The Last Palace of the Last Tsar

28 May. Monday. [1918]
A very warm day. They are constantly opening boxes in the barn where our things are located and taking out various objects and provisions from Tobolsk. And that, with no explanation of the reasons. All this makes one think that things that are liked can easily be taken to [someone's] homes, which means gone for us! Disgusting!

The external relations have also changed in the past few weeks: the jailers are trying not to talk to us, as if they feel guilty, and it feels like they have some anxiety or are afraid of something. Confusing!

***

21 June. Thursday. [1918]
There was a change of commandants today -- during dinner Beloborodov and other came in and announced that instead of Avdeyev, the one whom we mistook for a doctor has been appointed -- Yurovsky.

During the day before tea, he and his assistants catalogued the gold jewelry -- ours and the children's; the majority that it was because there was an unpleasant incident in our house, mentioned our missing things. So the conviction about which I wrote on 28 May had been confirmed.

I feel sorry for Avdeyev, it is not his fault that he was not able to hold back his people from stealing from the chests in the barn.


Twenty six days after his final diary entry (above), Nicholas, along with his family and remaining staff, would but ushered down to the basement of the Ipatiev House in the dead of night. By the next morning all of them would be dead.

The name of the House of Special Purpose was identical to the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, where the Romanovs came to the throne. Not many photographs of the house exists, and very few or none exist of it before the deaths of the Romanovs. The house itself was demolished in July of 1977, after being declared of "not enough historical importance." The government was embarrassed by the amount of people visiting to pay their respects to the Romanovs, and had it destroyed. This did not, however, stop people from coming. Sometimes they would sneak out at night, and lay tribute on the now empty lot. It was after the Soviet state fell that the Church on the Blood was built where the Ipatiev House used to stand, and it's now a major place of pilgrimage.

Luckily I have been able to find many photos of the Ipatiev House, all taken after the Romanov's were killed (at least I presume there were. It is possible, however unlikely, that some were taken before their deaths).

Drawing room

Dining room

A hallway

Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia's bedroom

Nicholas, Alexandra, and Alexei's bedroom

Stair, leading to who knows where

Stairs to the ground floor

Art from Nicholas, Alexandra, and Alexei's room

Basement

Drawing room

While doing my research on the Romanovs I discovered an old forum, where people had discussed the Ipatiev House, gathering photos and making speculations. It seems throughout the house there was some written graffiti, and in the basement in particular there was writing that some believed to be a clue of some kind.

The letters "syl" are written on the wall, and another fain letter before the "s" that could either be a "v" or possible an "m." Now you've got to remember, if it means anything than it'd mean something in Russian. So for someone like me, I can go trying to guess a word that it could be. Thank goodness for the people on this forum, who had some interesting ideas. It seemed to make most sense that it was written backwards, which would mean it was "lysv" or "lysm." Could it be initials? A word? A sign? Nobody will ever know for certain.

If the missing letter was in fact an "m" then if might be spelling Lysma, which means Flame. That was the name of Lenin's special unit of executioners. One of the users, Penny, made an interesting post which explains rather nicely why those letters may have been put there:

"...Then one day, Greg had the History Channel on the television, and on came a documentary about the Siege of Sidney Street, a failed burglary attempt in London's East End in 1910. The crime was carried out by a group of Latvians, all of whom belonged to a revolutionary organization called "Lysma," meaning "The Flame."

"Subsequent investigation turned up evidence that showed Lysma was fairly closely tied to the exiled Russian revolutionaries in London -- even attending secret meetings with prominent Bolsheviks -- and, indeed, throughout many European cities. 

The writing on the wall in the basement

"Long story short, Lysma was still heavily active in 1918, especially in Russia, where the Latvian revolutionaries were busily out-fiercing many of the Bolsheviks. Lenin himself was surrounded by a Latvian Guard, they being considered more dedicated and reliable in the revolutionary cause than most Russian regiments.

"It may also be remembered that Yurovsky brought several Latvians and Baltic Letts into the house with him, and these men used the murder room as a dormitory until the night of the murder. It seemed most likely to Greg and I that this inscription was placed there by an off-duty Latvian guard, tagging the room with the name of his own revolutionary organization. There were several other pieces of graffiti in the room -- and indeed, throughout the house -- not only this one and the Belshazzar one. The initial investigators believed that they were merely the off-duty artwork of bored guards."

In my opinion that theory wraps up the origin of the letters rather nicely, though if a time machine existed then it could be proven once and for all. Ah, maybe in another couple hundred years.

It does seem like their explanation wraps it all up nicely, but wait. There's more. While it does seem a little far fetched, there's this little beautify to ponder. Yurovsky's 1920's testimony in the book The Fall of the Romanovs page 365 mentions "Lysev":

Yurovsky: "I left with a report for Moscow on the night of the 19th. It was then that I gave the valuables to Trifonov, member of the Third Army's Revolutionary Council. I think Beloborodov, Novoselov, and someone else buried them in a basement in the earthen floor of a worker's house in Lysev."

Not all the "valuables" were taken to Mosocw for some reason. Yurovsky gave some of the IF [Imperial Family] "valuables" to Trifonov who in turn give them to Beloborodov, Novoselov and another. These "valuables" were said to have been buried in the village of Lysev in the basement of one of the "worker's house".

I think it should be noted that the basement mentioned above is not talking about the basement of the Ipatiev House. It does rather just make the whole writing on the wall all the more confusing, wouldn't you say?

Finally I have to address more writing on the wall in the Ipatiev House before this post is through. I have no idea where in the house this was written, but it would seem that it's from a German poem, written by Heinrich Heine.

"Belsatzar ward in selbiger Nacht Von seinen Knechten umgebracht"

It's a reference to a story in the Old Testament book of Daniel. In translation: "On the same night Belshazzar was killed by his own slaves." The name Belsazar" in the original was altered to "Belsatzar" in the Ipatiev house graffiti as a deliberate pun on the word "tzar." Seems the Bolsheviks had a crude sense of humor.