Olga's cat Vaska

I just found the story so touching. Going to his death, with just his faithful companion.    The cat must've been mighty important to him to bring her to prison with him for those long months rather than leaving her to fend for herself. Considering reports of how little food the prisoners were given (recounted by 'Greek Minny' in her book), he must've been willing to share with his beloved pet.

It was lucky they even let him keep the kitty with him.

I have a lot of admiration for anyone who could love an animal so much. It says something about a person's heart (likewise I have a hard time feeling anything good for anyone who hates animals or takes pleasure in mistreating them) I only hope the Bolsheviks didn't torture him or anything like that. He'd have been better off going down together in the arms of his beloved owner if that were the case. Poor kitty. Poor Grand Dukes.

To support the concept of feline Vaskas in Russia, just thought I would mention that our local newspaper's Sunday travel section published an article this past weekend about a current Vaska.

Here's one of the photo captions: "Vaska the cat, at 12 the oldest of the Hermitage museum's mice hunters, naps in one of the museum's lobbies. Cats have been part of the Hermitage's secuity system since its founding days in the 1760s." (Nothing, I might add, is said about how cats during the Siege of Leningrad were eventually used as food.)

The article is brief but fun, mentioning that several staff members are assigned to manage "the cat corps," and that the Hermitage also advertises cats for adoption on its website.

Hi, I'm sorry but I can never remember sources but I know that I have read in one of the many Romanov books (maybe the one about Sydney Gibbes?) that the Family made arrangements for the cats to be fed from the AP kitchens after their exile to Tobolsk. I seem to remember that one of their "people" would come in through the kitchen entrance to do this.
The reason I am so sure of this is because i was so struck by the human-ness of it (if there is such a word). I mean, arranging for the pets to be fed , when we are away from home is such a normal thing to do. I guess I was also impressed by their taking time to do this in the midst of their world crumbling around them as they left the AP. I picture the Empress making a list..."pack Tiaras and diamonds, arrange for the cats to be fed..."

Now, that`s what I call an Imperial pet!    

Alexei had a small baby elephant which was kept on the grounds of the Imperial park at the Alexandre Palace.

Alexei's elephant, a gift from the king of Siam.

Which, of course, begs the question--"What ever happened to the elephant?!"

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/imperialpets2.html
On this page towards the bottom is a pic of one of the girls chasing kittens. Which one is it?

It looks like Anastasia Nikolaevna to me.

I agree with Olga.It looks like Anastasia Nikolaevna to me too.

I am pretty sure that it is Anastasia Nikolaevna too.

Silly as it may seem , I think Lili Dehn in her book  said the cat was left behind,  F

In one of the books I read, I think it was Buxhoevedon's, she says how only 3 dogs were taken along and all the other dogs, cats and whatever had to be left, and she always wondered what happened to them. I wonder if they fared any better than their owners:(

Speaking of cats, I just got done reading comments about that French Rasputin movie. One guy said that the real Felix and Irina were in the introduction, and that Irina died from pneumonia she caught saving her cat from the roof in the winter. What a nice person to love a cat so much.

Sometimes cats get lost, or they just wander around, and the property was so large, and also having the town nearby... who knows.. if there isnt a grave for Vaska in the children's island, then maybe he left and couldnt find his way back, or found another family  

And Vasiliy is Russian for Basil

Another cat lover here!  I read that Vaska didn't get along so well with Ortino and since the two of them used to sleep with Olga and Tatiana, respectively, Vaska used to hiss at Ortino and scratch her if she got to near.  

I also think Alexei had a cat-at one point he took it to Stavka with him, and the cat ran and hid under a train or a shed and he had to coax him out.