The murder of the imperial family was no simple affair. It took multiple attempts and 20 minutes to kill every family member, and Yakov Yurovsky and his men had to use the butts of their guns, bayonets, knives and brute force to finish off the Romanov children and their servants.
Then it was time to cover up the murders. Chaos ensued as Yurovsky and his men drove the bodies into the forest, stripped them down, confiscated their jewelry and the jewels that were hidden in their clothing, and buried them. As they did so, they covered them in acid and buried them. But the grave, located in a mine, was too shallow, and when the men tried to collapse the mine with grenades it failed. Instead, they disinterred the bodies as they frantically searched for another grave site.
Finally, they dug another shallow grave, and, after abusing the corpses even more, all but two of the family members. Two of the children—likely Maria and Alexei—were burned and the remnants of their bodies buried in another, separate grave nearby.
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The Romanovs
Non-FictionThe Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. They first came to power in 1613, and over the next 3 centuries, 18 Romanovs took the Russian throne, including Peter the great, Catherine the great, Alexander 1 and Nicholas 2. During...
