The Nagant operated on old black gunpowder which produced a good deal of smoke and fumes; smokeless powder was only just being phased in. It was published in English in 1925. [114] Yurovsky's men ate hardboiled eggs supplied by the local nuns (food that was meant for the imperial family), while the remainder of Ermakov's men were ordered back to the city as Yurovsky did not trust them and was displeased with their drunkenness. 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. Yurovsky killed Tatiana and Alexei. The cellar of Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg, after the Execution of the Imperial Family in the night in July 1918. The basement where the Romanov family was killed. [79] This claim was consistent with that of a former Kremlin guard, Aleksey Akimov, who in the late 1960s stated that Sverdlov instructed him to send a telegram confirming the CEC's approval of the 'trial' (code for execution) but required that both the written form and ticker tape be returned to him immediately after the message was sent. Two of the children were missing, and there were several people claiming to be the long-lost Romanovs. [51] In mid-June, nuns from the Novo-Tikhvinsky Monastery also brought the family food on a daily basis, most of which the captors took when it arrived. [74] He inspected the site on the evening of 17 July and reported back to the Cheka at the Amerikanskaya Hotel. The DNA tests revealed that skeletons four and seven were the parents of skeletons three, five and six. 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. On 17 July 1918, Yakov and other Bolshevik jailers, fearing that the Legion would free Nicholas after conquering the town, murdered him and his family. He had a permit to dig, and authorities assumed he was there for geological research. [25] In all such decisions Lenin regularly insisted that no written evidence be preserved. [131] Sokolov accumulated eight volumes of photographic and eyewitness accounts. What did this mean? But he had a different mission: He believed the bodies of the murdered Romanov family were somewhere in that field. Afterwards, an excavation began when the geologist revealed the hidden grave, and the remains were given to scientists for DNA testing. The Romanov family was executed by the Bolsheviks after the onset of the Russian Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin, which established the world's first communist state. [1] Yurovsky's plan was to perform an efficient execution of all 11 prisoners simultaneously, although he also took into account that he would have to prevent those involved from raping the women or searching the bodies for jewels. [55] On 14 July, a priest and deacon conducted a liturgy for the Romanovs. The other skeletons were not related. He wanted dedicated Bolsheviks who could be relied on to do whatever was asked of them. They were next moved to a house in Yekaterinburg, near the Ural Mountains before their execution in July 1918. [44], The guard commandant and his senior aides had complete access at any time to all rooms occupied by the family. . Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine. The Speckled Domes (1925). Nikolai Sokolov[ru], a legal investigator for the Omsk Regional Court, was appointed to undertake this. By this time, however, the coded telegram ordering the execution of Nicholas, his family and retinue had already been sent to Yekaterinburg. In the early morning of July 17, 1918, Bolshevik troops led the Russian imperial Romanov family to the basement of a Yekaterinburg house. All those under arrest will be held as hostages, and the slightest attempt at counter-revolutionary action in the town will result in the summary execution of the hostages. [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. Ilyich [Lenin] believed that we shouldn't leave the Whites a live banner to rally around, especially under the present difficult circumstances."[24]. [170] In July 1991, the bodies of five family members (the Tsar, Tsarina, and three of their daughters) were exhumed. The Duke and the great-niece matched identically. The Romanovs were buried in two unmarked graves, one containing Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters and another containing Alexei and one of his sisters. [187] On the centenary of the murders, over 100,000 pilgrims took part in a procession led by Patriarch Kirill in Yekaterinburg, marching from the city center where the Romanovs were murdered to a monastery in Ganina Yama. Nicholas Romanov was essentially a pitiful figure, Pravda, the official party newspaper,declared after the murders. Getty Images. But the execution-style killings were just the beginning. The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. No one survived, and anyone who claimed otherwise was an imposter. [108] Beloborodov and Nikulin oversaw the ransacking of the Romanov quarters, seizing all the family's personal items, the most valuable piled up in Yurovsky's office whilst things considered inconsequential and of no value were stuffed into the stoves and burned. [120] Yurovsky and Goloshchyokin, along with several Cheka agents, returned to the mineshaft at about 4 am on the morning of 18 July. [63], During the imperial family's imprisonment in late June, Pyotr Voykov and Alexander Beloborodov, president of the Ural Regional Soviet,[64] directed the smuggling of letters written in French to the Ipatiev House. He returned to the Amerikanskaya Hotel to confer with the Cheka. Yurovsky returned to the forest at 10 pm on 18 July. As the Bolsheviks gathered strength, the government moved Nicholas, Alexandra, and their daughter Maria to Yekaterinburg under the direction of Vasily Yakovlev in April 1918. (Photo Credit: Heritage Images/ Getty Images) Alexei was Nicholas and Alexandra's only son and thus the heir to the Romanov throne. When they stopped, the doors were then opened to scatter the smoke. One woman, who called herself Anna Anderson, surfaced in Berlin a few years after the execution and said she survived with the help of a kind Bolshevik soldier. It was clear they didn't die peacefully, Plotnikovtold The Guardian. The DNA test was conclusive. The state also remained aloof from the celebration, as President Vladimir Putin considers Nicholas II a weak ruler.[190]. [38] The second palisade was constructed after it was learned that passersby could see Nicholas's legs when he used the double swing in the garden. . Nikolai Sokolov devoted his whole life to collecting documents and evidence relating to the murder of the Romanovs. [16] Boris Yeltsin and his wife attended the funeral along with Romanov relations, including Prince Michael of Kent. These men were all intoxicated and they were outraged that the prisoners were not brought to them alive. 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. Around midnight on 17 July, Yurovsky ordered the Romanovs' physician, Eugene Botkin, to awaken the sleeping family and ask them to put on their clothes, under the pretext that the family would be moved to a safe location due to impending chaos in Yekaterinburg. Scientists repeated the mtDNA test and found an exact match. The Tsar, Empress Alexandria, their four daughters and one son were all believed to have perished. [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. [112] Yurovsky maintained control of the situation with great difficulty, eventually getting Ermakov's men to shift some of the bodies from the truck onto the carts. [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". Sokolov's report was banned. The burial of the Romanov family is as gruesome as their execution The murder of the imperial family was no simple affair. Investigators tested the bones mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is. Authorities tell Arizona's Family that an officer was flagged down near Central and Thomas Road when . [37] The initial fence enclosed the garden along Voznesensky Lane. The Romanov family was murdered at Ekaterinburg on July 17th, 1918. (Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons), Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news, Want More? [100] Ermakov grabbed Alexander Strekotin's rifle and bayoneted her in the chest,[100] but when it failed to penetrate he pulled out his revolver and shot her in the head. [159], Lenin also welcomed news of the death of Grand Duchess Elizabeth, who was murdered in Alapayevsk along with five other Romanovs on 18 July 1918, remarking that "virtue with the crown on it is a greater enemy to the world revolution than a hundred tyrant tsars". I made no reply. But Alexei and Marias remains are still being held in a Russian state archivenot buried along with the rest of their family. [102] Only Alexei's spaniel, Joy, survived to be rescued by a British officer of the Allied Intervention Force,[104] living out his final days in Windsor, Berkshire. [91] The last to die were Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria, who were carrying a few pounds (over 1.3 kilograms) of diamonds sewn into their clothing, which had given them a degree of protection from the firing. The authorities exploited the incident as a monarchist-led rebellion that threatened the security of the captives at the Ipatiev House. The Romanov family members were killed by revolutionary Bolsheviks Russian investigators have exhumed the remains of the last tsar and his wife, as they re-examine their 1918 murders. [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. The case, however, was still open. 1941. Their ten servants were dismissed, and they had to give up butter and coffee.[30]. Anderson was really Franziska Schanzkowska of Poland. 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). [140] The presidency of Mikhail Gorbachev brought with it the era of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reform), which prompted Ryabov to reveal the Romanovs' gravesite to The Moscow News on 10 April 1989,[140] much to Avdonin's dismay. In fact, both men were already dead: after the Bolsheviks had removed them from the Ipatiev House in May, they had been shot by the Cheka with a group of other hostages on 6 July, in reprisal for the death of Ivan Malyshev[ru], Chairman of the Ural Regional Committee of the Bolshevik Party killed by the Whites. 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. [139][122] Three skulls were removed from the grave, but after failing to find any scientist and laboratory to help examine them, and worried about the consequences of finding the grave, Avdonin and Ryabov reburied them in the summer of 1980. The bodies had been dumped together, and they decomposed over time, leaving behind disorganized bone fragments. Updated: March 29, 2019 | Original: October 18, 2018. Romanov family shrouded in mystery Nicholas II, his German-born wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children, Anastasia, Maria, Tatiana, Olga and Alexei, were executed by the Bolsheviks. 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. "[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. Readpart 2 here. They were hired on the understanding that they would be prepared, if necessary, to kill the tsar, about which they were sworn to secrecy. In the late 1970s, however, Anderson had surgery on her lower bowel and the hospital kept a tissue sample. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. [14] The identity of the remains was later confirmed by forensic and DNA analysis and investigation, with the assistance of British experts. 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. [124], Yurovsky separated the Tsarevich Alexei and one of his sisters to be buried about 15 metres (50ft) away, in an attempt to confuse anyone who might discover the mass grave with only nine bodies. "And the family with him." out of the jurisdiction of Yekaterinburg and Perm province). More than 60 years earlier, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne while under pressure from the Red Army, an army created in the wake of theBolshevikRevolution of 1917. As soon as the Czechoslovaks seized Yekaterinburg, his apartment was pillaged. 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. The intoxicated Peter Ermakov, the military commissar for Verkh-Isetsk, shot and killed Alexandra with a bullet wound to the head. But Solokov never found the bodies. Both agreed to provide DNA samples. Where were the two missing Romanov children? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month, This story is the first in a two-part series about the Romanovs. In the center of the group, Tsar Nicholas II sits with his wife, the tsarina Alexandra. Investigators tested the bones mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is found outside the nucleus and acts as a power station for the cell. And I can confidently say that today there is no reliable document that would prove the initiative of Lenin and Sverdlov. It was finally carried out in 1991, after the Soviet Unions collapse. The Red Army was secretive about the executions, and the ruling Communist party didnt permit inquiries into the historic event. [150], The men who were directly complicit in the murder of the imperial family largely survived in the immediate months after the murders. Alexandra requested a chair because she was sick, and Nicholas requested a second for Alexei. [92] Within minutes, Yurovsky was forced to stop the shooting because of the caustic smoke of burned gunpowder, dust from the plaster ceiling caused by the reverberation of bullets, and the deafening gunshots. This enabled them to identify that nine people were buried in the grave. [70], The killing of the Tsar's wife and children was also discussed, but it was kept a state secret to avoid any political repercussions; German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach made repeated enquiries to the Bolsheviks concerning the family's well-being. [22][23] This is supported by a passage in Leon Trotsky's diary. 42: . Last week, Barlow-Austin's family reached a $7 million settlement in the case the largest known jail-death settlement in the state, according to the family's attorneys. [96] The corpse of Anastasia's King Charles Spaniel, Jimmy, was also found in the pit. All Rights Reserved. Forensic investigators also found a nephew of the Tsar living in Toronto, but he refused to cooperate. 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. [163] Sverdlov granted permission for the local paper in Yekaterinburg to publish the "Execution of Nicholas, the Bloody Crowned Murderer Shot without Bourgeois Formalities but in Accordance with our new democratic principles",[110] along with the coda that "the wife and son of Nicholas Romanov have been sent to a safe place". Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images, https://www.history.com/news/romanov-family-bodies-discovery-coverup, Why the Romanov Familys Fate Was a Secret Until the Fall of the Soviet Union. Filipp Goloshchyokin, a close associate of Yakov Sverdlov, being a military commissar of the Uralispolkom in Yekaterinburg, however did not actually participate, and two or three guards refused to take part. [9] The Soviets finally acknowledged the murders in 1926 following the publication in France of a 1919 investigation by a White migr but said that the bodies were destroyed and that Lenin's Cabinet was not responsible. However, Moscow's Basmanny Court ordered the re-opening of the case, saying that a Supreme Court ruling blaming the state for the killings made the deaths of the actual gunmen irrelevant, according to a lawyer for the Tsar's relatives and local news agencies. [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. Missing remains and a Bolshevik cover-up after the brutal execution of the imperial family fueled wild rumors. . [134], His preliminary report was published in a book that same year in French and then Russian. The local Cheka chose replacements from the volunteer battalions of the Verkh-Isetsk factory at Yurovsky's request. This story is the first in a two-part series about the Romanovs. What? [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. 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. [32] They were forbidden to speak any language other than Russian[33] and were not permitted access to their luggage, which was stored in a warehouse in the interior courtyard. [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." In the past, several people claimed to be one of the children who miraculously survived, including a few who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia. [100] After the killings, he was to declare that "The world will never know what we did with them." 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. He also had the same distinction, which confirmed the skeleton in the mass grave was indeed the last Tsar of Russia. 49: . No excursions to Divine Liturgy at the nearby church were permitted. But it would prove difficult to determine whether these bones belonged the murdered Romanovs. The two missing children had been buried about 70 meters from the mass grave.