I bring to the attention of readers a very interesting information from the book "The Way of the Cross of the Holy Royal Martyrs"
(Moscow 2002)

The murder of the Royal Family was prepared in the strictest secrecy. Even many high-ranking Bolsheviks were not privy to it.

It was carried out in Yekaterinburg on orders from Moscow, according to a long-planned plan.

The investigation names Yankel Movshevich Sverdlov, who served as chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, as the main organizer of the murder. Committee of the Congress of Soviets, the all-powerful temporary ruler of Russia in this era.

All the threads of the crime converge to him. Instructions came from him, received and carried out in Yekaterinburg. His task was to give the murder the appearance of an unauthorized act of the local Ural authorities, thus removing the responsibility of the Soviet government and the real initiators of the atrocity.

The following persons were accomplices in the murder from among the local Bolshevik leaders: Shaya Isaakovich Goloshchekin, a personal friend of Sverdlov, who seized de facto power in the Urals, the military commissar of the Ural region, the head of the Cheka and the chief executioner of the Urals at that time; Yankel Izidorovich Weisbart (called himself a Russian worker A.G. Beloborodov) - Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Ural Regional Council; Alexander Moebius - Chief of the Revolutionary Staff - Special Representative of Bronstein-Trotsky; Yankel Chaimovich Yurovsky (calling himself Yakov Mikhailovich, - Commissar of Justice of the Ural Region, member of the Cheka; Pinkhus Lazarevich Vainer (who called himself Petr Lazarevich Voikov (the modern station of the Moscow metro Voikovskaya bears his name) - Commissar of Supply of the Ural Region, - the closest assistant to Yurovsky and Safarov is Yurovsky's second assistant, all following instructions from Moscow from Sverdlov, Apfelbaum, Lenin, Uritsky, and Bronstein-Trotsky (in his memoirs, published abroad in 1931, Trotsky accused himself, cynically justifying the murder of the entire Imperial Family, including including the August Children).

In the absence of Goloshchekin (he went to Moscow to Sverdlov for instructions), preparations for the murder of the Royal Family began to take a concrete form: they removed unnecessary witnesses - internal guards, because. she was almost completely disposed towards the Royal Family and was unreliable for the executioners, namely on July 3, 1918. - Avdeev and his assistant Moshkin (he was even arrested) were suddenly expelled. Instead of Avdeev, the commandant of the "House of Special Purpose", Yurovsky became his assistant, Nikulin (known for his atrocities in Kamyshin, working in the Cheka) was appointed his assistant.

All guards were replaced by selected Chekists seconded by the local emergency department. From that moment and during the last two weeks, when the Royal Prisoners had to live under the same roof with their future executioners, Their Life has become continuous torment...

On Sunday, July 1/14, three days before the assassination, at the request of the Sovereign, Yurovsky allowed the invitation of Archpriest Fr. John Storozhev and Deacon Bumirov, who, even earlier on May 20/June 2, had served a dinner for the Royal Family. They noticed the change that had taken place in the state of mind of Their Majesties and the August Children. According to O. John, They were not in "oppression of the spirit, but still gave the impression of being tired." On this day, for the first time, none of the members of the Royal Family sang during the service. They prayed in silence, as if anticipating that this was their last church prayer, and as if it had been revealed to Him that this prayer would be extraordinary. And indeed, a momentous event took place here, the deep and mysterious meaning of which became clear only when it receded into the past. The deacon began to sing “God rest with the saints,” although according to the order of the Mass, this prayer is supposed to be read,” recalls Fr. Ioann: “... I also began to sing, somewhat embarrassed by such a deviation from the charter, but as soon as we sang, I heard that the members of the Romanov Family standing behind me knelt down ...”. So the Royal Prisoners, without suspecting it themselves, prepared for death, having accepted the funeral parting words ...

Meanwhile, Goloshchekin brought an order from Moscow from Sverdlov to execute the Royal Family.

Yurovsky and his team of executioners quickly prepared everything for execution. On the morning of Tuesday 3/16 July 1918 he removed from the Ipatiev house the apprentice cook little Leonid Sednev - the nephew of I.D. Sednev (children's lackey).

But even in these dying days, the Royal Family did not lose courage. On Monday 2/15 July, four women were sent to the Ipatiev house to wash the floors. One later showed the investigator: "I personally washed the floors in almost all the rooms reserved for the Royal Family ... The princesses helped us clean and move the beds in Their bedroom and talked merrily among themselves ...".

At 7 pm, Yurovsky ordered the revolvers to be taken away from the Russian outer guard, then he distributed the same revolvers to the participants in the execution, Pavel Medvedev helped him.

On this last day of the life of the Prisoners, the Sovereign, the Heir Tsesarevich and all the Grand Duchesses went out for their usual walk in the garden and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, during the change of guards, returned to the house. They didn't come out anymore. The evening routine was not disturbed by anything ...

Without suspecting anything, the Royal Family went to bed. Shortly after midnight, Yurovsky entered Their rooms, woke everyone up and, under the pretext of the danger threatening the city from the approaching white troops, announced that he had orders to take the Prisoners to a safe place. After a while, when everyone was dressed, washed and prepared for departure, Yurovsky, accompanied by Nikulin and Medvedev, led the Royal Family to the lower floor to the outer door overlooking Voznesensky Lane.

Yurovsky and Nikulin walked in front, holding a lamp in his hand to illuminate the dark narrow staircase. The emperor followed them. He carried in his arms the Heir Alexei Nikolaevich. The Leg of the Heir was bandaged with a thick bandage, and with every step He groaned softly. The Sovereign and the Grand Duchesses followed the Sovereign. Some of Them had a pillow with Them, and the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna carried her beloved dog Jimmy in her arms. This was followed by the life physician E.S. Botkin, the room girl A.S. Demidova, the footman A.E. Trupp and the cook I.M. Kharitonov. The procession was brought up by Medvedev. Going downstairs and passing through the entire lower floor to the corner room - this was the front room with the exit door to the street - Yurovsky turned left into the adjacent middle room, just under the Grand Duchesses' bedroom, and announced that they would have to wait until the cars were brought. It was an empty basement room 5 1/3 long and 4 1/2 meters wide.

Since the Tsarevich could not stand, and the Empress was unwell, at the request of the Sovereign, three chairs were brought. The Sovereign sat in the middle of the room, seating the Heir next to Himself and embracing Him right hand. Behind the Heir and a little to the side of Him stood Dr. Botkin. The empress sat down left hand from the Sovereign, closer to the window and one step behind. On Her chair, and on the chair of the Heir, they put a pillow. On the same side, even closer to the wall with a window, in the back of the room, stood the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna and a little further, in the corner by outer wall- Anna Demidova. Behind the chair of the Empress was one of the senior V. Princesses, probably Tatyana Nikolaevna. On Her right hand, leaning against the back wall, stood V. Princesses Olga Nikolaevna and Maria Nikolaevna; next to Them, a little ahead, A. Trupp, holding a blanket for the Heir, and in the far left corner from the door, cook Kharitonov. The first half of the room from the entrance remained free. Everyone was calm. They seem to be accustomed to such nocturnal alarms and movements. In addition, Yurovsky's explanations seemed plausible, and some "forced" delay did not arouse any suspicion.

alt Yurovsky came out to make the last orders. By this time, all 11 executioners who had shot the Royal Family and Her faithful servants that night had gathered in one of the neighboring rooms. Here are their names: Yankel Khaimovich Yurovsky, Nikulin, Stepan Vaganov, Pavel Spiridonovich Medvedev, Laons Gorvat, Anselm Fischer, Isidor Edelstein, Emil Fekte, Imre Nad, Viktor Grinfeld and Andreas Vergazi - Magyar mercenaries.

Each had a seven-shot revolver. Yurovsky, moreover, had a Mauser, and two of them had rifles with attached bayonets. Each murderer chose his victim in advance: Gorvat chose Botkin. But at the same time, Yurovsky strictly forbade all others to shoot at the Sovereign Emperor and the Tsesarevich: he wanted - or rather, he was ordered - to kill the Russian Orthodox Tsar and His Heir with his own hand.

Outside the window came the sound of the engine of a four-ton Fiat truck, ready to transport the bodies. Shooting to the sound of a running truck engine to drown out the shots was a favorite trick of the Chekists. This method has been applied here as well.

It was 1 o'clock. 15m. Nights in solar time, or 3h. 15m. according to summer time (translated by the Bolsheviks two hours ahead). Yurovsky returned to the room, along with the entire team of executioners. Nikulin moved closer to the window, opposite the Empress. Gorvat settled down facing Dr. Botkin. The rest split up on either side of the door. Medvedev took up a position on the threshold.

Approaching the Sovereign, Yurovsky said a few words, announcing the impending execution. This was so unexpected that the Sovereign, apparently, did not immediately understand the meaning of what was said. He got up from his chair and asked in astonishment: “What? What?" The Empress and one of the V. Princesses managed to cross themselves. At this moment, Yurovsky raised his revolver and fired several times at point-blank range, first at the Sovereign and then at the Heir.

Almost simultaneously, others began to shoot. The Grand Duchesses, who were standing in the second row, saw how Their Parents fell, and began to scream in horror. They were destined to outlive Them for a few terrible moments. The shot fell one by one. Within only 2-3 minutes, about 70 shots were fired. Wounded princesses were pierced with bayonets. The heir groaned weakly. Yurovsky killed him with two shots to the head. The wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts.

Anna Demidova thrashed about until she fell under the blows of the bayonets. Some of the victims were shot and stabbed to death before all was quiet.

... Through the bluish fog that filled the room from many shots, with the weak illumination of one electric light bulb, the picture of the murder was a terrifying sight.

The Emperor fell forward, close to the Empress. Next to him lay on his back the Heir. The Grand Duchesses were together, as if they were holding each other's hands. Between Them spread the corpse of little Jimmy, whom the Great Anastasia Nikolaevna pressed to her until the last moment. Dr. Botkin took a step forward before falling prone with his right arm raised. Anna Demidova and Alexey Trupp fell near the back wall. Ivan Kharitonov was lying on his back at the feet of the Grand Duchesses. All those killed had several wounds, and therefore there was especially a lot of blood. Their faces and clothes were covered in blood, it stood in puddles on the floor, covered the walls with splashes and stains. It seemed that the whole room was filled with blood and was a slaughterhouse (the Old Testament altar).

On the night of the martyrdom of the Royal Family, Blessed Mary of Diveyevo raged and shouted: “Tsarevna with bayonets! Damned Jews! She raged terribly, and only then did they understand what she was screaming about. Under the arches of the Ipatiev cellar, in which the Royal Martyrs and their Faithful servants finished their way of the cross, inscriptions left by the executioners were found. One of them consisted of four cabalistic signs. It was deciphered as follows: “Here, by order of the satanic forces, the King was sacrificed for the destruction of the State. All nations are informed of this."

“... At the very beginning of this century, even before the First World War, small shops in the kingdom of Poland sold from under the floor rather crudely printed postcards depicting a Jewish “tzadik” (rabbi) with a torah in one hand and a white bird in the other. The bird had the head of Emperor Nicholas II, with the imperial crown. Below ... was the following inscription: "Let this sacrificial animal be my purification, it will be my replacement and purification sacrifice."

During the investigation into the murder of Nicholas II and His Family, it was established that the day before this crime, a special train arrived in Yekaterinburg from Central Russia, consisting of a steam locomotive and one passenger car. In it came a person in black clothes, similar to a Jewish rabbi. This person examined the basement of the house and left on the wall (above-comp.) Kabbalistic inscription ... ". "Christography", magazine " A new book Russia".

... By this time, Shaya Goloshchekin, Beloborodov, Mobius and Voikov arrived at the "House of Special Purpose". Yurovsky and Voikov engaged in a thorough examination of the dead. They turned everyone on their backs to make sure there were no signs of life left. At the same time, they removed jewelry from their victims: rings, bracelets, gold watches. They took off the shoes from the Princesses, which they then gave to their mistresses.

Then the bodies were wrapped in a pre-prepared overcoat and transferred on a stretcher made of two shafts and sheets to a truck parked at the entrance. Lyukhanov, a worker from Zlokazovsky, was driving. Yurovsky, Ermakov and Vaganov sat with him.

Under the cover of night, the truck drove away from Ipatiev's house, went down Voznesensky Prospekt towards Glavny Prospekt and left the city through the suburb of Verkh-Isetsk. Here he turned onto the only road leading to the village of Koptyaki, located on the shores of Lake Iset. The road there goes through the forest, crossing the Perm and Tagil railway lines. It was already dawn when, about 15 versts from Yekaterinburg and, not reaching four versts to Koptyakov, in the dense forest in the tract of the Four Brothers, the truck turned left and reached a small forest clearing near a row of abandoned mine shafts, called Ganina Yama. Here the bodies of the Royal Martyrs were unloaded, chopped up, doused with gasoline and thrown on two large fires. The bones were destroyed with sulfuric acid. For three days and two nights, the killers, assisted by 15 responsible party communists specially mobilized for this purpose, did their diabolical work under the direct supervision of Yurovsky, on the instructions of Voikov and under the supervision of Goloshchekin and Beloborodov, who several times came from Yekaterinburg to the forest. Finally, by the evening of July 6/19, it was all over. The killers carefully destroyed the traces of the fires. The ashes and all that was left of the burnt bodies were thrown into the shaft, which was then blown up with hand grenades, and the ground around was dug up and covered with leaves and moss to hide the traces of the crime committed here.

alt Beloborodov immediately telegraphed Sverdlov about the murder of the Royal Family. However, this latter did not dare to reveal the truth not only to the Russian people, but even to the Soviet government. At a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, which took place on July 5/18 under the chairmanship of Lenin, Sverdlov made an emergency statement. It was a bunch of lies.

He said that a message had been received from Yekaterinburg about the execution of the Sovereign Emperor, that he had been shot by order of the Ural Regional Council, and that the Empress and the Heir had been evacuated to a "safe place." He kept silent about the fate of the Grand Duchesses. In conclusion, he added that the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the decision of the Ural Council. After listening in silence to Sverdlov's statement, the members of the Council of People's Commissars continued the meeting ...

The next day it was announced in Moscow in all the newspapers. After long negotiations with Sverdlov by direct wire, Goloshchekin made a similar report in the Ural Soviet, which was published in Yekaterinburg only on July 8/21, since the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviks, who allegedly shot the Royal Family without permission, in reality did not even dare to release a message about the execution without permission from Moscow. Meanwhile, with the approach of the front, a stampede of the Bolsheviks from Yekaterinburg began. On July 12/25, he was taken by the troops of the Siberian Army. On the same day, guards were assigned to Ipatiev's house, and on July 17/30 a judicial investigation began, which restored the picture of this terrible atrocity in almost all details, and also established the identity of its organizers and perpetrators. In subsequent years, a number of new witnesses appeared, and new documents and facts became known, which further supplemented and clarified the materials of the investigation.

Investigating the ritual murder of the Royal Family, investigator N.A. Sokolov, who literally sifted the whole earth at the site of the burning of the bodies of the Royal Family and found numerous fragments of crushed and burnt bones and extensive greasy masses, did not find a single tooth, not a single fragment of them, but As you know, teeth don't burn in fire. It turned out that after the murder, Isaac Goloshchekin immediately went to Moscow with three barrels of alcohol ... He brought with him to Moscow these heavy barrels, sealed in wooden boxes and wrapped with ropes, and in the passenger compartment, without touching the contents in them, there was absolutely no place in the cabin. Some of the accompanying guards and train servants inquired about the mysterious cargo. Goloshchekin answered all questions that he was carrying samples of artillery shells for the Putilov factory. In Moscow, Goloshchekin took the boxes, went to Yankel Sverdlov and lived with him for five days without returning to the car. What documents in the literal sense of the word, and for what purpose, could be of interest to Yankel Sverdlov, Nahamkes and Bronstein?

It is quite possible that the murderers, destroying the Tsar's bodies, separated their honest heads from them, in order to prove to the leadership in Moscow that the entire Tsar's Family had been liquidated. This method, as a form of "reporting", was widely used in the Cheka, in those terrible years of massacres by the Bolsheviks of the defenseless population of Russia.

There is a rare picture: in the days of the February unrest, the Tsar's children, sick with measles, after recovery, all five were removed with shaved heads - so that only heads are visible, and they all have the same face. The empress burst into tears: five children's heads seem to be cut off ...

That it was a ritual murder is beyond doubt. This is evidenced not only by ritual Kabbalistic inscriptions in the basement room of the Ipatiev House, but also by the killers themselves.

The wicked knew what they were doing. Their speeches are remarkable. One of the regicides M.A. Medvedev (Kudrin) described in December 1963 the night of July 17:

… Went down to the first floor. Here's that room, "very small." "Yurovsky and Nikulin brought three chairs - the last thrones of the condemned Dynasty."

Yurovsky declares aloud: “... we have been entrusted with the mission to put an end to the House of Romanov!”

And here is the moment immediately after the massacre: “Near the truck I meet Philip Goloshchekin.

Where have you been? I ask him.

Walked around the square. Heard shots. It was heard. — Bent over the King.

The end, you say, of the Romanov Dynasty?! Yes…

A Red Army soldier brought Anastasia's lap dog on a bayonet - when we walked past the door (to the stairs to the second floor), a long, plaintive howl was heard from behind the wings - the last salute to the Emperor of All Russia. The dog's corpse was thrown next to the royal one.

Dogs - dog death! said Goloshchekin contemptuously.

After the fanatics initially threw the bodies of the Royal Martyrs into the mine, they decided to take them out of there in order to set them on fire. “From the 17th to the 18th of July,” recalled P.Z. Ermakov, - I again arrived in the forest, brought the rope. I was lowered into the mine. I began to tie each one individually, and two guys pulled out. All the corpses were obtained (sik! - S.F.) from the mine in order to put an end to the Romanovs and so that their friends would not think to create HOLY RELIGIONS.

Already mentioned by us M.A. Medvedev testified: “In front of us were ready-made“ MIRACLES”: ice water mines not only completely washed away the blood, but also froze the bodies so much that they looked like they were alive - a blush even appeared on the faces of the Tsar, girls and women.

One of the participants in the destruction of the royal bodies, Chekist G.I. Sukhorukov recalled on April 3, 1928: “In order that if the whites even found these corpses and did not guess by the number that this was the Tsar’s Family, we decided to burn two pieces at the stake, which we did, the first Heir and the second is the youngest daughter Anastasia ... ".

Member of the regicide M.A. Medvedev (Kudrin) (December 1963): “With the deep religiosity of the people in the provinces, it was impossible to allow the enemy to leave even the remains of the Royal Dynasty, from which the clergy would immediately fabricate “HOLY MIRACLES”…”.

Another Chekist G.P. Nikulin in his radio conversation on May 12, 1964: “... Even if a corpse was discovered, then, obviously, some kind of POWER was created from it, you know, around which some kind of counter-revolution would be grouped ...”.

The same was confirmed the next day by his comrade I.I. Rodzinsky: “… It was a very serious matter.<…>If the White Guards discovered these remains, do you know what they would do? POWERS. religious processions, would use the darkness of the village. Therefore, the question of hiding traces was more important than even the execution itself.<…>That was the most important…”

No matter how distorted the bodies are, M.K. Dieterikhs, - Isaac Goloshchekin perfectly understood that for a Russian Christian it is not the finding of a physical whole body that matters, but the most insignificant remains of Them, as sacred relics of those bodies whose soul is immortal and cannot be destroyed by Isaac Goloshchekin or another similar fanatic from the Jewish people ".

Verily, even the demons believe and tremble!

... The Bolsheviks renamed the city of Yekaterinburg to Sverdlovsk - in honor of the main organizer of the murder of the Royal Family, and thereby not only confirmed the correctness of the accusation of the judiciary, but also their responsibility for this greatest crime in the history of mankind, committed by the world forces of evil ...

The very date of the savage murder is not accidental - July 17th. On this day, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy noble prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who, with his martyr's blood, consecrated the autocracy of Russia. According to the chroniclers, the Jewish conspirators, who "accepted" Orthodoxy and benefited by Him, killed him in the most cruel way. Saint Prince Andrei was the first to proclaim the idea of ​​Orthodoxy and Autocracy as the basis of the statehood of Holy Russia and was, in fact, the first Russian Tsar.

By God's providence, the Royal Martyrs were taken from earthly life all together. As a reward for boundless mutual love, which tightly bound Them into one inseparable whole.

The sovereign courageously ascended Golgotha ​​and, with meek obedience to the Will of God, accepted martyrdom. He left as a legacy the unclouded Monarchical Beginning as a precious Pledge received by Him from his Royal ancestors.

Moscow. On July 17, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and all members of his family were shot in Yekaterinburg. Almost a hundred years later, the tragedy has been studied up and down by Russian and foreign researchers. Below are the top 10 important facts about what happened in July 1917 in the Ipatiev House.

1. The Romanov family and retinue were placed in Yekaterinburg on April 30, in the house of a retired military engineer N.N. Ipatiev. Doctor E. S. Botkin, footman A. E. Trupp, Empress A. S. Demidov’s maid, cook I. M. Kharitonov and cook Leonid Sednev lived in the house with the royal family. All but the cook were killed along with the Romanovs.

2. In June 1917, Nicholas II received several letters allegedly from a white Russian officer. The anonymous author of the letters told the tsar that the supporters of the crown intended to kidnap the prisoners of the Ipatiev House and asked Nikolai to help - draw plans for the rooms, inform the sleep schedule of family members, etc. The tsar, however, in his answer stated: “We do not want and cannot run away. We can only be abducted by force, as we were brought from Tobolsk by force. Therefore, do not count on any of our active help, "thus refusing to assist the" abductors, "but not giving up the very idea of ​​being abducted.

Subsequently, it turned out that the letters were written by the Bolsheviks in order to check the readiness royal family to escape. The author of the texts of the letters was P. Voikov.

3. Rumors about the assassination of Nicholas II appeared in June 1917 after the assassination of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. The official version of the disappearance of Mikhail Alexandrovich was an escape; at the same time, the tsar was allegedly killed by a Red Army soldier who broke into the Ipatiev House.

4. The exact text of the verdict, which the Bolsheviks took out and read to the tsar and his family, is unknown. At about 2 a.m. from July 16 to 17, the guards woke doctor Botkin so that he would wake him up. royal family, ordered to pack up and go down to the basement. It went to the fees, different sources, from half an hour to an hour. After the Romanovs with the servants went down, the Chekist Yankel Yurovsky informed them that they would be killed.

According to various recollections, he said:

"Nikolai Alexandrovich, your relatives tried to save you, but they did not have to. And we are forced to shoot you ourselves"(Based on the materials of the investigator N. Sokolov)

"Nikolai Alexandrovich! Attempts by your like-minded people to save you were unsuccessful! And now, in a difficult time for the Soviet Republic ... - Yakov Mikhailovich raises his voice and cuts the air with his hand: - ... we have been entrusted with the mission of ending the Romanovs' house"(according to the memoirs of M. Medvedev (Kudrin))

"Your friends are advancing on Yekaterinburg, and therefore you are sentenced to death"(according to the memoirs of Yurovsky's assistant G. Nikulin.)

Yurovsky himself later said that he did not remember the exact words he uttered. "... I immediately, as far as I remember, told Nikolai something like the following, that his royal relatives and close ones both in the country and abroad, tried to release him, and that the Soviet of Workers' Deputies decided to shoot them."

5. Emperor Nicholas, having heard the verdict, asked again:"My God, what is this?" According to other sources, he managed to say only: "What?"

6. Three Latvians refused to carry out the sentence and left the basement shortly before the Romanovs went down there. The weapons of the refuseniks were distributed among those who remained. According to the recollections of the participants themselves, 8 people participated in the execution. “In fact, there were 8 performers of us: Yurovsky, Nikulin, Mikhail Medvedev, Pavel Medvedev four, Peter Ermakov five, so I’m not sure that Kabanov Ivan is six. And I don’t remember the names of two more,” G writes in his memoirs. .Nikulin.

7. It is still unknown whether the execution of the royal family was sanctioned by the highest authorities. According to the official version, the decision on the "execution" was made by the executive committee of the Ural Regional Council, while the central Soviet leadership found out about what had happened only after. By the beginning of the 90s. a version was formed according to which the Ural authorities could not make such a decision without a directive from the Kremlin and agreed to take responsibility for the unauthorized execution in order to provide the central government with a political alibi.

The fact that the Ural Regional Council was not a judicial or other body that had the authority to pass sentence, the execution of the Romanovs for a long time was considered not as political repression, but as a murder, which prevented the posthumous rehabilitation of the royal family.

8. After the execution, the bodies of the dead were taken out of the city and burned, previously poured with sulfuric acid to bring the remains beyond recognition. The sanction for the release of a large amount of sulfuric acid was issued by the Commissar for the supply of the Urals P. Voikov.

9. Information about the murder of the royal family became known to society a few years later; initially Soviet authority reported that only Nicholas II was killed, Alexander Fedorovna and her children were allegedly transported to a safe place in Perm. The truth about the fate of the entire royal family was told in the article "The Last Days of the Last Tsar" by P. M. Bykov.

The Kremlin recognized the fact of the execution of all members of the royal family, when the results of the investigation of N. Sokolov became known in the West, in 1925.

10. The remains of five members of the imperial family and four of their servants were found in July 1991. not far from Yekaterinburg under the embankment of the Old Koptyakovskaya road. On July 17, 1998, the remains of members of the imperial family were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. In July 2007, the remains of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria were found.

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 coming 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, the secretary of the church commission for studying the results of the study of the remains found near Yekaterinburg, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Yegoryevsk, said: a large number of new circumstances and new documents. 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 the 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 there is 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 “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 West and East during the First World War and the Civil War: Japan - 80 billion dollars, Great Britain - 50 billion, France - 25 billion, USA - 23 billion, Sweden - 5 billion, the 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 a British law firm to 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 the 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 the collected materials, sent them to Harbin - some of his materials were lost along 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 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 tsarina died in the village of Starobelskaya, Lugansk region, on April 2, 1948, and was subsequently reburied in Nizhny Novgorod, where she and the emperor share a common grave. Three daughters of Nicholas II, except for Olga, had children. N.A. Romanov talked with I.V. Stalin, and wealth Russian Empire were used to strengthen the power of the USSR ...

The question "Who shot the royal family?" in itself is immoral and can only interest lovers of "fried" and fans of conspiracy theories. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church was only interested in the identification of the remains, which is why the canonization of the royal family was carried out only in 2000 (19 years later than in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), and all its members were canonized as Russian New Martyrs. At the same time, the question of who gave the order and was the executor of the execution is not exaggerated in church circles. In addition, to this day there is no exact list of the persons of the "firing" team. In the twenties and thirties of the last century, many people involved in this act of vandalism vied with each other to boast about their participation (like the anecdotal associates of V.I. Lenin, who helped him drag the log on the first subbotnik) and wrote memoirs about it. However, almost all of them were shot during the Yezhov purges of 1936-1938.

Today, almost everyone who recognizes the execution of the royal family believes that the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg was the place of execution. According to most historians, the following people were directly involved in the execution:

• member of the collegium of the Ural Regional Extraordinary Commission Ya.M. Yurovsky;
• head of the "Flying Squad" of the Ural Cheka G.P. Nikulin;
• Commissioner M.A. Medvedev;
• Ural security officer, head of the guard service P.Z. Ermakov;
• Vaganov S.P., Kabanov A.G., Medvedev P.S., Netrebin V.N., Tselms Ya.M. are considered ordinary participants in the execution.

As can be seen from the above list, there was no dominance of "Jewish Masons" or Balts (Latvian shooters) in the firing squad. Some researchers also question the number of people directly involved in the execution. The execution cellar had dimensions of 5 × 6 meters, and such a number of executioners simply would not have fit there.

Speaking about who from the top leadership gave the order for the execution, it can be said with confidence that neither V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky did not know about the upcoming execution. Moreover, in early July, Lenin ordered the transfer of the entire royal family to Moscow, where it was supposed to organize a demonstrative people's trial of Nicholas II, and the “fiery tribune” L.D. Trotsky. The question of what Ya.M. knew about the upcoming execution. Sverdlov, also debatable, but not indisputable. The fact that the order was given by I.V. Stalin, let it be on the conscience of the democrats of the times of perestroika and glasnost. In those years, Joseph Stalin was not a prominent figure in the top of the Bolsheviks and most of the time he was absent from Moscow, being at the fronts.

At one time, rumors started by Ya.M. Yurovsky, that one of the participants in the execution was brought to Moscow to be shown to V.I. To Lenin and L.D. Trotsky, the alcoholized head of the last emperor. And only the burial found and the genetic examinations carried out dispelled this heresy.

According to the "Jewish" version, the immediate leader and main executor was Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (Yankel Khaimovich Yurovsky). The "execution" team consisted mainly of foreigners: according to one version - Latvians, according to another - Chinese. Moreover, the execution itself was organized as a ritual action. A rabbi was invited to it, who was responsible for the religious correctness of the ceremony. The walls of the execution cellar were painted with Kabbalistic signs. However, after, on the orders of the First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee B.N. Yeltsin, the house of special maintenance (Ipatiev House) was demolished in 1977, you can invent and invent anything.

In all these theories, it is not clear why the relatives of Emperor Nicholas II - neither "cousin" Willy (German Kaiser Wilhelm II), nor the King of England, cousin of the Russian autocrat George V - insisted to the Provisional Government on granting political asylum to the royal family. And here there are many conspiracy theories why neither the Entente, nor Germany and Austria-Hungary needed the Romanov dynasty. However, this is a topic for a separate study.

In addition, there is a group of historians-researchers of the question "Who shot the royal family?", who believe that there was no execution, but only its imitation. And no genetic examinations and skull reconstructions can convince them otherwise.

From renunciation to execution: the life of the Romanovs in exile through the eyes of the last empress

On March 2, 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne. Russia was left without a king. And the Romanovs ceased to be a royal family.

Perhaps this was Nikolai Alexandrovich's dream - to live as if he were not an emperor, but simply the father of a large family. Many said that he had a gentle character. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was his opposite: she was seen as a sharp and domineering woman. He was the head of the country, but she was the head of the family.

She was prudent and stingy, but humble and very pious. She knew how to do a lot: she was engaged in needlework, painted, and during the First World War she looked after the wounded - and taught her daughters how to dress. The simplicity of the royal upbringing can be judged by the letters of the Grand Duchesses to their father: they easily wrote to him about the "idiotic photographer", "nasty handwriting" or that "the stomach wants to eat, it is already cracking." Tatyana in letters to Nikolai signed "Your faithful Ascensionist", Olga - "Your faithful Elisavetgradets", and Anastasia did this: "Your daughter Nastasya, who loves you. Shvybzik. ANRPZSG Artichokes, etc."

A German who grew up in the UK, Alexandra wrote mostly in English, but she spoke Russian well, albeit with an accent. She loved Russia - just like her husband. Anna Vyrubova, a lady-in-waiting and close friend of Alexandra, wrote that Nikolai was ready to ask his enemies for one thing: not to expel him from the country and let him live with his family as "the simplest peasant." Perhaps the imperial family would really be able to live by their work. But the Romanovs were not allowed to live a private life. Nicholas from the king turned into a prisoner.

"The thought that we are all together pleases and comforts..."Arrest in Tsarskoye Selo

"The sun blesses, prays, holds on to her faith and for the sake of her martyr. She does not interfere in anything (...). Now she is only a mother with sick children ..." - the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to her husband on March 3, 1917.

Nicholas II, who signed the abdication, was at Headquarters in Mogilev, and his family was in Tsarskoye Selo. The children fell ill one by one with the measles. At the beginning of each diary entry, Alexandra indicated what the weather was like today and what temperature each of the children had. She was very pedantic: she numbered all her letters of that time so that they would not get lost. The wife's son was called baby, and each other - Alix and Nicky. Their correspondence is more like the communication of young lovers than a husband and wife who have already lived together for more than 20 years.

“At first glance, I realized that Alexandra Fedorovna, a smart and attractive woman, although now broken and irritated, had an iron will,” wrote Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government.

On March 7, the Provisional Government decided to place the former imperial family under arrest. The attendants and servants who were in the palace could decide for themselves whether to leave or stay.

"You can't go there, Colonel"

On March 9, Nicholas arrived in Tsarskoye Selo, where he was first greeted not as an emperor. "The officer on duty shouted: 'Open the gates to the former tsar.' (...) When the sovereign passed by the officers gathered in the vestibule, no one greeted him. The sovereign did it first. Only then did everyone give him greetings," wrote valet Alexei Volkov.

According to the memoirs of witnesses and the diaries of Nicholas himself, it seems that he did not suffer from the loss of the throne. “Despite the conditions in which we now find ourselves, the thought that we are all together is comforting and encouraging,” he wrote on March 10. Anna Vyrubova (she stayed with the royal family, but was soon arrested and taken away) recalled that he was not even offended by the attitude of the guards, who were often rude and could say to the former Supreme Commander: “You can’t go there, Mr. Colonel, come back when you they say!"

A vegetable garden was set up in Tsarskoye Selo. Everyone worked: the royal family, close associates and servants of the palace. Even a few soldiers of the guard helped

On March 27, the head of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, forbade Nikolai and Alexandra to sleep together: the spouses were allowed to see each other only at the table and speak to each other exclusively in Russian. Kerensky did not trust the former empress.

In those days, an investigation was underway into the actions of the couple's inner circle, it was planned to interrogate the spouses, and the minister was sure that she would put pressure on Nikolai. "People like Alexandra Feodorovna never forget anything and never forgive anything," he later wrote.

Alexei's mentor Pierre Gilliard (he was called Zhilik in the family) recalled that Alexandra was furious. "To do this to the sovereign, to do this disgusting thing to him after he sacrificed himself and abdicated in order to avoid a civil war - how low, how petty!" she said. But in her diary there is only one discreet entry about this: "N<иколаю>and I'm only allowed to meet at mealtimes, not to sleep together."

The measure did not last long. On April 12, she wrote: "Tea in the evening in my room, and now we sleep together again."

There were other restrictions - domestic. The guards reduced the heating of the palace, after which one of the ladies of the court fell ill with pneumonia. The prisoners were allowed to walk, but passers-by looked at them through the fence - like animals in a cage. Humiliation did not leave them at home either. As Count Pavel Benkendorf said, "when the Grand Duchesses or the Empress approached the windows, the guards allowed themselves to behave indecently in front of their eyes, thus causing the laughter of their comrades."

The family tried to be happy with what they have. At the end of April, a garden was laid out in the park - the turf was dragged by the imperial children, and servants, and even guard soldiers. Chopped wood. We read a lot. They gave lessons to the thirteen-year-old Alexei: due to the lack of teachers, Nikolai personally taught him history and geography, and Alexander taught the Law of God. We rode bicycles and scooters, swam in a pond in a kayak. In July, Kerensky warned Nikolai that, due to the unsettled situation in the capital, the family would soon be moved south. But instead of the Crimea they were exiled to Siberia. In August 1917, the Romanovs left for Tobolsk. Some of the close ones followed them.

"Now it's their turn." Link in Tobolsk

“We settled far from everyone: we live quietly, we read about all the horrors, but we won’t talk about it,” Alexandra wrote to Anna Vyrubova from Tobolsk. The family was settled in the former governor's house.

Despite everything, the royal family remembered life in Tobolsk as "quiet and calm"

In correspondence, the family was not limited, but all messages were viewed. Alexandra corresponded a lot with Anna Vyrubova, who was either released or arrested again. They sent parcels to each other: the former maid of honor once sent "a wonderful blue blouse and delicious marshmallow", and also her perfume. Alexandra answered with a shawl, which she also perfumed - with vervain. She tried to help her friend: "I send pasta, sausages, coffee - although fasting is now. I always pull greens out of the soup so that I don’t eat the broth, and I don’t smoke." She hardly complained, except for the cold.

In Tobolsk exile, the family managed to maintain the old way of life in many ways. Even Christmas was celebrated. There were candles and a Christmas tree - Alexandra wrote that the trees in Siberia are of a different, unusual variety, and "it smells strongly of orange and tangerine, and resin flows all the time along the trunk." And the servants were presented with woolen vests, which the former empress knitted herself.

In the evenings, Nikolai read aloud, Alexandra embroidered, and her daughters sometimes played the piano. Alexandra Fedorovna's diary entries of that time are everyday: "I drew. I consulted with an optometrist about new glasses", "I sat and knitted on the balcony all afternoon, 20 ° in the sun, in a thin blouse and a silk jacket."

Life occupied the spouses more than politics. Only the Treaty of Brest really shook them both. "A humiliating world. (...) Being under the yoke of the Germans is worse Tatar yoke", Alexandra wrote. In her letters, she thought about Russia, but not about politics, but about people.

Nikolai loved to do physical labor: cut firewood, work in the garden, clean the ice. After moving to Yekaterinburg, all this turned out to be banned.

In early February, we learned about the transition to a new style of chronology. "Today is February 14. There will be no end to misunderstandings and confusion!" - wrote Nikolai. Alexandra called this style "Bolshevik" in her diary.

On February 27, according to the new style, the authorities announced that "the people do not have the means to support the royal family." The Romanovs were now provided with an apartment, heating, lighting and soldiers' rations. Each person could also receive 600 rubles a month from personal funds. Ten servants had to be fired. "It will be necessary to part with the servants, whose devotion will lead them to poverty," wrote Gilliard, who remained with the family. Butter, cream and coffee disappeared from the tables of the prisoners, there was not enough sugar. The family began to feed the locals.

Food card. “Before the October Revolution, everything was plentiful, although they lived modestly,” recalled the valet Alexei Volkov. “Dinner consisted of only two courses, but sweet things happened only on holidays.”

This Tobolsk life, which the Romanovs later recalled as quiet and calm - even despite the rubella that the children had had - ended in the spring of 1918: they decided to move the family to Yekaterinburg. In May, the Romanovs were imprisoned in the Ipatiev House - it was called a "house of special purpose." Here the family spent the last 78 days of their lives.

Last days.In "house of special purpose"

Together with the Romanovs, their close associates and servants arrived in Yekaterinburg. Someone was shot almost immediately, someone was arrested and killed a few months later. Someone survived and was subsequently able to tell about what happened in the Ipatiev House. Only four remained to live with the royal family: Dr. Botkin, footman Trupp, maid Nyuta Demidova and cook Leonid Sednev. He will be the only one of the prisoners who will escape execution: on the day before the murder he will be taken away.

Telegram from the Chairman of the Ural Regional Council to Vladimir Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov, April 30, 1918

“The house is good, clean,” Nikolai wrote in his diary. “We were given four large rooms: a corner bedroom, a bathroom, a dining room next to it with windows overlooking the garden and overlooking the low-lying part of the city, and, finally, a spacious hall with an arch without doors.” The commandant was Alexander Avdeev - as they said about him, "a real Bolshevik" (later Yakov Yurovsky would replace him). The instructions for protecting the family said: "The commandant must keep in mind that Nikolai Romanov and his family are Soviet prisoners, therefore, an appropriate regime is being established in the place of his detention."

The instruction ordered the commandant to be polite. But during the first search, a reticule was snatched from Alexandra's hands, which she did not want to show. “Until now, I have dealt with honest and decent people,” Nikolai remarked. But I received an answer: "Please do not forget that you are under investigation and arrest." The tsar's entourage was required to call family members by their first and patronymic names instead of "Your Majesty" or "Your Highness". Alexandra was truly pissed off.

The arrested got up at nine, drank tea at ten. The rooms were then checked. Breakfast - at one, lunch - about four or five, at seven - tea, at nine - dinner, at eleven they went to bed. Avdeev claimed that two hours of walking were supposed to be a day. But Nikolai wrote in his diary that only an hour was allowed to walk a day. To the question "why?" the former king was answered: "To make it look like a prison regime."

All prisoners were forbidden any physical labor. Nicholas asked permission to clean the garden - refusal. For a family that spent the past few months only chopping firewood and cultivating beds, this was not easy. At first, the prisoners could not even boil their own water. Only in May, Nikolai wrote in his diary: "They bought us a samovar, at least we will not depend on the guard."

After some time, the painter painted over all the windows with lime so that the inhabitants of the house could not look at the street. With windows in general it was not easy: they were not allowed to open. Although the family would hardly be able to escape with such protection. And it was hot in summer.

House of Ipatiev. “A fence was built around the outer walls of the house facing the street, quite high, covering the windows of the house,” wrote its first commandant Alexander Avdeev about the house.

Only towards the end of July one of the windows was finally opened. "Such joy, finally, delicious air and one window pane, no longer smeared with whitewash," Nikolai wrote in his diary. After that, the prisoners were forbidden to sit on the windowsills.

There were not enough beds, the sisters slept on the floor. They all dined together, and not only with the servants, but also with the Red Army soldiers. They were rude: they could put a spoon into a bowl of soup and say: "You still get nothing to eat."

Vermicelli, potatoes, beet salad and compote - such food was on the table of the prisoners. Meat was a problem. “They brought meat for six days, but so little that it was only enough for soup,” “Kharitonov cooked a macaroni pie ... because they didn’t bring meat at all,” Alexandra notes in her diary.

Hall and living room in the Ipatva House. This house was built in the late 1880s and later bought by engineer Nikolai Ipatiev. In 1918, the Bolsheviks requisitioned it. After the execution of the family, the keys were returned to the owner, but he decided not to return there, and later emigrated

"I took a sitz bath as hot water could only be brought in from our kitchen," Alexandra writes of minor domestic inconveniences. Her notes show how gradually for the former empress, who once ruled over "a sixth part of the earth", everyday trifles become important: "great pleasure, a cup of coffee", "good nuns now send milk and eggs for Alexei and us, and cream ".

Products were really allowed to be taken from the women's Novo-Tikhvinsky monastery. With the help of these parcels, the Bolsheviks staged a provocation: they handed over in the cork of one of the bottles a letter from a "Russian officer" with an offer to help them escape. The family replied: "We do not want and cannot RUN. We can only be kidnapped by force." The Romanovs spent several nights dressed, waiting for a possible rescue.

Like a prisoner

Soon the commandant changed in the house. They became Yakov Yurovsky. At first, the family even liked him, but very soon the harassment became more and more. "You need to get used to living not like a king, but how you have to live: like a prisoner," he said, limiting the amount of meat that came to prisoners.

Of the monastery transfers, he allowed to leave only milk. Alexandra once wrote that the commandant "had breakfast and ate cheese; he won't let us eat cream anymore." Yurovsky also forbade frequent baths, saying that they did not have enough water. He confiscated jewelry from family members, leaving only a watch for Alexei (at the request of Nikolai, who said that the boy would be bored without them) and a gold bracelet for Alexandra - she wore it for 20 years, and it was possible to remove it only with tools.

Every morning at 10:00 the commandant checked whether everything was in place. Most of all, the former empress did not like this.

Telegram from the Kolomna Committee of the Bolsheviks of Petrograd to the Council of People's Commissars demanding the execution of representatives of the Romanov dynasty. March 4, 1918

Alexandra, it seems, was the hardest in the family to experience the loss of the throne. Yurovsky recalled that if she went for a walk, she would certainly dress up and always put on a hat. "It must be said that she, unlike the rest, with all her exits, tried to maintain all her importance and the former," he wrote.

The rest of the family was simpler - the sisters dressed rather casually, Nikolai walked in patched boots (although, according to Yurovsky, he had enough whole ones). His wife cut his hair. Even the needlework that Alexandra was engaged in was the work of an aristocrat: she embroidered and wove lace. The daughters washed handkerchiefs, darned stockings and bed linen together with the maid Nyuta Demidova.