The last days of the Romanovs : tragedy at Ekaterinburg

The Resource The last days of the Romanovs : tragedy at Ekaterinburg

Label

The last days of the Romanovs : tragedy at Ekaterinburg

Title remainder

tragedy at Ekaterinburg

Statement of responsibility

Helen Rappaport

Language

eng

Summary

The brutal murder of the Russian Imperial family on the night of July 16<U+2013>17, 1918 has long been a defining moment in world history. This book gives a riveting day-by-day account of the last fourteen days of their lives, as the conspiracy to kill them unfolded. In the vivid style of a TV documentary, Helen Rappaport reveals both the atmosphere inside the family<U+2019>s claustrophobic prison and the political maneuverings of those who wished to save<U+2014>or destroy<U+2014>them. With the watching world and European monarchies proving incapable of saving the Romanovs, the narrative brings this tragic story to life in a compellingly new and dramatic way, culminating in a bloody night of horror in a cramped basement room

Review

Synthesizing a variety of sources, British historian Rappaport (Joseph Stalin ) details the Romanovs’ last two weeks, imprisoned in a cramped private house in Ekaterinburg, a violently anti-czarist industrial city in the Ural Mountains where Nicholas II; his wife, Alexandra; and their five children were executed on July 17, 1918. The czar’s rescue was a low priority for the Allies, and several escape plots by Russian monarchists came to naught. A lax guard was replaced by a rigorous new regime on July 4, headed by Yakov Yurovsky, whose family’s impoverished Siberian exile had fueled his burning hatred for the imperial family, and his ruthless assistant and surrogate son, Grigory Nikulin. How the last czar and his family died was one of Russia’s best-kept secrets for decades, and Rappaport spares none of the gory details of the panicked bloodbath (it took an entire clip of bullets to finish off the czarevitch because an undergarment sewn with jewels protected the boy’s torso) and botched burial of the corpses. Although parts of the Romanov saga are familiar and Rappaport’s sympathy for the czar often seems naïve, this is an absorbing, lucid and authoritative work. 16 pages of photos. (Feb. 3) --Staff (Reviewed November 17, 2008) (Publishers Weekly, vol 255, issue 46, p49)
Using a wide range of primary sources in English and Russian, Rappaport (Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion ), a British author who specializes in Russian studies, concentrates on the final weeks of the Romanov family's house arrest before their execution in Ekaterinburg in July 1918. Weaving in political and historical context, the author deftly conveys the tense and claustrophobic atmosphere in the "House of Special Purpose," as the family's place of detention was euphemistically called. The most engaging sections of the narrative are those that delve into the personalities of the family, showing them as flawed but sympathetic. The author details how their utter devotion to one another, their country, and their religion sustained them in their final days and contrasts their state of resigned calm with their jailers' merciless plans to "liquidate" the family. An epilog touches on the canonization of the family as saints in Russian Orthodoxy and their enduring mystique. Poignant but never maudlin, this book is an absorbing read, though the more serious reader might wish for more detailed notes on sources. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. (Illustrations not seen.)—Megan Hahn Fraser, Young Research Lib., Univ. of California, Los Angeles --Megan Hahn Fraser (Reviewed December 15, 2008) (Library Journal, vol 133, issue 20, p142)
You-are-there account of the grim 1918 countdown toward the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.British historian Rappaport (No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War, 2007, etc.) combines detailed scholarship with an engaging narrative style. She lays the groundwork by summarizing Nicholas' tumultuous reign and the list of grievances that Russia's new communist regime and many citizens had against him. Short mini-biographies of the royal couple, their four daughters and one son make the point that isolation from their subjects caused resentment to build and made the leaders of the Bolshevik government intent on swift, brutal justice. Rappaport doesn't break much new ground in her descriptions of the cramped conditions and onerous restrictions that defined the Romanovs' lives under heavy guard from April 30 to July 17, 1918, in the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg. She does, however, strongly convey how far they had fallen and how difficult living in such close quarters was, especially for the Tsaritsa Alexandra and her son, Tsarevich Alexey, who were both quite ill. Rappaport's research uncovered some previously unknown efforts by British and German monarchs to rescue the Romanovs and provide them with safe haven. These efforts were stymied by "flabbiness of will," in addition to internal and external political obstacles, she concludes. The book's most gripping sections describe the days and hours leading up to and including the family's execution. Rappaport spares few details; indeed, some unduly lengthy recitals of meals and similar trivialities could have been omitted. There's no flab, however, in her grisly evocation of the scene after the execution: "The corpses, many of them with hideous, gaping head wounds and broken and dislocated limbs, were now horribly mangled and ugly, their hair matted with caked blood. It was almost impossible to associate these wretched twisted bodies with the five charming, vibrant children of the official publicity."Solid political and social history, related with the vigor of a true-crime thriller. (Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2008)

Biography type

collective biography

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

947.08/30922
B

Index

index present

LC call number

DK258

LC item number

.R35 2009

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Target audience

adult

Context

Context of The last days of the Romanovs : tragedy at Ekaterinburg

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