Read Online Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Helen Rappaport
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those five hot, crowded rooms. Add to that a probably menopausal mother and a terminally ill brother, and the strain must at times have been intolerable. Hagiographers of the Romanovs have always claimed there was never any discord between the family, but this is extremely hard to believe given the circumstances in which they were being held and the often profound fluctuations between hope and despair that any prisoner normally goes through when kept for so long under close surveillance.
Indeed, it may well have been the immaturity and natural sexual curiosity of one of the daughters that helped precipitate the final clampdown. On 27 June, the flirtatious and attractive Maria, whom the guards had found by far the most friendly of the Grand Duchesses, had been discovered, during an inspection of the Ipatiev House by Goloshchekin and Beloborodov, in a compromising situation with guard Ivan Skorokhodov, who had smuggled in a cake for her nineteenth birthday. Skorokhodov was summarily removed to Ekaterinburg jail. Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as Maria’s older sisters, were clearly shocked by her behaviour and unsettled by the incident. The resulting introduction of a rigorous new regime at the Ipatiev House and Avdeev’s dismissal were no coincidence.
And so, on Thursday 4 July, a new commandant arrived. His name was Yakov Yurovsky, and he brought with him an assistant, an attractive young man called Grigory Nikulin, who in Alexandra’s estimation seemed ‘decent’ in comparison to his vulgar predecessor Moshkin. Little did she know that the bland-looking Nikulin was a ruthless killer who had opted to work for the Cheka rather than go to the Front.
Yurovsky was a tall, well-built man with high cheekbones and a shock of black hair. With his neatly trimmed Van Dyck beard and curled moustache, the 40-year-old looked cultured, almost dapper, and had an air of self-importance to match. He wasn’t a drinker like Avdeev. He was highly intelligent, vigilant and motivated. A clampdown was needed andit would be draconian. Yurovsky immediately saw to it that pilfering from the Imperial Family ceased. Such money as the Tsar and Tsaritsa had left had already been confiscated. But after a search of their possessions on arrival, the 16 roubles and 17 kopeks given to Maria by Anastasia for the journey to Ekaterinburg had been taken from her for ‘safekeeping by the Ural Regional Soviet’s treasurer’. Yurovsky was more meticulous than Avdeev; he now set about making a detailed inventory of all the family’s jewellery and valuables. The priceless Imperial regalia had long since been confiscated by the new Soviet state; much of what remained of larger valuable pieces had been stolen, or smuggled out by the Tsaritsa to sympathisers in Tobolsk, in hopes of funding rescue. But the women still had with them many jewels – especially diamonds and pearls. At Tobolsk, during every spare moment, they had been carefully secreting these in their corsets, bodices, hats and buttons, as essential resources to fund their life in exile, should they ever have to leave Russia. Yurovsky knew they had more jewellery than the items he had seen and that they had probably concealed them in their clothes. He knew Moscow wanted to lay hands on it; and sooner or later he would find it. As he itemised the family’s valuables, he made few concessions: the Tsarevich was allowed to keep his watch (he would get bored without it, claimed Nicholas), the Tsar his engagement ring which he couldn’t get off, and the women only the gold bracelets they wore that fitted so tightly round their wrists that they could not be removed. The rest Yurovsky took away, and locked up in a box, to be returned to them later.
In actual fact, the family had already met Yurovsky twice before when he had visited the Ipatiev House with members of the local soviet. On 26 May he had arrived when Dr Derevenko had come to see Alexey, on which occasion the family had assumed, from his
Indeed, it may well have been the immaturity and natural sexual curiosity of one of the daughters that helped precipitate the final clampdown. On 27 June, the flirtatious and attractive Maria, whom the guards had found by far the most friendly of the Grand Duchesses, had been discovered, during an inspection of the Ipatiev House by Goloshchekin and Beloborodov, in a compromising situation with guard Ivan Skorokhodov, who had smuggled in a cake for her nineteenth birthday. Skorokhodov was summarily removed to Ekaterinburg jail. Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as Maria’s older sisters, were clearly shocked by her behaviour and unsettled by the incident. The resulting introduction of a rigorous new regime at the Ipatiev House and Avdeev’s dismissal were no coincidence.
And so, on Thursday 4 July, a new commandant arrived. His name was Yakov Yurovsky, and he brought with him an assistant, an attractive young man called Grigory Nikulin, who in Alexandra’s estimation seemed ‘decent’ in comparison to his vulgar predecessor Moshkin. Little did she know that the bland-looking Nikulin was a ruthless killer who had opted to work for the Cheka rather than go to the Front.
Yurovsky was a tall, well-built man with high cheekbones and a shock of black hair. With his neatly trimmed Van Dyck beard and curled moustache, the 40-year-old looked cultured, almost dapper, and had an air of self-importance to match. He wasn’t a drinker like Avdeev. He was highly intelligent, vigilant and motivated. A clampdown was needed andit would be draconian. Yurovsky immediately saw to it that pilfering from the Imperial Family ceased. Such money as the Tsar and Tsaritsa had left had already been confiscated. But after a search of their possessions on arrival, the 16 roubles and 17 kopeks given to Maria by Anastasia for the journey to Ekaterinburg had been taken from her for ‘safekeeping by the Ural Regional Soviet’s treasurer’. Yurovsky was more meticulous than Avdeev; he now set about making a detailed inventory of all the family’s jewellery and valuables. The priceless Imperial regalia had long since been confiscated by the new Soviet state; much of what remained of larger valuable pieces had been stolen, or smuggled out by the Tsaritsa to sympathisers in Tobolsk, in hopes of funding rescue. But the women still had with them many jewels – especially diamonds and pearls. At Tobolsk, during every spare moment, they had been carefully secreting these in their corsets, bodices, hats and buttons, as essential resources to fund their life in exile, should they ever have to leave Russia. Yurovsky knew they had more jewellery than the items he had seen and that they had probably concealed them in their clothes. He knew Moscow wanted to lay hands on it; and sooner or later he would find it. As he itemised the family’s valuables, he made few concessions: the Tsarevich was allowed to keep his watch (he would get bored without it, claimed Nicholas), the Tsar his engagement ring which he couldn’t get off, and the women only the gold bracelets they wore that fitted so tightly round their wrists that they could not be removed. The rest Yurovsky took away, and locked up in a box, to be returned to them later.
In actual fact, the family had already met Yurovsky twice before when he had visited the Ipatiev House with members of the local soviet. On 26 May he had arrived when Dr Derevenko had come to see Alexey, on which occasion the family had assumed, from his
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