What do you think happened to Michael's body?

[Annie]

I have always been surprised that in all this time there have been so few Michael claimants (only one besides the monk story?) even though his body was never found. These are the questions I have:

Do you think there is any chance his remains might still be found?
Is anyone looking, or have they ever, and if not, why?
Does anyone know the exact location his execution took place?
Have there ever been any reports or memoirs of Bolsheviks explaining what they did with the body?
Is it possible that if he and Johnson were just left laying there, they may have been eaten by wild animals?

[dmitri]

Yes it is quite unusual that nobody really tried to impersonate him. I guess it was far too dangerous to attempt to and to stay in Russia. Also if an imposter had fled to the west, his wife and son would have know he was a fraud immediately as would have other immediate family.

[AGRBear]

Reported Death of the Uncrown Tsar Michael II Romanov of Russia

p. 630-1 in A LIFELONG PASSION, Nicholas and Alexandra, Their Own Story by Maylunas and Mironenko give us "A.V. Markov [the assassin] - 13-14 / 26-7 June-Perm".

Listed as those who were part of the executions were: (1) A.V. Markov, (2) Zhuzhgov, (3) Kolpashikov, (4) Ivanchenko.....

12 July 1918: In  phaetons [carriages]  these men drove Michael Romanov and Johnson his secretary out of Perm to about 5 verst from Motovilicha .... a verst passed pass the kerosene depot, right turn into woods and about another 100-130 feet....

Markov claims to have shot both men

They did not bury the bodies but left them by the road after covering them with branches.....

Far as I know,  the  bodies/ bones were never found of either victim.

AGRBear

PS


Under the photo is written the names of the shooters of Michael:

Alexander Markov
Zhuzhgov
Myasnikov
Ivancenko
Kolpashchikov

[Amanda_Misha]

 I have read that to Michael Romanov and Nicholas Johnson they assassinated them near a called site "Malaya Yazovaya" according to Crawford in page 360
I think that someday they found the body of Michael and the body of Nicholas Johnson
Their deaths were sad and unjust, they did not deserve what it happened to them ...

Greetings to all

[Annie]

Thanks for the info. How very sad. I wonder what ever happened to the bodies. Maybe over the years somebody stumbled upon his bones and never knew who he was.

[dmitri]

I doubt the bodies were left under branches. They would have been buried to avoid discovery as the murderers claimed they had tried to escape.

[Alixz]

Ah, now it has come.  The next chapter in the missing Romanovs.  It is only natural that people must wonder about Michael Alexandrovich and now that his brother and family have been found, perhaps someone will begin a concentrated search for Michael and Johnson.

The is some indication of where they were buried so perhaps someone will begin with older maps and then proceed to the new topography and be able to do some pin point sleuthing.

There would have been no reason for anyone to try to be a "Michael claimant" because as long as Natalia and George were alive they could identify Michael without any doubt.

I just always felt so bad that George was killed in a car accident of all things.  After surviving the Revolution with his mother, to be killed so mundanely and so uselessly is a shame.

[Robert_Hall]

I have read somewhere that the bodies were incinerated in an industrial furnace.  That would have eliminated any remains far more effectively than the pitiful attempts in Ekaterinburg.  Also, that the area where they they were shot is now all paved over, perhaps an expansion of the same industrial estate.

[dmitri]

Yes I read the same Robert. Sometimes I think it is best to leave a body in peace once it has met its end. The Romanov bones that are in the St. Catherine Chapel in St. Petersburg are of course emtombed. Of course parts of their remains that broke down will always remain in the soil outside of Ekaterinburg. It seemed rather unusual separating the two although I understand why the bones of course were moved and buried elsewhere.

[Amanda_Misha]

Although I also read just like Robert and Dimitri: think that there is a possibility that they have not incinerated them or that they can look for them?

[Alixz]

I thought I had read that Serge's body had been paved over inside the Kremlin, but was then found upon reconstruction years later.

Where did you read of the same thing happening to Michael's body?  What source?  I would like to read about that, too.

And what is the source for the "industrial incinerator"?  That I had never heard.

Thanks

[Annie]

There wasn't much of a 'body' to dig up in Sergei's case. He was literally blown to pieces by the bomb that killed him. He wasn't just torn and bloody but still alive for a little while like Alexander II, he was practically obliterated. The story of Ella walking around in her blue dress picking up the bloody pieces saying 'Sergei so hates a mess' is very upsetting, and perhaps that dreadful experience led her to become a nun. They did do something to commemorate the site of his death, but no actual 'body' was found.

[Robert_Hall]

I think it was a church or chapel that was built for Sergei. What was left of him was entombed in the crypt.  The chapel itself was torn  down, but post-Soviet excavations found the crypt with the casket. I do not recall reading what they did with it. May even be interred with other Grand Dukes at the Sts. P&P in St. Petersburg.
 As for Michael- I doi not recall where I read that account. It may have even been in a Royalty Digest article. As I do recall,  they were shot near a kerosene factory or depot and there was a furnace  they they were put in and forgotten.  The place  where were actually shot and left covered in twigs until reclaimed later for disposal was much later paved over for use by the industrial estate. There was nothing particularly sinister or deliberate about it- by then Michael had long been forgotten anyway.
 As others have read the same stories and variations as well, I imagine  we will find the source eventually.

[Amanda_Misha]

I read the two versions in the following page of Internet,by the way very interesting:

http://www.thefateoftheromanovs.com/

By Greg King and Penny Wilson

[Robert_Hall]

I have found, in THE GRAND DUKE'S WOMAN by Pauline Gray that there apparently were several  persons claiming to be Michael in the early 20's.  None were taken seriously, apparenntly, though.