Rasputin's "Powers" and His Family Name.

[Arleen_Ristau]

OK I am going to just jump right on in and ask the question that is probably on everyones mind....zap me out Rob if this offends!
Someone tell us all the REAL facts about Rasputin's penis...about where it ended up!  In his daughters 2nd book she tells that wierd account of it being cut off and ending up in that secret society of little old Russian Ladies in Paris, where the author claims to have seen it in a box lined in velvet.  
In the only parts of the autopsy I've read about NOTHING is mentioned and I took that to mean it was still intact.
Will someone tell us to real facts?
..Arleen  

[Louise]

Well it wasn't on my mind, but now that you ask...

Once again, I am astounded by the myths and legends that surround the Tsars family and Rasputin. So many beliefs being thrown by the wayside. It's hard to take in so much of the information that I have learned since I found this board.

You mean to tell me that the hard held belief that the "true" facts given to the Tsar from Stolypin was mostly false information to discredit Rasputin?

Forum Ad, would it be possible for you to tell me where you got this information so I can read it, devour it and ponder it.

This is the beauty of being involved in the Romanov Dynasty. It's a never ending tale.

Louise

[Forum Admin]

Spiridovitch, in his book about his time as chief of personal secret security to the Imperial Family is the source.  He also wrote a comprehensive bio of Rasputin.  He himself read the reports and read the follow up investigations.  I have no reason to question his veracity on this point.

[LisaDavidson]

Read Radzinsky if you will - he can be entertaining. However, he can also be inaccurate, no matter how good his sources may be. If this does not bother you, fine. However, if you like history to be accurate, you may want to choose another historian. Or, you may want to take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

Many people have been told that he sensationalizes what he write about in order to sell more books, so it's reasonably certain this is true. It's also unfortunate.

[sara]

As a really busy undergrad who is unable to track down a lot of resources (from both a lack of time and lack of availability), I found Radzinsky's book helpful. Though most of the quoting I did from the book was from what he had quoted from documents (I'm doing this in good faith that he is citing his sources correctly and not twisting them. If anyone believes I should not do this, please tell me) and from what can be backed up in other sources.

[Greg_King]

OK I am going to just jump right on in and ask the question that is probably on everyones mind....zap me out Rob if this offends!
Someone tell us all the REAL facts about Rasputin's penis...about where it ended up!  In his daughters 2nd book she tells that wierd account of it being cut off and ending up in that secret society of little old Russian Ladies in Paris, where the author claims to have seen it in a box lined in velvet.  
In the only parts of the autopsy I've read about NOTHING is mentioned and I took that to mean it was still intact.
Will someone tell us to real facts?
..Arleen  

In the ten years or so that have elapsed since I wrote my biography of Felix Yusupov, I've learned a lot more about this issue.  More information that suggests inferentially it might have been true, and information that suggests it's just a myth.  I can say, though, that I know Patte Barham-the woman who helped Maria Rasputin with the last book she wrote in which this claim was made-very well, and have discussed this with her.  And she (Patte) was very definitely told this by Maria (I've heard the tapes) and she (Patte) also definitely was shown the object in question in Paris, as she told me.  Whether what she was shown was Rasputin's penis-that's another issue-but Patte had no reason to doubt it-I'm a little more skeptical.  But I don't question Patte's veracity on the issue, nor that this is what Maria claimed to her.  But I have serious doubts about it.

Greg King

[Thierry]

(It was funny to read Xenia Sfiris recent interview, where she wondered, how someone as kind as Felix could possibly murder anyone: ''No one could belive it!'')

Galina,

Where could I read Xenia Sfiris' interview ?

Thanks !

[3710]

Thierry
Xenia Sfiris' interview was published in last issue of Pensée russe/Russkaia mysl (Paris).
It was not very interesting, though. She only met Felix briefly when a little girl. On the subject of Rasputin, she was unhappy of what Radzinsky wrote about him (homosexual, hit Yussupov etc)and complained that she has no where to stay when visiting St.P.(Although I read long time ago that she has been, actually, offered a ''flat'' in their Moika mansion. Interesting arrangement...)
Galina

[Thierry]

Many thanks, Galina. I will try to get a copy of this article.

I remember that when I was visiting the Russian Cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (France) a few years ago and was searching for the Yussupoffs grave, the gardener told me that Mrs Sfiris just left a few minutes ago. I was very disappointed...  

[Greg_King]

Thierry
Xenia Sfiris' interview was published in last issue of Pensée russe/Russkaia mysl (Paris).
It was not very interesting, though. She only met Felix briefly when a little girl. On the subject of Rasputin, she was unhappy of what Radzinsky wrote about him (homosexual, hit Yussupov etc)and complained that she has no where to stay when visiting St.P.(Although I read long time ago that she has been, actually, offered a ''flat'' in their Moika mansion. Interesting arrangement...)
Galina

Funny, Galina, that she still maintains this line.  I spoke with her several times when I was writing my book on Felix, and discussed the various issues with her, but she continually declared, "My grandfather was a sweet, generous, loving man, not homosexual" (as if the two were exclusive of each other) and she was appalled that anyone suggest he used drugs (even though he himself wrote about it!).  I understand her feelings for a man she only knew as a very elderly, kindly grandfather, but was (and I suppose still am) somewhat perplexed at her attitude and inability to reconcile that which he himself admitted and wrote of.

I find it extremely funny that she complains she has no place to say in Petersburg-unless her mother somehow frittered away the millions of dollars the Yusupovs won in their case against MGM-she could easily purchase any number of places-why not the family dacha at Tsarskoye Selo?  But then I've found a lot of emigres tend to be quite funny about money-claiming poverty to you while sitting in a room adorned with bits of Faberge and Catherine the Great's china!

Greg King

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hello Greg,
About Xenya´s words, does she really think someone cannot be "sweet, generous and loving" and homosexual at the same time??? I don´t know whether to laught or to cry...It´s quite surprising that someone nowadays, specially the supposed high cultured people, has this thought. Whatever Felix was, he was certainly not  100% heterosexual, and this fact is not insulting at all.
It may seems contradictory to see  russian aristocrats claiming for their property amidst luxuy furnished rooms in Paris but what is this when compared with their former states and palaces full of everything you can imagine? The russian archives are full too with their family albums and documents. Well, all those things were their own property and, for me, so still are.  just imagine some cherished thing, a chair for example, from your grand mother. The only difference is that their family chairs were made by Jacob or Voronikhin, but might have for them another value than the money it would cost, might not?
However, i´m one of those whow enjoy these things in the russian museums...Finally i would prefer these things to be with their former owners than on Lepke´s catalogue being sold by the soviet state...

Antonio.

[Reed]

Along Antonio's line....does the possibility exist that the Russian government "might" give back some of the stolen estates or family possessions???  I'm sure once they started there may be no stopping.  :-/

[Forum Admin]

I moved this over to its own topic, it deserves its own catagory and does not really relate to Rasputin the subject of this thread.

[LisaDavidson]

As a really busy undergrad who is unable to track down a lot of resources (from both a lack of time and lack of availability), I found Radzinsky's book helpful. Though most of the quoting I did from the book was from what he had quoted from documents (I'm doing this in good faith that he is citing his sources correctly and not twisting them. If anyone believes I should not do this, please tell me) and from what can be backed up in other sources.

Sara: I believe Radzinsky should be used very sparingly by any undergrad or grad student. Anything you can verify through other sources would be okay, but as I said, he writes for entertainment value.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

I´ve always wondered where was Gregory buried. Reading the Tsar´s diary for the funeral day he wrote that the grave was in a field to the right of the Photography building in the Alexander Park. The problem here is that Anna Virubova firmly said that he was NOT buried in the park but in the chapel of her private hospital that was then in construction.
Could someone help me please to solve this question???

Antonio.