Roots

Roots - Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Leon Vasiliev

By the next day my head was spinning, I had not been able to sleep all night because of how eerie it was that the woman in the two photographs that I had on my desk looked just like the young Grand Duchess Anastasia in the photograph in “The Russian Bible” that Mr. Poloski and shown me yesterday.  Yet, what frustrated me was that I wasn’t able to find anything else about my family.  It all seemed to stop with the name Vasiliev.  Maybe it’s best if I just give up hope to ever finding out more about my family’s history, I thought to myself.  Even if Nunna recognized the photographs, mostly likely she wouldn’t tell me anything, since he had forbidden me to research our family. 

As soon as the bell rung for lunch, I took a deep breath, preparing myself to deliver the news to Mr. Poloski, that I was a failure in his class, and wasn’t able to write anything about my Russian side of the family.  What would he say? What would the other classmates say? Oh God, now I really wouldn’t beat Eric at becoming Valediction, I thought as I started to walk up towards Mr. Poloski’s desk.

“Hey Lisa, you comin’ to lunch?” Eric asked as he headed towards the door.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a little bit; I need to talk to Mr. Poloski about my project.” I said with a grim face.

“Oh, okay, well do you want me wait for you?”

“No I’ll be fine, thanks, tell Mandy I said hey.” I replied, as Eric walked out of the classroom.

“Mr. Poloski? I was wondering if I could talk to you about my project for your class.” I said nervously, knowing I’ve never had to tell a teacher I couldn’t do the assignment.

“Sure, what’s your question?” He said as he started to take his personal collection of Russian History books.

“Well, you see, I just can’t find anything about my family.  I’m not going to be able to write that part of my project.” I said as I looked down at my shoes, not bearing to see the look of disappointment on his face.  

“Ah, I see, well, I figured you were going to have a hard time ever since we couldn’t find your great grandparents name last week, so that’s why I thought I would help you do some research, and actually I was going to ask if you could stay a few moments after class anyways so I could show you this….” He quickly explained as he opened “The Russian Bible” and began to flip through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

“Please pull over a chair, and take a look at this.  I found this last night actually.” He said as he pushed the book over towards me.

I kept scanning the sentences until I came across the name Leon Vasiliev.  I froze, and had to re-read the section to myself:

Leon Vasiliev, became a Bolshevik rebel soldier in the early Spring of nineteen eighteen.  The Vasiliev family was one of the main secret supporters in the Russian Revolution against the Imperial family, by providing financially and with artillery for the Bolshevik Communist Army Commander, Yakov Yurovsky.  Upon promotion, Leon became one of the royal chamber guards in the late spring of nineteen eighteen during the imprisonment of the Imperial Romanov family, and was assigned to kill the young Grand Duchess Anastasia.  On the eve of the Romanov execution, many believe that Vasiliev fled from his act of service and became a traitor in the Communist Army, while others believe that he was captured and killed by Romanov supporters who came to rescue some of the Imperial family members.  No evidence has ever been found.  Leon Alexei Vasiliev, the father of the Bolshevik solider, later announced there would be a significant reward for the capture or the return of his only son.