The family of the last emperor of Russia, Nikolai Romanov, was killed in 1918. In view of the concealment of the facts by the Bolsheviks, a number of alternative versions appear. For a long time there were rumors that turned the murder of the royal family into a legend. There were theories that one of his children escaped.
What really happened in the summer of 1918 near Yekaterinburg? You will find the answer to this question in our article.
Background
Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century was one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Nikolai Aleksandrovich, who came to power, turned out to be meek and noble. In spirit, he was not an autocrat, but an officer. Therefore, with his views on life, it was difficult to manage a crumbling state.
The revolution of 1905 showed the failure of power and its isolation from the people. In fact, there were two authorities in the country. The official one is the emperor, and the real one is officials, nobles and landowners. It was the latter, with their greed, licentiousness, and shortsightedness, that destroyed the once great power.
Strikes and rallies, demonstrations and grain riots, famine. All this testified to decline. The only way out could be the accession to the throne of a powerful and tough ruler who could take control of the country completely under his control.
Nicholas II was not like that. He was focused on the construction of railways, churches, improving the economy and culture in society. He managed to make progress in these areas. But positive changes affected mainly only the elite of society, while most ordinary people remained at the level of the Middle Ages. Arches, wells, carts and peasant-craft everyday life.
After the entry of the Russian Empire into the First World War, the discontent of the people only intensified. The execution of the royal family became the apotheosis of universal insanity. Next, we will examine in more detail this crime.
Now it’s important to note the following. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II and his brother from the throne in the state, soldiers, workers and peasants began to advance to the first roles. People who previously had no business with government, with a minimum level of culture and superficial judgments, receive power.
Small local commissars wanted to curry favor with the higher ranks. Ordinary and junior officers simply thoughtlessly carried out orders. The time of troubles that came in these turbulent years spilled unfavorable elements to the surface.
Next you will see another photo of the royal family of the Romanovs. If you look at them carefully, you will notice that the clothes of the emperor, his wife and children are by no means pompous. They are no different from the peasants and escorts surrounding them in exile.
Let's see what really happened in Yekaterinburg in July 1918.
Course of events
The execution of the royal family was planned and prepared long enough. While power was still in the hands of the Provisional Government, they tried to protect them. Therefore, after the events in July 1917 in Petrograd, the emperor, his wife, children and retinue were transferred to Tobolsk.
The place was specially chosen calm. But actually found one from which it was difficult to escape. By that time, railway lines had not yet been extended to Tobolsk. The nearest station was two hundred and eighty kilometers.
The interim government sought to protect the emperor's family, so the link to Tobolsk became a respite for Nicholas II before the next nightmare. The king, queen, their children and retinue stayed there for more than six months.
But in April, after a fierce struggle for power, the Bolsheviks recall the "unfinished business." The decision is made to deliver the entire imperial family to Yekaterinburg, which at that time was the stronghold of the red movement.
The first to be transferred to Perm are Prince Mikhail, brother of the Tsar, from Petrograd. At the end of March, they send their son Mikhail and three children Konstantin Konstantinovich to Vyatka. Later, the last four are transferred to Yekaterinburg.
The main reason for the transfer to the east was the kinship of Nikolai Alexandrovich with the German emperor Wilhelm, as well as the proximity of the Entente to Petrograd. The revolutionaries were afraid of the liberation of the king and the restoration of the monarchy.
An interesting role is played by Yakovlev, who was instructed to transport the emperor and his family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. He knew about the attempt by the Siberian Bolsheviks on the tsar.
Judging by the archives, there are two opinions of experts. The first say that in reality it is Konstantin Myachin. And he received a directive from the Center "to deliver the tsar with his family to Moscow." The second ones are inclined to believe that Yakovlev was a European spy, who intended to save the emperor by taking him to Japan through Omsk and Vladivostok.
After arriving in Yekaterinburg, all prisoners were placed in Ipatiev’s mansion. The photo of the tsar’s family of the Romanovs was preserved upon handing them over to the Yakovlev Uralsovet. The place of imprisonment among the revolutionaries was called the "house of special purpose."
Here they were held for seventy-eight days. In more detail about the attitude of the convoy to the emperor and his family will be discussed later. In the meantime, it is important to focus on the fact that it was rude and boorish. They were robbed, crushed psychologically and morally, mocked so that it was not noticeable outside the walls of the mansion.
Considering the results of the investigations, we will dwell on the nights when the monarch with his family and retinue was shot. Now we note that the execution took place at about half past two in the night. The life doctor Botkin, by order of the revolutionaries, woke up all the captives and went down with them into the basement.
There a terrible crime happened. Yurovsky commanded. He blurted out a prepared phrase that "they are trying to save them, and the matter is urgent." None of the prisoners understood anything. Nicholas II only managed to ask them to repeat what was said, but the soldiers, frightened by the horror of the situation, began indiscriminate firing. Moreover, several punitive shot from another room through the doorway. According to eyewitnesses, not everyone was killed the first time. Some finished off with a bayonet.
Thus, this indicates the haste and unpreparedness of the operation. The execution became a lynching, which went to the lost Bolsheviks.
Government misinformation
The execution of the royal family is still an unsolved mystery of Russian history. Responsibility for this atrocity can lie both on Lenin and Sverdlov, with whom the Uralsovet simply provided an alibi, and directly on the Siberian revolutionaries, who succumbed to general panic and lost their heads in wartime.
Nevertheless, immediately after the atrocity the government launched a campaign to whiten its reputation. Among researchers involved in this period, recent actions are called the “disinformation campaign”.
The death of the royal family was proclaimed the only necessary measure. Since, judging by the ordered Bolshevik articles, a counter-revolutionary conspiracy was revealed. Some white officers planned to attack the Ipatiev mansion and free the emperor with his family.
The second point, which has been vehemently hiding for many years, was that eleven people were shot. The emperor, his wife, five children and four servants.
The events of the crime were not disclosed for several years. Official recognition was given only in 1925. This decision was triggered by the publication in Western Europe of a book that contained the results of an investigation by Sokolov. Then Bykov was instructed to write about the "real course of events." This brochure was published in Sverdlovsk in 1926.
Nevertheless, the lies of the Bolsheviks at the international level, as well as the concealment of truth from the common people, shook the faith in power. This crime and its consequences, according to Lykova, caused people to distrust the government, which did not change even in the post-Soviet era.
The fate of the rest of the Romanovs
The execution of the royal family had to be prepared. A similar “warm-up” was the liquidation of the brother of the emperor Mikhail Alexandrovich with his personal secretary.
On the night of the twelfth to the thirteenth of June 1918, they were forcibly taken out of the Perm hotel outside the city. They were shot in the forest, and their remains have not yet been discovered.
A statement was made to the international press that the Grand Duke was abducted by intruders and went missing. For Russia, the official version was the escape of Mikhail Alexandrovich.
The main purpose of this statement was to expedite the trial of the emperor and his family. They started a rumor that the runaway could contribute to the release of the "bloody tyrant" from "just punishment."
Not only the last royal family suffered. In Vologda, eight people related to the Romanovs were also killed. The victims include princes of imperial blood Igor, Ivan and Konstantin Konstantinovich, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Prince Paley, steward and cell-keeper.
All of them were dumped in the Nizhnaya Selimskaya mine, near the city of Alapaevsk in the Perm province. Only Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich resisted and was shot. The rest were stunned and thrown down alive. In 2009, they were all canonized as martyrs.
But this thirst for blood did not subside. In January 1919, four more Romanovs were also shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Grand Dukes Nikolai and George Mikhailovich, Dmitry Konstantinovich and Pavel Alexandrovich. The official version of the revolutionary committee was the following: the elimination of hostages in response to the assassination of Liebknecht and Luxembourg in Germany.
Memoirs of Contemporaries
Researchers have tried to reconstruct how the members of the royal family were killed. Best of all, the testimonies of the people present there help to cope.
The first such source is notes from Trotsky's personal diary. He noted that the blame lies with the local authorities. He especially emphasized the names of Stalin and Sverdlov as the people who made this decision. Lev Davidovich writes that, in the context of the approaching Czechoslovak troops, Stalin’s phrase that “the tsar cannot be surrendered to the White Guards” became a death sentence.
But scientists doubt the exact reflection of events in the notes. They were made in the late thirties, when he worked on a biography of Stalin. A number of mistakes were made there, indicating that Trotsky had forgotten much of those events.
The second evidence is information from the diary of Milyutin, which mentions the murder of the royal family. He writes that Sverdlov came to the meeting and asked Lenin for a word. As soon as Yakov Mikhailovich said that the tsar was gone, Vladimir Ilyich abruptly changed the subject and continued the meeting, as if there was no previous phrase.
The history of the royal family in the last days of life is most fully restored according to the protocols of interrogations of participants in these events. People from the guard, punitive and funeral detachments testified several times.
Although they get confused very often, the main idea remains one. All the Bolsheviks, who were next to the tsar in recent months, had claims against him. Someone in the past was in prison himself, someone has relatives. In general, they gathered a contingent of former prisoners.
In Yekaterinburg, anarchists and Socialist-Revolutionaries pressed the Bolsheviks. In order not to lose credibility, the local council decided to quickly put an end to this matter. Moreover, there was a rumor that Lenin wanted to exchange the royal family for a reduction in the amount of indemnity.
According to the participants, this was the only solution. In addition, many of them during interrogations boasted that they personally killed the emperor. Some with one, and some with three shots. Judging by the diaries of Nicholas and his wife, the workers who guarded them were often drunk. Therefore, real events cannot be truly restored.
What happened to the remains
The murder of the royal family happened secretly, and they planned to keep it a secret. But those responsible for the liquidation of the remains did not cope with their task.
A very large funeral team was assembled. Yurovsky had to send many back to the city "as unnecessary."
According to the participants in the process, they were transported with the task for several days. Initially, it was planned to burn clothes, and throw naked bodies into the mine and fill up with earth. But the collapse did not work. I had to extract the remains of the royal family and come up with another way.
It was decided to burn them or bury them along the road, which was just under construction. Previously, it was thought to disfigure the bodies with sulfuric acid beyond recognition. From the protocols it is clear that two corpses were burned, and the rest were buried.
Allegedly, the body of Alexei and one of the servants' girls burned out.
The second difficulty was that the team was busy all night, and in the morning travelers began to appear. An order was given to cordon off the place and prohibit leaving the neighboring village. But the secrecy of the operation was hopelessly failed.
The investigation revealed that attempts to bury the bodies were near mine No. 7 and the 184th relocation. In particular, near the latter they were discovered in 1991.
Kirsta's investigation
On July 26–27, 1918, peasants discovered a golden cross with precious stones in a bonfire near Iset mine. The find was immediately delivered to Lieutenant Sheremetyev, who was hiding from the Bolsheviks in the village of Koptyaki. A preliminary investigation was carried out , but later the case was assigned to Kirste.
He began to study the testimonies of witnesses pointing to the murder of the imperial Romanov family. The information confused and frightened him. The investigator did not expect that this was not the consequences of a military court, but a criminal case.
He began to question witnesses who gave conflicting testimonies. But on their basis, Kirsta concluded that perhaps only the emperor and the heir were shot. The rest of the family was taken to Perm.
It seems that this investigator set himself the goal of proving that not the entire Romanov royal family was killed. Even after he clearly confirmed the fact of the crime, Kirsta continued to interrogate new people.
So, over time, he finds a certain doctor Utochkin, who proved that he was treating Princess Anastasia. Then another witness spoke about the transfer of the emperor’s wife and some children to Perm, which she knows from rumors.
After Kirsta finally confused the case, it was given to another investigator.
Sokolov's investigation
Having come to power in 1919, Kolchak ordered Dieterichs to find out how the tsar’s Romanov family was killed. The latter assigned the case to the investigator for particularly important cases of the Omsk District.
His last name was Sokolov. This man began to investigate the killing of the royal family from scratch. Although all office work was handed over to him, he did not trust Kirsta's confusing protocols.
Sokolov again visited the mine, as well as in the Ipatiev mansion. Inspection of the house was difficult to find there the headquarters of the Czech army. Nevertheless, a German inscription on the wall was discovered, a quote from a Heine verse that the monarch was killed by his subjects. The words were clearly scratched after the loss of the city in red.
In addition to documents in Yekaterinburg, cases were sent to the investigator on the Perm murder of Prince Mikhail and on a crime against the princes in Alapaevsk.
After the Bolsheviks again seize this region, Sokolov takes all the paperwork to Harbin, and then to Western Europe. Photos of the royal family, diaries, evidence and more were evacuated.
He published the results of the investigation in 1924 in Paris. In 1997, Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, transferred all office work to the Russian government. In return, his family’s archives taken out during the Second World War were delivered to him.
Modern investigation
In 1979, a group of enthusiasts led by Ryabov and Avdonin, according to archival documents, discovered a grave near the 184 km station. In 1991, the latter declared that he knew where the remains of the executed emperor were. An investigation was re-launched to shed light on the murder of the royal family.
The main work on this case was carried out in the archives of two capitals and in the cities featured in the reports of the twenties. The protocols, letters, telegrams, photos of the royal family and their diaries were studied. In addition, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, studies were conducted in the archives of most countries of Western Europe and the United States.
Investigation of the burial was carried out by the senior prosecutor and forensic scientist Soloviev. In general, he confirmed all the materials of Sokolov. His message to Patriarch Alexei II states that "under the conditions of that time, the complete destruction of corpses was impossible."
In addition, the investigation of the late XX - early XXI century completely refuted the alternative versions of events, which we will discuss later.
The canonization of the royal family was carried out in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in Russia in 2000.
Interesting facts and theories
As the Bolsheviks tried to classify this crime, rumors spread that promoted the formation of alternative versions.
So, according to one of them, it was a ritual murder due to a conspiracy of the Zhidomasons. One of the investigator's assistants testified that he saw "Kabbalistic symbols" on the walls of the basement. When checking it turned out to be traces of bullets and bayonets.
According to the theory of Diterichs, the head of the emperor was cut off and alcoholized. Findings of the remains have disproved this crazy idea.
The rumors spread by the Bolsheviks and the false testimonies of the “eyewitnesses” gave rise to a series of versions of the saved people. But photographs of the royal family in the last days of life do not confirm them. And also found and identified remains refute these versions.
Only after all the facts of this crime were proved, canonization of the imperial family took place in Russia. This explains why it was held 19 years later than abroad.
So, in this article we got acquainted with the circumstances and the investigation of one of the most terrible atrocities in the history of Russia of the twentieth century.