Why the Romanov family of Nicholas II was shot. The Royal Family

The Romanov family was numerous; there were no problems with the successors to the throne. In 1918, after the Bolsheviks shot the emperor, his wife and children, large number impostors. Rumors spread that that very night in Yekaterinburg, one of them still survived.

And today many believe that one of the children could have been saved and that their offspring could live among us.

After the massacre of the imperial family, many believed that Anastasia managed to escape

Anastasia was youngest daughter Nicholas. In 1918, when the Romanovs were executed, Anastasia’s remains were not found in the family’s burial place and rumors spread that the young princess had survived.

People all over the world have been reincarnated as Anastasia. One of the most prominent impostors was Anna Anderson. I think she was from Poland.

Anna imitated Anastasia in her behavior, and rumors that Anastasia was alive spread quite quickly. Many also tried to imitate her sisters and brother. People all over the world tried to cheat, but Russia had the most doppelgängers.

Many believed that the children of Nicholas II survived. But even after the burial of the Romanov family was found, scientists were unable to identify the remains of Anastasia. Most historians still cannot confirm that the Bolsheviks killed Anastasia.

Later, a secret burial was found, in which the remains of the young princess were discovered, and forensic experts were able to prove that she died along with the rest of the family in 1918. Her remains were reburied in 1998.

Scientists were able to compare the DNA of the found remains and modern followers of the royal family

Many people believed that the Bolsheviks buried the Romanovs in various places in the Sverdlovsk region. In addition, many were convinced that two of the children were able to escape.

There was a theory that Tsarevich Alexei and Princess Maria were able to escape from the scene of the terrible execution. In 1976, scientists picked up a trail with the remains of the Romanovs. In 1991, when the era of communism was over, researchers were able to obtain government permission to open the burial site of the Romanovs, the same one left by the Bolsheviks.

But scientists needed DNA analysis to confirm the theory. They asked Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent to provide DNA samples to compare with those of the royal couple. Forensic experts confirmed that the DNA did indeed belong to the Romanovs. As a result of this research, it was possible to confirm that the Bolsheviks buried Tsarevich Alexei and Princess Maria separately from the rest.

Some people dedicated their free time searching for traces of the family's real burial place

In 2007, Sergei Plotnikov, one of the founders of an amateur historical group, made an amazing discovery. His group was searching for any facts related to the royal family.

In his free time, Sergei was engaged in searching for the remains of the Romanovs at the supposed site of the first burial. And one day he was lucky, he came across something solid and started digging.

To his surprise, he found several fragments of pelvic and skull bones. After an examination, it was established that these bones belong to the children of Nicholas II.

Few people know that the methods of killing family members differed from each other.

After an analysis of the bones of Alexei and Maria, it was found that the bones were severely damaged, but differently than the bones of the emperor himself.

Traces of bullets were found on Nikolai's remains, which means the children were killed in a different way. The rest of the family also suffered in their own ways.

Scientists were able to establish that Alexei and Maria were doused with acid and died from burns. Despite the fact that these two children were buried separately from the rest of the family, they suffered no less.

There was a lot of confusion around the Romanov bones, but in the end scientists were able to establish that they belonged to the family

Archaeologists discovered 9 skulls, teeth, bullets of various calibers, fabric from clothes and wires from a wooden box. The remains were determined to be those of a boy and a woman, with approximate ages ranging from 10 to 23 years.

The likelihood that the boy was Tsarevich Alexei, and the girl Princess Maria, is quite high. In addition, there were theories that the government managed to discover the location where the Romanov bones were kept. There were rumors that the remains had been found back in 1979, but the government kept this information secret.

One of research groups was very close to the truth, but they soon ran out of money

In 1990, another group of archaeologists decided to start excavations, in the hope that they would be able to discover some more traces of the location of the remains of the Romanovs.

After several days or even weeks, they dug up an area the size of a football field, but never completed the study because they ran out of money. Surprisingly, Sergei Plotnikov found bone fragments in this very territory.

Due to the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church demanded more and more confirmation of the authenticity of the Romanov bones, the reburial was postponed several times

The Russian Orthodox Church refused to accept the fact that the bones actually belonged to the Romanov family. The Church demanded more evidence that these same remains were actually found in the burial of the royal family in Yekaterinburg.

The successors of the Romanov family supported the Russian Orthodox Church, demanding additional research and confirmation that the bones really belong to the children of Nicholas II.

The reburial of the family was postponed many times, as the Russian Orthodox Church each time questioned the correctness of the DNA analysis and the belonging of the bones to the Romanov family. The church asked forensic experts to conduct an additional examination. After scientists finally managed to convince the church that the remains really belonged to the royal family, the Russian Orthodox Church planned a reburial.

The Bolsheviks eliminated the bulk of the imperial family, but their distant relatives are alive to this day

Continuers family tree The Romanov dynasty lives among us. One of the heirs to the royal genes is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and he provided his DNA for research. Prince Philip is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, grandniece of Princess Alexandra, and the great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I.

Another relative who helped with DNA identification is Prince Michael of Kent. His grandmother was cousin Nicholas II.

There are eight more successors of this family: Hugh Grosvenor, Constantine II, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, Olga Andreevna Romanova, Francis Alexander Matthew, Nicoletta Romanova, Rostislav Romanov. But these relatives did not provide their DNA for analysis, since Prince Philip and Prince Michael of Kent were recognized as the closest relatives.

Of course the Bolsheviks tried to cover up the traces of their crime

The Bolsheviks executed royal family in Yekaterinburg, and they needed to somehow hide the evidence of the crime committed.

There are two theories about how the Bolsheviks killed children. According to the first version, they first shot Nikolai, and then put his daughters in a mine where no one could find them. The Bolsheviks tried to blow up the mine, but their plan failed, so they decided to pour acid on the children and burn them.

According to the second version, the Bolsheviks wanted to cremate the bodies of the murdered Alexei and Maria. After several studies, scientists and forensic experts concluded that it was not possible to cremate the bodies.

To be cremated human body, really needed high temperature, and the Bolsheviks were in the forest, and they did not have the opportunity to create necessary conditions. After unsuccessful attempts cremation, they still decided to bury the bodies, but divided the family into two graves.

The fact that the family was not buried together explains why not all family members were initially found. This also disproves the theory that Alexei and Maria managed to escape.

By decision of the Russian Orthodox Church, the remains of the Romanovs were buried in one of the churches in St. Petersburg

The mystery of the Romanov dynasty rests with their remains in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. After numerous studies, scientists still agreed that the remains belong to Nikolai and his family.

The last farewell ceremony took place in an Orthodox church and lasted three days. During funeral procession many still questioned the authenticity of the remains. But scientists say the bones match 97% of the royal family's DNA.

In Russia, this ceremony was given special meaning. Residents of fifty countries around the world watched as the Romanov family retired. It took more than 80 years to debunk the myths about the family of the last emperor of the Russian Empire. With the completion of the funeral procession, an entire era passed into the past.

Almost a hundred years have passed since that scary night, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist forever. Until now, no historian can state unequivocally what happened that night and whether any of the family members survived. Most likely, the secret of this family will remain unsolved and we can only guess what really happened.

The twentieth century began for Russian Empire not very successful. First a failure Russo-Japanese War, as a result of which Russia lost Port Arthur, and the government lost its authority among the already dissatisfied people. Nicholas II, unlike his predecessors, nevertheless decided to make concessions and give up a number of powers. This is how the first parliament appeared in Russia, but this did not help either.

Low level economic development states, poverty, First world war and the growing influence of the socialists led to the overthrow of the monarchy in Russia. In 1917, Nicholas II signed an abdication from the throne on his own behalf and on the name of his son, Tsarevich Alexei. After this, the royal family, namely the emperor, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, daughters Tatyana, Anastasia, Olga, Maria and son Alexei were exiled to Tobolsk.

The Emperor, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, daughters Tatyana, Anastasia, Olga, Maria and son Alexei were exiled to Tobolsk // Photo: ria.ru

Exile to Yekaterinburg and imprisonment in the Ipatiev house

There was no unity among the Bolsheviks regarding future fate Emperor. The country was immersed in civil war, and Nicholas II could become an ace in the hole for White. The Bolsheviks did not want this. But at the same time, according to a number of researchers, Vladimir Lenin did not want to quarrel with the German Emperor Wilhelm, to whom the Romanovs were close relatives. Therefore, the “leader of the proletariat” was categorically against reprisals against Nicholas II and his family.

In April 1918, a decision was made to transfer the royal family from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. In the Urals, the Bolsheviks were more popular and were not afraid that the emperor could be freed by his supporters. The royal family was housed in the requisitioned mansion of the mining engineer Ipatiev. Doctor Evgeny Botkin, cook Ivan Kharitonov, valet Alexei Trupp and room girl Anna Demidova were allowed to see Nicholas II and his family. From the very beginning they declared their readiness to share the fate of the deposed emperor and his relatives.

As noted in the diaries of Nikolai Romanov and members of his family, exile in Yekaterinburg became a test for them // Photo: awesomestories.com

As noted in the diaries of Nikolai Romanov and members of his family, exile in Yekaterinburg became a test for them. The guards assigned to them took liberties and often morally mocked them. crowned persons. But at the same time the nuns Novo-Tikhvin Monastery Every day they sent fresh food to the emperor's table, trying to please the exiled anointed one of God.

Associated with these supplies interesting story. One day, in the cap of a bottle of cream, the emperor discovered a note on French. It said that the officers who remembered the oath were preparing the emperor’s escape and he needed to be ready. Every time Nicholas II received such a note, he and his family members went to bed dressed and waited for their deliverers.

Later it turned out that this was a provocation of the Bolsheviks. They wanted to check how ready the emperor and his family were to escape. It turned out that they were waiting for an opportune moment. According to some researchers, this only strengthened the new government in the belief that it was necessary to get rid of the king as quickly as possible.

Execution of the Emperor

Until now, historians have not been able to find out who made the decision to kill the imperial family. Some argue that it was Lenin personally. But there is no documentary evidence of this. according to another version, Vladimir Lenin did not want to get his hands dirty with blood, and responsibility for this decision The Ural Bolsheviks took over. The third version says that Moscow learned about what happened after the fact, and the decision was actually made in the Urals in connection with the White Czech uprising. As Leon Trotsky noted in his memoirs, the order to execute was practically given personally by Joseph Stalin.

“Having learned about the uprising of the White Czechs and the approach of the Whites to Yekaterinburg, Stalin uttered the phrase: “The Emperor must not fall into the hands of the White Guards.” This phrase became a death sentence for the royal family" - writes Trotsky.

By the way, Leon Trotsky was supposed to become the main prosecutor at the show trial of Nicholas II. But it never happened.

The facts indicate that the execution of Nicholas II and his relatives was planned. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, a car transporting corpses arrived at Ipatiev’s house. Then the Romanovs were woken up and ordered to get dressed urgently. Allegedly, a group of people tried to free them from captivity, so the family will be urgently transported to another place. Getting ready took about forty minutes. After this, the members of the royal family were taken to the semi-basement. Tsarevich Alexei could not walk on his own, so his father carried him in his arms.

Finding that there was absolutely no furniture in the room where they were shown, the empress asked to bring two chairs, sat on one of which she herself sat, and sat her son on the second. The rest sat against the wall. After everyone had gathered in the room, their chief jailer, Yurovsky, came down to the royal family and read out the verdict to the king. Yurovsky himself does not remember exactly what he said at that moment. He roughly said that the emperor's supporters tried to free him, so the Bolsheviks were forced to shoot him. Nicholas II turned around and asked again, and then the firing squad opened fire.

Nicholas II turned around and asked again, and then the firing squad opened fire // Photo: v-zdor.com

Nicholas II was one of the first to be killed, but his daughters and the Tsarevich were finished off with bayonets and revolver shots. Later, when the dead were stripped, a huge amount of jewelry was found in their clothes, which protected the girls and the empress from bullets. The jewelry was stolen.

Burial of remains

Immediately after the shooting, the bodies were loaded into the car. Along with the imperial family, servants and a doctor were killed. As the Bolsheviks later explained their decision, these people themselves expressed their readiness to share the fate of the royal family.

Initially, they planned to bury the bodies in an abandoned mine, but this idea failed because it was not possible to arrange a collapse, and the corpses were easy to discover. Afterwards the Bolsheviks attempted to burn the bodies. This idea was a success with the Tsarevich and the room girl Anna Demidova. The rest were buried near the road under construction, after disfiguring the corpses with sulfuric acid. Yurovsky also supervised the burial.

Investigation and conspiracy theories

The murder of the royal family was investigated several times. Soon after the murder, Yekaterinburg was captured by the Whites, and the investigation was entrusted to the investigator of the Omsk district, Sokolov. Afterwards, it was dealt with by foreign and domestic specialists. In 1998, the remains of the last emperor and his relatives were buried in St. Petersburg. The Russian Investigative Committee announced the closure of the investigation in 2011.

As a result of the investigation, the remains of the imperial family were discovered and identified. Despite this, a number of experts continue to argue that not all representatives of the royal family were killed in Yekaterinburg. It is worth noting that initially the Bolsheviks announced the execution of only Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei. For a long time, the world community and people believed that Alexandra Fedorovna and her daughters were taken to another place and remained alive. In this regard, impostors periodically appeared, calling themselves the children of the last Russian emperor.

Novikova Inna 07/06/2015 at 14:33

A sad date in the history of Russia is approaching -execution of the royal family. Despite investigations, the Russian Orthodox Church and members of the imperial familydid not admit that those buried in1998- m in the Peter and Paul Cathedral the remains belong to the family of NicholasII.Why? About the secrets of the death of the Romanovswebsitesaid Charge d'Affaires of the Russian Imperial House German Lukyanov.

- German Yurievich, in19 '98in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg the remains were buried royal martyrs. But until now the Church and members of the imperial family have not recognized that these are their remains. Tell me, what are the problems? What is the situation now, is there any news?

On July 17, 1918, in the city of Yekaterinburg, in a special purpose house, the royal family was executed by verdict of the Ural Soviet of Deputies. After the Emperor abdicated the throne, he and his family were arrested.

They were under arrest from March to the end of July 1918, then they were exiled to Tobolsk, and from Tobolsk they were transferred by decision of the central authorities of the Bolshevik leadership to Yekaterinburg. Then the verdict took place, and the whole family was destroyed. It was murder without a statute of limitations.

After the fall of the communist regime, when the process of returning the Imperial House to Russia began, the head of the Russian Imperial House Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna raised the question of investigating the circumstances of the death of her relatives - Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family.

I dealt with this issue as a lawyer for the Grand Duchess - first Leonida Georgievna, now Maria Vladimirovna. First, the question was raised about whether the death of members of the royal family was registered. Numerous requests were made to all organizations in the city of St. Petersburg and the city of Yekaterinburg. The answers were negative; the death of these persons was not confirmed.

Everyone knows that when a person is born, he has a birth certificate, when he dies, he must have a death certificate. There was a special order in the royal houses. In 1904, the son of the sovereign, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, was born, who was named Alexei. A manifesto was issued: “By the grace of God, We, the Emperor Autocrat of Russia, the Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke Finnish and so on, so on and so forth, we announce to all our subjects, on the 30th day of this, our dear wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, was safely relieved of her burden by the birth of our son, named Alexei.”

But when he and other royal persons were shot, there was no registration of the civil status of death. And so the Grand Duchesses Maria Vladimirovna and Leonida Georgievna dealt with this issue. Applications for registration were officially submitted to the Civil Registry Office of the city of St. Petersburg.

The facts of death of members of the royal family were registered in 1996. Here is the death certificate that Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov died on July 17, 1918 at the age of 50, which was recorded in the death register of 1996 on July 10 as number 151. The cause of death was the city of Yekaterinburg, a special purpose house, shot. This is the most important document.

- In general, the executions were somehow formalized"enemies of the people" of noble blood and ordinary people

- Tens of thousands were shot by the Bolsheviks, and they destroyed the entire flower of the nation. The Bolsheviks held tribunals and executed people without trial or investigation. With members of the Russian Imperial House - special case. There was a telegram to Moscow, where it was written that the emperor was shot by the verdict of the Ural Soviet of Deputies, since he was guilty of countless bloody violence against the Russian people.

The highest body - the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee - considered this message and recognized this execution as correct. The head of the Soviet state, Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov, at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, which was chaired by Lenin, made an extraordinary announcement about the execution of Nikolai Romanov by the verdict of the Ural Soviet of Deputies. The Council of People's Commissars took note of this.

- Do you have a collection of all the documents?

Yes, everything regarding this issue. The head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, was studying and collecting all the necessary documents in order to raise the question of the legal rehabilitation of her august relatives, members of the royal family.

- Who should have made the decision on rehabilitation?

- According to the law on victims of political repression in force at that time, the decision was made by the Prosecutor General's Office Russian Federation. When everything was served necessary documents, The Prosecutor General's Office reviewed this application and denied rehabilitation, stating that there were no grounds for rehabilitation. Since rights and freedoms were not violated, and the Soviet totalitarian Bolshevik state had nothing to do with the death of members of the royal family. This was already in 2005.

After this, the Grand Duchess went to court to recognize the decision to refuse to rehabilitate members of the royal family as illegal and to oblige the authorities of our state to consider this issue, and yet the members of the royal family were recognized as victims of political repression. Because there is a law that says that political repression- these are measures taken by the state against individuals for belonging to the exploitative class, when measures are taken in the form of restriction of freedom, deprivation of life, restriction of rights and freedoms.

There is a telegram to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin, and the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Sverdlov: “In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the discovery by the Emergency Commission of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family. Period. The documents are in our hands. Period. By resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council on the night of On July 16, Nikolai Romanov was shot. His family was evacuated to a safe place."

The Bolsheviks misinformed about the evacuation of the family, because they understood that it could not be published. Because even in that harsh time, the people of Russia and foreign countries would not have accepted this.

In this regard, the following notice is issued: “In view of the approach of counter-revolutionary gangs to the red capital of the Urals and the possibility that the crowned executioner will escape the people's court, a conspiracy of the White Guards who tried to kidnap him himself has been revealed, the documents found will be published. The Presidium of the Regional Council, fulfilling the will of the revolution, decided to shoot the former Tsar Nikolai Romanov, comma, guilty of countless bloody violence against the Russian people on the night of July 16, 18."

But in fact, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the royal family was executed in the basement of the Ipatiev house, where they were kept in custody.

After the execution, the bodies were taken away and attempts were made to destroy the bodies. They were doused with sulfuric acid. The commandant of the special purpose house, Yurovsky, wrote that two bodies were burned, and then they were all discovered. The heads were allegedly shown to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the Kremlin. There is a version that there is a special room, there was something there. There is a list of what was discovered, but it is still classified for the future. No one still knows what was found there.

The question of the authenticity of the discovered remains remains open. The Russian Orthodox Church doubts their authenticity. The Russian Imperial House, the head of the Russian Imperial House, Princess Maria Vladimirovna, supports their position. Now there are quite accurate methods of medical genetic research, but science is moving forward, after some time the methods can be improved and give different results, new circumstances may open up. The Church cannot make a mistake in this matter, it has no right.

“We can only hope that the Lord knows the names and whose remains these are, as well as all the other innocent victims.” But can we hope to know this truth?

- Passed big way, a lot of work has been done and established, including through legal means, historical facts. The presidium made a historic decision: “From the documents examined by the court, it is clear that the Romanovs were deprived of their lives not as a result of someone committing a criminal crime. Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov and members of their family were detained and were shot on behalf of the state.

The use of such a repressive measure was due to the fact that the former Russian Emperor, his wife and children, members of the Russian imperial house, from the point of view of the organs state power The RSFSR, on class, social and religious grounds, posed a danger to the Soviet state and political system." This is the conclusion of the court.

And the Prosecutor General’s Office believed that criminal offenses had been committed against them. They were captured and killed by criminals. Now, with this court decision, the issue of rehabilitation is closed. Honest, good name Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich was restored.

- But the most important question remains open.

Yes, it's open. This is a complex issue, so not everything can be resolved immediately. Now there is a period of construction and growth of our civil society. The country has embarked on a democratic path of development. According to the Constitution, Russia is rule of law. We have all the mechanisms, both legal and political, to ensure that peace and harmony reign in society.

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The question "Who shot the royal family?" in itself is immoral and can only be of interest to lovers of “fried food” and fans of conspiracy theories. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church was only interested in identifying the remains, which is why the canonization of the royal family was carried out only in 2000 (19 years later than in the Russian Orthodox Church). Orthodox Church abroad), and all its members are canonized as Russian new martyrs. At the same time, the question of who gave the order and carried out the execution is not discussed in church circles. In addition, to this day there is no exact list of the persons in the “execution” team. In the twenties and thirties of the last century, many people involved in this act of vandalism vied with each other about their participation (like the anecdotal associates of V.I. Lenin, who helped him drag a log at the first subbotnik) and wrote memoirs about it. However, almost all of them were shot during the Yezhov purges of 1936...1938.

Today, almost everyone who acknowledges the execution of the royal family believes that the place of execution was the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. According to most historians, the following people took direct part in the execution:

• member of the board of the Ural Regional Extraordinary Commission Ya.M. Yurovsky;
• boss " Flying Squad» Ural Cheka G.P. Nikulin;
• Commissioner M.A. Medvedev;
• Ural security officer, head of the guard service Ermakov P.Z.;
• Vaganov S.P., Kabanov A.G., Medvedev P.S., Netrebin V.N., Tselms Ya.M. are considered to be ordinary participants in the execution.

As can be seen from the list above, there was no dominance of “Jewish Masons” or Balts (Latvian riflemen) in the firing squad. Some researchers also doubt the number of people directly involved in the execution. The execution basement had dimensions of 5 × 6 meters, and so many executioners simply could not fit there.

Talking about which one senior management gave the order to execute, it is safe to say that neither V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky did not know about the upcoming execution. Moreover, at the beginning of July, Lenin gave the order to transport the entire royal family to Moscow, where it was planned to organize a show people's trial of Nicholas II, and the main accuser at it was to be the “fiery tribune” L.D. Trotsky. The question of what Ya.M. knew about the upcoming execution. Sverdlov, also debatable, but not indisputable. The fact that the order was given by I.V. Stalin, let the democrats of the times of perestroika and glasnost be on the conscience. In those years, Joseph Stalin was not a prominent figure in the leadership of the Bolsheviks and was absent from Moscow most of the time, being at the fronts.

At one time, rumors started by Ya.M. Yurovsky that one of the participants in the execution was brought to Moscow to be shown by V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky received the head of the last emperor preserved in alcohol. And only the burial found and genetic examinations carried out dispelled this heresy.

According to the “Jewish-Massonian” version, the immediate leader and main executor was Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (Yankel Khaimovich Yurovsky). The “firing” team consisted mainly of foreigners: according to one version, Latvians, according to another, Chinese. Moreover, the execution itself was organized as a ritual event. A rabbi was invited to attend, who was responsible for the religious correctness of the ceremony. The walls of the execution cellar were painted with Kabbalistic symbols. However, after, by order of the First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee B.N. Yeltsin, the house for special maintenance (Ipatiev House) was demolished in 1977, you can invent and invent anything.

In all these theories, it is not clear why the relatives of Emperor Nicholas II - neither “cousin” Willy (German Kaiser Wilhelm II), nor the King of England, cousin of the Russian autocrat George V - did not insist on granting political asylum to the royal family to the Provisional Government. And here there are many conspiracy theories about why neither the Entente, nor Germany and Austria-Hungary needed the Romanov dynasty. However, this is a topic for a separate study.

In addition, there is a group of historians-researchers of the question “Who shot the royal family?”, who believe that there was no execution, but only an imitation. And no amount of genetic testing or skull reconstructions can convince them otherwise.

After the execution on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the bodies of members of the royal family and their associates (11 people in total) were loaded into a car and sent towards Verkh-Isetsk to the abandoned mines of Ganina Yama. At first they unsuccessfully tried to burn the victims, and then they threw them into a mine shaft and covered them with branches.

Discovery of remains

However, the next day almost the entire Verkh-Isetsk knew about what had happened. Moreover, according to a member of Medvedev’s firing squad, “ ice water The mines not only washed away the blood, but also froze the bodies so much that they looked as if they were alive.” The conspiracy clearly failed.

It was decided to promptly rebury the remains. The area was cordoned off, but the truck, having driven only a few kilometers, got stuck in the swampy area of ​​Porosenkova Log. Without inventing anything, they buried one part of the bodies directly under the road, and the other a little to the side, after first filling them with sulfuric acid. Sleepers were placed on top for safety.

It is interesting that the forensic investigator N. Sokolov, sent by Kolchak in 1919 to search for the burial place, found this place, but never thought of lifting the sleepers. In the area of ​​​​Ganina Yama, he managed to find only a severed female finger. Nevertheless, the investigator’s conclusion was unequivocal: “This is all that remains of the August Family. The Bolsheviks destroyed everything else with fire and sulfuric acid.”

Nine years later, perhaps, it was Vladimir Mayakovsky who visited Porosenkov Log, as can be judged from his poem “The Emperor”: “Here a cedar has been touched with an ax, there are notches under the root of the bark, at the root there is a road under the cedar, and in it the emperor is buried.”

It is known that the poet, shortly before his trip to Sverdlovsk, met in Warsaw with one of the organizers of the execution of the royal family, Pyotr Voikov, who could show him the exact place.

Ural historians found the remains in Porosenkovy Log in 1978, but permission for excavations was received only in 1991. There were 9 bodies in the burial. During the investigation, part of the remains were recognized as “royal”: according to experts, only Alexei and Maria were missing. However, many experts were confused by the results of the examination, and therefore no one was in a hurry to agree with the conclusions. The House of Romanovs and the Russian Orthodox Church refused to recognize the remains as authentic.

Alexei and Maria were discovered only in 2007, guided by a document drawn up from the words of the commandant of the “House of Special Purpose” Yakov Yurovsky. “Yurovsky’s note” initially did not inspire much confidence, however, the location of the second burial was indicated correctly.

Falsifications and myths

Immediately after the shooting, representatives new government tried to convince the West that members of the imperial family, or at least the children, were alive and in a safe place. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs G.V. Chicherin in April 1922 at the Genoa Conference, when asked by one of the correspondents about the fate of the Grand Duchesses, vaguely answered: “The fate of the Tsar’s daughters is not known to me. I read in the newspapers that they are in America.”

However, P.L. Voikov informally stated more specifically: “the world will never know what we did to the royal family.” But later, after the materials of Sokolov’s investigation were published in the West Soviet authorities recognized the fact of the execution of the imperial family.

Falsifications and speculation around the execution of the Romanovs contributed to the spread of persistent myths, among which the myth of ritual murder and the severed head of Nicholas II, which was in the special storage facility of the NKVD, was popular. Later, stories about the “miraculous rescue” of the Tsar’s children, Alexei and Anastasia, were added to the myths. But all this remained myths.

Investigation and examinations

In 1993, the investigation into the discovery of the remains was entrusted to the investigator of the General Prosecutor's Office, Vladimir Solovyov. Given the importance of the case, in addition to traditional ballistic and macroscopic examinations, additional genetic studies were carried out together with English and American scientists.

For these purposes, blood was taken from some Romanov relatives living in England and Greece. The results showed that the probability of the remains belonging to members of the royal family was 98.5 percent.
The investigation considered this insufficient. Solovyov managed to obtain permission to exhume the remains sibling king - George. Scientists confirmed the “absolute positional mt-DNA similarity” of both remains, which revealed a rare genetic mutation characteristic of the Romanovs - heteroplasmy.

However, after the discovery of the supposed remains of Alexei and Maria in 2007, new research and examination were required. The work of the scientists was greatly facilitated by Alexy II, who, before burying the first group of royal remains in the tomb, Peter and Paul Cathedral asked investigators to remove bone particles. “Science is developing, it is possible that they will be needed in the future,” these were the words of the Patriarch.

To remove the doubts of skeptics, the head of the laboratory of molecular genetics at the University of Massachusetts, Evgeniy Rogaev (whom representatives of the House of Romanov insisted on), the chief geneticist of the US Army, Michael Cobble (who returned the names of the victims of September 11), as well as an employee of the Institute of Forensic Medicine from Austria, Walter, were invited for new examinations. Parson.

Comparing the remains from the two burials, experts once again double-checked the previously obtained data and also conducted new research - the previous results were confirmed. Moreover, the “blood-spattered shirt” of Nicholas II (the Otsu incident), discovered in the Hermitage collections, fell into the hands of scientists. And again the answer is positive: the genotypes of the king “on blood” and “on bones” coincided.

Results

The results of the investigation into the execution of the royal family refuted some previously existing assumptions. For example, according to experts, “under the conditions in which the destruction of corpses was carried out, it was impossible to completely destroy the remains using sulfuric acid and flammable materials."

This fact excludes Ganina Yama as a final burial site.
True, historian Vadim Viner finds a serious gap in the conclusions of the investigation. He believes that some finds belonging to a later time were not taken into account, in particular coins from the 30s. But as the facts show, information about the burial place very quickly “leaked” to the masses, and therefore the burial ground could be repeatedly opened in search of possible valuables.

Another revelation is offered by the historian S.A. Belyaev, who believes that “they could have buried the family of an Ekaterinburg merchant with imperial honors,” although without providing convincing arguments.
However, the conclusions of the investigation, which was carried out with unprecedented scrupulousness using the latest methods, with the participation of independent experts, are unambiguous: all 11 remains clearly correlate with each of those shot in Ipatiev’s house. Common sense and logic dictate that it is impossible to duplicate such physical and genetic correspondences by chance.
In December 2010, the final conference dedicated to latest results examination The reports were made by 4 groups of geneticists working independently in different countries. Opponents of the official version could also present their views, but according to eyewitnesses, “after listening to the reports, they left the hall without saying a word.”
The Russian Orthodox Church still does not recognize the authenticity of the “Ekaterinburg remains,” but many representatives of the House of Romanov, judging by their statements in the press, accepted the final results of the investigation.