Author Topic: What got you interested in the Romanovs?  (Read 136909 times)

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Marshall II

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #315 on: December 16, 2009, 02:16:11 PM »
Does anyone know if any of the Palaces can be stayed in today, by civilians?

Offline blessOTMA

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #316 on: December 16, 2009, 07:55:01 PM »
I read my older sister's paper back of the Massie's Nicholas & Alexandra book in the 60's and I've been hooked since. However something about thier faces caught me even before reading about them though..I believe I read the book because of the photos. I have had dormant periods over the decades ,when I'm interested in other things. But  when the Romanovs comes back, the interest is  always stronger than before! This time during the current" Romanov jag",as I call them, I discovered you tube and this marvelous Alexander Palace form...and I have to say it's amazing to be able communicate with others who are as interested as myself and far more knowledgeable than myself,  plus the fabulous photos and even the family being recovered, are all things I didn't expect to see....it's a dream come true! Like so many others, I greatly appreciate this form and the wonderful people on it   

"Give my love to all who remember me."

  Olga Nikolaevna

Jessamy

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #317 on: December 17, 2009, 10:29:54 AM »
My interest in the Romanovs began in 1996 when my first daughter was just a baby. I remember holding her and feeding her while watching A&E's Nicholas and Alexandra.  Their story was absolutely heartbreaking to me. I just couldn't get over the fact that the children and Alix were so brutally murdered along with the Tsar. The next time I was in the bookstore I happened to find "A Lifelong Passion", and that was it. I was hooked. Since then I have read everything I can about them. I totally understand the depth of the feelings of other members in their posts.  The Romanovs' story is just so compelling, so tragic that you just can't get over it. It stays with you and becomes a part of your own life.  I remember having a dream once that I was on a bus trip and we were going to visit one of the palaces (apparently I was in Russia) and when we arrived they said the Tsar was busy that day and could only see us briefly.  I felt so amazed and excited "They're still alive!!" was my only thought.  We walked in the palace and there was Nicky standing beside a long table in a large room full of men in uniforms.  I was so thrilled to see him I started gushing, and he turned and looked at me very sternly and held up one hand as if to say, "You are NOT to speak to me unless I address you, which I have no intention of doing", and then he shook his head and turned away from me. I was crushed. I remember waking up and thinking "I may be obsessed with these people".  I swear if I win the lottery I would donate millions to have the Alexander Palace restored!

Geglov2-3

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #318 on: March 02, 2010, 02:46:55 PM »
Пример страницы списка.

Формцлярный список цесаревича Александра Николаевича на 1847 год.

http://book-old.ru/BookLibrary/00200-Romanovyi-i-dr/1847.-Formulyarnyiy-spisok-o-sluzhbe-naslednika-Aleksandra-Nikolaevicha-za-1847-god.html
« Last Edit: March 02, 2010, 02:49:54 PM by Nemos »

Anekezout

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #319 on: March 05, 2010, 04:44:53 AM »
My interest to the Romanov begin in 1958. I was a child and a woman came with a little girl (8 years old) and said that now it was a new sister for us. Later we discover that she was daughter of princess Ekaterina Ioanovna. Since this time I was very interested about the family of KR and his son Ioan grand father of my "sister" and also the family of Montenegro and Serbia. In 1986 my "sister" go to NY to visit his mother her 2  sisters and brother. In june 2009 we went to St Petersburg and visit Pavlovsk and the marble palace (inside the apartment of KR) It was wonderful and so emotivy.

bestfriendsgirl

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #320 on: February 23, 2011, 09:47:58 AM »
I read my older sister's paper back of the Massie's Nicholas & Alexandra book in the 60's and I've been hooked since. However something about thier faces caught me even before reading about them though..I believe I read the book because of the photos. I have had dormant periods over the decades ,when I'm interested in other things. But  when the Romanovs comes back, the interest is  always stronger than before! This time during the current" Romanov jag",as I call them, I discovered you tube and this marvelous Alexander Palace form...and I have to say it's amazing to be able communicate with others who are as interested as myself and far more knowledgeable than myself,  plus the fabulous photos and even the family being recovered, are all things I didn't expect to see....it's a dream come true! Like so many others, I greatly appreciate this form and the wonderful people on it   
I could have written this post - I'm a total "Romanov jaggist" myself! I became interested when I stumbled across Nicholas and Alexandrain Readers' Digest condensed form in high school. This was in the Cold-War '70s and my first thought was "Ewwwww! Russians! Bad Guys!" But then I saw the beautiful color pictures and saw that it was from the "olden days" so I read it and have been hooked ever since!

Vanya Ivanova

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #321 on: May 24, 2012, 09:41:01 AM »
My first encounter with the Romanovs was when I was about 12 years old. I was staying at a friend's house and she had a rather tacky book called 'Unsolved Mysterys'. In amongst the UFO's etc was a chapter on Anna Anderson, I turned a page and there was one of the formal photographs taken of the family in 1913. I still don't really understand why but I was absolutely transfixed.

My father's mother was of Russian descent but she died a few years earlier and at that time I had no interest in Russia or being part Russian beyond getting to celebrate Easter twice = twice the chocolate! I really regret not having discovered this interest when my 'Baboushka' was still alive. She taught us Russian fairy stories and nursery ryhmes but I'm ashamed to say I wasn't that interested then.

From about 12 to 15 years old I was nothing short of obsessed, while other girls at my school had pictures of singers or ponies above their beds, I had the Romanovs and a various assortment of icons! It got to the stage where I started having recurring nightmares about them and my father boxed up all my pictures and books and they became a banned subject. My mother died of cancer when I was 11 so just before my Romanov interest started and looking back I think that's why I related to the family. My sister had gone off to college and my brother had also been sent away to a boarding school at this time so the Romanovs in a way became a surrogate family for me.

I appreciate that probably makes me sound absolutely 'barmy' but as a grief stricken little girl they were a real comfort to me. On a spirtual level I really do think they radiate a kind of healing/comforting energy for many many people.

As an adult I find the Soviet Era in many ways more interesting and I have a difficult time now with the Tsar's autocratic regime. Nevertheless I shall always to some extent feel (however irrational I now know it to be) an emotional connection to them.





































































































































































Offline edubs31

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #322 on: May 24, 2012, 10:50:30 AM »
Vanya, a very warm and lovely description of your bond to the subject/family...thanks for sharing! By the way, there is nothing irrational about having an emotional/spiritual connection to them or anyone else from history who has a story and experience that touches you.

My Romanov obsession can be divided up in three small parts. The first was through my mother around the age of 12. She was in the midst of her own phase having read "Nicholas & Alexandra' (of course!) for the first time. I remember getting some lite reading on the subject and since this was the early-90s there was a flurry of post-Soviet stories, TV specials, etc, on the subject. Of course I was aware of the Anna Anderson mystery as well but never bought into her being Anastasia. I did, however, believe that the Imp had survived, possibly was still alive and living in America but that hardly anyone knew how or where exactly, lol...I even went so far as to read Massie's book tying it in with summer reading requirements for school even though it was a bit beyond my full grasp - lots of big words for a twelve year old with but a standard, ordinary education :-[

My interest faded after about a year but in the late-90s it momentarily sprung up again when the famous Romanov jewel tour came rolling into Wilmington, De (passing over the "Anastasia" movie buzz). I was briefly fascinated again but this was a bit of a false starter as I was reluctant to dig any deeper.

My most recent obsession dates back about a year now although it wasn't until the beginning of this year that I became a member of the AP and my passions went from a simmer to boil. Hard to say what exactly lit the spark most recently...possibly a more general spiritual reawakening and desire to reclaim certain discarded items from my youth, like Romanov books collecting dust!

I'm with Vanya in that I too am quick to recognize the shortcomings of the Tsar, the Empress and stubborn, conservative, autocratic government in general. I don't dislike Nicholas & Alexandra but I struggle with them and my overall perceptions can shift depending on what I'm reading or who I am listening to at any given time. I'm also careful to recognize and mention 'OTMAA' rather that the entire 'IF' as the objects of my true affection.

All in all it's a combination of things, and my general love of history, that generate powerful emotions inside both good and bad, and draw me to the subject! Sorry to ramble on  :)
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

Vanya Ivanova

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #323 on: May 24, 2012, 12:31:21 PM »
Thanks Edubs31, you are very kind. I'm the same as you in that this site is also what 're-ignited' my interest in the family. Its like group therapy for Romanov fans!

Offline blessOTMA

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #324 on: May 24, 2012, 11:29:44 PM »
I'm with Vanya in that I too am quick to recognize the shortcomings of the Tsar, the Empress and stubborn, conservative, autocratic government in general. I don't dislike Nicholas & Alexandra but I struggle with them and my overall perceptions can shift depending on what I'm reading or who I am listening to at any given time. I'm also careful to recognize and mention 'OTMAA' rather that the entire 'IF' as the objects of my true affection.
Well said as always....no one can dispute the children played no part in the family's down fall or had any say in the Empire's style of governance, and so the issue is side stepped...

"Give my love to all who remember me."

  Olga Nikolaevna

Jen_94

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #325 on: May 27, 2012, 03:28:52 PM »
I agree Vanya, it is like Group therapy for Romanov fans!

So what got me interested? Well I'll start off from when I was younger, I was around...8 years old? I think my intrest started off with the cartoon film. I was very young, and I just loved watching it. However, for some reason, I did not take much interest to the REAL family. I suppose that was because I was very young. But I knew there was a real Anastasia and Tsar Nicholas II/Alexandra, but that was about it. I did not know about OTM or Alexei.

It was only recently my proper interest started with the Romanov family. Well, I guess it began around 2 years ago or so. I was reading about various royals, I guess, and I 're-discovered' Anastasia again. Then I started reading about her, and discovered she had sisters and a brother. The story really interested me and I began to surf the internet looking for more information, and read and read and my knowledge grew and the more I read into it, the more interested I became!


anastasiasguy

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Very good people
« Reply #326 on: September 25, 2012, 02:06:49 AM »
Hey everyone! How you all doing? My name is Dave I just joined this site to read some messages and maybe learn a little more on the Romanovs. I just became so fascinated by them and their history not to  mention the whole Russian Revolution pretty interesting subject all the changes they went through. I have always been into history more current stuff though mostly 20th century.  I just wanted to post a message on why I really liked  and admired the Romanovs and was moved to tears over how some evil monsters could just take these good hearted wonderful people away from us.

    So anyway to start with what I liked and got from reading and watching the movie was they were real nice people. Nicholas truly loved his family and treated them so good. They all were there for each other and had each others backs. Little Nicholas had that blood disease and they loved him even more treated him no different. In spite of being rich and royal they were down to earth and good people. I read when the first war broke out Alexandra would visit the hospitals with her daughters talking with the wounded helping them out just being there for them. I also read that Nicholas did try and listen help his people out he and the family would go in the towns and meet with different people ask about their problems, he might not have done much but hey it was something.

    I know in the few months before the first revolution Nicholas was pretty much out of touch with what was going on. The poor were getting worse and he wasn't spending much of his loot to help the country-hey king how about putting some money into the economy, road, jobs, food instead of just spending it on yourself! The duma tried to tell him it was time for change but he didn't listen. When he went to war and things got worse he didn't really take it seriously with all the telegrams informing him all hell was breaking loose. Maybe if he had listened to them and did a lot more for his people standard of living was better bastards like Lenin wouldn't have come to power.

    The first thing I got real upset about was how no one couldn't have gotten his family out and the execution of them a few months later. Why in Gods name did Kersney not get them out right after he sent them to the Governors mansion! He was concerned about their safety then get them the hell out of Russia! He had to have known at some point the soviets would try and take over that's why he moved them in the first place. Put them on a train to Finland from there go to France, Switzerland I'm sure some of those countries would have taken them in. Hell put his guards to watch them on the train until they reach safety or hide them in the box sections like Lenin did when he came back to Russia! Old Kersney sold them out as soon as Lenin took over he was out the back door couldn't have warned the romanovs or got someone to get them out right after Lenin took over. It was a few months before Lenin got his soldiers to them and he had to make peace with Germany first. England was just as bad they were going to come and rescue the family and then the king got all weird because he thought that bringing them would cause revolution feeling with is people! 
  
     But what really upset and pretty much much made me in tears was the Lenin's goons executing the poor family. I watched a few videos of it on youtube and was sick in my stomach! Originally they were going to send the tsar to Moscow for his crimes with a trial but the train got stopped from men in Ekaterinburg the soldiers there cut and took them to the house of special purpose. Why did Moscow let them do that could never figure that out. There has been speculation that the man who was transporting them to Moscow was going to help them escape. He knew some men from Ekaterinburg were talking to officials from Moscow so he took a another train route that would bypass Ekatterinburg but the plan was foiled. The Romanovs were pretty much gone by that time although they still could have been rescued, some group could have gotten them out.

    All I can say is and if this bothers anyone please let me know Lenin and his army goons were a scumbag piece of crap! It's bad enough he tricked the people into believing they would get free elections and democracy after the revolution. Then setting up his cheka police force throwing people in jail or executed because you said something bad about the Government or read a book you weren't supposed to!  Forcing farmers to give up half their stock to the Government and if you didn't you had your whole farm burned down and you had nothing! But to execute a family of young women and a sick child is so disgusting I get sick in my stomach just thinking about it.  Why would you kill 4 beautiful women-I would have taken anyone of them out for coffee and a poor sick child is just beyond any sense of evil and monstrosity. Lenin must have brainwashed so many people. You would think the guards would be like " hey we have to kill innocent women and a sick child. This isn't right we aren't doing it and will do whatever we can to help them escape". All of Lenin's evil army can rot in hell for all I care and if I ever go to Russia I would personally like to take a whiz on his and the executioners graves! Major scum trash!

    So yeah I hope you liked and found my message interesting. This is my first time writing on something like this so if you liked or not please write back with comments good or bad. I know it was a little long but I really wanted to voice my opinion on how the family were good people and no way did they deserve the fate they did and that Lenin was a beast who should have been executed himself. I'm the type of person who feels everyone deserves human decency regardless of age, smarts, color, religion no one should be persecuted in any way unless you do something evil and monstrous.  No one has the right to control others and make people conform to a way of living that they choose not to. Don't get wrong there are some basic conformity we should all follow learning to read, working to pay our bills, not sponging off welfare unless you really need it, knowing what's going around you and most important try and be good to others even if it's some people you don't get along with. A little kindness can go a long way maybe if everyone in the world just tried some of these things the world wouldn't have so many problems.

    God bless your souls dear Romanovs you are all good people to me. If I would have been in Russia at that time would have tried everything to save you guys-just set me with one of your daughters! All of you will be in my prayers and will put roses on your graves when  I get over to Russia. Your American friend and number one defender Dave. Peace everyone  

            

feodorovna

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Re: Very good people
« Reply #327 on: September 25, 2012, 02:39:29 AM »
I rather think that how much you wanted to save them would have depended largely on where in the social strata you were. To my certain knowledge Tsars didn't allow their daughters to marry members of the proletariat!!!!

Offline edubs31

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #328 on: September 25, 2012, 09:19:17 AM »
Welcome Dave! Just a few thoughts on your introduction statement if I may...

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Hey everyone! How you all doing? My name is Dave I just joined this site to read some messages and maybe learn a little more on the Romanovs. I just became so fascinated by them and their history not to  mention the whole Russian Revolution pretty interesting subject all the changes they went through. I have always been into history more current stuff though mostly 20th century.  I just wanted to post a message on why I really liked  and admired the Romanovs and was moved to tears over how some evil monsters could just take these good hearted wonderful people away from us.

Nice sentiment certainly. I encourage you to read more. The AP is a tremendous resource as is also the discussion forum wbut there are any number of books (many available on Kindle if that's more to your liking) that myself and others could recommend. The good hearted wonderful people you talk about might apply less to Nicholas & Alexandra as you start to learn more but that'll be up to you to decide...

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So anyway to start with what I liked and got from reading and watching the movie was they were real nice people. Nicholas truly loved his family and treated them so good. They all were there for each other and had each others backs.

I imagine that movie to be the 1971 Nicholas & Alexandra film, yes? In my opinion it did roughly as good a job as possible considering it's restrictions as a theatrical release catering to a wide audience...and subsequently the need to take any number of artistic liberties. That along with the fact that there was far less information available at the time on the subject than there is now. It's full of distortions but I think it does a pretty good and honest job overall in depicting the Tsar, Empress and their relationship dynamic.

Nicholas was a decent good fellow. A product of his times certainly. But I think you'll also learn that his kindness and desire to do what was right for his people existed within the parameters of his very narrow vision and, at best, questionable intellect. Worse things could be said about Alexandra.

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Little Nicholas had that blood disease and they loved him even more treated him no different.

AKA the Tsarevich Alexei :-)

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In spite of being rich and royal they were down to earth and good people. I read when the first war broke out Alexandra would visit the hospitals with her daughters talking with the wounded helping them out just being there for them. I also read that Nicholas did try and listen help his people out he and the family would go in the towns and meet with different people ask about their problems, he might not have done much but hey it was something.

No shortage of information on here about their nursing stint during the war. I'm not sure how much the Tsar really listened to his people or sought their advice but that's for you to look into and decide on your own.

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I know in the few months before the first revolution Nicholas was pretty much out of touch with what was going on. The poor were getting worse and he wasn't spending much of his loot to help the country-hey king how about putting some money into the economy, road, jobs, food instead of just spending it on yourself! The duma tried to tell him it was time for change but he didn't listen. When he went to war and things got worse he didn't really take it seriously with all the telegrams informing him all hell was breaking loose. Maybe if he had listened to them and did a lot more for his people standard of living was better bastards like Lenin wouldn't have come to power.

lol, well I guess that about sums it up. Obviously nothing is ever so clear cut and simple but I think the number of pre-revolution errors committed by Nicholas and Alexandra will shock you as you read on.
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

Offline edubs31

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Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« Reply #329 on: September 25, 2012, 09:19:35 AM »
Quote
The first thing I got real upset about was how no one couldn't have gotten his family out and the execution of them a few months later. Why in Gods name did Kersney not get them out right after he sent them to the Governors mansion! He was concerned about their safety then get them the hell out of Russia! He had to have known at some point the soviets would try and take over that's why he moved them in the first place. Put them on a train to Finland from there go to France, Switzerland I'm sure some of those countries would have taken them in. Hell put his guards to watch them on the train until they reach safety or hide them in the box sections like Lenin did when he came back to Russia! Old Kersney sold them out as soon as Lenin took over he was out the back door couldn't have warned the romanovs or got someone to get them out right after Lenin took over. It was a few months before Lenin got his soldiers to them and he had to make peace with Germany first. England was just as bad they were going to come and rescue the family and then the king got all weird because he thought that bringing them would cause revolution feeling with is people!  

Interesting assessment. I could offer you a lengthy response but I think it better to do some of your own investigating on the subject. It's Kerensky by the way :-)

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But what really upset and pretty much much made me in tears was the Lenin's goons executing the poor family. I watched a few videos of it on youtube and was sick in my stomach!

It was certainly awful. Imagine how much more so in real life than has been depicted in film and documentary :-(

Quote
All I can say is and if this bothers anyone please let me know Lenin and his army goons were a scumbag piece of crap! It's bad enough he tricked the people into believing they would get free elections and democracy after the revolution. Then setting up his cheka police force throwing people in jail or executed because you said something bad about the Government or read a book you weren't supposed to!  Forcing farmers to give up half their stock to the Government and if you didn't you had your whole farm burned down and you had nothing! But to execute a family of young women and a sick child is so disgusting I get sick in my stomach just thinking about it.  Why would you kill 4 beautiful women-I would have taken anyone of them out for coffee and a poor sick child is just beyond any sense of evil and monstrosity. Lenin must have brainwashed so many people. You would think the guards would be like " hey we have to kill innocent women and a sick child. This isn't right we aren't doing it and will do whatever we can to help them escape". All of Lenin's evil army can rot in hell for all I care and if I ever go to Russia I would personally like to take a whiz on his and the executioners graves! Major scum trash!

Well now, that's quite an articulation! Believe you me I feel the same away about the man and subsequent Soviet reign. The one book a lot of people are going to throw out to you here as required reading on the subject is "Fate of the Romanovs" by Greg King & Penny Wilson. I myself have mixed feelings about it and think it but one of a few valuable resources on the subject. I'm not sure if this is the first thing you should read, if you haven't read anything yet, but it will be recommended. Not that it will make you feel any better but perhaps understand things better...

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So yeah I hope you liked and found my message interesting.

Passionate certainly. Never a bad place to start...

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I'm the type of person who feels everyone deserves human decency regardless of age, smarts, color, religion no one should be persecuted in any way unless you do something evil and monstrous.  No one has the right to control others and make people conform to a way of living that they choose not to. Don't get wrong there are some basic conformity we should all follow learning to read, working to pay our bills, not sponging off welfare unless you really need it, knowing what's going around you and most important try and be good to others even if it's some people you don't get along with. A little kindness can go a long way maybe if everyone in the world just tried some of these things the world wouldn't have so many problems.

Amen!

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If I would have been in Russia at that time would have tried everything to save you guys-just set me with one of your daughters!

Haha, you should read one of my first posts on here. It was a dream about that. I was time warped with limited but important knowledge regarding their fate in around 1915. I was positioned as a trusted adviser and friend of the family and attempting to alter the path Nicholas was travelling on and carrying his reign. All the while I was courting Olga and even as a non-royal was hoping to win her hand in marriage, lol...not likely but fun to imagine!

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All of you will be in my prayers and will put roses on your graves when  I get over to Russia. Your American friend and number one defender Dave. Peace everyone

And to think I always just assumed that I was :-) Nice thoughts...enjoy your time on here!
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...