Anastasia Nikolaevna
Nicholas abdicated at the beginning of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Romanov imperial family was taken to Siberia. The Bolshevik leaders in Moscow debated what to do with them. While Leon Troksky argued for a public trial of Nicholas, Yakov Sverdlov arranged for the assassination of the entire family . With the anti-Bolshevik Czech Legion closing in on Yekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks were prompted to act. The Ural Soviet, the local Bolshevik branch, killed the Romanovs on July 17, 1918.
Although the Bolsheviks concealed the incident, anti-Bolshevik investigator Nikolai Sokolov was able to establish that it occurred. He found charred bones, shattered jewels, and a severed finger. Sokolov's book was published in 1924.
Yekaterinburg was for a time renamed Sverdlovsk in Sverdlov's honor.
Anastasia's fate has been the subject of speculation, hoaxes, and historical fiction. In the 1920s, a Polish woman named Anna Anderson posed as an Anastasia who somehow survived the 1918 massacre. The remains of the other Romanov's were discovered at Yekaterinburg in 1991. Anastasia's remains were discovered in 2007.[1]
References
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Russian History, "Romanova, Anastasia Nikolayevna"
