Book review: The Last Days of the Romanovs

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow. The author takes us on quite the journey in this book. She introduces us to Ekaterinburg and the people within. We learn about the revolutionary forces in Russia and how they affect this city.

But most of all, we meet the Romanovs in exquisite detail. The passive father who suppresses his feelings, the tormented mother whose madness brought down a dynasty, and their five cherished children. We get to know their captors and their allies, we learn of some of the people who wanted to rescue the royal family. But they were too well-guarded and in the chaos of the Russian Revolution, the resources just weren't there for a rescue.

When woven together, we have a stunningly crafted book that lays out why the Romanovs were murdered, on a personal and on a national level. Their enemies did their very best to obliterate the Romanovs and they almost succeeded. It would take time and shifting priorities in the USSR before their remains and their fate came to light.

I've already read Helen Rappaport's book, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, so I wasn't too disappointed at how the daughters are the most enigmatic Romanovs in this book. Read the other book for its rich detail.

The amount of information is carefully parcelled out so that it isn't overwhelming. I have to say that the execution scene is the most detailed one I've ever read and it is grisly. I would say that the author included many details to reinforce how horrific the crime was. She also details the poorly planned disposal of the remains, in such a way that it seems incredible that the bodies were undiscovered for decades.

While reading this book, it struck me that is a very rare glimpse because there aren't even photographs of the Romanovs in Ekaterinberg. One can easily find photos of the Romanovs under arrest at the Alexander Palance and in Tobolsk. The last few images were captured on their way to Ekaterinberg. The Bolsheviks whitewashed the windows of the Ipatiev House and erected barricades so that the former royals were cut off from the rest of the world.

So it is Rappaport who vividly describes the family and the conditions they were living in. I could easily imagine the scene where local women entered the house to wash the floors. They were the last civilians to see the family alive. Rappaport uses their testimonies to make the scenes come alive - I could see the friendly daughters who happily help the workers, grateful for any kind of physical exercise. I could also envision the diminished Nicholass II and the imperious Alexandra, the human beings that shattered the women's visions of the exalted Tsar and Tsaritsa. Most poignantly, the women tell us of a frail and sickly Alexey, who was never meant to grow old in the world he was born in.

My interest in reading about the Romanovs came from information about my own family tree. Eight years ago, I was told that my paternal grandmother's mother was a chambermaid to the Tsaritsa, and her husband was a doctor in the Tsar's army. I don't know how true that is, but I started reading more about the Romanovs to learn more about that part of my ancestry. Books like this are wonderful resources, so textured and detailed that the era is brought to life cmore.



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