Hundreds of books have been published about the tragedy of the family of Tsar Nicholas II in many languages ​​of the world. These studies quite objectively present the events of July 1918 in Russia. Some of these writings I had to read, analyze and compare. However, there are many mysteries, inaccuracies, and even deliberate untruths.

Among the most reliable information are the protocols of interrogations and other documents of the Kolchak court investigator for especially important cases N.A. Sokolov. In July 1918, after the capture of Yekaterinburg by the White troops, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Siberia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak appointed N.A. Sokolov as the leader in the case of the execution royal family in this city.

ON THE. Sokolov

Sokolov worked for two years in Yekaterinburg, interrogated a large number of people involved in these events, tried to find the remains of the executed members of the royal family. After the capture of Yekaterinburg by the Red troops, Sokolov left Russia and in 1925 published the book "The Murder of the Imperial Family" in Berlin. He took all four copies of his materials with him.

The Central Party Archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where I worked as a leader, kept mostly original (first) copies of these materials (about a thousand pages). How they got into our archive is unknown. I have read all of them carefully.

For the first time, a detailed study of materials related to the circumstances of the execution of the royal family was carried out on the instructions of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1964.

In a detailed reference “on some circumstances related to the execution of the Romanov royal family” dated December 16, 1964 (CPA of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, fund 588 inventory 3C), all these problems are documented and objectively considered.

The certificate was written then by the head of the sector of the ideological department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev, an outstanding political figure in Russia. Not being able to publish the entire reference mentioned above, I cite only some passages from it.

“In the archives, no official reports or resolutions have been found that precede the execution of the Romanov royal family. There is no indisputable data about the participants in the execution. In this regard, the materials published in the Soviet and foreign press, and some documents of the Soviet party and state archives were studied and compared. In addition, the stories of the former assistant commandant of the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg, where the royal family was kept, G.P. Nikulin and a former member of the collegium of the Ural Regional Cheka I.I. Radzinsky. These are the only surviving comrades who had something to do with the execution of the Romanov royal family. Based on the available documents and memoirs, often contradictory, one can draw up such a picture of the execution itself and the circumstances associated with this event. As you know, Nicholas II and members of his family were shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg. Documentary sources testify that Nicholas II and his family were executed by decision of the Ural Regional Council. In the protocol No. 1 of the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of July 18, 1918, we read: “We heard: The message about the execution of Nikolai Romanov (telegram from Yekaterinburg). Decided: After discussion, the following resolution is adopted: The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee recognizes the decision of the Ural Regional Council as correct. Instruct tt. Sverdlov, Sosnovsky and Avanesov to draw up an appropriate notice for the press. Publish about the documents available in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee - (diary, letters, etc.) of the former Tsar N. Romanov and instruct Comrade Sverdlov to form a special commission to analyze these papers and publish them. The original, stored in the Central State Archives, signed by Ya.M. Sverdlov. As V.P. Milyutin (People's Commissar for Agriculture of the RSFSR), on the same day, July 18, 1918, a regular meeting of the Council of People's Commissars was held in the Kremlin late in the evening ( Council of People's Commissars.— Ed.) chaired by V.I. Lenin. “During the report of Comrade Semashko, Ya.M. entered the meeting room. Sverdlov. He sat down on a chair behind Vladimir Ilyich. Semashko finished his report. Sverdlov went up, leaned over to Ilyich and said something. “Comrades, Sverdlov is asking for the floor for a message,” Lenin announced. “I must say,” Sverdlov began in his usual even tone, “a message has been received that in Yekaterinburg, by order of the regional Soviet, Nikolai was shot. Nicholas wanted to run. The Czechoslovaks advanced. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee decided: to approve. Silence of all. "Now let's move on to reading the project article by article," suggested Vladimir Ilyich. (Magazine "Projector", 1924, p. 10). This is a message from Ya.M. Sverdlov was recorded in the protocol No. 159 of the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars of July 18, 1918: “Heard: An extraordinary statement by the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Sverdlov, on the execution of the former Tsar, Nicholas II, by the verdict of the Yekaterinburg Soviet of Deputies and on the approval of this verdict by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee. Resolved: Take note. The original of this protocol, signed by V.I. Lenin, is stored in the party archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. A few months before that, at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the issue of transferring the Romanov family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg was discussed. Ya.M. Sverdlov speaks about this on May 9, 1918: “I must tell you that the question of the position of the former tsar was raised by us in the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee back in November, at the beginning of December (1917) and has been repeatedly raised since then, but we have not accepted no decision, considering that it is necessary to first get exactly acquainted with how, under what conditions, how reliable protection is, how, in a word, is contained former king Nikolay Romanov. At the same meeting, Sverdlov reported to the members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee that at the very beginning of April, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee heard the report of the representative of the committee of the team guarding the tsar. “Based on this report, we came to the conclusion that it was impossible to leave Nikolai Romanov in Tobolsk ... The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the former Tsar Nikolai to a more reliable point. The center of the Urals, the city of Yekaterinburg, was chosen as such a more reliable point. The fact that the issue of transferring the family of Nicholas II was resolved with the participation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee is also said in their memoirs by the old communists from the Urals. Radzinsky said that the initiative for the transfer belonged to the Ural Regional Council, and "the Center did not object" (Tape recording of May 15, 1964). P.N. Bykov, a former member of the Ural Council, in his book “The Last Days of the Romanovs”, published in 1926 in Sverdlovsk, writes that in early March 1918, the regional military commissar I. Goloshchekin (party nickname “Philip” ). He was given permission to transfer the royal family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg.

Further, in the certificate “On some circumstances related to the execution of the Romanov royal family,” the terrible details of the cruel execution of the royal family are given. It talks about how the corpses were destroyed. It is said that about half a pood of diamonds and jewelry were found in the sewn corsets and belts of the dead. In this article I would not like to discuss such inhuman acts.

For many years, the world press has been circulating the assertion that “the true course of events and the refutation of the “falsifications of Soviet historians” are contained in Trotsky’s diary entries, which were not intended for publication, therefore, they say, especially frank. They were prepared for publication and published by Yu.G. Felshtinsky in the collection: “Leo Trotsky. Diaries and Letters (Hermitage, USA, 1986).

I am quoting an excerpt from this book.

“April 9 (1935) The White Press once very heatedly debated the question of whose decision the royal family was put to death. The liberals were inclined, as it were, to the fact that the Urals executive committee, cut off from Moscow, acted independently. This is not true. The decision was made in Moscow. It happened at a critical time civil war when I spent almost all the time at the front, and my memories of the case of the royal family are fragmentary.

In other documents, Trotsky recounts a meeting of the Politburo a few weeks before the fall of Yekaterinburg, at which he argued for the need for an open trial "which was supposed to unfold the picture of the entire reign."

“Lenin responded in the sense that it would be very good if it were feasible. But there may not be enough time. There was no debate, because (as) I did not insist on my proposal, absorbed in other things.

In the next episode from the diaries, the most frequently quoted, Trotsky recalls how, after the execution, to his question about who decided the fate of the Romanovs, Sverdlov replied: “We decided here. Ilyich believed that it was impossible to leave us a living banner for them, especially in the current difficult conditions.

“They decided” and “Ilyich considered” can, and according to other sources, should be interpreted as the adoption of a general decision in principle that the Romanovs should not be left as a “living banner of the counter-revolution”.

And is it so important that the immediate decision to execute the Romanov family was issued by the Ural Council?

Here is another interesting document. This is a telegraphic request dated July 16, 1918 from Copenhagen, in which it was written: “To Lenin, a member of the government. From Copenhagen. A rumor spread here that the former tsar had been murdered. Please tell me the facts by phone." On the telegram, Lenin wrote in his own hand: “Copenhagen. The rumor is false, the former tsar is healthy, all rumors are lies of the capitalist press. Lenin.

We were not able to find out whether a reply telegram was then sent. But it was the very eve of that tragic day when the tsar and his relatives were shot.

Ivan Kitaev- especially for "New"

reference

Ivan Kitaev is a historian, candidate of historical sciences, vice-president of the International Academy of Corporate Governance. He went from a carpenter on the construction of the Semipalatinsk test site and the Abakan-Taishet road, from a military builder who built a uranium enrichment plant in the taiga wilderness, to an academician. He graduated from two institutes, the Academy of Social Sciences, postgraduate studies. He worked as a secretary of the Togliatti city committee, the Kuibyshev regional committee, director of the Central Party Archive, deputy director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. After 1991, he worked as the head of the head office and head of the department of the Ministry of Industry of Russia, taught at the academy.

Lenin is characterized by the highest measure

About the organizers and customer of the murder of the family of Nikolai Romanov

In his diaries, Trotsky does not limit himself to quoting the words of Sverdlov and Lenin, but also expresses his own opinion about the execution of the royal family:

"Essentially, the decision ( about execution. — OH.) was not only expedient, but also necessary. The severity of the reprisals showed everyone that we would fight mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the royal family was needed not only to intimidate, horrify, and deprive the enemy of hope, but also to shake up their own ranks, to show that there was no retreat, that complete victory or complete death lay ahead. There were probably doubts and shaking of heads in the intellectual circles of the party. But the masses of workers and soldiers did not doubt for a moment: they would not have understood or accepted any other decision. Lenin felt this very well: the ability to think and feel for the masses and with the masses was highly characteristic of him, especially at great political turns ... "

As for the extreme measure characteristic of Ilyich, Lev Davidovich, of course, is archipraved. So Lenin, as you know, personally demanded that as many priests as possible be hanged, as soon as he received a signal that the masses in some places in the localities had shown such an initiative. How can the people's power not support the initiative from below (and in reality the basest instincts of the crowd)!

As for the trial of the tsar, to which, according to Trotsky, Ilyich agreed, but time was running out, this trial would obviously have ended with the sentence of Nicholas to the highest measure. But in this case, unnecessary difficulties could arise with the royal family. And then how nice it turned out: the Ural Council decided - and that's it, bribes are smooth, all power to the Soviets! Well, maybe only "in the intellectual circles of the party" there was some shock, but quickly passed, like with Trotsky himself. In his diaries, he cites a fragment of a conversation with Sverdlov after the Yekaterinburg execution:

“Yes, but where is the king? - It's over, - he answered, - shot. - Where is the family? And his family is with him. - All? I asked, apparently with a hint of surprise. - All! Sverdlov replied. - And what? He was waiting for my reaction. I didn't answer. - And who decided? “We decided here…”

Some historians emphasize that Sverdlov did not answer “decided”, but “decided”, which is supposedly important for identifying the main culprits. But at the same time they take Sverdlov's words out of the context of the conversation with Trotsky. And here, after all, how: what is the question, such is the answer: Trotsky asks who decided, and here Sverdlov answers, “We decided here.” And further on he speaks even more specifically - about what Ilyich considered: "we must not leave us a living banner for them."

So, in his resolution on the Danish telegram of July 16, Lenin was clearly disingenuous, speaking about the lies of the capitalist press regarding the "health" of the tsar.

In modern terms, we can say this: if the Ural Soviet was the organizer of the murder of the royal family, then Lenin was the customer. But in Russia, the organizers are rare, and the customers of the crimes almost never, alas, do not find themselves in the dock.

On the night of July 16-17, 1918 in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the house of mining engineer Nikolai Ipatiev, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their children - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, the heir Tsarevich Alexei, as well as the life medical doctor Evgeny Botkin, valet Alexei Trupp, room girl Anna Demidova and cook Ivan Kharitonov.

The last Russian emperor, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II), ascended the throne in 1894 after the death of his father, Emperor Alexander III, and ruled until 1917, when the situation in the country became more complicated. On March 12 (February 27, old style), 1917, an armed uprising began in Petrograd, and on March 15 (March 2, old style), 1917, at the insistence of the Provisional Committee State Duma Nicholas II signed the abdication of the throne for himself and his son Alexei in favor of his younger brother Mikhail Alexandrovich.

After his abdication from March to August 1917, Nikolai and his family were under arrest in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. A special commission of the Provisional Government studied materials for the possible trial of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on charges of treason. Not finding evidence and documents that clearly denounced them in this, the Provisional Government was inclined to deport them abroad (to Great Britain).

In August 1917, the arrested were transferred to Tobolsk. The main idea of ​​the Bolshevik leadership was an open trial of the former emperor. In April 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the Romanovs to Moscow. Vladimir Lenin spoke out for the trial of the former tsar, and Leon Trotsky was supposed to be made the main accuser of Nicholas II. However, information appeared about the existence of "White Guard conspiracies" to kidnap the tsar, the concentration of "officers-conspirators" for this purpose in Tyumen and Tobolsk, and on April 6, 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the royal family to the Urals. The royal family was moved to Yekaterinburg and placed in the Ipatiev house.

The uprising of the White Czechs and the offensive of the White Guard troops on Yekaterinburg accelerated the decision to execute the former tsar.

It was entrusted to the commandant of the House of Special Purpose Yakov Yurovsky to organize the execution of all members of the royal family, Dr. Botkin and the servants who were in the house.

© Photo: Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg

The execution scene is known from investigative protocols, from the words of participants and eyewitnesses, and from the stories of direct perpetrators. Yurovsky spoke about the execution of the royal family in three documents: "Note" (1920); "Memoirs" (1922) and "Speech at a meeting of old Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg" (1934). All the details of this atrocity, transmitted by the main participant at different times and under completely different circumstances, agree on how the royal family and its servants were shot.

According to documentary sources, it is possible to establish the time of the beginning of the murder of Nicholas II, members of his family and their servants. The car that delivered the last order to destroy the family arrived at half past two in the night from July 16 to 17, 1918. After that, the commandant ordered the life doctor Botkin to wake up royal family. It took the family about 40 minutes to get ready, then she and the servants were transferred to the semi-basement of this house, overlooking Voznesensky Lane. Nicholas II carried Tsarevich Alexei in his arms, because he could not walk due to illness. At the request of Alexandra Feodorovna, two chairs were brought into the room. She sat on one, on the other Tsarevich Alexei. The rest lined up along the wall. Yurovsky led the firing squad into the room and read the sentence.

Here is how Yurovsky himself describes the execution scene: “I suggested that everyone stand up. Everyone stood up, occupying the entire wall and one of the side walls. The room was very small. Nikolai stood with his back to me. I announced that the Executive Committee of the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies Urala decided to shoot them. Nikolai turned and asked. I repeated the order and commanded: "Shoot." I fired the first shot and killed Nikolai on the spot. The firing lasted a very long time and, despite my hopes that wooden wall will not ricochet, bullets bounced off it. For a long time I could not stop this shooting, which had taken on a careless character. But when I finally managed to stop, I saw that many were still alive. For example, Dr. Botkin was lying, leaning on his elbow right hand, as if in the pose of a rester, finished him off with a revolver shot. Alexei, Tatyana, Anastasia and Olga were also alive. Demidova was also alive. Tov. Ermakov wanted to finish the job with a bayonet. But, however, it did not work. The reason became clear later (the daughters were wearing diamond shells like bras). I had to shoot each one in turn."

After the statement of death, all the corpses began to be transferred to the truck. At the beginning of the fourth hour, at dawn, the corpses of the dead were taken out of the Ipatiev house.

The remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, Olga, Tatyana and Anastasia Romanov, as well as those from their entourage, who were shot in the House of Special Purpose (Ipatiev House), were discovered in July 1991 near Yekaterinburg.

On July 17, 1998, the remains of members of the royal family were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

In October 2008, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided to rehabilitate Russian emperor Nicholas II and members of his family. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia also decided to rehabilitate members of the imperial family - the Grand Dukes and Princes of the Blood, who were executed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution. The servants and close associates of the royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks or were subjected to repression, were rehabilitated.

In January 2009, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation stopped investigating the case on the circumstances of the death and burial of the last Russian emperor, members of his family and people from his entourage, who were shot in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, "due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for bringing to criminal liability and death of the persons who committed the deliberate murder" (subparagraphs 3 and 4 of part 1 of article 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR).

On January 15, 2009, the investigator issued a decision to dismiss the criminal case, but on August 26, 2010, the judge of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow decided, in accordance with Article 90 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, to recognize this decision as unfounded and ordered to eliminate the violations committed. On November 25, 2010, the decision of the investigation to dismiss this case was canceled by the Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee.

On January 14, 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced that the decision was brought in accordance with the court decision and the criminal case on the death of representatives of the Russian Imperial House and persons from their entourage in 1918-1919 was terminated. Identification of the remains of members of the family of the former Russian Emperor Nicholas II (Romanov) and persons from his retinue has been confirmed.

On October 27, 2011, the decision to close the investigation into the case of the execution of the royal family was. The ruling on 800 pages contains the main conclusions of the investigation and indicates the authenticity of the discovered remains of the royal family.

However, the question of authentication still remains open. Russian Orthodox Church in order to recognize the found remains as the relics of the royal martyrs, the Russian Imperial House supports the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue. The director of the Chancellery of the Russian Imperial House emphasized that genetic expertise is not enough.

The Church canonized Nicholas II and his family and on July 17 celebrates the feast day of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The royal family spent 78 days in their last home.

Commissioner A. D. Avdeev was appointed the first commandant of the House of Special Purpose.

Preparations for the shooting

According to the official Soviet version, the decision to execute was made only by the Ural Council, Moscow was notified of this only after the death of the family.

In early July 1918, the Ural military commissar Filipp Goloshchekin went to Moscow to resolve the issue of future fate royal family.

At its meeting on July 12, the Ural Council adopted a resolution on execution, as well as on methods for destroying corpses, and on July 16 transmitted a message (if the telegram was genuine) about this by direct wire to Petrograd - G. E. Zinoviev. At the end of the conversation with Yekaterinburg, Zinoviev sent a telegram to Moscow:

There is no archive source for the telegram.

Thus, the telegram was received in Moscow on July 16 at 21:22. The phrase “trial agreed with Filippov” is an encrypted decision on the execution of the Romanovs, which Goloshchekin agreed upon during his stay in the capital. However, the Uralsovet asked once again to confirm this in writing earlier. decision, referring to "military circumstances", as Yekaterinburg was expected to fall under the blows of the Czechoslovak Corps and the White Siberian Army.

Execution

On the night of July 16-17, the Romanovs and the servants went to bed, as usual, at 22:30. At 11:30 p.m., two special representatives from the Ural Council came to the mansion. They handed the decision of the executive committee to the commander of the security detachment P. Z. Ermakov and the new commandant of the house, Commissioner of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission Yakov Yurovsky, who replaced Avdeev in this position on July 4, and proposed that the execution of the sentence be started immediately.

Awakened, family members and staff were told that due to the advance of the white troops, the mansion could be under fire, and therefore, for security reasons, it was necessary to go to the basement.

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, Alexandra's maid of honor and close friend, 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 "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 guard soldiers, 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 Feodorovna'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 than the 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 new style 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 coup, 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 dressing room, a dining room next to it with windows to 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 he will be replaced Yakov Yurovsky.) The instructions for protecting the family said: "The commandant must bear 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 glass, 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 because hot water could only be brought from our kitchen,” writes Alexandra about minor everyday inconveniences. Her notes show how gradually for the former empress, who once ruled over “a sixth of the earth”, everyday little things become important: “great pleasure, a cup of coffee "," good nuns are now sending 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 intact 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.

Nicholas II - the last Russian emperor. He took the Russian throne at the age of 27. In addition to the Russian crown, the emperor also got a huge country torn apart by contradictions and all sorts of conflicts. A difficult reign awaited him. The second half of the life of Nikolai Alexandrovich took a very difficult and long-suffering turn, the result of which was the execution of the Romanov family, which, in turn, meant the end of their reign.

Dear Nicky

Nicky (that was the name of Nikolai at home) was born in 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo. In honor of his birth, 101 gun salvos were fired in the northern capital. At the christening, the future emperor was awarded the highest Russian awards. His mother - Maria Fedorovna - from early childhood instilled in her children religiosity, modesty, courtesy, good manners. In addition, she did not allow Nicky to forget for a minute that he was a future monarch.

Nikolai Alexandrovich heeded her requirements enough, having learned the lessons of education perfectly. The future emperor was always distinguished by tact, modesty and good breeding. He was surrounded by love from relatives. They called him "darling Nicky".

Military career

At a young age, the Tsarevich began to notice a huge craving for military affairs. Nikolai willingly took part in all parades and parades, in camp gatherings. He strictly observed the military regulations. Curiously, his military career began at... 5 years old! Soon the crown prince received the rank of second lieutenant, and a year later he was appointed chieftain in the Cossack troops.

At the age of 16, the Tsarevich took an oath "of allegiance to the Fatherland and the Throne." He served in the rank of colonel. This rank was the last in his military career, since, as emperor, Nicholas II believed that he did not have "any quietest and not the quietest right" to independently assign military ranks.

Ascension to the throne

Nikolai Alexandrovich took the Russian throne at the age of 27. In addition to the Russian crown, the emperor also got a huge country, torn apart by contradictions and all sorts of conflicts.

Emperor's coronation

It took place in the Assumption Cathedral (in Moscow). During the solemn event, when Nicholas approached the altar, the chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called flew off his right shoulder and fell to the floor. All who were present at that moment at the ceremony unanimously took this as a bad omen.

Tragedy on the Khodynka field

The execution of the Romanov family today is perceived differently by everyone. Many believe that the beginning of the "royal persecution" was laid precisely in holidays on the occasion of the emperor's coronation, when one of the most terrible crushes in history occurred on the Khodynka field. More than one and a half thousand (!) People died and were injured in it! Later, significant amounts were paid from the imperial treasury to the families of the victims. Despite the Khodynskaya tragedy, the planned ball took place in the evening of the same day.

This event made many people speak of Nicholas II as a heartless and cruel tsar.

Mistake of Nicholas II

The emperor understood that something urgently needed to be changed in the government of the state. Historians say that is why he declared war on Japan. That was 1904. Nikolai Aleksandrovich seriously hoped to win quickly, thereby stirring up patriotism in the Russians. This was his fatal mistake ... Russia was forced to suffer a shameful defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, having lost such lands as Southern and Far Sakhalin, as well as the fortress of Port Arthur.

A family

Shortly before the execution of the Romanov family took place, Emperor Nicholas II married his only lover, the German princess Alice of Hesse (Alexandra Feodorovna). The wedding ceremony took place in 1894 at the Winter Palace. Throughout his life, a warm, tender and touching relationship remained between Nikolai and his wife. Only death separated them. They died together. But more on that later.

Right on time Russo-Japanese War in the family of the emperor was born the heir to the throne - Tsarevich Alexei. This is the first boy, before that Nikolai had four girls! In honor of this, a volley of 300 guns was fired. But soon the doctors determined that the boy was sick with an incurable disease - hemophilia (blood incoagulability). In other words, the crown prince could bleed even from a cut on his finger and die.

Bloody Sunday and World War I

After the shameful defeat in the war, unrest and protests began to arise throughout the country. The people demanded the overthrow of the monarchy. Dissatisfaction with Nicholas II grew with every hour. On Sunday afternoon, January 9, 1905, crowds of people came to demand that their complaints about the terrible and hard life. At that time, the emperor and his family were not in the Winter Palace. They rested in Tsarskoye Selo. The troops stationed in St. Petersburg, without the order of the emperor, opened fire on the civilian population. Everyone died: women, old people and children ... Together with them, the faith of the people in their king was forever killed! On that "Bloody Sunday" 130 people were shot and several hundred were wounded.

The emperor was very shocked by the tragedy. Now nothing and no one could calm the public dissatisfaction with the entire royal family. Unrest and rallies began all over Russia. In addition, Russia entered the First World War, which Germany declared to it. The fact is that in 1914 hostilities began between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and Russia decided to protect the small Slavic state, for which Germany was called "to a duel". The country was simply fading before our eyes, everything was flying into tartar. Nikolai did not yet know that the price for all this would be the execution of the royal family of the Romanovs!

Abdication

The First World War dragged on for many years. The army and the country were extremely dissatisfied with such a foul tsarist regime. People In the northern capital, the imperial power has actually lost its power. A Provisional Government was created (in Petrograd), which included the enemies of the tsar - Guchkov, Kerensky and Milyukov. The Tsar was told about everything that was happening in the country as a whole and in the capital in particular, after which Nicholas II decided to abdicate his throne.

October year and the execution of the Romanov family

On the day when Nikolai Alexandrovich officially abdicated, his entire family was arrested. The provisional government assured his wife that all this was being done for their own safety, promising to send them abroad. After some time, the former emperor himself was arrested. He and his family were brought to Tsarskoye Selo under guard. Then they were sent to Siberia to the city of Tobolsk in order to finally stop any attempt to restore royal power. The whole royal family lived there until October 1917 ...

It was then that the Provisional Government fell, and after the October Revolution, the life of the royal family deteriorated sharply. They were transported to Yekaterinburg and kept in harsh conditions. The Bolsheviks, who came to power, wanted to arrange a show trial of the royal family, but they were afraid that it would again warm up the feelings of the people, and they themselves would be defeated. After the regional council in Yekaterinburg, a positive decision was made on the subject of the execution of the imperial family. The Ural Executive Committee granted the request for execution. Less than a day remained before the last Romanov family disappeared from the face of the earth.

The execution (no photo for obvious reasons) was committed at night. Nikolai and his family were lifted out of bed, saying that they were being transported to another place. A Bolshevik by the name of Yurovsky quickly said that the White Army wanted to free the former emperor, so the Council of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies decided to immediately execute the entire royal family in order to put an end to the Romanovs once and for all. Nicholas II did not have time to understand anything, as random shooting was immediately heard at him and his family. Thus ended the earthly path of the last Russian emperor and his family.