Dr Evgeniy Sergeevitch Botkin (1865-1918)

[TennPat]

Is there any published correspondence or journals from the noble Dr. Botkin?  I think he was a man of such honor. I wonder if his family resented his faithfulness to the Imperial Family?

[JM]

Perhaps it was . . . the truth. Does the honourable Dr. Botkin seem like the type to lie and decieve? BTW, I'm sure Anna would have been taken away before the family went to Tobolsk anyways. You can only fool ignortant soldiers so much. Who knows what the reprecussions for Anna and the family would've been when it was found out Anna was well all along.

[Janet Whitcomb]

I second the motion!  My impressions of Anna Vyrubova have been varied, and I certainly have much more respect for her after reading the transcript of that horrible interrogation--I think she conducted herself quite well--but it's possible Dr. Botkin felt she was creating a disturbance in the middle of an already dicey situation. Dr. Botkin tried to operate out of reason, whereas Anna tended toward the emotional--so much so that she was, as Alexandra wrote to Nicholas, "Our Big Baby." It's impossible to understand all the  ramifications of what was going on at that time, but I doubt Dr. Botkin meant harm to her . . . his logic was probably that of a teacher who has identified a child with disruptive behaviors and requests that the child be placed elsewhere before the entire classroom atmosphere disintigrates.

[jackie3]

Perhaps Botkin thought that Anna was doing more harm than good. I remember reading something about Lily Dehn trying to keep Anna away from the Emperor and Empress when the Emperor had just returned after his abdication because Anna sometimes did utterly foolish things and Lily was one of many people who was afraid that Anna would endanger them. Botkin might have thought  that she could do less harm when she was away from the palace.

I've always had the impression from everything I've read that even though Anya was completely loyal to the Empress to the end of her life and no one doubted her loyalty, that others who were just as loyal like Lily, Botkin, Gilliard etc. didn't have as high an opinion of Anya as the Empress did. They didn't believe all the gossip that Anya was smart and a power behind the throne with intrigues, since they knew better, but it must have seemed to them that Alix and Nicholas spoiled her needlessly as if she was a sixth child.

[Sarai]

Alix and Nicholas may have "spoilt" her at times, but I also have the impression that Alix was sometimes quite annoyed about Anya and her behaviour.  

Yes, you're quite right in saying that Alix was sometimes annoyed with Anna. I recall reading somewhere that there was a period in their lives when Alix referred to Anna as "that cow" or something like that, and included other offensive remarks in her letters to Nicholas. The tone of the letters indicate that she was clearly not kidding around and was truly irritated by Anna. Some have speculated that she felt a bit of jealousy of Anna because she was spending time with Nicholas. But this all seems to have passed, as they were still good friends again later. Anyone else recall these passages?

[Janet_W.]

I don't remember any passages re: Anna getting--ahem--tipsy. But if you find them, please post! Anna would be within her rights--considering her own sad story--to have gotten a little inebriated now and then.

And it's also not difficult to imagine the tension that could result from one very happily married couple "adopting" a socially awkward young woman with a rather emotional personality.

As their correspondence indicates, whatever tensions there were did not destroy the bond between Anna and her mentors, but certainly Alexandra didn't need--in addition to all of her other worries--a calf-eyed young woman mooning around after her husband, innocent though Anna may ultimately have proven to be!

[Guinastasia]

I've always gotten the impression that Anya was basically like the annoying, pushy kid sister, the tagalong you basically hung out with because you felt sorry for her.  She wasn't evil, but she was incredibly annoying.

I've also heard that Botkin pretty much saved her life-wouldn't she have almost certainly been killed otherwise?

[JM]

Did Dr. Botkin actually tell the truth about Anna's condition? If he did, good for him. I'm glad he did it. There was no alternative.

I'm sure Anna probhably wanted to share in the IF's fate, whatever it was. She really didn't have much of a life by herself.

[LisaDavidson]

Perhaps there is a simpler explanation for what Dr. Botkin did. Had he been untruthful and said Ania could not travel, there was a possibility of the government bringing in another physician for a second opinion. Had he proven to be wrong, his word as a physician would have no longer been trusted by members of the Provisional Government. By being honest and medically ethical, he was ensuring his word would be trusted - which in the long run could only help himself and the Romanovs.

[Richard_Schweitzer]

Apparently some of his medical journals were preserved and are in the Russian State Archives, we have seen a photocopy of one complete booklet.

He aslo wrote a famous set of published letters from the front in the Russo-Japenese war, when (I think) he was Chief of Military Medical Services. Gleb was given a copy that came from the library of the Dowager Empress, but lent it to the son of his brother Yuri who was then working at a hospital in PA. It was never returned. Story of Glebs life!

It was probably his actions in that conflict that led the Japanese to send agents into Russia to find any members of his family that might be rescued. Which is how Gleb escaped, on a Japanese destroyer to Japan.

RRS

[AGRBear]

Did Dr. Bothkin's medical journals, which were preserved and are in the Russian State Archives of which you have a photocopy of one complete booklet, hold information on Tsarvich Alexei's condition which has been thought to be hemophilia.?


AGRBear

[Richard_Schweitzer]

The one copy we have seen does not appear (at least to me) to refer to the Tsarevitch.
I can't say about the others that may be there. After all, as Chief Physician, he brought in Dr. Derevenko, a specialist in hematology.

I would be more interested in having them read by scientists who could tell if he were observing symptoms in the Empress's  conditiions (from time to time) that have since been identified today with Porfiria; and which may have afflicted A. as well.

RRS

[Arleen]

Please tell us more about Dr. Botkin!  I have such an interest in this man and don't know much about him.

Mr. Schweitzer does your family have any pictures of him, or maybe of his family?  Anything would be greatly appreciated.  Did Gleb Botkin manage to save any family papers or letters?

..Arleen

[Richard_Schweitzer]

We do have some pictures of Dr. Botkin and of him with his children. Some I think were given to Marina by her Aunt Tatiana, and I think T's granddaughters  may still have the major portion of them. I think that practically all pictures we have have been reproduced in various publications.

As for "papers," we have none from Dr. Eugene, so far as I am aware, unless  they are copies that have appeared elsewhere and been sent to Marina in the past. It is possible again that T might have saved some letters or something. Her escape was under less pressure than Gleb's.

Gleb was, and remained on, a Bolshevik "death list" for many years - even after he came to this country. He actually made it to the Japanese destroyer under fire.

Gleb did write at least two articles for the "North American Review," one especially pertinent now about his joy at becoming an "American."

[David_Pritchard]

Some years ago, I toured the Russian Military Medical Museum on Lazaretny Per. in Saint Petersburg. In the collection I noticed a oil painting of a very distinguished gentleman in military uniform. I asked the Commandant about this portrait and he told me it was of Dr. Botkin. I of course then asked if it was the Dr. Botkin that served as the physician to Nicholas II. He told me that it was not but that this Dr. Botkin was more important because of his advances in Russian medicine. I believe that the Commandant told me that he was a relative of the younger Dr. Gleb Botkin. Did Dr. Gleb Botkin come from a family of medical doctors? Who might this older man be?

DAP