105: Romanovs

105 years ago today (July 17, 1918) The Russian Czarist Imperial Romanov Family: Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and bayoneted to death by Bolshevik-Communist Revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.

(Nicholas II of Russia with the Family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Livadiya, Crimea, 1913.)

Also murdered that night were members of the Imperial Entourage who had accompanied them: Court Physician Eugene Botkin; Lady-in-Waiting Anna Demidova; Footman Alexei Trupp; and Head Cook Ivan Kharitonov.

The bodies were taken to the Koptyaki Forest, where they were stripped, mutilated with grenades to prevent identification, and buried.

The Soviets only announced Czar Nicholas II’s Death for 8 years until a publication of all the deaths was published in France in 1926. The Soviet Cover-Up led to many Conspiracy Theories over the Decades.

Many People believe that the Czar Abdicated because of the Communists, but in fact he Abdicated after the February 1917 Democratic Revolution. After he Abdicated he and his Family were kept at the Alexander Palace outside Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) until after the October 1917 Communist Revolution when they were transferred to Siberia.

The Soviets kept the Romanovs at Ipatiev House (renamed The House of Special Purpose) where the Guards regularly searched the Royals for Gold and other Riches so they could keep them themselves. Their windows were whitewashed and they were forbidden to look outside under pain of death.

They had to ring a bell for a Guard to take them out of their room to go to the Bathroom. They also had strict rations (Black Bread and Tea for Breakfast and Soup for Lunch and Dinner.)

At Midnight on July 16, 1918 the Soviets woke the Romanovs and told them they were being relocated. The Romanovs were sent to the basement.

Yakov Yurovsky then announced “Nikolai Alexandrovich, in view of the fact that your Relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you.”

Nicolas II was shot three times in the chest and died. His Wife, Alexandria was shot by a drunken Soviet in the head and died.

19 year old Maria was shot and wounded before the Soviets decided to stab the Children to death instead of shooting them, but that didn’t kill them.

13 year old Tsarevich Alexei was the first of the Children to be butchered to death by the Soviets. After being bayoneted over and over again he continued to live and so was shot two times in the head and died.

22 year old Olga was bayoneted at close range until she was shot in the jaw and died.

21 year old Tatiana was bayoneted at close range and crying for her dead Mother when she was shot in the back of the head and died.

19 year old Maria, wounded by a shot in the thigh, was bayoneted at close range. As the bodies were being removed from the basement she regained consciousness until her skull was crushed by a rifle and she died.

17 year old Anatasia was the last to die. She was shot, the bayoneted and still survived until she was beaten to death.

The Soviets then stripped the Romanovs naked, stole whatever Jewels they had, molested the dead body of Czarina Alexandria, moved to a mine and had grenades thrown in.

In 1938 Executioner Yakov Yurovsky died in extreme pain (most likely from being poisoned) while his Family was deported to Siberia.

In 1977, Yuri Andropov had the House of Special Purposes demolished.

Over the course of 84 days after the Yekaterinburg Murders, 27 more Friends and Relatives (14 Romanovs and 13 members of the imperial Entourage and Household) were murdered by the Soviets: at Alapayevsk on July 18^th, in Perm on September 4^th, and the Peter and Paul Fortress on 24 January 24, 1919.

In 1979, the Remains of the Romanovs were found by Amateur Enthusiasts who kept them hidden until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

In 1991, the bodies of the Tsar, Tsarina, and three of their Daughters were exhumed and had DNA Matches done.

Their he bodies were laid to rest with State Honors in the St. Catherine Chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, where most other Russian Monarchs since Peter the Great lie. Russian President Boris Yeltsin attended the Funerals (he called the murders of the murder of the Royal Family as “one of the most shameful chapters in Russian History.”)

In 2000, The Romanovs  were Canonized as Passion Bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Family had previously been Canonized in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad as Holy Martyrs.

In 2007 the bodies of Alexei and one of his Sisters (some say Maria and others say Anastasia) were found.

In October 2008, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that Nicholas II and his Family were Victims of Political Repression and Rehabilitated them. The Rehabilitation was denounced by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

A Survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center in July 2018 revealed that 57% of Russians "believe that the execution of the Royal Family is a heinous unjustified crime", while 29% said "the last Russian Emperor paid too high a price for his mistakes".