The Last Tsar - Chapter Twenty-four Ekaterinburg

Chapter Twenty-four
Ekaterinburg

In 'Ipatiev House' Nicholas and the family were truly prisoners. In spite of a gloomy future the children's arrival brought a burst of happiness. Inside the house, day and night, three very hard, rude, brutal men, armed with revolvers, kept watch over the prisoners. On the roof top a machine gun was installed. There was no way out. All hope for escape was now doomed forever.

Alexander Avadeyev, a ruthless, bloodthirsty man, was the head of the guard. Avadeyev drank heavily and abused the Tsar and children day and night. He pilfered the Imperial family's cases, which were stored in a downstairs room. The family had no privacy. Inside the lavatory the guards drew some filthy pictures, depicting the Tsarina with Rasputin.

The family was detained within the walls of their rooms day and night, except for a walk in the court for half-an-hour every afternoon. Birthdays passed and were scarcely noticed.

Food was not enough and of poor quality. They were served with black bread and tea in their breakfast. There was no linen on the dining table. Their lunch and dinner consisted of soup and cutlet, which used to come from a local Soviet soup kitchen. The meal used to arrive very late, sometimes at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. They had to eat their meals together with their servants.

Avadeyev sometimes appeared in the dining room in the middle of dinner, deliberately brushed the face of the Tsar with his elbow to get himself a piece of meat from the bowl.

Nagorny, the faithful attendant, got into more trouble with the guars over the issue of Alexis's boots. The guards insisted on one pair of boots for Alexis, Nagorny demanded two pairs. Soon afterwards one of the guards stole a gold chain from Tsarvitch's bedroom. Nagorny, outraged, protested. Nagorny's days were numbered. The next day he was sent to prison where he was shot later.

During the winter of 1917-1918, the Tsar's generals and army were still in the trench, fighting the Germans. They refused to accept the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

They formed an army called the 'White Army' to fight with the Bolshevik Government of Moscow. They were now determined to nip the communism in the bud. They were joined by the stranded, detached Czech army, which was asked to go home by the Moscow Government. Now Russia turned to a full and large scale, bloody civil war, which continued until 1920 when General Kolchack, Commander-in-Chief of the White Army, surrendered and was shot later by the Bolshevik guards.

In July 1918 the Czechs, strengthened by the anti Bolshevik White army, advanced towards Ekaterinburg. At the beginning of July, the Czechs had already outflanked the city from the south and Ekaterinburg might fall within few days. The Soviet Government got alarmed and worried about the Imperial prisoners. At that moment the Soviet leaders decided to shoot the entire family as soon as possible and to destroy all evidence of the crime. At once preparations for the massacre began.

On July 4 the inside guards of the Ipatiev House was replaced by the new commissar, named Jacob Yurovsky, and some Chika guards. From the moment of Yurovsky’s appearance, the fate of the Imperial family was doomed. The Chika squad were not really guards but executioners. The Tsar and the family immediately sensed the change in their mood and found them sinister.

The family now became extremely nervous and anxious. The great change in the in the family’s attitude during these last days was noted by a local priest called Father Storozhov who conducted the service in the house on July 14 two days before the massacre. On his first visit to the house at the end of May he noticed, although the Empress looked tired and sick, Nicholas and the children were cheerful. On July 14, when he came to Ipatiev House for the last time the change was marked. The family looked extremely petrified, anxious and depressed, When the deacon sang “At Rest With The Saints” one of the daughters sobbed loudly.

On July 16 at four in the afternoon the Tsar and his children went for their usual walk in the garden. The Tsarvitch, unable to walk was sitting on a chair watching them. In the evening after dinner Nicholas read aloud a book to the Empress and daughters as usual. That night at 10.30 they went to bed. At midnight the Tsar woke up, opened his eyes and saw Yurovsky standing beside his bed, was asked to go downstairs into the basement room. Nicholas carrying sick Alexis descended the stairs, walked down into the hall then to the cellar followed by the Tsarina, four Grand Duchesses, Dr. Botkin, Tsarina’s physician, cook, servants and maid. Turning to the Empress, Nicholas saw her standing leaning against the wall, who was unable to stand even for a moment, requested a chair. That was his last request.

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