AP Therapy Group - Death of the IF. How do you cope?

[edubs31]

Perhaps an unusual topic for conversation but something I've given a bit of thought to recently...

How do you cope with the murder/execution of the IF and their retainers? I imagine there is a wide range of feeling on the subject. From those of us who give little thought to it, to others who treat it like the death of family members, and then everything in between. For those of us whose emotions run high on the subject, and are willing to share, tell us how you deal with their deaths and the sadness it causes.

Do you...Ignore the topic altogether? Think of something happy and unrelated? Look at pretty pictures of the family and/or read charming stories? Or do you dive right in to the subject? What brings closure?

[Maria the Beautiful]

I'm not sure  ever felt the story and tragedy of the Romanovs in an internal way - not the way you feel the loss of a family member or close friend.   But I think I'm not alone on this board when I say that I sometimes feel compelled to re-visit  the threads of photos here that i've seen many times, especially when I'm reading a story about one of them.   I feel that need to bring them back to life in my mind.   

[edubs31]

I'm not sure  ever felt the story and tragedy of the Romanovs in an internal way - not the way you feel the loss of a family member or close friend.   But I think I'm not alone on this board when I say that I sometimes feel compelled to re-visit  the threads of photos here that i've seen many times, especially when I'm reading a story about one of them.   I feel that need to bring them back to life in my mind.   

I agree, and it's almost hard to imagine how people dealt with the loss of loved ones and those they admired before photography. It's such an important thing emotionally for so many of us...being able to capture a moment in time. Using your imagination you can dive right in to a picture and experience a world that you were not part of (such as the IF), or recapture something that you did experience.

Like replaying things from exact that point in time. How would you have tried to influence something/someone, or what would you have done differently?

[Rodney_G.]

I don't cope in a sense all that well. That is, it's a rare occasion that, at least on some level ,I'm not conscious  of the IF's execution, their  sad exit from life. This is  especially the case when viewing photos, and even more so when looking at  those of the children in their earlier years. That is, my foreknowledge of their violent murders influences my reaction to seeing them or often just reading about them, and in a bittersweet way. And this is not a great thing.


So,it's not a question of me coping, but more like continuously  experiencing some, yes,  powerful,  emotions.
They're all over the map,but may best be summed up as poignant. And rarely far from the surface. And as for the sadness that occasionally arises,I find it just as well to go with it and not try to deny it. And to wonder why I feel it at all for those seven individuals in particular , from a world long ago and far away; and yet not really, as the existence of this Forum and website demonstrate.

[TimM]

especially the case when viewing photos, and even more so when looking at  those of the children in their earlier years.

I feel the same way.  Seeing their smiling faces in those pictures and knowing what lies head just makes me wish I could do something, warn them somehow.  Of course, that's not possible (until I get around to building that time machine). 

It was a senseless crime, a murder that need not have been done.  The IF had been out of power for over a year, no one wanted them back in.  So why kill them?  There we other options, namely internal or external exile.   Of course, the Soviets were just getting started...

[Maria the Beautiful]

How do you cope with the murder/execution of the IF and their retainers?

It occurred to me after my last post that there is something that I feel compelled to do from time to time with regard to the IF and their tragic end.   I love to travel and since finances are tight right now, I do a lot of armchair traveling on Google Earth (I LOVE GE!!).   Everytime I get on GE, no matter what other locations I may be intent on "visiting", I find myself first making a little pilgrimage to Tsarkoye Selo to visit the AP.   There are a few photos posted there  of the exterior door of the Semi-Circular Hall from afar.   Everytime I see one of those pictures all I can think of is that was where the IF left their home for the last time.   It really gets to me.  

[edubs31]

Tim) Spot on! I guess we are lucky then that in 99% of those photos - those individual moments frozen in time - they are happy, or at least content.

Rodney) Yes I understand this completely. I suppose then that I'm lucky in this regard. Perhaps I am better able to compartmentalize my emotions than many. For some reason I don't think about their terrible end, or even the fact that I'm looking at something from a century ago, when I see their imagines. It's only when reading about those "final chapters", or discussing it as we are now, that it dominates my thoughts.

I guess to answer my own question from above...I reject the idea, for me personally, that it's best to think about something else when you're upset. I'm all about closure and it's my personal opinion that there was a special plan that placed them in the basement that evening. That there was something more to it than bad luck and circumstance, or the will of others set to eliminate them. Acknowledging this has been an important step for me in coming to terms with the killing of both the IF and countless other senseless murders that occur on a regular basis.

[edubs31]

How do you cope with the murder/execution of the IF and their retainers?

It occurred to me after my last post that there is something that I feel compelled to do from time to time with regard to the IF and their tragic end.   I love to travel and since finances are tight right now, I do a lot of armchair traveling on Google Earth (I LOVE GE!!).   Everytime I get on GE, no matter what other locations I may be intent on "visiting", I find myself first making a little pilgrimage to Tsarkoye Selo to visit the AP.   There are a few photos posted there  of the exterior door of the Semi-Circular Hall from afar.   Everytime I see one of those pictures all I can think of is that was where the IF left their home for the last time.   It really gets to me.  

That pretty cool and I'll have to check that out. I was a little bit obsessed with Google Earth when it was first launched a few years ago but haven't played around with it much since. Next time I do I'll definitely have to take a swing through St. Petersburg/TS and other places in and around the empire!

[Maria the Beautiful]

I guess to answer my own question from above...I reject the idea, for me personally, that it's best to think about something else when you're upset. I'm all about closure and it's my personal opinion that there was a special plan that placed them in the basement that evening. That there was something more to it than bad luck and circumstance, or the will of others set to eliminate them. Acknowledging this has been an important step for me in coming to terms with the killing of both the IF and countless other senseless murders that occur on a regular basis.

I'm sorry edubs31, I really didn't answer your question.   But you've expressed my feelings about death in general, whether it's of natural causes or the result of unspeakable violence.   This is where one's faith comes into play.   Like you, I do believe in God's Plan for each of us.   Eveyone and everything has a purpose in His Plan even if we can't fathom what those reasons might be at the time.    This belief is what gets me through just about everything ithat may be unpleasant in life.

[TimM]

In my opinion, God had nothing to do with what happened on July 17, 1918.  That was all us, humanity, at its very worst.

[edubs31]

Tim, etc)

I'm curious...would you say you feel more sadness because of their deaths, or more anger towards their killers? Roughly what percentage is devoted to each?

[clockworkgirl21]

I can't say I really have to cope, especially since while the murder of the IF is tragic, so many people die on this planet from lack of food and water. The IF had pretty good lives up until the revolution.

It's shocking however to think that the children of who was once the most powerful man in Russia could have their lives end in a violent way in a cellar.

[Jen_94]

Well, when I see their happy, smiling faces, in all those many photos of their adventures, I do really get sad, because it's the case of knowing what lies ahead for them, so I basically agree with what Tim said.

[TimM]

or more anger towards their killers

Anger towards the killers, Yurovsky, Ermakov and the other thugs who actually did it, and Lenin and Co., who ordered it done.  they are all guilty of this crime and, what's worse, is that they got away with it.  None of them were ever brought to justice (at least not mortal justice, one only hopes the whole bunch of them are baking in Hell as I write this).

I mean there were worse crimes, such as the Holocaust, but in the end, the Nazis WERE brought to justice and punished for their crimes.  Lenin and Co. were not.  By the time the USSR collapsed, they were all long dead and thus beyond the reach of any mortal court.

[blessOTMA]

I go for awhile forgetting and then BAM, it's there...I sometimes think I stare
at their photos as if to detain them  a little longer...

I cannot spare you the cellar
I can only watch you walk towards it forever

But it's in every photo in a sense ...and I know part of
why I paint them is to bring them out of the cellar...even if it's just in paint 

Interesting what clock said

It's shocking however to think that the children of who was once
the most powerful man in Russia could have their lives end in a violent way in a cellar.

Because indeed millions have suffered more...but we feel we know these people...
something about them calls to us... I believe one  can learn about someone
 via photos...it's not as you would known them in life of course, but a connection is made.

I would say this is true of someone like Anne Frank  and others as well...and in this way, they are not
 just people of the past, but emotionally current

Think of it as a message in a bottle...the message is sent  out ( or photo snapped) it travels its way...it's read.
The person sending it doesn't know the reader. But can one  say a connection wasn't made?