Murder of the Imperial Family 17 July 1918

[JR76]

The anniversary is only hours away now (atleast according to my local time) and I find myself strangely affected by it. Although morally wrong I can understand the political necessity of executing the former Tsar and his wife, but what really gets to me is the horrible way in which the five children met their end.
Innocently butchered for the alleged crimes of their parents.

[Dman]

Just the other day my mother was mentioning the assassinations of a Russian royal family in 1918. She was telling me about this during Trumps arrival to Windsor Castle. She had no idea that I knew about the Russian royal family and that she was talking about The Queen’s family members. She was shocked that I knew all of this.

[eya]

A religious procession marking the centenary of the execution of the Russian royal family in Yekaterinburg

Belga Image

[Duke of Marmalade]

A minute-by-minute breakdown of how the doomed Russian Tsar and his family were executed | Daily Mail Online

a recollection of what happened when.

[tihkon2]

Originally Posted by JR76

The anniversary is only hours away now (atleast according to my local time) and I find myself strangely affected by it...

I made a post about the anniversary on my facebook page because I felt like I wanted to acknowledge the event had happened on the day 100 years ago.

[Moonmaiden23]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

A minute-by-minute breakdown of how the doomed Russian Tsar and his family were executed | Daily Mail Online

a recollection of what happened when.

Horror beyond imagination, not to mention unfathomable evil. The most innocent of the group-Alexei and his sisters, died the most painfully and slowly.

[victor1319]

On behalf of a monastry has Helen Rappaport, the known historian, made a "tribute" video largely about the spirituality and - and that is the interesting part - the last church service of the Imperial nuclear Family... already in captivity and shortly before their execution:"Romanov Family - Faith in God to the End".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivE8XkMBTXE

I think it is a bit over the top. Nevertheless interesting!

[boyar]

I do not know if the story of Eleonora Kruger was even brought up in this forum.

Unfortunately, she is not known outside of Bulgaria and even there little is known.

You can find more about Eleonora Kruger here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Kruger
https://www.facebook.com/noraandjorj/

[iceflower]

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A religious procession in memory of the Imperial Family was held from the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg to the Ganina Yama Monastery in the Sverdlovsk Region today, July 17. Princess Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova participated:



** belga gallery **

[US Royal Watcher]

Originally Posted by JR76

The anniversary is only hours away now (atleast according to my local time) and I find myself strangely affected by it. Although morally wrong I can understand the political necessity of executing the former Tsar and his wife, but what really gets to me is the horrible way in which the five children met their end.
Innocently butchered for the alleged crimes of their parents.

The murder of the children was horrifying but I understand the reasoning: the Bolsheviks did not have a firm grip on power. The children would have been a threat, even in exile, because a substantial number of Russians would have supported their return.

With the respect to the parents, it was a brutal execution but they were brutal dictators. Nicolas and Alexandra (to a lesser degree) were responsible for the deaths of thousands and the misery of millions.

The real tragedy is that the government that replaced the royal family was even more brutal and merciless. The Russians have suffered a lot throughout history.

[Mbruno]

Could George V have done more to save his first cousins and their family or would it be truly impossible to rescue them ?

How come so many members of the Imperial Family managed to flee from Russia ( including the Tsar’s mother, i.e. Queen Alexandra's sister) , but the Tsar himself , his wife and children could not ?

[Curryong]

My view is that once Tsar Nicholas and his family were ensconced in Siberia it was virtually impossible to rescue them unless large numbers of the army of the White Russians had managed to get to Ekaterinberg sooner.

And why is the responsibility for the fate of the Imperial Family so often laid on the shoulders of King George V? The Tsar and Tsarina did have other close relatives and friends in the other royal families of Europe, such as the German Royal family. Why did the Kaiser not enter negotiations with the Bolsheviks to rescue them?

Several Romanovs managed to escape because they were in other parts of the country, near borders or Black Sea ports. The Dowager Empress Marie for example travelled from the Crimea to the Black Sea with her daughter and other relatives and she and her retinue were rescued by the Royal Navy. HMS Marlborough took them to safety. Siberia on the other hand was extremely difficult.

[CyrilVladisla]

Tsarina Alexandra's brother was Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine. I believe that he tried negotiations that were unsuccessful.

[Curryong]

Ernie didn't have enough international clout. If blame is to be attached to King George then why not to the Kaiser? He, after all was Alexandra's first cousin. He could possibly have made the safety of the Tsarina and her children a priority during the Brest-Litovsk treaty negotiations early in 1918. It's known that German authorities allowed Lenin to enter Russia by providing him with safe passage through Germany. They could have organised transport for Alexandra and her children to a safe neutral Scandinavian country.

[JR76]

Originally Posted by Curryong

They could have organised transport for Alexandra and her children to a safe neutral Scandinavian country.

I highly suspect that the Scandinavian countries would have been hesitant to take them in. Sweden at least was close to a revolution itself during 1917 and 1918 and having the Tsar and his family in the country might've been the spark to ignite the fire.
That said the three Scandinavian kings were all sympathetic to the attempts of King Alfonso XIII of Spain to rescue the Imperial family and would no doubt have offered any assistance possible had it been successful, but would not have been willing to give them refuge. Regarding other members of the Imperial family Queen Alexandrine of Denmark was desperate in her unsuccessful attempts to save her uncles and Sweden took in Elizaveta Mavrikievna and the few of her children and grandchildren that survived the revolution. Norwegian diplomats months later managed to secure the release of her daughter-in-law Elena Petrovna.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Curryong

My view is that once Tsar Nicholas and his family were ensconced in Siberia it was virtually impossible to rescue them unless large numbers of the army of the White Russians had managed to get to Ekaterinberg sooner.

And why is the responsibility for the fate of the Imperial Family so often laid on the shoulders of King George V? The Tsar and Tsarina did have other close relatives and friends in the other royal families of Europe, such as the German Royal family. Why did the Kaiser not enter negotiations with the Bolsheviks to rescue them?

Several Romanovs managed to escape because they were in other parts of the country, near borders or Black Sea ports. The Dowager Empress Marie for example travelled from the Crimea to the Black Sea with her daughter and other relatives and she and her retinue were rescued by the Royal Navy. HMS Marlborough took them to safety. Siberia on the other hand was extremely difficult.

True that wehen they were in Siberia it was going to be almost impossible to rescue them. But there was also an issue of what to do with them. Most royal families in Europe had their own problems and knew that to take in the autocratic Tsar and his family might provoke bad feelng and even maybe revolution at home.. so the problem was if they were rescued.. where would they be sent permanently.

[victor1319]

Originally Posted by iceflower

A religious procession in memory of the Imperial Family was held from the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg to the Ganina Yama Monastery in the Sverdlovsk Region today, July 17. Princess Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova participated:** belga gallery **

I think it is interesting, that so many folks participate in this procession!

And this after decades of communist lies and indoctrination. The Russians seem not to be ready to let go...

My take: The Romanovs were just the first family eradicated by the communists, but they became the symbol for the horrors of the "revolution".

[Curryong]

I didn't actually mean that any of the Scandinavian countries would be giving them permanent refuge. Simply that getting them out and into nearby Sweden for a very short time would be viable at least. Alfonzo had in fact offered them sanctuary in Spain and that would have been their ultimate destination.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Curryong

I didn't actually mean that any of the Scandinavian countries would be giving them permanent refuge. Simply that getting them out and into nearby Sweden for a very short time would be viable at least. Alfonzo had in fact offered them sanctuary in Spain and that would have been their ultimate destination.

\True, I think that the nearby countries should have done a bit more.. to just take tehm in temporarily.. but they clearly feared that it would be a problem with their own people. And poissibly they did not anticpate the real ruthlessness of the Bolsheviks.. and thought tat they'd just keep the IF prisoners for a time and then eventualy be ready to send them abroad..

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Curryong

I didn't actually mean that any of the Scandinavian countries would be giving them permanent refuge. Simply that getting them out and into nearby Sweden for a very short time would be viable at least. Alfonzo had in fact offered them sanctuary in Spain and that would have been their ultimate destination.

Empress Feodorovna spent her last years in Denmark after living in the UK for a while. But her circumstances were of course different given that she was Danish herself and a Princess of Denmark.



I am not sure if Denmark would have taken the Tsar and his family, but, in any case, they could have always settled eventually in a truly neutral country like Switzerland, which was a refuge for many deposed monarchs. As for the political inconvenience of granting asylum to the Tsar, keep in mind that the Netherlands took in the Kaiser, the man who, justifiably or not, was largely blamed for World War I and all the terrible consequences thereof.