Disposal of bodies and Yurovsky-Ermakov conflict

[Prodromos]

Has anyone come across any convincing explanation as to why 2 of the bodies of the executed Family were buried in a different location than the rest? And what about Radzinsky’s suggested theory of the long secret conflict between Yurovsky and Ermakov as to that night? Has this theory found any ground?

[Forum Admin]

This was explained many years ago. Yurovsky decided to burn the bodies so the remains couldn't be identified.  Before burning them all, he decided to take the two smallest bodies to see if they would burn sufficiently.  They didn't burn at all having been frozen. So Yurovsky buried the two at that site, running over the area with trucks to obliterate the traces and then took the remaining bodies to be buried elsewhere.

[Prodromos]

Thanks for the reply,

I’ve started reading the accounts of the bodies disposal only recently, and therefore I might be lacking significant information. Nevertheless, reading Yurovsky’s note I saw that he did not burn the rest of the bodies because of peasants arriving, regardless of the fact that they did burn quickly:

"I decided to make use of the swamp. And burn some of the corpses… Unloaded the corpses. Opened the barrels. Placed one corpse to test how it would burn. The corpse charred relatively quickly, then I ordered to start burning Alexei… At this time [they were] digging a pit… It was just before morning. Burning the rest of the corpses was not possible because again the peasants began to come out for work, and for that reason we had to bury the corpses in the pit."

We know that bodies don’t burn quickly at all. Is it not strange that Yurovsky supports the opposite? And then, what do all the contradicting accounts of those who took part in that procedure (of the disposal of the bodies) tell us? Is there any other source of information -of which I’m not aware- that clears things out?

Many thanks.

[Forum Admin]

Yurovsky wrote a lot of things that were contradictory or plain out lies. You must read his words with caution and scepticism. He was writing for his Soviet audience, not an accurate historical account.

[Prodromos]

You have written that the separate burial case has been explained many years ago. Could you then, please, tell me by whom? Who has given the clear explanation if Yurovsky and the rest accounts of the eye-witnesses are contradicting to themselves and to one another?

[Forum Admin]

Use the search function for the forum and/or scroll through the posts in "The Final Chapter" where all this was discussed at length after the second set of remains were found.

[Prodromos]

I appreciate it. Thanks.