Re: The Empress Alexandra Fights Back #4

As regards Eulenburg, was this Philipp zu Eulenburg of the Eulenburg scandal, or a different Eulenburg?

Ann

I believe the Eulenburg who wrote the letter to Count Freedericksz was August zu Eulenburg (1838-1921) [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_zu_Eulenburg].

Thanks. I don't think it can have been Philipp, because he retired into private life after his trial was aborted, and claimed up to the 1920s that he was too ill to stand trial (which isn't really compatible with being Grand Marshal of the Imperial Court -n any case, the Kaiser dropped him like the proverbial).

Ann

[Helen: Reply #279 « on: Yesterday [Nov. 28, 2009] at 02:10:56 PM »]

Thanks so much Ann and Helen for clearing that question as to the identity of Eulenburg.  

Well it is late but I have finished my research on Michael and Natasha in late 1915.  I tell you it leaves me with such an awful taste in my mouth.  I did not edit out any of the Crawford's remarks on the Emrpress as it is important to see how they built their argument on falsified information.

Having made that negative remark, please understand that I respect the Crawford's work and the rest of their careful research and so enjoy their book on Michael and Natasha.  All the same it is sad that they did not spend as much time researching the Empress' letters as they did with Michael and Natasha.  Still their work is invaluable.  


Helen:  Reply #279 « on: Yesterday [Nov. 28, 2009] at 02:10:56 PM »

As regards Misha: he visited Nicholas at the Stavka from 11 to 17 September and then left for Petrograd. Nicholas did see him once or twice in October and November, but that was during his stays at home, in Tsarskoe Selo, not at the Stavka, so Nicholas and Alexandra could share any information about Misha personally.

THE CRAWFORD MATERIAL

•   Michael’s visits to Nicky in the Fall of 1915

When Nicholas came back from Stavka, Michael would occasionally drive over to Tsarskoe Selo to see him for breakfast or tea and in November [1915] they met at the Anichkov Palace for tea with the Dowager Empress.  Natasha, of course, was never present.   [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), pp. 212 ]

Neither Nicholas nor Alexandra came to see him at Gatchina, for Gatchina was where Natasha lived.  Alexandra, in particular, thought of Gatchina as the enemy camp, with 24 Nikolaevskaya Street as the headquarters...She was certainly right to classify Natasha as an enemy.  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), pp. 212]
  

•   Michael and Natasha’s trips to Petrograd in the Fall of 1915

...Michael went to ‘detestable’ Petrograd primarily for the theatre, ballet, or a concert.  In the last three months of 1915, when still on home leave after diphtheria [he became ill in July] he visited the capital six times, but never went to parties there, or to mingle socially with the bankers, diplomats, politicians and businessmen who thronged the capital; he kept himself within a small circle of friends and was never happier than to be back at Gatchina.  Natasha would go to Petrograd to shop and lunch, but usually without Michael. [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), pp. 212 ]

October 18, 1915

•   The Maryinski Theatre

...on October 18, 1915...Michael and she [Natasha] went to the Maryinski, one of the three imperial theatres in the capital – the others being the Michael and the Alexandra.  It was the first time Petrograd society would see them together since their marriage [1912].

...For Natasha the Maryinski held bitter memories.  It was there, three years earlier, that she had been humiliated by a drunken Blue Cuirassier officer and that another officer who had dared to appear in her box had been disgraced and thrown out of the regiment.  Snubbed, scorned and treated with contempt as she had been, it was a testing moment for her as she made her entrance.

All eyes were on the imperial family box situated to the side of the Tsar’s ornate gala box which, with its huge turquoise blue-and-gold drapes and adorned with the imperial arms, dominated the rear of the theatre.  Boris had joined Michael and Natasha for the evening and they had dined together before the ballet.  Just before the curtain rose, the two Grand Dukes walked into the box reserved for members of the imperial family.  As they did so, Natasha swept into sight, not into the imperial box but into one nearby.  The opera glasses raised to stare at the Grand Dukes swiveled to gaze at her, eyes fascinated by the sight of this woman deemed unfit to sit beside her husband in public.  Natasha was now wife not mistress, but in an imperial theatre like the Maryinski, where rigorous social convention applied, it gave her no more position than had been hers before.

However, Natasha turned the situation to her advantage: in the interval, the imperial box emptied and moments later the two Grand Dukes appeared in her box on the first tier, sipping champagne and making it clear to all those staring up at them that wherever Natasha sat was where they would prefer to be.  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), pp. 213-214 ]

October 19, 1915

•   The Maly Theatre


She [Natasha] and Michael stayed that night [October 18] at the Astoria and next evening they went with Boris in a party to the Maly Theatre on the Fontanka.  Because the Maly was not an imperial theatre they were all seated in the same box.  Three days later the went back to Petrograd, to the Michael Theatre, and this time Michael and Boris sat in the imperial box and Natasha and the Schlieffers [close family friends of Natasha’s] were in one adjacent.  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 214]

November 24, 1915

•   The Maryinski Theatre


A month later, when they went to the Maryinski to see Kschessinska dance in Swan Lake they again sat apart, with Michael, Boris and Kschessinska’s lover Andrew joining Natasha in the interval in row 11 of her first tier-box.  

Abrikosov [a member of Natasha’s growing Salon], who was present on the one evening at the Maryinski, noted the sensation Natasha caused as she swept into her box.  Glittering with jewels, she was the focus for all eyes, and Abrikosov was in no doubt that ‘she enjoyed attracting the attention of the whole theatre as she appeared...”  These scenes seemed to make her more rather than less important and in consequence the ban on Natasha rebounded in her favour.   [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 214]
 
* [Note:  When I cross checked Coryne Hall’s, Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs, in order to pinpoint the exact date of [Swan Lake] at the Maryinski in November 1915, I was struck that in spite of Natasha’s smashing entrance Coryne Hall soberly pointed out:

Grand Dukes Andrei, Boris and Michael were in the audience but Michael’s wife Natasha was obliged to sit in a separate box.  Such was the fate, Mathilde may have noted, of a morganatic wife. [Ref: Coryne Hall, Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs, (2005) p. 164]

[THE CRAWFORD MATERIAL continued]

THE CRAWFORD MATERIAL continued

POLITICS

Fall, 1915
 
•   Natasha’s Salon:  24 Nikolaevskya, Gatchina and the Astoria’s Winter Garden, Petrograd

...at 24 Nikolaevskaya Street, Alexandra was condemned by all, including the three Grand Dukes who were often to be found there – Boris, his brother Andrew and of course Dimitri.

Boris was a recent addition to Natasha’s guest list at Gatchina; he met her for the first time when he came to lunch on Sunday in August, 1915.  His impression of Natasha, Michael was pleased to note, ‘was most favourable.  He liked her very much and found her “charmante”’.  With Dimitri’s sister Grand Duchess Marie also happy to be seen at Gatchina...  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 212]

Unknown in political circles on her return to Russia in August 1914, Natasha was being widely talked about a year later.  She would regularly meet friends in Petrograd, holding court at her lunch table in the Astoria’s Winter Garden.  Often seated beside her would be a member of the Duma, intrigued and flattered by the attentions of the beautiful, elegant wife of the Tsar’s brother.  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 215]

Natasha had indeed developed links with many members of the Duma, though they were by no means ‘deputies of the left.’ [on of the French Ambassadors’ false notions]; her first Duma friend, Count Kapnist, was hardly a left-winger, though his party leader [Octobrist] Aleksandr Guchkov was so regarded by Alexandra and had been since 1912, when Guchkov had spoken out in the Duma against Rasputin...‘The personal enemy of Their Majesties,’ was how Paléologue would describe Guchkov.

Natasha shared that distinction with him, as well as his political views generally.  That in itself would have been enough to put her on a collision course with an imperial court now so stridently dominated by an increasingly mad Alexandra.

Whereas Alexandra wanted the Duma shut down, Natasha promoted its cause and the ideal of a ministry responsible to it.  And she said so openly at her lunch-table in the crowded Astoria.  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 216]


Here the Crawford’s really miss the mark with the Empress.  We know that in Late Fall of 1915, the period the Crawfords are writing about, that for one thing, the Empress was simply too busy to go mad; and for another, that the Empress shared Natasha’s views about opening the Duma.

We also know that it was not so much the issue of Guchkov’s attack on Rasputin in 1912 that had made the Octobrist an enemy of the Imperial couple, but the fact that Guchkov had, since the summer of 1915, been canvassing Duma members to join in his plot for a Palace Revolution; a fact that comes to us not from Court gossip but from the pen of the head of the Progressive Bloc, Miliukov.  

October 25, 1915

•   Michael and Natasha Politically Linked to Progressive Bloc

One of the most remarkable statements with which the names of Michael and Natasha were linked politically came at a conference of the majority of the Progressive Bloc on October 25, 1915, when relations between crown and the Duma were at rock bottom.  The conference, with the Duma suspended, was in effect the Duma by another name.

The first speaker, a non-party liberal, M. M. Fedorov, was quoted as saying: ‘Grand Duke Michael has been told about the situation through a person close to his wife.  He has spoken to the Tsar and says the Tsarina, Goremykin and Rasputin are even prepared to go so far as closing the Duma.’  That was true: Alexandra wanted it shut down permanently, never to be heard of again.   [As early as Sept. 1915 the Empress had clearly stated her position on the Duma: Letter No. 125.  Tsarskoje Selo, Sept. 17th 1915
The Duma exist – there is nothing to be done...  In October the Empress doesn’t mention the Duma once and as we know in Nov she is actively seeking to open the Duma. Griffh ]

Feodorov then went on to say: ‘To the question of whether or not he would be prepared to succeed to the throne the Grand Duke replied:  “May this cup pass me by.  Of course, if this were, unfortunately to come about, I sympathize with the British system.  I can’t understand why the Tsar won’t take it calmly.”   [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 216]

Autumn, 1915

•   Kerensky Claims Michael Wanted Proof of Support for Palace Coup  

Aleksandr Kerensky, a leading socialist destined to play a decisive role in Russian affairs, was also to recount an incident so astonishing and so unlike Michael, that at face value it cannot seem true.  “In the autumn of 1915,’ he recalled in his memoirs, ‘I was invited by an old friend, Count Pavel Tolstoy, the son of one of the Tsar’s equerries.  He was a close friend of the Tsar’s brother, Grand Duke Michael, whom he had known since childhood.  He told me that he had come at the request of the Grand Duke, who know that I had connections with the working class and left-wing parties and who wanted to know how the workers would react if he took over from his brother, the Tsar.’

Since Michael would never have stooped to any approach on the lines which Kerensky claimed, the question arises as to whether the young Tolstoy was prompted by Natasha, with whom he was also on friendly terms.  It is hardly likely; Natasha knew that if Nicholas was forced to abdicate it was his son Alexis who would succeed.  Michael’s role could only be as Regent, though that itself would have been triumph indeed.  Natasha could never be Empress, but could she be wife of the Regent?  Many believed that to be her ambition.  It would be wonderful revenge.

More probably, in circumstances less formal than Kerensky described, Tolstoy posed hypothetical questions of his own and Kerensky interpreted them to mean more than they did.  Nevertheless, Natasha was not entirely innocent; she handed out the ammunition and to that extent she had some liability for the shots fired by others, even when they were blanks.   [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 217]

[THE CRAWFORD MATERIAL continued]

THE CRAWFORD MATERIAL continued

What I fail to understand is why the Crawford’s exerted so much effort to dismantle the explosive Kerensky material and how does all that effort negate Feodorov’s quoting Michael at the conference of the Progressive Bloc that he would be prepared to succeed to the throne as a constitutional monarch.  In short, who cares if Kerensky got it right or wrong about Michael’s intentions in the Autumn of 1915 if the Grand Duke had already been quoted as answering the question whether or not he would be prepared to succeed to the throne by answering:  “May this cup pass me by.  Of course, if this were, unfortunately to come about, I sympathize with the British system in a public forum that included key Duma Deputies and member of the State Council. 

Who needs an underground movement or the Left-wing endorsement when the entire Progressive Bloc has found their candidate? 

The Crawfords state that when: 

...the British consul Bruce Lockhart met Michael [Summer of 1916] in Moscow he observed that Michael ‘talked quite freely about he war,’ but made only one comment which could be said to have political overtones.  ‘Thank God,’ he said, ‘the atmosphere at the front is so much better than the atmosphere in St. Petersburg.’  The diplomat left Michael, thinking that here was ‘a prince who would have made an excellent constitutional monarch.’  [Ref: Rosemary and Donald Crawford, Michael and Natasha, (1997), p. 217]

Gee I wonder why? 

I am sorry for being so sarcastic, it's late and I am tired and my patience has worn thin. 

Hopefully I have regained something of my equilibrium today.  I think that the November 1915 correspondence has really made quite a deep impact on me, especially this issue of the Empress and the Duma.  It is clear to see from the Crawford's careful research that in the Fall of 1915 the Empress' enemies were able promote their own agenda with great ease by misrepresenting the Empress' views on Duma.

It appears to me that Alix, who only had her husband's point of view to be influenced by, has been "liberalized" to an extent by the new Minister of the Interior, Khvostov.  I know that Khvostov and Beletsky are considered to be unscrupulous.  I think that Margarita quotes a contemporary Russian historian to that effect.  However in studying the Sept - Nov correspondence I can't help but notice how the Empress' attitude toward the Duma softens.  We certainly have undeniable proof of that in the November correspondence; so much so that I have started collecting every Russian Statesman's perspective of the Empress and the Duma in the Fall of 1915 to compare with her actual statements in November.  I have started with one of my favorite statesmen, Sazonov.  I have always had a soft spot for him as I have had for Shulgin.  I really don't know why, except again it has more to do with the men's sense of duty than it does with their politics.  Actually I am amazed at how misinformed even Sazonov is about the Empress.  I would expect such remarks from Buchanan, Paleoluge, Miliukov, even Shulgin, but I was taken by suprise with Sazonov.  It amazes me to ponder what these men did and what they persued politically against the Empress that was predicated on such ignorance of her person. 

Recently a highly respected Russian historian asked me to explain my view of the Empress' appraisal of the Ministers.  I thought about my answer and realized that it was not the right question, the real question that needs asked is how I would explain the Minister's appraisal of the Empress.  And that is what my new file on Minister's view of the Empress, which I worked on until the early morning hours last night, is all about.  I am also compling a chronology of events for the Fall of 1915 along with police reports on Rasputin, the Crawford material on Michael and Natasha, the Empress's views on the Duma, Rodzianko, etc, Rodzianko's views of the Empress, the Tsar's audiences with Rodzianko, Rasputin's views, the Khvostov material from Margarita, etc.  I must say that as it develops it is really producing such a different story than is even imaginable.  Knowing as we do from Margarita's article on Rasputin, that we have to be cautious of police reports during Beletsky's tenure as Head of the Police and Deputy Minister of the Interior under Khvostov. 

However having arranged the material as I am doing and trusting that at least some of the police reports on Rasputin's drunkenness are valid, the reports of shipments of wine appear to coincide with Khvostov's policy to keep the strannik inebriated, but more interesting to me is that it appears, though I have not quite worked it out yet, is that reports of Rasputin's all night binges appear to coincide with pressure that was being brought to bear on Rasputin from Khvostov and Beletsky to get approval for their political agenda.  I may be wrong as I have not finished my chronology of events yet and have much more material to include, but for the first time I must say that I read the police reports as something other than a cautionary tale about Rasputin's addiction to alcohol.     

I also wanted to say that the thing that has struck me forcefully by studying the Crawford material is that October 1915 marks a turning point in the Romanov dynamic against the Tsar and Empress, or at least it creates a new polarity within the family against the Imperial couple, or at least against the Empress.

In October 1915 we have, for the first time, the reintroduction of Natasha in Russian Court society as the morganatic wife of the Tsar's brother.  October 1915 also marks a powerful realignment of Romanov sympathies for Natasha and against the Empress when Boris, Andrew, Dimitri and his sister Marie join Natasha's circle. 

We know that the Empress Dowager had from the beginning of the War had done nothing to protect her daughter-in-law from malicious rumours and that while she did not believe the rumours of Moral Corruption and hopefully did not believe the rumours of Treason, the Empress Dowager did not deny her daughter-in-laws unstained patriotism and loyalty to Russia and certainly appeared to help spread rumours of "Who Rules Russia." 

What Ella was up to will probably never be fully known in the Fall of 1915 but whatever her political role was, we know it included her continuous campaign against Rasputin.  Given Ella's close friendship with the Yusupov's and knowing that Princess Yusupov had offered Khvostov unlimited funds to help rid Russia of Rasputin in late 1915, one wonders if Ella was not aware through her close association with the Yusupov's of the plot to destroy Rasputin that was brewing in the Late Fall of 1915.

We know that in the Fall of 1915, that Nikolasha & Company in the Caucuses were working overtime, as they had been doing so tirelessly since 1908, spreading every possible form of slander against the Empress. 

We also know that at the beginning of the Fall of 1915 the Empress had worked hard to mend fences with the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna Sr. and that from her son's diary entries it seems that the Vladimir clan was willing accept the olive leaf and that this is reflected in the Empress' correspondence as she continues to promote the Grand Duchess' concerns to Nicky about various German POW's. 

While I knew that the honeymoon with Miechen would come to an abrupt end in early 1916 when Olga refused the advances of Boris, I didn't appreciate the fact that a month after the Empress's rapprochement with Miechen, her son's, Boris and Andrew had joined Natasha's camp.  I am sure that this must have been an part of Olga's refusal to marry Boris. 

I also cannot help but surmise that October 1915 marks the Grand Duchess Marie Jrs' break with the Empress and that there may be proof of this in the December correspondence.  We will see what everyone thinks when we get to December. 

One thing is for certain, by the Fall of 1915 the revolt within the Romanov Family in all of its complexity but without any real political concensus, except hatred of the Empress, has been set in motion. 

[Ania Vyrubova]

Forgive me for not posting the next themes in the November correspondence.  I think it would be good to post the theme Ania Vyrubova next.  It is not long but it does contain the Empress' concerns over Ania's desire to play a political role. 

ALIX AND NICKY’S WARTIME CORRESPONDENCE

NOVEMBER 1, 1915 — NOVEMBER 30, 1915

Once a rumour, however false, becomes the subject of common belief, it assumes the status of political fact, informing the attitudes and actions of the public…what gave these rumours their potential as a unifying belief...was the fact that they were endorsed by the Duma leaders, and indeed by conservatives. 
Orlando Figes and Boris Kolonitskii

ANIA VYRUBOVA


Letter No. 147  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 3, 1915
- The tail & Beletzky dine at Ania's - a pitty I find, as tho' she wanted to play a political part.

Letter No. 147  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 3, 1915
O she is so proud & sure of herself, not prudent enough, but they begged her to receive them- probably something to give over again & they don't know how to do it otherwise & our Friend always wishes her to live only for us & such things.

Letter No. 152  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 8, 1915.
Ania's brother has arrived and its her mothers and Alia's birthday, so shall only see her this evening. Do send me a message once for her, she is sad to have none.

Letter No. 154. Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 10, 1915.
- Perhaps, if you do send me a word, you will give a message of thanks to A. for her letter, because when I said you wired thanks for letters, she said it meant ours.

Letter No. 156  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 12, 1915.
- Ania walked on her crutches guided by Zhuk. from Feodorov hospital through our garden to Znamenia, of course far to much, already twice, & now feels very tired.

Telegram. Mogilev. 12 November, 1915.
Give her [Ania] my greetings. Nicky

Letter No. 158   Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 14, 1915.
I asked Ania to invite Rita and Shah Bagov and Kikinadze and Danelkov for the Children at 41/2, to spend a cosy afternoon, as they dont go to the hospital to-day and would have missed their friends.

Letter No. 159.  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 15, 1915.
He [Khvostov] came on purpose to dine with Ania and Beletzky, to-night, so as that I should write this for you to read before Trepov's report on Monday.

Letter No. 159.  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 15, 1915.
- Ania manages to walk half an hour on crutches through our garden - how strong she is, tho' complains at being a cripple - nearly daily shaken by motor to town, climbs up to the 3rd story to see our Friend - her back aches especially in the evening. But I feel its the hope of meeting you in the mornings that gives her the strength to walk.

Letter No. 159.  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 15, 1915.
- Zhuk accompanies her now again, as it wld. be dangerous her going alone, she might fall and then, the Drs said, she wld. be sure to rebrake her leg.

Letter No. 159.  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 15, 1915.
- Her [Ania’s] brother returned for 6 days. -

Letter No. 160 Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 15, 1915.
A. had a charming letter fr. N. P. telling all about the journey & his impressions - full of the beauty of the troops, as tho' they were fresh & never been to the war yet.
Letter No. 162  Tsarskoie Selo, Nov. 25-th 1915
could not want to see A. I prefer being alone when the heart is so sore [after Nicky’s short visit].

Telegram 205.  Tsarskoe Selo> Stavka.  26 Nov 1915 9.52> 10.48 a.m.
She [Ania Vyrubova] sends you both her very warmest congratulations and greetings. 

Letter No. 163 Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 26, 1915.
Ania just got a wire fr. N. P. about his nomination & that he is off to Odessa.

Letter No. 164  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 27, 1915.
& Ania only returned from town at 4.20 -- but I liked the calm,

Letter No. 164  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 27, 1915.
A. dined with us - all worked, even she at last, then they sang churchsongs & Olga played.

Letter No. 165  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 28, 1915
In the evening Nik. Dm. Dem. and Victor Erastov. come to Ania's at. 9, to say goodbye to the latter; so sad we shant see Shvedov before he leaves.

Letter No. 166  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 29, 1915.
In the evening we went to Anias and there were besides us, Demenko and Zborovsky.

Letter No. 166  Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 29, 1915.
I enclose a letter fr. A., perhaps you will in your wire say I am to thank her and for the present.

Letter No. 167 Tsarskoe Selo, Nov. 29 1915.
A's train left an hour late from here and took a whole hour to town, she fears sticking on her way back.
 

[The Interrogation of Anna Vyroubova6 May 1917 - By the Extraordinary Commission of the Provisional Government of 1917]

Though I posted most of this just recently I thought that it would be interesting to include some of the questions put to Ania and her answers.  Obviously Ania is fighting for her life and also fighting to shield the Empress but at the same time she appears to blame the Empress for things that are clearly Ania's own doing and some of her answers resort to dissimuation. 

The Interrogation of Anna Vyroubova

6 May 1917
- By the Extraordinary Commission of the Provisional Government of 1917
Translated from the 1927 French abbreviated transcript by Rob Moshein.

V.  It was said that he [Rasputin] was involved in politics, however with me he had never touched on the subject.

PRES. And yourself, were you never involved in politics?

V. And why should I have been involved?

PRES. Have you never tried to have Ministers appointed, by passing reports?

V. No.

PRES. But, you had organized meetings between the Empress and Ministers.

V. I give you my oath of honor that such a thing never took place.

PRES.  It would go better, you know, if you did not give your oath of honor.

V. Why would I have had to organize meetings with the Ministers? I did not even know them!

*************************

PRES. ...you say that your relations with the Ministers were strictly limited to politeness, that is to say that if they came to pay you a visit, it was because you were a lady of honor and in intimate of the imperial family?

V. Yes, they came...

PRES. And you never had any relations with them on the subject of the affairs of State?

V. Never.

PRES. You testify that Rasputin never intervened in these types of affairs?

V. No, he never intervened...

*******************************

PRES. ...The Commission is interested in the political role which you have played, and to the harm that, thanks to Rasputin, you have caused the Country, by your political influence....

PRES. Did you know A.N. Khvostov?

V. He came to my house twice. Once he paid me a visit and the other time I think he came to dinner.

PRES. Do you yourself remember if you were yourself interested in his political actions, after his speech in the Duma on the German question?

V. Me, I was interested in him!

PRES. Not in him personally, but in the political man. You asked him to bring Kvostov (sic) to you and he brought him to you.

V. I have told you: it is not Khvostov, but an awful prince Andronnikov who crept into everyone's house. I don't know if you know him, Prince Andronnikov? He had entree with all the Ministers and in my house as well. He brought candies. A horrible being. It was this Andronnikov who brought Khvostov.

************************
OLYSCHEV. You said that you warned the former Empress that it would be bad to bring Rasputin to the Court?

V. I was afraid.

OLYSCHEV. According to the eyewitness reports, you yourself went many times a day with the Empress and, when you would return home you would sent notes to her. It is said that the Empress would not exist without you.

V. That is true. I was like her daughter.

OLYSCHEV. So, why had you not said: you will not listen to me, but I do not want to organize any more meetings in my house. So, you can not deny, that, when Rasputin came to your house, not only the Empress came, but the entire Imperial family?

V. They would come often, but I swear that it was terrible for me. Otherwise, how would you have me feel? They were far more high up than I!

OLYSCHEV. Since you were yourself opposed to Rasputin, why would you organize the gatherings?

V. Why, because I had to.

OLYSCHEV. They could receive him at home, at the Palace.

V. Yes, I know. My sister often said "they are hiding behind you". But, I was always ready to do everything.

OLYSCHEV. After Andronnikov had brought Khvostov to you, did you invite him to dinner with Byeltski?

V. Khvostov dined with me. I can not tell you if it was with Byeletski, since I don't remember.

[Ref: Romanov Archives - 1917 Interrogation of Anna Vyroubova, trans. by Robert Moshein, Alexander Palace Time Machine. Retrieved October 31, 2009, from http: /www.alexanderpalace.org/russiancourt2006/IV.html. ] 

[MY BOOK]

It is late and I am a bit down so I have my WWI musical CD's playing.  Honestly that music permeated every country during the Great War and it was such happy, frolicing music.  I still get such a kick out of Mme. Sukhomlinov's Tango Tea War Benefit that was advertised under the patronage of the Emrpess.  I am so conflicted over the event as one one hand I love the international hits of 1915 that had to have been played by Mme. Sukhomlinov's society orchestra and I can just see the smart young couples doing the Lame Duck and the Grizzly Bear to Sister Suzie Is Sewing Button's on Soldier's Shirts, and so on.  At the same time I can so sympathize with the Empress' horor.  

Just to say that in a year or so I will be leaving this lovely estate and moving into a cottage here on the Jeresy Shore and that is why most of my library is, yet again, packed up in storage.  The plans to move down to Palm Beach have been cancelled so I will be free at that time to spend all of my time to research and writing.  I so look forward to this.  I have been juggling all of my responsibilities and trying to do my research too and I am so grateful that my life will be simplified.  In lew of this I have opened a new file called MY BOOK .  It is scary to think about and I go from feelings of inferiority to feeling of superiority and back again.  

However, I think that first I will work on an article about the Empress during the Great War and ending with the train leaving Tsarskoe Selo in August 1917.  

Sorry for all this chatting but I just wanted to share the latest update from the Jersey Shore.   Oh and I hope everyone in the States had a Happy Halloween.

[MY BOOK]

… I will be free at that time to spend all of my time to research and writing. … In lew of this I have opened a new file called MY BOOK .

I look forward to it!!!  

In relation to the important information you shared on Novoselov, are you familiar with Matushka?  She stated somewhere back in this thread that Ella had financed the January 1912 Novoselov pamphlet which was basically a compilation of his series of articles that he published in 1910 against Rasputin.  Do you have any research that you can share about this issue?

The 1910 articles on which Novoselov based his pamphlet may have been published in Novoselov's own journal, the "Religious-Philosophical Library", which may available through interlibrary loan.

Surprisingly enough, Rasputin's premonition of a scandal involving the Kaiser and the old Count did materialize, albeit in a completely different way. On or around November 22, 1915, approximately two weeks after Rasputin's premonition, poor old Count Vladimir de Freedericksz was badly compromised by a letter from the Kaiser's Grand Marshall Count Eulenburg.  
...
Early in December [new style] Count Frederichs, who had for years past been Minister of the Imperial Court, received a letter from his former friend, Count Eulenburg (the Grand Marshal of the Court at Berlin), ... The Emperor, on being told of this letter, commanded Count Frederichs to read it to him, ... He then sent for Sazonofff, and told him to prepare a draft reply.  When, on the following day, Sazonoff brought him the draft, in which Count Eulenburg was told that if the Emperor William wanted peace he must address a similar proposal to all the Allies, His Majesty said that on reflection he had decided that the letter should be left unanswered, as any reply, however repellent, might be taken as evidence of his desire to enter into negotiations...

The date of 22 November is probably not far off. According to his 1915 diary, Nicholas received both Freedericksz and Sazonov on Saturday, 21 November (old style), and Sazonov again on Tuesday, 24 November.

Historyfan it was truly delusional of the Kaiser to attempt to influence the Tsar in such a manner. But as we know things are about to get even more delusional in December 1915 when Masha appears in Petrograd on her "Secret Peace Mission."  I am so grateful to Matushka for softening my point of view of this sad event which had such a tragic backlash for the Empress. December, 1915, just as November is becoming, is an equally packed month of fateful events.

Preparing her  peace mission - most likely with the knowledge of Berlin - Masha seems to have visited Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse around 22 November (old style), so the preparations for Masha's trip coincided with the date when Count Freedericksz received Eulenburg's letter. What a coincidence!

[MY BOOK]

… I will be free at that time to spend all of my time to research and writing. … In lew of this I have opened a new file called MY BOOK .

I look forward to it!!!   [/i]

Helen your support means so much me.  It just lifts my spirit as I feel very unqualified as my graduate degrees are all in the Fine Arts.  I do feel that if I can maintain my courage the publication of the book will give me a certain standing among other historians.  I always remember Greg Kings post where he encouraged anyone to have the courage to write.  

The other thing is that the timing at last seems right.  Several times in the past I have had opportunities to study Russian History.  When I was living in NYC one friend understood that Russian history was my real passion.  He knew a very wealthy gentleman who had ties with Old Russia and who had sponcered and paid for other young men interested in Russian history and put them through school at Columbia U. which had and still has an incredible Russian history Dept. and archive.    

I remember arriving at the double doors of the gentleman's lovely upper Westside Town House.  I really hadn't been is such a lovely surrounding since I left home.  I vividly remember how I was standing mute, unable to utter a sound, near the gentleman who was holding a glass of wine and standing, facing me, in front of a white marble fireplace.  Finally to break the silence he asked me in the kindest way about my love of Russian history and honestly I could not open my mouth and when I tried my best to relpy I just mumbled something about the Empress and I became mute again.  After several more attempts my audience with the gentleman was brought to an end.  

The other experience happened several years later.  By this time I was living in a loft on Great Jones Street just west of Soho and in my loft building, the sculptor Fumio Yoshimura had a studio with his wife Kate Millet.  Kate eventually divorced Fumio and wrote a book called Sexual Politics .  But at the time she was also a sculptor and had done some Pop Art pieces that had landed her a well recieved One Man Show at the Judson Gallery in Greenwich Village.  

We all became friends as Fumio was a good friend of the sculptor, Ajiro Wakita who I shared my loft studio with.  Anyway Kate, at the time was also teaching a course on the Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Poets at Columbia and she tried and tried to get me to auit the graduate Russian history courses at Columbia, reassuring me that my graduate degrees would help with access along with her personal recommendation.  I continued to refuse her offer until finally she and Fumio broke up and the offer disappeared.
  
So that is why I am so grateful for your support Helen.  I think that the time is finally right.   Just to say that while I was remembering all of this I also remember during this time of meeting in a lovely townhouse on the upper East side a gentleman who was very much lke the well-bred wealthy, wholesome American types found in my mother's family and who wanted to meet me because he had heard of my interest in the Late Imperial Period.  I don't recall his name, but his father had somehow or other become involved in Pre-Revolutionary Russia and had tried to assist many members of the Romanov family during their exile.  The man's father had become passionately devoted to the Grand Duke Michael and Natasha and had passed this passion on to his son.  

I didn't like Michael for abdicating, while all I knew of Natasha at the time was my impression of having seen a photograph of her with Michael in 1910 where she looked extremely elegant so of course I liked her, or lets say I liked her sense of taste.  It would be several years before I would see her in a newsreel of her and Michael getting out of a smart automobile and walking accross a square in Petrograd and going into some building.  I saw the footage as part of a film on the Tsar and Empress at the Union Club and honestly the French Ambassador's description of her is no exaggeration.  In the newsreel which had to have have been taken in the Winter of 1915-1916 shortly after her Fall 1915 Debut, though it was mistakenly identified in the film as Michael and Natasha arriving in Petrograd after the Tsar's abdication which never happened as Natasha remained at Gatchina during that difficult and dissappointing time.  But to return to my impression of Natasha in the newsreel; She emerged in a stunning cocoon cut full length White Sable fur, an extremely chic hat that flattered her elegant face perfectly, and she was holding an oversized muff that was dotted with small black fox tails in the style of an imperial mantle.  Honestly the way that woman moved, even in that jurky newsreel, took ones breath.  She somehow or other commanded such awe.  It took years for me to see through the surface.      

Well my interview with the nice American gentleman went south fairly quickly when he realized that I was not enamoured with Michael and did not feel that he would have been Russia's saviour.  I was sorry as the man was about to show me an entire archive of letters, etc that his father had collected.  I don't remember what it was that I said, but it was so cutting that my audience was terminated rather quickly.  But I always remember with joy that lovely surrounding with it's silver framed photos's of Michael and other items of interest scattered about on tables around the room.  NYC in that period was truly a petite St. Petersburg, filled as it was with the elite of the Late Imperial Period: an invisible world of sorrow and survivors scattered about in the city.  Rich and poor, they all banned together and formed a silent link to a long forgotten world which today is far more alive, closer to us and more accessible and real than it was then.  

In relation to the important information you shared on Novoselov, are you familiar with Matushka?  She stated somewhere back in this thread that Ella had financed the January 1912 Novoselov pamphlet which was basically a compilation of his series of articles that he published in 1910 against Rasputin.  Do you have any research that you can share about this issue?

The 1910 articles on which Novoselov based his pamphlet may have been published in Novoselov's own journal, the "Religious-Philosophical Library", which may available through interlibrary loan.  

Helen that is a great idea!!!

[Letter No. 54a Tsarskoe Selo, March 9th, 1915]

Surprisingly enough, Rasputin's premonition of a scandal involving the Kaiser and the old Count did materialize, albeit in a completely different way. On or around November 22, 1915, approximately two weeks after Rasputin's premonition, poor old Count Vladimir de Freedericksz was badly compromised by a letter from the Kaiser's Grand Marshall Count Eulenburg.  
...
Early in December [new style] Count Frederichs, who had for years past been Minister of the Imperial Court, received a letter from his former friend, Count Eulenburg (the Grand Marshal of the Court at Berlin), ... The Emperor, on being told of this letter, commanded Count Frederichs to read it to him, ... He then sent for Sazonofff, and told him to prepare a draft reply.  When, on the following day, Sazonoff brought him the draft, in which Count Eulenburg was told that if the Emperor William wanted peace he must address a similar proposal to all the Allies, His Majesty said that on reflection he had decided that the letter should be left unanswered, as any reply, however repellent, might be taken as evidence of his desire to enter into negotiations...

The date of 22 November is probably not far off. According to his 1915 diary, Nicholas received both Freedericksz and Sazonov on Saturday, 21 November (old style), and Sazonov again on Tuesday, 24 November.  

OH Helen you are really the most incredible resource.  Thank you so much!!!  I will pop your dates into my chronology!!!

Historyfan it was truly delusional of the Kaiser to attempt to influence the Tsar in such a manner. But as we know things are about to get even more delusional in December 1915 when Masha appears in Petrograd on her "Secret Peace Mission."  I am so grateful to Matushka for softening my point of view of this sad event which had such a tragic backlash for the Empress. December, 1915, just as November is becoming, is an equally packed month of fateful events.

Preparing her  peace mission - most likely with the knowledge of Berlin - Masha seems to have visited Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse around 22 November (old style), so the preparations for Masha's trip coincided with the date when Count Freedericksz received Eulenburg's letter. What a coincidence!  

Again Helen the connection of events is fascinating to contemplate.   According to Rodzianko, Masha had started her letters to various members of the State Council and Duma in September 1915:

...in early September I received from M. A. Vasilchikova, maid of honour to the Empresses, then in Austria, a very strange letter urging me to promote the cause of peace between the belligerent countries.  The letter was written in incorrect Russian and made the impression of having been translated from the German.  The envelope bore neither stamp or postmark, and had been delivered by a stranger.  Similar letters--seven in all--had been sent to the Emperor, the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna [Sr], the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, A. D. Samarin [then Over-Procurator of the Holy Synod], A. M. Golitzyn, and the Minister of Foriegn Affairs, Sazonoff.  [Ref: M. V. Rodzianko, The Reign of Rasputin (1927), p. 169]

We know that the Empress had started recieving letters from Masha in March 1915 which Alix assured Nicky she had not replied to.  

Now, at long last, that the cat is finally out of the bag about Count Witte's attempts to secure as separate peace with Germany shortly before his death on February 28, 1915, I think that we can include this information in our timing of these letters from Germany.  

Witte's biographer, Sidney Harcave states that as early as October 1914:

...in a letter to Robert Mendelssohn [Witte's German investment broker], sent through secure channels,he [Witte] dealt not only with the matter of having his account transferred to a neutral country but also the possibility of a separate peace.  He obviously and correctly believed that Mendelssohn would inform the German foriegn office of the letter.  The foriegn office was interested and so was the chancellor, who authorized discreet probes that led nowhere, but it is worth noting that in a later letter to Mendelssohn, Witte expressed his willingness to serve as a delegate to a conference to negotiate a separate peace...

About the same time [February 1915], the Finance Committee authorized Witte to go to the United States to obtain a loan.  This put him in a anomoalous position of aiding the war effort while seeking to end the conflict...What his feelings were about his new task we do not know...As it turned out, he did not have long to live, and all that he was able to do was to call on the American Ambassador.  [Ref: Sidney Harcave, Count Sergei Witte and the Twilight of Imperial Russia, (2004), p. 265]      

Given Harcave's research on Witte, I think it is interesting that Masha's first letters about a negotiating a separate peace began within weeks of Witte's death on Feb. 28, 1915.  

Alix writes Nicky:

Letter No. 54a Tsarskoe Selo, March 9th, 1915
- I enclose a letter from Masha, (from Austria) which she was asked to write to you, for peace's sake. I never answer her letters, of course, now...

It is possible that Masha's March letter was part of an attempt in Germany to find a new channel for their separate peace negotiations after Witte's unexpected death at the end of February.   
  

Griffh

Just to get things clear in my head, who was the Masha who is being referred to here?

Ann

Griffh

Just to get things clear in my head, who was the Masha who is being referred to here?

Ann

Ann, Masha is described by Ella' biographer, Christopher Warwick, thus:

Princess Maria Vassiltchikova was known affectionately to the Empress and her sisters and brother as Masha.  The towering 400 + pound Masha who had known the Empress and her sisters when they were children and later became a lady-in-waiting to both Ella and Alix.  Masha is described by Prince Yusupov as being:

...as tall as a drum-major, weighted over four hundred pounds, and in her stentorian voice used the language of a guardroom.  Nothing amused her more than to show off her muscular strength.  Anyone passing within her reach risked being snatched up as easily as a newborn babe, to the joy of all present.  The Princess often chose my father [Prince Felix Yusupov Sr.] for a victim, and he did not appreciate the joke in the least.  [Ref: Christopher Warwick, Ella, Princess, Saint & Martyr, (2006), p. 124]

Baroness Buxhoveden states that Masha [Mlle. Marie Alexandrovna Vassiltchikoff] had:

...settled in Austria long before the war and had returned to Petrograd, bringing her letters from friends in Germany to different prominent people, among them one to the Emperor and another to Sazonoff.  The Emperor immediately sent his letter to Sazonoff, with the remark that it needed no answer; neither the Emperor nor the Empress ever saw Mlle. Vassiltchikoff.  The Empress thought that she was trying to create a link between the countries, and considered her action wrong, as she thought a separate peace would be dishonorable on Russia’s part.  She said so strongly, and was firm in refusing to have anything to do with Mlle. Vassilchikoff, who was sent to her estate in the provinces and ordered to reside there until the end of the war.  [Ref:  Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna,  (1930), p. 225]

Matushka adds some interesting details to this sad episode which are a few pages back in the thread and worth reading.  Radzinsky unfortunately creates a great deal of confusion about the identity of Masha. 

In both The Rasputin File, and The Last Tsar Edvard Radzinsky mistakenly states that Masha was the courier of Ernie’s April 17, 1915 letter. 

He first makes the mistake in The Last Tsar: 

At about this time Vasilchikova returned to Petrograd—and evidently brought with her letters from Germany.
   
She: “April 17th 1915…I  had a long, dear letter fr. Erni - I will show it you upon your return. He says that “if there is someone who understands him (you) & knows what he was going through, it is me”. He kisses you tenderly. He longs for a way out of this dilemma, that someone ought to begin to make a bridge for discussion.
   
So he had an idea of quite privately sending a man of confidence to Stockholm, who should meet a gentleman sent by you (privately) that they could help disperse many momentary difficulties. He had this idea, as in Germany there is no real hatred against Russia. So he sent a gentleman to be there on the 28th …  [Ref: Edvard Radzinsky, The Last Tsar (1992), p. 142]

Then Radzinsky repeats the same mistake in The Rasputin File:
 
An event occurred at that time that produced a wave of rumours in Petrograd and great concerns among the Allies.  Maria Vasilchikova had come from Germany.  She was a maid of honour of the tsarina, the daughter of the director of the famous Hermitage, and owner of a large estate near Vienna, where she had been caught by the war.  The Germans had refused her permission to return to Russia.  But then her mother died.  And under the warranty of Alix’s brother Ernie, duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, she was allowed to leave Germany for three weeks.  In the event that she did not return, the Germans would appropriate her estate.  Ernie had interceded for her, since she had, to her misfortune, agreed to convey a letter from him to the empress…  [Ref: Edvard Radzinsky, The Rasputin File, (2000), pp. 314-315.]   

Masha was not the courier for Ernie's April letter to the Empress. 

Given all of this I think it is important to take a moment and share the tragic consequences of Ernie's letter on not only Alix, but also Ella.

Hugo Mager explains tha Ernie's letter was sent "underground" via the Queen of Sweden and that such a: 

…communication from Germany added to the people’s suspicions about the empress.  At the beginning of May, [April 17, 1915 old style] her brother Ernest, Grand Duke of Hesse, sent her a secret letter via the queen of Sweden… He suggested to Alexandra that Russia should propose peace.   Alexandra had replied that peace was out of the question, and sent their brother’s letter on to Elizabeth.  It is not known if Elizabeth read the letter or threw it away unopened; she made no reply.  But the damage had been done.  Reports of this supposedly top-secret missive leaked out.  It was now said that the empress had a secret telephone line to Berlin.  Worse, rumor had it that Elizabeth was giving help to German prisoners of war whom she was hiding in her convent.  The convent was supposedly a “den of spys.”
   
Ernest’s letter, though it reflected his own feelings, was part of the German strategy to knock Russia out of the war.  It preceded a massive offensive on the hundreds of miles of front from the Carpathians to the Baltic… [Ref: Hugo Mager, Elizabeth Grand Duchess of Russia, (1998), p. 280]   

Edvard Radzinsky explains the backlash Ernie's letter had on the Empress:

Although Ernie’s letter had been a personal one, Nicholas decided he would be honest about it, and passed it on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  As a sign that he had not been party to any peace proposals.  That was a mistake.  For the rumours immediately started to spread.
   
‘In Russia everything is a secret but nothing is hidden.’  And the terrible tenacious rumour was born that the tsarina was a spy who was corresponding with the Germans and giving them military secrets…  [Ref: Edvard Radzinsky, The Rasputin File, (2000), pp. 315-316.]   

The reaction to Ernie's letter in April 1915 was nothing compared with the firestorm caused by Masha's mission to Petrograd in December 1915.  Knowing as we do that Natasha Brazova had just strengthened her anti-Alix Salon that Fall by including Boris, Andrew, Dimitri, and Marie and various Duma Deputies and had managed to promote Michael as a candidate for the throne who was waiting in the wings: all on slander about the Empress' supposed oppostion to the Duma and her support of a right-wing Court Cabal and the retrograde Goremykin [all lies]; could Natasha could add Treason to the list of crimes she accused the Empress of having committed thereby increasing the popularity of Michael.

Ann thanks so much for asking about Masha and just to say I will cover in detail Masha mission to Petrograd and it's fallout in the December correspondence.