: number of people claimed to be survivors of the ill-fated family, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (18641918), "A Playwright Applies His Craft To Czar Nicholas II's Last Days", "From the archive, 22 July 1918: Ex-tsar Nicholas II executed", "Sleuths say they've found the last Romanovs", "Russia reopens criminal case on 1918 Romanov royal family murders", : , 1926. This enabled them to identify that nine people were buried in the grave. Tsarina Alexandra and Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana of Russia, 1914. [107], Aleksandr Lisitsyn of the Cheka, an essential witness on behalf of Moscow, was designated to promptly dispatch to Sverdlov soon after the executions of Nicholas and Alexandra's politically valuable diaries and letters, which would be published in Russia as soon as possible. In the late 1970s, however, Anderson had surgery on her lower bowel and the hospital kept a tissue sample. 86 (Sverdlov) as well as the archives of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Executive Committee reveal that a host of party 'errand boys' were regularly designated to relay his instructions, either by confidential notes or anonymous directives made in the collective name of the Council of People's Commissars. [181], In late 2015, at the insistence by the Russian Orthodox Church,[182] Russian investigators exhumed the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, for additional DNA testing,[183] which confirmed that the bones were of the couple. It was published in English in 1925. [97] Alexei received two bullets to the head, right behind the ear. Over the course of 84 days after the Yekaterinburg murders, 27 more friends and relatives (14 Romanovs and 13 members of the imperial entourage and household)[166] were murdered by the Bolsheviks: at Alapayevsk on 18 July,[167] Perm on 4 September,[59] and the Peter and Paul Fortress on 24 January 1919. [19], According to the official state version of the Soviet Union, ex-Tsar Nicholas Romanov, along with members of his family and retinue, were executed by firing squad by order of the Ural Regional Soviet. Since the female body was badly disfigured, Yurovsky mistook her for Anna Demidova; in his report he wrote that he had actually wanted to destroy Alexandra's corpse. [113], The truck was bogged down in an area of marshy ground near the Gorno-Uralsk railway line, during which all the bodies were unloaded onto carts and taken to the disposal site. [65] On 13 July, across the road from the Ipatiev House, a demonstration of Red Army soldiers, Socialist Revolutionaries, and anarchists was staged on Voznesensky Square, demanding the dismissal of the Yekaterinburg Soviet and the transfer of control of the city to them. In the criminal case, an unprecedented search for archival sources taking all available materials into account was conducted by authoritative experts, such as Sergey Mironenko, the director of the largest archive in the country, the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The mtDNA in the remains matched Prince Philip. A few minutes later, an execution squad of secret police was brought in and Yurovsky read aloud the order given to him by the Ural Executive Committee: Nikolai Alexandrovich, in view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you.[89]. Alexey Kabanov, who ran onto the street to check the noise levels, heard dogs barking from the Romanovs' quarters and the sound of gunshots loud and clear despite the noise from the Fiat's engine. The Bolsheviks placed the family under house arrest, and then suddenly executed them in 1918 an event that toppled Russia's last imperial dynasty. April 28, 2023 10:21 AM PT. He returned to the Amerikanskaya Hotel to confer with the Cheka. The basement where the Romanov family was killed. It was decided that the pit was too shallow. Maria and Anastasia were said to have crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror until they were shot. [79] At 8 pm, Yurovsky sent his chauffeur to acquire a truck for transporting the bodies, along with rolls of canvas to wrap them in. The Russian Imperial Romanov family (Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and bayoneted to death[2][3] by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 1617 July 1918. [148] Pyotr Voykov was given the specific task of arranging for the disposal of their remains, obtaining 570 litres (130impgal; 150USgal) of gasoline and 180 kilograms (400lb) of sulphuric acid, the latter from the Yekaterinburg pharmacy. Remnick, Reporting: Writings from the New Yorker, p. 222. Who Was Anastasia Romanov? Proceedings of the government commission to study issues related to the study and reburial of the remains of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family). In 1979, a geologist in Russia approached a grassy area near the Koptyaki forest. Her work has appeared in outlets like The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Atlantic, TIME, Smithsonian and more. He also had the same distinction, which confirmed the skeleton in the mass grave was indeed the last Tsar of Russia. The cellar of Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg, after the Execution of the Imperial Family in the night in July 1918. Yurovsky instructed his men to "shoot straight at the heart to avoid an excessive quantity of blood and get it over quickly. On the night of 17/18 July 1918, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra and their children Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia as well as several of their staff were executed in the basement of Ipatiev House. [11] He wrongly concluded that the prisoners died instantly from the shooting, with the exception of Alexei and Anastasia, who were shot and bayoneted to death,[136] and that the bodies were destroyed in a massive bonfire. Voykov served as Soviet ambassador to Poland in 1924, where he was assassinated by a Russian monarchist in July 1927. of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world at the city's Church on the Blood marks the 100th anniversary of the murder of Russia's last . Russian workers and peasants have only one desire: to drive a good aspen-wood stake into this grave cursed by the people.. [171] After forensic examination[172] and DNA identification (partly aided by mitochondrial DNA samples from Prince Phillip),[173] the bodies were laid to rest with state honors in the St. Catherine Chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, where most other Russian monarchs since Peter the Great lie. And in 2018, as the country was preparing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their deaths, Russian investigators announced that further DNA testing confirmed that the remains were indeed authentic Now they knew for certain all the Romanovs died during the shocking execution. The Bolsheviks initially announced only Nicholas's death;[6][7] for the next eight years,[8] the Soviet leadership maintained a systematic web of misinformation relating to the fate of the family,[9] from claiming in September 1919 that they were murdered by left-wing revolutionaries,[10] to denying outright in April 1922 that they were dead. [76] Yurovsky wanted to gather the family and servants in a small, confined space from which they could not escape. The official party line was that the czars wife and family were being cared for in an undisclosed location, but rumors started to swirl about what had happened to Alexandra and her children. They must have been, and Maria could not have such bras, as they were made in Tobolsk when she was gone, to think that these bras were worn by someone else It would be ridiculous. [156] Lenin operated with extreme caution, his favored method being to issue instructions in coded telegrams, insisting that the original and even the telegraph ribbon on which it was sent be destroyed. [40] Their only source of ventilation was a fortochka in the grand duchesses' bedroom, but peeking out of it was strictly forbidden; in May a sentry fired a shot at Anastasia when she looked out. [5][115] Once the bodies were "completely naked" they were dumped into a mineshaft and doused with sulphuric acid to disfigure them beyond recognition. On 5 June a second palisade was erected, higher and longer than the first, which completely enclosed the property. Meanwhile, Bolsheviks went on amurder spree, killing every Romanov family member and associate they could get their hands on. The Tsar, Empress Alexandria, their four daughters and one son were all believed to have perished. [27], On 22 March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II, deposed as a monarch and addressed by the sentries as "Nicholas Romanov", was reunited with his family at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. [117] Yurovsky, worried that he might not have enough time to take the bodies to the deeper mine, ordered his men to dig another burial pit then and there, but the ground was too hard. [50] Rations were mostly tea and black bread for breakfast, and cutlets or soup with meat for lunch; the prisoners were informed that "they were no longer permitted to live like tsars". [91] The remaining executioners shot chaotically and over each other's shoulders until the room was so filled with smoke and dust that no one could see anything at all in the darkness nor hear any commands amid the noise. [138] Yurovsky and his assistant, Nikulin, who died in 1964, are buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. The lifeless bodies of Russias last monarch, his wife Alexandra, and their five children, Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, were about to go on a journey that would stretch over years, stoke controversy and stump historians. Titled Ipatiev House, the episode focuses on the brutal death of the Russian royal family - the Romanovs - in 1918, exploring how the family was related to the late Queen's family, and how . [104] Stepan Vaganov, Ermakov's close associate,[151] was attacked and killed by peasants in late 1918 for his participation in local acts of brutal repression by the Cheka. "[118]Yurovsky knows nothing about the lack of jewelry in her underwear, so in his 1922 memoir, Here the special position Maria held in the family was confirmedshe is not similar to and [also] outwardly as the first two sisters: [she is] somewhat reticent and considered like a step-daughter in the family. is written on it. 134, : , 1926. [124] 44 partial bone fragments from both corpses were found in August 2007. After abdication, Nicholas II and his family were arrested. [112] A few of Ermakov's men pawed the female bodies for diamonds hidden in their undergarments, two of whom lifted up Alexandra's skirt and fingered her genitals. Whereas people inherit their nuclear DNA from each parent. Leonid was kept in the Popov House that night. [104], The White Army investigator Nikolai Sokolov erroneously claimed that the executions of the Imperial Family was carried out by a group of "Latvians led by a Jew". In the 1970s, a geologist named Alexander Avdonin, who had heard rumors about the site of the Romanovs grave his entire life, began asking others for information about its location. [28] The servants were ordered to address the Romanovs only by their names and patronymics. There, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina . Yurovsky sent them to the Popov House for failing "at that important moment in their revolutionary duty". Where were the two missing Romanov children? To prevent a repetition of the fraternization that had occurred under Avdeev, Yurovsky chose mainly foreigners. Historians long suspected that four servants had been buried along with the royal family. Males also inherit the maternal mtDNA but do not pass it on to their offspring. In the center of the group, Tsar Nicholas II sits with his wife, the tsarina Alexandra. [137] Publication and worldwide acceptance of the investigation prompted the Soviets to issue a government-approved textbook in 1926 that largely plagiarized Sokolov's work, admitting that the empress and her children had been murdered with the Tsar. This enabled them to identify that nine people were buried in the grave. In one of the pairs, he had cytosine whereas the others had thymine. Both agreed to provide DNA samples. [39], The windows in all the family's rooms were sealed shut and covered with newspapers (later painted with whitewash on 15 May). Learn more about Erin and her work at erinblakemore.com. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Anastasia and her family were executed in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1913. And how could they further confirm the Tsars identity and convince skeptics? But he had a different mission: He believed the bodies of the murdered Romanov family were somewhere in that field. [123] They dug a grave that was 1.8 by 2.4 metres (6ft 8ft) in size and barely 60 centimetres (2ft) deep. , 3 (16)/VII 1918 II . [126], Ivan Plotnikov, history professor at the Maksim Gorky Ural State University, has established that the executioners were Yakov Yurovsky, Grigory P. Nikulin, Mikhail A. Medvedev (Kuprin), Peter Ermakov, Stepan Vaganov, Alexey G. Kabanov (former soldier in the Tsar's Life Guards and Chekist assigned to the attic machine gun),[45] Pavel Medvedev, V. N. Netrebin, and Y. M. Tselms. One was the Tsars great niece, and the second was a Duke in Scotland. [32] The number of Ipatiev House guards totaled 300 at the time the imperial family was killed. "He has been shot." Their bodies were removed, mutilated and burned before being buried in a forest. The external guard, led by Pavel Medvedev, numbered 56 and took over the Popov House opposite. Sulphuric acid was again used to dissolve the bodies, their faces smashed with rifle butts and covered with quicklime. It reported that the monarch had been executed on the order of Uralispolkom under pressure posed by the approach of the Czechoslovaks.[165]. The Romanov Family Died a Century Ago. The states investigative team found thousands of bones and other relics from the imperial family, and DNA analysis soon confirmed they were in fact the Romanovs. [93] As it cleared, it became evident that although several of the family's retainers had been killed, all of the Imperial children were alive and only Maria was injured. [68], The Ural Regional Soviet agreed in a meeting on 29 June that the Romanov family should be executed. On 1 October 2008, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that Nicholas II and his family were victims of political repression and rehabilitated them. Forensic investigation into the authenticity of the remains of Russia's Royal family members. [134], His preliminary report was published in a book that same year in French and then Russian. The family was imprisoned with a few remaining retainers in Yekaterinburg's Ipatiev House, which was designated The House of Special Purpose (Russian: ). Kabanov then hurried downstairs and told the men to stop firing and kill the family and their dogs with their gun butts and bayonets. Its unclear when, or even if, that burial will occur, even with the new DNA results. Since there were no clothes on the bodies and the damage inflicted was extensive, controversy persisted as to whether the skeletal remains identified and interred in St. Petersburg as Anastasia's were really hers or Maria's. Despite Yakovlev's request to take the family further away to the more remote Simsky Gorny District in Ufa province (where they could hide in the mountains), warning that "the baggage" would be destroyed if given to the Ural Soviets, Lenin and Sverdlov were adamant that they be brought to Yekaterinburg. . Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month, This story is the first in a two-part series about the Romanovs. According to the report, units of the Czechoslovak Legion were approaching Yekaterinburg. Perry, John Curtis, and Constantine V. Pleshakov. It would seem that the discovery of the missing Romanovs would put the rumors and mysteries to rest, but that didnt happen. A century after the Romanovs grisly murder, their story remains as mysterious and politically fraught as it was the day they were killed. [122] Leonid Brezhnev's Politburo deemed the Ipatiev House lacking "sufficient historical significance" and it was demolished in September 1977 by KGB chairman Yuri Andropov,[138] less than a year before the sixtieth anniversary of the murders. During his interrogation he denied taking part in the murders, and died in prison of typhus. They first came to power in 1613, and over the next three centuries, 18 Romanovs took the Russian throne, including Peter the. Filipp Goloshchyokin arrived in Moscow on 3 July with a message insisting on the Tsar's execution. With the men exhausted, most refusing to obey orders and dawn approaching, Yurovsky decided to bury them under the road where the truck had stalled (565441N 602944E / 56.9113628N 60.4954326E / 56.9113628; 60.4954326). "[157] A written record outlining the chain of command and tying the ultimate responsibility for the fate of the Romanovs back to Lenin was either never made or carefully concealed. All Rights Reserved. The attempted looting, coupled with Ermakov's incompetence and drunken state, convinced Yurovsky to oversee the disposal of the bodies himself. [130], Sokolov ultimately failed to find the concealed burial site on the Koptyaki Road; he photographed the spot as evidence of where the Fiat truck had become stuck on the morning of 19 July. [122] The impending return of Bolshevik forces in July 1919 forced him to evacuate, and he brought the box containing the relics he recovered. [83] Neither Yurovsky nor any of the killers went into the logistics of how to efficiently destroy eleven bodies. Tselms). For starters, two of the Romanov children were missing. Alexei, who had severe haemophilia, was too ill to accompany his parents and remained with his sisters Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia, not leaving Tobolsk until May. Afterwards, an excavation began when the geologist revealed the hidden grave, and the remains were given to scientists for DNA testing. I made no reply. Fast Facts: Anastasia Romanov Full Name: Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova Known For: Youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who was killed (along with the rest of her family) during the Bolshevik Revolution. mtDNA. 1. Syndicated talk-show host Jerry Springer died Thursday of pancreatic cancer, according his longtime friend and family spokesman. [117], The reason for the lack of jewels in Maria's underwear was, according to Gillard and other witnesses, "not only the daughters who wore bras with jewels sewn into them, but these bras were on those daughters." The Nagant operated on old black gunpowder which produced a good deal of smoke and fumes; smokeless powder was only just being phased in. The mtDNA test proved Anderson was a fraud. As they did so, they covered them in acid and buried them. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. [1] Having previously seized some jewelry, he suspected more was hidden in their clothes;[35] the bodies were stripped naked in order to obtain the rest (this, along with the mutilations were aimed at preventing investigators from identifying them). Yurovsky was furious when he discovered that the drunken Ermakov had brought only one shovel for the burial. [141] The remains were disinterred in 1991 by Soviet officials in a hasty 'official exhumation' that wrecked the site, destroying precious evidence. And perhaps even more pressingly, could scientists be sure the grave truly belonged to the Romanovs and not some other unfortunate family? The Romanovs were kept in strict isolation at the Ipatiev House. Seven bodies, including two that investigators believe belong to two missing teenage girls, were found Monday afternoon at an Oklahoma residence of a man who authorities were seeking in the teens . [160][161] Soviet historiography portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects,[162] while Lenin's reputation was protected at all costs, thus ensuring that no discredit was brought on him; responsibility for the 'liquidation' of the Romanov family was directed at the Ural Soviets and Yekaterinburg Cheka. Nicholas, facing his family, turned and said "What? As Russia became the Soviet Union, the monarchy became a scapegoat, and those who supported the Romanovs went underground with their opinions as the political climate became more and more oppressive. out of the jurisdiction of Yekaterinburg and Perm province). Autocrats ruled Russia for 300 years. [121], During transportation to the deeper copper mines on the early morning of 19 July, the Fiat truck carrying the bodies got stuck again in mud near Porosenkov Log ("Piglet's Ravine"). She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. [189] On the eve of the centennial, the Russian government announced that its new probe had confirmed once again that the bodies were the Romanovs. [80] Yurovsky and Pavel Medvedev collected 14 handguns to use that night: two Browning pistols (one M1900 and one M1906), two Colt M1911 pistols, two Mauser C96s, one Smith & Wesson, and seven Belgian-made Nagants. Instead, her DNA matched with the Schanzkowska family. Barlow-Austin's . A British war correspondent, Francis McCullagh, who met Yurovsky in 1920 alleged that he was remorseful over his role in the execution of the Romanovs. It was the missing children. [126], After Yekaterinburg fell to the anti-communist White Army on 25 July, Admiral Alexander Kolchak established the Sokolov Commission to investigate the murders at the end of that month. However, as of 2011[update], there has been no conclusive evidence that either Lenin or Sverdlov gave the order. The Tsarevich was the first of the children to be executed. [99] While the bodies were being placed on stretchers, one of the girls cried out (some accounts say two or more) and covered her face with her arm. Lenin saw the House of Romanov as "monarchist filth, a 300-year disgrace",[156] and referred to Nicholas II in conversation and in his writings as "the most evil enemy of the Russian people, a bloody executioner, an Asiatic gendarme" and "a crowned robber. The two missing children had been buried about 70 meters from the mass grave. Whereas people inherit their nuclear DNA from each parent, mothers exclusively pass on mtDNA. [60], When Yurovsky replaced Aleksandr Avdeev on 4 July,[61] he moved the old internal guard members to the Popov House. Therefore, the found remains of the martyrs, as well as the place of their burial in the Porosyonkov Log, are ignored. After his abdication in March 1917, Nicholas and his family had been put under house arrest and kept just outside of St. Petersburg. Among them were burned bone fragments, congealed fat,[128] Dr Botkin's upper dentures and glasses, corset stays, insignias and belt buckles, shoes, keys, pearls and diamonds,[9] a few spent bullets, and part of a severed female finger.