Imprisonment, Last Days & Death of Romanovs in 1918

[Sarastasia]

Where did you read about the boat ride from Tobolsk to Yeakternburg (Spel.)??

Sarastasia

[Sarushka]

Fate of the Romanovs, by Greg King & Penny Wilson, will fill you in about the steamer trip to Ekaterinburg.  It's a huge and in my opinion very good & well-researched book that's likely to challenge some of your views on the last days of the imperial family. Be forewarned that the execution chapter is very graphic (it's informative as well, but a lot of folks can't read it all in one sitting).
Sm

[Dominic_Albanese]

I meant that a wooden church has been built at the site they were originally buried.   I have a website somewhere and will look for it.

dca

[noblepupil]

I have read a few posts asking about the last known photographs of NAOTMAA, as individuals or family snaps.  I read in I believe N and A a life long passion.  That it was written by one of the guards that two days before the execution each member of the household had their photographs taken individually.  It was also shown in the television movie Anastasia the tsar's lost daughter.(c.late 1970's early 1980's).  Where each of them had to have their pictures taken to show Lenin or somebody.  
So basically if there was pictures taken of them two days before their execution what ever happen to the pictures?

[clockworkgirl21]

Well, I think all the pictures taken of them at Ekaterinburg were burned. I think the only pictures you can find of them before they left for Ekaterinburg were of them aboard the Rus, but I've never seen these pics.

[noblepupil]

Okay but I would of thought the took the pics to show what state they were in before they were killed?

[clockworkgirl21]

I don't know, perhaps they did. But if they did, they were burned.

[GD Alexandra]

And if they did, and later burned the pictures...what about the existance of photo negatives??

[Ortino]

Probably burned. All the film the family had in their cameras was burned so any pictures there would have been destroyed as well. Probably in their hurry to cover up their act, the men got rid of everything that would suggest the IF's presence there.

[Jenn_Zhivago]

I never heard of a church at the sight of the old mine where they were first buried, and would love to hear about it or see a picture.  Please do post what you find!

[highlowhall]

After reading so much from beginning to end, of this much discussed tragic story, I often wonder if Nicholas and Alexandra themselves discussed, during years in captivity, their role in their own downfall and the end of Tsarism. As prisoners they had much time on their hands, to reflect and realise their mistakes .
And the children, especially the two older girls, who were actually educated young women at this time, would they not have questioned their parents about their imprisonment and the foreboding implications of it.

Just a thought!! Im just as fascinated as everybody else!!

[Sarushka]

The only reflection I recall at the moment is Nicholas's reaction to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Gilliard reported that Nicholas was disgusted that his abdication had led to the treaty, and for the first time expressed regret at giving up the throne. He considered the whole arrangement treasonous, from what I understand. He's quoted in a documentary as having said, "And to think they called Her Majesty a traitor!"

I know Olga is said to have realized more than anyone else the implications of their situation, but I haven't read any evidence that she discussed her feelings with anyone.

Some of Alix's letters may have discussed her views of the revolution, but I don't recall any particulars right now...

[Sarushka]

Forgot about this in the last post --

When Alix was trying to decide whether to accompany Nicky to Ekaterinburg or stay behind in Tobolsk with Alexei, she made some remark about how they [Bolsheviks] were trying to separate her from the emperor, and that without her, she was afraid he'd once more be forced to "do something stupid" -- a reference to the abdication. I think you can assume from that remark that she still had a firm belief in autocracy (and herself!)

[sailor_of_standart]

I didn't know that Alix had a choice to go to Enkaterinburg.  When was this a choice for Alix?

[Sarushka]

The tsar was informed on April 25, 1918, by Vassili Vassilievich Yakovlev, the extraordinary commissar of the Central Executive Committee, that he was to be transferred from Tobolsk to points unknown. (There's plenty of debate over whether Yakovlev's original orders were to transfer Nicholas to Ekaterinburg or Moscow, but that's another story). Alix, to use the vernacular, pitched a fit. However, Nicky was also told he could take whomever he wished along with him. This threw the empress into a huge dilemma, since Alexei was recovering from a serious bout with hemophilia. Alix eventually chose to accompany the tsar, leaving Alexei primarily in the care of Tatiana in Tobolsk. Maria Nikolaevna also accompanied her parents to Ekaterinburg. Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Alexei followed on May  20, when Alexei was deemed well enough to travel.